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YANET JELLEN: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants the crypto industry to follow the same rules and federal regulatory oversight as the traditional financial system. - Yellen is scheduled to make her first speech dedicated to digital assets at American University today, where she is expected to outline a “tech neutral” regulatory approach towards the economy – including innovators like crypto and fintech.
- As always, these rules are meant to help protect people from “fraud and misleading statements” regardless of whether assets live on a balance sheet or a distributed ledger, Yellen said.
- Yellen’s case for crypto follows President Biden’s wide-ranging executive order issued last month that provides a “whole-of-government” approach to the crypto industry.
SWEET VALIDATION: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed NYSE Arca and Teucrium to issue another bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). - Teucrium’s ETF approval under the Securities Act of 1933 could open the door for a spot bitcoin ETF, according to a Bloomberg analyst. That’s because to date most ETFs pursued licensing under a separate securities standard that does not apply to spot assets.
- So far, the SEC has disapproved all spot bitcoin ETF applications, citing concerns about market manipulation and a lack of industry surveillance.
LIBRA SHRUGGED: Web 2 giant Meta Platforms is in the preliminary stages of releasing virtual coins called “Zuck Bucks” (seriously) and adding more traditional lending services to its Facebook and Instagram applications. - Reportedly, the metaverse-geared tokens will not use a blockchain and will be controlled by the company, according to the Financial Times. The company is looking to also introduce “social” or “reputation” tokens, which are popular in the crypto space, to its platforms to allow “creators” to monetize their work.
- The strategy follows the company’s ill-fated Libra/Diem stablecoin project, which was sold to financial firm Silvergate earlier this year.
HOW NIFTY! Trading platform eToro has launched a $20 million fund to purchase blue-chip NFTs – aiming to become “one of the leading NFT collectors in the world” beginning with a $20 million investment. - The brokerage also launched “e-Toro.art,” an NFT platform, and will dedicate $10 million of its funds to emerging projects via a quasi-incubator program.
- Meanwhile, Tom Brady’s NFT company, Autograph, and ESPN have announced a multi-year deal to mint the sports network’s first NFT collection. The NFT collection will include “three zine covers,” featuring great moments from the quarterback’s career, and 50 “signed” images.
FOR THE COMMONWEALTH: Down under, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is wrangling with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia over a pilot that would allow users of its banking app to hold and use crypto. - The bank partnered with crypto exchange Gemini and intelligence firm Chainalysis to offer a crypto exchange and custody service, which reportedly fell afoul of the country’s disclosure rules.
–Fran Velasquez |
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What others are writing... |
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- Interlay introduces new protocol for Bitcoin’s reciprocal relationship with DeFi (Cointelegraph)
- Cash App now lets users automatically convert paychecks to bitcoin, expands Lightning network support (The Block)
- Ethereum Layer 2 Networks Hit ‘Critical Mass’ as The Merge Approaches (The Defiant)
- KYC is a challenge for crypto. Blockchain may be the solution. (Protocol)
- The Biggest Crypto Effort to End Useless Carbon Offsets Is Backfiring (Bloomberg)
- Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users (MIT Technology Review)
- Paying With Bitcoin in the World’s Crypto Capital Is Infuriating (Bloomberg)
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Putting the news into perspective |
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How the Play-to-Earn Industry Can Rebuild Better After the Ronin Attack In feudal Japan, the term ronin was used to describe a Japanese samurai without a master. Left alone due to the death of his lord, or loss of his privilege, a ronin was a warrior adrift, roaming at large, free from the constraints of loyalty. Expressed by two characters that literally mean floating and man, the term in Japanese culture invokes a sense of tragedy and failure, a disgraced entity at the edge of society. Today, the Japanese use it to describe students who failed their college entrance exam and must try again, living masterless until they pass. This is where the Ronin blockchain gets its name. Built and owned by the Vietnamese game development studio, Sky Mavis, Ronin is a sidechain, or parallel network, to Ethereum designed specifically to overcome the scaling challenges experienced by the developer's first blockchain game, Axie Infinity. Sky Mavis founder Trung Nguyễn created it after the original Ethereum scaling application Axie was built on, the Loom network, abandoned the gaming sector to focus on enterprise blockchain instead. What Nguyễn and his team built was a robust sidechain, which has proven itself independent and impenetrable thus far. Unlike the traditional trope, however, Nguyễn’s Ronin could never completely go it alone, as its users still need to be able to interact with other blockchains. As such, it was the “bridge” that connects Ronin to the main Ethereum network that was exploited for 173,600 ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USDC worth over $625 million in total at the time of the attack last month, one of the largest crypto heists to date. While the attack was obviously a direct hit on Sky Mavis, its broader implications demonstrate how these floating protocols are actually deeply connected through common membership to the decentralized ecosystem and the universal need for interoperability. If they respond in solidarity, this crisis may be reframed as an opportunity for the community to rebuild better together. Read the full article here. –Leah Callon-Butler |
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