Pixelverse, Telegram Game X Accounts Suspended | Biden Withdraws | Weekly News Recap

GM. In today’s weekly recap, we will cover:

We are very excited to go to Davao this week to meet the crypto community in our meetup, as well as during the Mindanao Traders Expo!

Special thanks to our platinum sponsors and co-organizers: Whizkid Academy and Coinex Charity.

Also to our gold sponsor Coins.ph, who I believe might be bringing the roulette during the meetup!

Proof-of-Roulette:

Photo for the Article - Pixelverse, Telegram Game X Accounts Suspended | Biden Withdraws | Weekly News Recap

Well then, onwards to today’s weekly news recap!

Market Updates 📈

Here are the crypto highlights of the week:

Bitcoin is up 11% vs the previous seven days, now at $67,987.
The weekly top gainer in the top 100 coins is WIF ($2.80), up 58%.
The weekly top loser in the top 100 is Aave ($98.37), down 5.8%
Noteworthy: Boden ($0.008) is up 62.5% vs the past week. (More about this in the Feature Article section.)

Upcoming Event! BitPinas Community Meetup in Davao 📺

[All Slots are FULL!] BitPinas, in collaboration with our partners, is excited to host a community meetup in Davao City! This is a gathering of crypto enthusiasts from the north and south to come together, share insights, and connect with leaders and industry experts.

Date: July 25, 2024
Time: 6PM to 9PM
Register here: https://bit.ly/bitpinas-davao (Slots are full but just in case..)

Feature Story: Kamala Harris Meme Coin Price Soars After Biden Exits Race

This section is an excerpt from this article.

Kamala Harris meme coin (KAMA) has skyrocketed in value after President Joe Biden announced he is not running for re-election.

What’s the significance: Biden’s decision changes the political race and, perhaps unfortunately or fortunately, the political meme coin market, with KAMA now leading in popularity among political meme coins.

This rise shows how traders are increasingly betting on political events through meme coins, blending politics with cryptocurrency trends.

The numbers:

KAMA Price: Reached 2 cents, a new high.
Market Cap: $24 million.
BODEN Coin: Fell by nearly 50%.
TREMP Coin: Rose by over 20%.

Check out the full article here: News Brief: Kamala Harris Meme Coin Price Soars After Biden Exits Race

Developing Story: Pixelverse and More Tap-To-Earn Games X Accounts Suspended

Pixelverse and many tap-to-earn games got their X accounts suspended early today.

Fresh details:

At the time this is written, Pixelverse got its account reinstated but its posts got wiped out.
The following accounts are also affected:
- Tomarket (BitPinas article)
- Dogs (BitPinas article)
- Avadgold coin
- Even the founder of Pixelverse got their account suspended.

Why are they suspended?

It appears the X accounts of these games got suspended due to many X users reporting them for scamming and fraudulent activities:

It should be noted that:

Pixelverse, raised $7.5 million in 2 funding rounds.
Tomarket has raised money from Bitget.
Notcoin has launched a game accelerator.
Even Pixels is considering to launch a TG game.

What’s next:

As this is a community mob report, expect the X accounts to get reinstated soon.

This is a developing story which will be updated throughout the day if there are new relevant information.

Weekly Recap: Local Crypto News 🇵🇭

Ben&Ben’s official YouTube account, along with those of other artists like SB19 and Rico Blanco, were hacked to livestream a fraudulent XRP promotion.
Coinex Filipino shared the highlights of its participation in the University Tour in Baguio City.
YGG execshighlighted the importance of digital literacy during the YGG PH Roadtrip event.
- The YGG Guild Advancement Program Season 6 is now live.
ICP Hub PH announced the participation of its co-founder Nelson Lumbres at the World of Consumer Electronics Expo on Aug. 7-10.
The Philippines ranked 6th in the submissions for the Superteam Talent Olympics.
Creta to beta launch web3 gaming platform in PH.
Ownly announced its partnership with ANMB community and Alex the Parrot in running Ownchain nodes.
Coins.phlisted PlatOn Network’s $LAT token.
- Coins.ph announced Learn-and-earn opportunity with Creta which will happen on July 24; 100 winners will each take home 400 $CRETA.
- PHPC stablecoin is now also live on Katana DEX.
PDAX listed $CELO token.
Paytaca shared its new merchant partner in Hong Kong, Corner S–its first partner outside the Philippines.

Educational Corner 🎓

Check out our new and updated guides:

Other learning opportunities in video format through BitPinas interviews and webcasts.
Guide to Telegram game Dogs.
Recall Hamster Kombat’s game guide and airdrop guide.
Catizenarticle on how to play the game.

