The Fed bumped interest rates up another 25 bps as expected. As other markets are still trying to decide whether things are bearish or bullish, there’s a little selling pressure going on in the crypto space. 🔴
In today’s Litepaper, we’ll look at the White House’s ‘blame crypto for everything’ report and how an accidental Aussie millionaire got out on bail, and what happened with Bitcoin after the rate hike.
Also, one of the biggest names in Massively Multiplayer On-line gaming is serious about building in the Web3 space (pun intended).
Cardano’s at the top of the pack today – lately, it’s struggled to even make it into the daily top 10.
As all markets continue to digest the expected rate hike and Powell’s comments, it’s likely that the values in the table below may be veeeery different than what they are when you read this Litepaper.
Here’s how the market looked at the end of the trading day:
| Cardano (ADA) |
$0.362
|
-0.27% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $7.25 | -0.43% |
| Chainlink (LINK) | $80.93 | -0.95% |
| Polkadot (DOT) |
$6.12
|
-1.84% |
| Monero (XMR) |
$148.96
|
-1.87% |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | $19.98 | -1.98% |
| Shiba Inu (SHIB) | $0.0000106 | -2.02% |
| Avalanche (AVAX) | $16.85 | -2.06% |
| TRON (TRX) | $0.065 | -2.36% |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | $0.074 | -2.38% |
| Altcoin Market Cap |
$585 Billion
|
-3.86% |
| Total Market Cap | $1.10 Trillion | -4.04% |
The White House decided it’s time to take a swing at cryptocurrencies in their latest report because, you know, digital assets are the root of all evil. 👿
The Economic Report of the President, which is supposed to explain the President’s economic priorities and policies, devoted an entire chapter to explaining reefer madness why crypto is bad.
The report nitpicked everything from cryptocurrencies’ roles as investment vehicles to their potential use in payment infrastructure, basically claiming that crypto assets have brought no benefits whatsoever.
Various crypto disasters, like TerraUSD’s collapse and the BitConnect and FTX debacles, were cited as examples of how everyday Americans were harmed.
They went on to praise centralized systems like the FedNow network, suggesting that it could render digital currencies and circulating digital money unnecessary.
Although the report grudgingly acknowledged that distributed ledger technology “may still find productive uses in the future,” it continued to harp on the risks posed by crypto assets.
Because, you know, the financial world was totally risk-free before crypto came along. 🤦
It was/is Fed today. Everything went whipsaw-ish after 1400 EST. $BTC was no exception. 🪚
After the announcement that a 25 basis point hike was coming (it was expected), there wasn’t a ton of response until 1430 when Powell began his presser. From there, Bitcoin dropped by -4.43% from $28.5k to a hair above $27k.
Some key takeaways from today’s Fed FUD:
- The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has almost unanimously decided that growth risks are weighted to the downside.
- Inflation? No worries, it’s just a pesky detail that remains well above their longer-run goal.
- In a delightful turn of events, consumer spending appears to have picked up this quarter, although some of that might be attributed to good ol’ Mother Nature.
- On the other hand, longer-term expectations are well-anchored on various metrics – as if those mean anything anymore.
- As for the banking turmoil, just think of it as a rate hike or perhaps more than that. It’s possible banking issues could have a minimal effect, or it could result in significant tightening.
But fear not; the Fed is tirelessly monitoring incoming data. Powell remains hawkish, but more importantly, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has made it clear there will be no changes to deposit insurance.
We’ll get a better idea of how the market feels in the coming days and weeks. 🤢
Remember the story about the Crypto.com customer in Australia that asked for a $100 refund and instead got a whopping $10 million? 🤔
One of the accomplices of the lucky (or unlucky) lady was just granted bail, even though $2 million is still missing.
To jog your memory, Crypto.com accidentally sent the massive sum to miss Thevamanogari Manivel’s account while processing the $100 refund back in May 2021. Crypto.com didn’t notice the big whoops for another seven months during an audit in December 2021.
When Crypto.com asked for a refund in February 2022 (lol), they discovered that Manivel had moved most of the money to a joint account with her partner Jatinder Singh. They spent a fortune on luxury items, like fancy houses and expensive art. $2 million is estimated to have been moved out of Australia and into Malaysia.
Senior Constable Conor Healy voiced concerns that Singh might flee with the outstanding balance, considering that only about $7 million had been recovered. But Judge Daniel Holding, in his infinite wisdom, decided to grant the bail anyway.
