Jim Cramer doubts Bitcoin’s use case after bank bailouts, Bitcoin’s moment to shine and more
A daily roundup of the most interesting articles on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether to help start your day.
DOJ Jim Cramer suggests that Bitcoin is being manipulated
Morgan Stanley notes Bitcoin’s design as a digital wallet amid growing concerns about traditional banks
> In a research report published on Monday, the investment bank stated that Bitcoin was designed as a way for people to hold value in a private digital wallet without intermediaries.
> “Crypto prices rose rapidly in 2020/21 due to central bank monetary expansion, which caused capital to move from the traditional fiat banking world to the crypto world,” wrote analysts Sheena Shah and Kinji C Steimetz.
> However, the report further noted that Bitcoin’s price and purchasing power continue to be influenced by central bank policy and need banks to facilitate flows into the cryptocurrency market. Continue here.
CNHC Stablecoin takes over Tether with $10 million funding round
> Leading the investment was KuCoin Ventures, a cryptocurrency investment company, together with Circle Ventures and IDG Capital.
> According to Joy Cham, co-founder of CNHC, the stablecoin firm had been raising money since last March, closing the round in August.
> Launched in 2021, CNHC stablecoin has a total supply of about 15 million tokens, currently worth about $2 million, and is used for money transfers and cross-border trade settlements.
> Cham revealed that CNHC’s goal is to increase the use of its stablecoin, especially in the Asia Pacific region. More here.
Euler Finance is offering a $1 million reward for information about the hackers behind the $200 million attack
> In a message sent via chain messages from Euler’s distribution contracts, the developers stated that the reward would be offered if 90% of the funds were not returned within 24 hours.
> The protocol suffered an attack on Monday, resulting in the loss of funds in dai (DAI), wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), staked ether (sETH) and USDC over four transactions.
> The attacker used a flash loan to temporarily trick the protocol into thinking it contained varying amounts of eToken and dToken. Full report here.
Europol takes down the infamous crypto tumbler and seizes $46 million
> The move was supported by Belgium, Poland and Switzerland.
> The unlicensed cryptocurrency mixer, which specialized in cutting traces related to virtual currency assets, has been accused of being involved in money laundering activities.
> According to Europol, ChipMixer’s software will block the blockchain trail of the funds, making it an attractive platform for cybercriminals to launder illicit proceeds from criminal activities such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, ransomware attacks and payment card fraud.
> After depositing funds, they would be turned into small tokens called “chips”, which would then be mixed together to anonymize all traces of where the original funds originated. More here.
Former FTX.US president predicts new banks will compete for crypto business
> In an episode of The Scoop podcast with The Block, Harrison noted that “in the past, these banks couldn’t really compete with the top two or three — Silvergate and Signature were among them — because they had such a large percentage of market share. ”
> After the departure of Silvergate and Signature bank, crypto companies have struggled to find new banking partners.
> Institutions such as Mercury, Brex and Customers Bank have emerged as alternatives, while others have looked to non-US players such as Sygnum and Seba Bank. Continue here.
UAE and India’s central bank sign MoU to promote financial innovation
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) signed the MoU in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
The agreement focuses on exploring various new areas within financial technology (FinTech), with particular emphasis on the central bank’s digital currencies (CBDC).
The two central banks will work together to enable innovation in financial products and services and they will explore interoperability between the CBDCs of the CBUAE and the RBI, said a statement released by the Reserve Bank of India.
They will also jointly conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) and pilot(s) of bilateral CBDC bridge to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions of remittances and trade. Details here.
New UK tax law requires reporting of crypto assets on tax forms
> This new requirement is expected to generate an additional 10 million British pounds (US$12 million) in tax revenue each year.
> The change will take effect in the tax year ending in April 2025, and the UK Treasury confirmed that “amounts in relation to crypto-assets” must be identified separately on tax return forms.
> The new requirement will apply to the form for capital gains taxation, which is paid when investments are sold at a profit. Full report here.
Lazy and disruptive regulatory strategies: Are crypto firms being purged from the US financial system?
Congressman Tom Emmer criticized the regulatory strategy used by the US federal financial regulators, raising concerns on Wednesday that the regulators have used their authority to eliminate legal digital assets and opportunities in the country.
> In a letter addressed to the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, the congressmen cited reports that regulators had weaponized their powers, leading to the closure of digital asset and technology-centric banks such as Silvergate, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank.
> He further pointed out that industry players, including former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, had also expressed concern about the targeted nature of these regulatory efforts.
Bitcoin slips below USD 24.5k amid European banking concerns, Ether and HNT also face decline
> Bitcoin faced a setback, falling below $24,500 as investors weighed the potential risk of a banking crisis in Europe, which has been triggered by the ongoing problems at Credit Suisse.
> The leading cryptocurrency initially fell to $23,946 before making a slight recovery and is currently trading at $24,502, showing little change over the past 24 hours.
> However, this is still significantly below the previous day’s high of over $26,000, which was reached after the release of positive consumer price index (CPI) inflation data for February.
> Meanwhile, Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, experienced a 2.4 percent decline on Wednesday afternoon, trading at around $1,656, down from the previous day.
> The original token of decentralized wireless communication network Helium, HNT, also faced a significant drop of 13 percent to trade at nearly $2 on Wednesday. T
> This happened after Binance.US announced that it would remove the cryptocurrency from its platform on March 21, causing a bearish sentiment among traders.
