Read in the Digest:
- Bitcoin’s downtrend continues; Algorand gains 25% after FIFA partnership.
- Whales continue ETH accumulation, while Cardano whales buy 196 million ADA.
- Dfinity Foundation slams Meta with trademark lawsuit over ‘Infinity’ logo.
- Mark Cuban and Elon Musk to use Dogecoin to defeat Twitter’s spam bots.
- Square Enix sells IPs of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and other western studios to make NFT Games.
Bitcoin’s Downtrend Continues; Algorand Gains 25% After FIFA Partnership
May has seen the crypto market’s weakness stretch on even longer as Bitcoin consolidated under $39,000. Bitcoin attempted to break above the $39k level, but was defeated by the bears as it fell to as low as $38,156.
The Bitcoin (BTC) price chart since May 1st. Source: Tradingview
Although Bitcoin remains just slightly above $38k, several bullish divergences can be identified across different time frames which could potentially see Bitcoin break through its immediate resistance levels of $40k and $42k.
While Bitcoin waits for a bullish outbreak, Algorand (ALGO) has seen gains of as much as 25%, pushing its price up to $0.7357. ALGO is now trading at $0.70806 as of this writing, with gains of 19% recorded over the last 24 hours.
The 24 hour price chart for Algorand (ALGO). Source: Tradingview
ALGO’s price rise came in the wake of Algorand’s reveal as the first U.S. blockchain sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. The international soccer governing body announced Algorand as an official blockchain partner for Qatar’s upcoming World Cup competition.
Flipsider:
- Despite Bitcoin’s bullish sentiment, some analysts believe that Bitcoin could fall under $38,000 to retest lows of $31,000.
Why You Should Care
The stock prices of companies with BTC exposure – Block, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) – have dropped by between 20% and 50% each due to the crypto’s poor performance.
Whales Continue ETH Accumulation, While Cardano Whales Buy 196 Million ADA
The crypto market’s decline hasn’t done little to deter whales, whose accumulation efforts have only intensified. On-chain data from Santiment indicates that ETH whales have accumulated strongly over the past two weeks.
According to data from Santiment, the recent accumulation has seen wallets which hold between 1000 and 10,000 ETH increase their stakes. Santiment reports that these ETH whales now hold 12% of Ethereum’s total supply, up from the 11.92% recorded 10 days prior.
The accumulation of Cardano (ADA) by whales, which stretches back five weeks, has seen whales that hold between 1 – 10 million ADA gather 196 Million ADA. According to on-chain data, the accumulation comes after 7 months of ADA dumping.
Accumulation has continued despite ADA’s drop from $1.22 on April 4th, to its current price of $0.783 at the time of writing.
Flipsider:
- Experts believe that investors may be forced to exit the market if the crypto market drops further.
Why You Should Care
The action of whales are a reflection of their bullish sentiment towards Cardano, Ethereum, and much of the larger crypto market.
Dfinity Foundation Slams Meta with Trademark Lawsuit Over ‘Infinity’ Logo
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, formerly known as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), has fallen into dire straits once again. This time, the Web 3.0 non-profit behind ‘Internet Computer’, Dfinity Foundation, has sued Meta for its trademark registration of a logo similar to their own.
According to the lawsuit, filed in a California federal court on April 29th, the logo adopted by Meta will cause confusion with its own infinity symbol logo. The logos of both companies stem from the mathematical symbol for infinity.
Dfinity, which was founded in 2016, received a federal trademark for its infinity-symbol logo in 2018. However, Meta only rebranded with its new logo in October 2021, after leaving behind its old identity of Facebook.
The lawsuit alleges that both Meta and Dfinity apply to the same target audience: users seeking an innovative and different internet experience.
Flipsider:
- Since surging to the top 10 in May 2021, when Dfinity launched the Internet Computer, ICP has plummeted 98% from its all-time high of close to $700.
Why You Should Care
The Dfinity Foundation began using the symbol in 2017, and Meta using a similar logo could cause “serious reputational harm to Infinity.”
Mark Cuban and Elon Musk to Use Dogecoin to Defeat Twitter’s Spam Bots
Following Elon Musk’s purchase and consequent proposed changes to Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), a graphic designer at the Dogecoin Foundation proposed the use of the meme coin as a tip users’ tweets.
Mark Cuban, a billionaire and Dogecoin promoter, liked the designer’s idea, suggesting to Elon Musk that using Dogecoin to authenticate Twitter users could decrease the amount of bot-driven spam on the site.
He explained that everyone should put up 1 DOGE, and an optimistic roll up would be added for unlimited posts. Users could contest whether a post is real, or spam. If it is confirmed to be a spam post, the accuser receives the spammer’s DOGE.
He added that the spammer should have to post 100 times more Doge, and if the post is not spam, the accuser would lose their Doge. Musk, who has called crypto spambots “the single most annoying problem on Twitter,” replied that it was “not a bad” idea under Cuban’s post.
Flipsider:
- Many have questioned the need to start paying for what is presently a free service, and the validity of forcing people to use the meme coin as collateral to prevent spamming.
Why You Should Care
With Mark Cuban, Musk, and Billy Markus sharing the same idea, many Dogecoin supporters seem to like the idea, noting that it is very bullish for DOGE.
Square Enix Sells IPs of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Other Western Studios to Make NFT Games
Square Enix, the Japanese video gaming giant, is leaving Western game development and selling its three big studios of the region, and some of its top franchises to the Embracer Group for a fee of $300 million.
Embracer Group announced that it had acquired the video games and intellectual property rights for ‘Tomb Raider‘, ‘Thief‘, ‘Deus Ex‘, and other franchises. The deal also includes “continued sales and operations of the studios’ more than 50 back-catalogue games.”
Embracer will also take over Square Enix’s game studios – Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal. The three studios in question collectively employ nearly 1,100 people.
According to Square Enix, the deal is expected to help accelerate the company’s growth and “enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI and the cloud.“
Flipsider:
- Minecraft developers have moved to sign petitions against NFT gaming.
Why You Should Care
The sale of its video games will be used to bankroll new efforts from Square Enix, which includes blockchain and NFT-based games in its purview.