Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Filecoin, rising 57.38%.
- Bitcoin rallied to $25,000 for the first time since August on Thursday, rising to as much as 4.4% after falling 64% in 2022.
- MetaMask developer ConsenSys has teamed up with the global payments platform Mercuryo to streamline the process of purchasing cryptocurrencies directly from the web3 wallet, writes Bloomberg, using bank cards, Apple pay and Google Pay.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performing for the week was Pax Gold, down 1.23%.
- Crypto exchange Binance had secret access to a bank account belonging to (what it has said is) an independent U.S. digital-asset marketplace Binance.US. and transferred large sums of money to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO CZ. Over the first three months of 2021, more than $400 million flowed from a Binance.US account at Silvergate Bank to CZ's trading firm Merti Peak, writes Bloomberg.
- Hedge funds, private equity firms, and pension funds could have a tougher time working with many crypto firms under a draft proposal from a top U.S. regulator, reports Bloomberg. Rule changes that the SEC plans to propose on Wednesday would effectively make it harder for crypto firms to be "qualified custodians," the article explains.
Opportunities
- Taurus SA, a Swiss firm developing market infrastructure for digital assets, has raised $65 million in an equity round led by Credit Suisse Group AG, as bigger financial institutions push on with projects despite the prolonged crypto winter. Deutsche Bank AG, Pictet Group, Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis Holding also took part in the funding, according to Bloomberg.
- As the crypto industry spiraled from the fallout of FTX and regulators began closing in, one corner of the sprawling market saw an influx of demand from institutional investors, writes Bloomberg. The CME Group's average daily trading volume in its crypto futures products rose a record 13% in 2022 to 53,600 contracts.
- Sony Network Communication has teamed up with multichain smart contract network Astar Network to launch a web3 incubation program for projects that focus on the utility of NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations, according to an article published by Bloomberg.
Threats
- The native token of Binance, the largest crypto exchange, extended declines on Monday amid uncertainty over the platform's outlook. Binance Coin dropped as much as 8.9%, the lowest level since mid-January, writes Bloomberg.
- The U.S. SEC is preparing to sue the company behind TerraUSD, a crypto stablecoin whose collapse last year kicked off an industry-wide crisis and cascade of high-profile bankruptcies. The SEC has been investigating whether Terraform Labs misled investors about the coin's ability to maintain a 1-to-1 peg to the U.S. dollar, writes Bloomberg.
- The regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies is proving a boon for a token that's located outside the U.S. and being scrutinized over the transparency of its reserves, writes Bloomberg. USDT increased its market share by about $1 billion in the past 24 hours alone, as some traders move their holdings out of rivals following a series of enforcement drives by financial watchdogs in the U.S.
