What happened this week? Latest cryptocurrency, NFT and metaverse news

THE cryptocurrency market rallied this week as Bitcoin surpassed $20,000 per coin for the first time since the collapse of FTX in November – up 24 per cent in the last seven days.

The broader cryptocurrency market also showed signs of life as the total market capitalization for the industry reach $985 billion thanks to news from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics that inflation in the US had slowed to 6.5 per cent for December, down from 7.1 per cent the previous month.

Ethereum also passed $1,500 – up 23 per cent this week.

Other altcoins that faired well included AVAX, the native token of Avalanche, which soared 29 per cent on Wednesday alone on the back of news its developer Ava Labs has partnered with Amazon Web Services to help scale blockchain adoption across enterprises, institutions and governments.

While Solana soared by more than 70 per cent after plummeting at the end of 2022 thanks to its close ties to FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Metaverse and NFT-related cryptocurrencies have also surged alongside the broader market.

Here’s a full debrief of what happened this week…

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Cryptocurrency

Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said the exchange is making its third round of job cuts since June, citing “negative economic developments.”
Avalanche developer Ava Labs partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help scale blockchain adoption across enterprises, institutions and governments.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ Gemini terminated its Earn program to force Genesis to pay back the $900 million it owes Gemini clients. Genesis partnered with Gemini on the Earn service, which allowed users to earn up to 8 per cent interest on their cryptocurrency, but the platform stopped withdrawals in November last year following the collapse of FTX. Customers can only see their Earn balances as “Pending balances” as Gemini looks to find a way to return assets to users.
Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering at FTX, reportedly met with the US federal prosecutors hoping to make a cooperation deal.
FTX recovered more than $5 billion in liquid assets, an attorney for the company told a US bankruptcy court.
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried launched a blog.

Metaverse

Metaverse and NFT-related cryptocurrencies soared this week with MANA, the token behind metaverse game Decentraland, up more than 90 per cent in the last seven days. While SAND, the token behind Decentraland’s competitor The Sandbox, soared by more than 50 per cent.

NFTS

Sales for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs surged this week after creator Yuga Labs revealed plans for Dookey Dash, a web game that requires an NFT to play and promises rewards for top scores.
A BONK NFT collection launched this week and quickly sold out with NFTs trading for 10 times the original sale price. BONK coin is, however, down nearly 75 per cent from its all-time high.