Autor Cointelegraph By Editorial Staff

Top Stories This Week

Elon Musk threatens Microsoft with lawsuit, claims AI trained on Twitter data

Microsoft has been threatened with a lawsuit from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who claimed the Big Tech firm “illegally” trained its artificial intelligence on Twitter data. The entrepreneur suggested that Microsoft mined user tweets to train its AI-powered applications. Musk tweeted that it was “lawsuit time” after reports that Microsoft would cease supporting Twitter across its online social advertising tools. Musk and Microsoft are believed to be at odds over artificial intelligence. The tech billionaire is developing a ChatGPT rival known as “TruthGPT”. Microsoft owns a 49% stake in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

Rep. Davidson to introduce legislation to fire SEC boss Gensler for crypto overreach

U.S. Representative Warren Davidson announced plans to introduce legislation to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. According to the lawmaker, the upcoming bill is meant to “correct a long series of abuses.” Davidson disclosed the plan after the SEC’s latest attempt to revisit the definition of “exchange.” The week wasn’t the best for Gensler. During an oversight hearing, Gensler was heavily criticized for his approach on crypto assets.

Australia installs more Bitcoin ATMs than whole of Asia

Australia surpassed the continent of Asia in terms of the total number of crypto ATMs installed. Since the beginning of 2023, the country has been on a crypto ATM installation spree, climbing from fifth to third position in the rank in January alone. Data from Coin ATM Radar confirms that Australia has kept up the effort to install avenues for fiat-to-crypto conversions, reaching 364 crypto ATMs across the country, behind the United States and Canada.

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Blockchain Startups Think Justice Can Be Decentralized, but the Jury Is Still Out

Societe Generale subsidiary launches euro-pegged stablecoin on Ethereum

Societe Generale-Forge, a regulated subsidiary of French banking firm Societe Generale, has launched a euro-pegged stablecoin for qualified institutional clients. Dubbed EUR CoinVertible, the stablecoin was designed in response to the growing demand for a new settlement asset for on-chain transactions, said Societe Generale-Forge. The stablecoin will offer new solutions for corporate treasury; cash management and cash pooling; on-chain liquidity funding and refinancing solutions.

Intel will stop manufacturing chips for Bitcoin miners

Intel has reportedly announced plans to discontinue its line of Blockscale Bitcoin mining chips in an effort to reduce costs. The decision comes nearly one year after the company announced the hardware line. The chip-manufacturing company will stop taking orders for the Blockscale 1000 Series ASICs by October and is estimated to end shipping in April 2024. Mining firms Argo Blockchain, Block, Hive Blockchain Technologies and Griid Infrastructure were among the first companies to integrate the technology into their operations.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $27,331, Ether (ETH) at $1,845 and XRP at $0.44. The total market cap is at $1.15 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Casper (CSPR) at 3.51%, OKB (OKB) at 3.33% and UNUS SED LEO (LEO) at 2.06%.   

The top three altcoin losers of the week are SingularityNET (AGIX) at -23.73%, Immutable (IMX) at -23.28% and Stacks (STX) at -22.94%.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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Crypto winter can take a toll on hodlers’ mental health

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Storming the ‘last bastion’: Angst and anger as NFTs claim high-culture status

Most Memorable Quotations

“Crypto is not a new financial product, but an evolution or fundamental change in the way individuals and organizations exchange value.”

Gabby Kusz, CEO of the Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association

“When I am asked to consult or advise for [stablecoin] projects […], my first advice has now become to avoid US operations and a US domicile. The jobs are going elsewhere.”

Austin Campbell, adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School

“I think we’re at the end of the era where it’s going to be these, like, giant, giant models. We’ll make them better in other ways.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

“I’m going to start something which I call TruthGPT, or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.”

Elon Musk, tech entrepreneur

“I think we’re going to have to actually end up going to court [against the SEC] to get the clarity we need and create the case law.”

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

“To correct a long series of abuses, I am introducing legislation that removes the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and replaces the role with an Executive Director that reports to the Board (where authority resides).”

