The Rundown Powered By Arcane Research
• Regionally the flows reveal that opinions are divided, with inflows totalling US$20m into European exchanges but outflows of US$36m from American exchanges.
• BTC keeps showing strength, attempting to break its crucial resistance level of $25k. BTC is up 1% over the past seven days and has consolidated in the $23k to $25k area. (Read article)
• Ethereum’s share of the total crypto market cap has surpassed 20% for the first time since May after several weeks of outperforming BTC. The recent Ether strength has led ETHBTC to climb towards its 2021 highs. (Read article)
• The Fear and Greed index has recovered to its highest levels since April. (Read article)
• Futures premiums and funding rates in BTC remain low as trading activity in BTC derivatives dwindles. (Read article)
• Public miners are still dumping their bitcoin holdings at a higher rate than their production rate. Public miners sold 6,200 BTC in July, making July the second-highest BTC selling month in 2022. (Read article)
A Deep Bite
What Are Coin Mixers and How Do They Work?
The Treasury Department has issued sanctions against Tornado Cash, an Ethereum coin mixing service, effectively banning Americans from using it. But what does Tornando Cash do, and more broadly, why would anyone want to use coin mixers? In brief:
• Privacy advocates call coin mixers a necessary tool for protecting anonymity.
• Government officials call coin mixers tools for money laundering.
• Billions in crypto have changed hands using coin mixers.
The article examines the technology behind mixers and their legitimate and illegitimate uses. More here
Weekly Bites
Coinbase Will Be ‘Meaningful’ Beneficiary of Ethereum Merge, JPMorgan Says
Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is positioned to benefit from the Ethereum Merge as institutional and retail clients get value from staking ether (ETH), JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington told clients in a note. More here
Fake Manchester United token soars 3,000% after Elon Musk jokes about buying team
Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC) is a dead coin and not related to the sports franchise, but one Elon Musk tweet was enough to revive it on Aug. 17. Other Manchester United-related assets also rallied after Musk's tweet. More here
U.S Federal Warns Banks to Check Legality of Crypto Activities
The U.S. Federal Reserve urged the financial entities that are already engaging in or planning to participate in crypto activities to verify the legality of those activities. The letter also outlines the steps that the Board-supervised banks should take prior to engaging in crypto-asset-related activities. More here
Colombia to prevent tax evasion with national digital currency
Amid Colombia’s economic growth beat expectations in the second quarter, Luis Carlos Reyes, the head of the Colombian Tax and Customs National Authority, claimed that the government will seek to create a digital currency to prevent illicit financial activity like tax evasion. More here
Venture Capitalist Launches $200M Crypto Fund as Web3’s ‘Missing Layer’
The capital haul is the latest sizable endeavor to opportunistically emerge through crypto’s lingering bear market. Shima Capital’s limited partners include billionaire investor Bill Ackman and Andrew Yang. More here
Celsius is conducting its own misconduct investigation as customers tell a bankruptcy court that the company's founders misled them
Celsius has enlisted its special committee to investigate complaints of "misconduct.". The bankruptcy court has gotten some 300 letters from customers, many clamoring about lost savings. More here
Crypto.com Earns Regulatory Approval to Operate in the UK
Crypto.com today announced regulatory approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to act as a crypto business. With this approval in hand, the firm also meets local anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. More here
Crypto Lender Nexo Sues Former Director Over $7.9M Trading Loss: Report
Crypto lender Nexo is taking legal action against its former director, Georgi Shulev, on claims that he failed to keep his side of a settlement agreement, according to Law360. Nexo is looking to recoup losses in a BitMEX account it has been locked out of since 2019. More here
Tweet Of The Week
They are silently in crypto already... pic.twitter.com/C5YeiE91P7
— CZ ???? Binance (@cz_binance) August 16, 2022
