NFT Sales Drop 5.4% to $193M, Ethereum Dominates with $107M in Sales: Weekly Recap

March 25, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Report: US Government Auctions Off Failed Banks SVB and SNBY, Crypto Restrictions Apply

March 16, 2023 Bitcoin.com

FDIC to attempt another auction of Silicon Valley Bank: Report

March 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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Regulators are planning another auction for Silicon Valley Bank after the previous attempt to find a new owner failed.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could be returning to the auction block with United States regulators taking a second attempt at finding a buyer for the now-collapsed bank.

According to a Mar. 13 report from the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) told Senate Republicans that they now have additional flexibility to sell the bank after regulators declared the SVB collapse a threat to the financial system.

The regulators first attempted an auction of the fallen bank on Mar. 11 — only a day after its closure. Bids were only open for a few hours.

However, the weekend auction reportedly saw no bids from major U.S. banks. There was at least one offer made by another institution — but that was declined by the FDIC.

1/Now that the SVB auction is live, know that we believe them to be a very attractive purchase given relationships and core business.

I expect that both banks and private capital will bid and there will be a lot of bids
— samir kaji (@Samirkaji) March 12, 2023

With SVB declared “systemic,” the FDIC has more leeway to offer incentives for bidders to buy the firm, such as loss-sharing agreements, according to the WSJ. However, a timetable has yet to be set for the second auction.

$SIVB. This is crazy. My understanding is that a lot of these assets have real value. https://t.co/6YgL8FyeoH
— David Adler (@DavidJAdler1991) March 13, 2023

The FDIC is an independent agency of the United States Government created to protect bank depositors from losing their insured deposits when a bank fails; it also helps with the institution's bankruptcy process, selling off any assets and settling debts.

California's financial watchdog shut down Silicon Valley Bank on Mar. 10 after announcing a significant sale of assets and stocks to raise $2.25 billion in capital and shore up operations.

Global banking giant HSBC has already come to the rescue of the United Kingdom-based branch of SVB, officially announcing on Mar. 13 that its subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank, is acquiring Silicon Valley Bank UK for 1 British pound ($1.21).

Report: Silicon Valley Bank Under FDIC Auction as Calls for Bailout Grow

March 12, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Makerdao Issues Emergency Proposal to Address $3.1B in USDC Collateral After Stablecoin Depegging Incident

March 11, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Nifty News: Jimmy Fallon wants exemption from BAYC trademark case

March 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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Jimmy Fallon wants out of the BAYC trademark case, while Blur is responsible for the NFT market’s three-month high.

Lawyers for Jimmy Fallon, star of NBC’s long-running comedy and variety series The Tonight Show, have filed a petition to “quash” a subpoena requiring him to testify in the Yuga Labs Inc. v. Ripps et al. case.

The lawyers claim that Fallon has no connection to the dispute, is not a party to the Ripps litigation, and has never met or interacted with Ryder Ripps, creative director of OKFocus or Jeremy Cahen, one of the founders of the alleged Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) “copycat.”

Yuga Labs is suing Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen for issuing a “copycat” nonfungible token (NFT) collection that resulted in trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition. The ongoing case has highlighted intellectual property and trademark rights within the NFT space.

While Fallon acquired a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT and talked about it on his show, he has nothing to do with the Yuga Labs and Ripps case, according to the petition.

Fallon is also a co-defendant with Paris Hilton in a separate securities litigation involving Yuga Labs.

Getty Images and Candy Digital to sell NFTs from Archives

Getty Images is partnering with NFT platform Candy Digital to offer rare photos in NFT form, starting with photographs from its 1970s music and culture collection.

In a tweet, Candy Digital revealed that the collection includes works by Don Paulsen, David Redfern and other photographers depicting iconic figures like Elvis, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones.

*Photos from the recording 70’s image collection*

The NFTs will be available for purchase on Candy Digital’s website starting on March 21, with prices ranging from $25 to $200. The release will be available to buyers in several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.

