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Ethereum preparing a ‘bear trap’ ahead of The Merge — ETH price to $4K next?

An ascending triangle setup promises major price rebound in the Ethereum price in 2022.

Ethereum's native token, Ether (ETH), continues to face downside risks in a higher interest rate environment. But one analyst believes that the token's next selloff move could turn into a bear trap as the market factors in the possible release of the Merge coming August.

ETH to $4K?

Ether's price could reach $4,000 by 2022's end, according to a technical setup shared on May 20 by Wolf, an independent market analyst.

The analyst envisioned ETH moving inside a multi-month ascending triangle pattern, which comprises a horizontal trendline resistance and rising trendline support.

Notably, ETH's latest retest of the structure's lower trendline could initiate a big rebound toward its upper trendline, which sits around the $4,000-level, as shown below. 

ETH/USD three-day price chart featuring ascending triangle setups. Source: Wolf/TradingView

Wolf took his bullish cues from a similar triangle setup from 2016, whose formation preceded a major bull run from $1 to $27. Similarly, another ascending triangle occurrence in 2017 coincided with a bullish follow-up, wherein ETH/USD rose 270% to over $1,500.

The Merge vs. low liquidity "death spiral"

Wolf's fractal-based analysis came as Preston Van Loon, one of the Ethereum core developers, confirmed that the blockchain project's much-anticipated upgrade to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism would occur sometime in August.

Wolf noted that Ethereum setting up a "bear trap," which would make sense prior to the upgrade, complimenting his technical setup, as discussed above.

The pending upgrade was one of the key catalysts behind Ether's price rally in 2021, as many investors believed it would improve the long-standing scalability problem in the Ethereum blockchain while cutting transaction and gas costs. Nonetheless, Ethereum Foundation kept delaying the launch.

"Undoubtedly, this lack of progress has played a major role in Ethereum's recent price decline,"  Bitfreedom Research, a tech-stock and crypto research entity, noted while predicting ETH's price to decline toward $950-$1,900 by October 2022.

Related: Analysts note parallels with March 2020: Will this time be different?

The firm cited higher interest rates as the core reason behind its bearish outlook for Ethereum, noting:

"The crypto market moves extraordinarily fast, which means crypto companies need LOTS of cash to power rapid growth. With no cash available, this can lead Ethereum's ERC20-token economy to move in a death spiral."

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

Here’s why Terra’s snowball effect could send Avalanche (AVAX) price to $15

The collateral damage of Terra’s collapse could continue to impact Avalanche price, especially considering that the Luna Foundation Guard holds 1.97 million AVAX tokens.

Avalanche (AVAX) has emerged as one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies among the top-ranking tokens in the last 24 hours, partially due to fears connected to Terra (LUNA) and its a near-dead UST algorithmic stablecoin project.

Avalanche price dips amid Terra's tax evasion FUD

AVAX's price plunged by nearly 14% between May 18, where it traded near $35 to May 19 when the price dipped to $28.50. The dip coincided with a South Korean news agency report that claims Terraforms Labs, the developer of the Terra blockchain, owes 100 billion won (approximately $78.5 million) to the regional tax agency.

The news came three days after Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a nonprofit subsidiary of TerraForms, revealed that it had around 1.97 million AVAX tokens (worth $58.39 million at today's price) in the reserves that were supposed to back its benchmark UST stablecoin.

In the same pool, LFG also holds Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), and LUNA. The firm had earlier sold a good portion of its holdings to shore up UST's value following its 'de-peg' from the U.S. dollar.

Interestingly, LFG has not sold any AVAX, nonetheless, the panic around the Terra fiasco prompted the Avalanche token to plunge by nearly 50% month-to-date, including a 30% intraday decline on May 11.

Related: Tether to move over 1B USDT from Tron to Ethereum and Avalanche

Technical analysis projects further downside for AVAX

AVAX/USD 4-hour price chart featuring 'bear pennant' setup. Source: TradingView

From a technical perspective, AVAX's price could fall by another 40% in May as it breaks out of its prevailing bearish continuation setup.

