First Mover Americas: Reddit Community’s MOON Tokens Soar

Moons (MOON), the native token of Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency community of over 6.5 million users, has chalked up a triple-digit percentage price gain this week. One analyst cited Reddit’s recent change in terms of service as a possible reason for the impressive price rally, which has seen MOON’s price has surging 170% to almost 25 cents from 9 cents, according to data tracked by Coingecko. The cryptocurrency is listed on SushiSwap, Gate.io and MEXC. Moons are ERC-20 tokens distributed as rewards to users for their posts or comments in the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit. The coins can be freely traded, tipped, or spent in the community for different purposes. The tokens can also be stored in Reddit’s Ethereum-based wallet, called Vault. The Bricks (BRICK) token, distributed as a reward for contributions in the r/Fortnite subreddit, has surged 300% in two days.

Investors were reminded of Coinbase’s (COIN) significant regulatory challenges after the crypto exchange late Friday disclosed it had suspended retail staking services in four of the 10 states that say its staking offerings represent securities, investment bank Berenberg said in a research report. While a U.S. District Court last week ruled that Ripple’s XRP token is not a security in and of itself, it also said that XRP can be classified a security when used in certain transactions, the report said. “Coinbase Earn, the securitized product through which COIN offers staking rewards to retail customers, appears particularly vulnerable to being defined as a security within this context,” analysts led by Mark Palmer wrote.

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, its creditors and its Series B funding round shareholders have agreed on a settlement to distribute $25 million from the proceeds of the sale of GK8, with $24 million allocated for legal expenses and $1 million to be distributed amongst the group. Self-custody platform GK8 was sold to Galaxy Digital as part of Celsius’ bankruptcy proceedings, and while the exact details of the sale were not disclosed, Galaxy spokesman Michael Wursthorn earlier told CoinDesk that the price was significantly less than the $115 million Celsius bought it for. The bankrupt crypto lender closed a $750 million Series B funding round in November 2021. Growth equity firm Westcap and one of Quebec’s pension funds led the round, which was oversubscribed, expanding the raise from $400 million to $750 million.