The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand, with a flourish of its quill, proposes a new step: allowing digital asset companies to apply for derivatives licenses without the cumbersome jig of creating separate legal entities. A simplification, they say, to make the dance more accessible to the common trader. But is it a graceful glide or a stumble in the making?
Lido, with the solemnity of a funeral director, has declared the KelpDAO rsETH exploit a contained catastrophe. On April 18, the bridge collapsed, spilling 116,500 rsETH ($292 million) into the abyss, prompting DeFi protocols to freeze rsETH markets like panicked goldfish. Yet, Lido insists its flagship stETH and wstETH remain “safe and stable,” as if they were carved from granite and blessed by a cryptomancer.
Cryptocurrency exchanges have graduated from mere trading floors to becoming “shadow banks,” offering loans and savings products without the common courtesy of actually protecting your money. The BIS, in a report that reads like a fable for the financially naive, warns that these platforms now operate like a three-course meal: banking, brokerage, and exchange-all served in one suspiciously greasy plate. They lack the transparency of a magician’s hat and the safety of a piggy bank made of tissue paper.
As reported by crypto.news, Zcash (ZEC) was trading around that sweet $330 spot during my latest coffee break. It’s like Zcash is holding onto gains tighter than I hold onto my binge-watching schedule. This is particularly impressive as it continues to outpace much of the crypto market-who knew privacy could be so popular?
Yesterday it startled everyone by leaping past $79,000, only to settle into the familiar embrace of $78,258 at the time of writing-a modest 2.54% ascent for the day.
The Blockchain Association, joined by the Crypto Council for Innovation and a host of other well-meaning souls, has beseeched the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to rouse itself from its legislative slumber and take action on a bill that has languished in the swamp of negotiations longer than a forgotten sandwich under a couch cushion.
Meanwhile, SBF’s dreaming of a presidential pardon. Spoiler alert: Trump said no. Guess he’s not a fan of financial wizards turned felons.
In the land of Binance, whale-to-exchange transactions have dropped to a comatose 192. Meanwhile, exchange deposits hover at 28, and those withdrawal figures? A paltry 12! Every movement of XRP, into and out of exchanges, from mighty whales to the sad sell-side spots, has come to a standstill. This isn’t a market gearing up for a glorious sell-off; it’s a market paralyzed by indecision, like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching truck.
According to a confidential report to U.S. lawmakers, the Pentagon estimates it would take at least six months to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz – a critical route for oil tankers – but only after any conflict between the U.S. and Iran is over. The Washington Post reports that this situation could keep gas and oil prices high through the upcoming midterm elections.
