Not everyone is convinced that Mark Zuckerberg’s massive metaverse experiment is a good idea. Since Facebook was renamed Meta in 2021, The social media giant’s focus has increasingly been on connecting the digital and physical worlds through augmented reality. However, a company shareholder recently issued a letter to the CEO calling the investment in the metaverse “oversized and terrifying.”
Those concerns were soon justified. Meta released its third-quarter financial results after the bell on October 26 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, its metaverse division underperformed. Meta’s Reality Labs lost a whopping $3.672 billion during the quarter, mirroring a similar decline in the first quarter. That is the risk one runs when one ventures into unknown territory. Despite all the hype surrounding the metaverse, these new social worlds remain very empty. Will Meta manage to fill the void? Only time will tell.
This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles Meta’s metaverse experiment, Tesla’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, and the sudden rise of Reddit’s non-fungible token (NFT) collection.
Tesla Bitcoin Losses Rise to $170M in First 9 Months of 2022
Although Tesla’s foray into Bitcoin was initially lauded by the cryptocurrency community, the entire ordeal has been a much bigger distraction for the electric vehicle maker. In the second trimester, Elon Musk’s company sold 75% of its remaining Bitcoin holdings, adding approximately $936 million to its balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, Tesla’s remaining BTC had an unrealized loss of $170 million, according to a new filing filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the company’s net loss from BTC isn’t too bad, given that Tesla had made $64 million in profit during its previous sale. Musk proved to have paper hands, after all.
CashApp adds support for the Bitcoin Lightning Network
Cash App users will soon be able to send BTC to each other over the Lightning Network, the much-touted Layer 2 payment protocol that is supposed to make Bitcoin transactions faster and more scalable.. To be clear, Cash App already supports Bitcoin transactions on Lightning on a limited basis via QR codes. Now, the popular mobile app will give users the ability to send $99 worth of BTC every seven days. The downside is that the service is only available to residents of the United States, excluding New York. Though estimates vary, Cash App is said to have some 80 million users. Imagine this demographic regularly transacting on Lightning one day.
You can now receive #bitcoin instantly via the Lightning Network in @CashApp! ⚡
-Open Cash App
– Money tab -> Bitcoin
– Share QR code or linkWhat do you think?
Try it by sharing your link below pic.twitter.com/rg1BbzyLMB
— Michael Rihani ⚡️ (@MichaelRihani) October 25, 2022
Now you can receive #bitcoin instantly via the Lightning Network on @CashApp! ⚡
– Open cash app
– Money tab -> Bitcoin
– Share QR code or linkWhat do you think?
Give it a try by sharing its link below
NFT trading volume on Reddit hits all-time high as wallet holders approach 3 million
The crypto winter has been especially harsh for NFTs, a previously booming market whose trading volumes have plummeted over the past year. But, For the social media platform Reddit, interest in NFTs appears to be increasing. Data from Polygon and Dune Analytics revealed this week that Reddit NFT avatar trading volume exceeded $1.5 million in a 24-hour period, bringing the cumulative volume of the collection to $4.1 million. Since Reddit launched its collection in July, more than 2.9 million collectible avatars have been minted. You’re going to love the data breakdown of this story.
Some of Meta’s own shareholders are growing weary of their metaverse gamble, and the colossal price tag that comes with it. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner has written a letter to Mark Zuckerberg urging the company to reduce its annual metaverse investment budget from $10 billion to $15 billion to $5 billion. He called the hyperfixation on metaverse technology “oversized and terrifying.” Altimeter Capital owns a 0.11% stake in Meta, so Zuckerberg is unlikely to heed the warning. But an investment of $10 billion a year by Meta translates to $100 billion over 10 years in a concept that Gerstner says is far from proven.
Before You Go: Why Are Bitcoin Whales Hoarding?
Has Bitcoin hit its ultimate bottom for this cycle or is there room for a final capitulation? This question has divided the Bitcoin community, which continues to anticipate a major breakout in the coming weeks. However, for fans of hodlers, the moment of bottoming will not matter in the long run. While retail was busy selling BTC below $20,000, the whales have been quietly accumulating. In the latest episode of Market Report, Cointelegraph analysts discuss why Bitcoin whales have been stacking sats and what it could mean for the market in the short term. You can watch the full replay below.
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