Crypto Weekly Roundup: Negative Sentiment, JPMorgan’s Blockchain Experiments, WEF Pulls Crypto Crowds, eBay’s NFT Debut, Crypto Satellite, And More.

A very eventful week in crypto – multiple industry experts and regulators have been displaying negative sentiments towards crypto, especially Bitcoin, even more so after the Terra (LUNA) crash. However, it seems that the actual industry is plowing ahead undeterred. Keep reading to find out more. 

Bitcoin 

The CIO of Guggenheim, Minerd, commented that bitcoin and crypto were not credible investments and were likely to drop down a lot more.

JPMorgan has published a note stating the “fair price” of Bitcoin is 28% higher than its current trading level and that cryptocurrencies have surpassed real estate as a preferred alternative asset.

After becoming the second country to adopt BTC as legal tender, the Central African Republic (CAR) is working on plans to launch a cryptocurrency economic zone. 

The president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, says that crypto is worth nothing and should be regulated to steer people away from it. Instead, she touts a digital euro as a safer store of value.

Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin’s recent statements have given rise to speculations that the much-awaited Merge update could be delayed even further. 

DeFi

Binance Staking, the crypto exchange’s staking-focused program, has officially joined the Neo Council and initiated tighter integration with N4 infrastructure. 

Uniswap hit its second major milestone in less than a month as the decentralized exchange (DEX) crossed the $1 trillion figure in trading volume. 

Altcoins

Terra’s revival continues as core developers got the approval to burn 1.3 billion UST from its community pool following a crucial governance vote.

Cardano’s parent company, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), has announced that its Project Catalyst Fund9 will be launched on June 1, 2022. 

Technology

Wall Street giant JPMorgan has started using blockchain technology for collateral settlement. The pilot transaction was conducted last week. 

The first-ever crypto satellite has been launched into the low-Earth orbit by the SpaceX rocket, Falcon 9. 

A deepfake video featuring Elon Musk has been circulating on Twitter, in which the Tesla CEO promotes a cryptocurrency platform.

Brazil’s largest crypto exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, is joining forces with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to help in the development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). 

Binance has announced that it has completed infrastructural integration with Optimism, a layer-2 (L2) Ethereum scaling solution.

The Blockchain-based Service Network is planning to expand internationally and will make its product open-sourced so that potential users can inspect the code.

Business

VP at MasterCard, Harold Bosse, speaks about the mass adoption of crypto and the effects of the recent downturn in the crypto markets.

Crypto trading platform Huobi Global has acquired the Latin American crypto platform Bitex in a takeover that will see Huobi increase its presence in Latin America.

VC firm A16z has raised a record $4.5 billion for its fourth fund in the depths of the current crypto market crash.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) held at Davos experienced a rush of crypto enthusiasts from all over, despite the recent downturns of the market. 

Avalanche has revealed that LFG, the entity behind the reserve fund for the failed UST stablecoin, has not disclosed any plans for the AVAX tokens that it holds in its treasury. 

Regulation

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce says that the Securities and Exchange Commission has “dropped the ball” on crypto regulation and that this can have long-term consequences.

The ECB released a report on the financial stability risks associated with crypto, especially highlighting the growth of current crypto trends and their effects on market stability. 

The “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021” survey was released on May 23rd, 2022 evaluating the economic health of consumers in the US, including matters related to cryptocurrencies.

Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, noted the importance of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, but also disregarded crypto as a future payments system.

Charles Randell, chairman of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), commented on the “speculative” nature of cryptocurrencies and even questioned their legitimacy. 

NFT

After losing quite a few expensive NFTs, actor and producer Seth Green’s new animated series based on characters from Green’s NFT collection has been put on hold. 

The e-commerce giant eBay is dropping its first NFT collection on Polygon, featuring Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretsky. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.