Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage! (weekly crypto updates)

So, the last week, what have we got? Bitcoin is getting busy, with all the new NFT stuff going on. Binance is quite active innovating, including going to Japan, and Coinbase is going out of the US, while still fighting the good fight with the SEC. What else? Read below:

• Bitcoin: Lightning Labs released LiT-D, Light Termina Daemon, an all-in-one solution aiming to simplify the management of the Lightning Network nodes. MicroStrategy had a profit of 2.6% in Q1 2023, compared with the previous year, as they hold 134K BTC, valued at $7.6B. BTC fees are surging due to the increased activity on the network and the higher demand for BRC-20 tokens that require more data than regular transactions. On April 30, the Bitcoin network registered more than 568K transactions, a new record in its entire 14-year history. Robert F. Kennedy JR is the first US Presidential candidate to appear at the Bitcoin 2023 Conference, as he just announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. In the US, crypto miners face a potential 30% energy tax under the new White House plan. Bitcoin rises after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's commentary on the May 3rd press conference, moving up 2%. The Kingdom of Bhutan and Bitdeer partnered to launch a carbon-free crypto-mining operation. Block, Jack Dorsey's fintech company, reported a $2.1B BTC revenue from CashApp, in the first quarter of 2023. Bitcoin dominance hits a 22-month high, raising from 42% to 49%.

​

• Ethereum: ETH is now a fully featured Proof-of-Stake blockchain that supports withdrawals from its staking contract, and we had 320K ETH outflows since the upgrade. Binance, Lido, Obol, and Eigenlayer launched new products competing with the opportunities risen by the Shapella upgrade. Paypal's Venmo is set to allow on-chain transfers starting from May, as the company said that they are comfortable in the Ethereum universe.

​

• Altcoins: Franklin Templeton's investment in the Polygon blockchain shows the increasing interest of traditional financial institutions in DEFI. Binance got SUI on their Launchpad, for 24 hours, if you staked BNB and TUSD, and now there is a bit of time left for Radiant, if you missed the first one, staking BNB and TUSD too. Surprisingly, 36% of the top crypto projects stopped posting on their blog, and 51% of the top crypto projects are posting less than one post per month. The total stablecoin market capitalization declines for the 13th consecutive month, falling by 1.08% to $131B, the lowest since September 2021. TUSD market share on Binance rises to ATH, as zero-fee trading starts. Uniswap launches its Governance delegation platform. AIDOGE airdrop claims are almost ended, if you were part of the ARB airdrop, check them, before May 15. SUI, the new Layer 1 from Mysten Labs, tied to Meta and Facebook, was launched on May 3rd on most of the major exchanges. SUI is horizontally scalable, and p2p transfers and NFT mass mints do not undergo consensus, allowing up to 300K trx/sec. X-Portal - Elrond is working hard to create a new faster, better version of their app and the staking reward is quite decent for the EGLD (8-10%).

​

• Blockchain games and NFTs: DappRadar got a new design, and upgraded to 2.0 Pro staking (you need 30K RADAR minimum to get the Pro features, and 20% staking rewards). Yuga Labs hired the former Epic Games CTO, Mike Seavers, as their new CTO. Hope this move will bring some excitement to the Bored Ape project. Binance launched the NFT staking program for Sandbox, where you can stake $SAND and earn exclusive NFT rewards. I need to try that one. Blur and Paradigm teamed up to launch Blender, an NFT perpetual lending protocol allowing users to leverage their NFTs as collateral, providing long-term financing solutions and enhancing liquidity within the NFT ecosystem. Sotheby's launched an on-chain secondary NFT marketplace, for their collectors, letting you sell, buy and exchange authenticated digital art pieces. Wombat Dungeons just started a new season, and this game is another opportunity to build a portfolio on Matic and Wax, staking your spare NFTs. On Splinterlands, we got the Zyriel sale, the first dual element card, both Life and Death Splinter, and some extra changes with the guild (if you leave the guild you get back 90% of the guild points GP provided until then, but 10% remain with the guild).

​

• Good news: The SEC announced an updated position on the classification of digital assets, taking into account factors such as the asset's intended use and the level of decentralization. Is this good or bad? We will see soon. Anyway, it seems that Coinbase won the first round, forcing the agency to clarify its rules on crypto assets, as the court ordered SEC to respond to Coinbase's petition, following their legal action against the Securities and Exchange Commission. California is working on a bill to simplify legal frameworks for DAOs. Coinbase net revenue went up 22% and the total operating expenses decreased by 24%. Binance acquired TaoTao and is preparing to launch its branch, Binance Japan, fully complying with local regulations. Revolut is expanding its services in Brazil, and they have also announced a strategic alliance with Koinly, to streamline crypto tax reporting for its customers. Australian crypto exchange Coinjar is expanding into the US market, confident that its compliance measures will be successful in the United States. French Senate is considering a proposal to allow influencers to promote crypto. Mastercard launches crypto credential service for Web3, enhancing user verification standards and mitigating the risk posed by malevolent actors. Venture capital firm a16z submitted a detailed response to UK Treasury's consultation paper on the proposed regulatory regime for crypto assets. Coinbase and Gemini launched crypto derivatives platforms, the first one in Bermuda, the second aiming for any other clients than US, UK, and EU. Crypto.com launches a pilot phase of AI Chatbot Amy, a new assistant created to inform users about the crypto industry, including real-time prices, projects, and historical events.

​

• Bad news: A former OpenSea employee has been accused of making illicit profits using insider trading NFT knowledge, buying them at lower prices, and selling them after the public release for a higher price. Level Finance suspended its operations temporarily after it lost $1M due to a software bug. Poloniex will pay a $76M fine in the US after they permitted users from sanctioned nations to access its platform. Texas State Securities Board is targeting a crypto scam called TruthGPT Coin, claiming to use an AI model called Elon Musk AI. Coinbase stopped issuing new loans on their Coinbase Borrow, after regulatory concerns.

​

• Joke of the week: US circus once more! The SEC announced an updated position on the classification of digital assets, taking into account factors such as the asset's intended use and the level of decentralization. Is this good or bad? We will see soon. Anyway, it seems that Coinbase won the first round, forcing the agency to clarify its rules on crypto assets, as the court ordered SEC to respond to Coinbase's petition, following their legal action against the Securities and Exchange Commission.

​

All the best,

George

Why not...

...have fun and win rewards on my favorite blockchain games (Splinterlands - Hearthstone-like card game) (Mobox - GamiFI NFT platform) and (X-Portal - Elrond all in one app, free NFTs, and more).

...get crypto while writing on Publish0x blog, using Presearch search engine to maximize your income with PRE tokens. Use Torum instead of Twitter . I am also writing for crypto on Read.cash and Hive.