The United States Federal Reserve Board has revised its crypto regulation guidance to banks regarding allowances for engaging in digital currencies and dollar token or stablecoin activities. The Fed said it has rescinded the provisions of its 2022 Supervisory Letter, which mandated advance notices for banks that wanted to engage in crypto activities. This move comes amid the changing crypto regulatory landscape in the United States.
Federal Reserve and New Approach to Crypto
According to the Press Release shared by the Fed, it has now chosen to do things differently instead of this stringent oversight. Moving forward, the banking regulator said it will only resort to regulating banks’ crypto activities usually.
In addition to this, the Fed also confirmed it is backtracking on a 2023 guidance designed for stablecoins.
“The Board is also rescinding its 2023 supervisory letter regarding the supervisory nonobjection process for state member bank engagement in dollar token activities,” the press release noted.
As CoinGape reported earlier, the OCC also revised its position and cleared banks to engage in crypto activities. To complement the current shift, the apex bank also confirmed that it will work with relevant agencies to determine whether more guidance will be forthcoming.
The ultimate goal is to foster crypto-based innovation to an appropriate level.
Crypto Regulation Taking a Comprehensive Twist
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Federal Reserve and other agencies have shifted their approach to crypto. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped some crypto lawsuits to fulfill the President’s campaign promises.
One of the high-profile cases the SEC closed is the Ripple lawsuit. After more than four years of legal battle, the regulator rescinded its appeal on the case, a gesture matched by the payments firm.
Other top crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase Global, Uniswap, and Kraken, have also seen their cases closed. With Paul Atkins now sworn in as Chairman of the commission, he has proclaimed that Bitcoin will be his priority.
Operation Chokepoint 2.0 Out the Window
Over the past year, conversations around Operation Chokepoint 2.0 have filled the crypto ecosystem. Firms operating in the industry have complained of direct efforts to hinder crypto innovation.
Coinbase is filing an active FOIA lawsuit with the FDIC to uncover ways the agency has tried to choke firms. Both the President and Crypto Czar David Sacks have promised to end the industry chokepoint and chart a new course for the US digital assets ecosystem.
The latest move by the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the SEC, and the FDIC confirms that the Operation Chokepoint agenda is over.
The latest update from cryptocurrency exchange Binance has nabbed significant attention, offering investors a new opportunity to make returns despite the broader market uncertainty. The CEX behemoth revealed this Friday that it is opening trading for a new crypto, Balance (EPT), shortly ahead. Meanwhile, the exchange also revealed that it will commence futures trading for the same crypto soon.
As a result, market watchers are thoroughly observing this token, expecting price gains ahead in light of enhanced market support on one of the top crypto exchanges.
Binance To Open Trading For Balance (EPT) Crypto: Here Are The Key Details
Binance informed users via an official press release on April 18 that Balance (EPT) will be open for trading on the Alpha platform starting April 21 at 12:00 UTC. The new crypto listing comes as the CEX exchange continues to tap into emerging market opportunities.
Additionally, the listing announcement highlighted airdrop eligibility details for the same crypto project. These details were exclusively for users who have purchased on Alpha using Spot or Funding accounts on the exchange between April 11 and April 17, 23:59 UTC.
What’s More?
Moreover, Binance added in its announcement that the EPTUSDT USD-Margined perpetual contract will also be launched on April 21 at 13:00 UTC. The underlying asset for this contract remains Balance.
Further, users can enjoy up to 20x leverage while futures trading this asset. This perpetual contract will also be available for Futures Copy trading within 24 hours of the launch.
For context, Balance is a next-gen AI+Web3 protocol and framework for social and gaming, seamlessly integrating AI technology, blockchain technology, and decentralized applications.
Usual market sentiments remain highly optimistic in the wake of listings on top crypto exchanges, as it enhances market exposure globally. Historically, airdrops, listings, and perpetual contract launches on the same exchange have ushered in remarkable price gains for tokens.
Intriguingly, CoinGape reported that Binance listed VIRTUAL the previous week, sparking investor optimism surrounding its price action. Since the announcement, VIRTUAL price has been up nearly 21% weekly. As a result, crypto market traders remain optimistic about the Balance (EPT) crypto launch on the same exchange.
Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see what analysts say about Bitcoin amid the showdown between BTC behemoth Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Jack Mallers’ investment firm, 21 Capital. With their Bitcoin models coming into question, is there a specific definition of what winning means in Bitcoin?
Strategy Grows Bitcoin Stockpile, Buys $1.42 Billion in BTC
Strategy announced that it recently purchased another 15,355 BTC worth approximately $1.42 billion at an average price of $92,737 last week.
The firm currently holds 553,555 BTC, valued at approximately $52.7 billion. The average buying price is $68,459, and the unrealized profit is $14.8 billion.
“By continuing to grow its Bitcoin holdings, the company maintains its status as a major force in the cryptocurrency market, drawing interest from investors and industry analysts. Strategy is the largest Bitcoin Treasury Company, an independent, publicly traded business intelligence company, and a Nasdaq 100 stock,” Phoenix reported.
