Coming every Saturday Hodler’s compendium It will help you keep track of all the important news that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top news this week
$1 trillion opportunity: JPMorgan becomes the first major bank in the metaverse
The United States banking giant, JPMorgan Chase, has plunged into what it sees as an important and promising scenario of opportunity: the metaverse. The bank has recently opened a digital lounge called Onyx in the Decentraland metaverse. Decentraland serves as one of many projects in the crypto industry using blockchain to provide a digital world experience, in other words, a metaverse.
JPMorgan sees significant potential in the new move into digital worlds. “The metaverse is likely to infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with a market opportunity estimated at more than $1 trillion in annual revenue,” the bank said in a report. However, to reach its potential, the metaverse movement requires further development in several key areas, according to the report.
Onyx is also the name of JPMorgan’s blockchain-based payment system.
The FBI is launching a team to tackle crypto exploitation: US Deputy Attorney General.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is creating a special unit to go after illegal crypto activity, such as ransomware attacks. Armed with experts who wield knowledge of the digital asset space, the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit will be the FBI’s team on the crypto crime front, according to comments from US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in the Munich Cyber Security Conference.
“Ransomware and digital extortion, like many other cryptocurrency-fueled crimes, only work if the bad guys get paid, which means we have to bust their business model,” Monaco explained. The new FBI team will act alongside the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which is headed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The Justice Department also has plans to combat cryptocrime internationally, according to Monaco.
SEC Hits BlockFi With $100M Fine, Gives 60 Days To Comply With A 1940 Law
BlockFi reached a settlement with regulators this week in response to resistance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which had labeled BlockFi’s interest account as a securities product. Operating since 2019, the BlockFi offering in question allows users to lend cryptocurrencies and receive notable interest in return.
BlockFi agreed to pay the SEC $50 million as a penalty. Additionally, 32 US states took action against BlockFi, resulting in an additional $50 million BlockFi must pay to those regions, totaling $100 million in penalties.
Going forward, BlockFi has a 60-day period to align the product with the Investment Company Act of 1940. In the meantime, BlockFi will stop onboarding new users until it complies with the regulation.
Digital Ruble Test Triggers as Bank of Russia Insists on Bitcoin Ban
The Bank of Russia announced this week that initial tests of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) were successful after several transfers of the digital ruble were made to Russian citizens. A total of 12 financial institutions participated in the digital ruble pilot, putting the central bank on track to launch its CBDC program later this year.
The CBDC news came after anti-crypto comments by Bank of Russia head Elvira Nabiullina the week before. Because CDBCs are under the direct control of governments, they differ from traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Cointelegraph Publishes Top 100 in Crypto and Blockchain 2022
This week, Cointelegraph released its 2022 top 100 list the most influential figures in the crypto and blockchain space. The Top 100 includes profiles of people and trends that impacted the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in 2021. Each profile also includes an overview of what we can expect from each influencer or trend for the rest of 2022.
Cointelegraph will unveil the list over the course of the next few days, releasing 10 profiles a day until all 100 are listed. The first batch of 10 was revealed on Thursday, with Rekt Capital starting the list at number 100.
Cointelegraph has released previous installments of its top 100 list in previous years.
winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) I sat down $40,036ether (ETH) on $2,790 and XRP on $0.77. The total market capitalization is $1.81 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Rally (RLY) at 18.86%, Neo (NEO) at 13.93% and Qtum (QTUM) at 9.58%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are IoTeX (IOTX) at -17.58%, Ethereum Classic (ETC) at -16.35% and Red Theta (TIT) at -16.17%.
For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
most memorable quotes
“We are literally burning the gas in the atmosphere just because it is not economical to do anything with it. Instead, we can put it in a motor to produce electricity and use that to mine Bitcoin.”
