Daily Digest - 23 November 2022

Headlines

▌Meta CEO Zuckerberg Will Step down Next Year

Sources said that Meta CEO Zuckerberg will step down next year. Meta Platforms (META.O) rose in the short term and is now up more than 1%.

Cryptocurrency

▌Mango Attackers Liquidated after Aave Borrowed $20 Million Worth of Curve Tokens

Mango attacker Avraham Eisenberg used the decentralized lending platform Aave to borrow 40 million Curve (CRV) tokens (valued at $20 million at the time) and then transferred them to the OKEx cryptocurrency exchange. According to blockchain analytics firm Akrham, Eisenberg borrowed most of the CRV tokens on Aave with $40 million in the USDC stablecoin as collateral. He then sent 40 million CRV to cryptocurrency exchange OKEx in two transactions, according to blockchain data. All of Eisenberg’s CRV loans were liquidated, leaving Aave with $1.6 million in bad debt, according to Blockanalitica’s blockchain data. Eisenberg gained notoriety in crypto circles for exploiting a bug in October to drain $114 million from Solana-based DeFi protocol MangoMarkets. He then returned $67 million to Mango and defended his attempt.

▌Bloomberg Joe Weisenthal: Speculation on Cryptocurrency Prices Is the Only Source of Income for the Industry

Joe Weisenthal, co-host of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast, compared the ongoing cryptocurrency disaster to the 2008 mortgage crisis. While these crises may seem similar at first glance, according to Weisenthal, the main difference between them is that people still need housing. On the other hand, there are no basic human needs that must be met through cryptocurrencies. Speculation on cryptocurrency prices is the industry's only source of income, Weisenthal said. This is why key "fundamentals" also decline sharply during bear markets.

▌3AC Founder Zhu Su Told BBG That FTX Collapse May Set the Industry Back Seven or Eight Years or Even Longer

In a rare interview, Su Zhu discussed how the FTX devastations have taken a toll on the market. Moreover, he discussed how its failure will continue to have a negative impact on the industry, setting it back years. “Some industry leaders have said the FTX collapse set the industry back five years,” Zhu stated. “I think it’s even longer than that — seven or eight years — maybe even longer if the underlying issues aren’t solved.”

▌Magic Eden Is Integrating with the Polygon Network

Magic Eden, a leading cross-chain NFT marketplace, is integrating with the Polygon network to accelerate the development of exciting blockchain-based games and global brands entering Web3 in order to bring the next billion users to the metaverse. The collaboration has already brought key partnerships to Magic Eden, with game development giants BORA by Kakao Games, IntellaX, nay, Boomland, Block Games, Planet Mojo, and Taunt Battleworld ready to debut on its Polygon Launchpad coming out in December. These games will benefit from Magic Eden’s industry-leading distribution and go-to-market expertise, including project/concept positioning, pre-launch timeline planning, and connections to Web3 communities.

▌Tornado Cash Developer yet in Jail for Writing Code

Alexey Pertsev has been ordered to stay in jail until Feb. 20 after a Netherlands court found the Tornado Cash developer represented a flight risk. Pertsev has been held in detention since August, days after the U.S. Treasury used sanction powers against the Tornado protocol, which it said had been used to launder over a billion dollars' worth of cryptocurrencies and to support North Korean hackers. At the hearing on Tuesday, Dutch public prosecutor Martine Boerlage announced money-laundering charges for the first time. Boerlage had said little more about the case than a press release, but has now accused Pertsev of facilitating the processing of dirty money by writing the Tornado Cash code.

Key Economic Event

▌U.S. Stocks Closed, the Three Major Stock Indexes Closed up across the Board

U.S. stocks closed, and the three major stock indexes closed up. The Dow Jones Index closed up 397.82 points on November 22 (Tuesday), an increase of 1.18%, to 34098.1 points; the S&P 500 Index closed on November 22 (Tuesday) up 53.64 points, an increase of 1.36%, to 4003.58 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index closed on November 22 (Tuesday), up 149.95 points, an increase of 1.36%, to 11174.46 points.