Crypto needs its own version of The Oscars.

At least that’s the thinking behind The Crypties, a new annual awards show created by Decrypt Studios, the Web3 production studio arm of Decrypt Media.

The Crypties will honor the best and brightest of Web3 at the inaugural Crypties Awards gala on November 30 at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach amidst this year’s Art Basel events.

Nominees have been picked by a star-studded board of advisors tapped by Decrypt Studios, including prominent Web3 creators and executives who have their pulse on the industry.

Cryptocurrency prices slid over the weekend and again on Monday morning with all eyes on the Federal Reserve this week.

The market is anticipating that the Fed will deliver yet another hefty interest rate hike when it holds its meeting on Sept. 20-21.

According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the market is currently pricing in an 80% chance of a 75 basis points (bps) rate hike and a 20% chance of a 100 bps rate hike this week.

Last week Securitize, a digital asset securities firm, announced the launch of a tokenized fund to allow access to the KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund (HCSG) II. This is the first time private equity investing—with a major sponsor—has become available to qualified purchasers in the U.S. using blockchain technology. This fund is available for individuals or family businesses with portfolios of $5 million or more.

Ethereum's long-awaited Merge has finally arrived. The Merge will take ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of- stake verifications. Insider asked 15 crypto founders and CEOs how the Merge will impact the broader crypto ecosystem

As institutions continue to dip their toes into the world of digital assets, KKR & Co. is the latest to enter the space by tokenizing a part of one of its private equity funds – a step that may provide institutional private market strategies to more individual investors.

“We’re big believers in blockchain technology and the role it’ll play in shaping future private markets,” Dan Parant, managing director and co-head of U.S. private wealth at KKR, said to TechCrunch.

Advocates of Web3, a catch-all term widely used to incorporate concepts of decentralized networks, cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-powered applications, have a grand vision for the future of the Internet and global finance.

One thing that stands in the way: a lack of people to make it happen.

The past few years have been a wild ride through the cryptoverse, and there’s no sign of it calming down anytime soon. Not when you have extremes like a multibillion-dollar collapse of the Terra ecosystem and its UST stablecoin and Andresseen Horowitz (a16z) closing a $4.5 billion crypto megafund.

While some experts say bundle up for a harsh crypto winter, others remain bullish. This dichotomy is just one reason we’re thrilled that John Wu, president of Ava Labs, will join us onstage at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami.

Ava Labs President John Wu sits for an extensive chat about institutional interest in crypto and DeFi (it has "absolutely not waned") and use cases of Avalanche with Decrypt's Dan Roberts at Avalanche House in Brooklyn on July 15, 2022.

In the world of Ethereum, groups of developers, engineers, and so-called “proof-of-stake implementers” come together each week to chat via Zoom. Time after time, call after call, the biggest topic for discussion has been the timeline for the “merge,” a massive years-in-the-making upgrade for Ethereum that will dramatically improve its efficiency while reducing its environmental impact.

Join John Wu, President of Ava Labs, as he shares his 2022 predictions for cryptocurrency and blockchain and gives his analysis of smart contract layer 1 blockchains.

In collaboration with Phemex, come hear John share his experience as a fintech executive and technology investor and describe his role in creating a blockchain-enabled solution for originating, issuing, and trading financial assets. John and Phemex will provide listeners with insights into the current cryptocurrency market and landscape, and share their thoughts on how investment in the space will play out in the coming year.

A Chainalysis report analyzes the layer-1 blockchain ecosystem, questioning if alternative L1s will continue to challenge Ethereum this crypto winter.

Given Ethereum’s dominance coupled with the current crypto bear market, it remains questionable if L1s will flourish. This was recently highlighted in a Chainalsys blog post entitled “New layer 1 blockchains are expanding the DeFi ecosystem, but no ETH killers yet.” Ethan McMahon, an economist at Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that Chainalysis published this report to raise awareness for the current L1 ecosystem:

Despite the chilly winter storm depressing cryptocurrency prices, digital asset entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists and enthusiasts gathered in Cambridge, MA today for Link Venture’s Imagination in Action Web3 Summit where the movers and shakers ranged from Stuart Haber and Scott Stornetta, co-inventors of blockchain, to Web 2.0 grand dame Esther Dyson and Ben Mezrich, author of Bitcoin BTC +1.6% Billionaires and the book that inspired the Academy Award winning Social Network.

The cryptophiles are settling into the realities of a bear market, but their recent triumphs should not be lost.

A record nine cryptocurrency-focused companies made it onto this year’s Forbes Fintech 50 list–an honor roll of the most innovative private companies in fintech. Collectively, these nine trailblazers have raised $6.5 billion in venture capital, with the lion’s share of that coming within the past 12 months.

If there is one thing that can be said for anything remotely connected to the internet and a computer screen it’s that if it is salacious or is a video game it will probably survive market turmoil.

So for cryptocurrency investors – if there are any left after this week’s news about Coinbase keeping your crypto if it goes bankrupt (they say they’re not at risk of going bankrupt), and Bitcoin BTC -3.7% heading to $25,000 (it is around $29,000 as of this writing) – the sector that looks the most promising is anything related to blockchain gaming or GameFi.

Avalanche’s subnets give game creators more flexibility and can insulate them from wider network issues, John Wu tells Decrypt.

Ava Labs President John Wu recently appeared on Decrypt’s gm podcast.

He discussed why he believes Avalanche is best suited for NFT-powered games, as well as current perceptions of NFTs.

Two weeks after launching its first multi-coin trust, Valkyrie Investments has added its first Avalanche-focused investment vehicle.

The Valkyrie Avalanche Trust (VAVAX), which will invest solely in the blockchain’s native token AVAX, is available to accredited investors. It carries a management fee of 2% and imposes a $25,000 minimum investment.

Avalanche has recently emerged as one of the top smart contract blockchains thanks to a vibrant developer community and a sophisticated architecture that offers both speed and security.

Now the team behind Avalanche is targeting a new challenge: making a blockchain wallet that is easy to use for non crypto-savvy people.

At the inaugural Avalanche Summit in Barcelona, Spain, the speedy Ethereum alternative is looking to court users onto its subnets.

To the crypto-conscious, blockchain industry conferences have become annual pilgrimages of sorts, drawing each chain’s respective believers to multi-day extravaganzas in exotic locales around the world.

America's cryptocurrency capital may become the next Wall Street.

That’s because Bitcoin’s crypto mining requires a huge amount of computer power since miners must complete complex puzzles to validate transactions and create new coins. This process is called “proof-of-work.”

America's cryptocurrency capital may become the next Wall Street.

That is, if the title doesn't go to the home of Wall Street itself.

For years, government officials from such disparate places as the Wyoming state capitol to city hall in Miami have been jockeying to lure the crypto and blockchain industries to their communities.