Coming every Saturday Hodler's compendium It will help you keep track of all the important news that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top news this week
Starbucks announces NFT initiative as anti-union controversy continues
Non-fungible tokens continue to make headlines, with coffee giant Starbucks recently signaling its intention to join the NFT party. “Sometime before the end of this calendar year, we will be in the NFT business,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said via an open partners forum on Monday.
The conversation about NFTs arose alongside a growing interest in unionization led by workers at the chain's US stores. One of the leaders of the union movement, Laila Dalton, was fired from Starbucks shortly after the NFT announcement. Schultz's comments show that she is not pro-union.
UK government moves forward with regulatory framework on stablecoins for payments
Her Majesty's Treasury UK expressed interest in crypto regulation on several fronts. Included in the mix was recognition of the potential of stablecoins as common payment vehicles, with the aim of bringing the asset class in line with current regulatory guidelines.
“It is my ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto asset technology, and the measures we have outlined today will help ensure that businesses can invest, innovate and grow in this country,” said Her Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.
Treasury Economic Secretary John Glen said: "If crypto technologies are going to be a big part of the future, then we, the UK, want to be on the ground floor."
Crypto Twitter Unites to Raise Funds for Cancer Treatment for Community Members
Part of the crypto industry since mid-2021, the pseudonymous Twitter user “Yopi” is a cancer fighter. After trying chemotherapy, doctors told Yopi that he needed stem cell treatment when the cancer returned. The cost of treatment for Yopi: $50,000.
Yopi posted a tweet explaining the situation, which received a significant response from the crypto community. He ended up receiving around $74,000 worth of crypto assets, at the time of the Cointelegraph report.
ProShares Files with the SEC for Bitcoin Short Strategy ETF
An application was filed on Tuesday for a different type of Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) from ProShares, one that would allow investors to bet against BTC futures. ProShares has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its Bitcoin Short Strategy ETF. Essentially, the shares of the ETF would benefit when Bitcoin futures go down in price instead of up. These so-called inverse ETFs, which are designed to perform the opposite of the benchmark they track, are relatively common in the futures market.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, based on Bitcoin futures, was listed in October 2021 after the SEC approved the product. The newly introduced ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF has a June listing target, although an SEC decision could see this delayed.
Blockstream and Block Inc to Build Solar Bitcoin Mining Facility Powered by Tesla
A new collaboration between crypto storage firm Blockstream and Jack Dorsey's Block (formerly Square) will see the development of a fully solar-powered open source BTC mining facility.
According to the announcement, the mining facility will be equipped with a 3.8 megawatt Tesla photovoltaic (photovoltaic) solar array and a 12 MWh (megawatt hour) Tesla Megapack lithium-ion battery. With this mining facility, the companies intend to investigate the feasibility of operating a zero-emission energy BTC mine.
The collaboration will also see the development of a publicly accessible dashboard, which will display key metrics including power output, total amount of BTC mined, storage performance, spending, and ROI, to name a few. .
winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) I sat down $42,388.53ether (ETH) in $3,207.75 Y XRP in $0.76. The total market capitalization is $1.96 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Mina (MINE) at 17.56%, NEAR Protocol (CLOSE) at 16.07% and Convex Finance (CLC) at 10.06%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Waves (WAVES) at -50.60%, Zilliqa (ZIL) at -37.08% and Axie Infinity (AXIS) at -29.43%.
For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
most memorable quotes
"Under the backdrop of global inflation, Bitcoin has an opportunity to become a widely used currency in international settlement."
chen liCEO and co-founder of Youbi Capital
“While it is clear that global Bitcoin mining energy requirements have grown significantly since 2017, recent literature indicates a wide range of estimates for 2020 (47 TWh to 125 TWh) due to data gaps and differences in modeling approaches.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
“There is no reason to treat the cryptocurrency market differently just because a different technology is used.”
