{"id":320,"date":"2023-03-04T11:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/?p=320"},"modified":"2023-06-04T19:33:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T19:33:18","slug":"weekly-headlines-2023-3-w1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/04\/weekly-headlines-2023-3-w1\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Headlines 2023.3 W1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cGeneral purpose zero knowledge blockchains have been positioned as the next big thing to scale Ethereum.\u201d  <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 Ganesh Swami, co-founder and CEO of Covalent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Weekly News Report:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. ConsenSys, Developer of Ethereum Software, Says zkEVM Public Testnet to Go Live March 28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Zero-knowledge, or ZK, a type of cryptography, is seen as one of the year\u2019s hottest blockchain technologies. ConsenSys launched a private zkEVM testnet in December but is now opening it up for anyone to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Flashbots Makes Privacy-Enhanced Block Builder Open Source on Ethereum Testnet Sepolia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Research shared by the team details that block builders will be able to build blocks without accessing private data of users\u2019 transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. ETHDenver Looks Cringey to You Because Ethereum Has an Actual Community<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Like any good punk or hip hop show, this year\u2019s Colorado event for coders will feature events that will \u201cscare away normies,\u201d CoinDesk Chief Insights Columnist David Z. Morris writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Coinbase no longer accepts payments via Silvergate Bank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Following the alleged troubles at Silvergate Bank, Coinbase announced that the crypto exchange would no longer accept or initiate payments with Silvergate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Ethereum Developers Target March 14 Date for Shanghai Upgrade on Goerli Testnet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The event will be the last \u201cShapella\u201d dress rehearsal for Ethereum\u2019s upcoming hard fork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Twitter down the same day Jack Dorsey launches decentralized alternative<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Thousands of Twitter users were unable to view tweets, while Jack Dorsey\u2019s decentralized social network, Bluesky, grabbed attention online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Nigeria Picks Bola Tinubu as President Amid Cash Shortages<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Tinubu will replace Muhammadu Buhari, whose government issued the eNaira and banned banks from interacting with crypto firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Puerto Rico Extends 4% Tax Incentive to Crypto and Blockchain Activities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Staking and exporting crypto services qualify for the tax rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Ex-Biden Adviser Said Administration Was Pushing for Digital Dollar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 As the crypto industry awaits a U.S. government decision on whether to issue a central bank digital currency, a former economic official said it was working toward that end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Second Ethereum Testnet Successfully Simulates Shanghai Hard Fork<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The Sepolia testnet was able to successfully process staked ETH withdrawals. There is one more test on the Goerli testnet that is planned before Shanghai goes live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Global Crypto Rules to be Based on Coming FSB & IMF Synthesis Paper, India Says After G20 Meetings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The paper is expected to be ready by September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. FTX Japan allows total withdrawal of funds \u2014 users rejoice the \u2018escape\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Numerous community members received their funds as FTX investors in other countries remain hopeful of a similar outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Institution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Rise and Fall of Silvergate\u2019s Crypto Business<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The bank\u2019s own data shows the rapid acceleration of its novel crypto-banking business and how leaning into digital assets made it vulnerable to the industry\u2019s drama.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Trio of Japanese Banks Look to Embark on Stablecoin Experiment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Japanese banks Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, The Shikoku Bank, and Minna no Bank are reportedly launching a stablecoin to enhance payments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Australian central bank to launch \u2018live pilot\u2019 of CBDC in coming months<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The use cases for the CBDC ranged from offline payments to \u201ctrusted Web3 commerce\u201d and financial industry participants were invited to undertake a live pilot.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Top 5 universities to study blockchain in the UK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Universities in the U.K., including Cambridge, Imperial, Edinburgh, Oxford and University College London, offer blockchain-related programs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. UAE emirate to launch free zone for digital and virtual asset firms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Free-trade zones in the UAE are areas where entrepreneurs have 100% ownership of their businesses and have different regulatory frameworks and tax schemes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Certain Banks\u2019 Crypto Exposure Dropped by 44% Globally in 2022 From Previous Year: BIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision endorsed in December rules that a bank\u2019s exposure to certain cryptocurrencies must not exceed 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Goldman Sachs Says It\u2019s Open to Adding Staff to Digital Assets Team: Bloomberg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Investment bank Goldman Sachs said it\u2019s open to hiring additional workers in its digital asset group, according to a report from Bloomberg. The investment bank\u2019s tokenization platform was used by Hong Kong to sell digital bonds last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Visa\u2019s Crypto Strategy Remains Intact Despite Crypto Winter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The U.S. payment giant denies a Reuters report it is looking to slow down partnerships with crypto companies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Coinbase announces suspension of BUSD trading beginning March 13<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Coinbase will suspend trading for the Binance USD stablecoin on March 13, the exchange announced on Feb. 27 on Twitter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Binance USD Stablecoin Market Cap Falls Below $10B After Coinbase Delisting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Liquidity is deteriorating for Binance USD as crypto investors have redeemed some $7 billion of tokens from issuer Paxos since regulators ramped up pressure on the stablecoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Ripple survey: 97% of payment firms believe in the power of crypto<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The lack of regulatory clarity is the biggest hurdle to the adoption of crypto-enabled payments, according to a new survey co-hosted by Ripple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. DeFi Protocol Yearn Finance\u2019s Token Rises 7% Despite Crypto Market Plunge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Over the past 48 hours, YFI has surged by 23% against its BTC trading pair and 19% against USDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Bitcoin price slides 5% in 60 minutes amid Silvergate uncertainty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The price of BTC fell sharply on March 3, wiping $22 billion from Bitcoin\u2019s market cap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Advisors: Learn Crypto, or Your Clients Will<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The disconnect between financial advisors and their clients around crypto has become increasingly apparent, given that 37% of advisors personally invested in crypto compared to 83% of their clients that have, according to one 2023 survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. 