Bitcoin jumped and Coinbase’s app crashed, while Aptos eyes Hong Kong and Telegram rolls out rewards with TON

Picture Credit: Yuichiro Chino / Getty Photos

Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, previously referred to as Chain Response.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s greatest and most essential crypto tales delivered to your inbox each Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here.

Howdy and welcome again to the TechCrunch Crypto e-newsletter. I used to be out final week, so there was no e-newsletter, however we’re again to recurrently scheduled information bits and a few contemporary recurring segments and options — so for those who like what you see (or don’t), let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.

Right here’s what was the most important information this week: bitcoin’s worth jumped over $60,000 and Coinbase’s app crashed, Telegram rolled out a plan to pay out rewards utilizing toncoin on the TON blockchain and Nigerian crypto customers confronted difficulties with some exchanges. Let’s get into it.

This week in web3

1. Ex-Meta employees’ Aptos tests Hong Kong’s crypto appetite
2. Bitcoin’s so high, it crashed Coinbase
3. Telegram is launching ad revenue sharing next month using toncoin
4. Crypto users in Nigeria briefly lose access to Binance, Kraken and Coinbase
5. Starbucks Odyssey’s community lead sees NFTs as the best way to build brand loyalty

Crunching numbers

This week the crypto market was very overestimated as the 2 greatest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, each jumped about 23.6% and 18%, respectively, on the week, in line with CoinMarketCap data. The total crypto market cap elevated 19.4% over a seven-day interval to $2.34 trillion.

The latest worth bounce for bitcoin, coupled with the incoming bitcoin halving and spot bitcoin ETF approvals in early January boosting demand, has many crypto market gamers questioning if the grandfather of cryptocurrencies will hit a brand new all-time excessive quickly or if this rally is short-lived.

Our favourite ‘Crypto Twitter’ publish

ICYMI, final week a variety of crypto folks have been tweeting about emails from Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi stated a variety of attention-grabbing issues, however this post on X by Tom Schmidt, accomplice at Dragonfly Capital, acquired a variety of consideration and even brought about some Bitcoiners to exit and purchase a pineapple and jalapeno pizza in honor of it. Which brings me to the query…would you eat that?

Picture Credit: Tom Schmidt on X(opens in a new window)

The newest pod

Chain Response is doing a month-to-month sequence diving into completely different subjects and themes in crypto. This month we’re specializing in NFTs.

As a result of there was no e-newsletter final week, we’re highlighting last week’s episode, the place I interviewed Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the guide “The Every part Token,” and co-host of a web3 morning present, Espresso with Captain.

He additionally co-authored the primary Harvard Enterprise Evaluation article about NFTs. Outdoors of that, he consults with businesses and types about constructing their web3 methods, together with his position with Starbucks, the place he’s a group lead for its NFT-focused loyalty program, Starbucks Odyssey.

Earlier than moving into the web3 world, Steve labored in communications and advertising roles for greater than 15 years.

Jacquelyn and Steve mentioned what acquired him curious about NFTs, how essential it’s to construct understanding for the sector and why communities matter greater than flooring costs.

Additionally they dove into:

• Future adoption for Bored Ape Yacht Membership
• Rising Starbucks’ NFT-based loyalty program
• What businesses and types must find out about web3
• How you can get began within the NFT area

BONUS: For this week’s episode, we’re resharing a dialog I had in June 2023 with Jack Lu, CEO and co-founder of Magic Eden.

Once we recorded this episode, NFT gross sales have been down round $640 million initially of the month, in comparison with immediately the place February 2024 NFT gross sales quantity hit $1 billion, for the primary time since February 2023.

Trying again on this dialog, we determined this episode was an amazing addition to the NFT sequence so as to add some context for what a loopy yr it has been and the way a lot issues have modified (and a few issues stayed the identical) — particularly for folks constructing within the NFT area.

Magic Eden initially started as a Solana-based NFT buying and selling platform, however has expanded its assist to different blockchain networks like Polygon, Ethereum and Bitcoin. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Sequence B spherical that granted it unicorn standing.

We mentioned why the NFT market expanded its assist to different blockchains, its BRC-20 token assist and the way the corporate plans on staying aggressive within the continuously altering market.

We additionally talked about:

• NFT market volatility
• Royalty charges
• Web3 gaming enlargement
• Recommendation for NFT group

Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the most recent episodes, and please go away us a assessment for those who like what you hear!

Comply with the cash

1. Silence Laboratories, a cryptographic safety startup, secures $4.1 million in funding
2. Initia raises $7.5 million seed spherical to simplify blockchain improvement
3. Uneven Monetary has a plan to unlock Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar potential with devoted DeFi fund
4. Crypto pockets and change Backpack raised $17 million in strategic Sequence A spherical
5. Ethereum-based Etherfi raised $27 million in a spherical led by Bullish and CoinFund

This listing was compiled with info from Messari in addition to TechCrunch’s personal reporting.

What else we’re writing

Wish to department out from the world of web3? Listed below are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our consideration this week.

1. Why VCs are investing in startups that help other startups shut down
2. Don’t ignore Asia tech
3. Mark Zuckerberg woos Big Tech in Asia to double down on AI chips
4. The Apple Car that never was: A timeline
5. Tim Cook says Apple will ‘break new ground’ in GenAI this year