Category: NEWS

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Ukraine’s president signs law establishing regulatory framework for crypto

Crypto regulation has received approval from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The bill, titled “On Virtual Assets,” was signed by the president, opening the door to government oversight of the domestic cryptocurrency industry.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said: “The signing of this law by the president is another important step towards bringing the crypto sector out of the shadows and launching a legal market for virtual assets in Ukraine.”

Among other details, the bill specifies that Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission will govern the industry on multiple levels, such as digital asset-related licensing.

European Parliament votes against PoW ban, providing huge relief to the crypto industry

A significant European Union (EU) regulatory bill known as Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) has moved forward, leaving behind wording that essentially would have barred proof-of-work (PoW) crypto assets in the region.  

An extensive bill pertaining to crypto regulation in the EU, MiCA had two drafts up for debate — one version that would essentially ban PoW mining and related cryptocurrencies, and another that hosted more favorable language concerning the technology. Long story short, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted for the option that did not ban PoW. The bill will now proceed through further approval processes.

It’s official: Binance secures a license to operate in Dubai

It was a busy week for cryptocurrency exchanges, which earned regulatory approvals in multiple jurisdictions. Binance secured licensing in Dubai and Bahrain. FTX also received a Dubai license.

Thanks to the Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license it secured in the region, Binance can now establish an office in Dubai, among other rights newly afforded by the license. Additionally, Binance received a virtual asset exchange (VAX) license in Dubai. FTX also unveiled that it received Dubai’s VAX this week.

ApeCoin announcement surges BAYC floor price to near-ATH before correction

Owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs stand to receive a considerable sum of ApeCoin (APE) — a new governance and utility token for the project. APE is an ERC-20 token.  

If they do so within 90 days of March 17 (12:30 pm UTC time), BAYC owners can claim 10,000 APE, which totaled $72,000 in value at the time of Cointelegraph’s coverage in the article linked above. FTX, Gemini and other exchanges plan on listing APE.  

Trading volume and pricing for BAYC NFTs saw turbulence surrounding the APE token news. Among other reported details, the token will have a supply of 1 billion.

Diem team members raise $200M to launch blockchain derived from it

Avery Ching and Mo Shaikh, two former Meta crypto division leads, are building a layer-1 blockchain with some of its roots based on Move — the Diem project’s programming language. Known as Aptos, the project led by Ching and Shaikh recently announced securing $200 million worth of funding, with names such as Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz contributing. Aptos aims for its mainnet to go live in the latter half of 2022. 

Publicized earlier in 2022, Facebook-turned-Meta’s stablecoin Diem essentially saw an end to its journey, with Silvergate Capital Corporation buying the project’s nuts and bolts (intellectual property, etc.) from Meta.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $41,727, Ether (ETH) at $2,936 and XRP at $0.79. The total market cap is at $1.87 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are ApeCoin (APE) at 1,338.31%, Aave (AAVE) at 38.53% and THORChain (RUNE) at 37.67%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Anchor Protocol (ANC) at -19.20%, Stacks (STX) at -9.20% and Kadena (KDA) at -9.18%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If you are an avid crypto trader like me, I am sure that the thought of who will inherit your crypto has come to mind.” 

Jeetu Kataria, CEO of Digital Financial Exchange (DIFX)

“Orange pill your neighbor, your favorite shop, bar, cinema, start sharing your sats. It’s easy for them to learn from a known face like yours. Be that little pebble that you throw in the lake, and it will create ripples that coming generations will benefit.”

Paco de la India, Bitcoiner and runner

“Our hope is that when the government does this study [as established by the executive order], […] the conclusion they will reach is we will not compete against China — an authoritarian dictatorship — by also acting like an authoritarian dictatorship. Instead we will empower our private sector to come up with competitive solutions.”

Jake Chervinsky, head of policy for the Blockchain Association, regarding a United States central bank digital currency

“The creator is where the power begins, and that’s where the power should stay.”

