Weekly Headlines 2023.2 W3
“What we see is clients are absolutely interested in digital assets, broadly.” – Michael Demissie, head of digital assets at BNY Mellon
Weekly News Report:
News
1. FTX Japan plans to resume withdrawals as early as February: Report
– Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s subsidiary in Japan, FTX Japan, reportedly plans to resume withdrawals for affected users as early as February.
2. Hong Kong Successfully Offered Inaugural $100M Tokenized Green Bond
– Hong Kong’s government successfully issued its first tokenized green bond of 800 million Hong Kong dollars ($101 million), according to an announcement on Thursday.
3. El Salvador Plans to Open ‘Bitcoin Embassy’ in Texas
– The Central American country wishes to open a bitcoin embassy in “new ally” Texas, Mayorga said on Twitter, to aid “expansion of commercial and economic exchange projects.”
4. FTX Seeks to Reclaim $400M From a JPMorgan Account: New York Times
– The funds, invested in a hedge fund called Modulo, were converted into cash and are sitting in an interest-bearing account.
5. FTX Transferred $7.7B From Bahamian Estate to US Units Ahead of Bankruptcy Filing, Court Told
– FTX sent $7.7 billion in assets from the crypto company’s Bahamian estate to its U.S. counterparts in the period leading up to its bankruptcy filing last year, a Delaware bankruptcy court was told during a Wednesday hearing. Representatives for FTX said whether assets belong in the Bahamian estate or in the U.S. estate remain open issues.
6. Binance Bracing Itself for Fines From US Regulators to Settle ‘Past Conduct’: WSJ
– As U.S. regulators continue to sniff around Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange is prepared to pay monetary penalties to “make amends” for past regulatory violations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
7. Circle Sounded Alarm on Paxos, Told NYDFS Binance’s Stablecoin Wasn’t Fully Backed: Bloomberg
– New York’s top financial regulator is investigating stablecoin issuer Paxos – and, according to a new report, it was rival stablecoin issuer Circle that sounded an alarm.
Institution
1. Japan Will Launch Pilot for Issuing Digital Yen In April
– The move comes after more than two years of proof-of-concept experiments by the BoJ.
2. DBS Says Bitcoin Trading up 80% in 2022 on DDex Exchange
– DBS’ crypto exchange, which is not open to retail traders, currently allows for bitcoin, ether, XRP, bitcoin cash, DOT, and ADA trading.
3. DBS Bank to offer cryptocurrency trading in Hong Kong
– Singapore state-owned megabank DBS Group is planning to expand its cryptocurrency services to Hong Kong as the Chinese territory pushes to become a digital asset hub. DBS Bank plans to apply for a license to allow it to offer crypto trading services to Hong Kong customers, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 13.
4. CME Sees Institutional Cryptocurrency Demand Boom Again After Long ‘Freeze’
– Terrence A. Duffy, President and CEO of today’s top derivatives exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), stated the organization has witnessed expanding demand for its crypto solutions in spite of demanding situations.
5. Fed governor Waller says crypto ecosystem has distinct parts with varying potential
– Christopher Waller praised the emerging applications of distributed ledger technology, smart contracts and tokenization, but he changed his tune for crypto assets.
6. Crypto bank Silvergate ranks as the second-most-shorted stock on Wall Street
– Crypto bank Silvergate Capital Corp. is the second-most-shorted stock in the United States, with over 72.5% of its shares shorted, according to the latest Short Interest Reporting from Feb. 9.
7. Cathie Wood’s ARK Buys Another $9.2M Coinbase After Stock’s January Rally
– COIN is down 20% during the last week after a record-breaking rally in January where it rose nearly 95%. Cathie Wood is back to buying up shares of Coinbase (COIN), after a nearly month-long break, as ARK disclosed it had purchased 162,325 shares of COIN on Friday.
8. Brazil’s oldest bank allows residents to pay their taxes using crypto
– The move will allow Brazilian taxpayers to easily settle their tax liabilities, meanwhile expanding “access” to the digital asset ecosystem.
Market
1. Filecoin’s FIL Token Jumps More Than 30%, Sparking Interest in Virtual Machine Launch
– The jump fueled social media excitement about the blockchain’s March 1 launch of its Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) and its token FIL jumped 36.7% at the time of publication.
2. Bitcoin Primed to Rally to $56K as Nasdaq Breaks Out of Bull Flag, Chart Analyst Says
– The analyst, who correctly predicted the late 2020 bull run, said 2023 could be a surprisingly good year for both crypto and equities.
3. TrueFi’s TRU Token Rallies Over 200% After Binance’s TUSD Mint Sparks Speculation
– The rally appears to come from traders mistakenly connecting TRU with TUSD, a stablecoin that had been issued by TrueFi in the past but now no longer is.
4. Bitcoin Soars Past $24K to Reach 2-Week High
– Investors liquidated some $60 million of BTC short positions over the past 24 hours, pushing the price higher Wednesday, data shows. Ether also climbed.
5. Tether’s USDT Gains $1B as Paxos Burns Over $1.8B of Binance USD Stablecoins
– Tether’s USDT has gained some $1 billion in market capitalization as crypto investors flee rival Binance USD (BUSD), which came under regulatory scrutiny earlier this week.
6. Bitcoin’s UTXOs Are Close to All-Time High; Here’s Why It Matters
– The Bitcoin network is getting more active with increasing block sizes, transactions, and overall UTXO counts.
