The global cryptoasset market capitalization currently amounts to $1.06 trillion – down from $1.12 trillion on Friday last week, with bitcoin accounting for 39.5%. Among the Top 30 cryptoassets by market cap, Hedera (HBAR) outperformed, gaining roughly 22% over the week. During the same period, the price of bitcoin (BTC) decreased by 7.6% to $21,701 while the price of ether (ETH) dropped 8.7% to $1,520. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is sitting at roughly $47 billion – with Ethereum accounting for more than 59% of TVL. This Week’s Headlines Genesis, DCG and Gemini reach agreement in bankruptcy court to recover assets House Republicans scrutinize SEC investigation of failed FTX El Salvador’s bitcoin risks “have not materialized,” International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Cantor Fitzgerald helps oversee Tether’s $39 billion in Treasury Holdings, WSJ reports Venture capital expected to see more regulatory scrutiny after FTX, The Block reports PayPal pauses stablecoin work amid regulatory scrutiny of crypto, Bloomberg reports Bitcoin’s Lightning Network hits an all-time high in terms of capacity Bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins to close, citing market conditions a16z votes against proposal to deploy latest Uniswap iteration on BNB Chain Microsoft disbands industrial metaverse project, The Information reports NFT and gaming company Limit Break spends $6.5 million to advertise digital collectibles during this year’s Super Bowl Notable Deals and Fundraising Bitcoin miners Hut 8 and US Bitcoin merge to form new US-based entity Manuel Trojovsky, Head of Crypto Investments & Research Always be up to date on the market -> Subscribe here
Here’s what happened in blockchain and crypto this week.
Bitcoin and cryptoassets ended the week lower as a $30 million settlement of Kraken with the SEC spooked investors. The US crypto exchange was fined for not registering the offering and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service programs. Kraken also agreed to to shutter its staking-as-a-service operations to settle the US agency’s charges. SEC Chair Gary Gensler warned other platforms to “take note” of Kraken’s move to halt its staking service in the US. The enforcement action against Kraken has drawn criticism, even from within the SEC. Prior to the announcement, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that restricting crypto staking could lead the U.S. down a “terrible path.” After their recent multi-month highs, cryptoassets suffered losses across the board in line with US equities. On Tuesday, Fed Chair Powell gave an interview in which he reiterated his hawkish tone. On the macro front, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose 66.4 in February – its highest level since January 2021.
On Thursday, the SEC charged Kraken for the unregistered offer and sale of securities through its staking-as-a-service program. “Companies like Kraken can offer investment contracts and investment schemes, but they have to have full, fair and truthful disclosure… That’s our basic bargain. They were not complying with that basic law,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said during a Friday appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Similar to previous enforcement actions, Gary Gensler posted a video on Twitter on why the agency believes staking-as-a-service constitutes a securities offering. On the same day, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce had a well-articulated dissenting statement in which she referred to the SEC as a “regulator that is hostile to crypto” and questioned the “uniform regulatory solution… in the form of an enforcement action”. Prior the Kraken news, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweetedthat staking restrictions would be a “terrible path for the U.S.”Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal argued in another tweet that Coinbases’s staking services are not yield products but “true on-chain staking services” and hence fundamentally different.
It was another eventful week in Bitcoin mining. The mining companies Hut 8 and US Bitcoin plan to merge and form a new company called Hut 8 Corp, which will be based in the United States. The deal is pending regulatory approvals and is expected to take place in the second quarter. In restructuring news, Bitcoin miner Stronghold pushed back its $54.9 million loan with WhiteHawk Finance and also signed a two-year hosting deal with Foundry. Elsewhere, Bitfarms repaid a $21 million BlockFi loan with a single payment of $7.75 million in cash. The publicly listed miner has brought down its debt from $165 million in June to just $25 million after the agreement. Meanwhile, Argo Blockchain’s CEO and interim chairman Peter Wall stepped down. The resignation follows the departure of the miner’s CFO, Alex Appleton, who left at the beginning of February. After releasing its impressive January 2023 mining update last week, Cleanspark kicked off the publicly listed miners’ earnings season, reporting revenues of -25% yoy for the first quarter financial year 2023.
SPIRIT Blockchain – Weekly Wrap-up
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