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SEC is threatening to sue Coinbase for violation of securities laws
The Coinbase leadership reported that the regulator notification concerns the indefinite digital asset segment, Coinbase Earn and Coinbase Prime, as well as the Coinbase Wallet wallet.
The exchange is given the time to provide the department with explanations and refute his accusations. A potential lawsuit can lead to a court ban on the listed Coinbase services and fines.
Coinbase claims that the crypto actes trading on the platform are not securities and undergo a thorough check before listing.
The main legal adviser to Coinbase Paul Grewal noted that Coinbase programs are very different from those that the Kraken exchange, which has recently been persecuted by SEC. As a result, Kraken closed the Steiking program and paid a fine of $ 30 million.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the exchange would continue to provide its products and services as usual, as I am sure of the legality of the site.
“We welcome the trial if it brings clarity to the regulation of the industry. This will once again demonstrate that the SEC position is unfair and unreasonable when the department deals with digital assets, ”Gruel added.
The management of Coinbase expressed disappointment regarding the SEC approach to crypto actures, saying that the exchange tried to interact in good faith with the regulator. At the same time, it is still unclear how cryptocurrency exchanges should apply existing rules.
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Study: CBDC transactions to exceed $210 billion by 2030
A study by analytics firm Juniper Research found that payments in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could reach $213 billion by 2030.
The company believes that governments around the world will use this product to expand access to financial services and improve the monetary situation in emerging economies. This opinion, of course, stands out from a number of rational ones.
Juniper Research experts analyzing the fintech and payments market believe that by 2030, CBDC transactions could skyrocket from $100M in 2023 to $213B, or 213,000%.
The specialists noted that while the financial product is at an early stage of development, however, central banks will focus their attention on it in order to improve digital calculations and, as an option, use it to gain control over consumer finances and oversee their activities.
The issuance of CBDC is supported by government officials and central banks, who believe that this instrument will be a better solution than bitcoin.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen argues that the digital dollar could outperform BTC, which has "high fees and slow transaction processing times."
Most cryptocurrency advocates oppose CBDCs, reasonably believing that centralized organizations will use them to increase their control over people's cash flows.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back is confident that these products are worse than bank accounts, while Bitcoin is “apolitical bearer money that cannot be withdrawn.”
China is undoubtedly at the forefront of central bank digital currency development; Brazil, Japan and South Korea have also introduced pilot CBDC programs.
Chainalysis: Investors buy USD Coin and transfer it to DEX
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank led investors to transfer their assets to USD Coin, moving funds from centralized exchanges (CEX) to decentralized exchanges (DEX).
The outflow of funds from centralized exchanges increases sharply when markets are in a volatile state, according to chainalysis, an analytics company, as users worry about losing access to their assets.
Funds sent from CEX to DEX after the SVB crash. Source: Chainalysis
Chainalysis data shows that since the shutdown of Silicon Valley Bank by the California regulator on March 11, outflows from CEX to DEX have risen by more than $300 million.
A similar phenomenon was seen during the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange last year due to fears that the problems would spread to other crypto firms.
However, data from blockchain analytics platform Token Terminal suggests that the rise in daily trading volumes on major DEXs was short-lived in both cases.
Daily trading volumes on major DEXs from September to March. Source: Token Terminal
USDC has been identified as one of the main assets being moved to the DEX, which is not surprising since after the USDC depeg, many CEXs, such as Coinbase, temporarily suspended USDC trading.
What is surprising, as Chainalysis noted, is the surge in USDC acquisitions on major DEXs such as Curve3pool and Uniswap.
Clients of the Indian Bank SVC confused it with SVB
The similarity of the abbreviations of the two banks-Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Shamrao Vithal Co-Operative Bank (SVC)-caused confusion among India citizens. Many of them began to worry that they would lose their traditional assets, as well as cryptocurrencies.
The fact is that consumers heard about the closure of a financial institution in the United States, but without understanding that it was concerned with the local bank.
Soon after March 10, 2023, the first reports appeared about the inevitable closure of SVB, panic spread around the world. The leadership of the cooperative bank Shamrao Vithal Co-Operative Bank (SVC Bank) has published a distance of distance from the American bank.
