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Episode 123 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded live with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Cryptex co-founder Joe Sticco.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or click here to watch the full interview on YouTube. Email feedback and revision requests can be sent to podcast@theblockcrypto.com.

A DeFi protocol known as Cryptex offers a permissionless way to speculate on the total crypto market capitalization through its novel index token, TCAP.

Now, Cryptex is on the verge of releasing its newest index token, JPEGz, which will allow holders to track the total market cap of NFTs on Ethereum.

In this episode of The Scoop, Cryptex co-founder Joe Sticco shares the details behind the upcoming JPEGz NFT index token, including why the index token is a good way to speculate on the future growth of the NFT sector.

According to Sticco, the list of NFT collections included in the JPEGz index token is dynamic, which ensures that whenever a hot new NFT project crops up in the future, it will be included in the index.

As Sticco explains,

“NFTs are literally in their infancy. I look at them now and it’s like where crypto was in 2017 — we had that first bust cycle now, and now we’re in the ground, and who knows what happens next, but JPEGs is going to be the ability to track the NFT market cap.”

During this episode, Chaparro and Sticco also discuss:

• How Cryptex’s index tokens maintain peg;
• Why only the strongest teams survive crypto winter;
• Why crypto index products are ideal for traditional firms entering the space.

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Tron, Ledn
About Tron
TRON is dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and decentralized applications (dApps). Founded in September 2017 by H.E. Justin Sun, the TRON network has continued to deliver impressive achievements since MainNet launch in May 2018. July 2018 also marked the ecosystem integration of BitTorrent, a pioneer in decentralized web3 services boasting over 100 million monthly active users. The TRON network completed full decentralization in December 2021 and is now a community-governed DAO. | TRONDAO | Twitter | Discord |

About Ledn
Ledn was founded on the unshakeable conviction that digital assets have the power to democratize access to the global economy. We help you to experience the real life benefits of your Bitcoin without having to sell it. Start a savings account, take out a loan, or double your Bitcoin. For more information visit Ledn.io

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt shared a package of 30 regulatory reforms for the UK’s financial services, in an effort to boost economic growth post-Brexit. Issuing a digital pound, experimenting with blockchain and boosting investment in crypto businesses made the cut. 

The Chancellor’s 30-point Edinburgh Reforms, released on Friday, are meant to “turbocharge growth.” Among them is a push for the UK’s financial sector to be at the forefront of innovation.

The government is committing to publish a consultation on establishing a central bank digital currency for the UK. The Treasury and the Bank of England continue to investigate the digital pound, as plenty of jurisdictions around the world scramble to issue their own central bank-backed digital coin.

Crypto assets are also getting a lucky break. The Investment Management Exemption will extend to crypto, which will encourage overseas investors to bring their funds into the UK’s crypto industry.

The government is recommitting to a Financial Markets Infrastructure Sandbox, where firms will be able to experiment with decentralized technologies in a regulated space. The sandbox is expected to launch in 2023. 

Consumer protection from emerging technologies also has a place in the package. The government is looking to reform the 1974 Consumer Credit Act to encourage innovation and cut costs.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto firm Amber Group is making various business-related cuts as it struggles to weather the ongoing crypto winter.

The Singapore-based crypto trading and lending platform’s expansion plans have been put on hold after raising half of a planned $100 million funding round, according to the Financial Times. It is also cutting jobs and ending a £20 million ($25 million) yearly sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Speculation has run rampant over recent days as to Amber’s health. Though the firm claimed it had no exposure to Alameda Research, the collapsed trading firm associated with the also-collapsed crypto exchange FTX, it actively traded on FTX and experienced withdrawal issues — leading many to assume its finances were significantly impacted. Amber managing partner Annabelle Huang claims less than 10% of the firm’s trading capital was stuck on FTX.

Concerns over Ambers’ health also haven’t been relieved by the news it will further cut staff down from roughly 700 to less than 400, according to Bloomberg. The Financial Times also reports that the office was thinly staffed during a visit to its Hong Kong office on Thursday. Amber previously trimmed its headcount in September.

The untimely death of 30-year-old co-founder Tiantian Kullander also weighs heavily on Amber and does it no favors regarding investor confidence.