Despite the fact that Singh had no job, stable residence, or family before his arrest, Judge Holding insisted he couldn’t flee Australia, as his Indian passport would be confiscated.
Because no one with an extra $2 million somewhere could ever leave a country without a passport (i.e., Do Kwon). 🤦♀️
CCP Games, the masterminds behind one of the most brutal, hardcore, and epic MMOs ever, Eve Online, have just secured a cool $40 million in funding to develop a new AAA title in the Eve universe.
CCP Games plans to use blockchain technology and smart contracts to develop core game systems, enabling open third-party development and connecting players with virtual worlds. They aim to give players more autonomy and agency – something that makes sense if you’re familiar with Eve.
“We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title.” Read more about today's announcement in @HilmarVeigar's interview with @VentureBeat https://t.co/99W47Du7j4
— CCP Games (@CCPGames) March 21, 2023
Leading the funding charge was none other than venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), joined by Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Hashed, and other investors.
As for a16z, the venture capital firm managed to lose billions in the crypto industry in 2022. But hey, they’re still committed to investing in the crypto market and Web3 vision of the internet. Their recent $27 million investment in Carry1st, a mobile games publisher in Africa, just goes to show that they believe Web3 adoption is the future, especially in gaming and emerging markets.
Bullets
Bullets From The Day:
🎉 Congratulations, Celsius ($CEL) custody account holders! A bankruptcy judge has deemed you all so lucky, allowing you to receive a whopping 72.5% of your precious crypto. Losing 27.5% of your hard-earned digital assets may sound hard, but it could have been much, much worse.
🪙 OneCoin associate Irina Dilkinska is facing charges in the United States following her extradition from her home country. Dilkinska is connected to the notorious OneCoin scam, which defrauded investors of billions of dollars. With her arrival in the US, she will now face justice for her alleged involvement in the fraudulent scheme. The big cheese of the whole OneCoin scam, Ruja “Crypto Queen” Ignatova, is still wanted by everyone and their dog. Not seen in five years means she’s probably fallen victim to the same accident a lot of Russian oligarchs seem to have found themselves in.
⏱️ Anthony Scaramucci believes that new pro-crypto initiatives are necessary to keep the SEC in check. Scaramucci argues that the SEC should not have unchecked power over the crypto industry and that these initiatives will help foster innovation and maintain a healthy balance between regulation and growth.
😲 Oh, what a novel idea! In a groundbreaking revelation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has decided it’s high time for crypto regulators to cooperate with each other. They’re asking Congress to help with this ingenious plan as if it wasn’t painfully obvious that collaboration would be beneficial for the industry.
💵 Cardano’s algorithmic stablecoin DJED will be available on other blockchains like $ETH and $BNB soon. COTI ($COTI) CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen shared in a video on Djed’s Twitter page that the move is due to the demand for a dependable stablecoin across all decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems. According to Bar-Geffen, other blockchain communities have shown interest in Djed due to its reliability, highlighting Djed’s resilience during the recent market turbulence, with the stablecoin maintaining its peg while others faltered. He attributed this to Djed’s decentralization, over-collateralization, and verifiability.
🗿 Clay Nation, a leading NFT platform on the Cardano ($ADA) blockchain, has unveiled an iconic NFT collection featuring Snoop Dogg. The collection consists of 10,000 unique, hand-drawn digital art pieces that pay tribute to the legendary rapper’s career. The launch highlights the growing popularity of NFTs on the Cardano network.
🎮 Sony ($SNE) files a patent for NFTs to allow transfers between games and consoles. This technology could revolutionize the gaming industry by allowing players to carry over digital assets from one game to another, increasing the value and utility of in-game items. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to imagine someone or some entity hasn’t already patented this idea yet – maybe they and we’ll find out later.
Links
Links That Don’t Suck:
📲 Telegram allows users to send USDT to each other via chats: Report
🪛 Sending crypto should be as simple as sending a text
😱 Crypto Fear and Greed Index surges to highest level this year amid rising optimism
🕹️ Gaming giant Nexon taps Polygon for NFT hame MapleStory Universe
5️⃣ The rise of XRP: 5 reasons why its bull run is far from over
⛏️ Texas lawmaker introduces resolution to protect Bitcoin miners and HODLers
Credits & Feedback
Today’s Litepaper was written by Jon Morgan. Let him know how he did: