Crypto Weekly 3/26/2023
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
This week's crypto weekly was co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($27,838): -1% / +68%
- ETH ($1,768): 0% / +48%
- SOL ($20.94): -8% / +115%
- UNI ($5.77): -8% / +12%
- MATIC ($1.10): -3% / +46%
MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.1T): 0% / +46%
- BTC Dominance: 46%
- ETH Dominance: 19%
- Tether ($79B): +4% / +19%
- USDC ($34B): -4% / -24%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Coinbase received a Wells Notice (warning of enforcement action) from the SEC alleging that its staking products constitute unregistered securities. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly blasted the SEC for its decision. Link. Link. Blog Post. Letter to SEC (pdf). Tweet.
- Prior to receiving its Wells Notice, Coinbase filed a petition to the SEC explaining why staking can’t be universally labeled as a security. Link.
- The White House’s annual economic report to Congress criticized digital assets, claiming they do not provide any fundamental value and are not effective alternatives to fiat money. While the report noted the risks of digital assets to consumers and the financial system, it also indicated interest in pursuing a US central bank digital currency (CBDC). Link. Report (PDF).
- Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro after being wanted by Interpol since September. US and South Korean prosecutors are seeking his extradition in relation to the crash of the Terra stablecoin last year. Link. Link.
- The IRS is considering taxing NFTs like physical art, which would bar them from being added to retirement savings accounts and increase their long term capital gains to 28%. Link.
- Circle’s USDC stablecoin has seen about $6 billion in redemptions since the collapse of SVB. Link.
- Nasdaq plans to launch custody services for Bitcoin and Ethereum in the next three months. Link. Link.
- Telegram users can now send each other USDT using the @wallet chat bot. Link.
- The SEC is suing Tron founder Justin Sun and his companies BitTorrent and Tron for alleged market manipulation and fraud. The agency also charged multiple celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Logan Paul, for failing to disclose they were paid to promote Tronix and BitTorrent tokens. Link. Link. Link.
- The share of censored blocks in the Ethereum blockchain has decreased to less than a third after peaking above 50% in the aftermath of Tornado Cash’s OFAC sanction. Link.
- MetaMask added support for Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4361, which allows users to log onto websites with their wallet. Link. Tweet.
- Kraken will suspend ACH deposits and withdrawals starting March 27 as they look for new banking partners following the shutdown of Silvergate Bank. Link.
- Arbitrum, an Ethereum layer-2, launched its governance token $ARB and entered the top 40 cryptocurrencies after 81% of its airdrop was claimed. Link. Link.
- Sushi, the maker of DEX SushiSwap, received a subpoena from the SEC and has proposed to its DAO a $4 million legal defense fund to cover potential legal costs. Link.
- The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.75% to 5%, despite recent bank failures, indicating it is pushing forward with its campaign to quell inflation. Crypto prices were largely flat following the news. Link.
- A number of Republican politicians, including Texas senator Ted Cruz and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are proposing legislation to block a central bank digital currency (CBDC) from being issued in the United States, claiming such a technology would be used for “surveilling and controlling Americans”. Link.
- Cybersecurity services provider Kaspersky surveyed 2,000 Americans in October 2022 and found that 24% owned digital assets. Of those who held cryptocurrencies, roughly one third reported having had their cryptocurrency stolen. Link. Report (PDF).
- The SEC cautioned investors to be careful when investing in crypto assets, warning that platforms offering crypto trading may not have appropriate broker-dealer licenses. Link. Press Release.
- Ethereum layer-2 zkSync launched an alpha version of its zkEVM on mainnet. Despite speculation, Matter Labs, the company behind zkSync, has not announced plans for an airdrop associated with the launch. Link. Link.
- Binance suspended all spot trading, deposits and withdrawals citing a technical issue. Normal activity resumed ~12 hours later. Link.
- Aptos Labs is partnering with NBCUniversal on a Web3 game for the upcoming Nicolas Cage film Renfield. Users who play the game have the chance to win digital collectibles such as movie posters, which will be minted as NFTs on the Aptos Blockchain. Link.
- Animoca Brands lowered the target for its metaverse fund to $800 million, after previously lowering its target from $2 billion to $1 billion at the end of 2022. Link.
- Wyoming governor Mark Gordon approved the Wyoming Stable Token Act, which authorizes the creation of a stablecoin commission with the power to issue stablecoins. Link.
- Sony filed a patent application in 2021 for creating standardized digital infrastructure for owning and transferring digital NFT assets across various video game platforms. Link.
- The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case involving Coinbase and the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which could set a new standard for consumer protection across the business landscape. Link.
- Magic Eden launched a non-custodial Ordinals marketplace this week. Link.
- Decentralized spot and derivatives trading platform GMX is considering deploying on Coinbase’s Base layer-2 blockchain. Link.
- USDC issuer Circle applied for a French crypto asset license, which would allow them to offer its products in France and onshore its euro backed stablecoin EUROC. Link.
- The Euler hacker returned 58,737 ETH, roughly $102 million, to the protocol. The hacker had stolen almost $200 million in a flash loan attack earlier this month. Link.
So we saw BTC and ETH with minor price changes, while SOL and MATIC saw more significant losses. And then the White House criticized digital assets but showed interest in pursuing a US central bank digital currency. Of course CBDCs are what they want.