Darryl McDaniels, founding member of Run-DMC

“My office has received numerous tips from crypto and blockchain firms that SEC Chair @GaryGensler’s information reporting ‘requests’ to the crypto community are overburdensome, don’t feel particularly… voluntary… and are stifling innovation.”

Tom Emmer, United States congressman

“There is no doubt that blockchain gaming is a revolutionary concept, but at the moment, I don’t think it will be enough to support me financially by itself. […] I think I will have enough courage to leave my job to pursue blockchain gaming once the P2E ecosystem has become mature and sustainable.”

Jesus Dawal Jr., Filipino gamer

“With proper research and understanding, regulators will find a much easier time regulating DeFi and preventing malicious behaviors compared to the legacy financial infrastructure.”

Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective Labs

“You should never define any technology by its worst uses. […] There’s more to crypto than ransomware, just like there’s more to money than money laundering.”

Ritchie Torres, United States representative

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin faces new ‘milestone’ in 2022 as new forecast predicts BTC price ‘in the millions’

This past week, crypto’s largest asset, Bitcoin, traded both below $38,000 and above $41,000 inside the seven-day period, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. 

Based on global conditions, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone and former BitMEX brass Arthur Hayes both see Bitcoin ultimately coming out on top. 

McGlone sees the current landscape as one that may help BTC along. “Facing the #FederalReserve, inflation and war, 2022 may be primed for risk-asset reversion and mark another milestone in #Bitcoin’s maturation,” McGlone tweeted. 

Meanwhile, Hayes sees Bitcoin taking on a value of more than $1 million per coin based on the events currently unfolding, although he noted a decade-long time horizon with BTC suffering downward price action first.

FUD of the Week 

Blockchain forensics firm finds millions in sanctioned crypto wallet

Blockchain analytics outfit Elliptic has come across a crypto wallet that could be of particular interest that could potentially be connected to prominent sanctioned Russians. The wallet’s contents total millions of dollars in value, although further specifics were not given. 

“It’s not proving out realistic that oligarchs can completely bypass sanctions by moving all their wealth into crypto,” Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s co-founder, told Bloomberg. “Crypto is highly traceable. Crypto can and will be used for sanctions evasion, but it’s not the silver bullet.”

Millions of crypto addresses have been traced to crime associated with Russia, with hundreds of digital asset services facilitating anonymous crypto swapping via the Russian ruble, based on Elliptic’s sleuthing.

RBI seemingly wants to ban cryptocurrencies, but not for the reasons you might think

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), expressed a desire to ban crypto assets, as per a statement published this week. The RBI fears that crypto adoption could undermine the usage and dominance of the rupee, India’s national currency, and cause other issues. 

“Historically, private currencies have resulted in instability and therefore, have evolved into fiat currencies over centuries,” the RBI said in the statement. “The retrograde step back to private currencies cannot be taken simply because technology allows it […] without considering the dislocation it causes to society’s legal, social and economic fabric of society.”

‘Unlucky:’ Agave and Hundred Finance DeFi protocols exploited for $11M

Decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions Hundred Finance and Agave were exploited for $11 million by an attacker who managed to exploit a wrapped Ether (WETH) contract function on Gnosis Chain, a stable payments platform. Put simply, the attacker was able to drain more funds by continually borrowing against the same collateral they were posting. 

The $11 million sum was stolen via a number of different crypto assets, including the aforementioned wETH, but also wrapped BTC (WBTC), Chainlink (LINK) and USD Coin (USDC). Agave and Hundred Finance both halted their protocols in tandem amid the investigation.

Best Cointelegraph Features

You don’t need to be angry about NFTs

If you’ve never been angry about JPEGs you don’t need to be angry about JPEGs people can own.

‘We don’t like our money’: The story of the CFA and Bitcoin in Africa

African crypto experts and entrepreneurs explain why the CFA franc is an uncomfortable currency and why Bitcoin is making waves as a replacement.