Dubbed 'bear pennant,' the pattern appears when the price consolidates inside a range—defined by a falling upper trendline and a rising lower trendline—after a strong move downward. It resolves after the price breaks below the lower trendline and, as a rule of technical analysis, falls by as much as the flagpole of the previous downtrend.

The bear pennant setup puts AVAX en route to around $17 in May, down about 40% from today's price.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

$1.9T wipeout in crypto risks spilling over to stocks, bonds — stablecoin Tether in focus

The dangers posed by stablecoins to the traditional market cannot be dismissed due to Tether's exposure to the U.S. credit system.

The cryptocurrency market has lost $1.9 trillion six months after it soared to a record high. Interestingly, these losses are bigger than those witnessed during the 2007's subprime mortgage market crisis — around $1.3 trillion, which has prompted fears that creaking crypto market risk will spill over across traditional markets, hurting stocks and bonds alike.

Crypto market capitalization weekly chart. Source: TradingView

Stablecoins not very stable

A massive move lower from $69,000 in November 2021 to around $24,300 in May 2022 in Bitcoin's (BTC) price has caused a selloff frenzy across the crypto market.

Unfortunately, the bearish sentiment has not even spared stablecoins, so-called crypto equivalents of the U.S. dollar, which have been unable to stay as "stable" as they claim.

For instance, TerraUSD (UST), once the third-largest stablecoin in the industry, lost its dollar peg earlier this week, falling to as low as $0.05 on May 13.

UST/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market cap, briefly fell to $0.95 on May 12. But unlike TerraUSD, Tether managed to recover back to near $1, primarily because it claims to back its dollar peg using good old-fashioned reserves, including the real dollars and government bonds.

Crypto spillover risks

But that is where the trouble begins, according to a warning issued by rating agency Fitch last year. The agency feared that Tether's rapid growth could have implications for the short-term credit market, where it holds a lot of funds, according to the company's reserves breakdown disclosed here.

If traders decide to dump their Tether, the most-popular dollar-pegged stablecoin in the crypto sector, for cash, it would risk destabilizing the short-term credit market, Fitch noted.

The credit market is already struggling under the weight of higher interest rates. Tether could further pressure it lower as it holds $24 billion worth of commercial paper, $35 billion worth of Treasury notes, and $4 billion worth of corporate bonds. 

The signs are already visible. For example, Tether has been reducing its commercial paper reserves during the crypto correction in the last six months, its chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, confirmed on May 12.

So, based on Fitch's warning last year, many analysts fear that the "financial run" might soon spill over to the traditional market.

That includes Joseph Abate, managing director of fixed income research at Barclays, who believes Tether's decision to sell its commercial papers and certificate deposit holdings before maturity could mean paying several months of interest in penalty.

As a result, they could be forced to sell their liquid Treasury bills, which make up 44% of their net holdings.

Related: What happened? Terra debacle exposes flaws plaguing the crypto industry

"We do not know what is going to happen, but the danger cannot be dismissed out of hand," opines Robert Armstrong, the author of Financial Times' Unhedged newsletter, adding:

"Stablecoins have a total market capitalization of more than $150 billion. If the pegs all break — and they could — there will be ripples well beyond crypto."

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

BNY Mellon, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund Participate in Crypto Data Platform’s $170,000,000 Fundraising Round

BNY Mellon, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund Participate in Crypto Data Platform’s 0,000,000 Fundraising Round

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and US banking giant Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon) are leading a new $175 million fundraising round for crypto data platform Chainalysis. After the latest funding round, Chainalysis’ valuation is now $8.6 billion, making the platform the largest enterprise software as […]

The post BNY Mellon, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund Participate in Crypto Data Platform’s $170,000,000 Fundraising Round appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

3 reasons why Cardano can sink further despite ADA price bouncing 58%

A mix of fundamental and technical indicators suggests more pain for Cardano bulls ahead.

Cardano (ADA) pared a big portion of the weekly losses incurred during this week's crypto market rout. 

