Has the cryptospace (finally) matured to become a mom-and-pop thing?
- We would have to wait and see about that, with topsy-turvy events keeping things in stride;
- Things are getting hot and heavy in Texas (only in the Lone Star State);
- Michael Saylor’s forever sweetheart is: (wait for it, Bitcoin!);
- Plus, crypto rights are now a thing across America;
Of course, these are your decentralized diaries!
Breaking: Bitcoin is Set to Hit New Highs From $50k
Bitcoin (it seems) has found a support level at $53,268.27 from a $50,561.78 low (as of 26/2/24).
The Altcoins seem ready for a breakout with a slight drop in Bitcoin dominance (which is) currently at 51% (according to Coinmarketcap).
Ethereum (ETH) is currently at $3,155.82, Solana (SOL) is at $107.02, Avalanche (AVAX) is at $38.97, Chainlink (LINK) is at $18.96, and Polkadot (DOT) is at $7.99.
Michael Saylor Will Buy Bitcoin “Forever”
In a February 20 Bloomberg interview, Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, indicated his continuous purchase of Bitcoin when asked if he would sell the firm’s 190,000 BTC stash worth around $9.75 billion (approximately).
“Bitcoin is technically superior to those asset classes. And that being the case, there’s just no reason to sell the winner to buy the losers”, Saylor said.
In related news, investors lost north of $400,000 following the February 25 hack of the MicroStrategy X (formerly Twitter) handle. The hacker posted phishing links to the “MSTR” token.
A Federal Judged Approved a Binance Plea Deal
Judge Richard Jones of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington approved a guilty plea from Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, including $4.3 billion in fines.
The fine is the largest imposed on a money service business in the history of the DoJ.
The Avalanche Blockchain Resumed Operations After a Five-Hour Outage
Things went sour for members of the Avalanche ecosystem when its C-chain blockchain went offline at approximately 6:30 am Eastern. Block production resumed about five hours later, with Kevin Sekniqi, Ava Labs co-founder, attributing the shutdown to a client code bug.
A Court Approved an FTX Request to Sell its Anthropic Stake
Creditors of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, may have cause to smile with court approval granted to sell its 7.84 % stake in Anthropic, an AI startup.
FTX and Alameda Research had invested $500 million in the startup. The stake hovers around $1 billion (approximately).
Carson Group Approved Four Bitcoin ETFs for Retail Trading
According to a February 23 Bloomberg report, Carson Group, the RIA behemoth, gave a yes to four Bitcoin ETFs for its clients, including the Franklin Bitcoin ETF, the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
Uniswap Launched ENS Subdomains
Uniswap, the decentralized exchange, revealed that users can create as many subdomains under main doteth domains.
Also, the process is gasless and (free) via the Uniswap mobile app (off-chain).
Reddit Invested Some of its Cash Reserves in Crypto
In a February 22 SEC filing, Reddit revealed it invested a portion of its cash reserves in cryptocurrencies.
According to the filing, “Our investments in cryptocurrencies for treasury purposes are limited to Bitcoin, Ether, and any other cryptocurrency that the SEC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, or high-ranking members of the staff of such regulatory bodies may, through public statements or guidance, identify as likely not being a security.”
Reddit applied to go public and listed its class A stock on the NYSE under the “RDDT” symbol.
Kraken Filed to Dismiss an SEC Lawsuit
On February 22, Kraken filed a motion to dismiss a November 2023 lawsuit brought against it by the SEC. In a related blog post on its website, the crypto exchange accused the regulator of political compromise, indicating no accusations of fraud or consumer harm.
Texan Crypto Mining Firms Sued the Department of Energy
Several Texan firms got in the ring following a request from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect crypto-mining energy usage data.
The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC), an industry advocacy group, and Riot Platforms (RIOT) sued the Department of Energy (DoE), the EIA, and the OMB for illegally demanding information. The filing implied that the government agencies acted in bad faith. Also, the suit indicated that higher Bitcoin prices could lead to increased mining and (higher) energy usage.
According to a February 21 Reuters report, Lejilex, a Fort Worth-based crypto firm, and Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas (CFAT), an industry advocacy group, sued the SEC for overstepping its authority. Also, the suit requested that the judge rule that crypto tokens traded on exchanges should not be deemed securities.
The suit comes as Lejilex confirmed plans to open an exchange and list tokens.
Mississippi, Ohio, and South Carolina Legislators Introduced Pro-Blockchain Legislation
The blockchain gospel continued going to the grassroots. Several pieces of legislation hit across several states, including Ohio, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Rep. Steve Demetriou introduced the Ohio bill (HB 406), Sen. Danny Verdin introduced (S1039) for South Carolina, and Rep. Jody Steverson brought forward (HB1214) to the Mississippi Capitol.
The verbiage across the bills is similar.
They (basically) seek to guarantee the crypto rights of residents, including custody, mining, trading, and node deployment activities.
