Ukraine continues business as usual while recurring themes rattle the markets. President Biden has something to say next week, and the FBI grows a new arm.
All this and much more!
Coffee. Banter. Go!
- Ukraine’s big move.
- Presidential executive order.
- Market update.
- Major crypto news.
- Notable events.
- Newbies term of the day.
Ukraine’s big move
Invasion! No invasion. Invasion!
The markets loathe uncertainty, and crypto holders were feeling the pain yesterday. Unfortunately, the mixed messages from the various geopolitical news outlets seem only to add kindle to the fire.
But Ukraine seems unmoved and continues regular business. While the world watched the border, Ukraine quietly passed votes to legalize bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Presidential executive order
President Biden of the US expects to drop an executive order next week to direct government agencies to create a “government-wide strategy” to regulate digital assets. Although an order of such magnitude seems worrisome, it might aid in legitimizing cryptocurrency across the nation. The US has been considerably slow in enacting the regulatory groundwork for the asset class.
Market update
Bitcoin (BTC) took quite the hit alongside the stock market, possibly triggered by rearising tensions at the Ukrainian border. Bitcoin fell 7.65% to 40.5K. BTC remains above the uptrend support, but this has been the worst drop in fourteen days.
https://www.tradingview.com/chart/v7j9tiND/
To the benefit of LUNA holders, Terra’s stablecoin (UST) continues a strong uptrend of adoption, surpassing a market cap of $11.8 billion.
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/terra-usd
Cosmos ecosystem projects held up relatively well in the selloff.
Osmosis (OSMO) $8.88 -0.8%
JUNO (JUNO) $29.34 -1.2%
Cosmos (ATOM) $28.31 –1.7%
Notable gainers
Tornado Cash (TORN) $39.71 +5.7%
KlimaDAO (KLIMA) $33.96 +5.7%
Alpaca Finance (ALPACA) $0.43 +9.2%
Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index: 30 Fear (-22)
Bitcoin “Google” Trends: 31 (+7)
Bitcoin “Crypto” Trends: 44
Major crypto news
- Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, raised its valuation to $9 billion and sets to go public by December 2022 under the SPAC agreement with Concord Acquisition Corp (CND) onto the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
- Venture Capital firm, Sequoia Capital, has created a $600-million fund in order to further its involvement in blockchain-focused startups. Sequoia Capital has invested in crypto-based projects such as Polygon, StarkWare and DeBank.
- The FBI is to form a national cryptocurrency unit focused on investigating crimes surrounding blockchain-based assets. With regulatory framework development around the corner, the government will require an enforcement arm to corral unlawful crypto enterprises.
The new head of the FBI crypto unit?
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- Spain’s central bank has approved the first crypto services provider.
Notable events
- Banter Capital has announced an investment in blockchain-based music platform Corite (CO).
- VR metaverse Netvrk (NTVRK) and travel booking site Travala have partnered to bring travel bookings into the metaverse.
- One of the largest crypto-based conferences, ETHDenver 2022, officially kicked off today!
- OpenOcean, the first decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator on Terra, runs a $20k trading reward campaign. The DEX integrates major DEXs across 14 chains in addition to a centralized exchange (CEX): Binance.
Newbie term of the day
Airdrop
A crypto marketing antic which involves sending tokens or coins to crypto wallets to promote the use of a project, platform or application.
Previous airdrops examples:
Banter’s take
“Executive” has a chilling ring, but the presidential order might help legitimize crypto. Meanwhile, an undeterred Ukraine legalized the entire crypto sector within its borders, and the FBI equips itself to fight crypto scams.
There’s a lot of information to absorb today, but don’t lose sight of the distance crypto has trekked. The asset class resides amongst presidential orders, FBI operations, and country adoption news. Crypto plays in the big leagues now.
Have a great Friday and enjoy your weekend Banter Fam!