Regulation Watch 📜

Stay informed about the latest regulatory updates from here and around the world and what they mean for you:

South Korea‘s right-wing People Power Party proposed delaying the implementation of a 20% tax on cryptocurrency gains from 2025 to 2028.
A judge granted Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s request for a three-month trial delay, originally set for September 23, 2024, now postponed to December 2.
Hong Kong is enhancing its ability to trace and disrupt illicit crypto activities, leveraging expertise gained through recent cases such as a kidnapping involving a ransom demand in Tether (USDT).
The US SEC concluded its three-year investigation into the Stacks blockchain and its developer, Hiro Systems, without taking any action.
Hong Kong‘s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau stated that it will soon publish the results of a consultation on stablecoin issuers, aiming to establish a legislative framework that includes licensing requirements and regulatory measures for stablecoin issuers.
- Hong Kong police arrested three individuals for allegedly swindling a businessman out of HK$3.11 million in Tether coins using bundles of fake HK$1,000 banknotes.
- The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) added seven unregulated crypto exchanges to its alert list for operating without licenses.
Former President Donald Trump has selected pro-crypto Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential candidate.
Nigerian crypto billionaire Linus Williams was detained for suspected cryptocurrency fraud, terrorism funding, and regulatory non-compliance, underscoring intensified efforts to tackle cybercrime.
FTX and the US CFTC agreed to a $12.7 billion settlement, which includes $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement, pending approval from a Delaware judge.
North Tonawanda, New York, imposed a two-year ban on new cryptocurrency mining operations following unanimous approval from the Common Council.
Argentina implemented rules for the normalization of previously undeclared assets, including cryptocurrencies, under the recently passed Omnibus Law.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is intensifying efforts to combat tax evasion in the cryptocurrency sector through Operation Hidden Treasure, investigating nearly 400 cases and recommending prosecution for over half of them.
Taiwan passed new anti-money laundering (AML) legislation requiring crypto service providers to register for AML compliance.
Russia‘s money laundering watchdog advocates for expediting cryptocurrency payment infrastructure amid Western regulatory pressures.
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), Animoca Brands, and three other entities joined the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s stablecoin issuer sandbox.

Community Spotlights 🔦

The following people were feature in last week’s community spotlights:

Joniel “JB” Bon, the founder of NFTxStreet, a web3 service provider guild. (July 16)
Gabby Dizon, the co-founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG). (July 17)
Wei Zhou, the CEO of Coins.ph. (July 18)
Dell Omasas, the Philippines Lead at ViaWallet and Coinex Charity. (July 19)

At the Scene 📍

On the ground activations and more:

Regional Blockchain Conference 2024:

Solana Blinks Buidlstation:

DOST-ASTI, Superteam, and The BLOKC partnership signing:

More Web3 and AI News 💡

Discover the latest in web3 and AI innovation.

Top VCs invested $85 million in AI-crypto startup Sentient, impressed by its strong founding team and ambitious vision to create an open-source, monetizable artificial general intelligence platform.
Partior, a blockchain settlement network, raised $60 million in a Series B funding round; to enhance its real-time, cross-border, multi-currency clearing and settlement capabilities.
Wirex and Visa expanded their partnership to enhance the adoption of digital currencies in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA), focusing on integrating innovative Visa cards to streamline payment experiences.
Bima Labs, a developer of the Bitcoin-backed stablecoin USBD, raised $2.25 million in a seed funding round; the funds will support Bima’s plans to launch USBD’s mainnet and governance token.
Fracton Ventures announced DAO TOKYO 2024, an event scheduled for August 21-22, 2024, at Tokyo’s Kanda Myojin Shrine, aimed at advancing Japan’s leadership in web3 technology and DAOs.
Solana Superteam and DroppGroup formed a strategic partnership aimed at advancing Web3 adoption and digital technology in Saudi Arabia.
Zeebu, a web3 payment platform, plans to launch the ZBU Protocol to revolutionize B2B payments with substantial rewards and decentralized finance innovations.
Crypto trading firm XBTO established a tokenization team to focus on real-world assets such as corporate debt issuance and real estate.
Uniswap Labs publicly launched its wallet browser extension on Chrome, which supports 11 blockchains; and allows users to manage their crypto transactions directly from the browser’s sidebar.
Mira, a crypto-AI startup, raised $9 million in a seed funding round; the firm is set to build a decentralized AI infrastructure platform aimed at simplifying AI app development for developers.
OKX Wallet announced its support for The Open Network (TON), marking its 100th mainnet blockchain integration.
- OKX is ceasing all services in Nigeria by August 30 due to recent local regulatory changes.
Zodia Markets, backed by Standard Chartered’s venture arm, is acquiring Elwood Technologies’ over-the-counter (OTC) trading division to support its daily trading volumes.
Animoca Brands Japan partnered with BONSAI NFT CLUB to promote Japanese bonsai art in Web3 through marketing and token strategy support, aiming for global recognition via NFTs.
Allium Labs raised $16.5 million in a Series A funding round and released findings showing stablecoin activity has increased in 2024.

