WSB Token Rugs, OpenSea Executive Convicted ⚖️

WSB Token Drops 90%

The WallStreetBets (WSB) token, famously associated with the trending subreddit, has experienced a drastic plummet of 90% within the past 24 hours. The cause? An individual closely affiliated with the WSB project has gone rogue and unloaded a massive amount of WSB tokens, sending shockwaves through the market. 

Just a few days prior, WSB's market capitalization skyrocketed to an astounding $50 million in under three days. However, blockchain detective @ZachXBT warned investors of the impending sale early on Thursday morning, announcing that one @zjzWSB had "vigorously dumped a hefty portion of the WSB team supply for a whopping $635K (334 ETH)."

In a tweet separate from his previous one, @ZachXBT disclosed that yet another token insider, known as "OIP," had signed off on these transactions that were executed through a multisignature wallet - allegedly created by the team to support marketing and exchange listing endeavors. 

This sneaky insider sale subsequently led to a catastrophic mass exodus of token holders, causing a plummet of 90% in price. Before this disaster, members of the Crypto Twitter community were surprised to receive a generous airdrop of seven ether (ETH) worth of WSB tokens, all for the simple act of sharing their crypto wallet addresses on @WSBmod's tweet. @WSBmod is one of the elusive creators of these intriguing tokens.

The token has started to recover slightly, with @wsbmod announcing they are buying back 50 ETH at a time and burning tokens. But caution is advised as he has lost all credibility at this point.

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U.S. regional banks in deep trouble

For the first time in recorded history, every single regional bank in the United States has had its stocks in the red today. This is according to an analysis posted on Twitter by the WhaleWire publication.

The freefall of the U.S. banking sector came just a day after Federal Reserve Shair Jerome Powell said the country's banking system was "stronger than ever".

"Conditions in [the banking] sector have broadly improved since March and U.S. banking system is sound and resilient," he said at a press conference earlier this week. "We will continue to monitor conditions in the sector. We're committed to learning the right lessons from this episode and will work to prevent events like these from happening again." 

The worst-performing bank of all was PacWest Bancorp, whose stocks fell by more than half (51.86%). 

As per Grit Capital CEO Genieve Roch-Decter, the market capitalization of publicly traded regional banks fell from $475 billion in January this year, to $100 billion today, representing a 78% loss in less than two quarters. "Regional banks about to go extinct," she concluded.

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Former OpenSea executive convicted of wire fraud

The once-highflying Nate Chastain, who held a prestigious post as head of product at OpenSea, a leading non-fungible token (NFT) platform, has been found guilty of sordid crimes that range from money laundering to wire fraud, a recent report from Reuters revealed. This sad news comes after Chastain was accused of shady insider trading practices that went viral on social media and led to his ignoble resignation in September 2021. 

According to prosecutors, the disgraced former executive manipulated his position to reap illicit gains from the NFT craze by purchasing assets that he knew would be featured on OpenSea's homepage, then flipping them for exorbitant profits. Using anonymous wallets and multiple OpenSea accounts, Chastain tried to conceal his nefarious activities, but justice eventually caught up with him. "Nathanial Chastain's fraudulent conduct was nothing but a despicable scheme that exploited his insider knowledge of the NFT market," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. "This was a case of good old-fashioned fraud, dressed up in the novel guise of crypto assets."

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Alibaba builds metaverse launchpad on Avalanche

Alibaba's tech empire has taken yet another bold step into the futuristic world of metaverse deployment on the blockchain. The Cloud division of the Chinese giant has fashioned a state-of-the-art launchpad, aptly named Cloudverse, to offer a seamless end-to-end platform for businesses looking to create immersive customer experiences in their metaverse spaces.

Working in tandem with Avalanche's blockchain technology, Alibaba Cloud will provide the computing and storage infrastructure to ensure these spaces run smoothly. This innovative partnership marks Alibaba's second blockchain alliance in less than a month, following its collaboration with Mysten Labs on the Sui Layer 1 blockchain network. The future is indeed now, and Alibaba is leading the way!

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Other breaking news

• Yearn introduces one-click token selling
• Curve deploys stablecoin smart contract on Ethereum
• Court gives SEC 10-day deadline to respond to Coinbase
• Nigeria aims to build a “blockchain-powered” economy
• North Carolina bans State agencies from accepting CBDCs

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Wrapping Up

Another eventful day in crypto and another Datawallet newsletter. Today we’ve seen the first ban on CBDCs in North Caroline, while Nigeria aims to power its economy with Blockchain technology. WBS token seemingly “rugpulled” while the former OpenSea executive is charged with fraud. All in all, a busy day in crypto. Stay informed and ahead of the game with our daily crypto scoop. See you tomorrow!