Daily Flash | US GDP Slowed Indicating Shrinking Economy Yet Crypto Market Continues to Soar For 3rd Day, But Skeptics Are Calling It A Fakeout

Today's Headline - Crypto Game Studio Immutable Announces New Layoffs in 'Small Reorganisation’

Immutable Game Studios, the game studio behind the popular crypto game ‘Gods Unchained’, has reportedly let go of around 6% of its workforce, including one of its senior game designers James Wakeham.

James Wakeham explained the decision of the company by stating,

“They have a very long runway. They decided that a bunch of the people who were working on the game weren't supporting where the product needs to go next.”

The layoffs were announced on Monday at an all-hands meeting and are a part of a “decision to conduct a small reorganisation within Gods Unchained” in order to achieve their “goal of creating the next generation of web3 games.”

The recent layoffs, however, have not slowed down hiring efforts by the company. It stated,

“We are actively increasing hires across product, engineering, and tokenomics in Gods Unchained as we focus on scaling it to mainstream and beyond.”

Chart of the Day - Ethereum Daily Active Addresses Spiked

As of this writing,
Bitcoin (BTC) is changing hands at around $24,074, up 3.71% in the past 24 hours,
while Ether (ETH) is trading at $1,736, or up 5.18% during the same period.
Major altcoins are also continuing their streak of gains, with Cardano (ADA) up by 5.38%, Solana (SOL) +10.1%, Polkadot (DOT) +6.34%, Avalanche (AVAX) +8.64%, and Cosmos (ATOM) +6.75%.

Notable gainers include:
Livepeer (LPT) at $14.17(+59.79%),
Oasis Network (ROSE) at $0.0712 (+34%),
Ethereum Classic (ETC) at $44.15 (+33.5%).

Notable losers include:
Bifrost (BFC) at $0.0868 (-11.71%),
BarnBridge (BOND) at $10.22 (-7.82%),
Nest Protocol (NEST) at $0.0342 (-4.49%).

On Wednesday, Bitcoin (BTC) surged around 8% to the mid $22,500 mark following the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) decision to raise interest rates and U.S. GDP tumbling more steeply than expected. The quarterly growth rate declined 0.9% relative to estimates for a 0.5% increase.

The Fed’s attempts to reel inflation in by increasing interest rates are usually associated with a pullback of investment activity across markets. However, there are mixed opinions among the community about whether the latest pump will have enough momentum to sustain upward.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, BTC Bulls have placed their hope on $24,000 and higher as the open interest for the July 29 Bitcoin monthly options expiry is $1.76 billion. The 1.18 call-to-put ratio reflects the $950 million call (buy) open interest against the $810 million put (sell) options.

Bitcoin bears need to pressure the price below $20,000 on July 29 to secure a $360 million profit. On the other hand, bulls can avoid a loss by pushing BTC above $22,000, balancing the valid bets from both sides.

Influencer of the Day - Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Offloads Over 1.4 Million Coinbase Shares

According to the latest trade filing, Cathie Wood’s investment firm ‘Ark Investment Management’- one of Coinbase’s largest stockholders, has sold over 1.4 million Coinbase shares (worth almost $75 million).

Cathie Wood had previously been bullish on Coinbase, snapping up almost 4.5 million shares following the exchange's public listing in April 2021. The recent move to sell off its Coinbase shareholdings comes as a result of Coinbase facing an investigation by the SEC for listing ‘unregistered securities’ along with the insider trading scam last week.

The sale and the recent negative news have resulted in Coinbase shares closing down at $52.93, losing over 21% in value on Tuesday.

Buzzes of Yesterday - #ApeCoin Passed Proposal to Fund BAYC News Site, #Apple is Seeking Web3 Marketers

Unstoppable Domains Hits Unicorn Status With $65M Series A

Polygon’s Q2 data shows significant growth in the ecosystem

Crypto Fund Variant Commits $450M to Backing Web3, DeFi Projects

MicroStrategy In Trouble: Bitcoin Holdings Cause Unrealized Loss of $1 Billion

ApeCoin Proposal to Fund 24-Hour BAYC News Site Wins Community Approval

City of Miami to Launch 5,000 Ethereum NFTs with TIME, Mastercard, Salesforce

HTC Partners with pixiv to Integrate VRoid's Japanese Anime-Style Avatars into VIVERSE

Apple Seeking Web3-Savvy Content Marketing Directors

US Tech Bill Creates White House Blockchain Adviser Role

French Lawmaker Calls for Crypto Committee as Legal Questions Loom

Author: Gate.io Researcher Peter L.
This article represents only the researcher's views and does not constitute any investment advice. Gate.io reserves all rights to this article.
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