The report says: SVC Bank is completely unrelated to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was based in California (USA). In addition, the leadership reserved the right to sue rumors distributors for the fact that they stained the image of the brand.
In addition, the Indian bank advised its members, customers and interested parties to ignore all rumors about the possible closure of the financial institution in India. Earlier, on March 13, 2023, US President Joe Biden announced his plan.
He expressed a desire to help traditional SVB and Signature Bank banks. The head of state promised: all customers will be able to return their funds stored in these banks.
The cryptocurrency market reacted quite ambiguously. At first, the total capitalization of the industry fell sharply. This was the result of the fact that numerous traders and investors began to sell their crypto acts in a panic, fearing the next liquidity crisis.
In addition, users' trust was seriously shaken by the USD Coin (USDC) prison to the cost of the US dollar (USD). However, after the government’s statements, the bitcoin cryptocurrency rate increased by 18% and reached $ 25,000. The community showed great confidence in the industry, calling the traditional market the most dangerous.
The community was concerned about the collapse of banks friendly to cryptocurrencies
The problems of three banks - Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - caused concern among the cryptocurrency community regarding the future fate of the companies related to industry.
“The depositors will be saved, but in the USA there will be practically no one to serve crypto companies,” wrote the leading podcast The Wolf of All Streets Scott Melker.
CoinShares Director Meltmo Demirce expressed similar fears. She emphasized that "in just a week, cryptocurrency in the United States lost all banks."
Crypto -investor and blogger Lark Davis noted that Signature Bank was the “last large bank”, which served the company's digital assets.
Against the background of the situation in the US banking sector, the co -founder of Castle Island Ventures, Nick Carter predicted a possible reduction in market liquidity. In an interview with CNBC, he said that Sen and Signet payment systems were a key source of fiat for many companies.
Jake Chervinsky, head of the digital asset promotion department in Blockchain Association, noted that the closure of financial organizations is creating a “huge gap” on the crypto car.
“There are many banks that can take this opportunity, without taking the same risks as these three. The question is whether the regulators will try to stand in their way, ”he added.
Blocktower Capital General Partner Mike Buchella told CNBC that many in the industries are already moving to Mercury Bank and Axos Bank.
“In the near future, cryptobanking for North America will be a difficult test. However, there is a long list of fraud banks that can replenish this gap, ”he explained.
The head of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, Chanpen Zhao, also spoke about the situation with banks, but later deleted his tweet. According to the screenshot, he doubted the need to save problematic financial institutions - in his opinion, such help reduces incentives to manage risks.
Messari General Director Ryan Selkis also expressed concern about the future Stablecoin USDC.
“From that moment on, the whole industry must frantically fight for the protection and promotion of the USDC. This is the last support for cryptocurrencies in the United States, ”he said.
President of the Euro Pacific Capital Bank, Peter Schiff, expressed the opinion that the Fed realized how unstable the situation is in the economy, and that SVB collapse would cause a financial crisis.
“This proves that [the head of the Fed Jar] Powell lied to both the power of the US economy and his determination to fight inflation,” Shiff said.
Against the background of SVB collapse, the USDC stablecoin and the algorithmic “stable coins” of DAI and Frax have lost a binding to the US dollar. On March 13, the USD Coin issuer, Circle assured in solving problems with banking asset.
USDC and DAI deviated from the dollar due to the storage of reserves in the troubled Silicon Valley Bank
The collapse of the Silicon Valley bank was the largest since the 2008 crisis in the United States. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was forced to take action and take control of the bank's operations. Silicon Valley has served many tech companies, including Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin.
Considering that USDC capitalization exceeds $41 billion, the temporary unavailability of $3.3 billion should not be a significant problem, especially since deposits in Silicon Valley are insured by the FDIC, although there are rumors of a possible loss of 40% of these funds.
The announcement that Circle was holding significant amounts of funds in the bank led to some panic. The stablecoin exchange rate got rid of the dollar exchange rate and decreased by 2% on some sites. USDC is currently trading at $0.93.
The DAI stablecoin also had problems - the security of this token is partially contained in USDC. Therefore, the DAI rate also untied the dollar. The tokens are currently trading at $0.94.