Russia’s central bank goes to war: Is cryptocurrency a friend or foe?

Policymakers in Moscow are scrambling to rethink their approach to digital currency as one of several means of protecting the increasingly isolated economy.

As an old saying goes: Buy the rumor, sell the news.

As a digital-native asset class, the prices of cryptocurrencies are clearly susceptible to market-moving news developments that instantly spread on the internet. Staying on top of bullish announcements can help crypto traders reap huge gains, but navigating the crypto news landscape can be daunting.

Two major roadblocks get in the way: the abundance of potentially relevant information and the difficulty of making sure one is always among the first to learn the news that really matters. Extensive research shows that three types of crypto-related developments move digital asset prices most consistently: listings, staking announcements and big partnerships. This insight somewhat narrows down the scope of the developments that will most interest traders.

Now, what is the best way for crypto folks to ensure that they get to the potentially consequential stories before the rest of the pack? There is no shortage of technological solutions, from carefully curating one’s list of Twitter alerts to various crypto data terminals.

The subscribers of Cointelegraph’s proprietary data intelligence platform, Markets Pro, have it easy. They get access to NewsQuakes™ — a machine learning service that constantly monitors thousands of primary sources and automatically notifies the Cointelegraph Markets Pro community within minutes or even seconds of publication.

Here are three examples of how Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers could have capitalized on the power of NewsQuakes™ in March.

ANC: Staking program announcement kicks off a rally

Staking announcements can be powerful market movers, especially when a staking program for an asset launches on a major platform and comes with attractive terms. Anchor Protocol’s launch on Binance Staking with up to 40% annual percentage yield on ANC fit the bill perfectly.

The announcement, delivered to Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers as a near-instant NewsQuake™, was sourced from Binance’s Twitter account. The token was trading at $3.79 when the news hit, picking up steam quickly thereafter. Eighteen hours later, ANC’s price reached $4.90 and then pushed even higher to breach the $6.00 mark by March 5.

SNX: A double-barreled listing announcement

Another fateful tweet put huge upside pressure on the price of Synthetix Network Token (SNX). The news concerned SNX’s listing on Binance.US. Interestingly, there were two Twitter announcements of the upcoming listing, but apparently, the first one (the first NewsQuake™ symbol in the chart on March 8) did not produce much of a splash. However, the news of the actual launch of SNX trading (the red circle in the chart) made SNX’s price spike from $3.98 to $4.77 within 23 hours — an increase of 19.8%.

SAND: A big partnership spells big gains

Partnership announcements tend to show up a bit less frequently among the most consequential NewsQuakes™ when compared with listing and staking news. Sometimes, however, there are partnership deals whose price-boosting effects eclipse those of most other NewsQuakes™. A rule of thumb is that if you have heard of a non-crypto entity that is partnering with a crypto project, the associated token’s price is likely to go up.

Banking giant HSBC is certainly an institution familiar to most traders. Its move into the Metaverse, facilitated by The Sandbox, was something that stood to trigger a massive upside for the SAND token. Sure enough, SAND’s price shot up almost vertically minutes after the Cointelegraph Markets Pro crowd was alerted to the news, spiking from $2.85 to $3.28 (a 15% increase) in just 18 hours.

Cointelegraph is a publisher of financial information, not an investment adviser. We do not provide personalized or individualized investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile investments and carry significant risk including the risk of permanent and total loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Figures and charts are correct at the time of writing or as otherwise specified. Live-tested strategies are not recommendations. Consult your financial adviser before making financial decisions.

Layer-1 (L1) protocols are the foundation of the decentralized application ecosystem, with the Ethereum network dominating the landscape in terms of the number of protocols launched on-chain and total value locked (TVL), followed by BNB Chain and Fantom. 

As the sideways market of 2022 drags on and serious projects use the time away from the frenzy of bull markets to work on development, several L1 protocols have been outperforming the field and making gains despite weakness in the wider crypto market.

