The collapse of Terra forced crypto investors to ask themselves a question they never thought possible: Will TerraUSD (UST) or Terra (LUNA) hit $1.00 first? The magnitude of this question provides a sobering reminder of how quickly things can change in the world of cryptocurrencies. While Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon remains defiant, many in the industry are starting to distance themselves from the protocol they thought was offering real-world utility for stablecoins and Bitcoin (BTC).
The threat of contagion from the apparent collapse of Terra could take months or even years to fully quantify, but it seems that the voices calling for crypto winter are getting louder. Fortunately, blockchain projects are backed by tens of billions of dollars. They will keep building. Can you wait a little longer to get your digital asset investment thesis done?
Celsius Network executives deny rumors of significant losses amid market volatility
The fallout from the UST/LUNA fiasco cast a negative light on Celsius Network, a cryptocurrency-focused wealth management platform that was reportedly “killed” due to the events of the last 72 hours. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as confirmed on Wednesday by the Celsius management team. Rod Bolger, CFO of the company, told Cointelegraph that “we are not significantly exposed to market swings,” including the LUNA-triggered cryptocurrency crash. CEO Alex Mashinsky also tried to set the record straight.
Notwithstanding the extreme market volatility, Celsius has not experienced any significant losses and all funds are safe.
— Alex Mashinsky (@Mashinsky) May 11, 2022
Despite extreme market volatility, Celsius has not experienced any significant losses and all funds are safe
FCA-Regulated Fasanara Capital Raises $350 Venture Capital Fund for Crypto and Fintech Projects
If you had managed to read anything other than the Terra news this week, you would have known that a prominent UK investment firm has raised $350 million for a new fintech and cryptocurrency venture capital fund. Fasanara Capital, which manages $3.5 billion in assets, has identified Web3 and crypto as a huge investment opportunity, to the point that it plans to make larger capital commitments to startups than traditional venture capital firms. Venture capital firms don’t care about cryptocurrency market cycles. They just want to accumulate as much capital in the sector as possible.
The largest digital bank in Latin America will allocate 1% to BTC and offer investment services in crypto assets
A digital bank in Brazil with exposure to over 50 million customers is investing 1% of its net assets in BTC and making it easy to buy, sell, and store digital assets. Nubank, the largest neobank in Latin America, announced this week that it has partnered with Paxos to realize its cryptocurrency ambitions. Cointelegraph has been reporting for years that Latin America is an emerging cryptocurrency hub. If you’re feeling nervous about the market, check out what Nubank’s executive team has to say about the potential of cryptocurrencies in the region.
Michael Saylor reassures investors after market declines hit MSTR and BTC
With Bitcoin dipping below $30,000—and MicroStrategy’s average cost basis in BTC—CEO Michael Saylor reassured investors that his crypto-heavy business intelligence firm was not at risk of be called aside. Saylor said it would take a Bitcoin price collapse below $3,600 before the company would have to put up other collateral. Crypto Twitter has already accused Saylor of secretly selling a portion of his BTC stash. That is not true and neither is the rumor that MicroStrategy is going bankrupt due to its Bitcoin holdings.
MicroStrategy has a $205M term loan and needs to maintain $410M as collateral. $MSTR has 115,109 BTC that it can pledge. If the price of #BTC falls below $3,562 the company could post some other collateral. See slides 11-12 in Q1 2022 presentation. #HODLhttps://t.co/9WHsIB6Usx
—Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 10, 2022
MicroStrategy has a $205 million term loan and needs to hold $410 million as collateral. MSTR has 115,109 BTC that it can pledge. If the price of #BTC falls below $3,562, the company could put some other collateral. See slides 11-12 in the presentation of the first quarter of 2022.
Can you bear more analysis of LUNA? Look at this video
The Market Report panel met after hours this week as I joined fellow analysts Jordan Finneseth, Marcel Pechman, and Benton Yuan to discuss Terra (LUNA). We talked about what exactly went wrong with the Terra ecosystem, how UST lost its peg, and what this could mean for your wallet in the next 12 months. You can watch the full replay below.
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