Circle representatives said they are not taking any special action yet, but are waiting for "clarification of the situation" from US regulators.
Currently, about 25% of USDC reserves are held in six US banks, including the bankrupt Silvergate and Silicon Valley. Some sources say there are problems with Signature Bank, where Circle also holds part of the reserves.
Against this background, the American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has suspended the conversion of USDC into fiat currency. In a statement, representatives of the site said that the service will be restored on Monday, when banks have working hours. Binance, the largest exchange, has suspended the conversion of USDC to BUSD.
Reports have also begun to surface that various cryptocurrency exchanges have suspended deposits in USDC. One of the reasons may be the desire to smooth out the impact of sales on the stablecoin price.
However, the use of smart contracts for the exchange of USDT, USDC, DAI and others has grown significantly - investors are trying to get rid of problem assets. Against this background, the volume of gas for transactions in the Ethereum network has grown to 220 Gwei.
The situation also affected arbitrage traders - many began to take loans in USDT to trade on the difference in rates in stablecoins. Interest on the use of funds almost instantly soared to 100% per annum.
Interestingly, the Tesla CEO has already announced a possible purchase of Silicon Valley Bank and its transformation into a digital bank.
Criminal transactions with cryptocurrencies in South Korea exceeded $4 billion
According to the South Korean Customs Service, the amount of criminal transactions with digital currencies in 2022 amounted to 5.6 trillion won ($4.3 billion).
These funds were seized by law enforcement agencies as part of a policy to tighten control over the crypto market. In 2021, the amount of criminal transactions involving digital assets amounted to 3.2 trillion ($2.5 billion).
Nearly 70% of criminal capital in South Korea intercepted by law enforcement moved in digital currencies, local media reported.
In August last year, Korean customs detained 16 people belonging to the criminal community. They were engaged in the legalization of criminal proceeds through cryptocurrency.
In total, they were able to legalize about $2 billion.
According to the legislation in force in the country since 2017, companies sending and receiving funds in cryptocurrencies must obtain a license from supervisory authorities.
Operations carried out by investors without a license from the Financial Services Commission are considered illegal by the authorities. That is why the scale of such transactions remains high.
Mining firm Canaan drops 82% in revenue
According to a press release published on March 7, 2023, Canaan (CAN), a cryptocurrency mining hardware maker, reported an 82% year-on-year decline in revenue.
This figure fell to $56.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The leaders of the organization explained this by the fact that their company focused on the independent extraction of virtual assets, and not on the sale of the corresponding equipment.
Canaan generated $10.5 million in cryptocurrency mining revenue in the last quarter of 2021, up 368.2% from the same period in 2021. At the same time, for the same time period, 75.8% less computing power was sold.
Fourth quarter net loss on American Depositary Shares (ADS) was $0.38 compared to a net gain of $0.04 in the previous 3 months and a similar gain of $1 in the final quarter of 2021.
Representatives of the organization emphasized that Canaan mining equipment was in low demand in the reporting period of 2022. According to them, this was a direct consequence of the fall in the quotes of the flagship cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC).
According to Canaan CEO and Chairman Nangeng Zhang, the manufacturer has decided to continue to focus on self-mining digital gold.
He stressed that this is necessary "to reduce the risks of demand during a market downturn." According to the entrepreneur, as of the end of February 2023, Canaan had a processing power of 3.8 EG/s.
Zhang assured that Canaan expected to generate revenue of $65 million in the first quarter of 2023. At the time of publication of this news, the shares of the mining company were trading at $2.51 during pre-market trading.
VeChain creators updated white paper
VeChain (VET) developers have released a white paper for the next iteration, VET 3.0. The concept was formed in collaboration with the global management firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which demonstrated the intention of the creators of the protocol to expand the global presence in the sector.
The new 72-page white paper provided a detailed roadmap for what will be the focus of VeChain protocol development over the next few years. VeChain will also develop initiatives to provide people with the information they need to participate in the sustainability program.
The protocol states: the work will focus on cooperation with partners and developers in all areas. “Our blockchain solutions will be integrated with municipal initiatives to help people.
