The government watchdog previously filed a lawsuit against the social media giant in 2020 for alleged “anticompetitive conduct” in its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta signals closure of Novi wallet after a 10-month pilot
Meta’s wallet pilot Novi is set to end in September, with the announcement coming days after Mark Zuckerberg touts Meta Pay on Facebook.
NFTs to appear on Facebook, cross-post with Instagram as Meta Web3 expansion continues
Nonfungible tokens will be found under a tab on creators’ Facebook timelines in a gradual rollout starting in the United States.
Meta set to begin testing NFTs on Instagram Stories with Spark AR
Earlier this week, Meta also announced it would join with other tech companies to create a Metaverse standards body.
Yahoo launching Metaverse events for Hong Kong residents under restrictions
Yahoo has announced its intention to launch a series of Metaverse projects in Hong Kong, apparently creating a brief rally for Decentraland’s native token, MANA.
South Korean government becomes an early investor in metaverse
South Korea’s rising interest in nascent tech could prompt other nations to take up the idea of metaverse more seriously.
Meta trademark filing hints at plans for crypto payments platform
The five applications suggest the social media firm may use its namesake in a payments processing platform called Meta Pay.
Polygon reaches level that last time triggered a 275% MATIC price rally — will history repeat?
MATIC has rebounded sharply after testing the July 2021 support level, borrowing further upside cues from Polygon’s partnership with Meta.
Meta will test digital collectibles on Instagram starting this week
According to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta was planning to “bring similar functionality to Facebook soon” and working on “augmented reality NFTs” for Instagram as well.
Meta’s Reality Labs posts $2.9B loss: ‘I recognize it’s expensive’ says Zuck
Meta’s Reality Labs division posted a $2.9 billion loss in Wednesday’s Q1 earnings call but Zuckerberg remains optimistic about future profitability from the metaverse.
Meta will open physical metaverse-themed store in San Francisco Bay Area
The store, which will be located on the company campus in Burlingame, California, will feature a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what users see using Meta VR headsets.
Could Netflix Tumble Down The Crypto Market?
On Tuesday, the crypto market looked good in comparison to Netflix (NFLX). The shares of the world’s leading streaming company fell 27% to $256 in after-hours trading reaching 2019 levels after announcing a massive loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. This translated to roughly a $40 billion loss in half an hour.
This is the first time the company loses customers since 2011 and is expecting to lose 2 million more in the current second quarter. NFLX is already 63% down from its All-Time High and over 40% this year.
“For those wondering how long a miss like this can sting: A reminder that $FB is still down ~33% since it disclosed Facebook’s user growth hit a ceiling,” Bloomberg’s Brian Chappatta noted.
Analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson LLC told Bloomberg that “It’s just shocking,” adding, “Everything they’ve tried to convince me of over the last five years was given up in one quarter. It’s such an about-face.”
Will Crypto Follow?
The news site further reported that “Disney fell as much as 5.2% in extended trading after Netflix reported its outlook, while Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., the owner of HBO Max, declined as much as 2.8%. Shares of Roku Inc., the maker of set-top boxes for streaming, dropped as much as 8.3%.”
Many have wondered if this could drag down the crypto market as well. An economist noted that the last time a sharp shed like this happened for Netflix (Jan 22, 2022), “it triggered [an over] 30% 4-day crash across crypto.” However, he added that he doesn’t think this will be an issue this time. “It’s now an idiosyncratic event.”
The global cryptocurrency market vaporized $1.4 trillion in value after Jan 22, 2022
The reason why many do not think this scenario will repeat is that the previous case was highly related to the macroeconomics –the general stock market sell-off over fear related to interest rate hikes in the U.S.–, while this time the indicator seems to be specific to the company’s declining demand.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Nosedives Below $38k As Tech Stocks Take A Beating, Pandemic Gains Disappears
Back in January, the company admitted that the competition is “affecting marginal growth some.” Now, besides the increasing competition, they stated that the bad performance in Q1 was partly due to a large amount of customers who share their passwords, estimating 100 million households that use the service technically for free.
They also pointed out macro factors, ” including sluggish economic growth, increasing inflation, geopolitical events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and some continued disruption from COVID are likely having an impact as well.”
Netflix completely missed their forecast for a 2.5 million growth in subscribes as well as Wall Street’s estimate, which also expected them to add that many users in the first quarter of 2022.
In contrast, the anti-crypto propaganda that calls it “too volatile” and “too risky”, claiming that investors need protection from it, is looking weak and pale today.
BREAKING NEWS:
Stock traders realise that tech can drop as fast as #Crypto can.
My condolences, Netflix investors. $NFLX
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) April 19, 2022
Around January 27, after the first big Netflix plunge of the year, Bill Ackman had reported that his hedge fund purchased more than 3.1 million shares of the company. That makes his position currently 387.5M down.
