Bitcoin Price: US$ 27,162.14 (+0.91%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 1,816.20 (+0.94%)
Bitcoin has rebounded above $27,000 from its recent dip below $26,000, with gains of roughly 1.6% in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency market is being closely watched for signals of investor sentiment amidst concerns about the US debt ceiling debate and liquidity. Meanwhile, CoinShares reported that digital asset investment funds experienced a fourth consecutive week of net outflows, with $54 million exiting in the seven days ended May 14, coinciding with last week’s crypto price declines. Ribbon Finance’s decentralised exchange, Aevo, has begun offering options tied to alternative cryptocurrencies, previously only available through an over-the-counter desk.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) saw a 6% price bump ahead of its mainnet upgrade scheduled for Monday, which will allow developers to issue tokens on top of the network. The upgrade also brings added security, smaller transaction sizes, and smart contract functionality to the network. Meanwhile, former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney John Reed criticised stablecoin issuer Tether for its opaque financial statements and lack of regulatory framework, leading to a discussion with Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino. Samsung announced a partnership with the Bank of Korea to jointly develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC) ecosystem and offline payment sector.
It seems that Lido Finance (LDO) and Rocket Pool (RPL) have performed well in the crypto market, despite the overall bearish trend. Liquid staking, the process of depositing ETH into a protocol that then deposits those assets to the Ethereum mainnet, has gained attention. SEC chairman Gary Gensler spoke at the Atlanta Fed’s Financial Markets Conference and emphasised that the SEC has published rules that crypto companies should follow to comply with federal law. However, he also expressed concern about fraudulent business models built by some crypto companies. Proposed changes to custody rules from the SEC have drawn criticism from not only crypto companies but also Republican lawmakers and traditional finance companies, who fear that the rules will further limit the number of banks willing to do business with the industry. Trading platforms like Coinbase are also concerned that their current means of safeguarding assets in pooled wallets could be upended.
The number of active addresses on the Bitcoin network, which have sent or received funds, has reached the lowest level since July 2021, despite an increase in the number of transactions. This suggests that fewer people are actively using the network, potentially due to high fees that make users hesitant to transact. The surge in overall activity and fees on the network can be attributed to the hype around Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens, which allow the minting of non-fungible and fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network. In other news, Optimism, a Layer 2 scaling platform for Ethereum, has announced that its mainnet upgrade called Bedrock is scheduled for June 6. The upgrade aims to enhance security and resilience while significantly reducing fees. Additionally, James Ho, head of Animoca Ventures, an investment arm of Animoca Brands, believes that mainstream gaming giants could revive the web3 gaming sector. He highlighted the involvement of companies like FunPlus, Square Enix, and Ubisoft in blockchain gaming, indicating a growing interest from console makers in this space.
Source:
https://coindesk.com
https://cointelegraph.com
https://decrypt.co
https://theblock.co
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