SEC’s Gensler is under pressure from senators to stop approving new cryptocurrency ETFs

Citing “enormous risks” to individual investors, two U.S. senators want Gary Gensler to halt the creation of any new cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Democratic senators Jack Reed and Laphonza Butler wrote on March 11 that approving any more cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would expose investors to “thinly traded” markets prone to manipulation and fraud. The senators further requested that BTC ETF advisers and brokers be subject to more regulatory monitoring, and they encouraged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to take “several specific steps” with the already-launched Bitcoin ETF products. The SEC is currently reviewing eight proposed spot Ether ETF filings.

Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, according to a judge

Judge James Mellor ruled in the United Kingdom on March 14 that Craig Wright is not the anonymous founder of the Bitcoin network, Satoshi Nakamoto. On March 12, London saw the start of closing arguments in the case filed by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Wright, an Australian computer scientist claiming to be Nakamoto since 2016. Wright’s claims to be the originator of Bitcoin under a pseudonym have been met with accusations of widespread document falsification. COPA requested an injunction to stop Wright from claiming to be Nakamoto.

Attorneys seek $11 billion in damages and 40–50 years in prison for Sam Bankman-Fried

For the convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and the former CEO of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the prosecution requests a sentence of 40–50 years. The legislation may send him to prison for as long as 110 years. Bankman-Fried’s actions are described in detail in the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, which focuses on five main areas: his attempt to bribe Chinese government officials, his banking misconduct, his attempts to shift blame, and his various forms of obstruction of justice. Attorneys for Bankman-Fried requested a maximum sentence of six and a half years from the court.

Live release of Dencun update on Ethereum mainnet

On March 13, at 1:55 PM UTC, the Dencun update was successfully deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. The most anticipated hard fork since the Merge is predicted to improve Ethereum’s overall scalability and drastically lower layer-2 network transaction fees. Dencun integrates nine distinct Ethereum Enhancement Suggestions. The second component, Deneb, tries to enhance the consensus layer or the process by which network users agree on the current state of the blockchain. The first component, Cancun, concentrates on enhancing the management and processing of transactions on the execution layer. Ethereum’s main net users will not be impacted by the anticipated fee decreases.

Silence on the Ethereum ETF from the SEC is “not a good sign.” – A Bloomberg analyst

For those hoping for Ether ETF approvals by May, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lack of engagement with issuers regarding Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be a concerning indicator. Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF expert, told Cointelegraph that he had decreased the likelihood of Ether ETF certification to just 35% due to several factors. Balchunas contends that Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, may have also had an impact because he still views Ether as a security. Several asset managers, like Fidelity and BlackRock, are requesting approval to launch a spot Ether ETF.

Winners and Losers

By the conclusion of the week, Ether (ETH) is trading at $3,652, Bitcoin (BTC) at $68,166, and XRP at $0.62. CoinMarketCap estimates that the market is worth $2.5 trillion in total.

The top three altcoin gainers of the week among the top 100 cryptocurrencies are Gala (GALA) at 48.61%, Jupiter (JUP) at 57.27%, and 0x Protocol (ZRX) at 132.15%.

Arweave (A.R.) at -20.84%, Bitcoin S.V. (BSV) at -20.65%, and Filecoin (FIL) at -18.45% are the top three cryptocurrency losses of the week.

Most Memorable Quotations

Spot Bitcoin ETFs purchase ten times as much cryptocurrency daily than miners generate.

— Sergei Gorev, YouHodler’s risk manager

Would I have preferred to have invested $10,000, $50,000, or $100,000 in Bitcoin? Yes, of course.

— Economist and stockbroker, Peter Schiff

The Elizabeth Warren crypto bill is an example of a legislative initiative that expends 1,000% of its energy to produce a 1% result.

— Danny Lim, a vital member of the MarginX team

In the end, Ether seems to be Gensler’s security measure. He would not want to sanction it if he did not believe it to be a commodity similar to Bitcoin.

— Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas

The bears can only win the game if the inflow of Bitcoin ETFs ceases.

— CryptoQuant CEO, Ki Young Ju

The United States risks losing influence at this crucial juncture since other non-U.S. jurisdictions are actively involved in establishing global [crypto] standards.

— Vice-Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Travis Hill

Prediction of the week

Six months separate Bitcoin from an ETF “liquidity crisis.” — New evaluation

If institutional inflows continue, industry expert Ki Young Ju, creator and CEO of on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, predicts that Bitcoin will face a “sell-side liquidity crisis” by September.

With a market capitalization of about $30 billion, Bitcoin ETFs have become the most successful ETF launch ever. However, if the pattern continues, more Bitcoin may be needed to meet demand, which would be a novel phenomenon.

Ki summarized, saying, “Bears can’t win this game until spot Bitcoin ETF inflow stops.” With 3 million BTC in miner wallets and exchanges, he pointed out that ETFs alone invested more than 30,000 BTC last week, making the likelihood of a supply-driven price shock evident.

“Spot ETFs had netflows of +30,000 BTC last week. He went on, “Known companies like miners and exchanges hold about 3 million bitcoins, with 1.5 million of those held by U.S. entities. “With this pace, a sell-side liquidity crisis is coming within the next six months.”

FUD of the Week

Regulators in Hong Kong warn against MEXC and Bybit exchanges

As of March 14, 11 products offered by the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, including Bybit Futures, Bybit Options, Bybit Leveraged Tokens, Dual Assets, Bybit Lending, Bybit Wealth Management, and others, were placed on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong’s warning list. The commission also included cryptocurrency exchange MEXC to its warning list the next day, on March 15. As per the SFC statement, MEXC is actively promoting its services to investors headquartered in Hong Kong even though it does not possess an SFC license or has applied for a trading platform license.

The 2018 Trust Wallet iOS vulnerability may still impact some accounts

According to a recent analysis from security researchers at SECBIT Labs, even if users no longer use Trust Wallet, they may still be impacted by an existing vulnerability in the Trust Wallet iOS app. The researchers said the vulnerability was only present from February 5 through August 21, 2018, and did not impact accounts created after that date. Nonetheless, some users may still intend to utilize the exposed wallets and must be aware of the risk.

The founder of Bitcoin Fog crypto mixer is found guilty by a jury of money laundering

On March 12, the cryptocurrency mixer Bitcoin Fog creator was found guilty in the U.S. of money laundering. Roman Sterlingov, 35, was found guilty of operating an unregistered money-transmitting business, conspiring to launder money, and violating the D.C. Money Transmitters Act. Throughout its ten-year operation, the firm transferred over 1.2 million Bitcoins, valued at $400 million at the time of the transactions. According to the government, the majority of the cryptocurrency came from darknet marketplaces linked to drug misuse, computer fraud, and identity theft. Bitcoin Fog also handled distributors of materials about child sexual abuse.