Bitcoin Falls Down to $50K, Despite Elon Musk’s Surprise Announcement
Welcome to the fifth edition of Shrimpy’s weekly newsletter, a place for staying up to date on the latest trends, news, and events in the cryptocurrency industry.
Digital assets evolve and move faster compared to any other market. For those who do not have time to constantly scroll Crypto Twitter, we wrote a special weekly update that covers everything major that happened this week.
Summary
Pressure from Deribit’s options expiry event caused Bitcoin’s fall to $50k
OKEx Korea will shut down in April
L2 Ethereum scaling solution Optimism delayed its launch to July
China is eager to form a unified global approach to CBDCs
Coinbase will expand its business presence in India
Elon Musk added Bitcoin as a payment method
Uniswap revealed V3
Microsoft’s president criticized fintech firms who develop digital currencies
A survey from Deutsche Bank revealed that investors are still bearish on crypto
Bitcoin falls to $50K as $6B options expiry looms
Bitcoin has entered its second red week in a row, falling from $58,000 to $50,400. Bulls attempted to reclaim the former all-time high numerous times but have failed in doing so. After days of ranging, the price finally fell to lows not seen since March 8.
Experts believe that the bearish pressure is tied to Deribit’s $6 billion option expiry. With more Open Interest (OI) than ever, bids were not strong enough to hold important support levels such as $55.6k, $53.5k, and $52k. Moreover, severe inactivity in spot markets has been noticeable, and many believe that it was one of the main contributing factors to Bitcoin’s fall this week.
OKEx Korea shuts down due to new AML laws
The South Korean branch of the famous OKEx exchange has decided to shut down as a result of new anti-money laundering (AML) laws introduced by the government. Per the firm’s representative, the exchange cannot function within the new regulatory framework and has hence decided to close. It was also shared that the Korean branch was not profitable enough and that they have decided to ‘cut losses.’
OKEx Korea announced that customers have until April 7 to close their positions and withdraw crypto assets.
L2 scaling solution Optimism delays launch
The most anticipated layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum network, Optimism, has delayed its mainnet launch. Fearing that a debut in March will lead to ‘dangerous consequences,’ the team behind Optimism decided to delay the launch to July.
A ‘hacker-ready’ testnet version will supposedly launch in late April. For now, the postponed date is still deemed to be a ‘rough estimate’ since developers are still not sure if they will manage to bring forth the project on time.
China proposes global rules for CBDCs
During the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) seminar on Thursday, the director of the Digital Currency Research Institute at the People’s Bank of China shared a proposal that aims to help regulators achieve a unified stance on central bank digital currency regulation.
The main goal is to establish a higher level of interoperability between different CBDC systems of different jurisdictions. By doing so, all countries that support digital currencies will be able to monitor transactions for compliance reasons.
Coinbase to expand within India’s crypto market
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it wishes to establish a new business presence in India. The announcement came as a surprise to many, given that the Indian government plans to ban cryptocurrencies.
While the ban is not officially implemented, numerous reports indicate that the government is ready to launch a new regulatory framework at any moment. Recent news claim that India will go as far as to block IP addresses coming from crypto exchanges.
Elon Musk introduces Bitcoin as payment method for Tesla cars
Crypto’s favorite CEO announced on Wednesday that Tesla now supports Bitcoin as a payment method. Elon Musk shared that they will not convert Bitcoin into fiat, which resulted in an impulsive move to the upside in the crypto market.
In another tweet, Musk explained that Tesla operates Bitcoin Blockchain nodes directly using internal and open-source software. However, the bullish news was not enough to prevent Bitcoin’s collapse to $50,000 the next day.
This week in crypto
1. Ex-Tether Executive calls for audits. Co-founder William Quigley stated that Tether is its worst enemy and that it needs to be audited at least quarterly, if not monthly.
Quigley advises Tether to avoid mixing operational cash with custodial cash.
A representative from Tether responded to the claims, revealing that the company seeks to improve its transparency.
2. Jack Dorsey sells tweet for $2.9 million. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey successfully sold his first tweet for $2.9 million after a prolonged bidding war.
The auction closed on Monday and sold Twitter’s ‘genesis tweet’ from March 2006.
Dorsey donated the money to a charity, sending 50.8 BTC to the GiveDirectly Africa fund.
3. Two former FATF officers join Binance. Former Executive Secretary Rick McDonell and former head of FATF’s Canadian Delegation Josée Nadeau are now part of Binance’s regulatory strategy team.
The two will advise Binance on how to reach global compliance and create regulatory strategies.
Earlier this month, the exchange also added former U.S. Senator Maxwell Baucus to its team.
Microsoft president: Fintech firms should leave digital currencies to governments
Brad Smith, president of tech giant Microsoft, shared during this week’s Bank for International Settlements conference that financial technology firms should leave digital currencies to governments.
Smith argues that any form of money should be managed by an entity that is responsible to the public and only cares about public interest. He also shared that Microsoft is not a bank and that it does not wish to become one.
52% of Deutsche Bank’s investors expect future downside for Bitcoin
Deutsche Bank, one of Germany’s largest private banks, recently conducted a survey to estimate what their investors believe about Bitcoin’s performance for the next 12 months. The final result is that up to 52% of institutional investors expect the leading cryptocurrency to trade between $20,000 and $40,000.
The survey was held from March 18-22 and included 520 market professionals from all around the world.
Uniswap unveils new V3 DEX
Decentralized exchange Uniswap finally announced a launch date for the long-anticipated Uniswap V3 update. Per the team’s blog post, V3 will arrive on May 5 and will include novelty features that revolutionize the traditional DeFi experience.
The new version promises faster transactions and far better capital efficiency. After an integration with L2 solution Optimism, the exchange will be scalable as well.
Quote of the week
The Good News
Blockchain data analysis firm Chainalysis raised $100 million in a funding round that marked a surge in demand for crypto compliance infrastructure.
Crypto exchanges OKEx and MXC invested $40 million in the Solana smart contract ecosystem.
Fidelity filed documents to the SEC to create a Bitcoin ETF for the US market.
The Bad News
The Indian government amended its legislation to force companies to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings in their financial statements.
The Canadian Tax Agency ordered crypto exchange Coinsquare to disclose customer information and reveal their trading activity.
Payments firm Wirex was forced to halt its customer onboarding process as a result of new orders from the FCA, the UK’s main financial regulator.
Crypto Twitter Highlights
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