Bitcoin Price: US$ 27,250.97 (-3.04%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 1,734.33 (-3.71%)
In recent news, the US Federal Reserve has increased its benchmark fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.75%-5%, as expected by market participants. The move caused the price of bitcoin to rise. The Fed acknowledged the bank system’s recent troubles and removed the “ongoing increases” language from its policy statement, implying that any future rate hikes will depend on data. In other news, XRP token surged by over 20% after reports emerged that Ripple, its issuer, was likely to win a case with the SEC that alleged the firm sold unregistered securities. Ripple defendants submitted a new filing in support of their fair notice defense, referencing rulings on SEC objections in the Voyager Digital Holdings bankruptcy case.
Amid the U.S. banking crisis, Tether’s stability made it the safest stablecoin bet, according to analysts. USDT remained steady and even traded at a premium, with over $5 billion of inflows in the past weeks and a market capitalization of over $77 billion as of Wednesday. Its low exposure to the U.S. banking system made it one of the safest stablecoins to pivot to, and Tether’s portfolio risk management strategy is seen as a confidence booster. On the other hand, Arbitrum’s governance token, ARB, was airdropped to eligible users and DAOs on the Ethereum layer-2 platform, with each user receiving around 625 ARB tokens, corresponding to around $625 to $1,250. The airdrop farming activity instilled excitement among users, benefitting protocols by attracting liquidity and usage to the platform. Five potential airdrop opportunities for this year include zkSync Era, Starknet, Scroll, Sui Network, and Sei Network.
There is outrage in the crypto community over the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) action against Coinbase, the top cryptocurrency exchange in the US. Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long believes that the Biden Administration wants to drive out all crypto, even the legitimate parts of it. The SEC allowed Coinbase to offer staking rewards for several years, only to threaten to sue the company now for offering unregistered securities. Coinbase claims to have met with the SEC over 30 times in the past nine months to build a path to registration, yet received a Wells notice instead. In other news, Telegram announced that its users can now send Tether’s stablecoin via the wallet function, which now supports USDT-TRON.
The crypto community is abuzz with the news of the SEC’s action against Coinbase, which has prompted concerns over the future of cryptocurrency in the United States. Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long and others have criticized the SEC’s sudden delivery of a “Wells Notice” to Coinbase after allowing the company to offer staking rewards for years without issue. Meanwhile, Telegram users can now send each other Tether’s stablecoin, USDT-TRON, through the messaging app’s wallet function. In other news, Tron founder Justin Sun and his companies have been charged by the SEC for violating securities laws, including market manipulation and fraud, by airdropping unregistered securities to investors.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz proposed a bill to block the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States, saying that the US government does not have the authority to establish such a currency unilaterally. Meanwhile, Xapo Bank in Gibraltar has partnered with stablecoin issuer Circle to allow members to bypass the SWIFT payment system with USD Coin (USDC), offering a 4.1% annual interest rate on deposits and charging members $150 to recover overhead. Xapo refrains from fractional reserve banking and lending practices and holds customer funds in reserves and short-term liquid assets.
Aavegotchi, a trading game similar to Tamagotchi toys, plans to launch its own blockchain named Gotchichain using Polygon Supernets. This will allow developers to create decentralized apps on the network specifically for gaming, with lower gas fees, faster transaction times, and superior scalability. Meanwhile, MetaMask Institutional’s staking marketplace is set to launch on March 27, offering institutional firms the ability to access products with standardized terms and conditions for four different staking providers, including ConsenSys Staking, Kiln, Blockdaemon, and Allnodes. Liquid staking tokens could also be added to the marketplace in the future.
Source:
https://cointelegraph.com
https://coindesk.com
https://decrypt.co
https://theblock.co
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