The breaking news of last week:
1. Key Word: SEC, Gary Gensler, Coinbase CEO
According to New York Magazine, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said in an interview that pretty much every sort of crypto transaction already falls under the SEC’s jurisdiction except spot transactions in bitcoin itself and the actual purchase or sale of goods or services with cryptocurrencies. “Everything other than bitcoin,” Gensler said, “you can find a website, you can find a group of entrepreneurs, they might set up their legal entities in a tax haven offshore, they might have a foundation, they might lawyer it up to try to arbitrage and make it hard jurisdictionally or so forth.” In other words, there are people behind these cryptocurrencies using a variety of complex and legally opaque mechanisms, but at the most basic level, they are trying to promote their tokens and entice investors. (Bitcoin, because of its unique history and creation story, is fundamentally different from other crypto projects in this respect.) “They might drop their tokens overseas at first and contend or pretend that it’s going to take six months before they come back to the U.S.,” he continued. “But at the core,” he argued, “these tokens are securities because there’s a group in the middle and the public is anticipating profits based on that group.”
In a televised interview with Bloomberg, Armstrong said that almost all major financial hubs, including Singapore, Hong Kong, London, and most recently, the European Union, have introduced comprehensive crypto legislation, adding that the US should also follow suit if it doesn't want to lag behind.
2. Key Word: Ethereum Sepolia, ETH Upgrade
Data show that the Ethereum Sepolia testnet has reached epoch 56832, and the Shapella (Shanghai/Capella) upgrade has been activated. This upgrade follows The Merge and enables validators to withdraw their stake from the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer. It also introduces new functionality to both the execution and consensus layer. The Shapella upgrade combines changes to the execution layer (Shanghai), consensus layer (Capella) and the Engine API.
CryptoQuant, a community-based data analysis platform for cryptocurrencies, claims that there will be a low ETH selling pressure even after the upcoming Ethereum Shanghai upgrade.
3. Key Word: Solana, FMCBG, Improve the Network Upgrades
Solana, the public blockchain platform, has released its plan to improve the network upgrades as an immediate response to the network-wide slowdown in block production experienced after the recent 1.14 network update of February 25.
4. Key Word: UK Central Bank, Britcoin
Broadbent’s comments come three weeks after the Bank of England (BoE) and British Treasury announced they were exploring the feasibility of a CBDC, which they’ve dubbed “Britcoin.”
“At this stage, we judge it likely that the digital pound will be needed in the future. It is too early to decide whether to introduce the digital pound, but we are convinced preparatory work is justified,” the consultation paper says.
5. Key Word: Neel Kashkari, "Open-Minded" on High Interest Rate
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday he is "open-minded" on either a 25 basis point or a 50 basis point rate hike at the U.S. central bank's next meeting, adding that rates may ultimately need to go higher than the 5.4% level he had thought in December would be adequate.
6. Key Word: U.S. Treasury Department, CBDC
Nellie Liang, the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, suggested that the federal government’s work on a potential digital dollar is accelerating, saying leaders from various agencies and White House offices are starting meetings in the “coming months.”
7. Key Word: Visa and Mastercard, Stop Partner with Crypto Firm
U.S. payment giants Visa and Mastercard are slamming the brakes on plans to forge new partnerships with crypto firms after a string of high-profile collapses shook faith in the industry, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The crypto industry saw a stunning reversal of fortunes in 2022 as bankruptcies of industry majors FTX and BlockFi rattled investors and increased regulatory scrutiny on the sector. Both Visa and Mastercard have decided to push back the launch of certain products and services related to crypto until market conditions and the regulatory environment improve.
8. Key Word: SilverGate Bank、Annual Report
The crypto-friendly bank has said it would have to delay the filing of its annual 10-K report for the 2022 fiscal year, and would need more than an additional two weeks to complete it.
"The Company is currently analyzing certain regulatory and other inquiries and investigations that are pending with respect to the Company," the filing said. Silvergate's accounting firm is also requesting further information, as are its independent auditors.
9. Key Word: House Financial Services, Regulatory Framework for Crypto
French Hill, the chair of a recently created House Financial Services panel focused on digital assets, said the panel plans to work with the House Agriculture Committee on a regulatory framework on cryptocurrency. “We’re going to do our best to work in tandem with House Ag on this process because I think that is effective,” said Rep. French Hill on Thursday at a Milken Institute Future of Digital Assets Symposium. The House Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and one of the largest regulators of crypto, bitcoin. Committee Chair Glenn "G.T." Thompson, R-Pa., introduced a bill to allow crypto exchanges to register with the CFTC last year. Hill was picked to chair the subcommittee on Financial Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion earlier this year. Hil also said on Thursday “our goal” is to create a regulatory framework for crypto. A first step could be a focus on stablecoins, Hill said, though he expressed some hesitancy.
10.Key Word: FTX, Asset
FTX debtors publish second presentation for stakeholders. The presentation shows a massive shortfall. Using spot prices at the Petition Time, $2.2 billion of total assets have been located today in the wallets of the accounts associated with the FTX.com exchange, of which only $694 million constitutes "Category A Assets". Other assets at FTX.com include $385 million of customer receivables and substantial claims against Alameda Research LLC and related parties. The presentation shows a $9.3 billion net borrowing by Alameda Research LLC from the FTX.com wallets and accounts at the Petition Time.
Events coming in this week:
1. The US SEC and Grayscale will present their case on Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC at 9:30 EST on March 7th.
2. The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Digital Assets will hold its first hearing on March 9.
3. South Korea’s financial intelligence unit will conduct an on-site inspection of the exchange GDAC on March 6.
4. The blockchain storage protocol Arweave 2.6 is released, and the hard fork is scheduled to be activated on March 6.
5. Canaan plans to announce its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2022 on March 7.
6. Waves will take a snapshot on March 10 to airdrop POWER.
