Tuesday May 3, 2022
◾ The SEC is increasing its Crypto Assets and Cyber team by two-thirds to “better [equip itself] to police wrongdoing in the crypto markets while continuing to identify disclosure and controls issues with respect to cybersecurity." (CNBC)
◾ The Bank of Central African States was unaware of the Central African Republic’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. (Bloomberg)
◾ Members of the Bitcoin Mining Council have written a response to last’s weeks letter by House democrats to the EPA arguing that crypto miners do not generate emissions and that these pollutants are action a function of electricity generation which the miners purchase on the open market. (Bitcoinminingcouncil)
The Fear & Greed Index for bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies remained unchanged over 7-days posting 27 for the third week in a row. Continued macro pressures and a move to real assets is keeping crypto in a risk-off category. As bitcoin and ether prices remain on the lower side of their recent trading ranges committed crypto investors are waiting for the next buyer.
Government & NGO Actions
◾ Uzbekistan will allow its citizens and companies to buy, sell and exchange cryptocurrencies through licensed crypto service providers. (News.bitcoin)
◾ The EC’s commission for financial services, financial stability and capital markets is calling for a global approach to regulating the crypto ecosystem. (TheHill)
◾ The Hawaiian Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection, and Ways and Means has approved a bill creating a blockchain and cryptocurrency task force. (Hawaii.gov)
◾ Lawmakers in Road Island have proposed paying digital currencies as a credit for reductions in utility costs by home builders. (RI.us)
Public Company Releases
◾ Bitfarms (BITF) has increased its hashrate to 3.3 EH/s generating 405 bitcoin in April. (Globenewswire)
◾ BitNile (NILE) mined 38.5 bitcoin in April and is operating on an annualized run rate of 474 bitcoin. (Businesswire)
◾ Bakkt Holdings (BAKKT) has formed a strategic alliance with Global Payments (GPN) to collaborate on use cases enabling cryptocurrency redemption in customer loyalty programs offered by bankcard clients, expanding its banking-as-a-service offerings to include consumer access to cryptocurrency, and ultimately leveraging technologies for linking virtual, debit, credit and prepaid solutions. (Businesswire)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Sustainability-focused Climate Replay released a campaign asking gaming studios to pledge to only adopt blockchain technologies when it can bring meaning value to players and avoid significant economic impact. (Climatereplay)
◾ Global investment manager VanEcK has launched the VanEck Community NFT a collection of 1,000 NFTS designed to showcase the real-world utility inherent in the NFT structure. (Businesswire)
◾ Billionaire investor Ken Griffin expects Citadel to become “more involved in the crypto space providing liquidity to institutional and potentially retail investors. (Reuters)
◾ Two Argentinian banks: Banco Galicia and Brubank, will allow their customers to purchase digital assets including bitcoin, ether and USDC. (Bloomberg)
◾ Algorand signed a sponsorship and technical partnership deal with FIFA naming the layer 1 protocol the official blockchain platform of FIFA and providing Algorand with the right to issue the official blockchain-supported wallet solution to FIFA fans worldwide. (FIFA)
◾ New York’s Equinox chain of health clubs will allow members to may their monthly fees in digital currencies. (NYPost)
Thoughts on the Ecosystem
◾ The chief investment officer of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas finds cryptocurrencies’ “high interesting” and believes digital assets can function like “digital gold.” (CNBC)