Warren Davidson, United States representative

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin pulls back from recent highs and loses support

Bitcoin and a number of altcoins have fallen below their respective support levels, in a worrying sign that the bulls could be losing their grip. On April 21, Bitcoin and most major cryptocurrencies pulled back from their recent local highs, signaling profit-booking by traders.

Bollinger Bands creator John Bollinger said in a recent tweet that Bitcoin had turned down from the upper Bollinger Band and reached the middle bank, near its breakout level. He said it was a “logical place” and advised traders to “pay attention.”The BTC/USDT pair may next slip to $26,500 and, thereafter, to the neckline of the inverse head-and-shoulders pattern at $25,250. If the price rebounds off $25,250, it will indicate that the neckline is acting as a higher floor, according to Cointelegraph’s price analysis.

FUD of the Week 

MetaMask denies claims of wallet exploit in ‘massive’ $10M hack

MetaMask has denied claims that an exploit of its wallet is the cause of a “massive wallet draining operation” that claimed over $10.5 million in NFTs and coins since December 2022, including 5,000 Ether. According to MetaMask, the digital assets were stolen “from various addresses across 11 blockchains.” How the attack occurred is unclear. Experts speculate that there had been “some sort of private key or seed phrase leak.”

Tornado Cash dev Alex Pertsev set to be released from prison under surveillance

After nearly nine months in prison, Tornado Cash developer Alex Pertsev will be released from jail. Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev in August last year on suspicion of money laundering through the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. Pertsev should be back home by April 26, which also happens to be his birthday. His suspended release under surveillance means the developer can await trial from home.

SafeMoon hacker agrees to return 80% of stolen funds, says development team

The attacker who drained $8.9 million of Binance Coin from SafeMoon has agreed to return 80% of the funds. As per the agreement between the DeFi protocol and the hacker, the remaining 20% will be kept as a bounty. SafeMoon has further agreed not to file any legal actions against them, claiming the decision is in the best interest of SafeMoon and its community. Boosting bug bounties and paying them more diligently could motivate hackers to report bugs instead of exploit them, according to some Web3 developers.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

The chairman of the SEC recently said that almost all cryptocurrencies will be regulated as securities. Questions remain whether that’s an accurate statement and if the agency is regulating tokens by enforcement.

Here’s how Ethereum’s ZK-rollups can become interoperable

A single ZK-rollup can’t scale Ethereum. But by working together in an interoperable ecosystem, ZK-rollups and ETH can take on the world.

From SNL and The Tonight Show to Sotheby’s: NFT Creator Bryan Brinkman

Bryan Brinkman took a journey from working on SNL and The Tonight Show to becoming a full-time NFT animation artist.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

Top Stories This Week

Ethereum’s Shapella hard fork executed on mainnet

The Ethereum blockchain’s mainnet, also referred to as the Beacon Chain, implemented the Shapella hard fork on April 12. The upgrade made fund withdrawals possible for those who have staked the network’s Ether (ETH) asset. Within the first hour of the hard fork, a total of 12,859 Ether were unlocked in 4,333 withdrawals, according to Ethereum block explorer beaconchai.in. Nearly a day after the upgrade, ETH surpassed the $2,000 price point.

FTX has recovered $7.3B in assets, will consider rebooting exchange

A comeback for FTX is on the table, according to the legal team of the bankrupted crypto exchange. In an April 12 hearing, FTX’s lawyers said the company had already recovered about $7.3 billion in liquid assets and was considering restarting its crypto exchange operations in the second quarter of 2024, suggesting a reboot as early as April. After the news broke, FTX token (FTT) surged over 112%. Meanwhile in Europe, a Swiss court approved the sale of the firm’s European operations.

OpenAI finds fresh support from Japan amid global country-wide bans

Japan is interested in potentially using technology from artificial intelligence (AI) outfit OpenAI — the creator of chatbot ChatGPT — depending on the resolution of issues relating to cybersecurity and privacy. The interest was expressed by Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, aims to work with Japan to build technology for the country. OpenAI has faced opposition from multiple countries, however. The artificial intelligence race has also accelerated this week with Amazon, Alibaba and Twitter working on their own AI initiatives.

