1. Powell shakes the market

The Facts:

• On Wednesday the Federal Reserve communicated the intent of raising short-term interest rates soon, in combination with halting asset purchases in early March.
• The Fed will use interest rates as a tool to actively tamp down inflation. The loose monetary policy over the last two years has nearly doubled the Fed’s balance sheet to almost $9 trillion in assets. The drawdown of those assets will most probably be substantial.2

Why it’s important:

• Mona Mahajan (senior investment strategist at Edward Jones) notes that “In removing liquidity from the system, where we’ve really seen that play out in markets is giving less air to the more speculative, higher valuation parts of the market,”.
• Following the communication, traditional markets as well as crypto plummet.

2. Former QuadrigaCX co-founder runs treasury of DeFi project

The Facts:

• On Thursday a popular on-chain analyst revealed on Twitter the person behind the pseudonym 0xSifu, the treasury manager of Wonderland. In fact, it was revealed to be non-other than convicted felon Michael Patryn, co-founder of QuadrigaCX, a Canadian crypto exchange which defrauded more than $190m of investor funds.
• The news has impacted many DeFi projects associated to Wonderland founder Daniele SestagallI.
• The Wonderland treasury currently manages close to $ 700 million.

Why it’s important:

• The news about the convicted felon led to a community vote where it will be decided if Patryn should be permanently removed from his position as treasurer.
• The importance in this instance is the demonstration of how DAOs can empower the community to take action in operational and strategic decisions regarding the project.

In other news

• Acala transferability enabled. (via Twitter)
• Putin intervenes in crypto regulation dispute. (via Reuters)
• The Sandbox collaborates with Warner. (Cryptopotato)

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