Hello Ethereans!
After weeks of rumours the US Treasury has finally announced their planned regulation for “unhosted” wallets. The announcement, which came last Friday evening just ahead of the festive holiday and with an unprecedented 15 day public review, targeted private sector crypto-companies. While the regulation seemed to ignore decentralized finance itself (most likely out of ignorance and not intent), the proposed rules would create an additional burden for exchanges like Coinbase who would require detailed KYC for any user transacting crypto valued over $3,000.
The lack of reference to smart contracts or basic acknowledgement of DeFi along with the 15 day review period, likely confirms what Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, had suggested would be a rushed piece of regulation ahead of the Biden administration.
More comprehensive details can be found in this Twitter thread.
The rules were not as overreaching as many had feared, and with the uncertainty out of the way, markets were able to rally on Saturday with both Bitcoin and Ethereum making significant gains and ETH reaching a high of $676.96 .
Much of the weekend gains have retraced on Monday morning for no discernible reason (aside for general concerns over Covid and Brexit). This pullback is not driven on Ethereum fundamentals and with CME Group launching their ETH futures product in February, this may simply be another large dip that has so often accompanied previous crypto rallies.
In this preview we look at:
Circle announces Ethereum-based high-yield savings account
The Graph launches their network token with enormous success
Eth2 surpasses $1 billion staked and over 1.50% all circulating ETH
Media roundup
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