Crypto Market Crashes Amid Evergrande and Kaisa Default
On Thursday, the crypto market tumbles down following Evergrande and Kaisa, two of the largest property developers in China. The two developers’ inability to cope with dwindling home sales and restriction by the Chinese government on loans resulted in Kaisa’s $400 million bond default and Evergrande’s failure to meet the deadline of its final interest on its dollar-denominated bonds.
Prices of BTC (bitcoin) and ETH (ethereum) fell by 5% in just 24 hours. Over the week, the entire crypto industry lost $200 billion of its market cap. In the latest data by Coinmarketcap, the industry’s market cap is now at $2.238T.
BTC (bitcoin) is now at $ 48,614 while ETH (ethereum) price at $4,038. Both cryptocurrencies have just recorded their newest all-time highs in November. SOL (Solana), one of ETH’s competitors shed 25.6% of its value from its previous all-time high of $230 with its price at $171 in data by Crypto.co.
The market had barely recovered from the previous crash as a result of uncertainties caused by the Omicron COVID-19 newest variant and changes in US Federal Reserve policy but is now plagued with yet another market crash.
Fast Food Chain White Castle Joins Crypto with ETH Domain and NFT
White Castle, the world’s first fast-food hamburger chain is the newest company to join the crypto world and adopted NFT along with Budweiser, Nike, and Taco Bell.
On Dec. 10, the fast-food chain announced to Twitter about its registered Ethereum Name Service (ENS). This is similar to the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). The company now owns the whitecastleofficial.eth address. The tweet comes with the company’s updated profile to that of a “Seahams” NFT.
Probably nothing 👀 pic.twitter.com/34MaTxOewq
— White Castle (@WhiteCastle) December 9, 2021
After the announcement, Brantly Millegan, director of operations at ENS, expressed his surprise in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/BrantlyMillegan/status/1469059197660766217?s=20
He also added that he would “buy some White Castle as soon as [he could].”
https://twitter.com/BrantlyMillegan/status/1469059556428980229?s=20
Sushiswap CTO Leaves Amid Chaos Within the DEX
On Dec. 9, Joseph Delong, CTO of the ethereum based DEX Sushiswap, announced on Twitter that he is officially resigning from his post.
In the interest of the Sushi Community I am resigning as CTO effective immediately. I very much enjoyed the things that we built together and will look back positively on this moment. pic.twitter.com/7pZsQuPgup
— joseph.eth (@josephdelong) December 8, 2021
On Sept. 18, the co-founder of Sushiswap 0xMaki also announced on Twitter that he quits as head of the DeFi project.
I will always be there for @SushiSwap but going forward I'll be in a different role.https://t.co/ybD9Jyg6HN
— 0xMaki 마키🦇🔊 (@0xMaki) September 18, 2021
Delong’s resignation came barely three months after the exodus of the project’s co-founder. Although it was generally perceived that 0xMaki’s departure was voluntary, a leaked screenshot posted on Twitter revealed that Delong forced him out.
Should we ask @0xMaki come back to @SushiSwap core team? pic.twitter.com/cgE4jUiL6l
— WeWantMakiBack (@makibacknow) November 23, 2021
The recent incident revealed infighting taking place within the DEX protocol. In a tweet, the former CTO also stated that “there has been a lot of drama within Sushi and overt manipulation coming from outside [the project].”
There has been a lot of drama within Sushi and overt manipulation coming from outside Sushi.
As a leader I don't want to discuss these topics as I think our work products speak for themselves, but this absurd defamation has risen to a level I can't tolerate.
𝓪 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 💕
— joseph.eth (@josephdelong) December 5, 2021
Delong had particularly mentioned BoringCrypto aka @0xM3rlin as the one behind the accusation of ‘backroom dealing’ thrown at him.
This same person accuses me and others of 'backroom dealing' https://t.co/rxo0rxHxSI
— joseph.eth (@josephdelong) December 5, 2021
He further adds that the compensation of $300,000 he is receiving from Sushiswap is below what he is getting from Dapper Labs. But despite this, he accepted the offer “because it seemed exciting.”
I am not very well compensated for the job I am doing. I received a payment of $300k in Sushi for my work for this year and that ends on January 7th, 2022. That may seem like a lot but I took a pay cut leaving Dapper Labs to come work on Sushi because it seemed exciting.
— joseph.eth (@josephdelong) December 5, 2021
In the end, Delong stated:
“I will peacefully transfer all the accounts and go and build something equally as successful and you can find someone else to bully.”
In recent reports, a proposal is now up that aims to bring SushiSwap to be finally governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Let’s see how this story will turn but Delong has expressed skepticism. In a report by Decrypt, he stated:
“The chaos that is occurring now is unlikely to result in a resolution that will leave the DAO as much more of a shadow than it once was without a radical structural transformation.”
“Bitcoin Not an Investment,” Says Members of UK Parliament
In a statement to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), some members of the UK Parliament reiterated that BTC (bitcoin) is not an investment. According to Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, the politicians have stated that the words “invest and investment” should not be used to pertain to these digital assets.
Harriet Baldwin, Conservative MP for West Worcestershire stated:
“The words ‘your investment’ endorse the idea that this is an investment on par with an FTSE 100 company or a unit trust.”
He further adds:
“Your website actually publishes a list of unregistered crypto asset businesses for anti-money laundering purposes. It’s meant to be helpful but it could also be helpful to someone who just wants to launder money.”
He also asserts that the inclusion of unregistered cryptocurrency businesses in FCA’s list can be a hurdle to the regulatory body’s anti-money laundering authority.
In line with this, the FCA chief executive suggested precise rules when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
“Personally, I would suggest we simply say that anything crypto-related should not be entitled to compensation, so that consumers are clear about that when they are investing.”
