With another week passing, we are left with so many crypto events to discuss. New milestones, a surprising crypto crackdown, new integrations, such events cannot leave the crypto market as it was before. Each slight change can influence the market surprisingly, and we are here to discuss the news that might affect the industry even more.
Last week, Bitcoin reached a tremendous number of payments, Changpeng Zhao received his sentence, Tether made a surprising investment, and many other companies came up with new updates or announcements that left us all amazed.
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Top Crypto News
The top crypto news from last week is focused on Changpeng Zhao, crypto ETFs, and Bitcoin. Each one can be considered to have high influence on the crypto market.
Changpeng Zhao Was Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison
Summary
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to 4 months in prison in connection to money laundering due to the exchange’s insufficient anti-money laundering protocols.
Details
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been sentenced to 4 months in prison over the exchange’s role in money laundering activities.
The conviction highlights significant regulatory issues in Binance’s anti-money laundering measures, which allowed criminals to exploit the platform for illicit transactions.
The US Federal Court in Seattle emphasized that Binance failed to implement effective measures, enabling bad actors to conduct transactions undetected.
Source: CNN
Crypto ETFs Started Trading in Hong Kong
Summary
Asia’s first spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs launched in Hong Kong, attracting high investor interest and signalling a growing enthusiasm for cryptocurrency assets.
Details
Hong Kong marked a milestone for cryptocurrency investment with the debut of Asia’s first spot Bitcoin and Ether Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). The six approved ETFs experienced notable gains on their opening day, reflecting strong investor enthusiasm despite the current crackdowns focusing on digital assets.
The launch can be considered an important step for Hong Kong in positioning itself as a cryptocurrency-friendly financial hub. The success of these ETFs can lead to a growing demand of regulated and transparent investment products for cryptocurrency.
Source: Reuters
Bitcoin Processed a Record of 1.6 million Payments in a Day
Summary
Bitcoin reached a new milestone, with daily confirmed payments surpassing a record-breaking 1.6 million transactions.
Details
With Bitcoin becoming more and more popular thanks to various updates and approvals, the cryptocurrency’s network has achieved a new all-time high, with daily confirmed payments exceeding 1.6 million between senders and receivers. This rise in confirmed payments can suggest the growing use of Bitcoin for decentralized transactions, making it be one step closer to becoming a global digital currency.
The increased volume in confirmed transactions can be attributed to new changes such as the new halving or the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in both the US and Hong Kong, which can help the wide adoption of the cryptocurrency.
Source: Cointelegraph
Top Crypto News – Technology
In what concerns technology, crypto is always innovating with so many new launches or updates. This also happened last week, when Tether, Avalanche, Stripe, MoonPay, Aave, and MicroStrategy are just a few companies that made significant announcements.
Tether Invested $200 Million in a Neurotech Company
Summary
Tether announced a $200 million investment in Blackrock Neurotech as part of its goal to take a majority stake in the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) company.
Details
Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer on the market, recently revealed a significant $200 million investment in Blackrock Neurotech. This strategic move marks a quite unexpected merge of the cryptocurrency and neurotechnology sectors.
Blackrock Neurotech specializes in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, which allows direct communication between the brain and external devices, potentially transforming various industries such as medicine and robotics.
The partnership reflects a trend of crypto companies widening their portfolios and exploring new technologies that could benefit from blockchain integration. Tether’s investment indicates the expanding role of cryptocurrencies in other unrelated fields like neurotech, creating new opportunities for collaboration between crypto and other industries.
Source: Forbes
Stripe to Streamline Fiat-to-Crypto Exchanges through Avalanche Integration
Summary
Payments giant Stripe aims to expand its crypto services by offering support for the Avalanche blockchain.
Details
Stripe, a leading payment processing company, is growing its contribution to the crypto industry by adding support for Avalanche, a high-speed blockchain network.
This integration allows businesses using Stripe to easily accept stablecoins like USDC through Avalanche’s features, increasing efficiency and accessibility for payment processes.
The partnership with Avalanche brings substantial benefits, including lower transaction times and fees, thus getting Stripe one step closer to offering advanced financial services. This move also indicates the payment processor’s confidence in blockchain technology, contributing to the overall visibility of the crypto industry.
Source: Decrypt
MoonPay Will Integrate PayPal
Summary
MoonPay will diversify its services by integrating PayPal, enabling users to buy crypto through the popular payment platform.
Details
MoonPay, a popular crypto payment service, announced that it will integrate PayPal into its system, allowing users to purchase cryptocurrencies using their PayPal accounts. This collaboration simplifies the buying process for users who wish to purchase digital assets via MoonPay, increasing and improving accessibility for worldwide crypto enthusiasts.
The PayPal integration contributes to MoonPay’s mission to streamline crypto purchases and reflects PayPal’s growing commitment to the crypto ecosystem.
Source: Cointelegraph
Aave Revealed V4 Protocol Overhaul
Summary
Aave’s governance approved Version 4 (V4) of its protocol, bringing innovative and exciting features like improved support for GHO and higher security for the entire DeFi platform.
Details
Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, recently secured community approval for the 4th version (V4) of its protocol. The new version introduces several improvements, allowing for more flexibility and adaptability when developing or discovering new features.
Additionally, Aave V4 focuses on stronger security measures to safeguard users’ assets and improve the overall user experience.
One standout feature of V4 is the platform’s plans to automate the calculation of the protocol’s interest rates for borrowing, as well as part of its DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) governance processes. The update is set to be launched in 2025.
Source: The Block
MicroStrategy Will Launch Bitcoin-Based ID Solution
Summary
MicroStrategy will develop a Bitcoin-based decentralized identity solution using Ordinals, aiming to establish a secure way to manage digital identities.
Details
MicroStrategy, the largest Bitcoin holder in the corporate world, announced a plan to create a decentralized identity system using Ordinals inscriptions. This innovative approach leverages Bitcoin’s blockchain technology to provide a secure and immutable platform for digital identity verification.
By incorporating Ordinals inscriptions, which are metadata directly attached to satoshis, MicroStrategy aims to offer a great way for users to maintain control over their data.
This move comes as a response to the increasing demand for decentralized identity solutions that prioritize user privacy and security. By relying on the Bitcoin network, MicroStrategy aims to address some of the challenges surrounding digital identity these days, such as data breaches and identity theft.
Source: CoinDesk
Top Crypto News – Regulation
Last week’s regulation-related news focus on Samourai and its co-founders who are involved in certain lawsuits at the moment.
Samourai Wallet Co-Founder Pleaded Not Guilty
Summary
Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Details
Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, offered a not-guilty plea in a New York courtroom as response to charges alleging his contribution to conspiracy to commit money laundering and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Rodriguez was released on a $1 million bond following a hearing before Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses. He will be secured by real estate at his Pennsylvania home until the next hearing on May 14, presided over by District Judge Richard Berman.
Source: Yahoo Finance
Top Crypto News – Markets
Last week, BlackRock and one of its investment products stole the spotlight with a surprising milestone.
BlackRock’s BUIDL Became World’s Largest Tokenized Treasury Fund
Summary
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund became the largest tokenized treasury fund globally, reaching a $375 million market cap in six weeks, surpassing Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund.
Details
BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, BUIDL, became the world’s largest tokenized treasury fund after reaching a market capitalization of $375 million in just six weeks from launch, taking over Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund.
This rapid growth was influenced by a recent $70 million infusion, which included $50 million from Ondo Finance’s OUSG token real-world asset tokenization.
Source: Cointelegraph
