Institutional investors have responded to the negative sentiment caused by FTX’s collapse, with record institutional inflows into crypto-focused short-investment products. According to CoinShares’ chief strategy officer James Butterfill, 75% of the total inflows by institutional crypto investors for the week ending Nov. 18 were placed in short investment products — essentially a bet that crypto prices will decline. Butterfill said the takeup of short positions by investors is likely “a direct result of the ongoing fallout from the FTX collapse,” while the total assets under management (AUM) for institutional investors is now at $22 billion — the lowest in two …

Technology giant Apple appears to be working towards the development of a metaverse-sounding “3D mixed-reality world,” according to related patent filings and recent job postings. Since Nov. 1, over 30 jobs have been listed on Apple’s careers page related to augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) with the Big Tech player seeking a mix of software and hardware engineers to be mostly based in its Technology Development Group (TDG). TDG is a secretive team within Apple that may reportedly stem as far back as 2017, which is understood to be working on developing AR and VR technology. Apple has never officially …

Bitcoin (BTC) investors are more likely enticed by the cryptocurrency’s rising prices, rather than their dislike of banks or its perceived use as a store of value, a new report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) suggests. In a “BIS Working Papers” report published on Nov. 14, the central bank body looked into the relationship between Bitcoin prices, crypto trading, and retail adoption. It studied the drivers of crypto adoption by retail investors using crypto trading app downloads as a proxy for adoption and user investments at the time of download. It found that “a rise in the price …

While proponents of traditional finance remain keen on dismissing Bitcoin (BTC) and the crypto ecosystem as financial risks, a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — one of the 12 federal reserve banks of the United States — revealed 11 factors that overshadow crypto in terms of risk in 2022. Geopolitical tensions, foreign divestments, COVID-19 and high energy prices were found to be some of the most-cited potential risks for the US economy, according to a central bank survey published by the Federal Reserve System. Out of the 14 factors that pose a financial risk, crypto …

October may have seen a decline in nonfungible token (NFT) trading volume and sales, but analytics firm DappRadar says an 18% growth in monthly unique NFT traders shows the market is still in “great demand.” According to a Nov. 3 report from DappRadar, the number of monthly unique NFT traders in October reached 1.11 million, increasing 18% from September, of approximately 950,000. This is despite trading volumes falling 30% to $662 million in October, the lowest registered in 2022, while the sales count decreased by 30% to 6.13 million, the firm said, adding: “The rise in the unique traders’ count …

Crypto exchange Coinbase saw a huge fall in its transaction revenues in the third quarter after activity fell amid a broader market downturn, but managed to cut its losses in half compared to the prior quarter. In its shareholder letter released Nov. 3, the company shared that transaction reven had fallen from $655.2 million in the second quarter to $365.9 million, representing a decline of 44%. The company cited poor macro conditions with daily average crypto market capitalization falling 30% and trading volumes shifting away from the United States due to the lack of regulatory clarity as reasons for the …

After a year-long struggle to fend off the market bears, parts of the crypto ecosystem started showing signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2022. BNB Chain’s Q3 report confirms significant growth in crypto trading volumes and decentralized finance (DeFi) but a drop in nonfungible token (NFT) trading. According to DappRadar BNB Chain Report Q3, BNB Chain retained its position as the second biggest DeFi blockchain after Ethereum (ETH), with a Total Value locked (TVL) of $7.6 billion. On the DeFi side of things, BNB Chain suffered a 93% decrease from Q3 of 2021 but has since shown signs …

The Web3 and cryptocurrency space is seeing a significant amount of smart contract scams proliferating, with blockchain risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs saying it has detected on average 15 newly deployed scams every hour. Solidus Labs said on Oct. 27 that it had been monitoring 12 blockchains including Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), and BNB Chain (BNB) since Oct. 10 and in that time had detected 188,525 smart contract scams. Former United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director, Kathy Kraninger, who is now Solidus’ VP of regulatory affairs, said in the statement that “while some of the big rug pulls …

Remittance payments, fiat fears, and profit-chasing have been the three most significant drivers of crypto adoption in Latin America, according to a new report. The seventh-largest crypto market in the world saw the value of cryptocurrencies received by individuals rocket 40% between July 2021 to June 2022, reaching $562 billion, according to an Oct. 20 report from Chainalysis. Part of the surge was attributed to remittances, with the region's overall remittance market estimated to have reached $150 billion in 2022. Chainalysis noted that crypto-based service adoption was “uneven, but swift.” The firm pointed to one Mexican exchange operating in the …

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has made no further changes to its remaining stash of Bitcoin (BTC) in the third quarter of 2022, despite nearly a $1 billion sell-off in the previous quarter. The company’s Q3 report released Oct. 19 shows $218 million worth of “digital assets” remains on its balance sheet, with no reported losses in the value of its holdings. Based on current prices, it’s estimated that Tesla still holds around 9,720 BTC. In Q2 earnings report, Tesla said it sold 75% of its Bitcoin during the quarter, adding $936 million in cash to its books and recording a …

Web3 developers don’t appear to be fazed by the crypto bear market, with one Web3 platform suggesting they’re “more active than ever” — particularly on the Ethereum (ETH) network. In a new Q3 2022 report on Oct. 13 by Web3 development platform Alchemy, the company said that 2022 could be the “biggest year yet” for development on Ethereum. Around 36% of all smart contracts ever deployed and verified on the blockchain have been in 2022, a count of nearly 118,000 compared to the over 323,700 ever deployed, according to the report. This is despite the price of ETH falling by …

Minor inflows for digital asset investment products over the last few weeks suggest a “continued hesitancy” towards crypto amongst institutional investors amid a slowdown of the U.S. economy. In the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly “Digital Asset Fund Flows” report, Coinshares head of research James Butterfill highlighted stand-offish institutional sentiment towards crypto investment products, which saw "minor inflows" for the third week in a row. “The flows remain low implying continued hesitancy amongst investors, this is highlighted in investment product trading volumes which were US$886m for the week, the lowest since October 2020.” Between Sept. 26 and Sept. 30, investment …