Web3 Gaming Section 🎮

Listen to our latest episode

The future of web3 is gaming, and here are the latest news.

Pixelverse raised an additional $2 million in private funding, totaling $7.5 million, to expand its cyberpunk-themed game and enhance accessibility to cryptocurrency through gaming mechanics.
Eden Games, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, launched Cosmic Royale, a Web3 kart racing game within Animoca’s Motorverse ecosystem.
Catizen is preparing to launch its Game Center by the end of 2024, aiming to support and accelerate Web3 game development.
Delabs Games launched a new Telegram clicker game called Giga Chad Bat.
Metarush, a party racing royale akin to Fall Guys, has been listed on the web3 native game store HyperPlay ahead of its public beta launch on both the MetaMask-integrated platform and the Epic Games Store.
Eragon launched its V1 platform, aiming to revolutionize web3 mobile gaming with features like a comprehensive SDK, gaming layers integrating traditional and blockchain gaming, and AI-powered anti-cheating measures.
MON Protocol, a web3 publisher of intellectual property and games, launched MON Ventures, aiming to fund blockchain gaming studios and startups at seed and pre-Token Generation Event stages.
Fight Out, preparing for the launch of its MMA fantasy fighting Play-to-Earn game, is migrating its $FGHT token from Ethereum to Polygon to reduce gas fees and enhance gameplay.
BinaryX, a web3 gaming developer, announced a community vote to burn 74% of its BNX tokens, reducing the maximum supply from 2.2 billion to 580 million.
Stardust launched Starbase, a new platform within the Starnet ecosystem, offering 25 missions and partnerships with games like Shrapnel and Cambria.
Pixelverse launched Pixelchain, the first EVM-compatible Layer 2 solution for the TON blockchain.
Horizon and Ubisoft partnered for Champions Tactics, Ubisoft’s debut web3 game using Horizon’s Sequence tech stack.

Upcoming Event 📅

Our Davao meetup is happening this July 25th, see you there!
Mindanao Trader’s Expo – July 25-26, 2024
BitBulaga “Portfolio Construction in a Bull or Bear Market” – July 27, 2024

Noteworthy 🌟

Key updates and announcements from around the crypto and blockchain world:

A dormant Bitcoin wallet containing 1,000 BTC, worth about $12,000 in 2012 and now valued over $60 million, transferred its funds to a new address after nearly 12 years of inactivity.
Celsius reached a settlement with KeyFi founder Jason Stone, agreeing to liquidate tokens and hundreds of valuable NFTs transferred from KeyFi.
CoinStatsreported a June hack that resulted in the theft of $2.2 million worth of cryptocurrency from 1,590 wallets, with the North Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group identified as the likely attacker.
Philip Gradwell, former chief economist at Chainalysis, has been appointed as the head of economics at Tether, where he will focus on quantifying the Tether economy to regulators.
BlackRock‘s assets under management surpassed $10 trillion in the second quarter, rising nearly 13% from the previous year to $10.6 trillion.
Huione Pay, a Cambodian payments company connected to the country’s ruling family, inadvertently received over $150,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a wallet associated with North Korean hackers Lazarus between June last year and February this year.
Crypto exchange Kraken signed a sleeve sponsorship deal with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and recently announced a similar deal with Spanish team Atlético Madrid.
In the second quarter of 2024, memecoins, real-world assets (RWA), and artificial intelligence (AI) led the crypto narratives, collectively accounting for 36% of CoinGecko’s web traffic categories.
Berlin-based cryptocurrency trading aggregator LI.FI suffered an $8 million hack, with blockchain security firm PeckShield noting the breach involved a previously known exploit.
Craig Wright has been ordered by UK Judge James Mellor to publicly state on his website, Slack, and X that he is not Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, following a ruling that found him dishonest in his claims.
NatureRex introduced $REXN, an eco-oriented cryptocurrency designed to merge financial innovation with environmental responsibility by dedicating a portion of every transaction fee to fund environmental projects.
The TON Foundation announced TON Teleport BTC, an infrastructure that facilitates transfers between Bitcoin and TON.
Blockchain-friendly Roberta Metsola has been reelected as President of the European Parliament, securing 562 out of 699 votes.
Kraken Institutional expanded its custody service to clients in the UK and Australia to provide institutions with secure fund storage, management, and transfer capabilities.