The Crypto Weekly Digest: BAYC, the EU, and Aus takes Meta to court
Big week for Yuga Labs – BAYC ApeCoin and new ownership of Cryptopunks
Yuga Labs, creators of the famed Bored Ape Yacht Club, made two big additions to its global crypto brand this week. The first was the launch of a new cryptocurrency dubbed ApeCoin, and second was the purchase of CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from Larva Labs, immediately giving full commercial rights to holders.
The new ApeCoin token wasn’t created by Yuga Labs, but instead was created by the ApeCoin DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation featuring a board made up of key players in the crypto industry. Yuga Labs has stated that it plans to adopt ApeCoin as the primary token for its BAYC ecosystem, including for future products. There are a total of one billion tokens available and holders of a Bored Ape NFT will be able to claim 10,094 tokens per NFT, with Mutant Ape holders able to claim 2,042 tokens per NFT held, equating to 15 per cent of the total supply.
Yuga Labs also purchased the intellectual property of CryptoPunks and Meebits, two of the largest collections by all-time sales volume. After obtaining the IP from former owners Larva, Yuga decided to “give full commercial rights to the NFT holders”, stating in a tweet, “just like we did for BAYC and MAYC owners.”
EU votes on ‘proof-of-work’ legislation
Last Monday the European Union voted against a proposal that would have effectively banned cryptocurrency mining in Europe. The debated legislation, titled the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, proposed what has been described as a ‘de facto’ ban on ‘proof of work’ currency mining, that is used for major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What the regulations proposed was a limitation on the use of cryptocurrencies that are powered by an energy-intensive computer process which is known as ‘proof of work’. This regulation was to take place across all 27 EU member states and was an attempt to reduce the harmful environmental effects of mining crypto.
The vote was 32-23 with six members abstaining, resulting in a win for the European crypto community.
ACCC taking Meta to court
Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Meta to court for knowingly allowing scam celebrity ads for crypto to proliferate on the platform.
The watchdog alleges that, in breach of Australian Consumer Law and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act, Meta failed to do enough to limit misleading ads featuring celebrities onto the platform.
Once a user had clicked on the ad and provided details, they were subject to high-pressure tactics including phone calls, to deposit funds into schemes. They would then lose their money to the fraudulent schemes.
“It is a key part of Meta’s business to enable advertisers to target users who are most likely to click on the link in an ad to visit the ad’s landing page, using Facebook algorithms. Those visits to landing pages from ads generate substantial revenue for Facebook,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in a statement.
Japan orders crypto firms to cease serving Russia
Japanese authorities have directed crypto exchanges to stop processing transactions involving crypto assets that are subject to asset-freeze sanctions placed against Russia and Belarus, according to reports by Reuters.
Japan’s action falls in line with a statement made by the Group of Seven (G7) that said Western nations “will impose costs on illicit Russian actors using digital assets to enhance and transfer their wealth.”
“We decided to make an announcement to keep the G7 momentum alive,” said a senior official at Japan’s Financial Services Agency. “The sooner the better.”
The Japanese government Ministry of Finance has said in a statement that the nation will strengthen measures against the transfer of funds using crypto assets that would violate the sanctions.
