Swissblock Crypto News
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Your daily crypto news and significant tweet alerts: Curated by Swissblock's market experts.
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👉 Unraveling the Mystery of Spot Bitcoin ETFs and More 🔹

How Spot Bitcoin ETFs Work: A Comprehensive Guide!
Bitcoin ETF news is everywhere, yet most of us crypto enthusiasts have very little understanding of their inner workings. Admittedly, it’s not that straightforward, but that's okay because we're here to demystify it all. Our goal? A concise, straightforward breakdown of what Bitcoin ETFs are and what actually goes on behind the scenes when buying or selling them.

Blockchain has lost its decentralized spirit - Blockworks
Decentralization must be the cornerstone, not a mere aspiration, of blockchain’s journey.

Dencun Will Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again | Bankless
L2s are at the heart of Ethereum’s scalability plans. Yet, with Ethereum's price hitting $4,000 and a surge in activity on both Ethereum and L2s, users are feeling the pinch from high transaction fees. These fees make everyday onchain activities expensive, pricing out many users.
👉 Record Daily Trading Volume for BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF and More 🔹

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF sets daily volume record as BTC recoups slump
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has notched another daily trading volume record as BTC dropped 6% from its daily high over the United States trading day.

Bitcoin Sells Off 3%; Is Macro Risk Returning to Market?
Bitcoin bulls so far this year have had a respite from having to pay attention to things like the economy and Federal Reserve monetary policy thanks to the overwhelming demand for the crypto from the new spot ETFs. For the moment, at least, that appears to be changing.

Over $300 million liquidated as $30 billion in leveraged shorts now cluster near $74k | CryptoSlate
Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new all-time high of $73,760 today, surpassing the previous record set just yesterday at $73,600. However, the top digital asset declined below $70,000 before rebounding to around $71,200 as of press time.
👉 El Salvador's Bitcoin Stash Nearly Doubles and More 🔹

Crypto gains recover to $38 billion last year after 2022’s $127 billion losses: Chainalysis | The Block
Crypto investors experienced a significant recovery from 2022, which saw estimated losses of $127.1 billion, according to Chainalysis.
Last year’s gains were lower than those of 2021, which may be because investors in 2023 were less likely to cash in on their crypto holdings, the report said.

Hong Kong’s central bank begins new phase of its CBDC pilot - Blockworks
According to a post on the central bank’s website Thursday, the next phase of the program will see where an e-HKD — Hong Kong’s potential future central bank digital currency — adds value through programmability, atomic settlement and even tokenization.

El Salvador Has Thousands More Bitcoins Than Previously Known
El Salvador moved more than 5,000 BTC into a cold wallet this week.
The disclosure by President Nayib Bukele nearly doubles the country's known stash of the digital asset.
👉 Gold and Bitcoin Rally: JPMorgan's Surprising Take and more 🔹

Bitcoin volatility becoming more focused at start of Wall Street trading week | CryptoSlate
Bitcoin prices appear to have exhibited an intriguing pattern of higher volatility on Tuesdays and Wednesdays since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs on January 11, 2024, per CryptoSlate analysis. While prices have tended to rise on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, there have been wilder intraday swings, with several V-shaped recoveries.

JPMorgan says bitcoin rally 'propagated' by retail and speculative institutional investors | The Block
The recent crypto rally has been “propagated” by investors purchasing both gold and bitcoin futures since February rather than by investors shifting from gold to bitcoin, according to JPMorgan analysts.

Qatar’s Sovereign Fund Might Be Buying Bitcoin, But Surely Not $500B Worth
Bitcoin maximalists like Max Keiser have spread rumors of a $500 billion BTC purchase by Qatar, which would be larger than the sovereign fund's current holdings.
The Qatar Investment Authority has denied investing. But, with BTC increasingly accepted on Wall Street, sovereign funds may add digital assets to their portfolios soon.
👉 Crypto Giants to Fuel UEFA Champions League: What's Next? and More 🔹

Craig Wright is not Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, UK judge says - Blockworks
According to a COPA spokesperson, Justice James Mellor — who oversaw the case — declared that Wright isn’t the author of the Bitcoin white paper, never operated under Nakamoto’s pseudonym, didn’t create Bitcoin, and didn’t author the original versions of the network.