Gary Genslerchairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission
“Imagine where we could be in five years, where pretty much everyone in the Western world will have a smartphone wallet on their smartphone and will probably be able to transact with every restaurant in the world.”
Antonio Scaramuccifounder and managing partner of Skybridge Capital
"The scarcity and pristine nature of Bitcoin as collateral may well be coming to the fore once again."
“El Salvador is an independent democracy and we respect its right to self-governance, but the United States must have a plan to protect our financial systems from the risks of this decision, which appears to be a careless gamble rather than a thoughtful decision. embrace of innovation.”
Norm TorresUS representative on El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender
“If people feel like contributing something or doing a side project in this space, I'd say, 'Put your heart into it,' because you'll get feedback, connections, ideas and experiences that you just wouldn't have dreamed of.”
MCCfounder of sats ledger
prediction of the week
Why Bitcoin's Halving Price Drop Will Play Out Differently This Time
Approximately every four years, the Bitcoin mining block payment is halved. This event, called the Bitcoin halving, has coincided with four-year price cycles, including bull and bear periods. However, this four-year cycle could be over, according to multiple industry players.
The pseudonymous author of the Santiment blog, “Alerzio,” pointed to April 11 as a potential sign of changing times. The fact that BTC maintains price action above $50,000 per coin before or around that date may be evidence of a cycle that differs from previous four-year periods, Alerzio wrote. April 11 is the halfway point between the most recent BTC halving and the next one.
fud of the week
Australian Crypto Finfluencers Face Tough New Legal Restrictions
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently waved a red flag related to influential people involved in finance. ASIC essentially warned influencers, both solo and at companies that employ influencers, about using language that could be seen as financial promotion. The ASIC warning specifically mentions finance rather than cryptocurrencies, but cryptocurrencies are often lumped into the finance category.
“If you present factual information in a way that conveys a recommendation that someone should (or should not) invest in that product or class of products, you may be breaking the law by providing advice on unlicensed financial products,” the information sheet states. SO C.
Some oppositional comments regarding the measure relate in part to a lack of clarity regarding what counts as financial influence.
Shopify Faces Another Lawsuit From Crypto Holders Over Ledger Data Breach
A collection of Ledger hardware wallet users have filed a legal case against Ledger, Shopify, and TaskUs. In short, the case alleges that the defendants failed to take adequate steps to prevent the leak of a significant amount of Ledger buyers' personal data in 2020.
The complaint alleges that Ledger and Shopify misled customers by advertising the "unmatched security" of their products, promises that contradict the current leak. The plaintiffs also claimed that Shopify and TaskUs were aware of the leak for more than a week before alerting customers. Shopify was in charge of Ledger's online store at the time of the leak, and TaskUs is a third-party data consultant responsible for handling customer service, as delegated by Shopify, according to the lawsuit.
The Ledger user group behind the lawsuit is seeking certain damages, as well as disclosure of what data was actually leaked.
EU Bans Providing “High-Value Crypto Asset Services” to Russia
In a bid to prevent Russian citizens from using cryptocurrencies to safeguard assets amid the war in Ukraine, the Council of the European Union announced its intention to ban "providing high-value crypto asset services" to the country.
Some of the other restrictive measures proposed by the European Commission this Friday include a transaction ban and asset freeze connected to four Russian banks, as well as a "ban on providing trust advice to wealthy Russians."
Just a day before the Council's announcement, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin claimed that Russian entities and individuals hold more than $130 billion in crypto assets, an amount that nearly equals Russia's total gold holdings, which is valued at approximately $140 billion as of March 2022.
The best features of Cointelegraph
Are CBDCs Kryptonite for Cryptocurrencies?
“A CBDC is the dream of an authoritarian government and represents a huge step backwards for consumer privacy.”
What Elon Musk's Investment Could Mean For Twitter's Crypto Plans
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder in the social media company.
Unhosted is not welcome: EU attack on non-custodial wallets is part of a broader trend
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic seem nervous about people transacting with their wallets.