Speaking to the FT, Annabelle Huang pushed back against “predatory and misinformed” reports by stating that there is “no disruption to daily operations” — reiterating previous statements. Huang also noted that the funding round should not be considered unsuccessful because Amber is “not under pressure to raise capital.”

Looking ahead, Amber will reportedly move to a cheaper office in Hong Kong and may close some smaller regional offices, and attracting new clients may prove more difficult than in the past.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his attorney did not respond to the Senate Banking Committee’s demand that he testify or otherwise cooperate with an investigation into his failed corporate empire. 

“Sam Bankman-Fried’s counsel did not respond by the stated deadline. We believe it’s important that Bankman-Fried show he is willing to provide transparency and accountability to the American people by providing testimony,” the committee’s leaders, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said in a statement issued late Thursday. “We will continue to work on having him appear before Congress as detailed in Wednesday’s letter.”

That letter threatens Bankman-Fried with a congressional subpoena if he doesn’t cooperate, with the pair setting a deadline of 5 p.m. EST today. The Banking Committee scheduled a hearing on the topic for next Wednesday. 

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to comment when reached by The Block earlier. 

The embattled crypto mogul has given several media interviews since the collapse of his company, detailing his version of the story, but punted on an earlier invitation from the House Financial Services Committee, saying he wanted to wait until he has, “finished learning and reviewing what happened,” to the companies he ran and owns. 

Congressional subpoenas for testimony are a rare last resort, partially due to complications of enforcing them. In the event that he does not respond to one, a contempt of Congress charge would go through the Justice Department, which already is investigating FTX’s collapse. 

The current Congress also will end soon, with newly elected and freshly re-elected lawmakers beginning a new one next month. However, Brown will retain his chairmanship of the Senate committee into the new Congress in January, giving him continued control over the committee’s investigation into FTX and Bankman-Fried. 

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is the presumptive replacement as the committee’s top Republican, a position commonly referred to as ranking member. Toomey will retire at the end of this Congress. 

With additional reporting by Colin Wilhelm. 

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bitcoin miner 360 Mining raised $2.25 million in a new funding round and plans to deploy the funds to increase natural gas production and mining capacity. 

The company’s plans were revealed by Bitcoin mining software company Luxor, which said it is participating in the funding around, along with BT Growth Capital. 

360 Mining previously raised $6 million in a seed round in October 2021. The company is ramping up production at a time when some of the largest Bitcoin miners are struggling to pay the bills. The fall of bitcoin value, combined with high spot energy prices and increased mining difficulty, has squeezed miner profits.

360 Mining currently operates a 2 megawatt capacity site in Texas, allowing for a hashrate of 45 PH/s. The new funds will allow it to increase gas production eightfold, CEO Chris Alfano told The Block over Telegram. He anticipates adding 90 PH/s by the first quarter of 2023.

“We expect to replicate our model on larger gas assets that we can acquire throughout 2023,” Alfano said, adding that the company plans to reach 50 megawatts of capacity by the end of next year.

Being fully integrated is a key part of the company’s strategy to “thrive in turbulent markets,” the CEO explained.

“By owning the underlying energy resource, 360 Mining is able to adapt and remain profitable in turbulent markets by monetizing produced gas across three uncorrelated markets,” Luxor said in a statement. They include Bitcoin mining, traditional gas sales and electricity sales.

Access to low-cost energy has become essential to survival, and the use of stranded gas by companies like Crusoe has grown in popularity.

360 Mining’s natural gas, however, is not stranded — for many reasons. First, it “provides a revenue stream uncorrelated to BTC” and therefore more balance sheet flexibility, Alfano said. Second, it allows for greater gas volumes in a single location and thus more scalability.

“Finding stranded gas is hard, finding large volumes of stranded gas is needle in the haystack,” he added.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto developer activity for Ethereum and non Ethereum-compatible chains has seen significant declines in 2022.

Weekly active developers for non-EVM chains, or chains not easily compatible with Ethereum, have seen the most significant decline, according to data from The Block. Ethereum and Ethereum-compatible chains have also seen dips in activity, with Ethereum itself still maintaining a significant share of all activity.

Developer activity is a statistic used to gauge the health of a blockchain ecosystem; more specifically, it can be used as an indicator of developers building “killer applications” that are bringing value to users, according to Electric Capital. The metric can have a snowball effect either way, as more activity can attract more users, which in turn attracts more developers. 

