PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($26,782): -1% / +62%
- ETH ($1,805): 0% / +51%
- SOL ($19.63): -6% / +101%
- UNI ($5.11): 0% / -1%
- MATIC ($0.87):  0% / +14%

MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($1.1T): -1% / +41%
- BTC Dominance: 46%
- ETH Dominance: 19%
- Tether ($83B): 0% / +25%
- USDC ($30B): -1% / -34%

NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- President Biden, while speaking at the G7 summit, said he would not agree to any debt ceiling deal that “protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders”. Link. 

- Crypto wallet provider Ledger launched a new feature called Ledger Recover, a $9/mo subscription service that lets users recover their private keys. The feature requires a firmware upgrade to the Ledger hardware device and completion of KYC by the user. The announcement was met with controversy from Ledger users, who claimed that Ledger hid this ‘back-door’ access to private keys. Link. Link. Link. Tweet. 

- Visa deployed two sets of “paymaster” smart contracts that leverage the recently implemented ERC-4337, aka Account Abstraction. Visa tested two core user operations: paying gas fees with ERC-20 tokens, and sponsoring transaction fees for users (aka gasless transactions). Link. Report. Tweet. 

- A judge denied the SEC’s motion to seal internal agency documents related to a 2018 speech given by former SEC Director Bill Hinman. The internal documents allegedly show that the agency did not have a clear view on cryptocurrency regulations. The “Hinman documents” are expected to be released by June 16. Link. Link. Court Filing.

- The 7-day moving average for crypto volumes hit a new YTD low of $12.8 billion, down from a peak of $46 billion in March. Link. Link. 

- Asset manager Citadel Securities is suing two former employees who were allegedly raising capital and building a high-frequency crypto trading firm while still at Citadel. The lawsuit alleges the pair stole Citadel trade secrets. Link. Link. 

- Failed crypto lender Voyager Digital could begin returning cash and crypto to customers by June 1. Customers are expected to initially recover nearly 36% of their claim amounts. Link. Link. 

- CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said DeFi crypto exchanges can be regulated by US law, even if they are primarily software and code-based. Link. Transcript. 

- Bitcoin-powered payments app Strike announced it now covers 65 countries around the world, including the US, Argentina and El Salvador where it currently operates. Link. Link. 

- Layer 1 blockchain Near Protocol is integrating with Wormhole bridge to facilitate cross-chain transfers of assets between Near and Ethereum. The cross-chain transfers will use ZK Proofs for additional privacy and security. Link. 

- Crypto custodian Anchorage Digital now supports Snapshot voting. Institutional clients can now participate in governance decisions using tokens held in custody. Link. Blog Post. 

- The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago released a study showing that the collapse of FTX, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and Genesis was a result of bank runs and the customer’s ability to instantly receive withdrawals, despite assets being locked inside illiquid, often risky investments. Link. 

- Stablecoin operator Tether said it would invest up to 15% of its profits on a regular basis in bitcoin, as part of a strategy to diversify its reserves. Tether held roughly $82 billion in its reserves at the end of March, with around 85% held in cash or US Treasury bills. Link.

- Crypto miners are looking to repurpose their GPUs for artificial intelligence. Link. 

- NFT collection Pudgy Penguins released a line of 100,000 Pudgy Toys that can be purchased online for between $5 - $35. Each toy comes with a birth certificate and QR code that unlocks NFT experiences to use in Pudgy World. Link. Over 20,000 individual toys were sold in the first 2 days of launch, generating over $500,000 in sales. Link. 

- Cross-chain protocol LayerZero partnered with bug bounty platform Immunefi to launch a $15 million bug bounty, the largest ever in the crypto ecosystem. Link. 

- Ripple acquired crypto custodian Metaco for $250 million to expand its offerings to custody, issuance, and settlement of any type of tokenized asset. Link. 

- Crypto startup Keyp has revamped the original Nintendo Game Boy and made it into a crypto hardware wallet called the Game Wallet. Using a special Game Boy cartridge, users generate seed phrases through random quests and interactions with non-playable characters. Link. 

- Ripple announced a proprietary platform for CBDCs, enabling central banks, governments, and financial institutions to create their own digital currencies. Link. 

- The SEC forced crypto investment firm Grayscale to withdraw its application for the Grayscale Filecoin Trust, claiming that Filecoin’s FIL token qualifies as an unregistered security. Link. Link. 

- Pakistan’s government is working towards banning cryptocurrencies, even as retailers and consumers continue to use cryptocurrencies to hedge against a devaluing Pakistani rupee. Link.