Welcome to the eighth 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 covering everything major that happened this week.

Summary

Bitcoin lost 20% of its value in the last seven days
Binance US has appointed former OCC chief Brian Brooks as their new CEO
OKEx launches support for the Lightning Network
The South Korean government initiated a regulatory enforcement period for crypto businesses.
Celsius requested that their customers add more collateral in anticipation of greater market volatility
The SEC is officially reviewing Kryptoin’s Bitcoin ETF application
The Bank of England launched a CBDC task force
DOGE dropped 29% in value on Dogeday

Bitcoin Crashes amidst Biden’s Tax Hike proposal

Bitcoin crashed more than 20% this week after bulls failed to hold $60,000 as support. The impulsive move was likely a result of President Joe Biden’s newly proposed tax increase on capital gains for U.S. citizens earning more than one million dollars.

The move shocked all assets within the crypto market, but among all majors, Bitcoin took the hardest hit. Bitcoin’s recent move has also lowered the Kimchi Premium from a rate of 20% to only 2%. The leading cryptocurrency has temporarily found support at $47,000, but buyers still have to decide whether they feel safe at the current price level.

Binance US Hires Brian Brooks as CEO

Former Head of the Comptroller of the Currency and avid crypto supporter Brian Brooks became the new CEO of Binance US. Brooks will replace Catherine Coley, who is set to depart the company in May.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Binance’s new leader revealed his expectations of the exchange, challenging Coinbase and giving them a “run for their money.” On another note, founder Changpeng Zhao has welcomed Brooks by stating that his knowledge and expertise represent invaluable assets for Binance US.

OKEx features Lightning Network deposits and withdrawals

Leading cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has released support for Bitcoin’s scalability solution, the Lightning Network, which provides faster and cheaper transactions. The feature was originally announced in February, but it was released on April 19th. OKEx is now the seventh major exchange to implement the Lightning Network.

South Korea announces crypto crackdown

The South Korean government announced a special enforcement period that will utilize the new crypto regulatory framework, which took effect this year. News reports state that South Korea will target illegitimate crypto businesses and exchanges that launder money.

The enforcement period started on Monday and will last until June. Government officials have likely decided to abruptly start the process due to the rising Kimchi premium. Regulators are currently investigating whether arbitrage activities targeting the Kimchi Premium violate the country’s laws.

Celsius asks customers to increase collateral

Lending protocol Celsius has asked customers to increase their collateral in anticipation of margin calls caused by extreme market conditions. The warning was likely issued as Celsius faced a similar event in March last year when millions of dollars were liquidated in the span of two days.

SEC to review Kryptoin’s Bitcoin ETF application

The Securities and Exchange Commission officially began reviewing Kryptoin’s exchange-traded fund application for Bitcoin, which marks the third active ETF application. Besides Kryptoin, VanEck and WisdomTree have also sent similar applications, which the regulator is now actively reviewing.

The SEC has up to 240 days to approve or reject the applications. As a reminder, Krypton’s last Bitcoin ETF proposal was submitted and promptly rejected in 2019.

This week’s bearish news

1. Excessive leverage led to $10 billion worth of liquidations. Cryptocurrency futures markets have experienced a record high of liquidations on Sunday when Bitcoin fell through its $60,000 support.

The last record was registered on the 23rd of February when markets hit $5.77 billion in liquidations.
The liquidation cascade forced longs to close their positions and pull back with their bullish narrative, which led to more downward pressure later on.

2. Chinese miners deal with a new wave of regulatory pressure. The largest Bitcoin mining region in the world faces a change of tone after regulators have challenged three key Chinese mining provinces.

China accounts for a grand total of 65% hash rate.
Miners have already started to kick back and halt a portion of their mining activities, which had a serious effect on the Bitcoin network.

3. Bitcoin’s dominance drops below 50%. Crypto’s market cap share has shifted as altcoins surged in value while Bitcoin took a heavier hit in recent bearish market conditions.

CoinMarketCap reports that Bitcoin’s dominance dropped to 48% this week.
Bitcoin reached such a low dominance ratio for the first time since 2018.

Bank of England Launches taskforce for UK CBDC

The Bank of England and HM Treasury have announced the launch of a new task force that will explore the benefits and limitations of a potential central bank digital currency. The UK has been silent on its CBDC interest ever since March 2020, when it published a discussion paper. The latest event is a sign that the former EU member is indeed interested in joining the crypto sphere.

DOGE ‘betrays’ fans after a 29% drop on Dogeday

Cryptocurrency investors were ready to celebrate Dogeday on April 20th, expecting that the meme cryptocurrency will skyrocket to one dollar in the midst of massive euphoria. However, investors were met with a surprise as the asset lost 29% of its value. Fervorous DOGE holders believe that their moon mission is only postponed as a result of Bitcoin’s downfall this week.

Quote of the week

The Good News

U.S. company WeWork now supports cryptocurrency payments
Facebook-backed Diem, a stablecoin formerly known as Libra, is set to launch a pilot project in 2021
Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo joined BlockFi’s board of directors in an effort to expand the lending protocol’s status

The Bad News

Bitcoin’s transaction fees hit an all-time high following a hash power decline caused by China’s mining outages.
Bitcoin had its worst price decline since February after falling from a new ATH of $65,000 to $47,500.

Crypto Twitter Highlights

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