The US Fed raising interest rates faster than expected is driving the crypto crash, tech layoffs, and more, as companies value “money now” over long-term bets (Matthew Yglesias/Slow Boring)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
Amid a downturn, tech companies may shift their focus from “gee-whiz” projects, like self-driving cars and metaverses, to truly useful products that make money  —  History shows that downturns are when the industry shifts focus from flashy novelties to things that are truly useful

Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Study: in January 2022, 62.4% of bitcoin mining electricity came from fossil fuels, contradicting the Bitcoin Mining Council’s estimate that ~59% is sustainable  —  The CCAF uses publicly available data to run a theoretical model to estimate the environmental footprint of bitcoin mining.

Patrick Clark / Bloomberg:
Home buying startup Opendoor lays off ~550 employees, or ~18% of its staff, after higher rates and a shift in prices forced the company to sell homes at a loss  —  Opendoor Technologies Inc. is laying off about 550 employees after higher mortgage rates cratered US housing demand.

Camomile Shumba / CoinDesk:
US Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Durbin, and Tina Smith ask Fidelity to reconsider its upcoming Bitcoin 401(k) offerings announced in April 2022  —  The asset management giant said in April it would offer retail investors the option to put bitcoin in their 401(k) accounts at some point this year.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
The European Central Bank says that bitcoin is “rarely used for legal transactions” and is on the “road to irrelevance”, without citing any strong data points  —  European Central Bank officials alleged on Wednesday that bitcoin is “rarely used for legal transactions …

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Ripple says it is effectively “operating outside of the US” due to its legal fight with the SEC and is seeking a license in Ireland to drive EU expansion  —  – Ripple is expanding its presence in the EU, where it plans to “passport” its services through an entity in Ireland, General Counsel Stuart Alderoty told CNBC.