🔮Blend, Ethereum, and the White House

Token Specific News

Blur Gets Into Lending

• Blur, the largest Ethereum NFT marketplace by trading volume, has launched Blend, a peer-to-peer perpetual lending protocol based on NFT assets. The protocol allows NFT collectors to take loans out on their existing assets, with liquidity providers earning interest by loaning out ETH with the NFT serving as collateral. The loans do not rely on external data sources and are perpetual, continuing to accrue interest until repaid or refinancing or liquidation is triggered. In a tweet thread, Blur wrote that Blend "enables 10x higher yield opportunities than current DeFi protocols and unlocks greater liquidity for NFTs". The protocol currently has no fees for borrowers or lenders, with the possibility of fees being introduced after 180 days. For more info on NFT lending... Read here.

Decentralizing the Web Proxy Market

• The web proxy market is an underexplored aspect of the Web3 infrastructure stack. Unlike VPNs, web proxies do not encrypt web traffic but change a user's IP address, making them useful for various purposes. Web proxies facilitate the extraction of large volumes of data from a wide range of websites, provide access to localized content and pricing information from competitors, and enable companies to experience the internet from the perspective of end-users in multiple geographic locations. Traditional providers charge a premium for residential proxies, which are difficult to acquire. However, the need for a distributed and vast number of bandwidth providers makes decentralized web proxy solutions an ideal alternative. The emerging decentralized residential proxy market offers a more ethical approach to acquiring residential internet bandwidth compared to traditional practices. It enables device owners to passively share their unused network resources with the web proxy market.

Source: Messari

Who Is Pepe Silva? Pepe’s Pump Has Memecoin Fans Excited... but why?

• Pepe coin ( PEPE) has hit a $1bn market cap after its launch last month ( following the launch on Binance), gaining 70% over the past 24 hours, reaching an all-time high, according to CoinGeko data. The token's surge has spurred increased trading activity in other meme tokens, including WOJAK and PEEPO. However, longer-standing meme tokens such as dogecoin and shiba inu have not witnessed the same price movement, both trading in the red. Ethereum's gas fees have surged above a one-year high as the demand for trading the PEPE meme coin continues to soar. Since PEPE launched, the average price of gas is up 50%. The average cost of a single transaction on Ethereum jumped above $15.82 on 4 May. The increased gas fees witnessed 9,392 in ETH burned over the last 24 hours, at par with one-year high levels. Following the success of PEPE coin, numerous copycats have also emerged representing different internet memes. The most active smart contracts on Ethereum are currently Uniswap trading pools for meme coins such as SPONGE, TURBO, BOB, and TRBNR.

If The Shoe Fits, Wear It; A True Cinderella Shapella Story

• Ethereum has become a fully-featured proof-of-stake blockchain that supports withdrawals from its staking contract after the recent upgrade. Following the upgrade, there have been net staking outflows of 320,000 ETH, which were partially offset by a boost in deposit activity. Withdrawals were primarily driven by centralized exchanges, with Kraken accounting for 48% of full withdrawals alone, while deposits have been driven by institutional staking pools, such as Stakefish, P2P.org, and Staked.us. In terms of staking solutions, Shapella has led to the launch of new products and services in the staking space, such as those by Binance, Lido, Obol Network, and Eigenlayer. Rocket Pool's Atlas upgrade has led to the deployment of more minipools, resulting in a substantial growth in RETH supply. Furthermore, since the Atlas upgrade, there has been a rush among new and old node operators to deploy more minipools. That said... Only 2% of staked ETH has been withdrawn so far and most people are collecting their staking rewards, not the ETH they deposited

Source: Messari

Curve Deploys Stablecoin Smart Contract on Ethereum

• Curve Finance has deployed the smart contract for its s tablecoin crvUSD on Ethereum. The stablecoin was designed using the Lending-Liquidating Automated Market Maker Algorithm (LLAMMA), which uses an external oracle to ensure that crvUSD pools are made up of two different assets: crvUSD and the asset used to mint the stablecoin. Curve Finance has resolved a minor issue where fees were not flowing to the project’s DAO, and the final step is to push the user interface onto the Curve website.

It Pays To Mine

• Bitcoin miners are currently experiencing a surge in revenue, reaching its highest level in 11 months. As of May 1st, daily BTC miner revenue hit $2.8 million, surpassing the previous 11-month high of $2.69 million observed on April 15th, 2023. Bitcoin miners receive payment for every block they mine, which is currently valued at 6.75 BTC or $190,000, in addition to transaction fees from each transfer. The recent rise in BTC miner revenue can be attributed to the increased number of inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain, particularly with the adoption of Ordinals which has garnered 3 million inscriptions since its launch in December 2022. This increased activity results in more transaction fees and higher BTC miner revenue. See similar: Ordinals has a bit of a metadata problem.

