Friday August 2, 2024
At least 8 crypto and gaming companies reported yesterday making it the busiest day for the two sectors this reporting period.
◾ The Appellate Court of Montenegro agreed to extradite Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to South Korea instead of the US. (AppellateCourtMontenegro)
◾ The European Securities and Markets Authority highlighted the risks posed by crypto firms that operate under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations while maintaining significant operations offshore. (ESMA)
◾ Talen Energy $TLN is looking to sell its 75% stake in a crypto mining operator TeraWulf $WULF. (Reuters)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The European Commission’s AI Act which identifies different risk factors went into effect today. (CNBC)
◾ Azerbaijan's Central Bank said it is not planning to issue a digital currency. (Interfax)
◾ Argentina plans to use AI to “predict future crimes.” (TheGuardian)
◾ The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration advocates for the creation of open-source models and does not find it necessary to limit their development. (NTIA.gov)
◾ North Carolina’s House of Representatives overturned the governor’s veto of a ban on CBDCs. (Cointelegraph)
Financial Notices & Public Company Releases
◾ Coinbase $COIN reported a 27% decrease transactional revenue but posted a top line of $1.36 billion with adjust EBITDA of $596 million in the second quarter. (Coinbase)
◾ MicroStrategy $MSTR reported bitcoin holdings of 226,500 ($14.7 billion), and total revenue of $111 million and a non-GAAP loss from operations of $179 million. (MicroStrategy)
◾ Block $SQ sold $2.6 billion in bitcoin revenue with $67 million in gross profit in the second quarter. (Block)
◾ Online gaming platform Roblox reported a 20%+ year-over-year increase in average daily active users, average monthly unique players and total hours engaged, generating revenue of $893 million and adjusted EBITDA of $66 million. (Roblox)
◾ Galaxy Digital $GLXY reported a net loss of $177 million driven by $4.5 billion in AUM, an average loan book of $699 million and decreased counter party trading revenue of $24 million. (Galaxy)
◾ Marathon Digital $MARA increased quarterly revenue 78% to $145 Million but still reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $85 million. (Marathon)
◾ Gaming computer and accessory company Corsair $CRSR reported a Q2 loss of $24 million on revenue of $261 million. (Corsair)
◾ Mobile games platform Skillz generated $25 million in revenue losing $12 million in EBITDA during the second quarter. (Skillz)
◾ Ault Alliance $AULT announced a business pivot to focusing on the AI data center space and will change its name and ticker to “Hyperscale Data” and “GPUS.” (Ault)
◾ Bitfarms $BITF earned 253 bitcoin (11.1 EH/s) selling 142 BTC to fund operation in July. (Bitfarms)
◾ Hive Digital $HIVE mined 116 bitcoin (4.9 EH/s) growing its BTC treasury to 2,533 BTC ($164 million). (Newswire)
◾ Greenidge Generation $GREE produced 58 bitcoin (2.3 EH/s) in July. (Greenidge)
◾ Coinbase $COIN denied a report that it violated US campaign finance rules with a $25 million donation to the Fairshake cryptocurrency super PAC. (X)
◾ Greenidge Generation $GREE implemented a new bitcoin retention strategy to increase its bitcoin holdings and further drive the company’s growth. (Greenidge)
◾ CleanSpark $CLSK executed 75 MW of power contracts and completed the acquisition of its first Bitcoin mining site in Wyoming. (PRnewswire)
◾ DMG Blockchain $DMGI received approval from the province of Alberta to establish the Systematic Trust Company, a wholly owned subsidiary looking to offer custody of digital assets. (Globenewswire)
Restructuring, Losses & Legal News
◾ Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged an individual with running a sham crypto recovery business which claimed it could trace and recover cryptocurrency in exchange for a fee. (ManhattanDA)
AI Announcements
◾ Google’s $GOOGL Gemini AI 1.5 pro model has surpassed GPT4o and Claude 3.5 as the top generative AI model. (X)
◾ Google’s $GOOGL announced that its open Gemma models is built on a foundation of responsible AI, prioritizing safety and accessibility. (Google)
◾ Microsoft $MSFT identified OpenAI as a competitor in its latest annual report. (CNBC)
◾ The CEO of Reddit $RDDT said Microsoft $MSFT will need to pay if it wishes to scrap data from the message board site. (TheVerge)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Crypto lending platform Ledn processed $1.16 billion in loans in the first half of 2024. (X)
Metaverse & Gaming Briefings & Activations
◾ Sales of Xbox gaming consoles fell 42% year-over-year. (Arstechnica)
Market Data
◾ Crypto.com surpassed Coinbase in 24-hour spot trading volume. (Messari)
Exchange, Custody & Product Updates
◾ Crypto exchange Bybit is discontinuing its services in France. (Bybit)