🔮 Weekly Attestations #13

Token Specific News

More Eth News // Staking Reaches A New High

Ethereum saw a surge in staked ether deposits last week following the successful Shanghai upgrade. Institutional staking service providers and investors contributed to the record-breaking weekly inflow of 571,950 ETH tokens worth over $1 billion. Meanwhile, Cardano briefly overtook Ethereum scaling platform Polygon as the fourth-most popular blockchain by NFT sales volume. Although NFT sales on mainchain Ethereum have shrunk by 12% recently, there is currently 18.88 million ETH ($34.6 billion) staked, the highest since April 12. Despite being able to unstake their ETH, holders did not sell their tokens, and instead, chose to re-stake them. However, Nansen has warned that withdrawals may soon start to outweigh deposits. Overall, the surge in staked ETH deposits is a positive sign for Ethereum's growth and adoption.

Source: Nansen

Google Pushes Forward in Web3 With Cloud Startup Program

• Google Cloud has launched benefits for Web3 start-ups to apply for its Startups Cloud Program, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The benefits include grants from foundation partners such as Aptos, Celo, Solana Foundation, HBAR Foundation, and Near. Start-ups will also have access to Alchemy University while giving them credits worth $10,000 in Alchemy. They will also have access to the Polygon Ventures Ecosystem Fund, which gives access to around $3m in investments. There are two tiers through which start-ups can apply: the starting tier is optimized for pre-seed projects and start-ups that have been around for less than five years, while the scale tier is designed for seed to Series A start-ups that have been founded in the last 10 years.

Binance say "Bon Voyage"

• Binance.US has terminated its asset purchase agreement with Voyager Digital, according to a statement from Voyager. Voyager's Chapter 11 plan, which allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers via its platform, will be used to return value to customers. The news follows a $1 billion plan that was approved by a US judge in March, despite objections from the SEC and other regulators. However, the US Department of Justice later appealed the ruling. Binance.US has blamed the regulatory environment in the US for the termination of the deal. Voyager has said that information about the distribution process will be released in the coming days. This marks the latest deal that Binance or an affiliated company has withdrawn from.

Arbitrum Is Winning Ethereum's Layer 2 Race

• Arbitrum is currently leading the competition among Ethereum Layer 2 networks in providing lower fees and higher speeds to users. The recent developments in Ethereum scaling (after transitioning to a functional proof-of-stake blockchain) have drawn entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and technologists to this potentially lucrative arena for attracting the next wave of crypto users. Arbitrum was the first Ethereum rollup network to launch and remains the largest in terms of transaction volume and total value locked (TVL) in its ecosystem, with $6 billion worth of crypto circulating and processing more transactions in the past month than Ethereum itself. Arbitrum's main competitor, Optimism, has a TVL of $1.93 billion and has processed one-third as many transactions in the past 30 days. That said... ZkEVMs are the new contenders in Ethereum's layer 2 ecosystem, challenging the current frontrunner, Arbitrum. Unlike optimistic rollups, zkEVMs use zero-knowledge cryptography for security while operating with the same bundle-and-settle principle. Though it is at an earlier stage of development than optimistic rollups, builders like Matter Labs and Polygon have launched their beta versions. ZkSync, powered by Matter Labs, has surged ahead of Polygon's zkEVM with $240 million circulating inside its ecosystem.

Source: L2beat.com

USDT Approaches All-Time-High Market Cap of $83B As People Avoid Dollars Like It’s A Guy In A White Van Handing Out Candy

• YTD, the market cap of USDT has surged by over 18%, making it the talk of the town. It currently holds the largest % of market share in the stablecoin market as the crypto community has steered clear of the U.S. USDC's market cap has dropped by 10% this month due to the SEC's crypto witch hunt, while BUSD has hit an all-time low in two years. But Tether (USDT) has been able to bypass these issues because it operates outside of the U.S. and isn't regulated. It seems that investors would rather deal with USDT's backing concerns than deal with uncertain regulations. This is significant because just a year ago, Tether was considered one of the biggest risks to the crypto market. Now, after several frauds and collapses, it has become the star of the stablecoin world.

Source: TradingView

Regulation

"How You Like Them Apples" - Coinbase Says Before Suing the SEC

• Coinbase has filed an Administrative Procedure Act challenge against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a sking a federal court to force the SEC to provide "regulatory clarity" around how existing securities laws might apply to the digital asset sector. This is a preemptive move by Coinbase to argue that the SEC's approach doesn't provide sufficient regulatory guidance for U.S. companies operating in the crypto sector. Coinbase has been warned by the SEC that it expected to sue the exchange over allegations of listing and offering unregistered securities products.

