The week has passed, and it’s time to review all the important and interesting events during this period! The focus is on the fall of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency regulation bill from the US, criticism of the head of the SEC, the MiCA bill from the European Union, and much more!
Let’s get started!
Bitcoin exchange rate
Last week did not go too well for the major cryptocurrency. At the beginning of the week, Bitcoin maintained the level of $30,000, but by the end of the week, the price was set at $27,000.
The top cryptocurrency dragged others down with it, as most of the top 100 currencies ended the week in the red.
US Cryptocurrency Regulation
Last week, the US Congress met and discussed a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. However, the bill failed to pass and was sent to a second reading. The reason was that the bill used irrelevant data that did not reflect the current reality.
The bill will be discussed again in the next session of Congress. In this case, it was stated that Congress intends to speed up the adoption of the bill regulating cryptocurrencies. If this does not happen, the US will continue to lag behind other countries that have already introduced regulations, thus attracting new companies to their jurisdictions.
The head of the SEC also spoke before the reading of the bills. However, Gary Gensler was sharply criticized by members of Congress. Members of Congress expressed their dissatisfaction with the current situation of cryptocurrency regulation, the SEC’s inability to regulate clearly, and the unclear situation with ETH and the FTX case. Individual members of Congress even accused Gary of deliberately destroying the US crypto industry and pandering to China and called for his removal as the head.
European Union Bills
Two bills have been passed in the European Parliament that are directly related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Each bill is responsible for a different part of the regulation, but together they should fully clarify the requirements for companies in the European Union to work with cryptocurrencies.
The first bill is a “Proposal for a Regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets”. It describes not so much the cryptocurrencies, but the rules of transaction and collection of information about the recipient and sender of funds. According to the law, cryptocurrency providers must have the following information:
- The name of the payer and the payee;
- The account number of the payer and the payee;
- The address of the payer and the payee, including the country and official number of a personal document (e.g. passport) and the identification number or date and place of birth.
This is required to prevent terrorism and money laundering. Further details on the establishment of control systems and restrictive measures are to be provided within 18 months.
The second bill was the MiCA. In this case, the bill focuses directly on cryptocurrencies, their definition, classification and further regulation.
The bill is to be enacted in 20 days, but all regulations will not come into effect until 2024. Importantly, this is one of the first instances of explicit regulation of cryptocurrencies. These bills will apply across Europe, which will make it much easier to operate and establish crypto companies in this jurisdiction. Also, the chances of becoming a victim of fraudsters will be significantly reduced due to the serious control. However, if you are not satisfied with the data transfer to regulators and providers, you will have to look for an alternative to official and legal services.
New mem-currency PEPE
In the first half of April, the new mem-currency Pepe (PEPE) was released to the world. It depicts the frog Pepe, which is well known to the Internet community. In just one week, the price of this asset has grown by 700%, which has allowed the currency to attract a lot of attention and some investors to make good money.
The story of a separate unknown investor stands out, which users were able to learn from the transaction history of his wallet. Since the creation of PEPE, he invested $250 and started actively trading. Through active growth, the investor could increase his capital to $1.14 million in 4 days and up to $2 million in a week!
On the back of this news, interest in the mem currency grew even stronger, and its capitalization reached about $117 million. The cryptocurrency was especially popular on decentralized platforms such as Uniswap, where the volume of transactions was about $120 million, against $6 million on centralized platforms.
ETH Staking
It’s only been a few weeks since the release of the new Ethereum Shapella update, and users have already withdrawn over 1 million ETH. On April 17, the number of ETH withdrawn was 1.3 million. However, during the week, the situation with deposits and withdrawals changed, and by the end of the week, the net outflow was 570,000 ETH.
On April 19, Binance also activated ETH withdrawal from staking. In addition, the exchange launched a promotion where trading in BETH/ETH and BETH/USDT pairs will be commission-free. This promotion will last until May 10 and will allow everyone to withdraw money without losses.
Weekly summary
The results of the week are the events that began in previous years. The bills presented in the USA and adopted in the European Union were prepared and agreed upon for several years, but only now they saw the light of day. The active promotion of cryptocurrencies in Europe and other countries also affects the position of the United States, where certain anti-cryptocurrency sentiments had been floating before. At this point, however, Congress has criticized the SEC’s actions and noted the lag in US cryptocurrency regulation and the need to change the situation as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, bitcoin failed at the $30,000 level and rolled back to $27,000, taking the market with it. We can only hope this is a temporary effect and that the situation will change soon. Also, a new mem-currency appeared on the market, which quickly gained popularity and will probably join the classic mem-currencies that everyone knows.
That’s the end of the main news. We invite you to join us next week for the latest developments and news in the next issue of PointPay Crypto Digest.
See you next week!
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