THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

  • Luna is now almost worthless after Terra loses peg. Luna, the sister cryptocurrency of the controversial stablecoin TerraUSD, has collapsed to nearly $0. TerraUSD, or UST, has been dragged into the spotlight in the last few days after the so-called stablecoin, which is supposed to be pegged one-to-one with the U.S. dollar, fell sharply below the $1 mark. The TerraUSD controversy has sparked contagion in the broader cryptocurrency market. Read more here.

  • Tether dropped below its $1 peg. The world’s biggest stablecoin sank to as low as 95 cents on some crypto exchanges Thursday morning. It’s meant to be pegged 1-to-1 to the U.S. dollar. Tether’s decline came after terraUSD, a different stablecoin, plummeted below 30 cents. Earlier Thursday, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino insisted tether holders would always receive $1 when redeeming their tokens.

  • Senate bill would give Washington huge powers over crypto. Legislation expected to be released within the next few weeks would overhaul the way cryptocurrencies and digital assets are regulated and leave the SEC with significant oversight powers. The bipartisan bill, written by Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand would be the latest attempt by lawmakers to craft a regulatory regime for crypto.

  • First crypto ETFs launch in Australia. Sydney-based ETF Securities’ spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, built in conjunction with Switzerland’s 21Shares, started trading this morning on the Cboe Australia exchange. Fellow Sydneysiders Cosmos Asset Management’s bitcoin feeder ETF also launched today on the same exchange. The listings mark the latest stage in the globalization of exchange-traded products investing in crypto.

  • El Salvador buys the dip with $15 million as Bitcoin prices crash. The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, has doubled down on his Bitcoin bet as its price lost 25% in recent days, trading close to $30,000 on Tuesday after changing hands around $40,000 last week. That brings the country’s total reserve up to 2,301 Bitcoin, or $72 million.

  • Crypto companies are turning to Bermuda as the US eyes crackdown.  As crypto companies face growing scrutiny from policymakers in the US, they are increasingly turning to friendlier and less bureaucratic jurisdictions like Bermuda to grow their businesses and test new products. The self-governing British territory was one of the first places to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets.

  • CryptoPunk NFT for $1 million sells for just $139,000. Cryptopunk #273 was at a value of about $139,000, after previously having sold for $1.03 million last October. While the paltry sum fetched by the resale of Cryptopunk #273 is only one example, it is not alone in attracting negative returns. In recent months, there have been a number of high-profile NFT flops, indicating an increasingly bearish NFT market after a lucrative year in 2021. Read more here.

  • Blue-chip NFT collections hit harder than Bitcoin in crypto rout. BAYC’s average sales price plummeted 29% over the last seven days in US dollar terms, while transactions have tanked by 21% and user numbers are down 27%. This seems to reflect a wider trend spreading across the marketplace for nonfungible tokens. The JPG NFT Index, which provides exposure to a broad basket of NFTs, also fell by about 26% this past week.

  • Instagram to begin testing NFTs. The social media app will allow a limited number of U.S. users to share NFTs on their feeds, stories, and messages. The goal is to get feedback from the community and learn how to best assimilate the buying and selling of these digital collectibles into the realm of a social media platform. Any digital collectible shared will be displayed like a tagged photo or profile. Read more here.

  • EU ban on tax-haven crypto firms could breach trade law, commission warns. A proposed European Union ban on crypto providers offering services from tax and money laundering havens raises “serious doubts” and could breach global trade rules. Lawmakers from the European Parliament have said that crypto-asset providers shouldn't be authorized to offer services in the bloc if they’re from shady jurisdictions like Panama. Read more here.

  • It's the perfect time to accumulate BTC. The Luna issue is a good chance to increase your DCA into larger caps. There are at least weeks/months for this to recover since the selling pressure needs to be replaced by billionaires. They don't buy fast. You cannot find a buyer with billions to suddenly come in. Anyone who wants to buy billions worth of BTC would come in slowly to avoid burning themselves.
    Read more here.

  • Coinbase released a filing that sent some into a panic. In its quarterly filings, the crypto trading firm suggested that the digital tokens it holds for its users might not really belong to them if push comes to shove. Because custodial-held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets they hold in custody could be treated as their general unsecured creditors. Source(39:35)
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