Strengthens
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Filecoin, which rose 57.38%.
- Bitcoin rose to $25,000 for the first time since August on Thursday, gaining as much as 4.4% after falling 64% in 2022.
- MetaMask developer ConsenSys has teamed up with global payment platform Mercuryo to streamline the process of buying cryptocurrencies directly from the web3 wallet, writes Bloomberg, using bank cards, Apple pay and Google Pay.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, Pax Gold was the worst performer this week, down 1.23%.
- Crypto exchange Binance had secret access to a bank account belonging to (what it has said is) an independent US digital asset marketplace Binance.US. and transferred large sums of money to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO CZ. In the first three months of 2021, more than $400 million flowed from a Binance.US account in Silvergate Bank to CZ’s trading firm Merti Peak, writes Bloomberg.
- Hedge funds, private equity firms and pension funds may have a tougher time working with many crypto firms under a draft proposal from a top US regulator, Bloomberg reports. Rule changes that the SEC plans to propose on Wednesday would effectively make it more difficult for crypto firms to be “qualified custodians,” the article explains.
Possibilities
- Taurus SA, a Swiss firm that develops market infrastructure for digital assets, has raised $65 million in an equity round led by Credit Suisse Group AG, as major financial institutions press ahead with projects despite the prolonged crypto winter. Deutsche Bank AG, Pictet Group, Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis Holding also participated in the financing, according to Bloomberg.
- As the crypto industry spiraled from the fallout of FTX and regulators began to close in, one corner of the sprawling market saw an influx of demand from institutional investors, writes Bloomberg. CME Group’s average daily trading volume in its crypto futures products rose a record 13% in 2022 to 53,600 contracts.
- Sony Network Communication has teamed up with multichain smart contract network Astar Network to launch a web3 incubation program for projects focused on the utility of NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations, according to an article published by Bloomberg.
Threats
- The native token of Binance, the largest crypto exchange, extended losses on Monday amid uncertainty over the platform’s prospects. Binance Coin fell a whopping 8.9%, the lowest level since mid-January, writes Bloomberg.
- The US SEC is preparing to sue the company behind TerraUSD, a cryptostable coin whose collapse last year set off an industry-wide crisis and a cascade of high-profile bankruptcies. The SEC has investigated whether Terraform Labs misled investors about the coin’s ability to maintain a 1-to-1 link to the US dollar, writes Bloomberg.
- The regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies is proving to be a boon for a token that is located outside the US and is being scrutinized over the transparency of its reserves, writes Bloomberg. USDT increased its market share by around $1 billion in the past 24 hours alone, as some traders move their holdings out of rivals following a series of enforcement actions by financial watchdogs in the US