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South Korea’s unique and amazing crypto universe

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Lushsux: A decade of ass-whoopin’ and skullduggery in a single NFT 

Twitter to launch crypto and stock trading in partnership with eToro

Twitter is reportedly planning to introduce a new feature that lets users trade cryptocurrencies and stocks. The feature will allow users to browse market charts for a wider variety of financial instruments, as well as purchase or sell crypto and other assets through Twitter’s partner fintech firm, eToro. Musk had earlier floated the idea of making Twitter a “super app,” offering users access to several online services in one place.

Mastercard launches NFT-gated musician accelerator program

Mastercard is one of several traditional finance companies that have ventured into the Web3 arena in recent years. Most recently, on April 12, the company announced its new artist accelerator program with a Web3 twist: The program is NFT-gated and, therefore, only accessible to holders of its Mastercard Music Pass NFT. The NFT is limited-edition and free until the end of the month for both musicians and fans, while the program was created in partnership with Polygon.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,439, Ether (ETH) at $2,105 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.28 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Injective (INJ) at 54.92%, WOO Network (WOO) at 46.91% and Arbitrum (ARB) at 42.04%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Enjin Coin (ENJ) at -6.49%, Basic Attention Token (BAT) at -2.89% and BitTorrent New (BTT) at -1.19%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — plus crypto tax tips

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From Director of the United States Mint to the Very First Bitcoin IRA Customer

Most Memorable Quotations

“If we want a strong U.S. dollar globally, a U.S. dollar stablecoin is a way to see that happen.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation

“Bitcoin is a gambling token, and it doesn’t have any intrinsic value.”

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

“There is a very natural tendency to borrow traditional financial industry regulations to apply to crypto. Crypto is different from banks and traditional financial industries.”

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance

“[NFT warranties] will provide a sense of security and trust, which will encourage more non-native crypto users to join the Web3 space with minimal risk.”

George Basiladze, CEO of Wert

“The road of innovation and technological change has never been smooth sailing.”

Paul Chan, financial secretary of Hong Kong

“There is no difference in privacy or surveillance whether you are using your Visa card or a CBDC.”

Aaron Klein, former chief economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin price spikes above $31K as Ethereum gains spark ‘altseason’ calls

Bitcoin enjoyed some positive action this week, poking through the $31,000 price level, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. Michaël van de Poppe, CEO and founder of trading firm Eight, pointed to a few price points of potential interest.

“Bitcoin looks strong, but will have some shallow corrections in an upward trend,” he noted via an April 14 tweet. “I’ve marked $31.7-32K as important resistance point.”

“However, $25K was the level everyone wanted to buy. This will probably shift to $28.5K, and then nobody buys. I’d prefer to focus on $29.7K,” van de Poppe added.

The Ethereum blockchain’s native asset, ETH, also enjoyed some positive price action during the week. Excitement at the potential prospect of some form of altseason was expressed in the crypto community this week.

FUD of the Week 

Hacker mints 1 quadrillion yUSDT after exploiting old Yearn.finance contract

A hacker exploited an old contract from Yearn Finance, creating a massive amount of the stablecoin yUSDT tokens, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield. The hacker swapped the yUSDT to other stablecoins, allowing them to take hold of $11.6 million worth of stablecoins. At least 1,000 Ether ($2 million) has been transferred to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

Crypto exchange Bitrue suffers $23M hack due to hot wallet exploit

Almost $23 million was pilfered from centralized crypto exchange Bitrue due to an exploit. The outfit saw its hot wallet hacked but was able to limit the damage after swiftly jumping into action. The apprehended sum totals less than 5% of funds on the exchange, and the outfit has suspended withdrawals while performing an investigation, with withdrawals planned for resumption on April 18. The hack did not affect the platform’s other wallets, according to Bitrue. “All identified users who are affected by this incident will be compensated in full,” the exchange also noted.

US court issues summons to Tron’s Justin Sun, threatens default judgment if no response

A United States court has issued a summons to Tron founder Justin Sun’s Singapore address in connection to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case. In March, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry over the “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting” of Tron TRX as a crypto asset security. Sun will face “judgment by default” if he does not get in touch with SEC attorney Adam Gottlieb within a certain time window.

Best Cointelegraph Features

ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

He got his start in ZK-rollups after Vitalik Buterin saw his work on Eth Research — now he’s heading up Polygon’s game-changing ZK project Miden.

Why join a blockchain gaming guild? Fun, profit and create better games

You can help create better blockchain games by joining a gaming guild… and have some fun, too.

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton ‘10x more into BTC, 4x more into ETH’: Hall of Flame

Former aspiring rapper and pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton predicts XRP will top its all-time high if Ripple wins the SEC lawsuit.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

Top Stories This Week

Bitcoin white paper is apparently hiding in Apple’s modern macOS

Satoshi Nakamoto’s original white paper laying out the thesis for the Bitcoin network is seemingly hiding within every modern version of the operating system for Apple’s Mac computers. An April 5 blog post from technologist Andy Baio revealed that a PDF of the Bitcoin white paper has “apparently shipped with every copy of macOS since Mojave in 2018.” Baio told Cointelegraph he was trying to fix his printer and scan a document when Nakamoto’s white paper first appeared. He created a prompt in Terminal that enables others to easily access the white paper.

Binance Australia Derivatives license canceled by securities regulator

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has canceled the license of Binance Australia Derivatives after a targeted review of its operations in the country. The company’s clients will not be able to increase derivatives positions or open new positions with the platform from April 14, and existing derivatives positions must be closed before April 21. The Australian securities regulator also revealed that it has been conducting a targeted review of Binance’s financial services business in Australia, including its classification of retail and wholesale clients. Spot trading on Binance is still available for Australian residents.

FTX philanthropic donations have created a complex dilemma for recipients

FTX philanthropic arm had pledged $1 billion in donations toward research academics across prestigious universities. Its team, however, resigned after FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022. Now, many scholars and researchers who were early recipients of the grant are now stuck in limbo over payment of further grants for their programs, while many studying on the FTX grant were forced to drop out of their courses due to the fear of repayment. FTX Future Fund’s grants were focused on research projects for the safe development of artificial intelligence, reducing catastrophic bio-risk, improving institutions, economic growth, great power relations and effective altruism, among many others.

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What the hell is Web3 anyway?

Elon Musk changes Twitter icon to Doge after seeking lawsuit dismissal

Twitter’s traditional bird mascot was replaced on April 3 with an image of a Shiba Inu, the icon of the popular meme token Dogecoin. The update came two days after the social media platform’s CEO Elon Musk asked a United States judge to dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit filed by investors alleging the operation of a pyramid scheme to promote Dogecoin. Musk’s lawyers, however, argue that “funny pictures” and “tweeting words of support” do not amount to a fraud claim. As for this week, the marketing move positively impacted the altcoin’s price, with the DOGE token surging by over 22% one hour after the icon was changed.

US Bitcoin reaches tentative settlement to reopen Niagara Falls mining facility

Crypto miner US Bitcoin Corp has come to a tentative agreement with the City of Niagara Falls that will allow it to reopen its local mining operation, according to media reports. A state supreme court judge ordered its plant closed in early March. The settlement still requires the approval of the city council. Under the potential agreement, the company will have to pay $150,000 in fees to the city and $180,000 to reimburse legal costs and new application fees, alongside a $1 million fine. US Bitcoin Corp must also implement measures to reduce noise at the plant, including building a noise-dampening wall and submitting to third-party monitoring.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $27,928, Ether (ETH) at $1,857 and XRP at $0.51. The total market cap is at $1.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Injective (INJ) at 21.19%, Enjin Coin (ENJ) at 17.75% and Basic Attention Token (BAT) at 9.19%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Mask Network (MASK) -15.39%, Stacks (STX) at -14.84% and Arbitrum (ARB) -13.88%.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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An Investment in Knowledge Pays the Best Interest: The Parlous State of Financial Education

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How to prepare for the end of the bull run, Part 1: Timing

Most Memorable Quotations

“Creators deserve to be rewarded for their original work being used by AI engines which are raiding the style and tone of not only journalists but […] musicians, authors, poets, historians, painters, filmmakers and photographers.”

Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australia

“The objective of a CBDC within the framework of the payment system in Peru is to give the unbanked population access to digital payments.”