Sens. Warren, Marshall Delay Reintroducing Crypto Bill Due to Lack of Sponsors

• Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall have postponed the reintroduction of their crypto anti-money laundering bill in the US Senate in order to attract more cosponsors. The bill was first introduced in December 2022, and its latest version requires the crypto industry, including individual miners and validators, to comply with KYC rules. The proposed legislation aims to tackle crypto crime and give regulators the necessary tools to halt the flow of crypto to places such as North Korea. However, opponents argue that the bill goes too far and imposes unattainable compliance burdens on industry participants.

"All Eyez on Reg" - Tupac Commenting On Uniswap After it Eclipses $1.5T Trading Volume

• Decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap has surpassed $1.5tn in trading volume, marking a $500bn cumulative volume increase for the exchange since it passed $1tn in April 2022. Uniswap is now the largest decentralized exchange in the world and traders' increasing interest in the platform could have spillover effects on other competing crypto-native products. This comes as a number of decentralized exchange competitors are offering innovative incentives to traders to compete in a crowded sector. Uniswap's rise is indicative of trader appetite for top DeFi products remaining strong, as decentralized trading setups are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to cut out the middleman and excessive fees, creating billions of dollars in advantage for investors and users. Mark Levin, a co-founder of XYO, said Uniswap's volume bump shows that it is "high time" lawmakers in Washington, DC pass DeFi legislation to protect innovation in the US.

Is This Crypto’s ‘Dodd-Frank Moment’?

• Dante Disparte, the head of policy for Circle, a stablecoin issuer, has predicted that 2023 will be a " breakthrough year" for crypto legislation in the US. Disparte stated that the US historically regulates through crises, and events such as the collapse of Terra's algorithmic stablecoin and the demise of crypto exchange FTX in 2022 have urged lawmakers to act on the crypto sector. Disparte believes that this is crypto's " Dodd-Frank moment," alluding to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was enacted in 2010 to bolster government oversight of the US financial system. Disparte's comments come after the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets gathered to discuss stablecoin regulation last week, and a draft bill related to stablecoins was introduced earlier this month. Disparte feels that in the next five years, blockchain-based financial services that support daily payment activity, like stablecoins, will live under central bank oversight.

Congress Definitely Understands Stablecoins... 2nd Time Lucky?

• The US House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to discuss stablecoin regulation, with the draft bill being referred to as the " To be added Act of 2023". The proposed legislation aims to provide requirements for payment stablecoin issuers and foster research on a digital dollar. However, lawmakers disagreed on the need for regulating stablecoins, with Representative Stephen Lynch stating that the banking crisis highlighted the need to keep digital assets away from traditional finance. The proposed bill covers a regulatory framework for stablecoins at both state and federal levels, a two-year moratorium on new stablecoins that solely maintain their price using other tokens, and sets standards for interoperability, reporting, and enforcement. Stablecoins comprise around $132bn, or roughly 10%, of the $1.27tn global market capitalization, with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USD Coin being the two largest stablecoins, valued at $81bn and $31bn, respectively.

Other Domestic Regulation Updates

• USDC stablecoin ‘backdoor CBDC’ nixed by NY Fed
• California DAO Bill Would Fix Existing Laws’ ‘Fatal Flaws,’ a16z Exec Says
• U.S. DoJ Charges North Korean Bank Official With Crypto Laundering
• TransUnion to Offer Credit Scores for Crypto Lending
• Societe Generale Subsidiary Launches Euro-Pegged Stablecoin on Ethereum
• What the SEC’s Proposed ‘Exchange’ Definition Could Mean for DeFi
• ECB Mulls Decentralized Settlement for Wholesale Financial Markets
• As US House Efforts to Push Crypto Oversight Ramp Up, EU Move in Cards?

Other International Regulation Updates

• Luna Is Not a Security Claims South Korean Court
• Chinese City To Pay Government Staff in CBDC
• India Finance Minister Sitharaman Calls For Global Crypto Rules
• Hong Kong's Crypto Licensing Regime Expected to Launch Next Month

Pain & Gain

Pain

• Bitcoin Whitepaper Removed from Apple Computers Following Belated Discovery
• Losses from Meta’s Metaverse Unit Continue to Pile Up, Hitting $4B in Q1

Gain

• Deloitte Could Be Jumping Into Crypto Headfirst With Hundreds of Job Listings
• Visa Hiring More Crypto Developers To Drive Mainstream Adoption
• Venmo Crypto Transfers Coming in May
• Crypto Industry Revenue Expected to Double in 2023
• DeFi Protocol iZUMi Finance Raises $22M
• Visa Launches Stablecoin Payments Project
• DeFi Focused Layer-1 Berachain Raises $42MM Series A