Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.5T): 0% / +41%
- BTC ($63,728): -2% / +50%
- ETH ($3,322): +6% / +45%
- SOL ($143): -4% / +40%
- UNI ($7.98): +4% / +9%
- MATIC ($0.74): +4% / -24%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($111B): +1% / +21%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34B): -1% / +37%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 50% / 16%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- The bitcoin halving took place on April 19th, reducing the mining-reward in half to 450 BTC per day and 3.125 BTC per block. Bitcoin undergoes a halving roughly every 4 years, as part of a reduced emissions schedule as it reaches its supply cap of 21 million. Link. Link.
- Consensys, the crypto company behind Metamask and other ethereum infrastructure, sued Gary Gensler and the SEC in its effort to get the courts to rule that ethereum is not a security. The lawsuit comes as Consensys received an SEC Wells Notice alleging it offered unregistered securities to users. Link. Link. Lawsuit.
- Turkey stablecoin spending hit 4% of GDP as the Turkish lira continues to lose value against the dollar. Link.
- Fintech platform Stripe announced it would support USDC payments on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon. Link. Link. Demo.
- The FBI issued a warning against using unregistered crypto money transmitting services, which could include self-custodied wallets. Link. Press Release.
- The Blockchain Association and Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas filed a lawsuit against the SEC, arguing that a new rule expanding the definition of a “dealer” in securities is overly broad and could include individual DeFi users. Link. Link.
- The SEC wants to impose a $5.3 billion fine on Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon, for their role in the failed TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin. Link.
- US senator Elizabeth Warren called for the DOJ and DHS to increase efforts to stop the use of cryptocurrency to pay for child sexual abuse material online. Link.
- Block, the company behind Square and Cash App, will now allow its merchants to convert a percentage of their daily sales to bitcoin. Link.
- An alien CryptoPunk #635 sold for 4,000 ETH (roughly $12.4 million), making it the sixth-most expensive CryptoPunk sale of all time. Link. CryptoPunk #635.
- Federal prosecutors are requesting CZ, the founder of crypto exchange Binance who recently pled guilty to money-laundering violations, serve three years in federal prison. Link.
- US prosecutors arrested two cofounders of crypto mixer Samourai Wallet on charges of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Crypto mixers allow users to swap crypto anonymously, and prosecutors allege that by developing and operating Samourai, the two cofounders are responsible for laundering more than $100 million of illicit funds. Link.
- The SEC has delayed giving a decision on spot Ethereum ETF products from Grayscale and Franklin Templeton until June 23, 2024. Link. Link.
- Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission officially approved a number of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs to begin trading April 30. Link.
- Bitcoin ETFs saw $218 million of outflows this year, over fears of continued high interest rates due to weaker than expected US economic data. Link.
- The EU voted to adopt new rules that would force centralized exchanges and crypto asset managers to KYC customers. Link.
- Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA plans to increase USDT usage in oil export sales due to the US reimposing sanctions on the country. Tether said it respects OFAC sanctions and "is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly." Link.
- Two SEC lawyers were forced to resign after being rebuked by a judge for making misrepresentations in the agency’s case against DEBT Box. Link.
- The Runes NFT token standard on the bitcoin protocol generated over $135 million in transaction fees in its first week. Link.
- The famous “Buy Bitcoin” sign that was seen on TV behind Janet Yellen as she spoke to Congress about the Fed’s monetary policy in 2017 sold for $1 million. Link.
- Institutional staking infrastructure provider Figment passed $15 billion in staked assets under management from over 500 institutional clients in its Solana and Ethereum staking products. Link.
- Bitcoin payments app Strike, which uses Lightning Network to power fast and cheap payments, launched its services in Europe. Link.
- Block, a digital payments firm founded by Jack Dorsey, has developed a specialized three-nanometer Bitcoin mining chip. Link. Blog Post.
- The total value locked on Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer surpassed $15 billion after reopening its services. Link.