This week's crypto weekly was authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($27,930): -1% / +69%
- ETH ($1,842): +3% / +54%
- SOL ($20.12): -2% / +106%
- UNI ($5.85): -2% / +13%
- MATIC ($1.09): -1% / +45%
MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.2T): 0% / +48%
- BTC Dominance: 46%
- ETH Dominance: 18%
- Tether ($80B): +1% / +21%
- USDC ($33B): 0% / -27%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin had a higher correlation to gold than the S&P 500 in March. Link.
- Defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox is repaying creditors, 10 years after 850,000 bitcoin were stolen from the exchange. The exchange recovered roughly 20% of funds worth almost $4 billion today. Link. Link. Letter (PDF).
- Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade on April 12 will finally allow users to unstake their ETH, though they may have to wait several weeks due to withdrawal queues. Around $37 billion of ETH has been staked since 2020, roughly 16% of total ETH supply. Link. Link.
- Uniswap surpassed Coinbase in trading market share last month following increased regulatory pressure on centralized exchanges. Link.
- Former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi is rumored to be settling an insider trading case with the SEC. Wahi plead guilty to criminal wire fraud-related charges brought by the Justice Department earlier this year. Link.
- The CFTC’s complaint against crypto exchange Binance includes allegations that the crypto exchange provided access to US clients without registering. 3 unidentified US firms were used as examples of Binance’s ‘sham’ compliance: the 3 are allegedly Jane Street, Tower, and Radix. Link. Link.
- Investments in blockchain companies were down 79% year over year. $2.5 billion was invested in 347 crypto companies in Q1 2023, compared to over $12 billion in Q1 2022. Link.
- Twitter updated its logo with the dogecoin icon, making the meme-coin a top 10 cryptocurrency by market cap. Link.
- The NFT market hit $2 billion in February, a 117% increase in volume from January. March trading volumes were $1.95 billion. Link.
- OpenSea released OpenSea Pro, its revamp of aggregator Gem that includes zero marketplace fees and advanced trading tools. Users who bought NFTs via Gem before March 31 are eligible to claim a free NFT. Link. Link.
- A new report from the US Treasury highlighted the increasing use of DeFi for illicit activity such as money laundering, though most illicit activity is still transacted in fiat currency. Link. Link.
- South Korean prosecutors reportedly asked Binance to prevent Terra founder Do Kwon from withdrawing crypto assets from the exchange. Link.
- Decentralized exchange SushiSwap suffered a $3.3 million exploit due to an approval-related bug in their smart contract. Link.
- Apple’s MacOS operating system has included a hidden file of the Bitcoin white paper since 2018. Link.
- The number of blockchain developers in the U.S. has declined annually since 2017. 29% of blockchain engineers are based in the US today, versus 40% in 2017. Link Link.
- Six plaintiffs, including Coinbase, filed a motion for summary judgment in a legal challenge to US government sanctions against Tornado Cash, arguing that the crypto mixer is not a sanctionable property. Link.
- The Japanese government released a regulatory framework for crypto businesses, with recommendations on tax regulation changes, accounting standards and clearer guidelines. Link Link.
- POAP announced plans to charge commercial clients anywhere from $0.25 to $1 per POAP for its services. Personal usage of the protocol will continue to be free. Link.
- Crypto derivatives exchange dYdX is exiting the Canadian market in response to new regulations. Link.
- ETH withdrawals for staking-as-a-service platform Lido will not be available until at least May, as the platform completes security audits and the launch of its V2 test network. Link.
- Over 75% of crypto holders own NFTs, with more traditional crypto enthusiasts and mainstream audiences increasingly adopting NFTs due to their accessibility and unique use cases, according to a CoinGecko and Blockchain Research lab survey. Link Link.
- Ethereum L2 Arbitrum saw its first DAO proposal fail, just a week after launching its token. The proposal requested an allocation of 750 million ARB tokens for making grants, reimbursing service providers, and covering operational costs. The proposal is now being broken up into smaller proposals. Link.
- Yuga Labs partnered with Gucci to release Otherside: Relics, a limited-edition series of physical Gucci products and associated NFTs tied into the lore of Otherside. Link.
- LayerZero Labs raised $120 million Series B at a $3 billion valuation from investors including Christie's, OpenSea, and a16z. Link. Link.
- The hacker responsible for the $200 million exploit of DeFi protocol Euler Finance returned stolen assets, leading to a 13% surge in Euler’s native EUL token. Link.
- Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, co-founders of bankrupt crypto hedge fund 3AC, launched OPNX, an exchange for trading crypto bankruptcy claims. Link
- Gala Music will release a never-before-heard version of David Bowie's hit song "Let's Dance" via a limited series of NFTs on April 14, with initial proceeds going to charity. Link.