Bitcoin Price: US$ 68,393.48 (+4.74%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,644.71 (+3.45%)
The liquidity gap known as the “Alameda Gap” has rebounded to pre-collapse levels, following a significant decrease after the shutdown of FTX and Alameda Research in November 2022, as per crypto research firm Kaiko. Bitcoin’s recent rally contributed to this recovery, with market depth almost fully restored, indicating improved liquidity conditions, including declining BTC/USD spreads on major exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, suggesting better trading costs. Meanwhile, Seychelles-based exchange OKX has reportedly halted support for Tether trading pairs in the European economic area, citing regulatory requirements, leading to speculation about potential links to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, while a US district court has sanctioned the Securities and Exchange Commission for “bad faith” conduct in a lawsuit against Debt Box, with Judge Robert J. Shelby criticising the SEC for misleading the court and ordering sanctions for attorneys’ fees and costs resulting from the misconduct.
Fidelity has updated its spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposal to include staking, aiming to generate additional income for investors by staking a portion of the Ether held by the ETF through trusted providers, as per a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18. This move mirrors similar plans by other fund issuers like Ark 21Shares and Franklin Templeton. Competition heats up among firms vying for approval for spot Ether ETFs from the SEC by May 23, with approval odds currently at 35%, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Meanwhile, United States spot Bitcoin investment products have seen a record weekly inflow of $2.9 billion, totaling $13.2 billion in new capital year-to-date, despite a recent 7% price decline. Outside the U.S., crypto exchange products experienced record outflows, prompting regulators like the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to soften their stance on Bitcoin ETFs. Additionally, CoinLedger has partnered with Web3 self-custody wallet provider MetaMask to streamline tax reporting for users, enabling easy loading of transaction history into CoinLedger’s tax reporting software from MetaMask accounts with a single click, just ahead of the April 15 tax reporting deadline for U.S. taxpayers. This comes as the Biden administration proposes a 30% excise tax on cryptocurrency mining at the institutional level.
Whales holding Arbitrum (ARB) tokens have begun transferring their assets to crypto exchanges after a significant amount of vested tokens were unlocked on March 16. At least 11 whales deposited 34 million tokens valued at almost $58 million collectively, following Arbitrum’s unlocking of 1.1 billion ARB tokens worth $2.32 billion. This event prompted predictions of short positions against the token due to the “Cliff Unlock” event, which released tokens all at once, leading to a drop in ARB token prices in the week leading to the unlock. The token currently hovers around $1.70, almost 29% below its all-time high. Meanwhile, Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson refuted rumors suggesting the abandonment of its Hydra layer-2 scaling project, affirming the team’s commitment to the project amid speculation based on announcements regarding integration with Hyperledger Firefly. Hoskinson dismissed such claims as “pure FUD” while expressing frustration over what he described as a “wave of FUD” aimed at Cardano’s scaling roadmap and collaborations. Despite trailing behind competitors like Ethereum, Tron, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana, Cardano sees gains in decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL), with USDM becoming the first 1:1 fully fiat-backed stablecoin on Cardano. This development offers users the ability to mint or redeem USDM via the U.S. dollar, welcomed by the Cardano community as a “major milestone” for decentralized finance (DeFi) on the network amid plans for integration with various lending and borrowing protocols, decentralized exchanges, and other platforms.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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