Central Reserve Bank of Peru

“How can we supervise firms that have no physical borders? We need to put more thought into how it [international coordination] can be effective in regulating the crypto world.”

Elizabeth McCaul, supervisory board member of the European Central Bank

“As investors adapt to volatility, they are diversifying their portfolios and adding more innovative products. Even with a tumultuous year in crypto, interest hasn’t cooled entirely.”

Brown Brothers Harriman

“The possibilities that Web3 can offer are vast and only limited by our own imaginations.”

Haider Rafique, global chief marketing officer at OKX

“AI technology and its effects on privacy is a priority for my Office. […] We need to keep up with – and stay ahead of – fast-moving technological advances.”

Philippe Dufresne, privacy commissioner of Canada

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin rests at $28K as US jobs data boosts new Fed rate hike bets

Bitcoin’s price is still ranging around $28,000 at the end of the week as the BTC/USD pair shunned volatility over the previous days. The highly anticipated U.S. nonfarm payroll figures came in slightly below expectations on April 7, indicating unemployment rising more slowly than predicted.

The data also raised market expectations that the Federal Reserve would persist in raising interest rates to combat inflation — at the expense of crypto and risk asset performance.

Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, summarized his expectations. “Bitcoin remains in a boring state of mind. Consolidating for weeks, while old altcoins are breaking out,” he noted. “I’m still looking at support here, through which $27,600 needs to sustain. If that’s lost, $25,000-25,400 seems likely. Holding here through NFP – > $30,000 next.”

FUD of the Week 

US state regulators announce $10M settlement with Robinhood ‘for failing investors’

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation announced a settlement with crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood involving an up to $10.2 million payment in penalties “for operational and technical failures that harmed main street investors.” The platform suffered a series of system outages in March 2020 causing users to miss out on trades while many of its services were unavailable. The platform’s outages led some affected users to file a class-action lawsuit against Robinhood. The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also penalized the firm for roughly $70 million for causing “widespread and significant harm” to thousands of users.

Sentiment recovers $870K after negotiations with hacker

Lending protocol Sentiment managed to recover over $870,000 in stolen funds by offering the hacker a bounty worth $95,000. The protocol was exploited on April 4, with losses closer to $1 million. In a transaction on the Arbitrum blockchain, Sentiment sent a message to the hacker offering $95,000 if the funds were returned by April 6, and urging the hacker to “do the right thing.” Community members criticized crypto companies for not taking bug bounties seriously and praised the hacker’s efforts for “taking it by force.”

OpenAI faces Canadian privacy probe alleging personal info harvesting

OpenAI, the creator of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, is under investigation by Canada’s privacy commissioner for allegedly collecting and using personal information without consent. Canada’s investigation comes as Germany, France, Ireland and Spain eye possible action against AI following a temporary block on ChatGPT in Italy. In the United States, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy (CAIDP) filed a March 30 complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to halt the release of powerful AI systems to consumers.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Crypto security audits and bug bounties are broken: Here’s how to fix them

Christos A. Makridis argues the most popular Web3 auditing companies aren’t always the ones telling projects things they don’t want to hear.

Bitcoin in Senegal: Why is this African country using BTC?

Out of the ashes of scams, meddling foreign interests and traffic jams is a country evolving into a thriving circular Bitcoin economy..

NFT Creator, The Sarah Show: Analog childhood meets dizzying digital future

The Sarah Show takes people out of the present moment and creates a different experience of time through highly distinctive art.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

Top Stories This Week

FTX EU launches withdrawal website to pay back European users

The European arm of FTX has launched a website to allow customers in Europe to submit withdrawal requests. It comes nearly five months after the global trading platform collapsed and went bankrupt in early November. Meanwhile, in the United States, lawyers for former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have entered a not-guilty plea for five additional charges, including accusations of bribery in China. On bail since being turned over to U.S. custody from the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried is now prohibited from using any smartphone with internet access as part of a new court agreement.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were signatories on an open letter signed by more than 2,600 tech industry leaders and researchers calling for a temporary halt on any further artificial intelligence (AI) development. The petition shared concerns that AI with human-competitive intelligence can pose serious hazards to society and mankind. It urged all AI firms to “immediately cease” developing AI systems that are more potent than GPT-4 for at least six months. Although supported by many, the petition has divided the larger tech community over the halt of developments.

