THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Crypto markets are shrugging off higher interest rates and slowing GDP in the U.S. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates by 75 basis points to a target range of 2.25% to 2.5%. This was what the market expected, but there was a swift reaction pushing crypto values higher following the announcement. There seems to be clarity around how the Federal Reserve is going to handle inflation.
- Crypto is now trading with a direct correlation to Fed Policy. The fast move down in crypto and tech stocks tells you what is really happening in the economy which is that we’re in a recession already as mentioned many times and it could last a while. US recession is deeper than expected. Until then, crypto is going to trade like a risk asset. Read more here.
- Coinbase faces a new SEC probe. Coinbase Global Inc. is facing a US probe into whether it improperly allowed Americans to trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s scrutiny of Coinbase has increased since the platform expanded the number of tokens it offers trading in. Source(39:27)
- Institutions sold $5 billion in bitcoin over the past two months. Large institutions have sold more than 236,000 bitcoins over the past two months as it trades almost 70% lower from its peak last November, Vetle Lunde, an analyst at Arcane Research wrote in a recent report. Meanwhile, as crypto miners faced increasing pressure on their top lines, they sold 4,556 and 14,600 bitcoin in May and June, respectively.
- Tax-free crypto payments? Senators propose a bill for transactions under $50. The bill would create a tax exemption for all transactions under $50, as well as any gains of less than $50 on personal transactions. The Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act of 2022, which was proposed by Senators Pat Toomey, and Kyrsten Sinema, has a stated goal to simplify the use of digital assets for everyday purchases. Read more here.
- Ex-Meta staffers raise $150 Million for a new crypto venture. Aptos Labs, a startup that rose from the wreckage of Meta Platforms Inc.’s failed crypto ambitions, has raised $150 million in new funding. The funding round more than doubled the startup’s previous valuation—which was over $1 billion in March—even as venture capitalists cool on crypto investing.
- Ethereum’s offshoot unexpectedly surges amid upgrade mania. Ethereum Classic, which was created after a 2016 software change known as a “hard fork” on Ethereum’s blockchain, saw its token’s price jump by as much as 29% on Wednesday. Ethereum also rose by as much as 18% as the crypto industry awaits the blockchain’s biggest transition, also called the Merge, which could take place in September.
- FTX is in talks to buy crypto exchange Bithumb. Vidente, the owner of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, said on Tuesday it has held discussions about a possible sale of its stake to FTX. If the deal with Bithumb goes through, FTX will gain a further foothold in Asia and in particular South Korea, where crypto trading is very popular.
- Tether says there's no Chinese commercial paper among its reserves. The stablecoin issuer most recently refuted speculation that its token was 85% backed by Chinese or Asian commercial paper in June. It has been steadily decreasing its exposure to commercial paper in favor of holding US Treasury bills, with a goal of reducing its paper holdings to zero by early November.
- Solana sinks 8% as bears maul the crypto project. Prominent crypto proponents have solid arguments. First, in recent months, Solana's blockchain has seen significant downtime relative to other top projects in this space. The fact that Solana is the only blockchain to have undergone seven outages in recent months, makes it a worrisome outlier. Second, Solana operates at a much slower throughput level, even at peak times. Read more here.
