New month, new crypto market movements? • TechCrunch

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Welcome back to Chain reaction.

It seems like yesterday we rang in the new year, but we’ve entered February and everything seems to be somewhat relaxed (for once) in the crypto world.

Last month was filled with crypto companies laying off employees, developments around existing and new Chapter 11 bankruptcies in the space, partnerships and talks about a potential recovery in 2023.

Even with a slew of bad news flooding the industry, some cryptocurrencies had a bull run in January amid the market turmoil.

Bitcoin increased by 40% on the month, while ether rose by around 32% during the same period. Solana also saw a serious recovery, from around $10 at the start of the year, near its lowest level since February 2021, up 146% to around $24.3 at the end of January, CoinMarketCap data showed.

These market moves could potentially prompt more private and institutional investors to dive in. But whether this seemingly random market rally will continue into February remains to be seen.

This week in web3

Lost Crypto During Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filings? You probably won’t get it back (TC+)

As Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings move forward for several major crypto companies, those who lost funds are certainly hoping to get all — or at least some — of their money back. Lawyers and experts shared their thoughts with TechCrunch about what these cases could mean for creditors and what could happen to those who saw their money disappear overnight.

VC funding to Black web3 entrepreneurs emerged last year, bucking trends (TC+)

Black people investing in crypto were disproportionately hit during the last crypto winter, although many Black entrepreneurs and investors who spoke to TechCrunch remain optimistic about the sector’s potential for the community and society at large. If anything, last year’s economic correction was necessary, they told TechCrunch. “The bubble had to pop,” said Simone Berry, co-founder of People of Crypto. “It was not sustainable and economic correction was needed.

Sorare teams up with the Premier League for its NFT fantasy football game

The French start-up Sorare has signed a four-year licensing partnership with the Premier League. This deal marks an important move for the company as the English Football League is one of the most watched sports leagues in the world. As for sports fans who aren’t particularly fond of soccer (or soccer as Europeans call it), Sorare has also teamed up with the NBA and MLB in recent months.

Bitcoin-based app Strike is expanding in the Philippines to develop cross-border payment solutions

Strike, a Bitcoin-based payment network and financial app, is expanding into the Philippines to grow cross-border payments and money transfer markets. Aside from the Philippines, Strike plans to expand further in the Latin American and African regions as well due to the “extremely high demand,” shared CEO Jack Mallers. In general, the company’s partnership and announcement points to its focus on expanding the money transfer market through the application and other alternative avenues, such as Clover.

Enterprise blockchain adoption may grow as hybrid use cases evolve (TC+)

While crypto markets remain volatile, enterprise blockchain adoption continues to grow as businesses find new uses for the technology, according to Daniela Barbosa, CEO of the Hyperledger Foundation. One of the biggest demands in the last two years has been “hybrid use cases,” and the technology helps not only large companies but also smaller businesses, she shared.

The last pod

ICYMI: For last week’s episode, Jacquelyn spoke with Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of tier-1 blockchain Aptos. Shaikh is a three-time founder with over ten years of experience in financial services as well as blockchain technology and crypto. He also worked on blockchain strategic partnerships for Novi, Facebook’s wallet and was director of strategy at ConsenSys.

“When we think about Aptos, we certainly thought that people need a new form of sharing information digitally and to be able to share that information and economic value digitally in more efficient and fairer ways,” Shaikh said during the podcast. “That’s the mission we’re on.”

Last year was a big one for Aptos – when the blockchain went public and raised around $400 million in funding, in the middle of a bear market. The new tier-1 received support from major investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Circle Ventures and the now defunct FTX Ventures, to name a few. And even though the market is down, the token, APT, rose 380% during the month of January, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Looking ahead to 2023, Aptos plans to make it a “year of intention,” Shaikh said. “I think it’s a year of intent for the entire industry.”

We also discussed:

• What it’s like to launch in a bear market
• Developers on the blockchain
• Business development plans for 2023
• Onboarding people not in the room
• The future of interoperability and the multi-chain world

Subscribe to Chain reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to catch up on the latest episodes, and leave us a review if you like what you hear!

Follow the money

1. Haun Ventures Leads Sovereign Labs’ $7.4M Seed Round to Help Scale Blockchains
2. Crypto security startup Hypernative raised $9 million to prevent cyber attacks online
3. BlockJoy raised $12 million to reduce operating costs for businesses running blockchain nodes
4. Web3 marketing startup Addressable raised $7.5 million in a seed round
5. Everscale raised $5 million to help scale blockchains

This list was compiled using information from Messari as well as TechCrunch’s own reporting.