401(k) Provider ForUsAll to Offer Crypto Investments Into CoinDesk Indices Constituents<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 This will be the first index-based digital asset offering available through a 401(k), says ForUsAll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Upcoming Upgrades That Will Shape the Ethereum Ecosystem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Here are some approaching dates and launches that Ethereum followers and observers should keep an eye on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Crypto Options Exchange Deribit to Offer Bitcoin Volatility Futures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Futures tied to Deribit\u2019s bitcoin volatility index, DVOL, will go live at the end of March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. 2023 Will Be Year of Crypto Token Price Divergence: Bank of America<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The bank expects tokens that power smart contract-enabled blockchain platforms will outperform meme coins and governance tokens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Metaverse Token Gamium Surges 340% After Meta and Telefonica Partnership Announcement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The token has a market cap of $29 million and has surged by 340% over the past 24-hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Bitcoin Halving Predicted to Take Place in 2024, Here\u2019s What to Expect<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Anticipation appears to be in full swing for the next Bitcoin halving, which is estimated to happen sometime in March 2024, per Bitdegree data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Bitcoin bulls remain in charge even in the face of increasing regulatory FUD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 BTC\u2019s correction to $22,750 followed negative remarks from financial regulators, but key Bitcoin price metrics show bulls remain optimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. TrueUSD Becomes 5th-Largest Stablecoin as Binance Mints $130M TUSD in a Week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Blockchain data shows crypto exchange giant Binance has been relying increasingly on TUSD following a crackdown on its Binance USD stablecoin by U.S. regulators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Coinbase Trade Volume Surpasses Uniswap\u2019s, Countering Expectations for a DEX Surge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Many market observers expected a surge in the use of decentralized exchanges following the collapse of FTX, but analysts said many DEXs offer a less user-friendly experience than centralized ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Galaxy tips Bitcoin NFT market to hit $4.5B by 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Galaxy\u2019s estimation was based on the rapid uptick of interest in Bitcoin NFTs, currency market infrastructure, and the potential to take some market share away from Ethereum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. NFT Paris Attendees Wow at 3D-Printed Fashion Collection Inspired by Nouns<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 A proposal by Nouns revealed that Peleg was offered $140,000 in funding for the 3D-printed fashion collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. NFT Trading Volumes Hit $2B in February, Highest Since LUNA Crash, Thanks to Blur<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 According to DappRadar\u2019s February report, the catalysts for the huge spike include the ongoing NFT marketplace war and Yuga Labs\u2019 loyal fans and successful launches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. CoinDesk and Art Blocks Release Microcosms to Supercharge IRL Events With NFTs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The three-year NFT ticket offers widening rewards for holders, refashioning the typical live event ticket model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The Next Bicasso: Binance NFT Releases AI-Powered NFT Generator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The new tool allows marketplace users to create computer-generated images and mint them as NFTs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Bored Ape-Parent Yuga Labs\u2019 Next NFTs Will Live on Bitcoin Blockchain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Called TwelveFold, the 300-piece Ordinals generative art collection serves as a \u201cvisual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Yuga Labs Announces Generative Ordinals NFT Collection on Bitcoin Blockchain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Called TwelveFold, the 300-piece collection serves as a \u201cvisual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Whale sells 1,010 NFTs in 48 hours in \u2018largest NFT dump ever\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 With the Blur marketplace set for a second airdrop soon, Nansen\u2019s Andrew Thurman theorized that this major NFT dump could be a play to reap extra BLUR token rewards while also booking some profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metaverse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and Other Tech Firms to Create \u2018Japan Metaverse Economic Zone\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Several major Japanese technology, manufacturing and finance firms are teaming up to create the infrastructure for an open metaverse in order to propel the nation\u2019s Web3 strategy forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Avatars, Get Ready to Strut: Decentraland to Host Second Metaverse Fashion Week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 The event will have Dolce & Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger return with new virtual activations while Coach and Adidas are set to debut their digital wearables on the popular metaverse platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Colombia\u2019s legal system experiments in the metaverse: Report<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Colombia has positioned itself at the forefront of innovative ways to conduct legal proceedings after recently hosting a trial in the metaverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeFi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitcoin-Bridged to Avalanche Reaches Record Daily Mint of Over 2K BTC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Half of the BTC.b minted on Thursday have been moved to BENQI Finance, an Avalanche-based decentralized finance protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 4, 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGeneral purpose zero knowledge blockchains have been positioned as the next big thing to scale Ethereum.\u201d  \u2013 Ganesh Swami, co-founder and CEO of Covalent Weekly News Report: News 1. ConsenSys, Developer of Ethereum Software, Says zkEVM Public Testnet to Go Live March 28 \u2013 Zero-knowledge, or ZK, a type of cryptography, is seen as one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[23,8,28,107,14,101,98],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}