Poll: Crypto-owning voters lean towards Trump as their next president | The Block
Close to half of crypto owners plan to vote for presidential candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming elections, a poll from Paradigm found.

UEFA Searching For Crypto Exchange Sponsors For Champions League
UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, is looking to secure sponsors from the crypto exchange sector for the upcoming 2024-2027 cycle of its prestigious men’s Champions League (UCL) club competition.
Which assets do you think are most likely to be ubiquitous (worth something and widely used) in 100 years?
Anonymous Poll
65%
Bitcoin
29%
Ethereum
9%
Solana
6%
Monero
20%
US Dollar
16%
Swiss Franc
👉 Justin Sun Stirs Waves with $480M ETH Deposit in Ether Fi and More 🔹

Tron Founder Justin Sun Fuels Ether Fi with Massive $480M ETH Deposit
A wallet linked to Justin Sun deposited 120,000 ETH, worth about $480 million, into Ether Fi, marking a significant event in the DeFi sector.
Ether Fi, after raising $23 million, is approaching $3 billion in total value locked, demonstrating its growing significance in the DeFi market.
The platform's collaboration with the Omni Network and the launch of its token are part of its strategic advancements.

Hong Kong adds Bybit to its list of suspicious crypto exchanges
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has added Bybit to its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms and issued a public warning about its unlicensed operations.
In a March 14 warning, the SFC said the platform is unlicensed and expressed concerns that Bybit has offered its products to Hong Kong investors.

North Korean Hackers Used Tornado Cash to Launder $12M From Heco Bridge Hack: Elliptic
North Korean hackers tied to its infamous Lazarus Group have used coin mixing service Tornado Cash to launder $12 million worth of ether (ETH) over the past 24 hours.
👉 Musk Teases Dogecoin Payment Option for Tesla, Market Reacts 🔹

EigenLayer teases mainnet's final roadmap before launch | The Block
After initiating a final testnet, which Eigen Labs said will be operational soon, EigenLayer will launch its mainnet.

zkSync welcomes AI data warehouse as latest addition to hyperchain - Blockworks
Space and Time (SxT), a decentralized data warehouse that uses artificial intelligence to train its data models, will be launching its network on a zkSync hyperchain.

DOGE Price Skyrockets as Musk Breaks Silence on Dogecoin for Tesla Payments
In a remarkable turn of events, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) soared following Elon Musk's recent comments at the Tesla Giga Event in Berlin. Musk, the renowned billionaire entrepreneur, hinted at the possibility of accepting Dogecoin as a payment method for Tesla vehicles in the future.
👉 Solana Surged 10% Amid Memecoin Mania and More 🔹

Beyond Blobs: Diving Into Dencun’s Overlooked Upgrades - The Defiant
In addition to EIP-4844, Dencun also introduced significant upgrades bolstering block space efficiency, user security, and network validation.

Crypto wallet Zerion is building a Layer 2 network that aims to offer zero fees | The Block
Zerion is building a Layer 2 network that is designed to offer zero fees.
The idea is that this should make it easier to onboard new people into crypto.

Solana market cap hits all-time high, price surges 10% amid memecoin fever | The Block
Solana cryptocurrency’s market capitalization crossed $81 billion on Friday morning in Asia, surpassing its previous high of $77.4 billion in November 2021.
Solana blockchain recently reached its all-time high for the daily number of new addresses on the network.
👉 Berachain's Massive $69M Funding Round Nears Completion, and more 🔹

Monad Devnet Launches with Scalability Promise – Could it Push Ethereum Technology to New Heights?
The highly anticipated layer 1 blockchain Monad officially launched its developer network (devnet) on March 14 after achieving an impressive 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) in internal testing environments.

