[Coinlive] Daily Digest - 4th August 2022

Headlines

▌U.S. Senate Intends to Treat Bitcoin and Ethereum As Commodities to Be Regulated by the CFTC

Two top-ranking members of the U.S Senate Committee have proposed legislation that could see Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets fall under the oversight of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The bill would set a national regulatory standard for crypto, define which tokens would fall under the digital commodity category, and require all crypto trading platforms to register with the CFTC. Currently, the CFTC has the power to regulate derivatives such as futures and swaps, but underlying commodities.

Policies

▌Chileans Take Refuge in Stablecoins Amid Economic Turmoil

Residents of Chile are turning to stablecoins to protect their assets from recent record inflation and the increasing devaluation of the peso. In the past three months, stablecoin trading volume on local cryptocurrency exchanges has increased by 50%. Buda.com, which in 2015 was one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to launch in Chile. The market share of stablecoins on the platform rose from 11% in June to 20% in July.

Cryptocurrency

▌Coinbase Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Halt Two Lawsuits From Account Holders

Coinbase asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop two lawsuits by users of its platform. In the first case, a man wants Coinbase to compensate him $31,000 for the money he lost after granting remote account access to a scammer. The second case alleges that Coinbase violated California consumer law by holding a $1.2 million Dogecoin sweepstakes without fully disclosing that entrants did not have to buy or sell the cryptocurrency. Both customers are aiming to turn their lawsuits into class action suits.

▌Solana Developers: Solana’s $6M Exploit Likely Tied to Slope Wallet

The developers of the Solana blockchain are saying that the Slope wallet may be responsible for an ongoing exploit that has resulted in $6 million worth of crypto being stolen from more than 9,000 hot wallets. The affected wallets were all confirmed to have been created or used the Slope Wallet mobile app.

▌Former Coinbase Product Manager Pleads Not Guilty to Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Charges

Ishan Wahi, the former product manager at Coinbase, has pleaded not guilty to cryptocurrencies insider trading charges. Ishan was accused of sharing exchange token listing information with his brothers Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani, both have also been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ishan allegedly shared information about at least 14 different listings at Coinbase, and the defendants made up $1.5 million through the scheme.

▌Messari: Ethereum Classic Rally Sparked by Ethereum Merger Won’t Last

Analysts at Messari said that the Ethereum merger narrative will not drive a sustained rise in Ethereum Classic (ETC), which may surge in the days leading up to the merger, but it has no long-term upward momentum. Ethereum mining currently accounts for 97% of graphics processing unit (GPU) mining revenue, with daily revenue of $24 million, Messari said. After the Ethereum merger, miners will be forced to sell their equipment or switch to ETC mining, which currently accounts for 2% of GPU mining revenue, with a daily net income of about $700,000. This huge gap in profitability means that even if a meaningful portion of miners migrate to ETC, mining difficulty will increase dramatically and make mining unprofitable.

▌Report: The global metaverse market will reach $659.7 billion by 2030

According to a recent market study published by Growth Market Reports, the metaverse market was valued at $37.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $659.7 billion by the end of 2030. It is expanding at a CAGR of 37.5% over the forecast period, 2022-2030.  The growth of the global metaverse market is driven by the high penetration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the growing demand for advanced technologies for realistic gaming experiences. Major market players profiled in the report include Tencent Holdings, Epic Games, Nvidia, Unity Technologies, and Meta Platforms.

Key Economic Events

▌Fed's Daly: 50-basis-point Rate Hike Next Month Is 'Reasonable'

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said that raising interest rates by 50 basis points in September would be reasonable if the economy evolves as expected. However, if inflation roaring ahead undauntedly and the labor market shows no signs of slowing, then a 75 basis points increase might be more appropriate, Daly added.

▌Fed Kashkari: Very Unlikely Fed Will Cut Interest Rates Next Year

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said that the possibility U.S. central bank will pivot to cutting interest rates next year is extremely unlikely. He added, the more likely scenario is that the Fed would continue raising interest rates and then sitting there until inflation is well on its way back down to 2%.