Bitcoin Price: US$ 43,444.19 (+0.63 %)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,227.19 (+1.85 %)
LUNA Burns, Upcoming Mints, & The Aku Story
- For those unfamiliar with the relationship between LUNA and UST, UST is an algorithmic stablecoin. Each UST minted requires an equivalent dollar amount of LUNA to be burned, with the redemption function of each UST being able to mint $1 worth of LUNA.
- UST’s impressive growth of $6.5B in supply YTD has resulted in a continuous burn of LUNA supply, with only six net positive days of supply change in 2022.
- With the LFG’s bitcoin reserve now collateralizing UST, it gives higher security to defend UST’s peg to the dollar. It does not only rely on the seigniorage function to arbitrage, likely reducing the risk of it heading into a death spiral.
- Akutars is a collection that we mentioned in last week’s NFT insights, but we are dropping a reminder here because the snapshot for the Akutars airdrop closes on 7 Apr at 10 am ET. If you own an Aku Chapter or certain other Aku NFTs at the snapshot time, you will receive airdrop passes based on the number of Aku related NFTs held in your wallet. At Delphi, we love Aku because it shows what is possible when visionaries and communities unite. The founder, Micah Johnson, is building one of the first web3-native media companies centered around community, inclusion and empowerment. In the future, this can serve as a web3 gateway for many non-crypto natives.
Cash App users can now invest paychecks into Bitcoin
- At the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday, Cash App announced a new feature for U.S. customers that will allow them to automatically invest a portion of their direct deposit paychecks into Bitcoin (BTC). The mobile payment service run by Jack Dorsey’s Block, formerly known as Square, will enable Cash App Visa Cash Card users to opt into this “Paid in Bitcoin” feature at no cost.
- Cash App’s Bitcoin product lead Miles Suter, who made the announcement Thursday, explained that any percentage from 1% to 100% of their direct deposits can be automatically converted into Bitcoin, and adjusted, if needed, at any time. Additional features include the option to round up to the nearest dollar any Cash Card transaction made on a Visa debit card connected to a Cash App balance and divert the spare change into BTC.
HBAR Foundation launches a $250M metaverse fund to enhance consumer brand adoption
- The HBAR Foundation, a not-for-profit independent organization of distributed ledger firm Hedera Hashgraph, has announced the establishment of a $250 million dollar metaverse fund to drive consumer brand adoption of tokenized Web3 applications.
- The foundation’s team has identified applications within both the Web3 and Hedera ecosystems that build direct from business-to-consumer and act as a reciprocal middle-man between all parties for the metaverse fund to focus their efforts across four sectors: blockchain gaming, the brands and collectibles market, sporting experiences and institutional metaverse opportunities.
- The fund’s inaugural recipient, Sayl, operates an owner relationship management (ORM) platform focused on strengthening the commercial connection between brands and consumers with the integration of Web3 mechanics.
Bitcoin sentiment falls into ‘fear’ as BTC price action hits $42.9K breakdown target
- Central bank monetary tightening, namely from the U.S. Federal Reserve, remained the favorite, this having a potential long-lasting impact across risk assets going forward.
- “The biggest headwind to Bitcoin and macroeconomic-sensitive commodities such as crude oil and copper stems from possible stock-market declines,” Mike McGlone, chief commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, explained on the day.
- Earlier, the Fed had announced that it planned to reduce its roughly $9 trillion balance sheet by $95 billion a month from May.
- The knock-on effects from the Russia-Ukraine war, namely from retaliatory sanctions, also continued to cast a shadow, despite the unlikely successes of the Russian ruble, which traded above pre-war levels. BTC/RUB was down 32% from all-time highs.
Interlay introduces new protocol for Bitcoin’s reciprocal relationship with DeFi
- Interoperability network Interlay has released a 21-page technical whitepaper, titled XCC: Theft-Resilient and Collateral-Optimized Cryptocurrency-Backed Assets, advocating for the imminent development of cross-blockchain interoperability solutions to unlock a plethora of potential within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
- As a Polkadot (DOT) parachain, Interlay is focusing its efforts on opening pathways of communication and interaction between Bitcoin’s currency-native ecosystem and the wider functionalities of the DeFi space with networks such as Ethereum (ETH) and Polkadot.
