Quote of the week: “If I was to really break down, OK, in the 10 years I’ve been making music, six albums, and you culminate all those advances, what I did in one drop last year in NFTs, I made more money.” – Steve Aoki, music artist. Source:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/nifty-news-anime-ca-brands-steve-aoki-s-nfts-more-profitable-than-decade-of-studio-albumsJPMorgan Joins the Metaverse: JPMorgan is the first bank to set up shop in the Metaverse. The firm has set up a lounge in Decentraland. JPMorgan is bullish on its position in the Metaverse and predicts that the Metaverse will become a $1 trillion market opportunity. Source: https://fortune.com/2022/02/16/jpmorgan-first-bank-join-metaverse/
BlackRock Prepares to Launch Crypto Trading Services: Sources say that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, plans to start offering crypto trading services to its clients. The firm wants to enter the crypto market and provide investor clients the ability to borrow from the investment manager by pledging crypto assets as collateral. It is not confirmed when its services will be unveiled. Source:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-blk-prepares-offer-crypto-151603712.html
The Aftermath of Crypto Super Bowl Ads: This year, Super Bowl ads cost on average $7 million for every 30 seconds. Crypto companies were not deterred though. Such companies including Crypto.com, Coinbase, and FTX, among others, advertised themselves during the Super Bowl commercials; and, they were successful. For instance, Coinbase’s app rose from 186th place to 2nd place on Apple’s App Store. Furthermore, Blockfolio, owned by FTX, saw a significant increase in rankings as well. Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-related-apps-popularity-skyrockets-204846108.html
U.S. Regulation Update: This week, the United States Treasury announced that crypto miners and wallet operators (or “ancillary parties”) are exempt from the IRS tax reporting rules. This is a major legal win for the United States cryptocurrency industry. Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-miners-exempt-from-irs-reporting-rules-us-treasury-affirms
Bitcoin Update: Over the last week, the price of Bitcoin has increased due to factors including Canada’s “Emergencies Act;” however, as of Thursday, February 17, Bitcoin is down on the day. Currently, traders are assessing geopolitical factors, including the tensions between Russia and the United States. Bitcoin is trading at $41,110.90 as of February 17, 2:37 pm EST.

Sources: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
https://www.coindesk.com/podcasts/markets-daily/crypto-news-roundup-for-feb-17-2022/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-targets-crypto-donations-via-085919112.html
And, that’s a wrap!