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Goldman Sachs issued a warning, stating that given the current macro environment, this cycle of halving may not have the same impact, and investors can only hold on to digital assets and watch the market.
The cryptocurrency market has been declining since the previous highs, with Bitcoin dropping to $59,900 on April 17 for the first time since early March.
Bitcoin halving is not the only crypto event affecting the industry this week. Emerging legislation, partnerships, product launches, and job vacancies - these have all been headlines tracked by PYMNTS in the Web3 space.
Bitcoin isn't the only currency seeking halving this week. On April 11, Sam Bankman-Fried appealed his conviction and 25-year prison sentence in hopes of a lighter verdict.
While Bankman-Fried's latest push for freedom has yet to yield any definitive results, Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken's chief compliance officers can set an example for their former and imprisoned FTX counterparts.
This is because, during a speech at the Chainanalysis Links conference held in New York on April 10, compliance officers from the three major exchanges stated that the cryptocurrency industry can learn from the settlements they have reached with regulators.
All three companies have reached settlements with US regulators over the past two years and continue to invest in compliance controls and staffing, hoping that other companies in the industry can learn from their experience.
Regulating stablecoins
Cryptocurrency is a notoriously unregulated industry, but in some judicial jurisdictions, this may change - especially for stablecoin assets.
According to reports, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Bim Afolami said on Monday (April 15) that the UK government is preparing legislation on stablecoin and cryptocurrency pledging, trading, and custody, which may arrive in June or July.
In the United States, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis announced on Wednesday that they had introduced legislation to regulate the use of stablecoins.
The legislation would require stablecoin issuers to maintain one-to-one reserves, prohibit unsupported algorithmic stablecoins, and ban issuers and users from illegally or unauthorized use of stablecoins, and establish state and federal regulatory regimes for stablecoin issuers to maintain a dual banking system. This legislation marks the third time the two senators have introduced cryptocurrency regulatory rules since 2022.
Web3 market trends
In other areas of the Web3 space, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Kraken, has developed its own wallet, catching up with its competitor Coinbase in the product field, and joining a saturated field that includes major players such as MetaMask, Ledger, and Trezor. The new "Kraken Wallet" will be released on Wednesday, available to both Kraken users and non-users.
Web3 mobile money-making lifestyle app STEPN announced on Monday the launch of "STEPN x adidas Genesis Sneakers" - a limited edition NFT series developed in collaboration with adidas.
With interest in the cryptocurrency market returning, companies like Crypto.com are now finding themselves adding 1,400 employees - just over a year ago, the platform laid off one-fifth of its staff.
As Bitcoin and other tokens rise, digital asset exchanges are starting to see a turnaround, and Crypto.com is not the only company in the cryptocurrency space expanding its workforce. Coinbase Global, Kraken, Binance, and Gemini have also done so. |
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