- The newly-launched XCC protocol — serving as an additional layer of XCLAIM, which was introduced to the market in 2018 — enables greater asset sovereignty during cross-chain activities such as wrapping, as well as unifying Bitcoin multisigs with mechanisms typically native to the Ethereum network such as commit chains.
- To uphold the purported benefits of risk aversion and capital efficiency, the XCC asset will only be available within curated DeFi applications, however, users have the freedom to transition to the interBTC product if they require greater flexibility. Both services will exist in tandem with each other, expanding the capabilities of Bitcoin’s DeFi market to a wider consumer audience.
UFC fighters to get bonuses in Bitcoin for upcoming PPV events
- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters will get their fan bonuses in Bitcoin (BTC) thanks to the organization’s partnership with Crypto.com.
- The fan bonus will be paid out to the top three fighters of the pay-per-view (PPV) event by UFC’s official cryptocurrency platform partner, Crypto.com. There will be a total of three Bitcoin fan bonuses of the night ranging from $10,000 to $30,000. Fans from around the globe can vote for the BTC bonuses of the night on the official Crypto.com website on the day of the event.
- The first Bitcoin fan bonus will be introduced during the upcoming UFC 273: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie PPV event scheduled for Saturday. The Bitcoin fan bonus will be an addition to the traditional Fight of the Night and Performance bonuses awarded to UFC athletes.
- UFC president Dana White lauded the organization’s recent association with Crypto.com, saying:
- This new Fan Bonus of the Night is an awesome way to get fans more engaged in our events while rewarding the fighters for bad-ass performances.”
Singaporean fintech adds Bitcoin payments for merchants with BitPay partnership
- Nium, a cross-border payments firm based in Singapore, has announced the launch of a new API-based solution that will allow businesses to start accepting cryptocurrency payments.
- As per the announcement, the newly launched product is called Crypto Accept. It allows online sellers to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) before expanding to other digital assets in 2023. Payments are sent to internet merchants’ accounts in U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies the next business day, allowing vendors to expand their market and enhance their online payment experiences while avoiding price volatility.
- Nium partnered with crypto payments processor BitPay to launch the Crypto Accept feature. Consumers will choose their preferred cryptocurrency wallet and scan a QR code to complete the transaction. The service will verify that digital currency is available and settle the transaction in the merchant’s chosen currency.
CBA‘s plans to expand crypto services to 6.5M users delayed by red tape
- Financial regulators are standing in the way of expanded crypto services on Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) mobile application. In an Australian first, the bank aims to grant all of its 6.5 million users access to cryptocurrency services.
- The CBA’s crypto products started a pilot of the services late last year, after which it hoped to open up to all of the users of its app. However, it now appears to be moving toward a second pilot. The Australia Financial Review (AFR) reported on Wednesday that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has tied up the launch with red tape.
- ASIC objects to the launch on the basis of consumer protections regarding the target market and product disclosures. CBA has been working with ASIC and several other regulatory bodies within the Australian government in order to launch the services.
Gemini, Chainalysis and 11 others join Crypto Market Integrity Coalition
- The Crypto Market Integrity Coalition, or CMIC, an organization founded two months ago by 17 cryptocurrency exchanges, firms and industry associations worldwide, announced that 13 new members have joined.
- The group is centered around a pledge endorsed by members’ CEOs or chief compliance officers that, among other things, “We will integrate principles that uphold Market Integrity and Market Efficiency into our operations and business strategy.”
- The coalition was spearheaded by market surveillance firm Solidus Labs.
- “To enable the promise of crypto and DeFi, we must as an industry be vocal about our commitment to address and mitigate the risks,” Solidus Labs vice president of regulatory affairs Kathy Kraninger said in an introductory video. Membership is open to all industry participants.
- Founding members include prominent industry players such as Coinbase, BitMEX, Huobi Tech, Anchorage Digital, the Chamber of Digital Commerce and CryptoUK. Besides uniting the disparate crypto groups behind its business principles, the coalition plans to advance training programs and encourage a dialog with regulators. In addition, it will “consider data-sharing and shared-surveillance frameworks” among members.
- New members of the coalition include Gemini, Robinhood Markets, Chainalysis, Elliptic, Kaiko and TRM Labs. New inductee Nexo said in a statement that its involvement with CMIC “stands […] alongside our longstanding track record for proactive conversations with regulators globally, stringent platform security procedures, and extensive commitment to KYC and AML processes.”
