Crypto Weekly 8/18/24
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.2T): -1% / +22%
- BTC ($58,773): -2% / +38%
- ETH ($2,626): -2% / +15%
- SOL ($143): -2% / +40%
- UNI ($6.21): 0% / -15%
- MATIC ($0.41): -3% / -57%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($117B): +1% / +27%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.8B): +1% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 15%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin ETFs are on pace to hold more bitcoin than the 1.1 million BTC held by the cryptocurrency’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. Link.
- Gas fees on ethereum fell to a 5 year low. Link.
- DeFi dominance, measured as a percentage of the global crypto market cap, dropped to its lowest point since January 2021. Link. Link.
- Decentralized exchange Uniswap Labs has earned more than $50 million in fees from its front-end. The exchange began charging a 0.15% fee on transactions made in its web app and wallet in October. Link.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced plans to enact crypto legislation by the end of the year at a campaign event for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Harris has yet to comment on crypto policy. Link. Link.
- Coinbase said it was resuming its exchange services in Hawaii, seven years after leaving the state. Coinbase is now available in all 50 states. Link. Link.
- Crypto exchange Binance said it was relaunching its service in India after receiving the necessary approvals, 7 months after first suspending operations in the country. Link. Link.
- Campaign finance filings show that Donald Trump holds between $1 million - $5 million in ETH. Trump’s running mate JD Vance holds between $100,000 - $250,000 in BTC. Link. Link.
- Blackrock surpassed Grayscale in terms of assets under management (AUM) for publicly-listed crypto products, with $22 billion AUM vs. $20.7 billion. Link.
- Employees of restaking protocol EigenLayer received nearly $5 million in airdrops from ecosystem partners this year, bringing into question conflicts of interest. EigenLayer has since banned the practice. Link.
- Franklin Templeton filed paperwork with the SEC last Friday for a BTC/ETH combo ETF. The SEC already said it was delaying its decision for a similar ETF application by Hashdex to September 30. Link.
- Liquidators for the failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) are seeking $1.3 billion from TerraForm Labs, for losses the fund suffered following the 2022 crash of its UST stablecoin / Luna token. Link.
- Ripple began testing its dollar-pegged stablecoin RUSD on its XRP blockchain. RUSD is backed by short-term US Treasuries, dollar deposits, and cash equivalents. Link.
- Crypto exchange Coinbase teased a potential launch of a tokenized bitcoin product under the ticker cbBTC, which could allow users to hold bitcoin on Ethereum and other chains including its own Layer-2 Base. Link. Tweet.
- Metamask, Mastercard and Baanx are launching a debit card that enables purchasing directly from a Metamask wallet. The pilot is expected to launch in the EU later this year. Link.