Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #14

News to follow:

🚀 EU crypto licensing approval clears the way for MiCA

💰 Coinbase and Gemini join Celsius sale to begin Tuesday

😎 Coinbase challenges SEC to respond to rulemaking petition

🥸 Binance.US ends deal to buy out Voyager Digital assets

👾 New NFT collection Mad Lads brings rebirth for Solana: Decrypt

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $29,207; ETH is around $1,909.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 47.00%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.21B

😲 Fear and greed index: 64 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Render Token (RNDR) +38.29%

• Injective (INJ) +17.00%

• Cronos (CRO) +15.74%

😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• PancakeSwap (CAKE) -23.43%

• Optimism (OP) -11.18%

• Zilliqa (ZIL) -11.03%

In case you missed the scandal 🥵 between Ripps and BAYC, Ripps accused Yuga of hiding racist dog whistles and nazi imagery in Apes. He posted a documentary about it on Youtube. Right after that, Ryder teamed up with Cahen and designed the NFT collection RR/BAYC. On the surface, the collection strongly resembled BAYC's, but all alleged Nazi imagery was cut out. In June, Yuga filed a lawsuit against Ryder for stealing the idea and selling copies under the guise of satire. U.S. court ruled that Yuga is indeed the owner of the BAYC trademark and that Ryder has only caused confusion by using similar images and domains. The trial isn't over yet, as Yuga is seeking $200,000 in damages, while Ripps is sure he's protected because NFTs are intangible and don't fall under the protection of the law. 😜

While the most wanted Do Kwon, co-founder of Terra, is behind bars in Montenegro, South Korean authorities aren't wasting their time. Relatively speaking. 😅 After an eleven-month investigation into the collapse of Terra LUNA, ten people have been charged, including another co-founder, Daniel Shin. Shin is accused of misleading investors and presenting LUNA as feasible. Authorities seized more than $180 million from the defendants and accuse them of being responsible for losses of $350 million. All eyes are now on Do Kwon. 👀

The FTX independent unit has found its new owner. M7 Holdings has won the bankruptcy auction. Debtors can expect up to $50 million from the deal. 💰FTX, a bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, acquired LedgerX and renamed it FTX.US Derivatives in 2021. LedgerX holds three licenses issued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that allow it to offer futures contracts for commodities, act as a clearinghouse for trades and act as a broker for futures transactions on behalf of clients. John Ray, the current CEO of FTX, is very pleased with the settlement because it brings them one step closer to compensating users for the failure of ex-CEO SBF and co. 🤡

Remember when Apple asked Coinbase for a commission for transaction gas? 😵‍💫Then it banned Coinbase wallet from iOS. Apparently, it was hard to explain to Apple at the time why they can't ask for gas. Good thing the court intervened. It ruled that Apple broke the law when it required app devs to use only Apple payments that include a 30% commission. This is a clear victory for the crypto industry, as they can now use alternative in-app payment methods. 🙌

Circle has just launched a cross-chain transfer protocol on the mainnet, that enables seamless transactions between Ethereum and Avalanche blockchains. The use of unofficial, bridged versions of USDC in the ecosystem has caused some issues 🧐 with liquidity fragmentation and poor user experience. When a transfer is requested, CCTP burns the amount of USDC specified by the user on the source blockchain and issues a similar amount of coins in their wallet on the destination blockchain. Circle issues USDC on several networks, including Algorand, Hedera, Solana, Cosmos and others. The company plans to integrate at least some of them with CCTP during 2023. 🔝

The banking crisis didn't end with the closure of crypto banks Sivergate and SVB. Another bank, First Republic, felt "structural challenges" at the exact same time. 😵‍💫 A couple of big banks in the U.S. have already bailed them out with over $30 billion. But the government didn't take over the bank to fix things. So, First Republic's advisors are trying to convince the big banks to give them even more money. So Winklewoss, founder of the crypto exchange Gemini, sees a double standard here. On the other hand, many believe that the collapse of the First Republic Bank will boost the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as more and more investors are losing faith in traditional banks. 📈

It appears Kraken is stepping up and joining Coinbase in the fight against U.S. regulators. Kraken has asked the court to intervene in the fight with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), as they consider the IRS's demand to provide important information about exchange users an "unjustified treasure hunt." 🧙‍♀️ So it seems, as IRS has asked Kraken to provide information about users who have transacted at least $20,000 in cryptocurrencies in any single year between 2016 and 2020. Does IRS have a valid reason to look into taxpayers? 🧐

We're far from alone in our frustration with SEC chair Gary Gensler. House Republicans are frustrated with the Securities and Exchange Commission's stance on cryptocurrencies, so they have come up with a new plan. 🥸They have submitted a draft stablecoin bill that would take control over payment stablecoins away from SEC. The proposed plan calls for transferring jurisdiction to federal and state bank and credit union regulators. Everyone is calling for clarity. 🧐

Conclusion: As the market grows today, so does confidence in crypto. The further down the rabbit hole, the more bullish we are. That's not a financial tip, though. Nor is it a prediction, although the crisis is certainly not over. Sometimes regulatory uncertainty can lead to even bolder moves. No pain, no gain, as the saying goes.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.