Autor Cointelegraph By Jesse Coghlan

Terra fallout: Stablegains lawsuit, Hashed loses billions, Finder wrong and more…

Fallout from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem continues to unfold with the United States-based yield generation app Stablegains facing potential legal action over its losses from the event.Users believe Stablegain has allegedly lost up to $44 million worth of deposited funds based on a post on a Terra forum by co-founder Kamil Ryszkowski asking for relief funding. He disclosed that a day before TerraUSD (UST) had lost its peg with the U.S. dollar its users’ funds totaled over 47.6 million UST from 4,878 depositors.Currently the price of UST is trading at $0.075 according to data from CoinGecko.A letter from class action law firm Erickson Kramer Osbourne (EKO) sent to Stablegains dated May 14 demands a record of customer accounts, marketing materials and any communications regarding UST.These guys are in deep trouble – they lost about $42m in funds from 4,878 customers and probably have no way to pay it back (they’re a small startup) because they went all in on Anchor’s invincibility. Conviction bets are great, but not when toying with people’s savings. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/p9S5uFILoF— FatMan (@FatManTerra) May 19, 2022“You owe an ‘uncompromising duty to preserve’ any evidence you know or reasonably should know will be relevant evidence in a pending lawsuit” the letter said, adding “failure to comply…may result in civil or criminal penalties”.EKO verified the letters’ authenticity to Cointelegraph and said it had opened an investigation into the Terra ecosystem collapse for possible class action. Stablegains users were able to earn up to 15% annual percentage yield (APY) on deposited US dollars which the company apparently swapped to UST to earn yield on the Anchor Protocol.Documentation from Stablegains’ website updated seven days ago claims that USDC and UST are “the main stablecoins” used.The site still maintains that “Anchor is our current go-to protocol, and the basis for the Stablegains stable 15%+ APY rate.” According to cached results of the webpage Stablegains said it allocates funds “across a number of stablecoins to not be fully exposed to the potential instability of one stablecoin” however users allege the company has since amended the wording on how it mitigates risks. Stablegains has started allowing withdrawals but USDC will only be provided at the market value of UST. Part of the terms and conditions noticed by a user stipulates the company isn’t liable for losses due to the exchange rate.Hashed takes a big hitSouth Korean based venture fund Hashed has taken an estimated $2.9 billion loss on its Terra (LUNA) holdings according to on-chain data.The crypto wallet linked to Hashed shows the firm still holds nearly 25 million LUNA which could have netted the firm almost $3 billion if sold at the coins all-time high of $118 in early April.Reportedly Hashed has said that it is “financially sound” and has not been affected by the Luna price collapse.Finder survey 92% wrongIn late March comparison website Finder conducted a survey of 36 “fintech specialists” who provided some bullish predictions on the price of LUNA.The survey concluded that the pundits “thought LUNA would be worth $143 by the end of 2022 before rising to $390 by 2025.”Dr. Dimitrios Salampasis, a financial lecturer at ​​Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia was one of only three (8.3% of the experts) doubting Terra and was quoted saying algorithmic stablecoins are “inherently fragile and are not stable at all,” and added “LUNA will be existing in a state of perpetual vulnerability.” Well played Dr Salampasis.’No plans’ for LFG’s AVAX reservesThe Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), which supports/fails to support the Terra network has “disclosed no plans to use” the Avalanche (AVAX) reserves it holds according to a tweet from the Avalanche blockchain team.The LFG and Terraform Labs (TFL) purchased around $200 million worth of AVAX in April to back its UST stablecoin. The price of AVAX dropped 30% earlier in May on fears the LFG would sell its AVAX to save the UST peg.However Avalanche says the TFL portion of over 1 million AVAX has a lockup period of one year. 1/ Some members of the Avalanche Community have inquired about details around the $AVAX reserves that the Luna Foundation Guard and Terraform Labs hold. Tl;dr: the AVAX is currently immobilized. Below is a transparency report — Avalanche (@avalancheavax) May 19, 2022

LFG’s treasury currently holds $61 million worth of AVAX and is the second-largest holding behind UST in its $225 million reserves. Avalanche says the proposed Terra chain fork is why the foundation isn’t planning to sell.Delphi: ‘You were right and we were wrong’Crypto-focused research and investment group Delphi Digital published a postmortem on May 18 regarding its losses due to the collapse saying it “always knew something like this was possible”.“We miscalculated the risk of a ‘death spiral’ event coming to fruition. We’ve taken some heat for this over the last week, and we deserve it. The criticism is fair and we accept it.”The firm didn’t disclose the dollar amount of its losses but said it purchased a “small amount” of LUNA worth around 0.5% of its net asset value (NAV) in the first quarter of 2021 which grew to around 13% of NAV as the price gained and the firm made more investments.It added less than 5% of its Delphi Ventures deals were in “companies or protocols related to the Terra ecosystem” including a February 2022 $10 million investment into the LFG with the firm writing:“A $10M investment which, based on the current LUNA price, is entirely lost. Delphi Ventures did not sell any LUNA during this event.”The news on Terra isn’t all bad, Pantera Capital an early investor in Terra revealed that it had cashed out around 80% of its LUNA investment with the firm turning $1.7 million into around $170 million according to partner Paul Veradittakit.