Source: Glassnode

Regulation

Setting Up A New Base

• Coinbase, one of the largest (centralized) cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has launched its international crypto exchange in Bermuda. The new exchange will offer perpetual futures tied to bitcoin and ether, with 5x leveraged trading available initially. Coinbase has said that the exchange will focus on "institutional users in eligible jurisdictions outside of the US", and additional listings are expected to follow. This move comes amid an ongoing legal battle between Coinbase and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the exchange's business practices. Coinbase may be hoping that an expanded international presence will make the legal fight worth the expense. However, a new lawsuit alleges that the exchange's leadership failed to disclose negative information before it went public in 2021.

Trying To Define

• The SEC has removed the definition of " digital assets" from its hedge fund reporting rules after including it in a draft last August. The agency stated that it is still considering the term and may make changes in the future. This decision comes as the SEC has been pursuing enforcement actions against US-based crypto firms and is expected to file a lawsuit against Coinbase.

South Korea’s Sweeping Crypto Bill Passes First Regulatory Hurdles

• South Korea has passed the first phase of a proposed bill that would give the Financial Services Commission the power to regulate and investigate digital assets, including cryptocurrencies. The legislation includes requirements for consumer protection, compliance reporting, and punishments for infractions resulting in losses over $3.75 million, such as up to life in prison. If passed, the bill would become one of the most sweeping national cryptocurrency laws in existence, and the ruling and opposition parties in South Korea have agreed on the matter.

White House Pushes for Punitive Tax on Crypto Mining

• The White House's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) has proposed a punitive tax on cryptocurrency mining firms to address the environmental and economic issues caused by their activities. Dubbed the Digital Asset Mining Energy tax, t he levy would be equal to 30% of a firm's energy costs and could raise up to $3.5 billion over 10 years. The CEA says that crypto mining causes pollution, increases energy prices, and raises greenhouse gas emissions without generating similar economic benefits. However, it is uncertain whether the tax will survive Congress given the Republican party's resistance to penalizing the crypto sector.

More From the Casa Blanca

• The White House has included cryptocurrency in its updated list of areas to watch in emerging technology as part of its strategy to create universal standards for technologies that are consistent in terms of safety and security. The federal government said it would be focusing on "digital identity infrastructure and distributed ledger technologies" and the list also includes biotechnologies, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. This report comes after the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a Digital Asset Mining Excise ( DAME) tax on crypto mining firms, which has caused an uproar in the industry.

Ex-OpenSea Worker Found Guilty in First NFT Insider-Trading Case

• A f ormer OpenSea employee has been found guilty in the first insider trading case involving NFTs. The employee, Anil Lulla, allegedly used confidential information about upcoming NFT drops to make profitable trades. The case was settled with the SEC, with Lulla agreeing to pay $21,000 in disgorgement and penalties. OpenSea stated that they were unaware of Lulla's activities and have since implemented new policies to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Other Domestic Regulation Updates

• Coinbase Launches International Exchange with Bitcoin and Ethereum Perpetual Futures
• Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) said Chief Financial Officer Michael Kraines stepped down
• Franklin Templeton Puts Money Market Fund on Polygon
• Elizabeth Warren Has a Lot to Say About Crypto... Try Listening for Once

Other International Regulation Updates

• Dubai Reprimands Three Arrows Capital Founders Over New Exchange OPNX
• Dubai Crypto Regulator Awards First Broker Dealer License to BitOasis
• Binance.US Calls Off Voyager Deal, Citing Hostile Regulatory Environment
• Industry Giants Respond to UK’s Consultation on Crypto Policymaking

Pain & Gain

Pain

• Peter Thiel-backed Crypto Exchange Bullish Inks Trading Deal With B2C2
• Meme Coin Mania: What's Going On and What Are the Risks?
• Where Voyager, Celsius Stand in Bankruptcy Proceedings

Gain

• Stripe Releases New Fiat-To-Crypto On-Ramp
• Speedy Sui Blockchain Officially Launches on Mainnet
• Bitdeer to Raise $500M for Bitcoin Mining Operation in Bhutan
• Google Cloud Adds 11 Firms to Web3 Startup Accelerator
• Phantom Solana Wallet Adds Ethereum and Polygon Support
• Jack Dorsey’s Cash App Posts $2.16B in Bitcoin Revenue for Q1 2023