Berachain reportedly raises $69 million in latest funding round: Bloomberg
The DeFi project’s valuation is expected to reach $1.5 billion upon completion of the funding round.
The team previously said it is set to launch its mainnet in the second quarter of 2024.

Promising Digital Crypto Banking Tools Provider, Vault, Plans for $180M Revenue by 2025
Vladimir Gorbunov, the Founder of Vault, shared the company's plans to reach $60 million in revenue by the end of 2024 and $180 million by the end of 2025. Gorbunov believes that the crypto-banking market has both the size and demand to achieve these revenue plans, and is favorable for Vault to secure its leadership position in the b2b sector which remains one of the company’s primary goals.
👉 Unstoppable Ethereum Battles Its 'Killers' and More 🔹

Ethereum vs Ethereum Killers: Is ETH at Risk?
The rise of "Ethereum killers" brings welcome competition and innovation to the cryptocurrency landscape. While they pose a challenge to Ethereum's dominance, they're unlikely to displace it entirely. Ethereum's ongoing upgrades and its massive network effect make it a formidable force.

The Biggest Bank Heist in History Is Coming
Regulators are permitting banks to tokenize financial assets such as bank deposits, U.S. Treasuries and corporate debt. But they want institutions to use permissioned networks rather than the decentralized blockchains that keep assets safe from hackers.

Elizabeth Warren crypto bill draws criticism and sparks election challenge
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, best known in crypto circles for her abject disdain of the blockchain industry, continues to draw fire for her ongoing campaign against digital assets.
👉 'Mr. 100' Surfaces as Puzzling Bitcoin Whale Amid Market Flux and More 🔹

Crypto Retraces This Week’s Gains as Traders Take Profits - The Defiant
Crypto traders are taking profit after Bitcoin marked a new record high and crossed $72,000 earlier this week.
Bitcoin is trading for $67,704, a 4.7% drop on the day, retracing its entire gains for the week.

Bitcoin's sudden price correction wipes out over $666 million from long traders in 24 hours
Bitcoin experienced a heavy price correction during Asian trading hours, dipping to a multi-week low of under $66,000, which resulted in significant losses for traders betting on further price increases.

Who is ‘Mr. 100’? Mysterious Bitcoin whale becomes 14th-biggest BTC holder
A mysterious Bitcoin whale, nicknamed “Mr. 100,” has sparked curiosity in the cryptocurrency space after amassing over 52,996 Bitcoin, worth over $3.5 billion, on-chain data shows.
👉 US Government's Bitcoin Stash Reaches $14.4B in Unrealized Gains and More 🔹

Cypherpunk Legend Adam Back Says $100,000 Bitcoin Price is 'Overdue'
One of Bitcoin's most significant contributors, Adam Back, believes the asset is currently undervalued, even at all-time price highs above $70,000.

US Government 210K Bitcoin Stash Hits $14.4B in Unrealized Gains
The US government's Bitcoin holdings are now valued at an estimated $14.4 billion, making it one of the largest Bitcoin holders globally.
Government departments have not sold any Bitcoin since July 2023, resulting in a 2.4 times increase in their unrealized profits.
Analysts from the Arkham platform estimate the government's Bitcoin holdings at 215,245 BTC, worth approximately $14.8 billion.

