Meta CEO Zuckerberg steadfast on metaverse plans despite $13.7B setback

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has no plans to change its long-term strategy for the Metaverse, despite operating losses for its Reality Labs business peaking in 2022. Meta’s Q4 earnings released on Feb. 1 show Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022 — the largest ever yearly losses recorded for its metaverse-building division. The fourth quarter was particularly costly, with the division losing nearly $4.3 billion, which was also the largest quarterly loss within the department since financials for the business were first published. On a Feb. 1 earnings…

London Crowned World’s Leading Cryptocurrency Hub, According to Study – Bitcoin News

According to research from Recap, a cryptocurrency tax software company, London has become the world’s leading hub for cryptocurrencies. The researchers analyzed eight indicators, including the number of cryptocurrency businesses and the quantity of cryptocurrency ATMs in each country. Key Findings of Recap’s Study on Global Cryptocurrency Hubs Crypto tax firm Recap released a research report on Jan. 25, 2023, highlighting the top global cryptocurrency hubs, with London named the “most crypto-ready city.” Recap used criteria from eight elements, including the number of cryptocurrency businesses and employees, research and development…

Bitcoin spikes above $24K as Fed chair Powell hints at ‘disinflation’

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke through the $24,000 ceiling and the total crypto market cap jumped nearly 4% following a speech from United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in which he suggested the economy’s disinflationary process has started. “We can now say, I think for the first time, that the disinflationary process has started […] we see it really in goods prices,” said Powell during a Feb. 1 Federal Open Market Committee press briefing shortly after announcing a federal interest rate hike of 0.25%. The interest rate hike and…

Crypto market cap jumps $40B as Fed chair Powell hints at ‘disinflation’

The total crypto market cap jumped nearly 4% following a speech from United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in which he suggested the economy’s disinflationary process has started. “We can now say, I think for the first time, that the disinflationary process has started […] we see it really in goods prices,” said Powell during a Feb. 1 Federal Open Market Committee press briefing shortly after announcing a federal interest rate hike of 0.25%. The interest rate hike and remarks appeared to have gone down well in the crypto markets,…

BonqDAO protocol suffers $120M loss after oracle hack

A small-scale decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has suffered a rather sizeable smart contract exploit leading to an estimated $120 million being stolen from its protocol. BonqDAO, which is behind the Bonq protocol, told its Twitter followers on Feb. 1 that its protocol was exposed to an oracle hack that allowed the exploiter to manipulate the price of the AllianceBlock (ALBT) token. Bonq protocol was exposed to an oracle hack, where exploiter increased the ALBT price and minted large amounts of BEUR. The BEUR was then swapped for other tokens on…

Ethereum’s Shanghai fork is coming — but it doesn’t mean investors should dump ETH

Ethereum’s next big upgrade, Shanghai, is on the horizon for March. The Shanghai hard fork will implement further improvement proposals for the Ethereum network as well as enable Ether (ETH) stakers and validators to withdraw their assets from the Beacon Chain. At the time of writing, staked ETH represents approximately 14% of the total supply, or 16 million coins. It equates to over $25 billion at ETH’s current price, a substantial sum that will gradually become liquid following the fork. Some ETH stakers have waited over three years to withdraw…

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Says Bitcoin Could Exceed $1 Million By 2030

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest recently released its Big Ideas report.  The report delved into various aspects of public blockchains and digital wallets, among other things.  The asset manager believes that Bitcoin could be worth more than $1 million by 2030. Public blockchains were presented as the future of money and contracts.  Ark Invest, the American asset management firm launched by Cathie Wood, presented its take on the future of finance and blockchain technology in its Big Ideas 2023 report. Aside from crypto, the report discussed various exciting technologies, including Molecular…

AllianceBlock Token Plunges 51% After $5M Exploit

AllianceBlock has paused all activity on its bridge following the attack, which occurred Wednesday afternoon. During the exploit, a Polygon wallet accessed 112 million ALBT tokens, bridging them from the Polygon blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain. The hacker also got 500,000 USDC from dumping Bonq Euro (BEUR) tokens. Source