ADA's price reached an intraday high of $0.60 on May 13, a day after rebounding from its week-to-date low of $0.38 — a 58% rally.

The huge upside retracement appeared in the wake of similar price action in the crypto market with top cryptos Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) rebounding by 23% and 25.75% since yesterday's lows.

The top ten crypto assets' recovery in the past 24 hours. Source: Messari

But the sharp ADA recovery does not promise an extended upward continuation, at least according to the three factors discussed below.

Stock market crash far from over

First, the price action in the Cardano and similar crypto-assets has been in lockstep with U.S. equities, especially tech stocks.

Notably, the correlation coefficient between ADA and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 0.93 on May 13, meaning that any major moves in stocks would likely steer Cardano in the same direction. 

The correlation between Cardano and Nasdaq Composite. Source: TradingView

Moreover, the chances of Nasdaq undergoing a sharp recovery are currently slim, as analysts highlight the overstretched valuations of the Big Tech stocks and their probability of crashing further in a higher interest-rate environment.

"The [ax] is hanging, rather, over high-growth tech companies," opines Richard Waters, the Financial Times' West Coast editor, adding:

"This is where valuations became most stretched, and where the market is having the most trouble finding its nadir."

Simply put, Cardano's persistent positive correlation with Nasdaq could result in more sharp declines in the ADA market, at least for the time being.

ADA's "fifth wave missing"

Secondly, another hint of a potential Cardano price decline comes from a technical structure highlighted by Capo of Crypto, an independent market analyst.

The pseudonymous analyst notes that ADA could fall to the $0.30–$0.35 range next, given its possibility to paint the fifth and final wave of a bearish Elliott Wave setup, as shown in the chart below.

ADA/USD two-day price chart featuring bearish Elliott Wave setup. Source: Capo of Crypto/TradingView

The target range coincides with the support area from January 2021 that preceded a 850% bull run.

Descending channel breakdown 

Thirdly, Cardano has been breaking below its multi-month descending channel in another sign of weakness.  

ADA has been trending lower inside a range defined by two falling, parallel trendlines, underscoring traders' current strategy of buying near the lower trendline and selling toward the upper trendline.

But on May 12, ADA/USD broke down below the lower trendline near $0.568, showing that traders ignored the buying opportunity.

Instead, buyers showed up near the $0.378-level to accumulate ADA, leading to the price rebound, as discussed above. However, the trading volume backing the recovery move was lower than during the selloffs, indicating a weakening rebound trend.

ADA/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Simultaneously, the upside retracement move showed signs of further weakness after testing the descending channel's bottom as resistance — a way of confirming the breakdown. If the bulls fail to flip the price ceiling to support, then ADA's likelihood of continuing its prevailing downtrend will be much higher.

Related: Look out below! Ethereum derivatives data hints at further downside from ETH

Conversely, a decisive move above the channel's lower trendline could have ADA then test its upper trendline near $1. 

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

ApeCoin rebounds after APE price crashes 80% in two weeks: dead cat bounce or bottom?

APE risks crashing into unchartered price territory as it follows Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market.

ApeCoin (APE) has undergone a sharp recovery after falling to its lowest level in two months. But its strong correlation with Bitcoin (BTC) and U.S. equities amid macro risks suggests more losses could be in store.

APE rebounds after 80% losses in two weeks

APE rebounded by nearly 45% to $7.30 on May 12. The upside retracement move came after APE dropped circa 81% to $5 on May 11, from its record high near $27.50, established on April 28.

The seesaw price action mirrored similar volatile moves elsewhere in the crypto market, led by the chaos around TerraUSD (UST) — an "algorithmic stablecoin" whose value plunged to 23 cents earlier this week, and the Federal Reserve's hawkish response to rising inflation.

APE/USD versus USTUSD. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, the correlation coefficient between ApeCoin and Bitcoin is now around 0.90, suggesting that it's trading nearly in tandem with BTC, which is testing multi-year lows.

ApeCoin and Bitcoin daily correlation. Source: TradingView

Dead cat bounce?

ApeCoin's rebound occurred near what appears to be a strong technical support level.

