Frank Holmes
Crypto SWOT: Riot Platforms earned $31.7 million from power credits during Texas' August heat wave
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Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Synthetix, rising 14.36%.
- A San Francisco-based technology firm that seeks to help content creators track and monetize their work in the age of generative AI, is bucking a venture capital drought. Story Protocol raised $54 million from a group of investors led by Andreeseen Horowitz that includes Hadhed, Endeavor, Samsung Next, TPG Capital founder David Bonderman and Paris Hilton's 11:11 media, writes Bloomberg.
- Ether appears stuck inside a consolidation, delineated by two important trendlines – one drawn from the record highs seen in November 2021 and the other originating from the June lows last year. The latter has served as vital support all through the recovery and is being tested again, writes Bloomberg.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performer for the week was Gala, down 14.83%.
- Several Binance executives have left in recent days, including leaders overseeing its Russian business and its connections to the traditional financial system, writes Bloomberg, extending a period of rapid senior turnover at the cryptocurrency giant.
- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brought enforcement actions against three decentralized finance firms and signaled that more may be coming. The CFTC alleged on Thursday that three DEX's broke the agency's rules by illegally allowing U.S. customers to trade digital-asset derivatives without registering, according to Bloomberg.
Opportunities
- Riot Platforms, one of the largest Bitcoin miners in Texas, said it earned a record $31.7 million from power credits during the August heat wave. Bitcoin miners tend to pre-purchase power to lock in low prices for their energy intensive mining operations. They've made tens of millions of dollars by selling the power back to the grid during shortages that often take place during heat waves, writes Bloomberg.
- A group of cryptocurrency and Web3 venture investors have established a $20 million fund to invest in undervalued Web3 projects and companies focused on blockchain gaming and digital collectibles, reports Bloomberg.
- Pop star Justin Bieber's hit song from 2015 “Company” has been converted into an NFT by music tech platform AnotherBlock, reports CoinMarketCap. This allows fans to earn royalties from future streams of the track.
Threats
- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame is planning to plead guilty to criminal charges on Thursday over the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange. Salame was the co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets before the crypto empire imploded and is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, writes Bloomberg.
- A crypto whale lost over $24 million worth of assets in a massive phishing scam. In this case the victim's address is regarded as a major liquidity provider on the Uniswap DEX, supplying over $1.6 million worth of liquidity to the exchange's WBTC/USDT pool, according to an article published by Bloomberg.
- The Estonian government has agreed to extradite Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin to U.S. authorities over cryptocurrency fraud charges, writes Bloomberg.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
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