Banks / Institutions
US Bank Morgan Stanley develops its Bitcoin offer
The American bank Morgan Stanley announced last Thursday that some of these funds could begin to gain exposure to Bitcoin in the form of futures contracts as well as through Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust.
Twelve funds are involved and the level of exposure could rise to 25%.
First attempts at a central bank digital currency in Japan
Japan’s central bank is beginning experiments with a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In the first phase, which will last until March 2022, the basic functionalities of the currency such as issuance, distribution, and redemption will be tested.
The central bank does not intend to issue CBDCs at this time, but is willing to be “ready” should this happen in the future.
CME to launch new Bitcoin-based product
The Chicago Stock Exchange (CME) plans to launch a new Bitcoin product in the form of “micro” futures contracts that will be equivalent to one-tenth of a BTC.
This is intended to allow investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through their services at more accessible amounts.
The CME had been the first regulated body to offer Bitcoin futures, in December 2017.
Tesla helps secure BTCPay
Tesla has identified and then helped patch a critical vulnerability and several minor vulnerabilities within BTCPay, an open-source payment processor for Bitcoin.
A clue that Tesla is using this service to sell its cars in Bitcoins.
Crypto ecosystem
Return on the audit of Tether
On March 30, 2021, Tether released an audit of its dollar accounts: $35 billion in dollar value, which covers all of Tether’s reserves.
The Moore Cayman firm, based in the islands of the same name, conducted the audit at the end of February.
The only drawback is that the reserves do not necessarily contain 35 billion dollars, but a “cumulative value” corresponding to 35 billion.
Bitcoin miners are confident
Bitcoin miners are no longer selling their reserves. While until the end of January, miners were disposing of the bitcoins they generated, they have stopped selling, and have even bought about 10,000 bitcoin on the market.
This news indicates that these players are quite confident about the future of the market. Combined with a historic decline in market liquidity, it could indicate a basic upward trend, at least in the short term.
Large increase for Filecoin
The Filecoin system’s FIL token is up sharply with a 330% performance in 30 days for a price per token of $174.
Filecoin is a decentralized data storage system.
These figures raise eyebrows when you consider that only 0.3% of tokens are currently circulating on the market.
Aave is implemented on Layers 2
The Aave protocol starts to be implemented on Layers 2. It is on Polygon, the same network where the Aavegotchi project (NFTs based on Aave repositories) is located, that the Aave protocol is now available. This version allows to have new markets, and especially transaction fees much lower than on Ethereum.
Technology
New record for the launch of Fei
The launch of the Fei protocol, an algorithmic stablecoin, set a new record, with more than $1.3 billion in ETH deposited into the protocol to generate EIF. The protocol has a system that rewards depositing ETH to generate FEI, but severely punishes any ETH withdrawals, with a loss of up to 30% of the amount to be withdrawn.
This system, designed to keep the FEI price as close to $1 as possible, prevents many users from exiting their position, or even exchanging their FEI via Uniswap, without incurring large losses.
This situation should be resolved when the FEI is integrated into several DeFi protocols, and thus gain more utility.
OpenSea will use a Layer2 solution
OpenSea, the NFT sales platform that has been gaining popularity lately, has decided to turn to a Layer2 solution to reduce its transaction costs. It is on the Immutable X network, designed for NFTs, that OpenSea will deploy its protocols.
New version of the Compound governance system
Compound unveils the new version of its governance system. Named Governor Bravo, it brings many new features, such as the possibility of abstention, a system for creating autonomous proposals.
It is all the more interesting that the previous governance system of Compound, Governor Alpha, had been reused by many DAOs like Uniswap.
Release of DMM for Kyber Network
Kyber Network teams have released the first brick of Kyber 3.0, the Dynamic Market Maker (DMM).
Offering innovative solutions, the DMM makes it possible to gain in efficiency compared to the traditional exchange protocol.
They must now succeed in attracting liquidity within the protocol.
Figures of the week
New record for mining
Monthly mining revenues for all currencies reached a record $1.75 billion in March.
The cryptoasset market is evolving at great speed
The cryptoasset market took 10 years to reach $1 trillion, then 3 months to reach $2 trillion.
Best quarter for Bitcoin in 8 years
Bitcoin closes its best quarter in 8 years with a 108% increase.
Many cryptos are now almost dead
The number of dead cryptocurrencies, which no longer have developers or any capitalization, has almost reached 2000.
Where does Bitcoin’s market dominance stand?
In 3 months, Bitcoin’s market dominance has dropped from 72% to 56%.
