- Bitcoin Faces Low Risk of ‘Liquidations-Induced’ Price Volatility After 70% Surge
Bitcoin (BTC) has surged 70% this year, hitting nine-month highs of over $29,000. While the sharp rally has brought the derivatives market back to life, the overall use of leverage remains muted, suggesting a low risk of “liquidations-induced” wild price swings.
Liquidations refer to the forced closure of bullish long and bearish short positions in leveraged perpetual futures markets, which allow traders to open positions worth much more than the money deposited as margin. The forced closure for cash or cash equivalent happens when the trading entity fails to meet the margin shortage stemming from the market moving against its bullish/bearish bet.
- Russian Law Enforcement Prepares to Seize Crypto Assets, Seeks Permission to Set Up Wallets
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation is proposing to allow investigative bodies to set up crypto accounts and wallets under their control for storing seized digital coins that can later be sold for the benefit of the state.
Speaking in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russian parliament, a representative of the Office’s Main Criminal Procedural Department, Madina Dolgieva, insisted that there’s no need to even change the law to grant such powers.
“The Prosecutor General’s Office has consistently advocated for the development and optimization of the confiscation mechanism as another procedural measure,” Dolgieva said during a round table discussion.
- Bitcoin Miners Will Have Same Rights as Data Centers, Says New Arkansas Bill
A new bill aimed at regulating Bitcoin mining in Arkansas has been approved by both the House of Representatives and Senate and is now awaiting Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature.
The Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 seeks to establish guidelines for Bitcoin miners and protect them from discriminatory regulations and taxes, guaranteeing that firms have the same rights as data centers.
Proposed on March 30 by Rep. Rick McClure and co-sponsored by Arkansas Senator Joshua Bryant (R), the bill quickly garnered support from state legislators.
https://decrypt.co/125811/bitcoin-miners-will-have-same-rights-data-centers-says-new-arkansas-bill
- Crypto Exchange BitGet Starts $100M Asia-Focused Web3 Fund
Seychelles-based crypto exchange Bitget has started a new $100 million fund targeting Web3 startups as Asian countries build out a framework for developing Web3.
East Asian countries have been making strides to promote crypto in the last few months, with Hong Kong seemingly easing its crypto regulations and Japan approving a whitepaper for Web3 development last week.
“Despite the bear run, Bitget has always been supporting promising and innovative projects and the development of the Web3 environment with a focus on BUIDL. The launch of Bitget Web3 Fund is a continuation of our ongoing efforts to drive the adoption of crypto and Web3, reflecting our ‘Go beyond derivative’ strategy in 2023,” Gracy Chen, the Managing Director of Bitget, said to CoinDesk in a statement.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7495417
- Bitcoin in circulation: Over 50% hasn’t moved in 2 years, Glassnode says
More than half of all Bitcoin BTC tickers down $28,330 in circulation has not been touched for two years, according to data compiled by the crypto analytics platform Glassnode.
On April 10, crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano highlighted that 53% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply has been inactive in the last two years. Citing data published by Glassnode, Pompliano pointed out that this is a new all-time high for this specific metric tracked by the data platform.
In addition, the crypto entrepreneur also pointed toward other metrics, such as Bitcoin, which hasn’t moved for five and 10 years. According to the data, almost 29% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply has not been moved in the last five years. This amounts to over 5.6 million BTC, worth around $158 billion at the time of writing.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-in-circulation-over-50-not-moved-in-2-years-glassnode-says
- Bank of England Targets 30-Strong Team for Digital Currency: Report
The Bank of England is looking to build a team of as many as 30 people to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the figure.
In February, the U.K.’s central bank and finance ministry said they were starting further research and development on a digital version of the pound sterling, and invited the public to weigh in on the plans. While the project has been dubbed Britcoin in the press, the bank is less keen on the moniker, saying no decision has been made on whether a digital pound would use distributed ledger technology.
- US Bank Lending Drops by Record $105 Billion in Two Weeks, Trillions Moving to Money Market Accounts, Elon Musk Warns ‘Trend Will Accelerate’
There are still plenty of signs showing that the U.S. banking system is feeling the aftermath of several high-profile bank collapses. During the first week of March, Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and Signature Bank (SBNY) closed down operations. Both SVB and SBNY were placed under government control. The U.S. Federal Reserve, Treasury, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) bailed out SBNY and SVB’s uninsured depositors and made all depositors whole.
Since then, the banking contagion has spread across the United States and internationally, with financial institutions like SVB UK and Credit Suisse faltering. According to a recent report published by Bloomberg, the last two weeks of March saw the largest contraction in lending on record after the collapses. The Federal Reserve’s data on the subject only goes back to 1973, and in the last two weeks of March 2023, almost $105 billion was erased.
- This Week on Crypto Twitter: Musk Goes Full Dogecoin, Pumping the Memecoin
Crypto prices remained pretty frozen over the last seven days, except for Dogecoin. DOGE was undoubtedly the star of both Crypto and Twitter (and by extension, Crypto Twitter) this week, after the microblogging platform’s illustrious CEO, Elon Musk, changed the iconic blue bird logo to a picture of Doge, the Shiba Inu behind the iconic meme that inspired the coin.
Musk memed the makeover on Monday. He also reminded everyone that he first warmed to the idea last month.
In response to logo change, DOGE ballooned 20% in less than an hour, although the rally ran out of steam by Thursday, when the coin posted an intraday loss of over 8%. Twitter has since reverted to the old logo.
https://decrypt.co/125783/this-week-on-crypto-twitter-elon-musk-logo-change-doge-dogecoin
- Terra Founder Do Kwon Converted All His Assets From LUNA to Bitcoin Just Before His Arrest, Report Reveals
A recent report has revealed that Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA) cofounder Do Kwon, who was arrested in March for his alleged role in the collapse of the $40 billion Terra ecosystem in May 2022, appears to have converted most of his properties into Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
The disgraced founder allegedly sent his crypto stack to an exchange outside of South Korea, according to Korean media outlet KBS.
Since Kwon’s arrest, South Korean prosecutors have been reportedly tracking, and seizing, the profits that Terraform Labs executives have accumulated.
Kwon and his associates allegedly acquired $314.2 million, with the Terraform Labs CEO holding $69 million, according to KBS.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7495040
- Bitget launches $100M Web3 fund for crypto projects in Asia
Crypto derivatives exchange Bitget launched a new fund focused on supporting the next generation of Web3 projects. According to a statement seen by Cointelegraph, $100 million will be invested in the fund as an initial investment.
Bitget says it will target funding Web3-friendly venture firms and projects worldwide. It will focus on Asian projects from experienced teams with clear roadmaps that are working on real-world problems.
“We can see that Web3 space is evolving rapidly and many projects deserve the support to further advance such development and make Web3 a truly global phenomenon, as Web2 had once become. That is why the Bitget Web3 Fund will strive to seek out projects that have the most impact on this process,” said Gracy Chen, managing director of Bitget.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitget-launches-100m-web3-fund-for-crypto-projects-in-asia
