This week in crypto #6
It’s been a week full of ups and downs for the entire crypto space. We are seeing a steady increase in prices across the board, despite the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) voting in favour of a controversial amendment to the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR) that could cripple many projects’ development, and Greenpeace calling for a change in the Bitcoin source code. Let’s dive in.
Price action
In the week so far bitcoin is seeing an increase of 4.18%, at time of writing. The second lead in cryptocurrency, ETH, has seen a move to the upside at the tune of 11.25% in the last seven days.
The entire crypto Market Cap currently sits at: $2,265,815,127,088.
ECON vote
On Thursday, the 31st of March 2022, the ECON voted in favour of amendments to the Transfer of Funds Regulation, amendments that will change the way that many crypto users and exchanges operate, specifically when a transaction involves a non-hosted wallet.
The two major differences that the crypto space is talking about are:
- Crypto service providers will have to obtain, and verify, personal data of any entity involved with a transaction to or from an hosted wallet. This information will need to be attached to the transaction, and also stored. This could lead to a lot of personal data being stored on centralised servers, creating a target for hackers.
- Any transaction that has a value of over โฌ1000 will need to be reported to the relevant anti-money-laundering authorities, regardless of whether there is any suspicion of money laundering or not.
Bitcoin conference
In just two days the biggest Bitcoin Conference in history will begin. It will take place between the sixth and ninth of April in Miami at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The largest #Bitcoin Conference in history starts in 4 days! pic.twitter.com/WzIqJcwfpj
— The Bitcoin Conference (@TheBitcoinConf) April 2, 2022
Biggest crypto hack yet
In the biggest exploitation of a crypto asset bridge in history, $625 million was stolen from the Ronin bridge. The Ronin bridge powers the popular Play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity. The hackers made off with 173,000 ETH and $25M USDC.
Welp. @Ronin_Network is now on top of the crypto hack leaderboard. $625 MILLION dollars worth of ETH and USDC just got stolen from the Ronin bridge. Here's how it happened.
— smartcontracts.eth (โจ๐ด_๐ดโจ) (@kelvinfichter) March 29, 2022
Metamask integrates Apple Pay
It’s always nice to have an easy and convenient way of buying crypto without having to make a dozen transfers to get it where it needs to be. Now the leading unhosted custodial wallet, Metamask, has released a feature for its mobile app which allows users to buy crypto on iOS using Apple Pay.
๐ฃ MetaMask Mobile v4.3.1 is LIVE with some exciting updates:
Buy crypto on iOS with Apple Pay (@sendwyre), more transparency when interacting with sites, & support for gasless transactions where relevant.
Does it get any better? Yes it does! We now have dark mode! ๐
1/๐งต
— MetaMask ๐ฆ๐ (@MetaMask) March 28, 2022
Greenpeace lobbying to change Bitcoin code
Greenpeace, in collaboration with Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, have teamed up to start the “Clean Up Bitcoin” campaign. The environmental activist group calls for a change to be made to the Bitcoin source code that would greatly change the amount of emissions Bitcoin mining causes.
Crypto Twitter seems to have taken this news badly with many speaking out against the misinformation that Greenpeace may be spreading.
Whether or not Bitcoin – and its Proof Of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism – is bad for the environment, is a debate that often takes place within the crypto community.
Exxon Mobil mining bitcoin
Exxon Mobil, the USA’s largest oil and gas company, is planning to use excess natural gas, that would otherwise go to waste, as well as flares let off by their plants, to power a Bitcoin mining station.
JUST IN: Exxon Mobile and Crusoe Energy are removing over 10 million cubic feet of methane gas per day from mining #Bitcoin.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 27, 2022
Cause the SEC won’t let Grayscale be
Grayscale is threatening to take out legal action against the SEC if their upcoming Bitcoin ETF is not approved in July. To date there have been many proposals for Bitcoin ETFs put forward to the SEC, but all of them have been rejected. It now seems that frustration has built up to boiling point, and institutions dealing in crypto are going on the offensive.
Greyscale is considering suing SEC after struggling to convert their bitcoin ETF to an ETF. The immature Bitcoin ETF market in the states prompts investors to search for alternative BTC investment vehicles such as Microstrategy which is taking out a 205M loan to buy more #Bitcoin
— Elite Crypto (@TheEliteCrypto) April 3, 2022
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