Related: ApeCoin is down 70%+ since the Otherside launch — Can Yuga Labs turn the ship around?

Notably, APE is holding above $5.82, which coincides with the 0.786 Fib line of the Fibonacci retracement graph sketched from the $0.97-swing low to the $23.65-swing high. Meanwhile, the token's daily relative strength index's reading is just above its 'oversold' threshold level of 30 — a buy signal. 

APE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Therefore, a rebound move from the $5.82-support could have APE test $9.63 (the 0.618 Fib line) as its near-term upside target.

Conversely, an extended breakdown below the support would risk crashing the APE/USD pair into unchartered price territory, confirming that its retracement move was a mere dead cat bounce.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

Ether plunges 13% while Bitcoin pushes BTC dominance to 2022 high — more pain ahead?

Bitcoin dominance has spiked to six-month highs at Ether’s expense as ETH/BTC suffers big losses.

Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) plunged to its lowest level in almost two months against Bitcoin (BTC) as a crypto market sell-off intensified on May 12.

Macro headwinds catch up to ETH/BTC finally

The ETH/BTC trading pair fell by 7.5% to 0.0663 in the past 24 hours. The downside move came as a part of a correction that began May 11 when the pair traded at the local high of 0.0768. That pushed Ether down against BTC by up to 13.75%.

ETH/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Cryptocurrencies have come under stress in recent weeks alongside stock markets. Notably, money managers, traders and investors show signs of “de-risking” their portfolios amid growing concerns over an increasingly hawkish Fed.

Ether, the second-largest crypto by market cap, has also been hit by the same macro headwinds, now trading 65% lower than its record high of around $4,870 in November 2021. Similarly, Bitcoin is down 63% from its all-time high of $69,000 in the same period.

As a result of Ether’s slightly limited decline compared to Bitcoin’s, ETH/BTC has shown resilience despite the market downturn in 2022. Nonetheless, the pair now shows signs of catching up to the bearish trend, suggesting more pain ahead.

Rising wedge breakdown in play

ETH/BTC’s latest decline has had it break below its prevailing rising wedge pattern, suggesting the pair’s technical downside target could be much lower than May 12’s local lows.

That’s because rising wedges are bearish reversal patterns that typically send the price lower by as much as their maximum height when measured from the breakdown point.

Hence, the ETH/BTC rising wedge’s breakdown target comes to be near 0.064 after adding the structure’s maximum height, usually around minus 0.009 BTC, to the breakdown point of 0.073 BTC.

ETH/BTC daily price chart featuring 'rising wedge' breakdown setup. Source: TradingView

Conversely, ETH/BTC has been testing an upward sloping trendline, marked as “LTF support” in the chart above, as support since June 2021. The pair’s attempt to break below the price floor oMay 12 fell short as traders gathered to buy the dip. That prompted Ether to rebound by 3.5% from its intraday low of 0.066 BTC.

Related: DOGE gets more love on Twitter and Ether gets more hate: Data analysis

But, ETH faces a sequence of resistance levels as it pursues an upward continuation trend in the coming days. They include an interim price ceiling of 0.069 BTC — defined by the 0.236 Fib line of the Fibonacci retracement graph drawn from the 0.087 BTC-swing high to the 0.064 BTC-swing low followed by the 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA; the blue wave) near 0.073 BTC.

Bitcoin’s market dominance hits six-month high

The ETH/BTC’s plunge coincided with the Bitcoin Dominance Index — a metric that measures Bitcoin’s market share against altcoins — climbing to nearly 45% on May 12, its highest level since November 2021. This may also suggest that traders are viewing Bitcoin as the safer bet — the “digital gold” — amid the current market turmoil.

BTC.D daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

Avalanche drops 30% on fears Terra’s LFG will dump AVAX next

Luna Foundation Guard is emptying its crypto reserves to bring its stablecoin back to its $1-peg, risking a massive AVAX selloff.

Avalanche (AVAX) is paying the price for being one of the collateral assets that maintain Terra's native stablecoin TerraUSD's (UST) peg with the U.S. dollar.

