It has been a busy day in terms of news, so let us catch you up on the latest and greatest.

Today’s Agenda:

• Market Watch
• Highlights of the Day
  • Robinhood Plans to Acquire Bitstamp
  • WoW x Tezos
  • McDonald’s Launches its Metaverse
• Project of the Day
• Crypto Corner
• Market Sentiment & Predictions
• Business & Political Insights 

Market Watch

Top Gainers

• Brett ($BRETT): +16.9%
• Wormhole ($W):  +9.1%
• JasmyCoin ($JASMY): +5.8%

Top Losers

• Beam ($BEAM): -7.4%
• Bitget Token ($BGB): -7.1%
• Bonk ($BONK): -5.7%

Trending Crypto Sectors/Categories

• Wall Street Bets Themed
• Parody Meme
• Internet of Things (IOT)

Total Crypto Market Cap – 2.769 Trillion

Fear and Greed Index – 77

Top NFT Sale

• Cryptopunks #1002 Sold for 50.5 ETH 

Highlights of the Day

Robinhood Plans to Acquire Bitstamp

Robinhood has announced plans to acquire Bitstamp, a leading European cryptocurrency exchange, in a $200 million cash transaction. This acquisition aims to enhance Robinhood’s global crypto offerings and attract more institutional clients by leveraging Bitstamp’s established reputation and market reach.

Details of the Acquisition

The purchase of Bitstamp marks a significant milestone for Robinhood Crypto. The deal is anticipated to close in the first half of 2025, with Bitstamp’s leadership team remaining in place post-acquisition. This strategic move positions both companies to offer an improved trading experience and maintain a strong commitment to their global customer base.

WoW x Tezos

World of Women (WoW), a prominent name in digital art and NFTs focused on women’s representation, has announced its integration with the Tezos ecosystem. This collaboration aims to advance gender equality and create substantial opportunities for women in the Web3 space.

Partnership Details 

Tezos will leverage its transparent and decentralized technology to provide fair access to resources within WoW’s digital network. Overall, this partnership will support WoW’s mission to empower women by facilitating connections and backing female leaders, creators, and advocates. By combining WoW’s brand with Tezos’ reliable blockchain, the alliance aims to build an ecosystem where women can support and uplift each other in the digital era.

McDonald’s Launches its Metaverse

In a bold and visionary move, McDonald’s Singapore has made its way into the metaverse with the launch of its own virtual universe – My Happy Place. This immersive experience, available through the official McDonald’s app in collaboration with Bandwagon Labs, promises to revolutionize the way customers interact with the iconic fast-food brand. 

What is My Happy Place?

My Happy Place is a dynamic 3D online environment where users can engage in a variety of activities. These include customizing virtual burgers in the Build-A-Burger game and imagining future McDonald’s restaurant designs. Daily contests like the Wheel of Deals feature offer chances to win real-life food deals and prizes, merging digital engagement with tangible rewards.

Project of the Day

Tezos

Tezos ($XTZ) is an open-source, scalable, and energy-efficient public blockchain that empowers builders, developers, and businesses to create and launch cost-effective assets and applications. It boasts a global peer-to-peer network and is renowned for its long-term upgradability, inclusive participation, and secure smart contracts. 

Tezos currently has a market cap of over $920 million, with its price hovering around $0.94. Looking at the charts, after reaching an all-time high of approximately $8.00 during the 2021 bull run, the price retraced significantly, finding strong support around $0.67 during the bear market. Since then, $XTZ has appreciated by about 50% from its bear market lows, although it remains over 75% down from its peak.

Looking ahead, with sustained development momentum and a growing repository of real-world applications, Tezos has the potential to reach new highs. As such, with the community sentiment being positive the long-term outlook remains positive.

Crazy Day in Crypto

• Rapper Iggy Azalea has introduced a new cryptocurrency token called $MOTHER on the Solana blockchain, experiencing a surge in popularity and trading volume in its initial days, with its market cap surpassing $200 million.
• A trader managed to turn a $3,200 investment in Iggy Azalea’s $MOTHER meme coin into nearly $9 million, highlighting the coin’s remarkable surge in a short span of time.
• Hulk Hogan’s $HULK meme coin dropped 90% in 20 minutes after promotional posts were deleted, though Hogan denies involvement, claiming the tweets were not his.

Market Sentiment & Predictions

• Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, has recently expressed his conviction that cryptocurrencies are poised to fundamentally transform the financial landscape.
• The U.S. presidential election is anticipated to significantly impact bitcoin’s price, with Standard Chartered projecting a potential increase to $150,000 by year’s end under a Trump victory.

Business Talks & Political Insights

• Franklin Templeton, a leading investment manager, is reportedly exploring the creation of a private crypto fund offering exposure to a variety of cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• GameStop (GME) shares are on the rise Thursday fueled by speculation of influencer Roaring Kitty’s return to livestreams, with prices climbing 9% to approximately $34.25, marking a five-day gain of 49%.

The Sandbox secured a $20 million funding round at a $1 billion valuation cap to grow its creator economy within the open metaverse, intending to improve earning opportunities for creators, update tools, introduce new social interactions and avatar abilities, and expand gameplay options with a new multiplayer rules system.