Bitcoin Plunge, Ethereum for Testnet Soars[Top News from 2/25 to 3/3]| coindesk JAPAN | Coindesk Japan

As for the Bitcoin price: “The rhythm of higher highs and higher lows (=uptrend) is still going on until it breaks below the recent low of $22,800, which is the first sign of weakness. Probably.” ──Looking back on this week’s top news in a digest.

Nasdaq-listed centralized crypto asset (virtual currency) exchange Coinbase announced on February 23rd an Ethereum scaling solution that leverages the technology of Optimism, a Layer 2 solution for the Ethereum blockchain. bottom. The news seems to have set fire to optimism-related crypto assets.

The cryptocurrency market is off to a much better start than expected, with a market capitalization of about $1.1 trillion, up 42% year-to-date, Bank of America reports Feb. 24. said in

“We believe that 2023 will be a year in which crypto asset prices diverge” (report)

Goerli ether (gETH) surged from $0.07 on February 24 to over $1.60 over the weekend. The market capitalization has also reached 15 million dollars (approximately 2 billion yen, 1 dollar = 135 yen conversion).

According to DEXTools, nearly $1 million of gETH has been traded in the last 24 hours, with a total circulation of 3.79 million gETH and 1,260 holders as of this writing.

The basis for a global regulatory framework for crypto-assets will be shaped by a document jointly prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Group of 20 (G20) financial institutions said on February 25. Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting) announced by India.

Short bitcoin funds saw inflows of $10 million in the week ending Feb. 24, according to data released Feb. 27 by crypto manager CoinShares. Meanwhile, long bitcoin funds saw $12 million in outflows for the third consecutive week.

Crypto investment fund North Rock is betting on Bitcoin (BTC) growth and eyeing Stacks token STX. Stax is a so-called Layer 2 companion chain for smart contracts focused on Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, enabling the creation of related financial instruments.

According to CoinGecko data, STX is up about 23% in the last 24 hours. That was on top of a 50% jump in the previous seven days. Demand for the token is fueled by the Ordinals Protocol, which launched on January 21 and allows users to carve references to digital art onto the Bitcoin blockchain. The token has a market capitalization of over $1.2 billion as of February 27.

Liquid staking, the ability to lock crypto assets (virtual currencies) on blockchain networks for rewards while preserving liquidity, is now larger than DeFi lending and borrowing.

According to DeFi Llama, the total amount of crypto assets deposited in the Liquid Staking protocol was $14.1 billion as of February 27, making it the second largest crypto sector. The total amount locked in the DeFi lending protocol was $13.7 billion (approximately ¥1.868 trillion), ranked third, and decentralized exchanges with deposits of $19.4 billion (approximately ¥2.65 trillion) ranked first. rice field.

US cryptocurrency trading giant Coinbase will suspend trading of stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) from March 13. He announced on Twitter on February 27 that the reason was that he did not meet the listing criteria.

The largest NFT company is entering Bitcoin NFTs with a new collection.

Yuga Labs said on February 27 that it plans to launch its NFT collection on the Ordinals protocol, which is based on the Bitcoin blockchain. Ordinals has grown in popularity since its launch last month.

JCB, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Resona Holdings, Sompo Japan Insurance, Toppan Printing, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Corporation, and TBT Lab will join the “Japan Metaverse Economic Zone” on February 27. announced that it has signed a basic agreement to create

The Japan Metaverse economic zone is said to represent an ecosystem formed by interoperability between various metaverses using the open metaverse platform “Ryugukoku (provisional name)” developed by JP GAMES of the TBT Lab Group. “Ryugu Koku (Tentative)” is a metaverse platform that incorporates the elements of a slow online different world RPG with a unique fantasy world view.

Liquidity in the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) markets continues to decline, making it more worrying than it was three months ago. As such, traders are concerned about sharp price volatility in the cryptocurrency market.

