Voyager to Pay Creditors, Ledger Under Fire, Axie Coming to Apple Users

These are the stories that shape Web3,

Top Stories

• Voyager: Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager has been cleared to pay $1.3 billion to creditors. According to the company’s website, this accounts for 75.68% of the value of customer claims against Voyager’s estate (DC).

• Ledger: Crypto wallet manufacturer Ledger is under fire for offering an ID-based key recovery service that backs up users’ seed phrases (YF).

• Ethereum: Smart contract layer one protocol Ethereum briefly stopped finalizing transactions last week. The cause is yet to be determined (CD).

Web3 Games

• Gala Games: Gaming ecosystem Gala Games has “burned” $637 million worth of its GALA token – from its own reserves – to reduce concerns surrounding a possible “dump and exit” scenario (DC).

• Axie Infinity: NFT game Axie Infinity is coming to Apple users in Asia and Latin America (NG).

• Red Beard Ventures: Animoca Brands has led a $25M investment into Red Beard Ventures. The VC firm said it would use the funds to support early-stage blockchain gaming projects, DeFi and launch a tokenomics accelerator (NG).

NFT News

• Bitcoin Frogs: The newly-launched NFT fashioned after frogs, has become the most-traded collection in the past 24 hours with over $2M in volume (CD). 

• Secret Service: According to a Reddit AMA, the Secret Service minted an NFT collection last year. It has zero volume on OpenSea (B).

• NFTs in China: The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China has recently brought to light concerns regarding the burgeoning NFT market (NNT). 

Into the Metaverse

• PUNK ETF: An ETF with the stated purpose of betting against Meta’s view of the Metaverse is shutting down after a little more than 15 months and a nearly 30% loss (B).

• Shiba: The memecoin Shiba Inu recently unveiled its plans to launch four captivating metaverse hubs later in 2023 (NBTC). 

• Saudi Arabia: A recent report states the metaverse could contribute up to $38 billion to the Saudi economy (AN). 

DeFi World

• Curve: Automated market maker Curve has a new USD stablecoin that is almost ready for users (BW). 

• Uniswap: DeFi must get easier to use to win over retail customers, according to a survey done by Uniswap (CD).

• Jia: Blockchain-based fintech startup Jia, secures $4.3M in funding. The company is building a platform to reward customers with an ownership stake based on points earned after repaying their loans (NG).