Crypto Weekly 6/16/2024
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.6T): -4% / +45%
- BTC ($66,672): -4% / +57%
- ETH ($3,635): -1% / +59%
- SOL ($150): -6% / +47%
- UNI ($11.61): +19% / +59%
- MATIC ($0.62): -4% / -36%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($113B): 0% / +23%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($33B): +1% / +33%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 51% / 17%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin fell alongside US equities after hawkish comments from the Fed indicated there would only be one rate cut this year. Link. Link.
- SEC chair Gary Gensler said final approval of an ethereum spot ETF could come during the summer. Link.
- US share of crypto developers has fallen from 40% to 26% over the past five years according to a report from Coinbase. Link. Report.
- Presidential candidate Donald Trump is doubling down on crypto, calling himself the "crypto president". Link.
- 94% of central banks are exploring a central bank digital currency, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Link.
- The number of daily ethereum NFT traders fell to below 4,000 for the first time since June 2021. Link.
- Deutsche Telecom, the largest telecom provider in Europe and majority shareholder of T-Mobile, said it will begin mining bitcoin. Link.
- User deposits on ethereum Layer-2 network Base grew 20% in May to $1.7 billion. The protocol, which was launched by Coinbase in partnership with Optimism, is now the 3rd most valuable Layer-2 after Arbitrum and Blast. Link.
- The SEC settles with TerraForm and its founder Do Kwon for $4.47 billion related to the collapse of the company's Luna/Terra $UST stablecoin. The company reported it had $430 million in assets against $451 million in liabilities, making it unlikely the SEC will be able to collect the full amount, if anything. Link. Link.
- Parallel, an NFT-driven competitive card game, launched in the Epic Games store. Link.
- Uniswap Labs acquires crypto reality show 'Crypto: The Game' (CTG) for an undisclosed amount. The survival game has generated cultlike status in crypto since its launch earlier this year. Link.
- Fintech company Robinhood acquires European crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, as it looks to expand outside of the US. Link. Link.
- DeFi aggregator and portfolio management tool Zapper will be launching Zapper Protocol to incentivize the interpretation and contextualization of on-chain data. Link. Announcement.
- Crypto venture firm Paradigm raised $850 million for its third fund. Link.
- Roughly $4 billion has been distributed via crypto airdrops in 2024. The three largest airdrops were Jupiter, Starknet, and Notcoin, each of which distributed roughly $1 billion. Link.
- Crypto wallet MetaMask will let US and UK users stake ethereum directly from their wallet. Link.
- South Korean regulators issued new guidelines that will treat certain NFTs as regular cryptocurrencies, particularly if they are mass-produced, fairly exchangeable, and capable of being fractionalized or used for payments. Link.
- PleasrDAO is suing "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli for saving and sharing the Wu-Tang Clan album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin". PleasrDAO purchased the IP in 2021 for $4 million. Link. Lawsuit.
- Decentralized social media platform Friend.tech plans to migrate from Coinbase's Layer 2 network Base to its own blockchain, Friendchain. Link.
- Singer Drake bet $1 million worth of crypto on the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Mavericks to win their respective Stanley Cup and NBA finals. Link.