Crypto Weekly 5/15/23

A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...

May 16, 2023

This week's crypto weekly was authored by @serdave

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($27,121): -6% / +64%
- ETH ($1,812): -5% / +51%
- SOL ($20.85): -6% / +114%
- UNI ($5.11): -4% / -1%
- MATIC ($0.86): -12% / +14%

MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($1.2T): -8% / +43%
- BTC Dominance: 46%
- ETH Dominance: 20%
- Tether ($83B): +1% / +25%
- USDC ($30B): -2% / -33%

NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- The Ethereum network faced finality (the guarantee that a block is immutable) issues twice this week, taking 30-60 minutes to finalize blocks instead of the usual 13 minutes. The problems were linked to bugs in Ethereum client software, though their root cause is still being debated. Link. Link.

- The number of wallets holding at least 1 BTC surpassed 1 million for the first time ever. Link.

- The US Chamber of Commerce, the largest lobbying group in the country, filed an amicus brief in support of Coinbase in its lawsuit against the SEC. The crypto exchange is asking the court to force the SEC to respond to its petition for rulemaking on digital assets. Link.

- Decentralized exchange Uniswap saw $37 billion of trading volume in April, compared to Coinbase's $34 billion of trading volume. Uniswap has experienced higher trading volume than Coinbase for the 4th consecutive month. Link.

- Solana surpassed Polygon in market cap for the first time since the collapse of FTX, making it the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Both tokens are trading around an $8 billion market cap. Link.

- Crypto market makers Jump and Jane Street announced they are pulling back from trading digital assets due to regulatory scrutiny around their involvement with FTX and Binance. Link.

- According to a Goldman Sachs' survey, 62% of family offices have no interest in crypto investments vs. 39% in 2021, but 26% of family offices are invested in crypto vs. 16% in 2021. Link. Link.

- Crypto exchange Bittrex filed for bankruptcy in the U.S, months after announcing it would wind down operations in the country and weeks after being sued by the SEC. Link.

- Last week marked the 1 year anniversary of the collapse of Luna and UST. Link.

- The percentage of OFAC-compliant Ethereum blocks has dropped to a daily rate of 27%, down from 80% in November 2022. Link.

- Worldcoin, the decentralized identity protocol co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is reportedly migrating from Polygon to Optimism and is eyeing $100 million in fresh funding. Link.

- Liquid staking platforms such as Lido and Rocket Pool now control 36% of the ETH staking market in comparison to more centralized staking alternatives such as Coinbase. Link.

- The SEC revised the penalties against LBRY for selling an unregistered security from $22 million to $111k, citing LBRYs “lack of funds and near-defunct status.” Link.

- Bitcoin transaction fees surpassed block rewards for the first time since 2017. The bitcoin network will need to rely on transaction fees once all 21 million blocks have been mined. Link.

- Former users of Quadriga, the Canadian BTC exchange that went bankrupt after its founder died under strange circumstances, are getting compensated for 13% of their claims. Link. Link.

- NFT protocol Tessera, formerly named Fractional, announced it is shutting down. Link.

- BRC-20 tokens, Bitcoin's response to ERC-20 fungible tokens, are approaching a $1 billion cumulative market cap. Link.

- Software company Digital Asset launched a new blockchain called Canton Network with Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and other Fortune 500 companies as partners. Link. Press Release.

- House Democrats are drafting their own stablecoin bill in response to a Republican bill written before the FTX collapse. Link.

- Crypto VC Paradigm bought $50 million worth of Coinbase shares. The firm was an early investor in Coinbase and is also co-founded by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam. Link.

- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Friday banning the use of a CBDC in the state. Link.

- Binance announced it is withdrawing from Canada due to new, stricter regulations. Link

- An EU bill that would force crypto companies to give tax authorities details of their clients’ holdings, including NFTs, has received little opposition to date and is expected to pass. Link. Draft Bill.

- The former Chief Regulatory officer of FTX is cooperating with the plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit against celebrity brand ambassadors for the firm. Link.

- After facing criticism on social media, Coinbase apologized for describing the Pepe meme, the foundation of the meme coin $PEPE, as a hate symbol in their newsletter. Link. Link.

- Bitcoin miners are earning $40 million in daily revenue, the largest in over year, due to increased activity driven largely by interest in ordinals. Link. Link.

- USDC issuer Circle is not holding treasury bills with a maturity date later than June 2023 due to fears that the US government will not reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Link. Link.

- Franklin Templeton, which manages ~$1.4 trillion in assets, is launching a blockchain private equity fund. Link.

- NFT protocol ParaSpace asked its CEO Yubo Ruan to resign after accusing him of mismanaging 2,909 ETH recovered from a hack in March. Ruan denies these claims and accused two consultants of unlawfully taking control of the protocol’s operations. Link. Link.

- The IRS filed claims worth $44 billion against bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. The claims are filed under a classification which could allow them to take precedence over other creditors. Link.

- USDT issuer Tether announced Q1 profits of $1.48 billion and reserves of $2.44 billion. USDT is the most traded cryptocurrency with a 24-hour trading volume of $16.5 billion. Link. Link.

- MEV (maximal extractable value) sandwich bot Jaredfromsubway.eth has made $2.7 miillion in profit over the past week and $6.3 million since the bot launched in late February. The bot has gained notoriety on twitter for profiting off the recent memecoin craze. Link.

- President Biden tweeted a post supporting Democrat’s proposed fiscal budget and accusing Republicans of supporting "tax loopholes that help wealthy crypto investors.” Link. Link.

- Actress Rosario Dawson is starring in a new series by Web3 startup Gala Films, with the pilot exclusively available to NFT token holders who funded the show's production. Link.

- Transaction volume on Litecoin hit a record high due to heightened activity around BRC-20, a token standard that lets users create and transfer tokens on the Bitcoin network. Link.

- LG is filing a patent for a TV that enables its user to trade NFTs. The electronics giant launched an NFT marketplace on the Hedera Network in 2020. Link.

- Terra founder Do Kwon was released from under supervision in Montenegro. The US and South Korea have requested his extradition to face criminal charges over the collapse of UST. Link.

- Binance.US is considering reducing Binance CEO CZ's majority stake to improve its standing with US regulators. Link.

- Robinhood’s crypto trading revenue declined 30% year over year in Q1, though total crypto assets under management increased from Q4 22. Link.

- JPMorgan and the Small Business Administration have criticized the SEC's rule requiring investment firms to secure all assets, including crypto, with approved custodians. Link.

- NFT collection Pudgy Penguins announced a $9 million seed funding round led by 1kx. Link.

- Digital Currency Group posted an update that it is in discussions to refinance its debt to its now bankrupt crypto lending arm, Genesis Lending. Link.

- Lawyers for disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried filed a motion to dismiss the majority of the criminal charges filed against him. Link.

- The US house Financial Services and Agriculture committees held a rare joint hearing on digital asset regulation. Brad Sherman (D-CA) questioned whether any legislation is needed in his opening remarks. Link. Link.

- PayPal is currently holding $1 billion in crypto assets for its users, held exclusively with third party custodians. Link.