We will be able to track the reduction of food and waste. And this is just one small example, ”the official document said.
In addition, emphasis will be placed on the development of the Web3.0 ecosystem. Noted: Based on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus model, the Ethereum crypto protocol has previously caused a backlash for not meeting environmental, social and governance global standards (ESG). VeChain developers noted that they will try to develop their product in accordance with standardization.
In addition, it is emphasized that the VET cryptocurrency has become increasingly popular in the Asian region. According to the developers, many partnership agreements have been signed in recent years, which have significantly contributed to the evolution of the blockchain startup.
Silvergate shut down SEN payment network
Silvergate Capital has shut down the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN). The decision was made after the second downgrade of the company's rating by Moody's.
Silvergate was one of the first US banks to receive approval from the Federal Reserve to provide banking services to crypto companies.
The Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) internal payments network allowed platforms and their users to exchange digital assets for fiat without commissions at any time of the day. Leading mining companies, exchanges and institutional investors have used it to transfer billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.
The bank decided to wind down SEN after Moody's downgraded Silvergate's deposit rating from Ba3 to Caa1 due to a delay in filing its annual report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Silvergate stock quotes reacted with a fall. On March 2, they sank to a record low below $6 before dropping another 2% the next morning during pre-trading. At the time of writing, the bank's shares are trading at $5.76, down nearly 67% over the past year.
Earlier, the bank said that it postponed the filing of the report due to an increase in the number of transactions to repay debt obligations to creditors, and acknowledged that a further increase in losses could seriously undermine the financial condition of the company.
Silvergate is also under scrutiny from the regulator due to the fact that it did not conduct due diligence on the FTX crypto exchange that collapsed in November. The bank is accused of facilitating the embezzlement of customer funds through an account owned by Alameda Research.
Brian Armstrong defends US staking
In his keynote, Brian Armstrong emphasized that Coinbase's staking product is definitely not a security, so there is no point in banning it.
He said that the company will defend its product in court, although the management of the exchange would prefer to work together with regulators. Armstrong also noted that cryptocurrencies are not going anywhere from the market:
“A lot of traditional financial companies are integrating blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Most of the largest organizations, like JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard and Franklin Templeton, are developing internal projects in this area, they are evaluating how they can integrate cryptocurrencies into their services.
Armstrong also supported the general concept of stablecoins, although he noted that not all of them meet the requirements of regulators. As an example, he cited the recent decision to delist Binance USD.
“My top priority this year is working with regulators. The rest of the world has already actually adopted cryptocurrencies.
Singapore, Hong Kong, London, the EU and other financial centers are developing and adopting full digital asset regulation. We need a clear set of rules so that we can develop the industry in the US as well,” said the CEO of Coinbase.
Coinbase launched a public campaign in support of cryptocurrencies
The American bitcoin exchange Coinbase launched the Crypto435 initiative aimed at promoting understanding and support of cryptocurrencies among politicians and regulators.
“The time has come to promote pro-crypto policy in all 435 US congressional districts. Introducing Crypto435, our community development campaign to secure cryptocurrencies and share tools and resources to make your voice heard,” the statement reads.
As part of the initiative, Coinbase will provide all interested Americans with information on how to contact the politicians representing them, talk about their views on digital assets, and provide the necessary materials and advice to influence congressmen.
“We need sound policies and sound regulation so that we can continue to promote cryptocurrencies and Web3 and make progress on our mission to increase economic freedom,” the company stressed.
The main tasks of Crypto435 at Coinbase were:
influence laws and policies;
unite the crypto community;
promote innovation and protect jobs;
educate ordinary Americans about the benefits of cryptocurrencies.
MakerDAO co-founder has been actively buying MKR
The co-founder of MakerDAO, known on Twitter as RuneKek, has made several major digital asset transactions. It has sold a large number of Lido DAO (LDO) tokens and has significantly restocked MakerDAO (MKR).
According to Lookonchain, the entrepreneur sold about 18.8 million LDOs in exchange for 27 million DAI, 7,553 MKR tokens ($4.67 million) and 92 ETH.
