We are SO back: Bitcoin ATH, CryptoPunk Sells for $16 Million, Coachella gives NFTs a second try,...

W/ more news from SEC, Coinbase, Binance, Kevin Rose, Vitalik, Farcaster,...

Hey Alphafellaz,

It feels like ages since my last newsletter, and for that, I'm really sorry. After diving into the whirlwind that was NFTNYC last year, life got pretty wild. I found myself helping out with some web3 projects, even got a TV series off the ground (which, by the way, picked up a few award nominations), and had a ton of other stuff keeping me busy.

Despite the chaos, I've kept a close eye on the ever-evolving world of Web3 and continued to make my rounds at the biggest crypto events, like NFT Paris. I've been working behind the scenes these past few weeks, laying the groundwork to bring this newsletter back to life. 

So, let's not wait any longer; here's everything you've missed recently. If you've missed these updates as much as I missed sending them out, let me know – and feel free to share with any new degen friends you've met! 

Let’s kick things off with some interesting reads:

• Coinbase crashes again, the third episode in recent weeks

• SEC Delays Spot Ethereum ETF Decisions

• Binance Recovers $4.4 Billion in Digital Assets for Users

• Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Crashed 189%, Sinks to August 2021 Low

• Arkham Reveals Tesla and SpaceX’s Bitcoin (BTC) Stash

• Coachella gives NFTs a second try after the FTX integration debacle

— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS

How You Doin’ NFTNYC?

We're bracing ourselves for NFT NYC in less than a month, so make sure to bookmark our Google document which tracks interesting NFT community events and parties.

I also created a dedicated NFTNYC Telegram group which now contains over 500 members!

Rare Alien CryptoPunk Sells for $16 Million

A highly sought-after Alien CryptoPunk has changed hands for a staggering $16 million worth of Ether. The transaction represents the second-highest recorded sale of a CryptoPunk.

The anonymous buyer offered 4,500 ETH for CryptoPunk 3100, one of only nine Alien Punks in the collection of 10,000 NFTs. The bid was accepted after a previous offer of 4,250 ETH failed to elicit a positive response from the seller.

Kevin Rose sells $1.2 million worth of NFTs

Kevin Rose, co-founder of NFT project PROOF, has liquidated over $1.2 million worth of NFTs, but denied rumors that he’s exiting the Web3 space entirely.

“I’ve been pruning my NFT collection lately. Primarily because I believe mass adoption is still further out, and classic cryptocurrency will outperform,” Rose wrote in a post on X. “That said, I’m still collecting.”

On March 9, Rose liquidated several high-worth NFTs, including a work in the Fidenza series by Tyler Hobbs for 142 ETH and a one-of-one work by artist XCOPY for 151.2 ETH. Rose also burned two ENS domains and revoked the record for his main domains, claiming the move was in the interest of privacy.

📰 OTHER NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEKS

• Vitalik Buterin Dumps $100,000 Ethereum

• FTX, Alameda Settle with BlockFi, Set to Pay $874 Million

• SEC Requests Court Intervenes in Binance Discovery Process

• Coinbase met with SEC over spot Ethereum ETFs

• Bitcoin ordinals volume jumps while ERC-404 experiment loses steam

• BlackRock Now Holds 196,065 BTC, Surpassing MicroStrategy’s Holdings

• Ether price hits $4,000 for the first time in more than two years

• Pantera Capital Wants To Buy Up SOL From FTX Estate

• Binance will let users bet on futures platform token listings

• Crypto firms Genesis and Gemini discussed possible merger in 2022, court filings show

• A16z Eyes $6.9 Billion AI Investment, Pauses Crypto Fund Expansion

• Farcaster Loses 60% of Users In One Month As Interest In SocialFi Wanes

• Coinbase-backed Wormhole airdropping 617 million tokens to ecosystem users

• Solana, ZachXBT, and BlackRock among CMC Crypto Awards 2024 winners

• Bitcoin miner sells Quebec site for $6.1 million amidst declining BTC production

• Ethereum Foundation Sells ETH Worth $13.3 Million Amidst Price Surge

• Coinbase legal chief downplays court ruling on crypto as securities

• Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest offloaded $45 million worth of Coinbase shares

✨ NEW IN THE SPACE

• Astar Network Unveils ‘Yoki Origins’

• Coachella gives NFTs a second try after FTX integration debacle

• Proof of Talk returns to the Louvre Palace as agenda-setting event for Web3

• Nokia Eying Metaverse Expansion In 2030 Strategy

• Grayscale announces fund aimed at optimizing staking rewards

• Web3 App Store Magic Square Launches $66M Grant Program

• Crypto.com inks deal with Altava Group to boost Web3 through fashion

• Hedgehog, a protocol for hedging against crypto transaction fees, raises pre-seed round

💀 RUG PULLS 

• Do Kwon’s Extradition to the US Revoked

• AI Crypto Project Pulls Exit Scam, Stealing $665,000

• BRC-20 Token Bridge Conducts $1.40 Million Exit Scam

• Crypto Investment Fraud Spiked 53% in 2023

• Crypto influencer gets over $211,000 drained by airdrop-related phishing scam

• Fantom seeks to liquidate Multichain Foundation to recover assets from July exploit

🤓 DISCLAIMER: NFA & DYOR

This newsletter is a curated overview of the most exciting things I’ve read the past week, the projects I’ve researched, and the NFTs I’ll be trying to buy.

This means I’m - per definition - biased, so don’t consider this as financial advice, and keep doing your own research if you see something you like.