Weekly News 09/14/2021: mining becomes fashionable in the US

Banks and Institutions

Mastercard acquires CipherTrace

The battle rages on between VISA and Mastercard in the cryptoasset space. After testing USDC on its network, Mastercard has just acquired CipherTrace, a company specializing in blockchain transaction analysis. In a context of increased competition with its rival Visa, this purchase would allow Mastercard an opportunity to bring its crypto offerings in line with European money laundering regulations.

Source : Cryptoast

Ukraine regulates crypto asset exchanges

The Ukrainian parliament passes a new regulation legalizing crypto asset use, a premiere for the country. The law provides a framework for exchange platforms, and paves the way for the legitimacy and development of Ukrainian players by requiring banks to open them bank accounts.

Source : CoinTelegraph

Massive wave of Korean exchange closures to come

On September 24, a new law will be implemented in South Korea to regulate crypto asset exchanges. 40 of the 60 market players are likely to cease operations, as they do not meet the criteria set by the regulator; They were asked for partnerships with banks, but they refuse to work with them. the entire market could be impacted because of the volume of exchange on Korean platforms.

Source : News.Bitcoin

Texas welcomes cryptoassets

Texas becomes the fourth U.S. state to regulate cryptoassets. The state just passed two laws to regulate them within its borders, including allowing Bitcoin payments for everyday products. Significantly, a draft amendment to the Texas constitution has just been filed, which would make this state one of the most favorable to the development of this ecosystem.

Source : CoinTelegraph

Cryptoactive ecosystem

BSC is driven by big wallets

The wealthiest wallets in crypto – otherwise known as whales – are thought to be behind the dominance of the BSC. The volume of transactions under $1,000 is relatively small, less than 10%, compared to amounts over $1 million – about 90% of the total volume in April 2021. This state of affairs may indicate that these players have the ability to tightly control the operation of assets on platforms that depend on them.

Source : JournalduCoin

Trading platform dYdX launches its governance token

DeFi trading player dYdX has announced the airdrop of its first token, the $DYDX. DyDx is a decentralized platform that offers token trading and especially derivatives such as futures. This governance token can be staked by users and generate interest. This is one of the most lucrative DeFi airdrop of the last months.

Source : TheBlockCrypto

The future seems a bit darker for OpenSea

Selon Dune Analytics, le volume quotidien des transactions est passé d’un pic de 323 millions de dollars en août à près de 50 millions de dollars sur OpenSea, leader du marché des NFTs, soit une baisse de près de 80%. Par ailleurs, près de 100000$ de NFTs ont été détruits par inadvertance pour les gestionnaires de la plateforme. Beaucoup d’observateurs restent optimistes sur le devenir de la plateforme.

Source : TheBlockCrypto

Technology

The Solana blockchain paralyzed for several hours

No transactions occurred on Solana blockchain on September 14 from about 2pm, neither on the main blockchain nor on the dedicated applications of the network. Developers are currently looking for a solution, citing a resource issue that is causing the entire system to grind to a halt. No time of return to service is currently scheduled.

Source : TheBlockCrypto

Lido staking protocol accepts Solana token

Lido Finance, the staking derivatives protocol on Eth2, is now opening up access to SOL, Solana’s blockchain token. This means that users will be able to stage this token, and receive interest in return in the form of stSOL synthetic tokens. 15% of ethers staked on Ethereum 2 are managed by Lido.

Source : TheBlockCrypto

U.S. mining companies’ bitcoin reserves increase fourfold

Since Jan. 1, more than 10,000 bitcoins have been mined by major U.S. mining companies – or about $484 million. They have retained almost all of these holdings, increasing their cash reserves fourfold. This growth is explained by the decline in competition from Chinese miners, who have been forced to relocate to other mining-friendly countries.

Source : Crypto-France

Arbitrum’s funds under management increase 10-fold

Launched on August 31, Arbitrum currently holds $2.223 billion in assets in various DeFi projects, up from $238 million a week ago. For comparison, rival layer2 Ethereum protocols like dYdX and Optimism control $329 million and $155 million respectively. Such excitement can be explained by the growing interest of investors in Ethereum’s scalability solutions, facing transaction costs that remain high.

Source : CoinDesk

Some figures

• The Tezos blockchain reaches 650,000 transactions per day and 1.7 million smart contract calls in ten days
• An NFT on Solana from the Degenerate Ape series sold for over $1 million on Solana
• According to a poll, 27% of Americans support Bitcoin as a legal tender in the US
• According to Chainanalysis, institutional investors are responsible for 50% of transactions, and 60% of DeFi transactions in Q2 2021
• 15% of transactions on Ethereum now involve NFTs, the main source of current commission costs on Ethereum