A little later, the co-founder purchased 15,092 MakerDAO (MKR) using $4.44M in DAI, 2.8M LDO, and 604K USDT. Industry analysts stressed that the deals came at a time of heightened volatility in the cryptocurrency market.
However, the researchers were unable to reveal what exactly prompted the MakerDAO co-founder to take these steps.
Some experts assured that these transactions could be a sign of RuneKek's confidence in the long-term potential of its own MakerDAO project. Others suggested that this was the premise for upcoming announcements related to the blockchain startup.
MakerDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization running on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to issue and trade the Dai stablecoin, which is pegged to the value of the United States dollar (USD).
The MakerDAO ecosystem also relies heavily on the Maker Token (MKR), which is used to manage and make decisions about the future development of the project.
MakerDAO has been actively gaining momentum in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. The total value of funds locked (TVL) in the protocol's smart contract recently exceeded $5 billion.
Lido DAO is a liquid staking protocol. The product allows users to receive rewards for staking Ethereum without blocking their own assets. Lido tokens are used to represent staked Ethereum. Users can easily trade them on various decentralized exchanges.
Blockchain platform Marco Polo files for bankruptcy
According to the Irish Times, the reason that led to the bankruptcy of Marco Polo was the failure of a strategic deal for $12 million with Bank of America.
It was planned that Marco Polo would create a specialized blockchain platform for the bank, which would replace Bank of America's own internal account automation service.
A spokesman for Marco Polo said the company had invested significant in-house resources into the development of the blockchain product, which initially required an investment from Bank of America.
However, amid the collapse of the FTX Group ecosystem and a general downturn in the digital asset market, Bank of America withdrew its support for the project.
In early February, the American operator of cryptomats Coin Cloud filed a lawsuit about its own financial insolvency. The company owes about $100 million to creditors.
EVM Compatibility Coming to Zilliqa Mainnet April 25, 2023
Zilliqa has announced that it will launch the first version of full EVM compatibility on the mainnet. In December 2022, Zilliqa unveiled an EVM interoperability testnet to deploy smart contracts written in Solidity directly on the blockchain and hopes to promote the project to the wider blockchain developer community.
After the implementation of this testnet, the first full version of EVM compatibility will be added to the Zilliqa mainnet, which is scheduled to launch on April 25, 2023. Users will be able to send native ZILs using wallets like MetaMask and deploy Solidity smart contracts using tools like Truffle and Hardhat.
According to Valery ZAMARAYEV, Director of Distributed Systems Development at Zilliqa, the way Zilliqa implements EVM compatibility is preferable to many layer 2 protocols due to the ability to transfer tokens without complex and unnecessary conversion operations.
Bitcoin supporter Nayiba Bukele is supported by more than 90% of El Salvadorans
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele was able to push through the adoption of a law on the legalization of bitcoin in 2021. BTC has been recognized as a means of payment in the Latin American state, despite protests from the IMF and the World Bank.
In addition, Nayib Bukele promised to maintain the course towards the development of cryptocurrency infrastructure. To do this, he plans to participate in the presidential campaign in 2024.
From a poll conducted by La Prensa Grafica, it follows that 91% of the people of El Salvador support their leader. The opposition has almost no chance of a successful election campaign.
Nayib Bukele came to power in 2019. His support increased from 85% to 91% in four years. Only 7% of respondents do not support the actions of the head of state.
The vast majority of young Salvadorans are completely satisfied with the financial and social policies of the president.
According to Nayib Bukele, the tourism sector in El Salvador is growing steadily thanks to the legalization of cryptocurrency. A large number of foreigners come to the country and pay for goods and services with bitcoin.
Institutional Bulletin: Scroll Raises $50M, Web3 Startup Matchday Raises $21M
Scroll, a tier-two network for scaling Ethereum using ZK-Rollups technology, has raised $50M in a recent funding round.
Investors include Polychain Capital, Sequoia China, Bain Capital Crypto, Moore Capital Management, Variant Fund, Newman Capital, IOSG Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners.
Scroll representatives declined to disclose the structure of the round and name the final evaluation of the company. The startup will use the proceeds to launch the mainnet and expand the ecosystem.
Football Web3 startup Matchday has raised $21 million in seed funding.
