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Welcome to another episode of "Hot Topics" on the Edge of NFT! Hosted by Richard Carthon and January Jones, this episode dives into the latest news reshaping the landscape of Web3, blockchain, and digital assets.
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Key Topics Covered:
- Emory University’s Investment in Bitcoin ETFs: Emory University takes the lead as the first endowment to invest in Bitcoin ETFs, signaling growing institutional confidence in cryptocurrency. Richard and January discuss the broader implications for higher education and institutional investments in crypto.
- Workforce Cuts in Crypto Companies: With ConsenSys, Kraken, and dYdX announcing significant workforce reductions, Richard and January delve into the reasons behind these strategic moves, the impact on the industry, and the outlook for 2025.
- Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact: New data reveals that 57% of Bitcoin mining is now powered by renewable energy, marking significant progress from 33% in 2020. The hosts explore how this shift could redefine the narrative around Bitcoin's energy consumption.
- FTX’s Asset Recovery Efforts: FTX continues its legal battles to recover $50 million in assets frozen by KuCoin. Richard and January analyze the broader implications for the crypto market and the impact on customer trust and asset recovery.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let us know in the comments on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@edgeofnft/
Episode Highlights:
- Richard Carthon: “Emory’s move into Bitcoin ETFs could inspire other universities, marking a pivotal moment for institutional adoption in the crypto space.”
- January Jones: “The workforce cuts are a strategic realignment as companies prepare for what could be a very bullish 2025.”
- Richard on Bitcoin Mining: “Bitcoin mining has come a long way in terms of sustainability. The shift towards renewable energy is a game changer for the industry.”
- January on FTX Recovery: “This lawsuit against KuCoin is a small part of a larger effort to regain trust and recover assets for FTX’s customers.”
For the full transcript, see further below.
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Transcription:
Welcome to Hot Topics on the Edge of NFT. I'm Richard Carthan. I'm here with my co host, January Jones. Join us as we delve into the latest news shaping the landscape of Web3, blockchain, and digital assets.
Coming up, we're going to discuss higher ed entering the EFT market, workforce cuts in big crypto companies, the environmental impact of Bitcoin, and more on FTX, recovering assets.
It's another production of the Edge of Company, a rapidly growing media ecosystem, empowering the pioneers of Web3 tech and culture.
Let's dive in. Let's start with Emory University. They're making waves this week as becoming the first endowment to invest in spot Bitcoin EFTs, committing 15. 8 million.
This means now every major institutional sector is now represented in Bitcoin EFTs within just a year of their launch. Richard, what do you think about this as a signal for Bitcoin's acceptance among institutional investors?
Yeah endowments have one greater purpose and that is to make sure that they keep making money and that they continue to expand and make it even larger and they are very risk averse and try to de risk things, but also find ways So if you have an endowment now starting to invest into a Bitcoin ETF, they're seeing that as a very good investment, right?
Which is awesome. And if Emory which is a prestigious university down in Atlanta, Georgia, USA is doing this, I wouldn't be surprised if you start to see more and more universities do this. And universities in the U. S. have this. Multi billion dollar endowments all across the land. So that's even more money starting to flow into this industry.
So I see this as a very bullish piece of news. How do you see this January?
It's actually pretty surprising because universities are very conservative with their endowments and it is a status symbol, amongst universities, but I guess this just goes to show they're looking at this long term and it's hard to ignore that there's this idea of financial stability that's coming and.
Universities, although risk averse, they're number one to miss an opportunity to make some money, right? And as this grows, I think it'll be a really interesting impact on the education industry. And within that industry, if there are conversations that come up, because, higher education is supposed to spur higher conversations about these things.
And It would be interesting to see if kind of those investments maybe start matching education at universities, right? More crypto education, more interest, within the curriculum and also more scholarships, right? Or over money for students, like if that Bitcoin comes back the theme that has been reoccurring lately is, crypto for good.
So maybe this could be reflected in the educational sector, which would be something new.
So yeah, January you brought up a lot of good points and I think with Emory starting this trend of, Investing in Bitcoin ETFs through the endowment that this won't be the last we're going to see more. And I think this is extremely bullish news, especially as October is coming to an end. And, for all those who's watching the market right now, Bitcoin's back above 70, 000 and the election also is next week.
