Bitcoin gets political
Bitcoin gets political
US presidential candidates express support for Bitcoin, while crypto companies flee to more favorable legislation in HK and UAE.
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Bitcoin is getting political
During a Twitter Space session with Elon Musk, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 U.S. presidency and made a noteworthy promise to protect Bitcoin if elected. He stated that as president, he would safeguard the ability to engage with Bitcoin, acknowledging the risks involved but emphasizing that people interested in cryptocurrency are sophisticated and capable of making their own decisions. DeSantis criticized Washington politicians as "central planners" who aim to control society, viewing Bitcoin as a threat to their power. He also expressed concerns about the regulatory regime for crypto, particularly if President Joe Biden is re-elected, suggesting it could be detrimental to the industry.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also running for presidency in 2024, and made remarks in favor of Bitcoin during his speech at the Miami Bitcoin Conference stating crypto should be defended against invasive surveillance. Apparently, what awaken the candidate was the Canadian trucker’s protest, where bank accounts were frozen to suppress riots.
Kennedy Jr. is the first candidate ever to accept donations in Bitcoin, joined a few days later by Vivek Ramaswamy. We love orange-pilled presidents, but it remains to be seen whether these are just empty promises or whether they will be kept.
Multichain outages spread fear
Rumors started to spread around the Multichain cross-chain bridge on May 24, with some going as far as saying the team (notoriously Chinese) has been arrested by local authorities. Multichain, previously known as Anyswap, has been one of the pillars in the bridge industry with record-low fees and a monthly volume of just under $700M. Companies have put in place security measures to avoid contagion, with the Fantom Foundation halting its liquidity provision for MULTI on SushiSwap, Binance suspending deposits for 10 wrapped assets ultimately backed by Multichain’s collateral, and Justin Sun withdrawing $500K USDD from the protocol.
Most of the protocol keeps working as intended. However, Router5 and Router2 have been shut down, affecting mostly lesser-known chains and freezing up capital in pending transactions. The plot thickened on May 31, with Multichain’s Twitter account confirming they’re unable to reach out to the company’s CEO, and thus cannot access the infrastructure to perform the required maintenance.
The MULTI token halved in price since May 22, with $3M being transferred from the treasury to Gate.io.
We keep fostering a decentralized and permission-less industry, yet what happens to crypto giants shows us that behind the scenes all the opposite happens: currently, one man’s unavailability puts $1.5B at risk.
Worldcoin raises $115M!
Tools for Humanity, a Worldcoin project, has secured a significant $115 million in fundraising led by Blockchain Capital. Worldcoin is a San Francisco-based company that was co-founded by Alex Blania, Max Novendstern, and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI (the company that launched ChatGPT). The Worldcoin project aims to create a global cryptocurrency accessible to verified individuals by utilizing scanning orbs for identity verification. With the funds raised, Tools for Humanity plans to develop further the World App, a dedicated wallet for the Worldcoin ecosystem, as well as invest in research and development.
Nice to know: OpenAI has been integrated into Etherescan. It will assist users in gaining a better understanding of on-chain transactions — link.
Binance delists privacy coins in Italy, France, Spain, and Poland
Binance will delist 12 privacy tokens in EU countries starting from June 26. This move by Binance means that users in these countries will no longer be able to buy or sell privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC). The decision to delist these tokens is in response to local laws and regulations governing the trading of privacy coins, citing concerns related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. Binance stated that while they aim to support quality projects, they must comply with regulatory requirements to continue serving users.
Bridging Ethereum NFTs to Bitcoin — a one-way bridge
The Ordinals market in collaboration with the Bitcoin Miladys NFT collection, has introduced the BRC-721E token standard. This new standard enables users to migrate their ERC-721-based NFTs to the Bitcoin blockchain, but not the other way around. The migration process involves permanently burning (and not just locking, as with other bridges) the ERC-721 NFT on Ethereum and inscribing valid BRC-721E data on Bitcoin, making it a one-way bridge. The bridged NFT appears on a dedicated Ordinals market collection page. Initially, metadata is not stored on-chain, but users can store a lower-quality preview image and include a reference to the Ether burn transaction.
Hong-Kong based firm launches a USD stable-coin
Hong Kong-based First Digital, a qualified custodian and trust company, is introducing a new stablecoin called "First Digital USD" (FDUSD), which will be pegged to the U.S. dollar and regulated in Asia. The stablecoin will be backed on a one-to-one basis by U.S. dollars or equivalent assets, held in segregated accounts at Asian institutions. The announcement is significant, especially in light of Hong Kong's new guidelines for virtual asset trading platforms, while regulatory uncertainties in the U.S. have prompted industry players to consider offshore jurisdictions. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted that Hong Kong's emergence as a crypto hub comes as “no surprise”.
Related insights:
China recently released a white paper for web3 innovation and development—link
Winklevoss company Gemini will soon operate in UAE—link
Aave on the Coinbase-Backed BASE Network?
Aave, the most known DeFi lending platform, is contemplating the implementation of its version 3 on Base, a Layer 2 blockchain supported by Coinbase. The proposal was put forward by Francis Gowen of Flipside Crypto. The suggested risk parameters for assets on Base are being discussed, and if the proposal garners enough support, it will progress to an on-chain vote. Integrating Aave with Base holds the potential for substantial revenue streams and access to a large user base.
Moooore interesting stuff for you
JPMorgan: Gold prices signal Bitcoin should be at $45,000—link
MakerDAO to reduce reliance on centralized collateral, shifting $DAI away from USD, removing centralized stablecoin backing — link
Circle launches euro-backed stablecoin on Avalanche — link
Bitpanda partners with Coinbase for liquidity and custody services — link
Synthetix flips GMX in trading volume — link
PayPal Ventures leads a $52M round for the crypto-firm Magic — link
Tether will start to mine bitcoin in Uruguay — link
Binance joins NFT lending starting with ETH loans — link
Unciphered claims its ability to hack the Trezor T, but the company sales are up 900%
Bali Governor cracks down on the usage of crypto — link
Amids rumors of an investigation Gate.io sees a run on its liquidity — link
Apple is rumored to announce its Mixed Reality Headset on June 5 at WWDC 2023 — link
10% of SUI supply unlocks on June, 3 — link
BASE, Coinbase’s Layer 2 solution, plans to launch its mainnet after Optimism’s bedrock upgrade — link
US unemployment data is scheduled for June, 6
Podcast with Paolo Ardoino, the Italian CTO of Tether, on Tether's billion-dollar profits and plans to buy bitcoin:
“Connect wallet” is limiting Web 3.0 potential—link
This crypto whale just invested $385K in low-market-cap tokens—link
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Disclosure: Authors may own crypto assets named in this newsletter. Stay on-chain is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. Please consult your investment, tax, or legal advisor before making investment decisions.