One of the investors was the venture capital company of the famous football player Lionel Messi - Play Time. The round also included Courtside Ventures, Greylock, HackVC, Capricorn Investment Group and Horizons Ventures.
Coinbase spoke about the actions after the Shapella Ethereum hard fork
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will begin accepting orders to withdraw Ethereum (ETH) from staking within 24 hours after the activation of the Shanghai and Capella updates, collectively known as Shapella, on the network.
“While [hard fork] Merge moved the Ethereum network from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022, users have not yet been able to unstake ETH,” the company recalled.
A similar opportunity will provide an upgrade to Shanghai, scheduled for around mid-April. On March 14, Ethereum developers activated Shapella on the Goerli testnet, which was the final check for updates.
Coinbase noted that no action will be required from users during the upcoming forks. They will still be able to stake assets at up to 6% per annum.
The exchange will begin accepting applications for the withdrawal of cryptocurrency within a day after the hard fork. However, the Coinbase team expects that a queue may form on the network.
“Because the process of withdrawing from staking is controlled by the Ethereum protocol, and we are just a channel, we are not able to accurately indicate the waiting period.
We believe that immediately after the update, demand will be high, and it may take weeks or months for the network to process requests,” the exchange specialists noted.
More than $2 billion USDC was burned in just a day
Over $2.2 billion USD Coin (USDC) has been burned since the start of this week, with redemptions hitting $4 billion on Tuesday evening. According to The Block, citing data from Arkham Intelligence, 723 million USDC were burned in a single transaction early Wednesday morning alone.
The data also shows that several other USDC burns occurred within multiple separate transactions ranging from $300 million to $600 million. This resulted in a total USDC value burned of over $2.2 billion in just over one day.
Burning tokens means effectively taking them out of circulation by sending them to an address that no one controls. The USDC burn was likely due to reduced reserve coverage or redemptions.
Meanwhile, USDC net redemptions topped the $4 billion mark on Tuesday. This comes after issuer Circle said over the weekend that it would process all transactions and execute redemptions.
The dollar-pegged stablecoin failed to win back investors after it was deannounced last week. Circle Internet Financial's USDC stablecoin deviated significantly from its $1 target on Friday night, after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), where Circle held more than $3.3 billion of assets, was shut down by regulators.
USDC returns peg to dollar after $3 billion token burn
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) led to an unprecedented collapse in the value of USDC. The stablecoin issuing company Circle burned almost $650 million worth of USDC over the past 24 hours, and issued $16.7 million worth of USDC.
The day before, the picture was similar, only on a larger scale: they burned $2.34 billion of tokens and issued $366 million. These actions helped return the USDC rate to $0.97 after a hard fall to $0.88.
USDC was one of the first victims of the SVB collapse, as the bankrupt bank held approximately $3.3 billion worth of these stablecoins. As a result, USDC lost its peg to the dollar.
Following the news of the SVB, Circle assured the community that it would continue with standard operations pending clarification regarding the transfer of SVB assets to the Federal Fund Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and how these actions would affect contributors.
Burning and issuing tokens was just one of the measures that helped to continue providing services to customers.
Huobi and Justin Sun's Poloniex merge, HT drops 93%
In the midst of a harsh crypto winter, Justin Sun merged the operations of the Huobi and Poloniex exchanges under the Huobi brand. The disclosure comes from a letter from an employee that was released to the media.
Under the new corporate structure, Poloniex departments such as product design, liquidity, assets, market and operations, customer service, and compliance will be brought under the Huobi brand. ChainCatcher wrote about this on March 9, 2023 on Twitter.
While details are scarce at this point, moving to a combined company could save the group money and focus spending on a single brand.
Sun has a reputation for being a bold and ambitious entrepreneur, and this move certainly lives up to that reputation. The merger of these two exchanges will create a giant in the crypto world with a combined user base of over 10 million users and billions of dollars of daily trading volume.
Also, this news comes at a time when many companies are leaving the crypto space. Market darling Silvergate Capital has decided to wind down its bank, showing just how tough the market has become.
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Ethereum startup Scroll raises $50M at $1.8B valuation
Scroll, a tier-two network for scaling Ethereum using ZK-Rollups technology, has raised $50M in a recent funding round. It is reported by The Block.