So another big thing that's coming up. Like really huge opportunities of people starting to invest in the Bitcoin ecosystem. And I think it's only going to increase as we head into 2025 and beyond..
Yeah. Higher ed. Isn't going to miss out on this opportunity for sure. Moving on this week, consensus announced it's cutting its workforce by 20 percent citing rising interest rates and regulatory uncertainty.
Kraken also announced a 15 percent reduction in staff and a new CEO and another decentralized exchange dydx cut 35 percent of their workforce. These all come at a seemingly bullish time yet companies are cost cutting. ConsenSys and Kraken both have involved in SEC cases and have cited that as a factor.
Richard, do you think they're overblowing that as an influence?
No, I think a lot of people are, these companies are restructuring and it's a strategic move. That's like trying to get a lot of these Web2 companies to go into the more traditional Web2 outlook on how they can stabilize their spend.
Unfortunately when things start to get bullish at the beginning of the year people and companies started to ramp up aka hiring more to try to catch Wave and wind of what can be a bullish year, things settled down, come the summer and actually just stabilized as we've gotten here.
And I think what a lot of people are anticipating for what 2025 could be, they want to get their numbers right and finish the year strong in 2024 so that they can continue to, do their year over year growth and have numbers that they can really tout that will give potential investors more Confidence and the longevity, but I think it's also going to be at a time where if things do turn bullish, I Not that they would reverse course, but I do see the opportunity for more hirings coming back in 2025.
Again, I think this is strategic. I think this is them trying to balance out their books as they prep for what could be a very bullish 2025.
Well, They reported the consensus cuts to be over 1000 people, which in a small industry has a big impact. Do you think that everyone in this industry is just used to this and that the idea of job stability just doesn't occur to most of us working in this space?
1000 people is significant. I think in the grand scheme of where most projects are in web three, most don't have nearly that many employees.
It's significantly less. And so it is part of the course of when things are bearish that you see those types of cuts. You don't really see it when things are bullish, but again, things have been relatively flat for a very long time this year. And ultimately all these blockchain companies, these web three companies, these crypto companies.
Our startups and what do we know about startups? 90 percent fell and for the startups that are still around and they're trying to be the ones that don't, the 10 percent that make it, they got to make these kind of tougher decisions. But the thing about these a thousand people. That are now having to potentially find new jobs because things are now picking up in this space, there's more opportunities for them to potentially land on their feet and still be in web three and not have to go back to web two.
So it is unfortunate in that capacity, but at the same time, there are a lot of other companies that are ramping up and looking for talent.
Yeah. It's an interesting industry because if you see someone's had a job for just six months on a resume. That might be a red flag somewhere else here. It's Oh, they did some good work.
And then the company did this or that. It's really a fascinating way to work, right? The way you judge people's work and resumes isn't the same in traditional industries just because of the ebbs and flows and the kind of small nature of everybody working with the, with companies and moving around quite a bit.
Right.
Well, Let's go on to a story that Crypto News reported about Bitcoin's environmental impact. They're saying that new data is suggesting that Bitcoin is evolving into a net negative emissions network. With about 57 percent of its mining now powered by renewable energy sources. That figure stood at just 33 percent in 2020.
The energy intensity of mining has been a mainstream argument against Bitcoin with current mining using the equivalent of electricity needs of a small country like the Netherlands. For a year, but some environmental proponents of Bitcoin say the energy consumption is still a fraction of industries like traditional banking structure.
I've come from an environmental background. I studied environmental economics a bit, and I find this one really interesting because being able to measure environmental impacts and carbon footprint has been something that's been very difficult to do in the past. And with Bitcoin, it seems much more measurable, which I think adds to the allure of being able to say and track the carbon emissions and show that the environmental impact is pulling back.
Richard, you've been in this industry a while. You've heard this argument against Bitcoin for many years. What do you think is happening?
It is a full circle moment in so many ways. So I have some friends that are very heavy in the Bitcoin mining space and what has happened by getting to these sources of renewable energy because of everything that's now happening with AI and needing data centers and needing a lot of energy to power those data centers to do all the things that are needed.
They're all turning and looking at, Hey, how did these Bitcoin miners do it? How do they. Use this excess energy. How do they make it renewable, et cetera. And so they've built a framework for future technology that needs significant amount of energy to be more sustainable and renewable. And because of that, you're starting to see more bullish outlooks on how these miners are turning to sustainable energy sources.