Major AVAX dump ahead?

AVAX's price dropped about 30% to reach  $32.50 on May 11, its lowest level since September 2021. Its massive intraday decline coincided with UST dropping to as low as 23 cents, which effectively dented its stablecoin status among traders and investors alike.

The de-peg incident happened despite Luna Foundation Guard, a Singapore-based nonprofit backed by TerraLabs, emptying its crypto reserves to prop up the UST peg. The firm currently holds 1.97 million AVAX worth nearly $74.75 million, according to data shared by analyst CrypOrca.

Luna Foundation Guard reserves. Source: CryptOrca

A similar sentiment can be witnessed in the LUNA market, another crypto LFG holds as collateral to back UST. LUNA's value dropped by 85% on May 11, its worst daily performance.

Bearish AVAX price technicals

Avalanche bulls attempted to save AVAX from falling below a key support line near $36, coinciding with the 0.238 Fib line of the Fibonacci retracement graph stretched from the $0.29-swing low to the $34.52-swing high.

Their efforts helped the token recoup almost 22% of its May 11 losses, with its price rebounding from $32.50 to over $39.50.

But a full-fledged bullish reversal appears unlikely as AVAX's upside retracement faces one strong resistance after another.

Initially, the token now eyes a run-up toward a support-turned-resistance area, marked as the accumulation zone in the chart below. The upside target coincides with the 0.618 Fib line around $67.

AVAX/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

A decisive close above the zone could have AVAX test its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave) near $69 and its 200-day EMA (the blue wave) around $74 as next resistances.

Related: Terra founder Do Kwon shares plan to save the UST stablecoin peg

But AVAX also faces headwinds from a higher interest rate environment that has dampened buying sentiment across the crypto market.

This could prompt the AVAX/USD pair to retest $36 as support for a breakdown move, which risks leading the price toward $20, an important price floor from  February-April 2021.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

Polygon reaches level that last time triggered a 275% MATIC price rally — will history repeat?

MATIC has rebounded sharply after testing the July 2021 support level, borrowing further upside cues from Polygon's partnership with Meta.

Polygon (MATIC) price reversed course to the upside on May 10 after testing $0.794 as its interim support, thus rising by up to 25% to $0.99.

The rebound occurred a day after the token slumped over 17% to reach $0.787, its lowest level since July 2021, amid a global market crash led by the U.S. Federal Reserve's hawkish policies.

MATIC price rebounded after undergoing five days of relentless declines, attracting buyers around the same support level that had preceded a 275% bull run last year.

MATIC/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

A previous retest of the $0.787-level in July 2021 and the 0.786 Fib line (near $0.61) of the Fibonacci retracement graph — drawn from the $0.002-swing low to 2.86-swing high — followed up with MATIC rising to its record high of $3 by December 2021.

Therefore, MATIC/USD might undergo a similar, sharp upside retracement in the coming weeks after rebounding from the same support confluence.

MATIC fundamentals: then and now

However, a lot has changed in terms of market fundamentals between July 2021 and May 2022 that may influence MATIC traders' behavior. 

For instance, MATIC's price boom occurred last year as demand for layer-2 solutions increased due to Ethereum's skyrocketing gas and transaction costs.

As a result, popular decentralized finance (DeFI) applications, including decentralized exchange SushiSwap (SUSHI), liquidity service Curve (CRV), and lending platform Aave (AAVE), expanded their operations in the Polygon chain.

The total value locked inside Polygon liquidity pools. Source: Defi Llama 

But 2022 has been a bad year for cryptos. The Fed's decision to hike interest rates followed by the unwinding of their $9 trillion balance sheet has prompted investors to reduce their exposures to riskier assets. Unfortunately, the prospect of excess cash leaving the market has hurt MATIC, whose year-to-date paper returns were nearly 65% below zero as of May 10.

Unfortunately, the prospect of excess cash leaving the market has hurt MATIC, whose year-to-date paper returns were nearly 65% below zero as of May 10.