Related Reading | Majority Of Crypto Holders Will Hold Through An 80% Crash, New Survey Shows
“Somebody Always Knows”
The second big thing that contrasts with crypto is that the industry is often called a fraud scheme, but to some analysts, this NFLX scenario is giving signs of insider trading.
The Twitter account Unusual Whales noticed that “the most active hot chain before close” was $NFLX with $300 put. “And the top floor trades were all bearish.” This means that traders with put options probably made a lot of money. Which sounds like they knew something would happen.
Similarly, the account also noted that “A trader took a huge $NFLX put position, buying +100k at ~$2 ask 7 days ago. The position had 4500 volume that day, 41 volume the day before, expiring in a month. Likely made 1000%.”
Crypto total market cap value at $1,8 trillion in the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Meta may introduce tokens and digital currency lending services to apps: Report
The virtual currency, which employees have reportedly dubbed ‘Zuck Bucks’, will be aimed at use in the metaverse.
Australian competition regulator takes Meta to court over fake crypto ads
The ACCC highlighted unapproved or endorsed “scam” ads featuring prominent Australian figures such as entrepreneur Dick Smith, TV host David Koch and former NSW premier Mike Baird in particular.
Former Facebook Employees Get $200 Million To Create Blockchain System For Aptos
Silvergate Capital purchased Diem’s tech assets for $182 million earlier this year, ending the grandiose ambition of Facebook to create a blockchain payments network.
The transaction demonstrated how Facebook, now Meta, is left with few regulator-approved ways to become a key participant in the blockchain ecosystem.
Some ex-Meta workers are taking up the open-source Diem blockchain mantle in an attempt to accomplish the idea of a decentralized network that they claim is created to support billions of users. It is geared to cater to substantial corporate clients early on.
Blockchain System For Aptos
Aptos, a project founded by ex-Facebook employees who just left the firm in December, has already received unicorn money from Andreessen Horowitz and other prominent web3 investors.
Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh said in a recent blog post:
“We are the founders, researchers, designers, and builders of Diem, the first blockchain developed for this purpose… while the rest of the world never saw what we produced, our job is far from done.”
Aptos has revealed that it has secured $200 million in funding for its objective of developing a blockchain scalability system with participation from Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, 3 Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.
Silvergate Capital is another notable investor in the first round, while the Aptos team insists that they would not license or use any of Silvergate’s Diem IP as they build up their blockchain.
Related Article | Gloomy Crypto Future? Book Author Warns We’re In The Biggest Bubble In History
Crypto total market cap at $1.78 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com
Layer 1 System For Aptos
The Aptos blockchain will be a Layer 1 system, which means it will not be built on top of current blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana but will instead develop its decentralized network.
Along with the investment announcement, Aptos announced the official launch of its “devnet,” which will enable developers to explore and build on the Aptos blockchain before a public release, which the team believes will occur in Q3 of 2022.
Aptos’ goal is to create a more scalable blockchain with faster transactions and lower fees than today’s mainstream networks. The creators aspire to produce a more stable and predictable network for corporate customers interested in adopting blockchain technology.
No Direct Link With Facebook
While Diem supporters such as Andreessen Horowitz may gather behind a team attempting to take up the task of what Facebook was trying to establish with Diem and Libra, some in the crypto community remain wary of accomplishing a vision of web3 imagined by Facebook.
“To be clear, we have no official connection with Facebook and no funding from them,” Shaikh said.
Meanwhile, another challenge/opportunity that Aptos faces is how soon it can recruit developers. The company seeks to attract developers by using Move, an open-source programming language created by Meta.
Related Article | Abra CEO Predicts Ethereum Could Reach $40,000 – But Some Fintech Analysts Don’t Agree
Featured image from SiliconANGLE, chart from TradingView.com
Diem team members raise $200M to launch blockchain derived from it
“Since departing Meta (formerly Facebook) we have been able to put our ideas into motion, ditch bureaucratic red tape, and build an entirely new network,” Aptos stated.
‘Off the charts’: Zynga blockchain exec praises P2E gaming talent
Blockchain and the play-to-earn gaming movement could become even more addictive in 2022 as popular game developer Zynga fleshes out its team.
Browser-based metaverse Portals aims to remove the need to get a VR headset
Portals co-founder Adam Gomez explained that a browser-based platform lowers the barrier to enter metaverse for many people.
Crypto patent-sharing marks a step in democratizing knowledge ownership
As the Crypto Open Patent Alliance continues to onboard a growing list of high-profile clients, some experts believe the organization can truly transform the industry.
Majority of US consumers say no to Meta owning metaverse data: Survey
87% of respondents said they would switch to full-time gaming in the metaverse if the pay is good.