Facebook announced that it would use its roadmap to build its Metaverse and funding to support research partners. Alibaba will ban the sale of cryptocurrency miners and suspend the sale of crypto assets on its platforms.
Sixty percent of institutional investors and wealth managers in the US, UK, France, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates have no exposure to cryptocurrencies. A survey by Nickel Digital Asset Management revealed that 62% of institutional investors expect to put money in them for the first time next year.
Long-term capital growth prospects of cryptocurrencies are the main reason to invest in them for the first time. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed cited that opinion.
Meanwhile, 44% expressed that they trust cryptocurrencies more because many companies and fund managers now invest in them.
For their part, 41% said they wanted to start investing in cryptocurrencies as the regulatory environment is improving. One in three respondents (34%) said that it is a good hedge against inflation.
Facebook Will Invest USD 50 Million to Develop Its Virtual Metaverse
Facebook recently announced that it would allocate USD 50 million to a two-year fund. In that way, they seek to start realizing the company’s vision of a virtual Metaverse.
The company recently announced that they would use their roadmap to build their Metaverse and funding. They said they would use the latter to support research partners and global programs looking to develop the platform and do internal research.
They say that a single company cannot build the Metaverse overnight. For that reason, they stated that they would collaborate with policymakers, experts, and industry partners.
Alibaba to Ban Selling Cryptocurrency Miners Amid Chinese Crackdown
Alibaba officially announced that its platform would ban the sale of cryptocurrency miners. Furthermore, it said that it would suspend the categories for blockchain miners and accessories from its website.
Besides suspending the sale of cryptocurrency mining devices, Alibaba will ban using its platforms to sell leading crypto assets. They will not allow trading Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and weak currencies like Quark (QRK).
The new restrictions include hardware and software related to cryptocurrency mining, relevant tutorials, guides, and strategies.
Morgan Stanley Doubles Its Exposure to Bitcoin
US investment bank Morgan Stanley has doubled its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares since April.
In its latest filing with the U.S. SEC, the bank revealed that the Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund wants to invest in established and emerging European companies. In addition, it said it had USD 371 million worth of assets and owned 58,116 GBTC shares as of July.
Although the exposure to cryptocurrencies of the European Fund has increased, the investment bank has also invested in GBTC in multiple institutional portfolios.
Chinese Ethereum Mining Group BeePool to Close
Ethereum mining pool BeePool, the fourth largest in terms of hash rate, will suspend its services to miners.
The Chinese mining pool operator has already suspended registrations for new users besides new subsidiary accounts for existing users. That information appears in a notice on the official BeePool website.
The company said it is suspending its services due to regulatory and compliance concerns of the repression by the Chinese government. The People’s Bank of China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrencies, declaring crypto-related transactions illegal.
By Alexander Salazar
