By Christopher Hamman
Tether will remain King of the Hill for a bit. Maybe until some new “kid on the block” comes along to knock the stablecoin over.
The crypto space found a way around SEC Chairman Gensler via offshore and overseas expansions.
Plus Gensler is also under intense scrutiny from the Republican-led house on Capitol Hill (for once).
And Intel shuttered its ASIC mining chip production.
These are the Decentralized Diaries!
Bitcoin Faced Selling Pressure After Hitting $30k, Prices Holding at $27k
Bitcoin hit a price ceiling of $30,401.47, then selling pressure hit and drove the token to a $27,239.45 low. As of 4/24/23, prices are at $27,310.49.
Ethereum remains at $1,835.65, Avalanche (AVAX) at $16.93, Solana (SOL) at $21.39, and Polkadot (DOT) at $5.87.
Tether Minted $1 Billion USDT Tokens
In a move that has bolstered its position as the World’s largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization, Tether minted $1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
CTO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that the minting was an” authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests and chain swaps. “
The minting brings Tether’s fully diluted USDT market capitalization to just over $85 billion.
Intel Hit the Mining Industry with Chip Manufacturing Discontinuance
The crypto mining industry took a hit with an announcement from Intel that it will cease production of its Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC miners, citing cost-cutting measures as the reason for the pullback.
The chip maker indicated continuous order fulfillment until October 20, 2023.
Texas State House of Representatives Approved “Proof-of-Reserves” Bill
Things seem to be looking up for the bankrupt mining firm Core Scientific following the revelation of a partnership with LM Funding to host 900 machines which will be online by the end of the month.
The arrangement provides LM Funding with a total mining capacity of 47 petahashes, with 4,600 online and active machines.
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Introduced Draft Stablecoin Legislation
The Texas State House of Representatives approved a bill that mandates crypto exchanges to keep “an amount sufficient to fulfill all obligations to customers.” in reserves.
The bill primarily amends the Texan Finance Code (section 160). Part of the amendments restrict digital asset firms with over 500 customers and $10 million in funds from mixing them with other monies or assets and could become law in September should it receive approval from the State Senate and get signed by Governor Greg Abbott (R).
CFTC Advisor Warned of U.S. Probable Leadership Loss in the Crypto Industry
In a regulatory white paper, Chris Perkins, the Advisor to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and President of the VC CoinFund warned about the risks of the U.S. losing its leadership position in the crypto space.
Citing progress made by European regulators (the MiCA regulatory framework) and the Hong Kong reentry into the digital asset industry, Perkins offered ten recommendations, including centralized entity regulations and “safe harbor” programs, which concur with SEC Commissioner Hearst’s proposals.
Perkins is a member of the CFTC’s Global Market Advisory Committee (GMAC).
The SEC Went After Bittrex
The SEC hit back at the crypto space again.
This time the regulator fined a complaint against Bittrex, a Seattle-based crypto exchange.
The SEC charged William Shihara, the former CEO of operating an unregistered national securities broker and clearing agency, alleged that he worked with token issuers to circumvent the rules to evade scrutiny.
The SEC also sued Bittrex Global GmbH, the Bittrex foreign affiliate, citing its shared order book as a basis.
Bittrex Inc. had earlier in the month notified its American customers of its shutdown at the end of April.
Several Major Crypto Exchanges Dip Their Toes Offshore, and Overseas
In related news, following increased regulatory scrutiny and the warpath followed by the Joe Biden administration, several crypto exchanges have gone offshore and overseas.
The Winklevoss-owned Gemini revealed the launch of its offshore crypto derivatives platform with the BTC/GUSD perpetual contracts as its first product.
Services are available to residents from 30 countries, excluding U.S. residents, and the crypto exchange also revealed plans to expand into Asia-Pacific, selecting India as its base of operations.
Similarly, Coinbase received a “Class F license” to operate a digital asset exchange from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), with CEO Brian Armstrong announcing expansion plans.
Binance.US Close to Completing Voyager Acquisition
Despite regulatory challenges, the Binance.US-Voyager acquisition might see the light of day with Voyager’s Uncensored Creditors Committee (UCC) reaching an agreement with the government.
The deal still needs approval from the U.S. District Court, but this moves it one step closer to completion.
BlockFi Received a 48-Day Extension for its Bankruptcy Process
A New Jersey bankruptcy Judge granted BlockFi a 48-day extension to submit an exit plan, per its Chapter-11 bankruptcy plans.
The troubled crypto lender filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 but indicated nothing specific. An extension was filed on March 21st, 2023, to extend the March 27th deadline. BlockFi has until 15th May to get its act together.
Gary Gensler Took Heat from Congress
Gary Gensler got grilled by the House Financial Service Committee, with the Republicans keeping him on his toes.
The criticism got so bad that Chief Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN 6th District) called the SEC Chief ” an incompetent ” cop on the beat.”, and also accused him of driving crypto firms to the Chinese Communist Party.
Gensler also faced scathing remarks from Committee Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC 10th District), who questioned him hard over his unclear remarks about Ethereum’s classification.
On its part, crypto Twitter accused Gensler of double standards with a 2019 video MIT Sloan Idea Exchange event surfacing, where he praised the technology behind the Algorand token.
The internet, it seems, never forgets.
