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From bitcoin volatility to multimillion-dollar hacks: 7 crypto updates you should know.

Over the weekend, the overall cryptocurrency market took a hit.

On Saturday night, Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, fell to a low of around $43,000. Its price has since bounced back and is currently trading at around $49,149, according to Coin Metrics.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, plummeted to roughly $3,500 on Saturday. At the time of writing, the price of Ether is around $4,179.

Here are seven things that happened in crypto this week, in addition to the volatility this weekend.

1. Land sales in the Metaverse have surpassed $100 million in just one week

Virtual real estate has increasingly become a hot commodity.

In the last week alone, sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) representing metaverse land topped $100 million, DappRadar, a crypto analytics firm, reported on Tuesday.

The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse and game where users may use NFTs to acquire land and in-game items, had a trade volume of more over $86 million. More than $15 million was traded for land NFTs on Decentraland, an Ethereum-powered virtual reality platform.

In a blog post, DappRadar stated, "Virtual worlds are the new top commodity in the crypto market, producing record sales numbers and constantly increasing NFT prices."

2. Jack Dorsey’s Square changes corporate name to Block

Square, Jack Dorsey's payments startup, revealed on Wednesday that it will be renamed Block as of December 10.

In a statement, Block stated, "Block has many associated meanings for the company – building blocks, neighbourhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a portion of code, and difficulties to overcome."

 Square Crypto, a separate department of the company "dedicated to advancing bitcoin,” will change its name to Spiral.

In a statement, Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said, "We established the Square brand for our seller business, which is where it belongs." "Block is a new name, but our mission of economic empowerment hasn't changed. We will continue to design tools to help broaden access to the economy, regardless of how we grow or change."

Dorsey announced his departure as Twitter's CEO, prompting the renaming. The post will be taken over by Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal, the company announced on Monday.

3. Facebook retreats from crypto ad ban

Also on Wednesday, Facebook, which is now known as Meta, stated that most cryptocurrency companies will no longer be banned from advertising ads on its platform.

The initial prohibition, which prevented cryptocurrency and blockchain startups from advertising on Facebook and Instagram, went into effect in January 2018.

"We're doing this because the cryptocurrency landscape has continued to grow and stabilise in recent years,  and has seen more government regulations that are setting clearer rules for their industry,” the company said in a statement.

This move follows the announcement on Tuesday by David Marcus, the leader of Facebook's cryptocurrency operations, that he will be departing the company at the end of the year.

4. The DeFi project BadgerDAO was hacked, losing about $120 million

BadgerDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation focusing on integrating bitcoin with decentralised finance applications, was hacked on Wednesday night, losing around $120 million, according to blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield.

An investigation to determine what happened is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, BadgerDAO has put a moratorium on all smart contracts, which are digital agreements written in code and recorded on the blockchain. As a result, according to the BadgerDAO website, users are still unable to deposit, receive rewards, or withdraw funds from the app.

This comes amid many recent DeFi-related hacks, which is why financial experts warn to thoroughly research before investing to a project. They recommend investing only what you can afford to lose.

5. Hackers stole $196 million from Bitmart, a cryptocurrency exchange

Bitmart, a cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked, according to a statement released late Saturday night.

Bitmart estimated that hackers withdrew roughly $150 million in "a large-scale security breach," whereas Peckshield thinks the loss is closer to $200 million.

Bitmart said in a statement that all withdrawals had been temporarily halted and that a security check was being conducted.

CNBC reached out to several Bitmart workers on Sunday, seeking further information about the attack and if those who were targeted will be compensated. CNBC has yet to receive a response.

6. Charlie Munger claims that cryptocurrencies had ‘never been invented’

Charlie Munger, a billionaire investor, still isn’t a fan of cryptocurrency.

Munger said at the Sohn conference in Sydney on Friday, "I wish they'd never been invented," according to The Australian Financial Review. "I applaud the Chinese, and I believe they made the right decision in banning them."

This isn't a new viewpoint for Berkshire Hathaway's 97-year-old vice chairman. During a Q&A session at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in May, Munger said that the Covid-19 outbreak had strengthened his dislike for bitcoin.

7. OpenSea hires former CFO of Lyft

As chief financial officer, Brian Roberts will join OpenSea. Roberts formerly worked for Lyft as an executive.

Roberts told Bloomberg that he "loves Lyft," but is is drawn to the growth of Web3 and the NFT market. "It's been a long time since I've been this thrilled about something." It reminds me of eBay in 1995."

One of the major NFT marketplaces, OpenSea, is worth $1.5 billion.  When asked about raising additional funds, Roberts said there is potential for an IPO.

"You'd be silly not to consider about going public when you have a company rising as quickly as this one," he told Bloomberg. "Given its growth, it would be well-received in the public market."