A daily round-up of the most interesting articles on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether to help jump-start the day
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Market Buzz: Bitcoin trading above Rs 32.82 lakh
Cryptocurrencies traded in the green early on April 20. The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $79.78 billion, which makes a 17.10 percent decrease. The total volume in DeFi is currently $9.75 billion, 12.22 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stable coins is now $66.18 billion, which is 82.95 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. Bitcoin’s price is currently Rs 32.82 lakh, with a dominance of 41.02 percent. This was a 0.01 percent decrease over the day.
Big Story: Money laundering and terror financing biggest risks posed by crypto
The biggest risk of cryptocurrency could be money laundering and its use for financing terror, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “I think regulation using technology is the only answer. Regulation using technology will have to be so adept, that it has to be not behind the curve, but be sure that it is on top of it. And that’s not possible if any one country thinks that it can handle it. It has to be across the board,” the minister said.
Market Moves: Cryptoverse: Gold coins glimmer amid the global gloom
A fledgling class of crypto that feasts on risk is outshining a wider market paralyzed by war and inflation. Coins backed by gold are newer variants of “stablecoins”, which are typically pegged to the dollar to tame volatility. The largest, Pax Gold or PAXG, has jumped 7.4 percent in 2022, while main rival Tether Gold has leapt 8.5 percent. By contrast, bitcoin has lost over 13 percent and ether is down 20 percent. The reach for gold, a traditional hedge against geopolitical upheaval and inflation, is unsurprising.
Robinhood Markets signs agreement to acquire crypto app Ziglu
Robinhood Markets Incorporation, a US-based financial services firm, announced on April 19 that it had signed a deal to acquire Ziglu Limited – a UK-based electronic money institution and crypto-asset firm. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. In the near term, nothing will change for current Ziglu customers. Longer term, we’ll integrate Ziglu more fully into Robinhood, bring the Robinhood brand overseas, and work to expand operations beyond the UK into Europe.
Policy Pains
The new brain drain: Indian Web3 startups flock to Dubai amid regulatory uncertainty, stiff taxes. If there was one recurring theme that cut across multiple Web3 meet-ups held in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai in the last month, it was Dubai.
A city that has almost become an emotion and a panacea for entrepreneurs building on the Web3 platform, even as they grapple with an uncertain regulatory landscape and hefty taxes in India. This was also visible at the Web3 events held in Dubai in March, where Indians made up the majority of attendees, with pictures being flooded on Twitter and Web3 WhatsApp groups.
NFTs, digital assets backed by the technology that drives cryptocurrencies, are now spurring social change by facilitating fundraising for charitable causes ranging from female empowerment to supporting philanthropic efforts in war-torn countries such as Ukraine. This ability to fund initiatives for a range of socially important issues through the sale of NFTs could power the next growth phase for this asset class.