Binance and CZ sued by CFTC over US regulatory violations

A lawsuit has been filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission against Binance and its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. Claims against the crypto exchange include failing to register with regulators, noncompliant trading, obscuring the location of its executive offices, and performing transactions for persons in the United States since 2019, despite a policy of blocking or restricting customers in the country. Binance’s CEO has rejected the allegations, arguing that the crypto exchange “does not trade for profit or ‘manipulate’ the market under any circumstances,” but primarily to cover expenses in fiat or other cryptocurrencies using its crypto revenue.

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US and South Korea requested extradition of Terra co-founder Do Kwon

Authorities from both the United States and South Korea have made efforts to have Terra co-founder Do Kwon extradited following his arrest in Montenegro. According to Montenegrin Justice Minister Marko Kovač, decisions regarding Kwon’s custody will go to Montenegro’s high court and will rely on a number of factors, including the severity, location and time of his alleged criminal offenses. During his custody in Montenegro, Kwon may face harsh conditions in the country’s penal system since jail conditions haven’t changed from those described in a 2020 human rights report by the U.S. State Department.

‘Withdrawals are coming!’ — Ethereum devs confirm epoch for Shapella fork

Ethereum core developers shared more details on the highly anticipated Shapella hard fork, which will allow validators to withdraw staked Ether from Beacon Chain. Shapella will take effect at epoch 194,048, which is scheduled for 10:27 pm UTC on April 12. Withdrawals will be enabled by Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4895 by “pushing” staked Ether from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer. There are 17.81 million Ether staked on the Beacon Chain, with several mechanisms set to ensure a flood of Ether doesn’t disrupt the market.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $28,358, Ether (ETH) at $1,821 and XRP at $0.53. The total market cap is at $1.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are XRP (XRP) at 25.40%, Stellar (XLM) at 25.12%, and Conflux (CFX) at 22.77%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are SingularityNET (AGIX) at -12.85%, Stacks (STX) at -10.19%, and Mina (MINA) at -7.20%.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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Reformed ‘altcoin slayer’ Eric Wall on shitposting and scaling Ethereum

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Crypto, Meet Fiat. You Two Should Get A Coffee Sometime

Most Memorable Quotations

“When I think about AI, it shocks me that we’re talking so much about crypto regulation and nothing about AI regulation. I mean, I think the government’s got it completely upside-down.”

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital

“I believe that NFTs can contribute to preserving Indonesia’s cultural heritage while enhancing virtual tourism.”

Muhammad Neil El Himam, deputy chairman at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia

“Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources.”

Future of Life Institute

“As recent global financial events continue to unfold, many may also re-evaluate their dependence on traditional financial institutions […] and turn to alternative assets such as Bitcoin.”

Lasanka Perera, CEO of Independent Reserve Singapore

“[DeFi] KYC is about transparency and accountability. I don’t think it’s an issue for a majority of people. I’m sure 99% of people don’t have things to hide.”

Dyma Budorin, CEO of Hacken

“Don’t ever let fear stop progress, and be wary of anyone trying to capture control in some central authority.”

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin price hits $28.5K on PCE data as macro ‘accumulation zone’ ends

Bitcoin recovered recent losses following encouraging macroeconomic data from the United States, with the February Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index modestly beating expectations in some areas — a sign of progress against inflation.

Moving to higher timeframes, optimism was no less in evidence among traders. Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, wrote on Twitter:

“Bitcoin’s 24-month Williams%R Oscillator is set to close above the ‘oversold’ threshold for March, which has marked an end to prior bear markets. Bullish long-term probabilities are improving, so long as we stay above the lower-bound.”

FUD of the Week 

Italy blocks ChatGPT, investigates suspected violations

Italy’s watchdog in charge of protecting data has announced that it’s temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT and is opening an investigation over suspected breaches of data privacy rules, including a recent data breach that the AI platform suffered on March 20. The Italian agency highlighted several issues for the decision, such as the lack of information for users on OpenAI data collection and the absence of an age verification feature within the application to avoid minors. The agency further noted that the information provided by the AI chatbot is not always accurate and that inaccurate handling of personal data may occur.

