Weekly Headlines 2023.3 W5
“Banks went woke and went broke. Buy #Bitcoin” – Rich Dad, Poor Dad author
Weekly News Report:
News
1. ZeroSync and Blockstream to Broadcast Bitcoin Zero-Knowledge Proofs From Space
– The partners say using zero-knowledge proofs will allow Bitcoin nodes to sync quickly from anywhere on earth, “even without Internet.”
2. El Salvador removes all taxes related to tech innovation for economic growth
– Technology innovations such as software programming, coding, apps and AI development, and computing and communications hardware manufacturing will be exempted from taxes in El Salvador.
3. FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Latest Bribery Charge
– FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted bribery and campaign finance violations unveiled in two recent superseding indictments during a court appearance on Thursday.
4. ‘Withdrawals are coming!’ — Ethereum devs confirm epoch for Shapella fork
– Shapella will take effect at epoch 194,048, which is scheduled for 10:27:35pm UTC on April 12.
5. Circle announces USDC launch for Cosmos via Noble network
– The stablecoin will be launched on the Noble network, making it available to all 50-plus Cosmos IBC blockchains.
6. Japanese IT Giant Fujitsu Files Trademark Application to Offer Crypto Services
– Fujitsu is notably making its full-blown debut into the digital currency ecosystem following months of what many will term, preparing the way.
7. Sam Bankman-Fried Faces New U.S. Indictment Over Chinese Bribery Charge
– U.S. prosecutors unveiled a new indictment against FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried Tuesday, adding a bribery charge on top of the 12 other charges he already faces.
8. Crypto-Related Stocks Drop Alongside Bitcoin on CFTC Binance Suit
– Stocks of crypto companies fell Monday after the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) sued Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and CEO Changpeng Zhao.
9. CFTC Sues Binance, CEO Zhao Over ‘Willful Evasion’ of U.S. Laws, Unregistered Crypto Derivatives Products
– The CFTC alleged Binance offered unregistered crypto derivatives products and directed U.S. customers to evade compliance controls through the use of VPNs.
10. Twitter Suspends Official Arbitrum Account
– The Twitter account for Arbitrum, the Ethereum rollup platform, was suspended on Monday.
11. FTX Bankruptcy Estate Consolidates Arbitrum Airdrop Tokens Into Single Wallet
– The estate now holds 33,125 ARB tokens worth around $42,000.
Institution
1. Bitcoin profits are taxable in certain cases, says Denmark’s supreme court
– The country’s supreme court released two decisions for cases in which different crypto users gained profits from sales of BTC “made for the purpose of speculation” and mining.
2. MIT Space Force major proposes Bitcoin mining as cybersecurity tool
– An active-duty United States Space Force astronautical engineer is proposing to the Pentagon a new cybersecurity tool: Bitcoin.
3. Japan’s Finance Ministry to Explore Digital Yen Feasibility: Report
– Japan’s finance ministry plans to launch an expert panel next month to explore the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), or digital yen, public broadcaster NHK reported without saying where it got the information.
4. First Citizens to Buy Silicon Valley Bank: Bloomberg
– Raleigh, N.C.-based First Citizens is the 30th largest bank in the U.S., with $109 billion in assets, and recently completed an acquisition of New York-based commercial lender CIT.
Market
1. USDC Outflows Surpass $10B as Tether’s Stablecoin Dominance Reaches 22-Month High
– Rival stablecoin tether (USDT) has reached its largest market share since May 2021 and now represents 60% of all stablecoins in circulation.
2. XRP Trading Volumes Surges to Billions of Dollars on South Korean Crypto Exchanges
– The South Korean crypto trading mania has seemingly returned, fueled by a surge in XRP tokens. Trading volume for XRP spiked to billions of dollars on UpBit, Bithumb and Korbit, three of Korea’s top exchanges by volume, on the back of the token’s 26% rise in the past week.
3. Cardano Blockchain Seeks to Become Largest EVM Chain with This Innovation
– Milkomeda is working on a new feature that would allow Cardano users to use any EVM contract directly from any Cardano wallet.
4. Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf Reports 146% Increase in Revenue as It Ramps Up Operations
– The company reiterated its 5.5 EH/s computing power target for the second quarter of the year.
