Leaving the Bitcoin halving behind but not entirely, the crypto market is going on with its big and numerous changes involving various crypto projects from all over the world.
Last week was marked by a plethora of significant events, such as new and concerning regulations, surprising lawsuits, a major update for a top network, restructuring plans, and many more.
Thus, let’s see what happened in crypto last week.
Table of contents
Top Crypto News
The top crypto news of last week highlighted the US with a new signed bill, Solana and its major network update, and a sudden change in the SEC’s team of lawyers.
Biden Signed a Bill Giving US Agencies More Spying Power
Summary
President Joe Biden signed a new bill giving US intelligence agencies the power to request data about projects located abroad.
Details
US President Joe Biden signed a new bill that extends a questionable surveillance authority by two years, until 2026. The new bill signed by Biden is called the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. It extends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Basically, this new bill gives intelligence agencies (such as the National Security Agency) the power to direct US internet and telecom providers to hand over data on foreign targets located abroad to use in internal investigations.
This includes crypto projects from various jurisdictions, and this can represent a concerning fact, especially considering that many jurisdictions are now conducting crypto crackdowns that already affect the market surprisingly.
Source: Nextgov
Solana Will Launch a New Network Update
Summary
Solana announced that it will launch a major network update in May 2024 to improve scalability on the network.
Details
Solana Network is getting ready to launch a remarkable new update, which will be released on May 27, 2024. The update will be primarily focused on the congestion problems that have recently increased due to bot-driven transactions for various meme coins. This led to a spike in transaction failures.
Thus, the Solana team has been working on a series of upgrades that aim to improve the network performance in order to overcome these challenges. Besides, Solana has also launched version 1.18.11 of the devnet on April 13. This version was developed in collaboration with Anza, a key infrastructure developer.
Source: BeInCrypto
SEC Lawyers Resigned After “Gross Abuse” of Power in Past Case
Summary
Two attorneys from the SEC were forced to resign or else be terminated after leading to a declaration of “gross abuse of power” against the SEC in a past case.
Details
Two lawyers from the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) team were forced to resign after the national agency was sanctioned for committing a “gross abuse of power” during a case against Utah-based crypto company Debt Box.
Thus, Michael Welsh, the former lead attorney on the Debt Box case, and Joseph Watkins, the investigative attorney whose declaration was considered the foundation for the SEC case against Debt Box, were forced to step down from the legal team or else be terminated, according to a report offered by Bloomberg.
Source: CoinDesk
Top Crypto News – Regulations
In the crypto industry, regulations keep on coming, and last week we were surprised by new regulations in Thailand, a lawsuit in Canada, and two founders arrested in the US and Portugal.
Thailand Will Start Blocking Unlicensed Exchanges
Summary
The Thai SEC announced that it will start blocking unlicensed crypto exchanges to reduce money laundering and other online crimes.
Details
Thailand announced that it will block unlicensed crypto exchanges “to solve online crimes.” Thai authorities stated that they will require unlicensed crypto firms to stop operating in order to prevent money laundering along with other types of online crimes.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission will also provide a list of unlicensed crypto exchanges that currently operate in the country, offering it to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.
The new order was made public by Pornanong Budsaratragoon, the Secretary-General of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: Cointelegraph
Binance Was Sued in Canada
Summary
Binance is involved in a lawsuit filed in Ontario after it offered crypto derivatives to retail investors in the jurisdiction.
Details
Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is now facing a class-action lawsuit in Ontario, Canada, after offering crypto derivatives to retail investors. This might have violated the Ontario Securities Act and federal regulations. The lawsuit was filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice.
The plaintiffs, Christopher Lochan and Jeremy Leeder, who represent the harmed Canadian investors, claim that the offerings of crypto derivatives led to significant financial damages.
Overall, the lawsuit seeks both damages for the investors who were affected and the cancellation of the trades that are violating the current Canadian regulations.
Source: BSC News
Samourai Wallet Co-Founders Were Arrested
Summary
Two Samourai Wallet co-founders were arrested after being charged with money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting business.