Mysterious entity may be collecting BTC users’ IP addresses — Bitcoin developer

An unknown person or group may be collecting IP addresses of Bitcoin users and linking them to their BTC addresses, compromising their privacy, according to pseudonymous Bitcoin app developer 0xB10C. The entity has been active since March 2018, and its IP addresses have shown up on several public posts from Bitcoin node operators over the past several years. In an interview with Cointelegraph, 0xB10C stated that the vulnerability doesn’t just affect users who run their own nodes. Even users who rely on a third-party server through a wallet like Electrum or Mycelium can still be victims.

Jake Paul-endorsed SafeMoon gets hacked after introducing a bug in upgrade

SafeMoon, a project previously endorsed by celebrities and social influencers, such as Jake Paul and Soulja Boy, announced its liquidity pool (LP) had been compromised. Blockchain investigator PeckShield narrowed the problem to a recent public burn function introduced in the latest upgrade that allegedly allows users to burn tokens from other addresses. The attacker used the vulnerability to remove SafeMoon tokens, causing an artificial spike in the token’s price.

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Web3 Gamer: Shrapnel wows at GDC, Undead Blocks hot take, Second Trip

Could the tide finally be turning as more Web2 gaming companies start to dabble in Web3?

Crypto Wendy on trashing the SEC, sexism, and how underdogs can win: Hall of Flame

Crypto Wendy taught herself to trade crypto in 2017 as the perfect 24/7 job to fit in around the demands of raising her young daughter.

The secret of pitching to male VCs: Female crypto founders blast off

There are plenty of structural issues holding back female founders in the male-dominated tech industry, but there are also benefits to being a woman in the space.

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Top Stories This Week

Coinbase could face SEC enforcement action for ‘potential violations of securities law’

Crypto exchange Coinbase received a Wells notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggesting an upcoming enforcement action. According to Coinbase, the “legal threat” could potentially target its staking program, listed digital assets, wallet or Coinbase Prime services. The exchange’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said the warning “comes after Coinbase provided multiple proposals to the SEC about registration over the course of months, all of which the SEC ultimately refused to respond to.” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong renewed calls for crypto users to “elect pro-crypto candidates” after the development.

FTX debtors agree to $95M sale of stake in Mysten Labs

As bankruptcy proceedings for FTX move forward, debtors of the defunct crypto exchange have approved an agreement seeking to sell $95 million worth of its preferred stock in Mysten Labs, the company behind the Sui blockchain. Court approval is still pending, as is the potential for other bids on the stocks. In a related headline, FTX is seeking to recover $460 million of allegedly misappropriated customer funds from venture capital firm Modulo Capital, which received a sizeable investment from Alameda Research last year. The investment was reportedly directed by Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces multiple counts in federal court related to alleged fraud during his time as CEO.

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Do Kwon faces fraud charges from US prosecutors hours after arrest

Just hours after being arrested in Montenegro, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon was charged with eight separate counts by United States prosecutors in New York, including commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation. According to reports, Kwon is also facing criminal charges in Montenegro for allegedly forging travel documents. Prosecutors in South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September last year, followed by a red notice listing from Interpol weeks later. The charges laid against him are in relation to his alleged role in the collapse of the $40 billion Terra Luna Classic token and TerraClassicUSD stablecoin in May 2022.

Mastercard to settle transactions for stablecoin wallet in APAC

Mastercard is launching a stablecoin digital wallet integration to allow retail customers in the Asia-Pacific region to spend U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted. The international payment company plans to convert the USDC stablecoin into fiat and settle on its network by partnering with Australian stablecoin platform Stables. The service will be initially available for users based in Australia before expanding to Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the Asia-Pacific.

