Wealthway Weekly (W25 2021)
Lots of exciting news in the crypto and NFT space this last week. Let’s dive in.
Coinbase enters Japan
After announcing their plans to enter Japan back in 2018(!), Coinbase was finally granted access to offer cryptocurrency trading to the Japanese people. Although trading will be limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Stellar, it could be a big boost to Coinbase’s business. The regulatory hurdles and barriers of entry make the market so much more interesting for the few who actually manage to get through.
Cathie Wood bought the dip!
As crypto got slammed early in the week, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest loaded up on some of the heavily discounted assets. She added approximately 1 million shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to her Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), bringing her total to ~8.5 million shares. It now makes up more than 4% of the trust, making it the 7th biggest position. Additionally, almost 215k Coinbase shares were added to the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) which now holds $800 million worth of the stock. Cathie Wood maintains her $500k BTC price target and still sees huge long-term potential in the space, making the 50–70% crypto drawdown an awesome buying opportunity 💰
Andreessen Horowitz launches new $2.2 billion crypto fund
Andreessen Horowitz just announced the launch of their new Crypto Fund III with $2.2 billion ready to be allocated, making it the largest crypto fund ever. Not only have they been investing financial and Human Resources in crypto since 2013, they’ve also been adding a lot of credibility to the space by being who they are. I’m personally very excited about having a firm like Andreessen Horowitz in crypto! I encourage you to read their full statement about the new fund and why they’re bullish. Here’s one of my favourite quotes:
“The size of this fund speaks to the size of the opportunity before us: crypto is not only the future of finance but, as with the internet in the early days, is poised to transform all aspects of our lives.”
Tokenised stocks on FTX
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX follows Binance who recently added tokenised stocks of Apple, Coinbase, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, and Tesla to their platform. FTX is offering 55 different stocks right out of the gate. These include the 5 on Binance, as well as Airbnb, Alibaba, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, AMC, Facebook, GameStop, the Grayscale Bitcoin and Ethereum Trusts, Netflix, Paypal, Twitter, Uber, and Zoom 🚀
The stock infrastructure is provided by Switzerland-based Digital Assets (DAAG) and the stocks will run on the Solana blockchain. I’m personally not a user of FTX yet, but with this addition to their already-impressive suite of derivatives, options, volatility products and leveraged tokens, I’m very excited to try it out!
FTX x MLB partnership
Speaking of FTX… They just got a 5-year sponsorship deal with MLB, getting their logo on all umpire uniforms starting at the All-Star Game in Denver on July 13 🎉 The mainstream attention and increased brand awareness for FTX is interesting enough in and of itself, but the potential for new and innovative initiatives and products is what really excited me about this deal. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, also pointed this out on Twitter:
What are they planning? Perhaps something with NFTs?? It’s definitely exciting times in the intersection of crypto and sports and I for one will be following the development closely 🧐
Rarible raises $14.2 million and partners with Dapper Labs
Rarible, one of the biggest NFT marketplaces, just closed a $14.2 million series A funding round with Venrock Capital, Coin Fund, and 01 Advisors. At the same time they announced a partnership with Flow, the blockchain created by Dapper Labs, the creators of NBA Top Shot. Here’s a quote from the announcement about Rarible’s perspective and ambitions for the future:
“Now we stand at the next frontier of mass adoption: for ALL digital content to go on chain. The next step for NFTs is to become the full-scale intellectual property rights framework for media content. This new trend is fueled by mainstream players entering the stage: brands, celebrities, sports teams and more enabling creators to find direct, authentic, and meaningful new forms of connection with their audiences.
Beeple launches NFT platform WENEW
It’s time to welcome a new NFT platform on the scene, this one backed by some big players in the fields of journalism, sports, and music! TIME, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Wasserman, and Endeavor are all standing behind WENEW, a new platform that will host the sale of NFTs depicting historic moments in sport, politics, and fashion.
The first auction will run from July 2 to 5, offering tokenized images celebrating tennis star Andy Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon Grand Slam victory. In addition to the images, the highest bidder will also get two tickets to the 2022 men’s Wimbledon finals and a game of tennis with Murray himself 🎾
Jay-Z to auction ‘Reasonable Doubt’ NFT at Sotheby’s
Jay-Z is auctioning off an NFT based on the cover art of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The artwork, titled Heir to the Throne, is created by renowned artist Derrick Adams and presented as a one-of-one NFT. Sotheby’s, who have fully embraced crypto, will run the auction. Not only will they accept BTC and ETH as payment, they will also host the auction in their newly created virtual auction house in Decentraland 🤓
Some of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation. The highest bid as of this writing is $24,000 and the auction will run until July 2nd. Hopefully the recent controversy around Damon Dash, another one of the co-founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, can add to the hype around this auction 💰
I’ll be back in a week with more stories 👊
