Crypto Weekly 9/1/24
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.14T): -10% / +19%
- BTC ($57,659): -10% / +36%
- ETH ($2,450): -11% / +7%
- SOL ($130): -18% / +27%
- UNI ($5.69): -14% / -22%
- MATIC ($0.41): -22% / -58%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($118B): 0% / +29%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.8B): 0% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 14%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- NFT marketplace OpenSea received a Wells Notice from the SEC, indicating the regulator’s intention to sue the company. The SEC alleges the NFTs sold on OpenSea’s platform are unregistered securities. Link. Link. Link. Tweet. Blog Post.
- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was indicted in France on charges of providing cryptography tools and services that facilitated money laundering, child pornography and drug trafficking on the messaging app. Link. Link.
- Cryptocurrencies extended losses mid-week, following a wave of liquidations of leveraged crypto derivatives. Bitcoin fell below $60,000. Link.
- Predictions market Polymarket saw $463 million in volumes in August, more than the $377 million seen across NFTs. Link.
- The US House Financial Services Committee is planning four hearings in September to discuss crypto-related issues across DeFi, SEC regulations, and crypto scams. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is expected to testify on September 23, along with the other 5 SEC commissioners. Link.
- Elon Musk and Tesla won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they pumped up the price of Dogecoin into a $258 billion ‘pyramid scheme’. A judge called Musk’s promotion “aspirational”, and said “no reasonable investor could rely upon them.” Link.
- Presidential candidate Donald Trump posted on social media he would unveil plans to ensure the US would be the “crypto capital of the planet.” Link. Tweet.
- DeFi platform MakerDAO is rebranding to Sky and launching two new tokens. Holders of the protocol’s DAI stablecoin and MKR tokens will have the option to upgrade their tokens to USDS and SKY to earn rewards on the new platform. Link.
- Russia will begin testing the use of cryptocurrencies for cross-border transactions on September 1. Link.
- Web3 browser Brave laid off 15% of its workforce. Link. Link.
- Coinbase’s L2 blockchain Base passed 1 million daily active users for the first time, after seeing a 70% increase in active addresses over the past 30 days. Link.
- Telegram’s TON blockchain stopped producing blocks for 6 hours after validators lost consensus due to an overload of transactions related to a memecoin airdrop. Link.
- Crypto exchange Binance urged the US government to exert political pressure to secure the release of a Binance executive who has been held by Nigerian authorities for 6 months. Link.
- Robinhood added support for Solana in its self-custodied Robinhood Wallet. Link.
- Sony’s Ethereum L2 Soneium, a protocol for IP collaborations, rolled out its first testnet and announced a grants program. Link.
- Majority of crypto scams have shifted from Ponzi schemes to common social engineering strategies according to a new Chainalysis report. Link. Report.
- Solana memecoin platform Pump.fun passed $100 million in cumulative revenue since launching in January. Link.
- Telegram held $400 million in digital assets at the end of 2023. 40% of revenue, roughly $150 million, came from its integrated wallet and digital collectibles products. Link