And. I think it's really cool to see like that full circle moment happen, because as much as like people have been complaining forever about Bitcoin wasting energy and needing all this energy, they've also found ways to innovate and to disprove that like you said, going to have that large of a turnaround, you go from 33%, basically four years ago, and all the way up to 57%.
That is substantial. And I think that number is only going to continue to increase and get better. And With that sustainability, like that's even more sustainable than thinking about what does it mean to go? Mine actual physical gold. There, there's way more propensity for these companies like that.
We just saw these schools that are now investing in Bitcoin ETFs because it's becoming more and more safe as potential asset class to get behind. I think this is. Awesome news.
Yeah. Let's see how the data shakes out, but we're getting better at measuring these things. And I think part of the compelling argument is that Bitcoin mining can use what they call stranded and wasted energy sources, like capturing flared natural gas and utilizing excess power from the grid that will go away if not utilized.
I think we're always moving towards innovation across industries and honing on. And honing into an argument about environmental sustainability and Bitcoin, I think is a really good conversation to have. And as we get better at measuring impact and looking at traditional industries, like the banking industry, for example, which is the benchmark we're holding with what Bitcoin is doing, I think we're going to evolve into better data and also change kind of the mindset of people about what a more sustainable future looks like, even with cryptocurrency.
Oh, agreed. Just one final point I want to put on here is that if you go all the way back to 2010 at the time of this recording it is Halloween and this is the famous day when Satoshi dropped the white paper. So in remembrance of that, like you go back to 14 years ago, now it's about to be 2025, almost 15 years ago.
The waste of energy from Bitcoin mining was like, 50 times worse. So we're definitely improving. I think it's only going to get better. And I'm very bullish on the continued growth of Bitcoin.
Let's move on. So one of our fam let's move on to our last topic. We've got more from FTX as they get ready to pay back nearly 14 billion to customers, the FTX estate.
Through Alameda Research has filed a lawsuit against KuCoin to recover 50 million in assets that have been frozen since FTX's collapse in November 2022. Initially valued at 28 million, these assets have increased in value due to market surges. It seems like a drop in the bucket compared to what they are trying to pay back.
Richard, what do you think about this in the continued drama of the FTX?
Yeah. They need to pay back their creditors, so they're trying to pull wherever they can. Like you said, drop in the bucket, 50 million compared to billions.
Loss is insignificant in the grand scheme, but $50 million is still very significant. And, how long will it take that, if they actually win this case like this, it might be a long time before they see any of that money, if they're even able to recover that 50 million in assets.
And This could set some like legal precedents that can help with them with recovering these assets through other platforms that have had to struggle through this, like BlockFi, Celsius and others. And like they did another recent settlement with the agreement that they did with Bybit.
And it's just going to continue to be like scrutinized around Exchanges and how they go about trying to recover once they've messed up. As much as we don't like to keep bringing up FTX and they just somehow keep on. Being in the news. But this one I think was worth talking about just for a moment and this and the grand scheme of it looks like they're trying to at least get some money back to give back to people.
But let's say you're supposed to get back 100 bucks and they give you back five. Do you feel good about that?
Yeah, I think it bodes well, though, for holding other accountable to trying to pay people back instead of just be like, buyer beware. And that's just going to increase trust in the market.
As you're seeing this institutional investment, things are going to, be more scrutinized and people will try to recover.
And it also has to do with timing of just sure. These let's say at today's value if I had a hundred bucks in there, you're giving me back five, but like, and if Bitcoin was doing what it did, if we're having the same conversation 10 years ago, You'd absolutely want to get that money back.
The same thing that just happened with Mt. Gox. If you're getting back assets, like for me, like if it was me getting back Bitcoin, Yeah, give me my Bitcoin. Give me whatever you can. So like I, I definitely get that aspect of it. But it's just yeah, hopefully they can get this back to to their creditors as soon as they can.
All right that wraps up today's discussion on the latest hot topics in crypto. We've covered Emory University's groundbreaking investment in ETFs, workforce layoffs, and the changing picture of Bitcoin's environmental impact. We also touched on FTX's estate legal battle with KuCoin.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on these developments. Share your insights with us in the comments or connect with us on social media.
Thank you for tuning into the Edge of NFT. I'm Richard here with January and we're signing off. Stay secure, stay curious, and catch you on the flip side.
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