Mining giant Marathon set to buy another site just weeks ahead of bitcoin halving - Blockworks
Crypto miner growth initiatives ahead of the bitcoin halving are not slowing down, as one of the space’s biggest players continues its string of acquisitions.
Marathon Digital is set to buy a Texas bitcoin mining facility owned by Applied Digital for roughly $87 million in cash, the company said in a Friday news release.
What is the lowest BTC will go in the remainder of 2024? (in USD)
Final Results
19%
Sub-70k (we are here)
46%
Sub-60k
23%
Sub-50k
7%
Sub-40k
5%
Sub-30k
👉 US Senators Challenge Approval of Crypto ETF Proposals and more 🔹

US senators push SEC to reject other crypto ETF proposals, casting doubt on Ethereum ETF approval chances
The chances of approval for the pending spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications this May are strained as two US Senators urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reject other crypto ETF proposals.
In the March 11 letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Senators Jack Reed and Laphonza Butler advised the financial regulator to tighten its scrutiny of Bitcoin ETFs.

$190B wealth manager greenlights 4 bitcoin ETFs for allocators - Blockworks
Wealth management firm Cetera Financial Group has approved four bitcoin ETFs for advisers choosing to implement such funds into client portfolios.
The San Diego-based firm said Thursday it would launch educational training to its financial professionals as they consider allocations to bitcoin ETFs — marking the latest asset manager to make such a move.

Gold Investors Aren't Switching Into Bitcoin, JPMorgan Says
Outflows from gold exchange-traded funds and a surge in bitcoin ETF inflows fueled speculation investors were shifting from the precious metal into the cryptocurrency.
👉 FTX Founder Faces up to 50 Years in Prison and more 🔹

US prosecutors want SBF to serve at least four decades in prison
Federal prosecutors have requested a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) following his conviction for conducting one of the most significant financial frauds in recent times through the misappropriation of over $8 billion of customer funds.

US Election 2024: Crypto Giants to Fund Campaigns Against Critics
Crypto giants invest $10M to sway CA Senate race, eyeing pro-crypto policies.
Fairshake PAC raises $75M to back crypto-friendly candidates in 2024 elections.
Crypto lobby targets legislative efforts, fighting anti-money laundering regs.

How Artificial Intelligence Could Start To Boost Crypto Crime: Chainalysis
Artificial intelligence (AI) could breed a dangerous new category of crypto-based crime in the coming years, according to blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis.
👉 Gamers Flock Back to Axie Infinity: Ronin Chain Soars 45% and More 🔹

Starbucks ditches its Odyssey NFT program | TechCrunch
Starbucks announced Friday that it’s discontinuing its NFT program, which was in beta, to “prepare for what comes next as we continue to evolve the program,” according to an FAQ page.

Axie Infinity’s Ronin Chain Sees Renaissance As Gamers Return - The Defiant
RON is up 45% in the past week, with daily users soaring above one million, driven by integrations with third-party games like Pixels.

It’s cheaper to swap on layer-2s than on Ethereum, Uniswap research finds - Blockworks
A recent paper by Austin Adams, a researcher at Uniswap Labs, contends that swapping and liquidity provisions on layer-2 networks are significantly cheaper than on Ethereum’s mainnet.
👉 Record-Breaking: Solana’s BOME Memecoin Hits $600M in 48 Hours and More 🔹

Solana Coins Explode | Bankless
SOL Cycle. Crypto assets experienced an overnight sell-off, compounding losses from their Thursday morning plunge and pushing Bitcoin 11% off the all-time high it set just prior to the initial decline. Which L1 ecosystem finds itself positive on the day despite the drops?

Solana Memecoin BOME Hits $600 Million Market Cap In Less Than Two Days - The Defiant
Created by NFT artist Darkfarms, the ‘Book of Meme’ is stored on Arweave and “endeavors to encapsulate the ever-evolving meme culture within a digital compendium.”

Avalanche Foundation Snaps Up KIMBO, COQ, and Three Other Tokens as First Meme Coin Investment
Meme tokens are quickly moving from joke coins to a sector that represents the digital culture of any blockchain – with major foundations now directly investing in the growth of such tokens.
Avalanche’s first picks are dog-themed kimbo (KIMBO), chicken-themed Coq Inu (COQ), gecko-themed Gecko (GEC), technology joke token TECH, and Avax has no chill (NOCHILL).