OpenSea NFT Trading Craters 99% Since May

OpenSea trading tanks, down 99% since May

Has the NFT bubble popped?

What was once a red-hot market fueled by FOMO during the crypto bull market of 2021 is now just a trickle, with trading volume on the most popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea, down 99% in just under four months.

On May 1, OpenSea processed a record $2.7 billion in NFT transactions, but on Sunday the marketplace recorded just $9.34 million worth, according to data compiled by DappRadar. The company recorded 24,020 users on Sunday, about a third fewer than when it hit its record transaction number in May.

And Now, The ESG Backlash

Readers of this blog are well aware that “ESG” (whatever that term may mean) is one of the hot topics in the financial and business sectors. Companies face scrutiny and pressure to show that they are making progress on ESG goals. The SEC has established an ESG task force and proposed climate change disclosure rules. Now, as is all of that were not enough, political reaction is giving rise to an ESG backlash. As detailed in two recent memos from the Morgan Lewis law firm (here and here), as many as 17 states have now adopted “anti-ESG” state legislation that would limit the ability of state governments, including public retirement plans, to do business with entities “boycotting” industries based on ESG criteria or considering ESG factors in their investment processes.

Crypto.com accidentally transfers $10.5m to woman

Crypto.com is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms.

It’s now been revealed the company accidentally transferred $10.5 million to a woman in Melbourne Australia, when she was seeking a $100 refund.

It then took crypto.com more than seven months to realise the error.

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When crypto.com tried to recover the money, the cash had already been moved and used to buy a multi-million dollar mansion.

But now a judge has ordered the property be sold, and with orders made for the remaining money to be returned.

Cyber Breaches Pose Risk of SEC Enforcement Actions, Derivative Suits to Public Companies

Cyberattacks are on the rise and continue to pose a serious threat to public companies across every sector. In 2021, ransomware attacks increased 13%, and over a million phishing attacks were reported in the first quarter of 2022. Not only has the volume of attacks increased, but the attacks themselves also have become more sophisticated, which increases the likelihood of the attacks’ success and high impact.

Given the clear threat that cyberattacks pose, public companies should invest in robust cybersecurity systems to prevent a cyberattack. Additionally, a company needs to establish a plan in the event an attack succeeds. In such instances, in addition to potential private lawsuits and state attorney general investigations, public companies must be prepared for potential investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and potential securities litigation, including class actions and stockholder derivative suits. In such derivative suits, stockholders may allege on behalf of the company that members of the board violated their fiduciary duties to adequately oversee cybersecurity and data risks and threats that face the company. Stockholders could also demand that the company’s board investigate the response to the cyber breach.

Tether Responds to Disinformation in WSJ Article

The most recent article from the Wall Street Journal against Tether, is a series of unsubstantiated conclusions. In a time where false information is being weaponized to cause harm across the globe, it is our responsibility to clarify the facts for readers.

The article seeks to discredit the work that Tether has put into transparent and honest communication to the public. BDO, a very reputable and independent Top 5 audit firm, is not a “Tether accounting firm”, as erroneously written by the WSJ. BDO will continue to have unrestricted access to any relevant information to perform their work and Tether will continue to share its attestations, despite continuous attempts by the media to disparage its reputation and that of top-ranking firms like BDO that are working with digital asset companies.

To clarify the points the article attempted to make, it is important to highlight the following.

The SEC Wants to Be America’s Crypto Cop

In “The SEC Treats Crypto Like the Rest of the Capital Markets” (op-ed, Aug. 20), Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler appoints the SEC as “the cop on the beat” for crypto. Mr. Gensler is pushing aside his fellow regulators and front-running President Biden’s executive order, which directed agencies to collaborate on establishing clear regulatory frameworks for crypto.

Mr. Gensler writes that whether a car runs on gas or electricity, you still need a seat belt. No one disputes that. But electric cars don’t need gas, and in his analogy, it is gas that the SEC is selling. Mr. Gensler looks to punish anyone who isn’t buying it.

Web3 Domain Name Service ENS DAO Loses Its Web Address Because Virgil Griffith, the Programmer Who Could Renew It, Sits in Jail

When members of the ENS DAO community go to its eth.link website, all they’ll see now is an empty page with a green domain expiration notice banner at the top.

That’s because the only person with the authority to renew the domain, Virgil Griffith, is serving a 63-month prison sentence for helping North Koreans use cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions and has been unable to renew the domain from prison. According to a notice domain registrar GoDaddy published on its website late Friday, eth.link expired on July 26 and is set to return to a domain registry on Sept. 5, where it will be up for grabs for anyone who is able to take it.