Three crypto stories you might have missed this week

Even in the no man’s land between Christmas and New Year, there’s news to be had in crypto. 

Here are three stories you might have missed while tucking into festive leftovers or trying to keep track of the many threads of the FTX saga. 

Nexo and Vauld’s season finale

Nexo and Vauld looked set to end their courtship this past week, having been in discussions about a potential tie-up since July, according to a report from The Block’s Yogita Khatri.

An email seen by The Block, dated Dec. 26 and sent by Vauld founder and CEO Darshan Bathija to the firm’s creditors, said that “our discussions with Nexo have unfortunately not come to fruition.”

A source familiar with the matter offered a number of reasons for the breakdown. These included Vauld losing a significant amount in the collapsed Terra ecosystem, Indian authorities seizing its assets, funds stuck on the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and huge loan receivables from Amber Group. Also, Vauld has many customers in the U.S. and Nexo recently announced plans to leave the country, so the potential deal may not have made make sense for Nexo, the source added.

Nexo persisted, however, in an open letter, including a final proposal to Vauld with some changes to its previous proposal from earlier this month. The open letter also alleged that Vauld’s financial adviser, Kroll, misrepresented and manipulated Nexo’s previous proposal when presenting it to Vauld’s creditors.

DeGods and y00ts spread their wings

DeGods and y00ts, two of the leading non-fungible token collections on Solana, announced plans to bridge to Ethereum and Polygon early next year.

The two collections were created on Solana in October 2021 by Rohun Vora, an NFT creator who goes by the pseudonym “Frank DeGods.” They are the two most significant NFT projects on the Solana blockchain in terms of floor price.

The move came as Solana’s native token took a bath, dipping below $10. Later in the week the market cap of Avalanche’s native AVAX token surpassed Solana’s, reaching $3.47 billion compared with Sol’s $3.43 billion.

Valkyrie makes a play for Grayscale’s GBTC

Valkyrie Investments said it has a proposal for Digital Currency Group’s struggling Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and that it’s ready to become a “sponsor and manager” of the fund.

“We are well-equipped to handle the unique challenges and opportunities presented by GBTC,” the company said in a statement on Dec. 28. “Our combination of technical and regulatory knowledge and hands-on experience makes us the ideal choice to take on this role.”

Grayscale’s fund hit an all-time low of 48.89% in terms of the discount to NAV on Dec. 13, and GBTC’s price is down 77% year-to-date.

“In light of recent events involving Grayscale and its family of affiliated companies, it is time for a change,” Valkyrie said.

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