The essential news of the cryptosphere

• Binance is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company is suspected, in 2017, of violating certain securities rules by selling its digital token (BNB) during its ICO (Initial Coin Offering) without first registering the transactions with the US authorities. Last year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had already opened an investigation, which is still ongoing, to determine whether Binance employees had committed insider trading and therefore to have manipulated the markets. Other investigations on the platform are also open concerning subjects money laundering. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, will therefore have a hard time in the coming months…
  
  
• Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms, announced on its corporate blog that: “In response to current market conditions and ongoing business prioritization efforts, we will be extending our hiring break for new roles and replacements for the foreseeable future and will void a number of accepted offers…”. An announcement that reflects the negative sentiment of the leaders of the platform in this gloomy macroeconomic context.
  
  
• The New York State Senate passed a two-year moratorium on mining via proof-of-work (Proof-of-Work) of Bitcoin in an effort to address environmental concerns related to its operating system. Concretely, any company wishing to settle in the State of New York in order to carry out mining activities must wait for two years the time that a study on the environmental impact of the proof of work is carried out. Note that the governor, Kathy Hochul, must still sign the bill before it is finally adopted.
  
  
• The Beaugrenelle center in Paris will become the first shopping center in France to accept cryptocurrencies. In partnership with the French application Lyzi, it will be possible to buy gift cards with cryptocurrencies. And yes, it will therefore not be possible, for the moment, to directly buy clothes or other items directly with the application. This initiative, however, allows consumers to familiarize themselves with the crypto ecosystem and better understand how it works. It is also the way for investors to spend their cryptos concretely in the economy, keeping in mind that they will have to think about declaring the capital gains, if any, during the conversion. euro cryptos.
  
  
• Epic Games, the video game publisher of Fortnite, intends to host Grit, a Wild West-themed game from Web3 company Gala Games. It will be the very first game based on the NFT on the Epic Games Store. The company described Grit as a ride-or-die battle royale. In it, players compete in showdowns and shootouts, and different modes allow teaming up with other players and teams. The beginnings of a blockchainized Fortnite?
• PayPalthe essential online payment service, finally allows crypto holders to transfer their digital assets on the platform to other wallets and exchanges. This was the most frequently requested feature by users since the American giant’s purchase, sale and custody of digital assets went live in late 2020.
  
  
• As part of its goal to become a “global crypto hub”the Britain will begin in 2023 live testing blockchain technology for traditional market activities such as stock and bond trading and settlement. This year, a new law concerning financial services including stablecoins and cryptocurrencies backed by financial assets will be submitted to parliament. Measures that will potentially have something to appeal to certain players in the cryptosphere.
  
  
• Let’s end this Crypto Recap with a unusual news. The star footballer of the German league, Kevin Prince Boatengorganizes its marriage in the metaverse Over. The player will therefore marry the model and businesswoman Valentina Fradegrada on June 11 and the invitations will only be available in the form of NFT and in limited edition on the famous OpenSea marketplace. The former Barcelona player did not hide his enthusiasm: “I wanted to do something special for Valentina, something no one had ever done”. One more opportunity to speculate…
  

The evolution of the Top 20 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization over a week.
(Click on the heat map below to better visualize the variations)

Source: Quantify

Readings

A little more crypto (Wired, in English).

The Cryptobillionaire’s Widow (The Walrus, in English).

A long-awaited defense against data leaks may have just arrived (Wired)