5. Bitcoin hash rate spikes as analysts say miners coming back online
– Analysts are speculating that the Bitcoin hash rate has seen a significant spike recently as miners come back online to reap the rewards of the BTC price hike.
6. Singaporean women ‘outperforming’ men in crypto trades, survey reveals
– The survey also found that 24% of women have allocated more than 20% of their portfolios to crypto.
7. Why Bitcoin Is Your Best Bet Against Inflation
– Angel investor Tatiana Koffman discusses decades of Federal Reserve monetary policy, and why billionaire Paul Tudor Jones once predicted that bitcoin would become a workable inflation hedge.
8. Bitcoin Layer 2 Stacks’ Token a Top Performer in March
– STX has gained 23% for the month and is up 350% over the past year.
9. Traditional finance fears drive digital asset investment inflows to $160M
– According to CoinShares, crypto investment products experienced weekly inflows of $160 million, the largest since July 2022.
10. Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta Goes Live; Ethereum’s Buterin Sends First Transaction
– The release of Polygon’s zkEVM comes just days after competitor Matter Labs released its own zkEVM, zkSync Era.
11. Binance Depositors Flee Following CFTC Charges, On-Chain Data Shows
– Crypto users have withdrawn roughly $400 million on Ethereum from Binance in the past 24 hours, while Paxos, the issuer of the Binance USD, has burned more than $155 million BUSD in the past four hours.
DeFi
1. Andy Warhol Artworks to Be Offered as Tokenized Investments on Ethereum
– Four of Warhol’s famous works were “partially acquired” from well-known art collectors, and each work will be available as shares in the form of security tokens.
2. Circle’s USDC Remains Dominant in DeFi as Pressure Eases on the Stablecoin
– USDC, the key stablecoin in decentralized finance, temporarily lost its dollar peg earlier this month after the collapse of its key banking partner.
3. Crypto’s Unfulfilled Dreams Get a Tailwind From U.S. Crackdown on Binance, Coinbase
– The crypto revolution was supposed to make finance more decentralized, but much of the industry is centralized. Regulatory pressure could change that.
4. European DeFi startups saw 120% increase in VC investment in 2022: Data
– Despite the ongoing tumultuous market conditions, venture capital investments in European crypto startups hit an all-time high of $5.7 billion in 2022.
NFT
1. Argentinian Airline Issues Every Ticket as an NFT
– Low-cost carrier Flybondi has expanded its partnership with NFT ticketing company TravelX to offer all tickets as NFTs on the Algorand blockchain.
2. NFT Collection Y00ts Makes Anticipated Move From Solana to Polygon
– The popular project, which launched in September 2022, is using a cross-chain bridge to bring its 15,000-edition generative art collection to Polygon.
3. Wassies NFT Prices Surge as Crypto Twitter Lore-Themed Hotel Opens in Singapore
– A boutique hotel themed after a beloved Crypto Twitter character opened doors in Singapore Monday, sending floor prices of the By Wassies NFT collection up by over 20% compared to the weekend.
Metaverse
Gucci and Yuga Labs Are Bringing High Fashion to the Otherside
– Fashion company Gucci said Monday that it’s working with NFT issuer Yuga Labs to bring luxury digital fashion into the metaverse.
Web3
1. Unstoppable Domains Launches AI-Generated Avatars
– The Web3 domain provider is helping users enhance their digital identities through AI avatars that can be minted as NFTs on Polygon.
2. Pace Gallery Holds First Web3 Solo Exhibit Featuring Tyler Hobbs
– The New York City show, titled QQL: Analogs, features large-scale physical derivations of the generative artist’s popular NFT collection.
3. Paris Blockchain Week 2023: A net positive for the entire crypto industry
– The theme of PBW revolved around the evolution of Web3 in the mainstream and the crypto industry’s past, present and future.
4. From PayPal to Web3: Digital identity could play key role in unlocking mainstream adoption
– The financial payments industry has seen its fair share of evolution and is currently at an inflection point with Web3.
5. Franklin Templeton Sees Web3 Driving Next Wave of Tech Innovations
– In a new report, the asset management giant outlines tech-driven megatrends – decentralization among them – that are shaping society.
April 1, 2023