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First Mover Americas: The Sandbox Is Up on Saudi Arabia Partnership News
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for Feb. 8, 2023.
Updated Feb 8, 2023, 3:07 p.m. Published Feb 8, 2023, 1:01 p.m.
This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,121 +17.5 ▲ 1.6% Bitcoin $23,178 +175.5 ▲ 0.8% Ethereum $1,675 +31.6 ▲ 1.9% S&P 500 futures 4,165.25 −10.5 ▼ 0.3% FTSE 100 7,919.31 +54.6 ▲ 0.7% Treasury Yield 10 Years 3.67% ▲ 0.0 BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)
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Virtual world The Sandbox’s SAND token has surged 20% following an announcement on Tuesday stating that the Saudi Arabia Digital Government Authority would be partnering with the platform. Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, tweeted the news offering little detail regarding the nature of the agreement. “We look forward to exploring, advising and supporting mutually each other in activations of the Metaverse,” he added. The Sandbox’s SAND is also approaching its unlock scheduled for Feb. 14, that will release 12% of the token’s supply.
Chiliz, the blockchain-based sports token that allows fans to own tokens tied to respective teams, has validated the genesis block of its new layer 1 blockchain, according to a blog post. The Chiliz blockchain is EVM-compatible (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and will focus on non-fungible tokens (NFT), Play2Earn games and Watch2Earn sports events as well as live event ticketing payments. The chiliz token (CHZ), which currently has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, is said to be the "fuel" for the newly released blockchain. Token holders will receive rewards for staking (delegating) on the network. It surged by as much as 20% in the minutes following the announcement.
Three Arrows founder Kyle Davies refused to comply with a court subpoena for the books and records of his former crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, a New York court was told in a Tuesday night filing. Davies was accused of stonewalling a probe into the company, which managed as much as $3 billion in assets before collapsing last year, while “shamelessly” promoting new crypto ventures. Davies and co-founder Su Zhu “have refused to meaningfully engage,” said a filing. Davies and Zhu “have made only selective and piecemeal disclosures” and “refusal to cooperate violates their duties owed to Three Arrows,” it added.
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