7. Billionaire George Soros’ Fund Dives Deeper on Crypto Bets
– The fund purchased or added to positions in Marathon Digital, MicroStrategy and Silvergate Bank, according to an SEC filing.
8. DOGE, Floki Soaring After Musk Tweets Photo of His Dog in Twitter CEO Chair
– Doge, Floki and SHIB are up, while BONK is flat after Musk declares his dog Floki is an amazing CEO of Twitter and “better than that other guy.”
9. Opera Wades into Generative AI Space amid Growing Interest in ChatGPT
– According to Opera, its AI capabilities will enable users of its platform to summarize the content on a particular webpage for convenience.
10. Curve Token Surges Over 10% as Crypto Traders Eye Curve USD Stablecoin
– Tokens related to decentralized stablecoin protocols gained in the past 24 hours following troubles at Paxos’ BUSD offering.
11. Bitcoin hits record 44M non-zero addresses, thanks to Ordinals: Glassnode
– The launch of Bitcoin nonfungible tokens (NFTs) — known as Ordinals — has tipped the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses to a new all-time high of 44 million, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode.
12. Grayscale’s GBTC Discount Widens to Near-Record High
– Shares of the bitcoin trust are selling at a 47% discount to its net asset value. The discount has been increasing over the past week.
13. DEX Trading Activity Picks Up Steam as Markets Spurn Centralization
– Decentralized exchange trading activity has begun to pick up steam, with some of the DEX sector’s biggest players booking a notable bump in trading volumes this week.
14. Tether Nears 50% Of Stablecoin Market, Highest in 14 Months
– As the SEC looks set to clamp down on dollar-pegged tokens, the oldest stablecoin, Tether, is looking as dominant as ever. Tether is once again coalescing as crypto’s pegged token of choice, with its stablecoin market share nearing 50% for the first time since December 2021.
15. Public miners increased Bitcoin production, hash rate in January
– Core Scientific, Riot, and CleanSpark led the way in increasing Bitcoin production in January helped by better weather conditions and stable electricity prices.
16. Bitcoin could hit $10M in 9 years but more sidechains needed: Blockstream CEO
– If Back and Finney’s $10 million price prediction becomes true, the BTC market cap will reach approximately $200 trillion. Blockstream CEO Adam Back believes the price of Bitcoin (BTC) could reach $10 million by the end of the sixth halvening in 2032, as long as Bitcoin layer-2 technology and wallet infrastructure improve.
17. Bitcoin price correction was overdue — analysts outline why the end of 2023 will be bullish
– BTC and the crypto market will continue to battle with strong headwinds, but analysts explain why Q3 and Q4 of 2023 could turn out well for Bitcoin.
18. Bitcoin is already in its ‘next bull market cycle’ — Pantera Capital
– This cycle’s Bitcoin and altcoin lows are behind us, Pantera CEO Dan Morehead says as he looks to a “year of rebuilding trust.“
NFT
1. Art Blocks and NFT Gallery Bright Moments Team Up to Bring Generative Art IRL
– The two companies are partnering to create NFTs with in-person experiences for collectors, beginning with a collection from generative artist Mpkoz.
2. Blur Surpassed OpenSea in Daily NFT Trading Volume Wednesday, Nansen Shows
– NFT marketplace OpenSea’s dominance in the NFT ecosystem faces a growing challenge from Blur’s rapid ascent.
3. France’s top museum to display NFTs: Nifty Newsletter, Feb 8–14
– The Centre Pompidou, the leading modern art museum in Paris, France, announced a permanent exhibition of NFTs. The museum will showcase NFTs from various global digital artists.
4. New Lamborghini NFT Collection Revs Up for Release on VeVe
– The digital collectibles will feature the Huracán STO model of the iconic luxury sports car brand with different rarity traits.
5. GQ Magazine to Launch Its First NFT Collection Linked to Real-World Rewards
– Men’s fashion magazine GQ will release its first NFT collection that grants holders access to a magazine subscription, merchandise and live events.
6. NFT Marketplace Blur’s Token Reaches $500M Trading Volume After Airdrop
– BLUR prices jumped to as much as $5 before falling 85% on Wednesday morning, price trackers show.
7. NFT Gaming Protocol Aavegotchi Aims to Increase Engagement With Upgrade
– Called the Forge, the upgrade focuses on wearables, one of three attributes that determine the value and rarity of Aavegotchi NFTs.
8. France’s top modern art museum to display CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs NFTs
– A new exhibition targeting the intersection of art and blockchain will open this spring at the Centre Pompidou, home of the first collection of modern art in Europe.
DeFi
1.DeFi Revolution Continues: Unlock Secrets to Passive Income with Top 5 Staking Platforms of 2023
– Discover the best places to invest and watch your earnings grow with zero effort.
2. DeFi Protocol Clearpool Chooses Polygon Network for Its Institutional Lending Platform
– Clearpool also opened the onboarding and whitelisting process for institutional borrowers and lenders to its Prime platform.
Web3
1. Tencent Teams Up With MultiversX to Expand Web3 Strategy
– The Chinese technology company behind the popular messaging app WeChat will utilize the MultiversX network infrastructure to build new products in the Web3 and metaverse spaces.
2. Abu Dhabi Starts $2B Initiative to Back Web3 Startups
– The Hub71 + Digital Assets ecosystem will also back companies focusing on blockchain technologies.
3. Napster Revives Its Music Ambitions With Web3 Acquisition of Mint Songs
– The brand first known for peer-to-peer music sharing from 1999-2001 announced its purchase of the music-focused NFT marketplace.
February 17, 2023