SEC to appeal XRP, PayPal launches stablecoin, and Microsoft partners with Aptos

Image Credits: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Staff / Getty Images

Welcome back to Chain Reaction.

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This week was a busy one for crypto (per usual) with the SEC, PayPal, Coinbase and Microsoft leading the headlines. Let’s get into it.

This week in web3

1. The SEC said in a court filing on Wednesday that it would file an “interlocutory appeal” for the federal court ruling on Ripple and the XRP token last month. Read more.


2. Artificial intelligence has captured the hearts, minds and wallets of the technology industry. So it’s little surprise that Microsoft, which has several irons in the AI fire, is working to expand its footprint in the area. On Wednesday, the company announced that it is partnering with layer-1 blockchain Aptos Labs to work on AI and web3. Details here.


3. PayPal is rolling out a stablecoin for payments and transfers. Yes, you read that right. Find out what that means for users and the traditional payment world here. 


4. Will the Law Commission’s digital assets final report make the UK a DeFi jurisdiction of choice?


5. Coinbase reported its second-quarter earnings Thursday afternoon after the bell, beating market estimates. We dove into what it means for the company, so you don’t have to.


6. Beacon, an early-stage web3 accelerator program, held its demo day on Wednesday during which the teams homed in on infrastructure, gaming, decentralized social media and DeFi, held its second cohort graduation on Wednesday. Learn more here.

The latest pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of Immutable.

Immutable is a web3 company consisting of two entities: Immutable Platform, a developer platform for building and scaling Ethereum-based web3 games, and Immutable Games, a web3 game developer and publisher. Some traditional gaming studios and IP holders are also building on its platform like GameStop, TikTok, Illuvium and NFT marketplace OpenSea, to name a few.

In March 2022, Immutable raised $200 million at a $2.5 billion valuation and last June it launched a $500 million developer and venture investment fund, which TechCrunch covered exclusively.

We discussed the web3 gaming market and how it’s grown in the past year and where it’s going in the future.

We also talked about:

• Creating value in games


• Mobile gaming vs web3 gaming


• Global adoption


• Advice for developers

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

Follow the money

1. Spearbit raises $7M to improve security audits in crypto through its open marketplace


2. Cube3.AI raised $8.2M in a seed round to improve web3 security


3. SphereX also raised $8.2M to improve smart contract security


4. Orbital raised $6.4M for to provide crypto solutions for traditional finance


5. Institutional decentralized exchange D8X raised $1.5M in a pre-seed round

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

What else we’re writing

Want to branch out from the world of web3? Here’s some articles on TechCrunch that caught our attention this week.

1. Fearless Fund responds to racial discrimination lawsuit


2. So your startup’s runway is dwindling and fundraising is hard. What’s next?


3. Researchers watched 100 hours of hackers hacking honeypot computers


4. Imagine for a moment that you’re an AI


5. 6 startup founders gaze into a future-of-work crystal ball