Last week in review: Diddy does DeFi

by Team Luno
· 3 minute read

Diddy (hip) hops on the DeFi train, a top English football club goes non-fungible, and there was more crypto adoption for major institutions. It may have been a turbulent week in the markets, but there’s always a bright side in crypto. Here’s the pick of last week’s headlines.

China to drastically reduce BTC mining

The FUD last week was centred mainly around China, giving a nice respite from Elon and the environment. Much of this was old news, with the Chinese government simply reiterating old rules. The only new development was news that the country is set to review its mining policies, leading to speculation that a government crackdown could be set to spark a dramatic shift of hash rate out of the country. Jiang Zhuoer, the operator of major Chinese mining pool Lebit Mining, says the implications mean that China will no longer be a BTC mining capital of the world: “The top mining pools may become European and American.”

According to MicroStrategy CEO and Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor, the expected spread of bitcoin mining is ultimately a good thing, and for several reasons.

The man has a way with words.

MicroStrategy buys the dip

Bitcoin bulls like Michael Saylor fear no man, and certainly no market dip. His business intelligence firm MicroStrategy this week bought another 229 BTC amidst the chaos for $10 million cash, adding to their stack of 91,843 BTC. The listed firm now holds 92,079 BTC, which it bought for a total of $2.251 billion, at an average price of $43,663 per bitcoin.

It’s no wonder Michael Saylor has laser eyes.

Wells Fargo to roll out actively managed crypto strategy

Wells Fargo is the latest in a string of banks to hop on the crypto bandwagon, with their investment management division working on a crypto investments strategy set to be rolled out in mid-June.

This will come as a welcomed surprise to clients of Wells Fargo. In December last year, John LaForge, Head of Real-Asset Strategy at Wells Fargo said the bank wasn’t recommending bitcoin because they simply didn’t have the infrastructure. Shortly before LaForge’s comments, bitcoin hit its record high of $19,245. Just four months later, it hit $63,729.

On Wednesday, President of Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Darrell Cronk explained, “We think the cryptocurrency space has just kind of hit an evolution and maturation of its development that allows it now to be a viable investable asset.”

Which big bank will be next?

Diddy just do that? Rapper Diddy invests in DeFi app

American rapper Sean Combs, aka Diddy, has been revealed as one of several A-lister investors for crypto-powered banking app, Eco. Diddy has long advocated for crypto adoption, having made his first utterances about the power of smart contracts and decentralised data in 2018.

Diddy’s latest move in the cryptosphere puts him alongside other Eco investors, including comedian Tiffany Haddish, National Football League players Larry Fitzgerald and Kelvin Beachum Jr., musician Justin “3LAU” Blau and soccer player Keisuke Honda.

Andy Bromberg, CEO at Eco says, “These investors are role models to so many people around the world.”

Man City to the blue moon; Latest Premier League champs mark title win with NFT

English football club Manchester City FC is celebrating its Premier League win by launching a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The collection, which is aptly named 1, will commemorate their table-topping victory.

Creating the NFT artwork is New York-based artist Jon Noorlander, who will make his unique pieces available on NFT platform MarkersPlace, the day after Manchester City receive their trophy. There will also be a free random draw, where one lucky fan will take ownership of an edition of “The Champions Medal.”

Not only does Manchester City take this year’s title, but they become the first Premier League side to mark a title victory with a collection of NFTs. A much more exciting prize, as we’re sure the club’s fans will agree.

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