What happened this week in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies? The most relevant local and international events as well as appealing background reports in a concise and compact weekly review.
Selected articles of the week:
Inflation, interest rate cuts, interest rate hikes, stagflation, economic crises, etc. Our everyday lives are increasingly affected by monetary policy complications. If you want to understand the reasons behind this, you have to turn the wheel of time back to the beginnings of money. In the second part of the CVJ.CH Academy, we delve into the history of our current currencies, which underwent a significant structural change in 1971 when the gold standard was ended. The subsequent problems ultimately led to the invention of Bitcoin.
Everyone uses it, but few know the history of our number one medium of exchange. Money – from its origins to the present day.
Outflows from the US Bitcoin ETFs
On January 11, 2024, nearly a dozen fund providers were given the green light to launch the first spot-based Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Among the issuers are financial titans such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and many more. Since the launch, several hundred million US dollars have flowed into the products every week. This has pushed the Bitcoin price up considerably. The most recent correction unsettled Wall Street for the first time and led to outflows though – even from BlackRock’s IBIT.
Since their launch in mid-January, the impressive inflows into the newly approved U.S. bitcoin ETFs…
IMF recognizes Bitcoin’s potential
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was founded after the economic crisis following the Second World War with the task of supporting a stable global economy. Due to its role and the enormous resources of several hundred billion USD tied up in the fund, the IMF has considerable influence in setting policy. Historically, the International Monetary Fund has been rather critical of Bitcoin. Now it recognizes the disruptive potential of the technology in cross-border payments.
An IMF research paper on Bitcoin’s role in cross-border capital flows highlights crypto’s potential for facilitating global transactions.
CZ receives prison sentence
Within just a few years, the crypto exchange Binance experienced a rapid rise from a new start-up to the most dominant crypto trading platform. What helped the exchange was a certain degree of “regulatory flexibility”. This included lax KYC requirements and the lack of an official headquarters. Regulators only really took notice in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. Fortunately, there were no violations of money laundering laws and the exchange did not misappropriate any client funds. As a result, the founder and former CEO only has to serve four months in prison.
The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”), must serve four months in prison for violating money laundering laws.
Competition among stablecoin providers
In addition: despite several high-profile collapses and depeggings in recent years, stablecoins have continued to gain market share against fiat currencies. After all, cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar offer a formidable blockchain alternative. While Tether’s USDT continues to dominate the market, competitors such as First Digital (FDUSD) are gaining market share thanks to campaigns with Binance.
A summarizing review of what has been happening at the crypto markets of the past week. A weekly report in cooperation with Kaiko.
