THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Thailand is banning crypto for payment. Thailand’s financial regulator announced that digital assets like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be banned as a method of payment as of April 1. While it’s not an outright ban on trading or holding digital assets, which is relatively popular in Thailand, the new rules on Bitcoin and other cryptos damage one of their key use cases as a payment alternative to cash.
- El Salvador postpones its Bitcoin bond issue. The country postponed the issue of a bitcoin-backed bond planned for last week, as the government decided to wait for favorable conditions in the financial market, Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said on Tuesday. The Central American government had preciously scheduled the launch of the $1 billion bond issue between 15–20 March, but the war between Russia and Ukraine also halted it.
- Australian government to approve cryptocurrency platforms. The aim is for Australians to have more confidence in these platforms, allowing those interested in investing in cryptocurrencies to do so safely and securely. Approved platforms will need to abide by new custody requirements for crypto assets, allowing investors to maintain access to their money at all times.
- FTX, CoinShares partner on Solana ETP offering staking rewards. The partnership provides FTX with a route into Europe’s crypto market, having launched its own unit on the continent earlier this month. Europe is one of the most mature markets for crypto ETPs, which offer a route into crypto investing without having to hold individual coins. FTX will support the new product with a seed capital of 1 million Solana tokens. Read more here.
- Katie Haun’s Crypto VC Fund break records. Former a16z partner Katie Hahn has raised a total of $1.5 billion after her departure from Andreessen Horowitz. Her firm aims to back early-stage Web3 startups. It is the latest in a rush of dedicated Web3 venture funds as Silicon Valley investors embrace the prospect of the next generation of the internet. Read more here.
- Coinbase teams up with Alviere for a lineup of Crypto offerings. Alviere will allow its customers to add crypto custody and exchange. The fintech will partner with Coinbase for custody and exchange of digital assets, with the offering rolling out first in the U.S. The New York-based company plans to later introduce crypto in international markets. The partnership is part of Coinbase’s goal to make crypto mainstream.
- BAYC maker Yuga Labs is now worth $4B. The company was able to raise $450M from an investment led by a16z. The startup is also planning to launch a decentralized NFT metaverse massively multiplayer online role-playing game called other side in April. Source(13:01)
- ETH Merge will benefit DeFi massively. If transactions per second reach tens of thousands per second, all friction arguments go away instantly. ETH becomes money since there is practically no cost to doing business which also means DeFi would benefit massively. The merge would allow for “sharding” which is a fancy way of creating multiple blocks at the same time instead of one. Read more here.
- Bitcoin is being considered as legal tender in Malaysia. Malaysia's deputy minister of communications and multimedia, addressed the country's parliament asking legislators to accept Bitcoin and other digital coins in addition to the Malaysian ringgit. Furthermore, Malaysia is working with Australia, Singapore, and South Africa to set up an international payment system involving digital assets issued by each country's central bank.
- Crypto firms face being booted from the UK. From Mar. 31, firms operating crypto services in Britain must be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority. Revolut and Copper are among the companies listed on a temporary FCA register, which will close once the deadline passes. They may soon be forced to wind down their crypto activities in Britain if they fail to obtain full authorization.
- Crypto.com deepens sports push. FIFA has added Crypto.com as one of the sponsors for this year’s soccer world cup in Qatar, the latest step in the cryptocurrency exchange’s aggressive push into the world of elite sport. The company will be the exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor of Qatar 2022. The sporting body didn’t reveal the financial details of the deal.
