Cryptocurrency prices was down Monday, continuing the bad news that has rocked the sector, but one analyst sees possibilities in Metaverse and gaming-related tokens.
Bitcoin, the world's most popular and largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was down 2.4% to $37,064, while ether was off 2.9% to $2,543 and dogecoin slipped 2.5% to $0.139105.
'Unprecedented M&A and Partnership Transactions'
Winston Ma, managing partner of CloudTree Ventures, Author of The Digital War – How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace”
“Despite of broad crypto sell-off amid US Fed rate hiking risk, Metaverse and gaming-related tokens have stayed resilient, thanks to the unprecedented M&A and partnership transactions among major tech and gaming companies," he said.
Ma said that on Friday The Sandbox, a decentralized gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, partnered with Warner Music Group (WMG) to create a music-themed world in the Metaverse.
In the past two weeks, he added, Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) acquired Zynga (ZNGA) for $12.7 billion, followed by the nearly $70 billion blockbuster deal of Microsoft (MSFT) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI).
Meanwhile, China’s Tencent Holdings (TCHEY) is working on its billion-dollar acquisition of UK game developer and publisher Sumo Group.
"Games are a massive global industry that expands across demographics," Ma said. "There are over 2.7 billion gamers globally. That’s 1 in 3 people."
Ma added that the convergence of tech and gaming companies is "accelerating the integration of blockchain into the mobile games, which in turn will convert more game players into crypto players.”
'Environmental Impact'
Separately, David Lesperance, managing partner of immigration and tax adviser at Lesperance & Associates, bitcoin Miners are in the hot-seat with US regulators who are looking at the environmental impact of their activity."
"Whether originally Chinese or native Americans, operators in this space need to make sure that their energy use is as efficient as possible and that their energy source be as green as possible," Lesperance said. "The move to next generation equipment and staking is being accelerated."
He noted a recent Reuters story on Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange and its founder Changpeng Zhao "and its on-going tribulations with regulators."
The report details the significant issues that various regulators have had with Binance and Zhang himself on establishing robust "Know Your Client” (“KYC”) and anti-money laundering procedures and standards, Lesperance said.
"This report is certain to bring even more heat onto Binance, CZ and Crypto-Exchanges generally," he said.
Zhao has skyrocketed to become the world's eleventh-wealthiest person, amassing a fortune of $96 billion — even without calculating the value of his personal crypto holdings, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
Lesperance said he told Reuters that while accumulating their billions in personal net worth, founders like Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, "need to develop effective backup plans and supporting professionals to protect their wealth and persons."
Otherwise they need look no further than former BitMex CEO Arthur Hayes, who was charged by federal authorities with violating the Bank Secrecy Act, he said, "to see what their futures will look like."
