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Flowcarbon Postpones Token Launch amid Crypto Market Downturn

Flowcarbon, a blockchain-enabled carbon credit trading platform cofounded by WeWork founder Adam Neumann, announced on Saturday that it has postponed the launch of its token due to slowing operations triggered by the current difficulties in the market.

Flowcarbon co-founder Dana Gibber told Bloomberg media that the firm has decided to wait for markets to stabilize before it embarks on launching its products. The company expected to launch the token at the end of June but has now postponed it indefinitely.

“We invest with a long-term view and remain very confident about the market,” Arianna Simpson, an a16z partner who handled an investment in Flowcarbon, said.

Flowcarbon is a climate technology firm that brings carbon credits onto blockchain. The startup combines cryptocurrencies with carbon credits to create tokens that can be burned when an owner wants to offset emissions. The token is known as the Goddess Nature Token (GNT).

FlowCarbon offers tokenized carbon credits to firms seeking to lower their carbon footprint. The credits can then be trading exchanges on crypto exchanges.

According to FlowCarbon, these credits are traded until they are redeemed by the user, who can then claim the offset’s environmental impact. The company said the token could be sold or redeemed for an underlying real-world credit.

Carbon markets are exceedingly opaque, and providing carbon credits can increase revenue and enhance transparency for buyers. Besides FlowCarbon, several venture capitalists such as OffsetFarm, JustCarbon, and Carbon Interface are also hinting toward the carbon credit market as they consider carbon credits a credible revenue source for projects.

Flowcarbon raised $70 million in a funding round led by a16z, Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, in May. Other investors participated in the funding round, including General Catalyst, Samsung Next, RSE Ventures, and Allegory Labs.

Weak Market Conditions

The news by Flowcarbon follows other tokens’ launch delays. Earlier this week, cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX delayed the launch of its native token BMEX amid volatile market conditions. On July 12, BitMEX announced that it would not proceed with listing its native cryptocurrency BMEX on its spot exchange. The decision by BitMEX to delay the launch came citing unfavourable market conditions.

South Korea-based SK Square, an investment arm of conglomerate SK Group, on June 22, stated that it would delay the launch of its crypto token due to volatility and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) in the current crypto market.

The ongoing market crash has left major cryptocurrencies falling by more than 70%, and Bitcoin is currently trading at the $20,000 level from a high of more than $60,000 in November.

Crypto Downturn Hits Luxury Watches Market Sales

Over the past few weeks, the cryptocurrency market has quietly slipped into distress as the world grapples with interest rate hikes and inflation. Housing affordability and cost of living concerns have currently become a priority among consumers.

The downward spiral has put economic investors, including those desiring more tangible assets, into a panic mood.

The ongoing uncertainty surrounding crypto markets has seen more owners offloading their high-end watches, with supplies for the Rolex Daytona and Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711A now “much larger”. Online watch trading platform Chrono24 recently revealed the matter.

According to Chrono24, citing sources from Bloomberg, the fallen crypto values have “directly impacted pricing of luxury watches from brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe”.

The Karlsruhe-based business, one of the world’s largest dedicated second-hand watch retailers and marketplaces, is currently holding more than half a million timepieces on its website. This means that the collapse in crypto has significantly eased the supply of the world’s most sought-after watches – as collectors can get their hands on a new Rolex or Patek for the first time in a long time Philippe.

Over the past few years, Chrono24 said it reaped the benefits of the surging interest in the luxury watch market, capitalizing on the new wave of buyers. The rapid increase in valuations for cryptocurrencies opened up a new category of consumers, driving the prices of particular models and brands such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe sky-high.

But now, funds at hand have dropped, an incident that avid watch fans were not expecting. The fallen values of digital assets have forced the once investment-friendly buyers into reverse, selling off their assets at an alarming rate. Chrono24 CEO Time Stracke said the recent global impacts have seen prices for the most sought-after watches fall loser in line with other similar watches.

The latest development is a knockdown for crypto fans and watches lovers. Increased availability of high-end watches has driven prices down and removed the barrier to entry for the luxury watch game, making it slightly easier to secure that grail piece.

Crypto Markets becoming a way of life

In May, Italian luxury brand Gucci made major headlines when it started accepting payments in cryptocurrency in some of its American outlets.

Gucci joined a list of high-end luxury consumer brands that are looking to stake their claims in the above $1 trillion crypto market.

Crypto markets have shown interest in high-end luxury clothing brands and Electrical Vehicles like Tesla as demand and adoption become more commonplace in major industries.

Crypto has become a way of life for many, from novice traders using crypto as a way to get into the DeFi marketplace to investors looking to buy digital assets to hedge inflation.

And some major industries and multinational brands have caught onto the idea of using crypto as a form of payment for goods and services and as an opportunity to attract lucrative clients who are open to indulging in luxury items.

For some high-end brands, cryptocurrency is more than just a coin, it has become a sign of wealth and status, innovation, and progressivism. These are the qualities that high-end users want to be associated with.

Binance Launches $500M Fund for Distressed Bitcoin Miners

Private and publicly-listed bitcoin miners can now apply for loans with Binance, as the cryptocurrency exchange launched a $500 million fund on October 14 for miners unable to cope with the ongoing downturn of the crypto-market conditions.

Bitcoin miners applying for loans with Binance Pool – the company’s mining service – must pledge security to obtain loans for 18 to 24 months. Securities can be in the form of physical or digital assets.

Bitcoin’s fund for miners has followed in the footsteps of Chinese crypto billionaire Jihan Wu, the founder of Bitmain, who set up a $250 million fund to buy distressed assets from bitcoin miners last month.

Wu’s Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co has planned to invest $50 million from its own fund. Following this, Wu is planning to raise an additional $200 million from external investors.

Binance’s initiative has come as bitcoin miners have experienced tough times in the past few months, with the price of bitcoin falling too deep lows. Along with that, the revenue of these miners has also declined drastically. Bitcoin mining firm Compute North has already filed for bankruptcy.

According to various sources, their revenue fell to about 16.2% or $550.5 million last month. The crash was the fifth decline in the last six months and the lowest total since November 2020.

Another crypto firm also launched a similar fund earlier this month for distressed crypto miners. Crypto asset manager Grayscale opened a new entity named Grayscale Digital Infrastructure Opportunities LLC to invest in Bitcoin mining hardware.

The new entity has planned to purchase mining rigs and make revenue by selling the bitcoins earned through the gear.

In another major development for the crypto exchange company, the Binance (BNB) Chain has successfully eliminated approximately 2,065,152.42 BNB or $548 million worth of BNB following its quarterly on Oct 14, 2022.

The move has left the market relatively unaffected, according to Blockchain.News.

The exchange platform also stated that an added 4,833.25 BNB was part of the burn through its Pioneer Burn Program – a burning program that favours those who genuinely lost their digital assets.

Binance takes responsibility for these losses in the Pioneer Burn Program by deducting tokens (lost by users through honest mistakes) in the quarterly burn and then refunding the users depending on some specific conditions.