Read in the Digest
- Bitcoin’s price slumps form bearish pattern, MicroStrategy buys more Bitcoin, Cathie Wood is bullish about Bitcoin.
- Polygon acquires Ethereum scaling startup ‘Predictable Labs’ for $400 million.
- WhatsApp to pilot Novi Wallet, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) launches DeFi yield services.
- DDoS attack slows transactions on Solana network, Solana remains online.
- Palm NFT Studio raises $27 million in funding round led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Bitcoin’s Price Slumps Form Bearish Pattern, MicroStrategy Buys More Bitcoin, Cathie Wood is Bullish About Bitcoin
Just when investors thought Bitcoin’s worst days were behind it, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has once again fallen back into the hands of the bears. Bitcoin has fallen under the $48k mark after residing above $50k for most of the week.
The seven day price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: Tradingview
With Bitcoin now trading at $48.4k at the time of writing, there are concerns about Bitcoin’s pattern on the charts. While the patterns are not yet clear, Bitcoin is showing early signs of a double bottom – an extremely bearish technical reversal pattern.
Flipsider:
- While Bitcoin continues to struggle in the market, MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 1,434 tokens, taking its stash to 122,478 bitcoins.
- Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of Ark Invest, remains bullish about Bitcoin, believing Bitcoin could skyrocket to $500,000.
Why You Should Care
Despite Bitcoin’s bearish stint, venture capitalists and institutional investors still believe there will be a break out for the world’s largest crypto.
Polygon Acquires Ethereum Scaling Startup, Predictable Labs, for $500 Million
Polygon, the Ethereum layer 2 project famous for its scaling solution, is looking to expand its services by acquiring Predictable Labs. On Thursday, December 9th, at ZK Day, Polygon announced it had acquired Predictable labs in a deal worth $500 million.
Predictable Labs is the creator of the Mir blockchain protocol, which includes zero-knowledge roll-up technology that can offload data from Ethereum to speed up transaction processes and lower fees.
Polygon has revealed that it will integrate Mir into its ecosystem under a new name, Polygon Zero. The new protocol will operate alongside existing solutions including Polygon PoS, Polygon Hermez, and Polygon Miden.
Acquiring Predictable Labs is expected to help Polygon to improve the Ethereum network’s capacity via its scaling solution, as it hopes to facilitate wider adoption for Ethereum.
Flipsider:
- Despite significant developments on the network, Polygon (MATIC) has fallen in value by more than 13% since December 9th.
Why You Should Care
The purchase is part of Polygon’s $1 billion push to improve its services and facilitate wider adoption for Ethereum.
WhatsApp to Pilot Novi Wallet, Coinbase Launches DeFi Yield Services
Two months after the first pilot for Novi launched, Meta (formerly Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)) is launching a limited trial of its Novi digital wallet within its WhatsApp messaging platform. The service is currently only open to a limited number of people in the United States.
When individuals transfer money to their Novi Wallet on WhatsApp, it will automatically be converted to the stablecoin USDP (Pax Dollar). Users will then be able to send and receive money using Novi on WhatsApp.
Coinbase has joined Novi in releasing another new feature. The U.S. crypto exchange giant has announced the addition of DeFi yield services to its platform, but with the stipulation that it will not be available to U.S. residents. Coinbase is launching the service with MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin.
According to the announcement, Coinbase will be using the DeFi lending protocol ‘Compound Finance’ to generate DAI yields. As a result, the annual percentage yields will vary depending on Compound’s rates.
Flipsider:
- Meta has faced immense regulatory backlash for the Novi project, with lawmakers calling for a halt to the project.
Why You Should Care
With over 2 billion users of Meta services worldwide, its Novi Wallet could easily make cryptocurrencies available to the masses.
DDoS Attack Slows Transactions on Solana Network, Solana Remains Online
Crypto projects and exchanges have become widespread targets for Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. With DDoS attacks, hackers often employ a botnet to send multiple requests to the target’s IP address, causing an overload and resulting in a denial of service to users.
The Solana Network has become the latest target of a DDoS attack, and not for the first time. A DDoS attack previously shut down the Solana Network for 17 hours in September.
On Thursday, December 9th, the Solana Network was hit with another DDoS attack, clogging the network. However, despite disruptions the network remained online throughout the attack, although users complained of tokens taking too long to be distributed on the network.
Flipsider:
- While the Solana Foundation is yet to publicly confirm the source of the attacks, some users have pointed to “high volume activity connected to Raydium IDOs and launches” as a possible cause for the disturbance.
Why You Should Care
The recurring network issues have seen some investors trade their Solana (SOL) for other, more consistent crypto offerings.
Palm NFT Studio Raises $27 Million in Funding Round Led by Microsoft
Palm NFT Studio, a company that helps firms create NFT projects, using Ethereum on the backend, has completed a $27 million funding round, gaining support from tech giant Microsoft.
The funding round was led by Microsoft’s venture arm M12. Other participants in the funding round were Griffin Gaming Partners, RRE, Third Kind Venture Capital, Sfermion, The LAO, and Warner Brothers.
The $27 million raised will be used to scale the operations of Palm NFT Studios and hire more hands to assist in the project’s processes. The managing direction of M12, Matt Goldstein, explained their decision to offer support;
"When we look at [Palm's] pipeline, it's media brands and art brands and content brands. And those are the relationships that we think are in the best position to help and support the relationship with Microsoft."
Flipsider:
- Dan Heyman, Palm’s CEO, believes that three years from now, most NFTs will be given away for free.
Why You Should Care
Palm NFT Studio is focused on what it believes will be the future of digital art: helping brands build communities within their audiences.
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