Kalam Crypto #29: Crypto bailouts, Tencent launch metaverse division, and more

This week, liquidity issues lead to crypto bailouts, Tencent launch metaverse division, Solana Labs to launch a web3 phone, and more chances to double your ETH and XRP trades on CoinMENA.

27 Jun, 2022

CoinMENA Team

Author

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 29th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. Every week we will bring you the latest news and developments from the exciting world of cryptocurrencies. This week, liquidity issues lead to crypto bailouts, Tencent launch metaverse division, Solana Labs to launch a web3 phone, and more chances to double your ETH and XRP trades on CoinMENA. All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto:

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Global News 🌍

Liquidity squeeze leads to crypto bailouts: In this market downturn, several Centralized Finance (CEFI) institutions that offer yield products are facing liquidity issues. It was reported that Goldman Sachs is raising $2 billion from investors to acquire Celsius’s assets. Celsius who 2 weeks ago froze withdrawals and account transfers of their users because they essentially were under collateralized, and a “run on the bank” would have bankrupted the company. BlockFi, another crypto lending, and yield platform secured a revolving $250 million credit facility from FTX. BlockFi was facing liquidity issues partly due to being forced to liquidate the collateral posted by Three Arrows Capital when they failed to meet the margin call on their bitcoin loan.

Harmony commits to a $1 million bounty for the return of stolen funds: Harmony protocol, a Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain, made an offer of a $1 million bounty for the return of stolen crypto worth $100 million from the hack of its Ethereum-based Horizon bridge on Thursday, and also for information on how the hack took place. The company announced that it would advocate for no criminal charges when the funds are returned.

Keep an eye on 👀

Tencent announces metaverse division: Tencent, one of the biggest Chinese tech companies, announced the creation of its own metaverse-focused division. The division, named the extended reality unit (cool name), will include all metaverse-driven efforts, including hardware and software developments. The division was launched earlier this year but was kept secret until now.

Solana unveils Web3-focused mobile phone: Solana Labs’ subsidiary Solana Mobile announced on Thursday that it’s launching an Android mobile phone called Saga. Saga (an interesting name choice for Solana this year) will allow users to easily transact with their cryptocurrency and manage digital asset products and services like NFTs and tokens.

KPMG and New Northern Trust among the firms expanding to Web3: KPMG’s US and Canada businesses have launched a collaboration hub in the Metaverse. The private hub will be a place where employees, partners, and clients can conduct virtual team meetings, job interviews, training, and more. KPMG Canada made crypto waves earlier this year when they announced that they are adding bitcoin and Ethereum to their corporate treasury.

Did you know 🤔

Every person who ever HODLed bitcoin for 4 years or more made a profit?

CoinMENA News 🗞

Follow along with our Bitcoin Series: Keep your calm during market volatility by learning more about bitcoin, its historical trends, and perspectives on the current market through visuals and videos in our Bitcoin Series on our Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube.

Trade and Win Giveaways are ongoing: 5 lucky users will win the equivalent of their ETH trade, and another 5 users will win the equivalent of their XRP trade. To participate, simply head over to CoinMENA and trade ETH or XRP for 50 USD or more for a chance double up your trades! The offers are valid only until Thursday, 30th June 2022, at 11 PM Bahrain/KSA time. The maximum caps for the giveaways are 1 ETH and 500 USD of XRP, respectively.

Tweet of the week 🐥