Developer activity generally mirrors overall on-chain activity and prices, The Block research analyst Kevin Peng said. When money is taken out of the ecosystem, as happened this year, there’s less money to fund new projects and developers. There’s also less incentive for quick returns.

Arbitrum outlier 

Although activity for EVM and non-EVM chains is down significantly, unique contracts deployed on Ethereum scaling platform Arbitrum have seen significant increases in the fourth quarter, according to Gokustats. This could be due to continued speculation around the Arbitrum token airdrop, which caused transaction costs on the chain to spike at the end of June and a surge to all-time highs in daily transaction count, according to The Block data.

It also could be an indication that applications and builders in other ecosystems, such as Avalanche’s largest decentralized exchange by volume Trader Joe, have taken notice of Arbitrum of late.

“It is the leading Layer 2 that has built up organically over time so it is filled with genuine builders,” said Trader Joe’s pseudononymous marketing and community lead Blue on their motivation for launching on Arbitrum. “We want the Liquidity Book AMM to be part of that story.” 

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Shari Glazer, who sued Aptos Lab CEO Mo Shaikh and claimed she had been cheated out of of an equity stake in the new firm, now says the case is resolved. 

“I am happy to resolve this matter and am delighted to devote my time to new web3 projects and charitable endeavors moving forward,” Glazer said in a statement. She is both an entrepreneur and CEO of Kalos Labs, a web3 company.

Glazer’s announcement comes roughly two months after a judge denied Shaikh’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In October, the court did, however, dismiss four legal claims, including fraud while allowing the case to proceed on the merits of determining if there had been a breach of agreement, unjust enrichment, or if Glazer was entitled to a 50% stake in Matonee, also known as Aptos Labs.

Aptos Labs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Glazer alleged Shaikh launched a “fraudulent scheme” meant to deprive her of her rightful share of a partnership in Aptos as a potential early-stage investor. Former Meta employees founded Aptos with the intention of creating a scalable Layer 1 blockchain, able to service billions of people.

Around the time Glazer’s lawsuit was filed Shaikh said in a statement that “Shari Glazer’s allegations are filled with material inaccuracies and mischaracterizations that attempt to take credit for the work of others.”

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Payments giant PayPal will allow customers in Luxembourg to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash in their accounts.

“Adding Luxembourg is an important step in PayPal’s mission to make digital currencies more accessible,” the company said. “We are committed to continuing to work closely with regulators and policymakers in Luxembourg to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”

In June, the company rolled out new features allowing users to transfer crypto between PayPal and other wallets.

“Adding the ability to transfer, send, and receive cryptocurrencies is another step in our journey to building a more inclusive and effective financial system,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, SVP and GM of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies at PayPal.

PayPal launched into the crypto business first in the U.S. in 2020, later expanding into the UK in 2021.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Three U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill that would ask the Environmental Protection Agency to study crypto mining activity and require that miners that use more than 5 megawatts of power submit information on their greenhouse gas emissions. 

Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., sponsored the legislation, dubbed the “Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act.” The lawmakers say the oversight is needed for the U.S. to achieve its sustainability targets by the end of the decade, and it’s been endorsed by the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Environmental Working Group and Seneca Lake Guardian.

“This bill is an important step to understanding the full environmental impacts of these operations, as well as holding crypto mining operations accountable for the damage they cause,” Merkley said in a statement.

The lawmakers said that Bitcoin mining carbon emissions will reach to 21-35 megatons in 2022, comparable to driving 4.5 million-7.5 million cars for one year. If approved, results would be given to committees at Congress as well as posted for the public on the EPA and Department of Energy websites.

Crypto mining firms have expanded to states like Texas and Georgia this year, though have been struggling with increased difficulty and falling crypto prices.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Most mining stocks tracked by The Block rose on Thursday, following bitcoin’s upward trajectory.

The coin was trading at around $17,200 by market close, according to data from TradingView.

BTCUSD Chart by TradingView

Shares of TeraWulf went up by 27.13%, followed by SAI.TECH (+13.21%) — which announced results for the first six months of the year — and Mawson Infrastructure Group (+6.89%).

Here’s how crypto mining companies performed on Thursday, Dec. 8:

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.