Coin Telegraph

Industry figures assess the state of decentralized finance in 2024 and whether it is developing as expected.

It may only be April, but it has already been a fairly eventful year for crypto. 

In January, the United Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) begrudgingly approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while the fourth Bitcoin halving event has dominated the news more recently.

In non-Bitcoin news, Ethereum launched its Dencun upgrade in March, improving its integration with layer-2 blockchains.

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Stablecoin purchases in Turkey amount to 4.3% of GDP, the highest among global economies, according to Chainalysis.

The United States may lead the world in stablecoin transaction volumes, but its share of stablecoin purchases relative to its gross domestic product (GDP) has been eclipsed by Turkey.

According to “The 2024 Crypto Spring Report,” released on April 25 by the blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis, Turkey has the highest share of stablecoin purchases relative to its GDP.

Based on Chainalysis’ data, stablecoin buying in Turkey accounted for 4.3% of its GDP between April 2023 and March 2024, making it the world’s biggest spender of stablecoins relative to its GDP.

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BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF inflow streak ended on April 24 after IBIT recorded no inflows for the day, according to data from Farside.

BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has notched its first day of $0 in inflows since Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were introduced in the United States in January. 

Ever since its launch on Jan. 11, IBIT has consistently attracted investments worth millions of dollars daily, racking up nearly $15.5 billion in just 71 days. The inflow streak ended for BlackRock on April 24 after it recorded $0 of inflows.

Most of the other Bitcoin ETF participants witnessed a dry spell as well. Of the 11 United States-registered Bitcoin ETFs, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) were the only two to record inflows of $5.6 million and $4.2 million, respectively.

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The Lummis-GillibrandPayment Stablecoin Act introduced to the Senate could see big banks encouraged to take steps into the stablecoin market, says S&P Global Ratings.

A new stablecoin-focused bill introduced to the United States Senate could “encourage” U.S. banks to step into the stablecoin market, says global ratings firm S&P Global Ratings. 

In an April 23 research note, S&P shared that proposals outlined in the Payment Stablecoin Act — introduced to the Senate on April 17 — could encourage banks to get involved in issuing U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and potentially spell trouble for large non-U.S entities that issue stablecoins such as Tether.

Describing stablecoins as a potential “key pillar of financial markets,” the ratings agency looked to BlackRock’s recently launched BUIDL fund as evidence for the “efficiencies and enhanced settlement security” of stablecoins in tokenizing assets and digital bonds.

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KPMG Canada partner Kunal Bhasin says rising debt and increasing inflation have likely attracted institutional investors into crypto.

Canada-based institutional investors significantly increased their crypto exposure last year compared to the last bull run, a survey from accounting firm KPMG has revealed.

Nearly 40% of institutional investors reported having direct or indirect exposure to crypto assets in 2023 — up from 31% in KPMG’s 2021 study, the company according to an April 24 report.

KPMG received 65 responses, 31 of which identified as institutional investors with most managing more than $500 million in assets, while the remaining 34 were financial services organizations.

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Meta shares dipped after a disappointing Q2 revenue outlook and plans to spend nearly $100 billion this year as it aims to “invest aggressively” in its AI products.

Meta (META) shares dropped 15% in after-hours trading after the firm said it will “aggressively” ramp up spending in artificial intelligence while its metaverse division will continue to run at a loss —  amid a weak revenue outlook. 

The giant said in its April 24 first quarter 2024 results it expected expenses to rise to a range between $96 billion to $99 billion — up from $94 billion to $99 billion due to “higher infrastructure and legal costs.”

It also bumped full-year 2024 capital expenditures to a top end of $40 billion from its prior $37 billion as it would “invest aggressively to support our ambitious AI research and product development.”

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The European Central Bank is too busy attacking Bitcoin to worry about the myriad of real scams perpetrated by con artists in the industry.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak just won an appeal against YouTube and the use of his likeness in promoting cryptocurrency scams on the site. Crypto scammers (or the platforms they use) are increasingly getting caught and held accountable for their actions. Cryptocurrency is mainstream, meaning mainstream attention to coins, tokens, or platforms that seem “too good to be true” is met with widespread awareness that they are, indeed, too good to be true.

Unfortunately, as cryptocurrency regains popularity, more scams will appear. And one popular regulatory approach — criticizing Bitcoin (BTC) — is only serving to push more people into criminals’ clutches. I have personally been impersonated on social media due to my association with blockchain, and the criminals behind it attempted to swindle funds from my followers and friends. Despite filing police reports and injunctions, no progress has been made in catching them.

There are plenty of problems in cryptocurrency that are well worth attacking. But from Europe to the United States, regulators fight the same straw “bogeyman” of Bitcoin. The European Central Bank’s latest comments serve as an example: "Bitcoin has failed on the promise to be a global decentralized digital currency and is still hardly used for legitimate transfer,” ECB officials Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf wrote in a post for the ECB’s blog.

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An expert in U.S. federal prisons suggested that the former Binance CEO, if sentenced to incarceration, could face the risk of “theft and extortion” from other inmates.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has requested that a federal judge sentence him to probation after pleading guilty to violating money laundering laws. His legal team has filed several declarations in support of his recommendation, including one suggesting he could serve time at the Federal Detention Center (FDC) SeaTac, Washington.

In an April 23 filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, Robert Palmquist said it was “highly probable” that, if given prison time, Zhao would serve his sentence at FDC SeaTac. Palmquist, who served as warden of the Washington facility from 2003 to 2009, described it as having “little natural light” with the prison understaffed, given the number of inmates.

“If Mr. Zhao is incarcerated [...] his wealth and status as a public figure would expose him to a risk of threats to his physical and mental health, including but not limited to theft and extortion,” said Palmquist. “Mr. Zhao would encounter offenders of all security levels and potentially be prey to predators with high security designations due to his naivety concerning prison experiences and his financial resources.”

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Key on-chain metrics suggest a higher baseline for Bitcoin price now that the halving is complete.

Analyst and founder of the Capriole Investments fund Charles Edwards said multiple on-chain metrics suggest that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have “a lot further to run” in this bull market.

In his latest newsletter, Edwards explained that transaction fees from the recent Runes launch and other long-term metrics after the Bitcoin halving suggest “higher baseline Bitcoin (BTC) prices.

Bitcoin’s fourth halving resulted in a 50% drop in the digital asset’s supply growth rate, surpassing gold in terms of inflation rate.

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The crypto mixer allegedly handled $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated $100 million in money laundering.

The co-founders of cryptocurrency mixer Samourai Wallet have been arrested on charges of money laundering brought by the United States Justice Department (DOJ) and other agencies. 

Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill will each face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Rodriguez was arrested on the morning of April 24 in Pennsylvania, and Hill was arrested the same day in Portugal. According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, the United States will seek Hill’s extradition. The company’s servers and domain were also seized in Iceland, and a warrant has been served to stop downloads of the company’s app from the Google Play Store. The app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

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