Crypto News, Dec. 2: Metaverse Moons as ETH Cools

Square has announced it is changing its name to Block. The big rebrand came two days after the payment firm's CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced he was leaving Twitter after 16 years. It's hoped the new name will "create room for further growth" — and signifies that cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are going to be a bigger focus. Rival companies that feature the word "Block" in their title aren't impressed, with BlockFi jokingly declaring it's rebranding to SquareFi "effective immediately." The latest.

Bitcoin remained stubbornly flat on Thursday morning — trading below $57,000. Once again, the world's biggest cryptocurrency suffered a rejection at $59,000 as the U.S. confirmed that a case of the Omicron variant had been discovered in California, sending jitters through the markets. Many altcoins fared far worse. Ether — which was on the brink of securing new all-time highs on Wednesday — suffered an especially sharp pullback, down 4.3% over the past 24 hours. Find out what's going on.

Hungry crypto enthusiasts will now be able to earn rewards in Bitcoin. Grubhub — which allows users to order food from restaurants and get it delivered to their door — has entered into a partnership with Lolli. The firm gives consumers free BTC when they shop at eligible stores including Microsoft, Nike and eBay. Grubhub diners will earn $5 in Bitcoin on their first order made through the app, and $1 in BTC for every purchase after that. Why this could be great for adoption.

Land sales in blockchain-based metaverse projects topped $100 million in the past week, new figures from DappRadar have revealed. The Sandbox dominates the market with $86.5 million in transactions, followed by Decentraland on $15.5 million. Both projects are now among the most-traded NFT collections as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks lose momentum. Just last week, records were broken when 116 land plots in Decentraland changed hands for $2.4 million. Read more.

It's about to get easier to run cryptocurrency adverts on Facebook and Instagram. The parent company of both social media platforms — now known as Meta — is expanding the number of regulatory licenses it accepts. Meta hopes the changes will allow more small businesses to grow their audiences and reach a greater cross-section of customers — something that could be instrumental to adoption. It comes four months after Google also relaxed its rules for the sector. Our story.

A court battle over who owns 1.1 million BTC hangs in the balance — with jurors unable to agree on a verdict. In essence, the legal showdown centers on who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency's inventor. Craig Wright, who claims it is he who created BTC, is being sued by Ira Kleiman. He alleges his late brother played an instrumental role in BTC's launch, meaning he should be entitled to 50% of the Bitcoin that was mined by Satoshi. Any ruling could be worth billions of dollars.

An article from 2013 has emerged that'll send shivers down your spine. Wired magazine had been sent a Bitcoin mining machine, and joined a pool to boost its chances of receiving a block reward. It earned 13 BTC — worth $2,860 at the time — but then destroyed the private key. Today, it would be worth $760,000. The magazine described BTC as "nothing more than an abstraction" at the time. A user on Reddit uncovered the piece, and some users have said Wired was "arrogant." Read more here.