Investors include Polychain Capital, Sequoia China, Bain Capital Crypto, Moore Capital Management, Variant Fund, Newman Capital, IOSG Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners.
Scroll representatives declined to disclose the structure of the round and name the final evaluation of the company. However, according to sources of the edition, the figure could reach $1.8 billion.
The startup will use the proceeds to launch the mainnet and expand the ecosystem. According to Scroll co-founder Sandy Pan, in the near future the project will increase the team from 60 to 100 people.
According to the results of the previous investment round, the startup managed to raise $30 million.
The Scroll Network was created in 2021 with the goal of expanding Ethereum to a billion users.
At the end of February, the project team launched their zkEVM on the Goerli testnet, leaving the alpha testing stage.
According to Pen, the network has a total of 1 million unique addresses that have made 16 million transactions.
Yuga Labs has revealed the timing of the auction for the sale of bitcoin-NFT
The company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, Yuga Labs, will launch an auction for the sale of non-fungible TwelveFold series tokens on the bitcoin blockchain on March 6 at 01:00 Kyiv time (02:00 Moscow time). The auction will last approximately 24 hours.
According to the statement, the auction will end on March 7, on a block generated “immediately” before 01:00 Kyiv time (02:00 UTC). The starting price of trading will be 20,000 Satoshi (~$5).
The company introduced TwelveFold at the end of February 2023. The series consists of 300 digital items, 12 of which will be reserved for charitable purposes. For Yuga Labs, this is the first collection released outside of the Ethereum blockchain.
The new NFTs are based on the Ordinals protocol. The latter allows you to post content on the network of the first cryptocurrency using satoshi (serialization) to write data into the signature of a bitcoin transaction.
According to the project website, two bitcoin addresses are required to participate in the TwelveFold auction: to place a bet and to receive NFTs. The latter must conform to the Taproot format.
The team also warned that the receive address must be empty. Otherwise, the user runs the risk of accidentally transferring satoshi containing data about digital items as part of a normal transaction.
BUSD capitalization fell to $9.67 billion
The market capitalization of stablecoin Binance BUSD (BUSD) has fallen below $10 billion amid growing pressure from financial regulators. This figure dropped to $9.67 billion, which is why the cryptocurrency dropped to 10th place in the ranking of the best digital assets in the world.
As of the morning of March 3, 2023, this value has fallen by almost $14 billion from an all-time high of $23.49 billion recorded on November 15, 2022.
The market capitalization of Binance USD (BUSD) has fallen this low for the first time in nearly 2 years. A similar level was last recorded on June 29, 2021. Analysts have suggested that BUSD will soon leave the top 10 rankings.
On the 11th position in terms of the maximum capitalization was the digital currency Solana (SOL). The token traded at $21.03 with a total supply of $7.97 billion. Polkadot (DOT) was next on the list with $7.03 billion.
More recently, the stablecoin BUSD has been the subject of a lawsuit against the issuing company Paxos by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Representatives of the institution assured that they see possible violations of investor protection laws.
The New York City Financial Services Authority (NYDFS) ordered Paxos to immediately stop minting and issuing BUSD in February 2023. This is what contributed to the drop in the market capitalization of the stablecoin.
Subsequently, several major crypto exchanges announced that they would exclude BUSD from trading pairs. Representatives of the trading platforms noted that the stablecoin “no longer meets the listing standards.”
The broader cryptocurrency market has also seen a drop in market capitalization. Many experts said that this is due to the controversy around Silvergate Bank due to the late filing of the 10-K annual financial report on March 1 this year.
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При любой работе в сети необходимо понимать, что любая ваша активность логируется (сохраняется) и отслеживается. Как провайдерами, так и государственными органами.
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Second Ethereum Testnet Successfully Simulates Shanghai Hard Fork
A second Ethereum test network (testnet), known as Sepolia, successfully replicated withdrawals of staked ether (ETH) today, bringing the Ethereum blockchain closer to its highly anticipated Shanghai Upgrade.
The upgrade was triggered at epoch 56832 at 4:04 UTC and finalized at 4:17 UTC (11:17 p.m. ET).