Related: 10-month BTC price lows spark $1B liquidation as Bitcoin eyes $35K CME futures gap

"This is a risk-off across all asset classes, including crypto,” Daniel Ives, strategist at Wedbush Securities, told the Financial Times, adding that digital asset investors have “nowhere to hide.” He added:

"Some investors are playing crypto like a hedge against inflation, but it’s trading like the Nasdaq’s Siamese twin."

Silver lining amid chaos: Meta

On May 9, Polygon CEO Ryan Watt announced that they are partnering with Meta to create a nonfungible token (NFT) platform for Facebook and Instagram.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also confirmed that they have been "testing digital collectibles for creators and collectors to showcase NFTs on Instagram," adding that similar features would come to Facebook soon. The hype could help MATIC form a strong price floor.

But from a technical perspective, MATIC risks bearish continuation toward $0.615 in May.

MATIC/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, a bullish confirmation looks less likely to appear unless the token reclaims its 50-week exponential moving average (50-week EMA; the red wave) near $1.37 as support.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months

Law Decoded: Crypto retirement plans get hot with Warren and Lummis making their moves, May 2–9, 2022

Last week was marked by reinvigorated discussion on crypto 401(k) among high-profile US policymakers.

Retirement plans still largely remain at the periphery of both crypto adoption and the regulatory discussion. But last week, a major development emerged in this department. United States Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota became concerned about Fidelity’s recent announcement of adding Bitcoin (BTC) to its clients’ 401(k) retirement investment menu. In a letter to the company’s CEO Abigail Johnson, the lawmakers expressed their uneasiness over a “conflict of interests” and the “significant risks of fraud, theft and loss,” requesting from Fidelity a detailed outline of risk mitigation actions. 

Crypto 401(k) plans are still relatively rare, but they have already drawn suspicious attention from the U.S. Department of Labor. Crypto retirement investment does have its allies in high places, though. In response to Warren and Smith’s letter, Senator Tommy Tuberville from Alabama has unveiled a new bill titled the Financial Freedom Act to allow Americans to add cryptocurrency to their 401(k) retirement savings plan unencumbered by regulatory guidance.

Meanwhile, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis’ hotly-anticipated crypto bill remains in the works. This week, Lummis once again teased it during a livestream, mentioning her intention to allow — perhaps, to legitimize, as it isn’t really prohibited — the integration of crypto assets into Americans’ 401(k) retirement savings packages.

Meanwhile in Europe

“A global agreement on crypto should first enshrine that no product remains unregulated,” stated Mairead McGuinness, the commissioner for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union at the European Commission, stated in her opinion piece last week. McGuinness called on the European Union and the United States to lead the global push toward coordinated crypto regulation.

As of late, the European Union’s rocky path has been met with mixed success. While the European Commission’s recent report appeared to be surprisingly comprehensive on decentralized finance (DeFi) and urged regulators to rethink their approach to the sector, the European Central Bank confirmed the digital euro’s critics’ worst expectations by letting slip that user anonymity was “not a desirable option.”

J.D. Vance: A name to remember

U.S. midterm elections in November could be the first major electoral circle with crypto as a mainstream political issue, as a significant number of candidates place digital assets high on their agendas. One of them is 37-year-old J.D. Vance of Ohio, who won the local Republican Senate primary election last week. Come fall, Vance will face Democrat Tim Ryan, who is rather supportive of crypto as well. Not only does Vance hold some $250,000 in BTC, but he has secured backing from one of the most influential proponents of crypto, the billionaire Peter Thiel.

A holiday with crypto

It’s always sunny in the Bahamas — well, at least for the crypto industry. Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said he expects that the recently published regulatory white paper will help the industry “grow and prosper” on the islands. Meanwhile, the founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital Anthony Scaramucci believes that the Caribbean nation will have a shot at becoming one of the most “forward-thinking and economic visionary countries” in the next five years. And, there’s more from Cointelegraph’s recent visit to SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference — including the interview with the crypto-friendly former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

Plastic Surgery Fails to Help Crypto Scammer Evade Arrest After 10 Months