This partnership comes as the NFT market shows signs of growth, with marketplace volume increasing for the fourth consecutive month in February.

Forkast launches NFT price tracker indices

Forkast Labs, a data intelligence service formed by the merger of Forkast.News and NFT market tracker CryptoSlam, has launched a series of NFT indexes to provide real-time insights into the digital asset economy.

The Forkast 500 NFT index will measure performance across 21 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Cardano, and is designed to be a proxy of the entire NFT market.

*Forkast 500 NFT index tracks the performance of the global NFT market.*

The indexes aim to provide a more comprehensive measure of the health of the NFT economy, which is difficult to discern using traditional market rankings based on prices, sales and transaction volumes.

NFT market hits 3-month high as Blur responsible for high trades

The NFT market is experiencing a bullish trend, according to data derived from NFT tracker CryptoSlam, reaching a 3-month high for the second consecutive day with over 125,000 trades in the past 24 hours. Trading surpassed $2.04 billion last month, up 117% from $941 million in January.

This growth is due to Blur, an evolving market that surpassed OpenSea in trading volume just this month.

Blur’s trading volume jumped over $1.13 billion in February from the month prior, a statistic that accounts for almost all of the entire NFT market’s month-over-month gains.

Yuga Labs’ Twelvefold Collection of Ordinal Inscriptions Generates 735 Bitcoin, Worth More Than $16 Million

March 7, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Yuga Labs’ first Bitcoin NFT auction nets $16.5M in 24 hours

March 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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The highest of the 288 bidders forked out just over 7 BTC for one of the 288 Bitcoin Ordinals-based NFTs up for auction.

The auction for Yuga Labs’ inaugural Bitcoin Ordinal nonfungible token (NFT) collection has ended, netting the firm $16.5 million in just 24 hours.

A total of 288 bidders won one of the Bitcoin NFTs from the “TwelveFold” collection. Yuga said the winners will receive their inscription within one week, while the unsuccessful bids will have their bid amount returned within 24 hours.

The TwelveFold auction has ended. Congratulations to the top 288 bidders - you will receive your inscription within one week. Valid bids that did not rank in the top 288 will have their bid amount returned to their receiving address within 24 hours.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 6, 2023

The auction yielded 735 BTC worth an estimated $16.5 million at current prices. The highest of the 288 bidders paid just over 7 BTC or $161,000 for one of the pieces.

Top ten bids leaderboard - Source: twelvefold.io

Bottom ten bids, the lowest won #288 - Source: twelvefold.io

Yuga announced the collection in late February, describing it as a “base 12 art system localized around a 12×12 grid, a visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain.”

*TwelveFold #1 won by the highest bidder – Source: Yuga Labs*

It comprises a limited edition collection of 300 generative pieces inscribed on Satoshis on the BTC network. The lucky winners were eager to share their new NFTs online:

I was lucky enough to place a winning bid for a @yugalabs #Twelvefold #BTC ordinal. Can’t wait to see how this ages in the decades to come. Won’t ever catch me fading #yuga. Also… Massive props to @nftsupply for the help setting up a wallet etc. He’s a huge resource for us all. pic.twitter.com/g8fSDIfhzX
— Carsonturner.eth ATL (@carsonturner) March 6, 2023

As reported by Cointelegraph, Yuga Labs received backlash over the weekend from the crypto community who identified flaws in how it conducted the auction for the Ordinals collection.

‘Scammers dream’ — Yuga’s auction model for Bitcoin NFTs sees criticism

March 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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Yuga Labs' first Bitcoin NFT collection saw some backlash from the crypto community over the weekend, pointing to flaws in the way it's conducting the auction.

Nonfungible token (NFT) conglomerate Yuga Labs is facing some criticism from the cryptocurrency community, including the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, over how it plans to auction its new Bitcoin NFT collection.

