Crypto Adoption in Emerging Markets Accelerates as SEC Continues to Reject Bitcoin ETFs

Monday, January 30, 2023 5:06 PM

Data from CryptoCompare shows that Bitcoin price moved mostly sideways throughout the past week, starting at $23,000 and dipping to $22,500 before rising sharply to $23,500. The cryptocurrency failed to stay at that level and has since fallen to $23,200.

Ethereum’s Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, traded higher early in the week near the $1,650 mark. It quickly fell below $1,550, but quickly recovered to now trade at $1,580.

Over the past week, it has been revealed that cryptocurrency adoption in emerging markets has steadily increased throughout the past year, even as prices have fallen and the sector has been affected by a plethora of bankruptcies.

According to CryptoCompare’s First Quarter 2023 Outlook Report, Binance has seen market share increase over the past year as cryptocurrency adoption has increased in emerging markets, where rates of High inflation has led to increased investment in digital assets in an effort to protect wealth from currency depreciation.

Binance has been able to take advantage of this trend and is often the preferred choice for users in emerging markets. For example, he saw a significant increase in RUB and BRL volumes, with his BTC volumes on Binance increasing by 232% and 72% respectively.

While people in these markets have continued to embrace digital assets, in the United States the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again rejected a proposal to launch a cash exchange-traded fund (ETF) Bitcoin from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest and a global crypto ETF. 21Shares provider.

The SEC said ARK has been unable to demonstrate that its exchange’s rules are sufficient to protect investors from “fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” The SEC came under fire this week from Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein, who said he believes the regulator is slowing Bitcoin’s progress.

In a letter, Sonnenshein said he agreed with a claim that the SEC was “late in the game” when it came to regulating cryptocurrencies and preventing the collapse of FTX and said criticized its “one-dimensional approach to regulation and enforcement”.

Another notable development came from credit rating giant Moody’s, which is reportedly working on a rating system for stablecoins as the asset class continues to grow. The system will include an analysis of up to 20 stablecoins based on the quality of the attestations on the reserves that support them.

Tesla’s bitcoin holdings remain unchanged

During the week, it was also revealed that the Tesla electric car market did not buy or sell Bitcoin in the last quarter of 2022, making it the second consecutive quarter in which BTC holdings of the company remain unchanged. The value of Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings fell from $218 million to $184 million.

The decline was caused by losses due to Bitcoin’s declining value. At the end of the third quarter, BTC was near $20,000 and at the end of the fourth quarter, the crypto was around $16,500. Tesla did not change its Bitcoin holdings during Q3 2022, but in Q2 it sold $936 million worth of BTC (about 75% of its holdings) to raise funds amid lockdown issues of COVID-19 in China.

Meanwhile, bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has revealed that it is considering issuing a token to pay off creditors as part of a proposed reorganization and exit from bankruptcy as a crypto business. -regulated currency.

In a video hearing, company attorney Ross Kwasteniet said restructuring Celsius into a licensed, publicly traded company would generate more revenue for creditors, compared to selling its assets to the current prices.

BlockFi, another bankrupt crypto lender, has been revealed to hold more than $1.2 billion in assets tied to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research, according to recently uploaded financial data without the redactions.

The cryptocurrency lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November after FTX failed to save the struggling company before its own collapse.

Ethereum Developers Bring Staked ETH Withdrawals Closer to Reality

Ethereum developers have moved closer to the possibility of withdrawing $26 billion from Ethereum staked with the successful deployment of the first mainnet shadow fork for the Shanghai upgrade.

The Shanghai upgrade, which is expected to launch in March, will allow stakers to withdraw their staked ETH to the network. This is the first major update since the Ethereum merger in September, which moved the network to Proof-of-Stake and allowed users to deposit ETH to become validators and receive ETH rewards. newly created.

JP Morgan analysts believe this flexibility for stakers to withdraw funds at any time could mark a new chapter in staking for Coinbase, as locked ETH has been a deterrent to staking ETH in the past.

Francisco Memoria is a content creator at CryptoCompare who is in love with technology and dedicated to helping people see the value in digital currencies. His work has been published in many reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies.