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This week brought Bitcoin back below $20,000 on Saturday, while Ether fell back below $1,600. Most of the top fifty cryptocurrencies and tokens by market capitalization also posted weekly losses as the sector grapples with more regulatory crackdowns.
California Crypto Bill Awaits Signing
This week, cryptocurrency investors focused on California, where the Digital Financial Assets Act was passed on August 30. The law requires crypto exchanges and companies to be licensed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to operate in the state.
The Blockchain Association, a crypto advocacy group, expressed its displeasure and called on lawmakers to reject the bill, saying “the licensing provisions are designed to impose the same type of burdensome licensing and reporting regimes that have hampered the growth of the crypto industry.” .
The bill stipulates that stablecoins are to be licensed by a state regulator or issued by banks. This has raised concerns among stablecoin issuers. From the perspective of US regulatory officials, these firms must show sufficient USD reserves for their tokens. Popular stablecoins such as Tether and USD Coin have market capitalizations in the tens of billions of dollars. However, the condition of the law is set to be phased out in 2028.
The bill, which will go into effect in January 2025, now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. This is expected to happen by September 30.
NFTs in the Meta ecosystem
From May 2022, Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. features that allow users to post and share NFTs, or what it calls “digital collectibles,” on Instagram. This was originally limited to US-based creators and collectors. However, in August, the feature was expanded to 100 countries.
On August 29, Meta announced that it is allowing users to post their digital collectibles on both Facebook and Instagram. Some Facebook users have expressed concerns about the security of their digital wallets, which provide access to expensive NFTs.
In its recent report on the NFT market, research firm Elliptic showed that between July 2021 and July 2022, fraudsters stole more than $100 million worth of NFTs. Of these, 4,600 NFTs were stolen in July alone.
Talk after searching
CoinSwitch Kuber co-founder and CEO Ashish Singhal said in a tweet that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s “engagement” with CoinSwitch Kuber was not related to money laundering charges or the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The agency is said to have investigated the company with regard to the functioning of its crypto platforms and exchanges.
The CEO also explained that crypto is a new asset class in the country, and that CoinSwitch Kuber has had “constructive dialogues” with stakeholders to inform them about the company’s business practices.
CoinSwitch Kuber was valued at around $1.9 billion last year, and notable investors include Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures.
Last month, the ED had frozen deposits worth ₹ 64.67 crore of crypto exchange WazirX as part of a money laundering probe.
