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2022-04-04
By Az
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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.

(Source)

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Any transaction that has a value of over โ‚ฌ1000 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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Az

Author and blockchain enthusiast.

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