Data from Paris-based cryptocurrency data provider Kaiko shows that the 2% depth of the Bitcoin-USDT pair on 15 centralized exchanges is lower than immediately after the FTX collapse in November, the lowest since May 2022. It turned out to be depressed to the low 6800 BTC. This is a significant drop from October’s 15,000-plus BTC level. Ethereum’s 2% depth is 57,000 ETH, more than halved since October.

Its native token GMM surged 340% to $0.0025 on Feb. 28 after Metaverse project Gamium announced partnerships with US social media giant Meta and Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica. .

US payments giant Visa said on Feb. 28 that it continues to invest in the industry and support its technology despite recent problems in the cryptocurrency industry, including the FTX bankruptcy.

Reuters reported earlier this morning that Visa was “putting the brakes on” new partnerships with crypto firms, but a Visa spokesperson told CoinDesk that this was not the case.

SBI Holdings announced on February 28 that it will conclude a share transfer agreement with the existing shareholders of HashHub, a comprehensive blockchain company, and make the company a consolidated subsidiary. After the share transfer is completed, the SBI Group’s shareholding ratio is expected to become 100%.

Liquid staking tokens rose after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) targeted the Kraken staking service and set its sights on the technology.

However, according to cryptocurrency custodian Hex Trust, even though the category is headed for the $15 billion mark, Asia’s Institutional investors have shown no interest in this category, he said.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose as positive Chinese manufacturing data eased global growth concerns and improved risk appetite in global financial markets.

China’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 52.6 in February from 50.1 in January, the highest in a decade, according to data released on March 1. A number above 50 indicates an increase in activity. The non-manufacturing PMI also rose to 56.3 from 54.4 in January.

The native token, IOST, surged after the IOST Network announced a strategic partnership agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

According to the announcement, IOST, which stands for Internet of Services Token, will integrate AWS’ Web3 solution into its ecosystem to provide Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), GameFi and Web3. are trying to strengthen

As the European Commission (EC) prepares to unveil its strategy for online virtual worlds in May, the EC’s head of antitrust, Margrethe Vestager, said the metaverse sector is also sound. He said he wanted to make sure there was competition.

“It’s time to start asking what healthy competition looks like in the metaverse,” Vestager, EC’s competition and digital chairman, said at an event in Brussels, Belgium. She also mentioned the impact of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) service.

SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Chairman Gary Gensler has dismissed the idea that cryptocurrency exchanges could become secure eligible custodians for investment advisors.

At the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting on March 2, Gensler recently proposed to instruct investment advisors to ask qualified custodians to hold assets, including crypto assets. It said the new rules would provide “significant enhancements” to existing protection rules. The chair also said that cryptocurrency exchanges should not be considered safe under these guidelines.

Digital asset investment product assets under management (AUM) in February reached their highest level since May 2022, according to a report released by CryptoCompare on March 2.

AUM of digital asset investment products in February increased by 5.2% from January to 28.3 billion dollars (approximately 3.82 trillion yen, converted to 1 dollar = 135 yen), an increase for 3 consecutive months.

Silvergate Capital (SI), a bank focused on crypto assets, lost more than 50% of its stock price on March 2 due to doubts about its business continuity due to losses after the FTX bankruptcy in November last year and various regulatory issues. The lowest price ever.

The bank is one day late, will need more than two weeks to prepare its annual report (Form 10-K, Japan’s securities report), and the impact of recent events will affect its ability to continue operations. said it could come out. The majority of customers have also stopped doing business with the bank following the announcement.

On March 2nd, GU Technologies, which develops and provides Web3 infrastructure, started a proof-of-concept to issue stablecoins on Japan Open Chain, a public blockchain fully compatible with the Ethereum blockchain operated by a Japanese company. announced. Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, Minna no Bank, and Shikoku Bank will participate in the demonstration experiment.

Bitcoin (BTC) tumbles Monday morning after shares of crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital plunged more than 50% over concerns about business continuity. However, it rose in the afternoon, and at the time of writing this article, it rose 0.4% to around $23,500 in 24 hours (however, after 10:20 Japan time, it fell sharply and fell below $23,000. rice field).

｜Text and editing: coindesk JAPAN editorial department
｜Image: Shutterstock