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Coinbase launches new crypto think tank to help shape policies

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has created a “crypto native think tank” in an attempt to help shape the global conversation around policies for digital assets.The newly formed Coinbase Institute will also publish research on crypto and Web3.Coinbase tapped its Director of Policy Hermine Wong to head the institute. She previously served in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and before that worked at the Department of State.The related Coinbase Institute Advisory Board has also been formed and will feature academics across law and finance from top universities such as Harvard, MIT, Duke and John Hopkins coupled with an academic partnership with the University of Michigan.The University of Michigan has conducted surveys for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Defense and will partner with Coinbase on an annual U.S. based survey measuring the adoption of cryptocurrencies and sentiment towards digital assets.The institute published the first in a series of “Coinbase Primers” — reports explaining key issues in crypto. It released a “Crypto and the Climate” report on May 19 to warrant the high energy usage of proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin (BTC).The first monthly insight report in crypto markets was also released which compared market movements in crypto and traditional finance. Each report will focus on a particular theme.The formation of the institute marks another instance of Coinbase aiming to influence the conversation around cryptocurrencies. In May 2021 it launched a “fact checking portal” with CEO Brian Armstrong saying the blog would be used “to combat misinformation and mischaracterizations about Coinbase or crypto being shared in the world.”Related: Global financial regulators will discuss crypto at G7: ReportThe crypto exchange also created a political action committee in February 2022 ahead of the November 8 midterm elections in the U.S., Coinbase spent over $1.3 million lobbying in 2021, the biggest-spend by a blockchain company that year.Coinbase broke away from the crypto industry’s largest lobbying group, the Blockchain Association in August 2020, believed to be in protest of the admittance of Binance.US. The company then formed the Crypto Council for Innovation in April 2021 along with Jack Dorsey’s Square (now Block) and crypto investment firm Paradigm aiming to engage governments, regulatory agencies and policymakers on crypto regulation.The institute hasn’t singled out specific policies to advocate for but its next move will be to publish more original research which “will provide the public, policymakers, regulators, and academics with a better understanding of crypto’s diversity and interconnection to the overall economy.”

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$3B flows to Metaverse and Web3 gaming this month as A16z’s tips in $600M

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has launched a $600 million fund dedicated to gaming startups with a focus on Web3 saying it believes “games infrastructure and technologies will be key building blocks of the Metaverse.”Dubbed “GAMES FUND ONE” the fund will invest in three main areas: game studios, consumer applications which support player communities with Discord used as an example, and gaming infrastructure providers.The a16z team said “the coming Metaverse will be built by games companies, using games technologies” and that the industry has already “solved many of the problems that need to be solved to create the Metaverse.” It believes games will become the “dominant way people spend time.”The move by a16z marks nearly $3 billion committed by venture funds and gaming industry giants into Web3 gaming or Metaverse projects since mid-April. Venture firm White Star Capital raised $120 million for its decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming focused fund along with a $200 million allocation to blockchain gaming projects by Framework Ventures both taking place in April 2022.Metaverse projects are also gaining massive sums from gaming industry titans. Last month Epic Games, creator of the popular Fortnite title, raised $2 billion to create a metaverse with funding from Sony and LEGO.The team at a16z pointed at the billions of dollars in revenue thatgames such as Minecraft generate, using the open world game as an example of a title that has retained a long-term active community which functions more like a social network. Minecraft is the current all-time highest selling game and has seen 173 million average monthly players over the past 30 days according to figures from game statistics platform ActivePlayer despite it being released almost 11 years ago.Related: There is room for the Metaverse in 2022, but the virtual space is far from perfectThe fund is the first by a16z solely dedicated to games but the firm has backed successful game related projects in the past includingng virtual reality (VR) company Oculus and game developer Zynga saying the investments “cemented our belief that games require a specialized focus.”Joining the fund were founders of game development companies and popular games such as the co-founder of Riot Games Marc Merrill, cofounders Aleks Larsen and Jeffrey Zirlin of Sky Mavis which owns the popular Axie Infinity blockchain game and Kevin Lin, founder of gaming company Metatheory which received $24 million in a funding round led by a16z.