Kristian CsepcsarCMO of Slush Pool
“I mean, we can call them a bet, but in the end, we always knew v1 [CryptoPunks] they weren’t legitimate punks; they were simply artifacts that led to the creation of Punks. So they have a place in history but I doubt that place is worth 1K ETH lol.”
looking weird#0911discord user
“However, it is becoming increasingly clear that 2022 will be a pivotal year when it comes to crypto asset management.”
Thomas Campioneblockchain and crypto asset leader at PwC Luxembourg
“I know that the big ones (Bitcoiners) already live in Portugal. They are anonymous. They are not like me out there, but they are already here. They are spending their money on houses; they are spending their Bitcoins on everything.”
Didi Taihuttofather of the bitcoin family
“We hope that by this summer, very soon, we will be accepting cryptocurrencies for all of our state tax-related purposes.”
jared copsGovernor of Colorado
“El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable U.S. trading partner in Central America.”
james rischUnited States Senator
“I certainly did not invest in cryptocurrencies. I’m proud of the fact that I avoided it. It’s like a venereal disease.
Charlie MungerBerkshire Hathaway vice president
“We have to abolish the last privilege of the rich, financial ignorance.”
Christophe de BeukelaerMember of Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
prediction of the week
BTC Price Drops Below $40K as Wall Street Open Means Pain for Bitcoin Bulls
Bitcoin was down in a somewhat turbulent week for the markets. The asset touched nearly $45,000 on Tuesday before falling to around $39,500 on Friday, according to Cointelegraph BTC Price Index.
Twitter personality and trader Rekt Capital expects Bitcoin to continue price movement within the lower half of a sizable “macro” price range that runs from around $30,000 to $69,000. “$BTC will continue to occupy the lower half of the macro range until further notice,” Rekt Capital said in a tweet.
fud of the week
UK tax authority makes first NFT seizure in VAT fraud case
Three people were arrested for allegedly evading taxes owed to the UK government, with the country’s tax body, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, taking control of three non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the process.
The confiscated NFTs were considered seized assets and were not used by the suspects in their alleged tax evasion scheme. Under false identities, the suspects allegedly avoided value-added taxes to the tune of $1.8 million by using more than 200 fake companies.
4% Of Crypto Whales Are Criminals And Have $25 Billion Between Them: Chainalysis
According to a new report from Chainalysis, more than 4,000 big crypto players have allegedly amassed some of their wealth through questionable means. The report noted 4,068 questionable crypto whales in the industry, based on data from 2021 and 2022.
Chainalysis classifies criminal whales as private crypto wallets containing digital assets worth more than $1 million, with more than 10% of their balances coming from illicit addresses. The Chainalysis article also included a lot of additional information.
Canada invokes the ‘Emergencies Law’ aimed at crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies
On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in an attempt to block fundraising efforts by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy,” which has been staging large-scale protests across the country. According to Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, the measure to block funds falls under the umbrella of protecting against the financing of terrorism.
Donors had contributed more than $19 million to protesters through online fundraising platforms GoFundMe and GiveSendGo. Since those funds have been prevented from reaching the protesters, some donors have resorted to funding the movement using Bitcoin.
The best features of Cointelegraph
Crypto Innovators of Color Restricted by Rules Meant to Protect Them
“It’s an evolution here in the US Also, technologies are first adopted by wealthier people. […] and then to others”.
Crypto at the Olympics: NFT Skis, Bitcoin Bobsleds, and CBDC Controversy
Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens are at all Olympics this year, while China’s CBDC is also there amid a controversial launch.
Wormhole hack illustrates the danger of DeFi cross-chain bridging
The second largest decentralized finance hack to date raises questions about the Solana ecosystem and cross-chain protocols.
This post BlockFi Reaches Settlement With SEC, Russian CBDC Testing Begins, and Cointelegraph Releases Its 2022 Top 100 List: Hodler’s Digest, Feb 13-19
was published first on https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/2022/02/19/blockfi-sec-russia-cbdc-trials-begin-cointelegraph-releases-2022-to-100-hodlers-digest-feb-13-19
