Crypto Weekly: the bored apes are back
STORY: From why the bored apes are back, to a courtroom defeat for digital art, these are the week’s big stories in the world of virtual money…
The NFT market might not be dead after all.
Sales of such digital assets on the Ethereum blockchain jumped to just over $780 million in January.
That’s a fraction of the $5 billion this time last year, but more than 40% up on the month before.
Digital art was among the big hits, with one bored ape cartoon going for over $820,000.
Elsewhere in NFTs…
French luxury brand Hermes won its battle with an artist who made digital versions of its famous Birkin bags.
A New York jury ruled that the “MetaBirkins” by Mason Rothschild could confuse consumers and weren’t protected by free speech rights.
They awarded Hermes $133,000 in damages and maybe set a precedent for future NFT cases.
India will host G20 finance ministers and central bank governors this month, and crypto regulation could be on the agenda.
Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the group is exploring collective action:
"We are talking to all nations, that if it requires regulation, then one country alone cannot do anything and that is why we are talking with all nations if we can make some standard operating procedure which is followed by everyone to make a regulatory framework.”
And a U.S. judge has extended restrictions on former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried.
He won’t be allowed to contact employees of firms he once controlled, or use encrypted messaging while out on bail.
Prosecutors had last week raised concerns that Bankman-Fried could be trying to tamper with witnesses.
Defense lawyers say he was trying to help, not interfere.