The Shanghai Upgrade will mark Ethereum’s complete transition to a fully functional proof-of-stake network, enabling validators to withdraw rewards earned from adding or approving blocks to the blockchain.
There is one more test, on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet, that is planned before Shanghai goes live.
The test on Sepolia was designed to provide developers with another dress rehearsal of the withdrawals similar to those that will happen on the main Ethereum blockchain. Testnets copy a main blockchain, in this case Ethereum, and allow developers to test any changes to their applications in a low-stakes environment.
Sepolia is the second of three testnets to run through such a simulation. But unlike the previous testnet upgrade that happened earlier this month on Zhejiang, this was on a closed testnet, meaning that only the Ethereum core developers run the validators on this testnet. Sepolia is also the smallest of all three testnets in terms of the number of validators participating on it, making it the least important of all three.
The final testnet upgrade will occur to Goerli sometime in the coming weeks. That would be the final dress rehearsal before the main blockchain is able to process staked ETH withdrawals. Goerli’s testing will also be the most anticipated given that it is the biggest testnet of the three and it mimics the main Ethereum blockchain’s activity most closely.
If the developers continue to run test upgrades three weeks apart, the next testnet upgrade on Goerli would likely occur around March 21, which could likely push the mainnet Shanghai Upgrade into April. If that were the case, there would be a slight delay versus the target of March that Ethereum developers had initially signaled for the release of staked ETH.
Justin Sun sends $240 million to Lido Finance
150,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth about $240 million has been sent from the wallet address of Justin Sun, the founder of the blockchain project Tron, to be exchanged for stETH in Lido Finance. This was reported by well-known columnist Colin Wu, citing the Lookonchain service. Thus, the protocol recorded the largest daily inflow into the staking smart contract.
Analytical tracker Whale Alert recorded several transactions made by the creator of Tron. The entrepreneur made 3 transfers of 50 thousand ETH in the amount of $80.07 million each, which were transferred to the Lido Finance vault.
This product is the largest liquid staking protocol in the cryptocurrency market. It allows users to earn passive income by depositing any amount of Ethereum into a smart contract. The stETH tracking token becomes available to users in exchange for their deposited virtual assets.
Market researchers recalled that, as of February 25, 2023, users are still unable to withdraw Ethereum after being entered into a smart contract. This feature will only be launched after the upcoming network update - Shanghai. The update is scheduled for late March or early April 2023.
A few weeks ago it became known that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) banned one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms in the United States from providing staking services for its customers. Moreover, the site management was forced to pay a fine of $30 million.
It was assumed that the actions of regulators would negatively affect the future of centralized staking services. That is why many users continued to stake their ETH tokens, but used decentralized platforms. Thanks to this, the Lido Finance service has gained even more popularity among cryptocurrency users, just like its counterpart, Rocket Pool.
Kaiko researchers talk about the impact of Hong Kong on the crypto market
Experts from the analytical company Kaiko talked about how Hong Kong’s decision to allow retail trading in cryptocurrencies could affect the digital asset market.
Earlier this week, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) set out its vision and said it would open the opportunity to traders. However, it is noted that only a limited number of virtual assets will be available to them.
The researchers said the actions of Hong Kong's regulators were in stark contrast to what the community was seeing in the United States.
While the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tried to “stifle” innovation and force crypto businesses out of the country. Asia, on the contrary, welcomed technology companies and traders.
According to analysts, the East may well be the next catalyst to push crypto prices up. Many experts said that this growth has already begun.
According to researchers from Kaiko, this is not the case. Looking at Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes in 2023, most of it was during U.S. trading hours.
The specialists emphasized that the news from Hong Kong and the invisible support from China are positive for the cryptocurrency industry in the long term.
However, the situation on the market has not changed yet and the price rally at the beginning of the year was not caused by news from Asia. The prospects are such that the crypto business may eventually flow from the US to Hong Kong and other countries in the region.
The analysts added that some of the cryptocurrencies that could be considered under the new SFC rules do not perform well, both in terms of fundamentals and liquidity. What digital currencies will be allowed for trading and how local regulators will classify them will play an important role.
