The Weekly Wrap-Up - Friday 26th November 2021

Chairman of Senate Banking Committee Writes to Tether CEO

Senator Sherrod Brown Asks Van der Velde to Clarify Tether’s Position

(Image: Bitcoin News)

On Tuesday (23rd November), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Sherrod Brown wrote to Tether CEO Jan Ludovicus Van der Velde asking him to clarify key details surrounding the stablecoin. Brown wrote that:

Stablecoins present investor protection risks and raise several market integrity concerns.

The letter asked for information such as the minting process, the amount of Tether in circulation, and hypothetical market scenarios which he believed could lead to an inability to exchange Tether for USD. The 3rd of December was given as a deadline for Van der Velde’s response.

India Moves To Ban Private Crypto Currencies

Indian Government Plans to Create its Own Token

(Image: TheNextWeb)

On Wednesday (24th November), the Indian government announced it was planning to ban all private cryptocurrencies - detailed in ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that cryptocurrencies would:

spoil our youth and pose serious concerns on macroeconomic and financial stability.

However, the government stated that it will be creating its own cryptocurrency by allowing a

framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India

Coinbase Acquires Crypto Wallet Service Breadwallet

Exchange-Giant Causes BRD Token to Soar

(Image: Tech Crunch)

On Wednesday (24th November), Coinbase announced that they would be acquiring crypto-wallet service Breadwallet for an undisclosed amount. The service will likely be integrated with Coinbase’s existing wallet service, and bring further Web 3 functionality to the platform. The move initially caused the native token of the platform (BRD) to soar by more than 840% to $1.51, however at the time of writing the token has begun to stabilise at $0.83. Coinbase has also partnered with Facebook (now known as Meta) to bring its services to metaverse applications.

OpenSea Partners With Christie’s Auction House

Largest NFT Marketplace Becomes Home For Christie’s Art Auctions

(Image: Cryptoknowmics)

Auction house Christie’s has announced a partnership with the largest NFT marketplace - OpenSea to bring high-end art auctions to the platform. The partnership will come into effect in early December and will bring items from the Christie’s art catalog to the blockchain. Christie’s Head of Digital and Online Sales, Noah Davis stated that

we are bringing the Christie’s brand boldly onto the blockchain. Our collaboration with OpenSea allows us to combine our expert curation and prestigious provenance with the convenience of decentralisation

Adidas Announces Partnership With Sandbox

Sports-giant Partners with Metaverse Play-to-Earn Game

(Image: pymnts)

Sports brand Adidas announced that they would be partnering with play-to-earn game ‘The Sandbox’ to bring the platform ‘metaverse apparel’. The announcement caused the game’s native token (SAND) to surge by an additional 50%. The token, which was valued below $1.00 just months ago, is now worth almost $7.00. The price increase of SAND has largely been driven by hype and speculation regarding the development of the ‘metaverse’, and by Facebook rebranding as ‘Meta’. However, some have warned that this price increase is not sustainable and a major crash in the token’s price should be expected soon.