On Mar. 5, Yuga opened bids for its “TwelveFold” collection which will see 300 NFT-like images inscribed on Satoshis using the Bitcoin-native Ordinals protocol, with 288 from the collection sent to the highest 288 bidders.

The auction for TwelveFold has begun and will conclude on the block immediately prior to 3pm PT tomorrow, March 6th, 2023. Good luck.https://t.co/gvl8IHpekC pic.twitter.com/xGWU9jdCoO
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 5, 2023

According to a Mar. 5 press release, those participating in the bidding process will be required to send their entire bid amount in BTC to a unique BTC address controlled by Yuga. Winners would simply pay up the BTC they bid, while Yuga said it would return the BTC to those unsuccessful in placing a top bid.

Such a plan however has earned the ire of some within the crypto community, with some pointing out that having to manually conduct refunds for unsuccessful bids is like the “stone age.”

so the way yugas auction will work tomorrow is everyone sends Bitcoin to one wallet and if you lose the bid they promise to manually send it back

likely tens of millions of dollars

we’re still in the stone age
— Giancarlo (@GiancarloChaux) March 5, 2023

The user behind an Ordinals-focused Twitter account “ordinally” called the auction model a “scammers dream” and added while they doubt Yuga would keep the BTC from failed bids, the way it carried out the auction sets a “REALLY bad precedence.”

Yuga is establishing REALLY bad precedence running an auction like this. They are taking custody of bidders’ bitcoin with a promise to send back unsuccessful bids. Not doubting they’ll do that, but this model is a scammer’s dream, and credible players need to set better example.
— ordinally (@veryordinally) March 6, 2023

The post even saw a response from Bitcoin Ordinals creator himself Casey Rodarmor, who hotly weighed in on the discussion telling Yuga to “get fucked” and called the conduct of the auction “degenerate bullshit.”

He added if Yuga were to conduct a similar auction he would encourage others to boycott the project.

Dear @yugalabs,@veryordinally is right. Actions like this prove that for some entities and people: “Once a shitcoiner always a shitcoiner.”

If I, personally, Casey Rodarmor, ever see you, Yuga labs, the entity, fuck around with degenerate bullshit like this again, I will wash… https://t.co/COARsn4X0o
— Casey Rodarmor (@rodarmor) March 6, 2023

Other users pointed out the shortcomings of the auction system, saying it's possible some could overpay for a TwelveFold due to a possible significant price discrepancy between the highest and lowest bids in the top 288.

yuga is going to make a lot of money with twelvefold haha pic.twitter.com/UF7efYmN0k
— frankdegods.eth (@frankdegods) March 5, 2023

Despite the criticism from some, many were happy to see a large project such as Yuga — who rose to prominence due to multiple Ethereum-based NFT collections — bridge across to Bitcoin.

Ordinally, who earlier criticized the collection, later tweeted appreciation of “the fact Yuga took the effort to attempt [to] go a Bitcoin route when setting up this auction.”

To give credit where credit is due - I really appreciate the fact Yuga took the effort to attempt and go a Bitcoin route when setting up this auction. Somewhat irrationally it pains me even more to see a bitcoin approach setting bad precedent, than an ETH based approach …
— ordinally (@veryordinally) March 6, 2023

An Ordinals-based collection, Ordinal Pizza OG, expressed excitement at Yuga’s BTC collection and called it a “massive net positive for Ordinals.”

The criticisms weren’t enough to stop cashed-up bidders from wanting to try to cement a top spot to nab Yuga’s first BTC collection.

At the time of writing the top bid was 1.11 BTC (around $25,000) according to the TwelveFold website with the lowest bid registered showing as 0.011 BTC, or around $250.

Bitcoin-Based NFTs Cross 200,000 Ordinal Inscriptions, Yuga Labs Launches Twelvefold Collection

February 28, 2023 Bitcoin.com

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Getty Images and Candy Digital to sell NFTs from Archives

Forkast launches NFT price tracker indices

NFT market hits 3-month high as Blur responsible for high trades

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