Celsius custody account holders can receive 72.5% of their crypto, says bankruptcy judge

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case for crypto lending firm Celsius Network has approved a settlement plan that allows custody account holders to get back 72.5% of their crypto assets. Holders will have 30 days to review the terms. If they opt in, the assets will be returned in two distributions — 36.25% up front and 36.25% upon plan resolution (or at end of year). The defunct platform announced in February that NovaWulf Digital Management would act as a sponsor for its restructuring plan, claiming that more than 85% of Celsius customers would recover roughly 70% of their crypto..

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $27,157, Ether (ETH) at $1,734 and XRP at $0.41. The total market cap is at $1.15 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Mask Network (MASK) at 24.22%, Flare (FLR) at 22.23% and XRP (XRP) at 11.89%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Arbitrum (ARB) at -89.76%, Immutable (IMX) at -25.82% and Toncoin (TON) at -15.12%.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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Most Memorable Quotations

“What is happening in these months is just demonstrating that the Bitcoiners and Bitcoin maxis were right all along.”

Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of Tether

“It’s not crypto versus Goldman Sachs or crypto versus institutions. It’s a race to who can do crypto better.”

Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex

“Stablecoins will play a pivotal role in the new financial system and will be core to bridging the worlds of traditional and decentralized finance.”

Daniel Li, chief operating officer of Stables

“What the central bank digital currency is all about is surveilling Americans and controlling behavior of Americans.”

Ron DeSantis, governor of the U.S. state of Florida

“Bitcoin was designed in reaction to Lehman Brothers in the 2008 crisis. It was designed because you can’t trust central authorities.”

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger

“We are in serious risk of seeing an entire strategic technology arena slip away from US leadership.”

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin likely to outperform all crypto assets following banking crisis, analyst explains

The banking crisis could be the spark that will kick off the next crypto bull run, in which Bitcoin is likely to outperform all other cryptos, according to Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.

According to McGlone, the United States Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to ease monetary policy despite the banking crisis is driving the U.S. economy into a recession. This macro environment will ultimately favor Bitcoin, which is going to outperform all other cryptocurrencies. 

“The more the Bitcoin can sustain above $25,000, then the more the S&P 500 potentially pressures below 4,000, you’re going to have an indication that Bitcoin is going to take off,” McGlone pointed out. “I think Bitcoin will outperform virtually all cryptos, including Ethereum,” he concluded.

FUD of the Week 

US Senator Ted Cruz tries again with new bill to block CBDC

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has introduced a bill to block the Federal Reserve from launching a “direct-to-consumer” central bank digital currency as it “could be used as a financial surveillance tool by the federal government.” According to Cruz, the federal government has “no authority to unilaterally establish” the digital dollar. A similar bill was introduced by Cruz with other senators on March 30, 2022, seeking to prohibit the Fed from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals. Nearly 12 months later, the bill still hasn’t moved past the introduction phase.

Hindenburg Research reports Block short position, claiming fraud facilitation and inflated metrics

A report following a two-year investigation from Hindenburg Research claims digital payments company Block has “systematically taken advantage” of its users, alleging the firm inflated its user metrics and facilitated fraud. According to the report, Block’s practices allowed users to set up fraudulent accounts, catering to many criminals who used the platform to steal funds. Block labeled the report “factually inaccurate and misleading,” declaring it intends to take legal action against the research firm.

European banks head into another weekend of uncertainty as default risks surge

European banks faced another weekend of renewed fears surrounding their future, as shares of Deutsche Bank plunged on the New York Stock Exchange on March 24, after a down day on Frankfurt’s markets. Shares of the German bank were impacted by an increase in the cost of insuring against its potential default risk, with its five-year credit default swaps climbing during the week and closing at 222 basis points on Friday. Fears about European banks are not limited to Deutsche Bank. European shares of Commerzbank, Société Générale, and UBS also fell in European trading.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — plus crypto tax tips

Resident tax expert Elias Ahonen looks at the best and worst countries in the world for crypto taxes. Where do the U.S. and U.K. rank?

Creating ‘organic’ generative art from robotic algorithms: Emily Xie, NFT Creator

When creating generative art, the world just disappears for this Harvard graduate living in New York.

US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime

Recent high-profile indictments by the Department of Justice and collaborative agencies suggest that the federal government intends to aggressively go after alleged crypto criminals in the United States and abroad.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.