Intel on New Chips

Good morning. Today we've got an update on the Crypto.com hack, a new player in Bitcoin-mining hardware, Mastercard with yet another crypto partnership, and more!

Bonus Content Coming: I'm targeting early next week the end of the month to have my notes out from Messari's Crypto Theses for 2022. I'll include a link to my notes in this newsletter, however, the full report is definitely worth a read. The report is now in podcast form and can be found here.

Market Update (as of 8:00am ET):

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Top 5:

1. Intel To Unveil Bitcoin-mining 'Bonanza Mine' Chip at Upcoming Conference
Intel, one of the world's largest chip makers, is entering the Bitcoin-mining hardware space. The company has a presentation at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on February 23rd to present "Bonanza Mine: An Ultra-Low-Voltage Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC." Translation: Intel is building a chip that is designed specifically for Bitcoin mining and they could soon be competing with other Bitcoin-mining hardware companies like Bitmain. In a comment to Tom's Hardware, Intel confirmed they have been working on a Bitcoin mining ASIC for "several years" with more details to follow.

SSS (sat-sized summary): Intel is building a new chip designed specifically for Bitcoin mining. The company could enter the high-margin industry with considerable production capacity advantages over existing players.

2. Crypto.com allegedly suffers $15 million breach in latest exchange heist
Following up on yesterday's story about "unauthorized activity" on some Crypto.com users' accounts, the blockchain research firm, PeckShield, has confirmed that at least 4,830 ETH (~$15 million) was stolen from the exchange. The hacker has already laundered most of the funds through coin mixer, TornadoCash, which helps hide the links between the source and destination of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Crypto.com CEO, Kris Marszalek, maintains that no user funds were taken during the incident. I'm skeptical of that claim given tweets from users of the platform stating they had ETH missing from their accounts. To me it seems more likely that Crypto.com will restore user balances to pre-hack levels and try to move on from the story.

SSS: Crypto.com lost 4,830 ETH (~$15 million) in a hack on Monday. The thief has since laundered money through a coin mixer. Reminder: centralized exchanges are a honeypot for hackers to target and keeping large quantities of crypto on an exchange is not advisable in most cases.

3. Mastercard strikes NFT payments deal with Coinbase amid a wave of recent crypto partnerships
On Tuesday, Mastercard announced a deal with Coinbase that will allow customers to use their credit and debit cards to make purchases on the crypto exchange’s upcoming NFT marketplace. The move is designed to make purchasing NFTs more accessible by eliminating the need for customers to use digital currencies. In recent months, MasterCard and Visa have been extremely active in partnering with crypto companies across a variety of services including crypto-linked payment cards.

SSS: Mastercard is partnering with Coinbase to allow purchases of NFTs using credit and debit cards on Coinbase's upcoming NFT exchange. This is another entry in a long list of partnerships between big payment companies like Visa and Mastercard and crypto companies. It will be interesting to see how this plays out given crypto's potential to completely disrupt payment companies' business models.

4. Animoca Brands Valuation More Than Doubles to $5.5B in Three Months
Metaverse startup, Animoca Brands, is having a great start to 2022. The Australia- based firm was valued at $5.5 billion in a recent funding round led by Liberty City Ventures, more than double their October valuation of $2.2 billion. While that seems like unbelievable growth, it's not actually that suprising when you consider their portfolio consists of play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, NFT marketplace OpenSea, the company behind NBA Top Shot, and over 150 other NFT-related projects. The company plans to use the new round of funding to drive acquisitions, investments, product development, and licensing for other intellectual property.

SSS: Animoca Brands, an investor in some of the most successful NFT projects and companies, is now valued at $5.5 billion. That's more than double their October valuation and highlights the incredible growth in the NFT industry.

5. OpenSea Acquires Crypto Lending Platform Dharma Labs
The world's largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, is acquiring a cryptocurrency borrowing and lending platform, Dharma Labs. The acquisition will help OpenSea accelerate product development, invest in NFTs and the web3 ecosystem, and improve trust according to a blog post from co-founder, Devin Finzer. Dharma’s CEO and co-founder Nadav Hollander will become OpenSea’s chief technology officer and Brendan Forster, co-founder and chief operating officer of Dharma, will become OpenSea’s head of strategy.

Top Sharers of the Crypto Top 5:
1. Donna Y. - Nashville, TN
2. Jake Y. - Greenville, SC
3. Forrest H. - Evansville, IN

External Resources:
1. Cryptopedia from Gemini - if you see a word, acronym, or phrase in this newsletter that you don't understand, there's a good chance you can find an explanation here
2. Crypto Explainer+ - intro level courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance, NFTs, and more

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. I am not an attorney, accountant or financial advisor, nor am I holding myself out to be, and the information provided is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.