Among the most outstanding news of the week is the vote that was made in the European Parliament on the regulation of the cryptocurrency sector, the so-called Law of Markets for Cryptographic Assets (MiCA), which has been under discussion since 2020. The majority of parliamentarians took a position against a controversial provision that could affect cryptocurrency mining based on proof of work (PoW).
Meanwhile, the bitcoin price has managed to stabilize around $40,000. The expectation is of greater growth, if the pressure of demand is maintained. Apparently, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has stopped scaring investors. The weekly rise of the cryptocurrency is estimated at 9.1%. At the time of this writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at USD 41,324, as reflected in the market price of Latin America and Spain, according to the CriptoNoticias price calculator.
These are the most important news:
- The European Parliament voted 32 to 24 against the final version of the European Union bill that placed obstacles to Bitcoin mining. The so-called MiCA Law will finally not include clause 2a that the community was so concerned about and that revolves around digital mining. The proposal with the greatest acceptance was the one presented by the deputy Stefan Berger, who proposes to include cryptocurrencies in the scope of action of another European environmental regulation. However, the deputies who raised their energy concerns and who supported the restriction they can still appeal and submit it for evaluation of a tripartite commission.
- More than 100 Bitcoin mining farms have ceased operations in Kazakhstan, in what could be a government coup against an industry that is reaching scale in that country. Government audited mining farms in the wake of the energy crisis that crosses the Asian nation, seizing several pieces of equipment. According to government sources, many of the miners had been smuggled from China, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey and Georgia.
- A study of the financial services company and one of the calls Big Four, Deloitte, highlights the need for major changes in the current monetary ecosystem. The company considers that, in this scenario, governments should copy the bitcoin model when creating their digital currencies, taking into account its advantages. They highlight speed, security, efficiency and cross-border payments. Meanwhile, the financial analyst and investment advisor, Alberto Cárdenas, warned about the bursting of a financial bubble that could affect the pioneering cryptocurrency. This, while on the world stage there is a glimpse of a crisis of confidence in the dollar, as a result of the US sanctions against Russia and the large issuance of money supply over the last two years.
- The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 0.25% for the first time since 2018, and announced a total of six increases additions for this year. With this first adjustment, the bitcoin market reacted moderately, although a greater impact was expected from the Fed’s announcement. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed a project called Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act. The goal, he said, is to prevent Russia from using them to evade sanctions imposed by the United States. However, companies such as Coin Center maintain that behind the proposal guidelines are hidden that are detrimental of the cryptocurrency industry.
- On March 16, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, promulgated the Law on Virtual Assets, giving legal support to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in that country. The approval comes in the context of the flow of donations in bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies that the Ukrainian government is receiving to face the Russian attack. For its part, the blockchain analysis company, Elliptic, revealed data that linked to more than 15 million addresses of cryptocurrencies with criminal activities linked to Russian territory.
- Wasabi Wallet, a privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet, stated that as of its next version, its CoinJoin protocol for mixing BTC will start discriminating transactions from what they consider to be criminal activities. On the other hand, the capacity of the Bitcoin Lightning network reached a new all-time high (ATH) last Monday. The amount of bitcoins that users deposit in contracts between channels to gain liquidity, reached 3,534 BTC. Meanwhile, Ethereum second-layer solutions developer company Optimism reported raising $150 million to expand development of Ethereum. rollupstool to operate in Ethereum with less network commissions.
If you want to know the meaning of several words of the terminology of the crypto world, you can consult them in the extensive Glossary of CriptoNoticias.
This is Gentlemen: can be translated to something like “This is gentlemen”. It stems from a typo by a user on Reddit, who intended to type “This is it, gentlemen” to announce a bitcoin price hike. Since then, it is said to herald good news.