“Overall, trading conditions were choppy across global markets after the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested that monetary policy could tighten faster than expected.
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was approaching $4,800, near its all-time high, and was up about 5% over the past 24 hours. BTC was roughly flat over the same period. Technical indicators suggest further upside is likely for ether relative to bitcoin.
The ETH/BTC ratio is attempting to break above a five-month trading range. Two consecutive daily closes above 0.080 could yield further upside in ETH/BTC.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization relative to the total crypto market capitalization, or dominance ratio, has declined about 10% over the past two months to the lowest level since September. The decline in BTC’s dominance reflects the recent outperformance of alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins).”
See Also: Bitcoin Turns Lower as Fed Chair Suggests Inflation No Longer ‘Transitory’
“Yellen said stablecoins could lead to greater efficiencies and contribute to easier payments, but required proper regulation.
There are significant risks associated with them, including risks to payment systems and risks related to the concentration of economic power.
The Treasury Secretary also said she agreed with current FinCEN guidance that crypto firms and providers that don’t custody customer funds should not be regulated.
Yellen noted that in its updated guidance, the FATF clarified that its intent was not to regulate as virtual asset providers (VASPs) people or providers that ‘provide only ancillary services or products to a virtual asset network, including hardware manufacturers, providers of unposted wallets, software developers, or miners that are not otherwise engaged in covered activities.’“
See Also: Novi Crypto Wallet Chief David Marcus Leaving Facebook
“Tornado Cash is a fully decentralized Ethereum (ETH) mixer protocol. Tornado Cash masks the path that tokens such as ETH take from sender to receiver, providing completely private transactions without the need to use privacy-focused coins.
Layer two networks on Ethereum boast faster transactions and cheaper fees while still benefiting from the security and decentralization of Ethereum. The deployment onto Arbitrum will allow more users to perform private crypto transactions while avoiding Ethereum’s high gas fees. L2 transactions are expected to be around 95% cheaper than those on L1.
Arbitrum is currently the biggest L2 on Ethereum with $2.68 billion in total value locked, representing 39% of the L2 market share.”
“The loans will range from $10,000 to $100 million in USDT and other currencies, and will carry an 8.8% fixed-term annual percentage rate. Customers can use crypto as collateral, and the loan terms will range from three months to two years.
Exchanges licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission can provide services only to professional investors, meaning those with over HK$8 million ($1 million) in their portfolio.”
“Aarika Rhodes, a Democrat running to represent California’s 30th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, has begun to accept campaign contributions in Bitcoin using the Lightning Network. An elementary school teacher, Rhodes said she plans to use her time in Congress ‘fighting to keep Bitcoin innovation‘ in the United States.
During his time in office, Brad Sherman has made several anti-crypto statements, including calling for a ban on digital assets, and referring to supporters of initial coin offerings as “charlatans and scammers.””
The Disrupt 