This week's crypto weekly was co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($28,165): +1% / +70%
- ETH ($1,794): +1% / +50%
- SOL ($20.51): -2% / +110%
- UNI ($5.95): +3% / +15%
- MATIC ($1.10): 0% / +46%
MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.2T): +1% / +48%
- BTC Dominance: 46%
- ETH Dominance: 18%
- Tether ($80B): +1% / +20%
- USDC ($33B): -4% / -27%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- The CFTC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO CZ, alleging that the exchange violated American derivatives rules and did not properly register with the agency. Link. Link.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren launched her reelection bid this week and doubled down on her criticism of crypto with a campaign message that she is “building an anti-crypto army.” Link. Tweet.
- Ticketmaster partnered with metal band Avenged Sevenfold to launch an NFT token-gating feature that allows NFT owners to gain early access to concert tickets and merchandise. Link. Link.
- The European Union's member states have proposed revisions to the Data Act that would require smart contracts to have a kill switch. Link. Proposal (PDF).
- The Shapella upgrade for Ethereum is set to activate on April 12, enabling stakers to freely withdraw their ETH. Following the news, staking projects like Lido and Rocket Pool saw a surge in their token prices. Link. Blog Post.
- Crypto exchange Bittrex announced it will shut down its U.S. operations due to an unfavorable regulatory and economic environment, while continuing to operate its Bittrex Global platform for traders outside the U.S. Link. Link. Tweet.
- Crypto exchange Gemini is planning to launch a crypto derivatives exchange outside of the US. Link.
- Nvidia CTO Michael Kagan criticized the crypto industry for not bringing anything useful to society and expressed his preference for Nvidia products to be used for AI development rather than crypto mining. Link. Link.
- Gucci announced a partnership with Yuga Labs and will take an active role offering activations in Yuga’s Otherside metaverse. Link.
- Polygon launched the mainnet for its zkEVM network which enables faster and cheaper transactions, with Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin sending the first transaction and including a hidden message. Link.
- A New York judge put on hold Binance.US's $1 billion deal to buy bankrupt crypto lender Voyager's assets, citing a substantial case by the U.S. government arguing that the contract could grant Voyager immunity from tax or securities law violations. Link.
- The FDIC is forcing Signature Bank's digital asset clients to close their accounts by April 5, following the bank's exclusion of $4 billion worth of deposits from its sale to Flagstar Bank. Link.
- SEC Chairman Gary Gensler asserted at a congressional hearing that existing securities regulations apply to the crypto market and that the industry is "rife with noncompliance." Link.
- The U.S. government sold $215 million of Bitcoin this week that was confiscated from the Silk Road marketplace, with 41,490 Bitcoin (~$1.2 billion) still to be liquidated throughout 2023. Link.
- DAO treasuries have reached a record $25.1 billion, with growth driven by layer 2 DAOs which now represent around 40% of the total value locked in DeFi. Link.
- Citi analysts predict that blockchain technology will soon see billions of users and trillions of dollars in value, driven primarily by the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the tokenization of real-world assets. Link. Report (PDF).
- EigenLabs, the team behind EigenLayer, a re-staking protocol on Ethereum, secured $50 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital. Link.
- Hardware wallet provider Ledger raised €100 million ($109 million) in a funding round valuing the company at €1.3 billion. Link. Link.
- Trading volume and prices of Trump NFTs surged following the indictment of the former U.S. President by a New York grand jury. Link. Link.
- Magic Eden makes up a majority of trading volume for Bitcoin Ordinals since opening its Bitcoin marketplace on March 21. Link.
- Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX is moving to Cosmos due to scalability issues on Ethereum. The platform is expected to be fully running on Cosmos by the end of September. Link.
- Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) pleaded not guilty to new charges of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws and bribing Chinese authorities. Link.
- SBF reached an agreement with U.S. prosecutors on revised bail conditions, after a judge raised the prospect of sending him to jail pending trial. Link.
- ConsenSys released a public testnet for its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) called “Linea.” Link.
- OKX is turning over $157 million in digital assets belonging to FTX and Alameda Research as part of the two firms' bankruptcy proceedings. Link.
- ZeroSync is partnering with StarkWare to bring zero-knowledge proofs to Bitcoin, allowing users to validate the network's state without downloading the entire blockchain history. Link.
- Token protocol Noble has partnered with Circle to bring USD Coin (USDC) natively to the Cosmos ecosystem in Q2. Link.
- The SEC charged crypto firm Beaxy.com and several executives for registration failures after the firm suspended its services in the US due to an uncertain regulatory environment. Link.
- Solana-based NFT project y00ts successfully migrated to the Polygon blockchain, with nearly 77% of the collection transferring to the new chain. Link.
- Argentinian airline Flybondi is partnering with NFT ticketing company TravelX to issue e-tickets as NFTs on the Algorand blockchain. Link.
- The UK Treasury canceled plans to launch an NFT, initially proposed by prime minister Rishi Sunak, but will keep the proposal under review. Link.
- The Group of Seven (G-7) countries plan to promote tougher regulations of the cryptocurrency sector at a meeting with finance ministers and central bankers in mid-May. Link.
- First Citizens Bank acquired Silicon Valley Bank, purchasing $72 billion worth of deposits and loans at a $16.5 billion discount. Link.