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Nifty News: Robinhood to launch a Web3 wallet, LimeWire inks deal with Universal and more

Popular trading platform Robinhood is creating a noncustodial crypto wallet that will be compatible with multiple blockchains.The wallet will be a standalone application with the ability to store nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and connect to NFT marketplaces. A promo video released for the wallet shows a demonstration using Ethereum-based NFTs. Trade and swap crypto with no network fees. A web3 wallet from us. Get early access: https://t.co/qonXj80BEB pic.twitter.com/qLjByPA4ty— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) May 17, 2022The app is a significant step for the company in providing crypto services. Prior to January 2022, trading crypto on Robinhood was a closed system with users unable to withdraw cryptocurrency.On Jan. 21, Robinhood opened up crypto withdrawals to 1,000 users, allowing them to send crypto off the platform. That number was later expanded in April to the more than 2 million users on a waitlist.Currently, the wallet is limited by an identity verification process and only supports seven assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Litecoin (LTC).LimeysLimeWire, a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing website from the early 2000s whose brand is now owned by an NFT marketplace, has secured a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) for artists to launch NFT projects.In a statement, UMG said the deal would allow its artists to offer NFTs featuring content such as audio recordings, bonus tracks, backstage footage, images and other exclusive material to sell to fans or collectors.As part of this new partnership, UMG artists can now offer audio recordings, audiovisual content, backstage footage as well as other artworks as NFTs on the @LimeWire marketplace and sell them directly to fans and collectors in a safe and trusted environment. https://t.co/oshxryaRAe— Universal Music Group (@UMG) May 17, 2022

Holger Christoph, UMGs senior vice president of digital business for Central Europe of UMGs, said that the company is “fully embracing the exciting Web3 space” and will work to create projects with “real utility.” The partnership sees the LimeWire brand come full circle, as during its P2P heyday, it was a target for music labels due to users illegally sharing copyrighted content. The original platform was eventually taken down in 2010 after losing a court battle against the Recording Industry Association of America.In March 2022, the brand made a comeback as an NFT marketplace focused on the music industry. Brothers Paul and Julian Zehetmayr bought the rights to the name so it would return “as a platform for artists, not against them.”Okay Bears knock-off tops OpenSea, gets delistedThe popular NFT project Okay Bears, the first Solana NFT collection to top the 24-hour rankings on OpenSea, has inspired a knock-off Ethereum-based collection dubbed Not Okay Bears.Not Okay Bears are flipped images of the 10,000 original versions and briefly surpassed the 24-hour volume of the original collection on OpenSea. DappRadar shows over $3.2 million in volume over the last 24 hours.The collection was delisted by OpenSea on Tuesday likely due to the platform’s updated policies on collections that imitate others.More Nifty News:Linktree, the popular app used across social media to showcase a link directory, has launched support for NFTs through a partnership with OpenSea so that users can showcase an NFT gallery and profile picture and allow for crypto wallets to connect to a user’s Linktree profile.The Sandbox metaverse has partnered with South Korean entertainment firm Studio Dragon to develop a Korean drama series within the Sandbox metaverse; Studio Dragon will mint new NFTs for the collaboration.

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German BaFin official calls for 'innovative' EU-wide DeFi regulation

Birgit Rodolphe, an executive director at Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has called for innovative and uniform regulation of the decentralized finance (DeFi) space throughout the European Union (EU).BaFin is Germany’s financial regulatory body responsible for regulating banks, insurance firms, and financial institutions including cryptocurrency companies. BaFin is the issuer of “crypto custody licenses,” a permit required for firms wanting to offer cryptocurrency services within Germany.In an article on BaFin’s website Rodolphe warned of the risks to consumers of the unregulated DeFi space and called for standardized regulatory considerations across EU member countries.Birgit Rodolphe, Executive Director Processing and Prevention of Money Laundering at BaFin.“One thing is clear: the clock is ticking. The longer the DeFi market goes unregulated, the greater the risk for consumers, and all the greater is the danger that critical offers that have systemic relevance will establish themselves.”She cited risks to consumers of “technical issues, hacks, and fraudulent activity” that have seen millions lost and claimed that DeFi isn’t as “democratic and altruistic” as its fans say, and that DeFi products are “difficult for many to grasp.” She concluded that DeFi protocols aren’t at liberty to operate outside of regulations simply because they use new technologies.“Utopia? Or rather dystopia? Who do I contact if I want to defer my crypto loan? What happens if my crypto assets suddenly disappear altogether? In any case, there is no deposit protection fund for such cases.”She added that lending, borrowing, insurance, and other products outside of the traditional financial system are subject to licensing and supervision where they’re offered, and called on regulators to set rules which will give DeFi providers legal clarity.Rodolphe highlighted BaFin’s “crypto custody business” license introduced in January 2020 as a regulatory regime that is “attractive” to crypto businesses.The license permits companies to offer crypto services in Germany. Currently only four providers are approved but many financial institutions have submitted an application. Rodolphe wrote regulatory frameworks should be the same in different European countries:“Ideally, such requirements would of course be uniform throughout the EU in order to prevent a fragmented market and to leverage Europe’s entire innovation potential.”Related: European watchdog lists crypto next to lawyers, accountants as an AML threatGermany rose to the top spot as the most “crypto-friendly” country in the first quarter of 2022 due in part to its zero-tax policy on long-term crypto capital gains. A March 2022 report found that almost half of Germans are interested in investing in crypto.Germany also made many moves related to crypto across its government in 2021 with law reforms to embrace blockchain and the tightening of regulations on crypto businesses. The country’s central bank took a leading role in testing a European central bank digital currency. Rodolphe concluded that new DeFi regulations can’t be weaker than the standards already in place with traditional financial products as it could make DeFi products more attractive for businesses to pursue from a regulatory point of view.

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