Tuesday June 7, 2022
◾ Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are submitting a ‘regulatory overall’ for the digital asset industry that will classify a majority of digital assets as commodities and give oversight responsibility to the CFTC. (CNBC)
◾ The SEC is investigating whether Binance broke security laws by selling its native BNB token in 2017’s ICO. (Bloomberg)
◾ Japan is considering a revision to existing Organized Crime laws that would allow for the seize of digital assets. (Cointelegraph)
After several reader comments, I have changed the conditional highlight method for the daily and monthly price changes. All positive changes will now be in green using a 5-level range from 0% up to 8% or greater, and a similar range will be shown for negative numbers in red. This corrects the previous system that identified the top performing assets — even if they were negative — in green.
The Fear & Greed Index for bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies remained in an ‘extreme fear’ range again this week and has been at these levels since falling below 20 in early May. Bitcoin’s recent attempts to find support above $30,000 have found resistance with BTC holding in a range similar to the Fear Index. The new Lummis – Gillibrand bill and investor sentiment from this week’s Consensus conference should be positive and will be watched to see if these factors can help support the leading digital currencies.
There will be no BitDigest tomorrow Wednesday June 8th. BitDigest will return on Thursday June 9th.
Government & NGO Actions
◾ Ethiopia’s Central Bank released a statement calling bitcoin illegal and prohibiting the use of any currency besides the Birr. (Beincrypto)
◾ The Federal Reserve released a blog post showing the volatility of bitcoin versus the US dollar when used to purchase a dozen eggs. (Fedblog)
◾ Last month, Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) introduced a bill that would require US lawmakers to disclose their digital asset holdings and any activity above $1,000. (Cyptobriefing)
Public Company Releases
◾ Core Scientific (CORZ) produced 1,138 bitcoin from 9.2 EH/s for its own operations in May. (Corescientific)
◾ Galaxy Digital (GLXY) ended May with $2,016.4 million in assets under managements (preliminary). (Galaxy)
◾ Argo Blockchain (ARBK) minted 124 bitcoin, a monthly reduction of 25% in May, due to increased difficulty and curtained mining operations. (Argo)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ The Epic Games Store is adding its first Web3 game, Gala Games’ wild west title GRIT. (Venturebeat)
◾ Reuters has issued a special report accusing Binance of facilitating $2.35 billion in illicit transactions between 2017 – 2021. (Reuters)
Binance responded to this report by sharing copies of their email correspondences with Reuters and Chainalysis research stating that in 2021 only 0.15% of all crypto transactions were associated with some type of illicit activity. (Binance)
◾ IRA Financial Trust, a platform for self-directed retirement and pension accounts, has sued Gemini Trust following the theft of $36 million in their clients’ digital assets from the crypto exchange. (Cision)
Metaverse Briefings & Activations
◾ England’s Premier League is the last sporting association to issue trademark filings for its logo’s in the metaverse. (Twitter)
Market Data
◾ The Atlantic Council’s tracker of central bank digital currencies depicts that 105 countries, representing 95% of global GDP, are now exploring CBDCs with 50 countries in “advanced phase of exploration (development, pilot, or launch).” (Atlanticcouncil)
◾ Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission reports that its citizens have lost over $200 million to scams with more than half falling to crypto crimes during the first 4 months of 2022. (Gov.au)
◾ Bitcoin’s difficulty is expected to fall ≈0.21% at the next adjustment tomorrow morning. (Bitrawr)