Hodler’s Digest is available every Saturday to help you keep track of every important news story. A week of Cointelegraph news, including the best and worst quotes, highlights on adoption and regulation, top coins, predictions, and more — all in one place.
Top Stories this Week
1T opportunity: JPMorgan is the first major bank to join the metaverse
United States bank giant JPMorgan Chase took a plunge into the emerging metaverse, which it believes is a major opportunity. Onyx, a digital lounge created by the bank in Decentraland’s virtual universe, was opened recently. Decentraland is one of many projects in the crypto industry that uses blockchain to offer a digital world experience, or a metaverse.
JPMorgan sees great potential in the movement towards digital worlds. According to a report by JPMorgan, “The metaverse will likely infiltrate all sectors in some way over the coming years with the market opportunity of over $1 trillion in annual revenues.” The report stated that the metaverse movement needs to be further developed in several key areas in order to realize its full potential.
Onyx also refers to JPMorgan’s Blockchain-based Payments System
FBI has launched a team to tackle crypto exploitation: US Attorney General
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is assembling a special unit to pursue illegal crypto activity such as ransomware. According to U.S. Deputy attorney General Lisa Monaco, the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit will comprise experts with deep knowledge in the digital asset space.
Monaco stated that ransomware and digital exortion, as with many other crimes fuelled by cryptocurrency, work only if the bad guys are paid. This means we must bust their business model. The FBI will be working alongside the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (US Department of Justice) in this new team. Monaco reports that the DOJ has plans to combat crypto crime at an international level.
SEC strikes BlockFi with a $100,000,000 penalty. BlockFi has 60 days to comply With a 1940 law
BlockFi reached an agreement with regulators this week to address resistance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC had previously classified the BlockFi Interest Account (a securities product) as a security product. BlockFi’s offering allows users to borrow crypto and earn notable interest.
BlockFi agreed that it would pay $50 million to the SEC as a penalty. BlockFi was also penalized by 32 U.S. States. BlockFi now has to pay $50 million more. This amounts to $100 million in total penalties.
BlockFi will have a 60-day window to align its product with the Investment Company Act of 1940. BlockFi will stop accepting new users in the interim until the product is compliant with the regulation.
The trial of Digital rubles goes live, as Bank of Russia insists that Bitcoin ban
After several transfers of digital rubles were made to Russian citizens, the Bank of Russia announced that its initial testing of its central bank’s digital currency (CBDC), was successful. The pilot program for digital rubles involved 12 financial institutions, which puts the central bank on track for its CBDC program later in the year.
After Elvira Nabibullina, head of Bank of Russia, made anti-crypto comments the week before, CBDC news was announced. CDBCs are different from other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin because they are directly controlled by governments.
Cointelegraph announces the Top 100 in Crypto & Blockchain 2022
Cointelegraph’s 2022 list of the 100 most influential people in crypto and blockchain has been released. The Top 100 profiles people and trends who have had an impact on the crypto and blockchain world in 2021. Each profile includes information about what to expect from each trend or influencer for the rest of 2022.
Cointelegraph will reveal the list over the next few days, publishing 10 profiles per day up to the 100th. Rekt Capital was the first to be revealed, and it is now at number 100.
Cointelegraph published previous installments of its Top 100 List in prior years.
Winners and Losers
Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), at $2,790, and XRP ( $0.77) are the top three currencies at the end of the week. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap stands at $1.81 trillion.
Rally (RLY), Neo (NEO), and Qtum [QTUM] are the three biggest gainers among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies.
The top three altcoin losers for the week were IoTeX at -17.58% and Ethereum Classic at -16.35%, respectively, and Theta Network at -16.17%.
Cointelegraph’s market analysis provides more information on crypto prices.
Most Memorable Quotes
“We are literally burning the gas into our atmosphere because it isn’t economically feasible to use it.” Instead, we can use it to make electricity with a motor and mine Bitcoin span>
Kristian CSSAR Chief Marketing Officer at Slush Pool
“It’s a gamble. But at the end, it was clear that v1 [CryptoPunks] weren’t legitimate punks. They were just artifacts that helped to create Punks. They have a place in history but I doubt it is worth 1KETH. .”
lookinrare#0911 , Discord user
“It’s becoming apparent, however, that there will be a pivotal Year in 2022 when it comes to managing crypto-assets.”
Thomas Campione , Blockchain and Crypto-assets Leader at PwC Luxembourg
“I already know that the Bitcoincoiners live in Portugal. They are anonymous. They aren’t like me, but they are already here. They spend their money on houses, but they use their Bitcoins to buy everything .”
Didi Tahuttu , father of the Bitcoin Family
“We anticipate by this summer — very soon — to accept cryptocurrency for all of our state-related tax purposes.”
Jared Polis Governor of Colorado
“El Salvador’s adoption and use of Bitcoin as a legal tender raises serious concerns about the economic stability of this vulnerable U.S. trading partner.
James Risch , United States senator
“I didn’t invest any crypto. It’s something I am proud of. It’s almost like a venereal disease span>
Charlie Muger Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
“We must abolish the last privilege enjoyed by the wealthy, financial ignorance.”
Christophe de Beukelaer , member of Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region
Week Prediction
BTC prices fall below $40K as Wall Street opens spells trouble for Bitcoin bulls
In a volatile week for markets, Bitcoin fell. According to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index, the asset reached almost $45,000 Tuesday and then fell to $39,500 Friday.
Rekt Capital, a Twitter trader and personality, expects Bitcoin’s price movement to remain range bound within the lower half of a substantial “macro price range” that spans from $30,000 to $69,000. Rekt Capital tweeted that Bitcoin would “continue to occupy the lower halves of the macro range till further notice.”
FUD for the Week
UK tax authority makes first NFT seizure in VAT fraud case
Three people were arrested for allegedly avoiding taxes owed by the United Kingdom’s Government. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the country’s taxation agency, took control of three nonfungible tokens.
The NFTs confiscated were considered seized assets, and the suspects did not use them in their tax evasion scheme. The suspects used over 200 fake companies to evade value-added tax and avoided $1.8 million.
44% of crypto whales have criminal records and are believed to be in possession of $25B.
Chainalysis has released a new report that reveals that over 4,000 crypto-rich players may have obtained some of their wealth through questionable means. According to 2021 and 2022 data, the report identified 4,068 suspicious crypto whales in this industry.
Chainalysis defines criminal whales as private cryptocurrency wallets that hold more than $1,000,000 worth of digital assets. More than 10% of these balances are from illegal addresses. Chainalysis provided a wealth of additional information in their write-up.
Canada invokes the ‘Emergencies Act’ to target crowdfunding and crypto
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister invoked the Emergencies Act Tuesday to stop fundraising efforts by Freedom Convoy, a self-described “Freedom Convoy” that has been staging large protests throughout the country. Chrystia Freedomland, Canadian deputy prime Minister, said that the blocking of funds falls under protection against terrorist funding.
Through online fundraising platforms GoFundMe or GiveSendGo, donors contributed more than $19 million to the protestors. Some donors have turned to Bitcoin funding in order to help the protestors because the funds were blocked from reaching them.
Top Cointelegraph Features
Color-innovators of color are restricted by the rules intended to protect them
“It is an evolution here in America moreso — technologies become adopted by the wealthier first […] then others.”
The Olympics: NFT skis and Bitcoin bobsledders.
Bitcoins and other non-fungible tokens will be all over the Olympics, while China’s CBDC will also be there amid a controversial rollout.
Wormhole hack highlights danger of DeFi cross chain bridges
This hack, the second largest decentralized finance hack of all time, raises questions about the Solana ecosystem as well as cross-chain protocols.