Details
Samourai Wallet CEO and CFO were arrested after US prosecutors alleged that they developed a crypto mining service that conducted unlawful transactions worth $2 billion. They now face charges of money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting business, each carrying a surprising maximum prison sentence.
Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Lonergan Hill, co-founders of the crypto project, were caught in the United States and Portugal, respectively.
While arresting the two co-founders, authorities also seized Samourai Wallet’s domain and servers, making the application unavailable for download in the United States.
Source: CryptoPotato
Top Crypto News – Markets
Bitcoin Outperformed Tesla Stock for the First Time in 5 Years
Summary
Bitcoin has outperformed Tesla in long-term gains for the past 5 years.
Details
Bitcoin’s price has outperformed Tesla’s stock (TSLA) over the past five years in percentage terms. In what concerns long-term gains, since 2019, Bitcoin’s price has risen over 1,180%, while TSLA’s price has risen a bit over 806%, according to TradingView.
This can be influenced by a plethora of factors, but surely the recent major events involving Bitcoin played a major role in this milestone. Bitcoin ETFs were approved in January, and 4 months later, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap experienced a new and historical halving.
Source: Cointelegraph
Top Crypto News – Metaverse
When talking about the metaverse, the changes and new launches surprise us each and every week. Last week, Meta announced a historical change in its plan to develop the metaverse.
Meta Will Let Major Companies Build New Quest Metaverse Hardware
Summary
Meta started working with major companies such as Lenovo, Asus, and Xbox to develop new software and hardware for Quest.
Details
Meta announced that it will offer the operating system that powers Quest, the line of mixed-reality devices, for third-party hardware and software development. The change also includes a new name for the operating system (Meta Horizon OS) and a rebranding of the Quest Store to “Meta Horizon Store.”
Thus, Meta has already started working with major companies, including Lenovo, Asus, and Xbox to develop new hardware or software. The projects which are already under development include a “performance gaming headset,” new Meta Horizon OS devices, and a limited-edition Xbox-themed Meta Quest headset.
Source: Cointelegraph
Top Crypto News – NFTs
Although NFTs are experiencing a downtrend in the recent months, they still are significantly popular, and NFT companies are doing everything possible to restore their popularity and prices. Last week, Yuga Labs made a surprising announcement.
Yuga Labs to Get Through a New Restructuring Plan
Summary
Yuga Labs announced a new restructuring that includes layoffs and aims to build a better team for the project.
Details
Web3 and NFT company Yuga Labs announced a new restructuring plan that also implies some layoffs. Greg Solano, the co-founder of Yuga Labs and current CEO of the company since February 2024, announced the restructuring on social media by publishing the company memo.
According to Greg Solano’s note, Yuga Labs “lost its way” and has to focus on building “a smaller, more agile and crypto-native team.” The announcement regarding the restructuring plan and the layoffs came only a few hours after the company announced that Won Kim joined the team as head of brand partnerships.
Source: The Block
Top Crypto News – Altcoins
These days, when we’re saying “altcoins,” it gets harder and harder not to think straight about meme coins. This is what happened last week, too, with a major exchange offering even more services for one of the most popular meme coins at the moment.
Coinbase Launched PEPE Perpetual Futures
Summary
Coinbase announced that it started supporting PEPE perpetual futures trading on both Coinbase Simple Trade and Coinbase Advanced Trade.
Details
Coinbase, the 2nd largest crypto exchange in the market, announced that it will widen its trading portfolio by introducing support for PEPE perpetual futures. Coinbase Advanced also started supporting the meme coin, allowing experienced traders to benefit from this change.
PEPE has seen a surprising evolution during the past days and weeks, and part of its increase in price and trading volume can be attributed to its listing on Coinbase, which is one of the most trusted crypto exchanges at the moment, if not even the most trusted one. At the moment of writing, PEPE has a price of $0.000007054, with an 8.59% increase in price in the past 7 days.
Source: BeInCrypto, Analytics Insight
