Bitcoin at Rs 16.80 lakh

Major cryptocurrencies were trading in the red early on June 22 as the global crypto market cap dropped 0.67 percent to $901.59 billion over the last 24 hours. On the other hand, the total crypto market volume declined 2.34 percent to $70.50 billion during the period. The total volume in DeFi stood at $6.54 billion, 9.28 percent of the total crypto market's 24-hour volume. The volume of all stable coins was $60.96 billion, 86.47 percent of the crypto market's 24-hour volume. Bitcoin hovered around Rs 16.80 lakh, with a dominance of 43.35 percent. This was a 0.10 percent decrease over the day, data from CoinMarketCap shows. Read full here

Crypto exchange Vauld lays off 30% of workforce, takes other measures to cut costs

Crypto exchange Vauld has laid off 30 percent of their workforce, according to people aware of the matter. Darshan Bhatija, co-founder and CEO of the exchange, confirmed to Moneycontrol. Roles impacted include marketing, talent acquisition and others, he said. "Two months of their salaries paid as a severance payment and retain their signing and/or joining bonus, 12 months health insurance for them and their family, and our talent team working closely with them to find a great place to work," said Bhatija. The company will also be looking at reducing marketing expense, slowing hiring, reducing executive compensation by 50 percent and pausing most vendor engagements. Read details here

Investors use dips for gains, seek clarity from government

Some brave investors are buying cryptocurrencies on recent dips in the market hoping for long-term gains. After a blockbuster year for crypto trading as Indian crypto exchanges enlisted millions of buyers by the end of 2021, there has been a dip in volumes since the first week of April, after the government implemented a 30 percent tax on virtual assets. But, investors want clarity on long-term crypto transactions, which they say are untenable if the government is not supportive. The government has implemented a 30 percent tax on virtual assets, at par with gains from speculative activity such as gambling, and lotteries, putting digital assets in the highest tax band. Take a look

Mounting crypto liquidations make DeFi go to extremes

The record-setting rout in cryptocurrencies has put a slew of decentralized-finance applications and their communities in a race to protect themselves against a cascade of liquidations, sometimes by employing unprecedented measures. For example, token holders of Solend, a lending app on the Solana blockchain, voted to temporarily take over a large user’s account that faced the threat of a large liquidation, an extreme move for DeFi that appears to be a first. This was reversed in a second vote. That all took place after MakerDAO, an app that supports stablecoin DAI and is run by a crypto community that formed one of the first decentralized autonomous organizations, suspended the token from being deposited and minted in DeFi crypto lending platform Aave. DeFi apps are suffering because they tend to be interconnected, and troubles in one can have cascading effects on others. Read more here

Blockchain firm MetaJuice to launch NFT marketplace

Blockchain firm MetaJuice, a subsidiary of Together Labs, on June 21, said it will launch NFT marketplace in the IMVU metaverse – an avatar-focused social network – having over 1 million daily active users. MetaJuice has collaborated with IMVU creators for its inaugural collection of wearable in-world apparel NFTs, harnessing the power of the existing IMVU community. “The NFT marketplace will unlock new functionality our users are excited about, providing our 200,000 creators even more ways to earn. Introducing scarcity, proof of ownership, and ancillary benefits to virtual goods will supercharge the IMVU economy,” said Daren Tsui, CEO of Together Labs, the parent company of IMVU. Read more here