The Block
Quick Take Abra CEO Bill Barhydt shares how the firm has pivoted its core business multiple times to meet regulators’ demands, and how possible upcoming regulatory “sandboxes” could unlock unprecedented financial innovation in the U.S.
Quick Take Amid reignited discussions on the threat to Bitcoin following Google’s Willow quantum computing chip release, the community shared Satoshi’s prior guidance in case the blockchain’s encryption is ultimately broken. The cryptocurrency market witnessed a major deleveraging event over the past 24 hours, with $1.6 billion in liquidations led by altcoins like ETH, SOL and ADA, which saw price drops of 5%, 6% and 11%, respectively. Max Resnick, a former Ethereum researcher, has left MetaMask developer
Quick Take Donald Trump, set to return to the White House in January, “would love” for bitcoin to reach $150,000, according to a report from Axios, which cited an anonymous “transition” source.
Quick Take Ambrus Studio has launched “E4C: Final Salvation” in India, with a global beta ongoing. The game, built on the Sui blockchain, also had its TGE last week. Closed beta ends December 24; future regional launches under evaluation.
Quick Take Chapter One, Lightspeed Faction, IOSG, Vertex, GSR, Wintermute Ventures, Blockchain Builders Fund, Alumni Ventures and Ambush also participated in the round. Hyperbolic plans to use the funds to bolster its engineering and other multidisciplinary teams, in addition to developing and eventually launching its own blockchain.
Quick Take The Interchain Foundation, the Swiss non-profit helping to steward the development of Cosmos, has acquired interoperability startup Skip to lead its “product, protocol, and go-to-market strategy work.” Skip aims to recenter the canonical Cosmos Hub at the center of the multi-chain ecosystem and end years of competing visions. Cosmos’ development has often been marred by infighting and political disagreements.
Quick Take Exabits has raised $15 million in a seed round led by Hack VC. The round brought the crypto-AI startup’s valuation to $150 million.
Quick Take Shareholders opposed the motion, pointing to bitcoin’s volatility as a key concern. Microsoft’s history with the world’s largest cryptocurrency has been cautious.
Altcoins led a cryptocurrency market-wide selloff with $1.58 billion in liquidations, as ether, solana and cardano prices dropped sharply.Ether’s funding rate has dropped to multi-week lows, signaling a potential unwind of excessive leverage, which analysts suggest could pave the way for more sustainable price action.
Quick Take Emory University reporting holding nearly 2.7 million shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust valued at around $15.1 million as of Sept. 30. The University also reported holding 4,312 shares in the crypto exchange Coinbase, with the dollar amount rising to $768,269.
