One week in review:
Aug. 22–28 We've selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up to date with the latest crypto news: | | #1. Congress has put forward 18 bills on digital assets in 2021 so far | | | The U.S. Congress has been ramping up its efforts to provide a regulatory framework for crypto in 2021, and has put forward 18 bills concerning digital assets and blockchain tech so far this year. | | | According to an Aug. 22 analysis from former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulator Jason Brett, the current 117th Congress differs from its predecessor in that it has been focusing on regulation concerning decentralized assets as opposed to private stablecoins. | | | It was also reported this week that the contentious $1 trillion infrastructure bill will see a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives by Sept. 27 — without any amendments to the greedy crypto tax provisions. | | #2. Visa invests $150,000 in NFT CryptoPunk asset | | | This weekVisa spent $150,000 on a tokenized JPEG of a pixel art punk this week, better known as a CryptoPunk NFT. The firm announced the news in a Aug. 23 blog post, with Cuy Sheffield, the head of crypto at Visa, teasing that the firm may be looking at a prolonged stay in the sector. | | | "To help our clients and partners participate, we need a first-hand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store and leverage an NFT," he said. | | | Visa purchased CryptoPunk 7610 — a female figure with a mohawk, green clown makeup eyes and lipstick. Obtaining an "understanding of the infrastructure requirements" in purchasing an NFT mustn't have taken long, as all you need to do is buy it and store it in your wallet. It's not rocket science. | | | Budweiser also joined in the action by purchasing a fan art NFT for 8 Ether (ETH), worth roughly $25,000. The NFT depicted a Budweiser-branded rocket that would take five minutes to whip up on Adobe Illustrator. The beer producer also spent 30 ETH, or $94,000, on the domain name Beer.eth through Ethereum Name Service on OpenSea. | | #3. Binance denies allegations of market manipulation | | | Major crypto exchange Binance came out swinging this week as it pushed back against allegations of market manipulation and trading against its users. | | | The firm is currently under the scope of regulatory scrutiny and, in an Aug. 23 Twitter thread, Binance seemingly laid the blame of assertions of market manipulation on publications spreading FUD, along with people impersonating Binance employees. | | | The firm stated that, while it works on its compliance targets with regulators, it expects "fewer FUD-peddlers and individuals with malicious intent," and went on to warn: | | | "Binance reserves the right to take legal action to protect its interests and welcomes responsible whistle-blowing that protects the trust of our community." | | #4. Prediction of the week. Bitcoin bullish cross on weekly chart paints $225K BTC price target if history repeats | | | Bitcoin regained the $50,000 price level this week, although the asset subsequently fell several thousand dollars as part of a price correction, fluctuating between $45,000 and $50,000 for most of the week. | | | During the month of August, the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) indicator on Bitcoin's weekly price chart formed and continued through a cross of the indicator's two lines, and jumped to green on its histogram (the bar part at the bottom of the indicator). | | | What does it mean? Well, nothing is certain, but according to reporting from Cointelegraph's William Suberg, the last time Bitcoin's MACD indicator acted similarly (last fall), the asset's price grew by more than five times in value in the following half dozen months. BTC could potentially rise above $200,000 if things play out comparably, according to Suberg. | | #5. FUD of the week. Google bans 8 'deceptive' crypto apps from Play Store | | | Google, the Silicon Valley-based tech overlords, took down eight fraudulent crypto apps from its Google Play Store this week. | | | Fraudulent crypto-themed mobile apps have been popping up more frequently over the past 12 months, and they usually operate under a false pretext of offering cloud mining services. | | | According to a recent report from Trend Micro, the apps were charging around $15 a month for their fake services and extra for "increased mining capabilities" — all while duping users into watching paid ads. | | | The reportedly fake crypto apps included mining services such as BitFunds, Bitcoin Miner, Daily Bitcoin Rewards, Crypto Holic and MineBit Pro, to name a few. | | #6. FUD of the week. Poll shows Brits concerned over the prospect of a digital pound | | | According to a survey conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Politico, 30% of British adults hold concerns over a Bank of England-issued central bank digital currency (CBDC). | | | For some reason, the notion of having a programmable government-backed CBDC that can track all of their spending habits doesn't sound appealing to them. If they think that's bad, just wait until they hear about the insatiable appetite for personal data that Apple, Google or Facebook has. | | | There were 2,500 British adults surveyed in the study during early August, with 24% believing that it could be beneficial, while 46% were undecided. | | | Feel free to explore the most important news with Hodler's Digest: | | | |
