Crypto's Worldcoin 🪙 🌍
After OpenAI, Sam Altman's Worldcoin is coming for crypto. Binance joins the list of Canada exit. North Korea hackers cost Japan $721M since 2017. Bitcoin could become top 3 assets if US fails at debt
Hello, y'all. Born in USA, setting sail for Bermuda. We dispatching, like always. Staying put exactly where we are. No sailing no where.
US crypto firms head to Bermuda amid dark and stormy US regulatory environment. This is The Token Dispatch. Hit us on telegram 🤟
Worldcoin, the brainchild of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has two things that the crypto world will love - biometric verification and solid privacy.
Its on the brink of completing a funding round that could attract $100 Million.
The project is still in beta and will probably be launched in the next six weeks.
Investment rounds so far
Funding by a16z and Khosla Venture, brought the valuation to $3 billion.
a16z-led $25 million Series A funding round in October 2021, with other investors Digital Currency Group, Coinbase Ventures, and Multicoin.
The plan: "Worldcoin is building the world's largest identity and financial network as a public utility, giving ownership to everyone."
Unleashing the Orb
So, they've cooked up the Orb—a biometric imaging device by Tools for Humanity—that verifies your humanness without revealing personal details. Orb doesn't link biometric profiles to other identifying factors like traditional finance. Goodbye to the hassle of sharing official documents or identification numbers.
They scan your eyes and match 'em with your ID to make sure you're unique. Then, they unleash a stash of Worldcoin tokens just for you.
Wallet and ID
World App, the crypto wallet of the Worldcoin ecosystem that's all about expanding the horizons of digital identity and global finance. "World App is a different kind of wallet" that can be used to authenticate identity with World ID.
World ID, a privacy-focused decentralised identity protocol. With World ID, you can sign in to websites, mobile apps, and even in to dApps.
Worldcoin and World ID are hitching a ride from Polygon to Optimism, Ethereum's layer-2 scaling solution. They're teaming up with Optimism Collective to make this journey happen.
"With more than 1.6 Million sign-ups in beta and 500,000+ monthly active World App users, the deployments on OP Mainnet will expand access and help Worldcoin reach a values-aligned ecosystem of developers and users," they said in the announcement.
But don't tell Snowden.
TTD Exit 😵
Binance is waving goodbye, doing the Irish jig, and sashaying away from the land of maple syrup and hockey. Yeah, Canada 🇨🇦
Binance pointed fingers at Canada's new stablecoin guidelines and investor limits for crypto exchanges. Apparently, these two party poopers made the Canadian market too much of a hassle for Binance to handle.
What happened? Canadian Securities Administrators wanted crypto asset trading platforms to register with them by March 23. Failing to do that meant crypto trading firms had to cease operations.
The Canadian agency also demanded that exchanges commit to segregation in crypto custody, appoint a chief compliance officer, and stop the sale and holding of stablecoins.
But if you're a Binance customer in Canada, don't fret. They promise to send you an email with all the juicy details about how this grand exit will impact your accounts going forward.
Let's Ditch Canada club
OKX
Paxos
dYdX
Bittrex
Result of all this?
The market capitalisation of Bitcoin went on a wild rollercoaster ride, dropping to approximately $501 Billion from its previous position of $509 Billion. But then the market cap swiftly bounced back, soaring past the $510 Billion mark once again.
TTD Numbers 🔢
$721 Million
The amount hacker groups affiliated with North Korea have managed to swipe from Japan since 2017 - 30% of the global total of crypto losses.
What? Crazy thing, $721 million surpasses the value of North Korea's entire 2021 exports by 8.8 times.
In a daring and high-stakes digital heist, North Korea has set its sights on Japan, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, targeting their cryptocurrency assets.
UK-based compliance specialist, Elliptic says that between 2017 and the end of 2022, North Korea managed to snatch $2.3 billion in cryptocurrency from businesses worldwide. Japan tops the unfortunate list, followed by Vietnam ($540 Million), the U.S. ($497 Million), and Hong Kong ($281 Million).
They've been wreaking havoc on multiple Japanese exchanges between 2018 and 2021. One exchange, called Zaif, even fell victim to these crafty hackers, losing a jaw-dropping 7 billion yen ($51.4 million) in 2018.
Also, According to Chainanalysis, North Korea-backed hackers stole $1.7 Billion (£1.4 Billion) of crypto in 2022.
TTD Assets 📊
Gold, US Treasurys and Bitcoin would be the top three assets
Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse survey was conducted from May 8–12, involving 637 respondents, including professional and retail investors.
How? If the US fail to raise its debt ceiling and default on its debt.
Why? More than 50% of finance professionals will buy gold if the US government fails to avoid a debt default. U.S. Treasurys would be second, with Bitcoin the third most popular alternative for retail investors.
TTD BTC v ETH 🛠️
Bitcoin-Ether correlation fell below 80% this week
Bitcoin and Ether prices are up around 62% and 50% so far in 2023, respectively, according to The Block's Data Dashboard.
Why does this matter? For the first time since November 2021 / Kaiko.
What does this mean? The falling correlation means that BTC and ETH prices are not moving together as closely as they used to. It also reinforces the case for diversification by including both assets in an investment portfolio.
TTD Surfer 🏄
The US Secret Service and the REACT task force will hold a Reddit AMA at 11 am Pacific time On May 15 on the theme of crypto crime.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has sold 14 Billion Zimbabwean dollars’ worth of gold-backed crypto tokens (~$39 Million) despite IMF warning.
SEC revises $22 Million punishment against LBRY to $111K instead, conceding that the defunct firm can’t pay up that amount.
If you like us, if you don't like us .. either ways do tell us✌️
If you dig what we do, show us some love on Twitter & Instagram🤞
So long. OKAY? ✋