Here’s a look at three L1 protocols that are seeing growth in their decentralized finance (DeFi) communities and an influx of TVL on their networks.

Waves

Waves is a multi-purpose blockchain protocol that was originally launched in 2016 and has since undergone several transformations along the path to Waves 2.0.

The Waves ecosystem has experienced tremendous growth over the past month, with the protocol’s TVL increasing from $700.95 million on Feb. 4 to a new record high of $2.77 billion on March 18, according to data from DefiLlama.

The network’s increased TVL has largely been attributed to gains on the algorithmic price-stable “assetization protocol” Neutrino, which creates stablecoins tied to real-world assets, cryptocurrencies and the non-custody liquidity protocol Vires Finance.

During the aforementioned period of Feb. 4 through March 15, the price of Waves surged 278% from a low of $8.17 to a high of $31.04, suggesting that interest in the Waves ecosystem has been increasing on multiple fronts.

Oasis

Oasis is a privacy-enabled L1 blockchain network that focuses on offering high throughput and low transaction fees in a secure manner.

The Oasis network got off to a quick start in terms of TVL when its first decentralized exchange, YuzuSwap, launched in early January and quickly amassed more than $160 million in liquidity. However, the TVL would quickly fall through late February, reaching $65.18 million.

After an initial period of volatility, Oasis’ TVL has climbed to a new high of $194.92 million, thanks in large part to the rise of the ValleySwap automated market maker protocol, which has seen its TVL climb to $125.5 million in March.

Related: Here’s how traders were alerted to RUNE’s, FUN’s, WAVES’ and KNC’s big rallies last week

Cosmos ecosystem chains

A third chain that is having a big impact on the DeFi sector is Cosmos and its Interblockchain Communication protocol. Cosmos’ TVL is understated, as most data providers don’t track the chains in the Cosmos ecosystem in the same way they track Ethereum.

Some of the most notable gains in TVL over the past month have come on chains that are part of the Cosmos ecosystem, including Terra, Cronos and THORChain.

As mentioned in a previous Altcoin Roundup, a significant portion of the growth seen on Terra has come via inflows to the Anchor protocol, which is responsible for minting the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin.

These inflows have increased Anchor’s TVL by 54.58% to $13.57 billion, which also boosted Terra’s overall TVL to $26.34 billion on March 10.

Cronos is a blockchain network that arose out of the Crypto.com ecosystem when the project rebranded in November 2021. As part of this process, Crypto.com’s CRO token was rebranded to Cronos.

Since its unveiling, the Cronos network has had a total of 48 protocols launch on-chain or establish cross-chain integrations, which raised the network’s TVL to an all-time high of $3.19 billion on March 18.

Cronos’ TVL spike occurred during a period where the value of CRO declined 32% from a high of $0.54 on Feb. 10 to a low of $0.372 on March 15, suggesting the value added to the ecosystem came from new assets migrating or launching on-chain.

VVS Finance had previously been reported as the main DeFi protocol on Cronos, but it has actually seen its TVL fall by 4.78% over the past month. Instead, the recent increase in Cronos’ TVL largely comes from MM Finance, Tectonic and MM Optimizer.

The final shoutout to blockchain networks in the Cosmos ecosystem goes to THORChain, a decentralized liquidity protocol focused on cross-chain interoperability.

Thanks to several factors, including the recently added support for “synthetic assets” and its upcoming mainnet launch, activity in THORChain’s ecosystem has been on the rise, with its TVL climbing from $167 million to $267.65 million between March 1–16.

The total value locked on these three protocols, combined with that of the top Cosmos-based decentralized exchange, Osmosis, gives the Cosmos ecosystem a total TVL of more than $30.25 billion. This makes Cosmos the second-ranked blockchain network by TVL behind Ethereum.

Want more information about trading and investing in crypto markets?

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.