Good morning. Here’s what happens:
the prices: We are a few days away from Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, but this does not translate into selling pressure as most of the cryptocurrency ether is at a loss.
ideas: In his latest Money Reimagined column, Michael Casey, Chief Content Officer at CoinDesk, argues that the recent backlash against the cryptocurrency industry stems from alleged crimes committed by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Is a sharp move in subtraction?
Bitcoin opens the Asian trading week up 1.3% at $28,383, while Ether is up 0.5% at $1,863.
“The market leader has traded in a very narrow range in the past week, barely moving much. Such a consolidation, along with a volume cut, could indicate that there is a move,” said Joe DiPasquale, CEO of BitBull Capital, in a note to CoinDesk. imminently severe.
DiPasquale says that a correction towards $25k will not “break the bullish structure, while a move to $30k is likely to encounter resistance.”
“The market sentiment remains positive for now and we may see select altcoins perform decently if Bitcoin stays in the current range for a longer period,” he added.
As CryptoQuant points out in a Research report from Feb, the majority of the currently stacked ether is at a loss. Their research shows that the average holder of accumulated ether suffers an 18% loss in their stable holdings.
“Normally, selling pressure appears when market participants sit on huge profits, which is not the case now for the ether that was bet,” they wrote.
SBF, Vengeance and the Future of Global Cryptography Leadership
When watching policymaking in Washington, it is worth remembering that governments, like all human organizations, are made up of humans — complex beings whose emotions often undermine their ability to make rational decisions.
Last week I warned of a dangerous trend of politicization in US crypto policy after a barrage of regulatory enforcement actions taken against the industry. I’m still worried about this trend, but my view is now a little more nuanced thanks to the insights of two people with very good DC connections. They explained how emotions—particularly anger and embarrassment—played a large role in driving those political actions.
It reminded me of the importance of having clear rules of governance and sanctity, whether they are incorporated into democratic institutions such as the United States Constitution, or shaped into the consensus mechanisms used by open source software communities, such as those associated with blockchain protocols.
Regulation by means of retribution
Among a series of “Thanks Sam” moments in the past five months, this one takes the cake. You could argue that the campaign against Kraken, Coinbase, Paxos, Binance, and others was largely motivated by a desire to punish Sam Bankman-Fried, the former founder of FTX, whose startlingly rapid collapse in November sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry.
This is how one of my sources described the mindset of Biden administration officials, and lawmakers from both political parties: “You can’t walk into their house, shove that kind of money around, leave politicians on their faces, and not expect to pay dearly.” He was referring to the fact that before the collapse of FTX, politicians – mostly Democrats but also some Republicans – benefited from more than $74 million in political donations from FTX and cultivated relations with Bankman-Fried, who wooed the Progressives with his commitments to “effective altruism”. (A CoinDesk investigation found that a third of Congress took money from the SBF or its associates.)
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The hash addresses today’s hot topics: The US Treasury dropped its first Decentralized Finance (DeFi) risk assessment report. Some cryptocurrency traders are warning about the market outlook for Shiba Inu meme coins. India plans to rapidly expand its central bank digital currency test of the digital rupee. Additionally, is there a secret Bitcoin maxi running at Apple?
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