Celsius owns your crypto

Welcome to The Daily Moon. The Solana phone has flopped. There’s no kind way of saying this. The much-anticipated blockchain phone, which was to be the cat’s whiskers when it came to privacy, got just over 2,800 pre-orders. The $1,000-phone is set to release at the end of the year. Guess iPhone’s still got it. 

It was a good day for the markets, Bitcoin breached $22,000 and Ethereum crossed $1,500. Nasdaq started early trade on a shaky note. Meanwhile, Sensex and Nifty held on to their gains. 

Influenced By Crypto Influencers?

The downcycle is when you look at who is influencing your decisions. When the market was soaring, everyone asked you to buy, hodl, think about 10-year, 20-year horizons. But when the crash comes, those influencers find spirituality. 

Investors, who stumped up cash through Vauld, want action against influencers who convinced them it was all a good idea.

Offering the lure Social media endorsements aren’t new. Since TikTok (and Instagram Reels) took over our lives, people with large followings have been advertising companies, products and services. Asci, India’s advertising watchdog, has for its part, made repeated warnings about false advertising. It has received 453 complaints related to crypto ads. Market regulator Sebi has sought a ban on celebrity endorsements of crypto.  But social media is the Wild West. 

How much these influencers know about the product they are selling became a point of discussion when Vauld froze operations. 

It’s not just on usAnkur Warikoo, who was paid Rs 4.47 lakh for the Vauld promotional video, said creators need to be careful. He also added that creators need to have skin in the game. Others don’t agree. Anish Singh Thakur claimed that investors must “do their own research” before making financial decisions. And it’s not on those selling the products to care about its outcome. 

Just for the recordBrand collaborations are lucrative for influencers. Top influencers who sell financial products charge around Rs 10 lakh for one promotional video. 

Celsius Owns Customer Crypto 

Celsius has washed its hands off investor payouts on the first day of bankruptcy hearing. The crypto lender claimed that if you really look at the fine print, its customers have no ownership of the tokens they purchase. 

They have a planCelsius has a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet. It plans to utilise the future profits of its mining subsidiary, Celsius Mining, to recoup the losses. And it is building a new mining facility worth $3.7 million. 

Currently, Celsius is estimated to own between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets. There is no speedy recovery in sight, especially for retail customers who will be the last in queue for repayment. 

Talking of insolvency Three Arrows Capital owes $3.5 billion to 27 companies including Blockchain.com, Genesis, and Voyager Digital. A creditors committee to oversee the proceedings has been set up. 

How India’s Blockchain Lobby Group Fell Apart

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) decision to dismantle the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) has been in the post, according to reports. The two bodies not only got into a dispute over how the blockchain lobby should function but also lost support from the companies it was supposed to lobby on behalf of. 

A battle of egosA few things fell apart when it came to BACC.

1. Who would be the intermediate between the industry and the government. Both bodies wanted to take the lead. 

2. Crypto exchanges, who were supposed to unite behind the BACC, would open dialogues with the government independently. 

3. Neither body could get around the payment issue and when the NPCI shut down UPI for crypto, most payment instruments withdrew support.

What happens now?

A new body independent of IAMAI is set to be formed soon. Let’s see if this one lasts.

Layoffs: Part 2

The pain isn’t over. Over the past two months, thousands of people have lost their jobs globally. In part due to the collapse of Terra and the resultant contagion, which has destroyed balance sheets across the world. It’s going to get worse. The likes of BlockFi and Gemini have announced that they will have to reduce their employee headcount once again.

This is a weird oneArgentinian exchange Buenbit, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a new product. The exchange has introduced crypto loans via nuARS, a stablecoin tied to the Peso. Here’s the catch, it’s funding this after it laid off 45% of its employees recently.

The only one hiring now is Binance. 

Help The Daily Moon get better

If you’ve gotten this far into the newsletter, I’d like to talk to you on the phone for 5 minutes. Reply to this email with a few slots, and I’ll send across a $50 gift voucher on Mudrex to everyone who gets on the call. Let’s make The Daily Moon the best newsletter!

And that’s it for today. If this email was forwarded to you, please consider subscribing. It’s free. We’ll never show you an ad or charge you for this. We swear.

Who are we? There is a lot happening in our world. Everything has layers, and each layer has to be carefully peeled so you, the reader, know how the world of money is changing every day. That’s our promise. Help you unpeel the onions, which are the public markets in the US, India, and crypto, so that you know just a little more.