A recent US Crypto News publication highlighted the advent of 21 Capital. The Bitcoin investment firm sprouted after Cantor Fitzgerald, SoftBank, Tether, and Bitfinex pooled $3 billion in capital.
Based on sentiment, this new venture could inadvertently challenge Strategy’s position at the helm of corporate Bitcoin ownership in a model sense. According to 21 Capital, Strategy size could make increasing its Bitcoin per share difficult, a metric investors tend to consider.
Amid chatter that 21 Capital could threaten the Michael Saylor-led firm, BitStrategy, a shareholder at Strategy, challenged the prospective market rival’s business model.
Tension Grows in Bitcoin Treasury Space
In a detailed post on X (Twitter), BitStrategy acknowledged the brewing tension in the Bitcoin treasury arena. However, it holds that Strategy is way ahead of the competition.
“Their company is in direct competition with ours, and they seek to exploit a perceived vulnerability in our structure, openly highlighting their strengths relative to ours to win investment,” BitStrategy challenged in a recent post.
Beyond BTC Yield, also reported in a recent US Crypto News publication, the firm initiated key performance indicators months ago- BTC Gain and BTC $ Gain.
Bitcoin Gain multiplies the BTC Yield by Strategy’s aggregate balance, reflecting the scale of the firm’s operations.
Bitcoin $ Gain takes this further, converting the BTC Gain into dollar terms, for added transparency.
This proactivity by Strategy suggests a commitment to defend its position as a leading Bitcoin-holding corporation amidst rising rivals.
“You can fake an impressive BTC Yield. You cannot fake an impressive BTC Gain,” BitStrategy chimed.
However, analyst KenjiKoshu argues that while Strategy may show substantial Bitcoin gains, smaller companies like 21 Capital could achieve higher Bitcoin per share.
“As someone who has done deep thinking about why MSTR is undervalued, it might be true BTC gain can still be substantial if not higher for MSTR. On a per-share basis, however, which would be what supports the stock; it will be hard to deny a smaller, similarly reputable company is going to make more Bitcoin per share when on the same strategy,” the analyst wrote.
This outlook aligns with sentiment from 21 Capital that Strategy’s large size impedes increasing its Bitcoin per share.
However, BitStrategy articulated that the point of BTC Gain and BTC $ Gain signals the importance of a whole-of-company view of performance relative to a per-share view.
Per the shareholder, there is no agreed-upon conventional valuation methodology for Bitcoin companies. This means any metric is somewhat arbitrary.
Investors increasingly turn to digital assets as a safe haven, with Bitcoin becoming a hedge against the US dollar’s volatility as crypto inflows surge to $3.4 billion.
Coinbase exchange has made significant improvements to its Solana network infrastructure to enhance speed, resiliency, and scalability. The exchange further said that certain technical improvements have been implemented that have boosted performance numbers for Solana transactions on the exchange.
Coinbase doubles down on Solana ecosystem commitment
As per Coinbase’s announcement, the enhancements comprise asynchronously processing transactions. This has seen block processing throughput increase five times. The company has also introduced bare metal machines that have seen RPC (Remote Procedure Call) performance improve four times. These enhancements come with better failover mechanisms, liquidity optimizations, and enhanced operating controls to enhance the overall system resilience.
We’ve been hard at work scaling our @Solana infrastructure to be faster, more resilient, and more scalable.
We have upgraded our systems to: → Process transactions asynchronously, leading to a 5x improvement in block processing throughput. → Leverage bare metal machines for 4x… pic.twitter.com/WFINzCutNK
Coinbase upgraded its infrastructure, which means it wants to improve its Solana features as more and more people use the blockchain. The exchange highlighted that these technology upgrades will enable it to process transactions more effectively and dependably for senders and receivers of SOL and Solana tokens.
Coinbase said that this work is part of their dedication to achieving the best performance for Solana transactions. The company said that they will keep working on it and plan to invest more in Solana infrastructure to keep up with the growing demand as the network grows.
The upgrades are happening now because more institutional investors and developers are becoming interested in Solana. Coinbase has changed how it manages Solana’s fast blockchain by processing transactions at the same time. The announcement comes as Canada is set to approve multiple spot Solana ETFs this week.
SOL price shows bullish indicators amid institutional interest
As Coinbase improves its technical infrastructure for Solana, analysts are noting positive price action for SOL. Analyst Andrew Griffiths has identified several bullish technical indicators in his recent analysis of Solana’s price movements.
According to Griffiths, Solana has broken out of a descending parallel channel on the daily chart, retouched the trendline, and begun moving upward. The price has remained above the 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) for several days and remains above solid support around the $117 level.
**Daily Analysis:** – Price has broken out of a descending parallel channel, retouched the trendline, and is on the rise. – Closed above EMA21 for several days, overcoming an initial hurdle! – Price is above strong support around… pic.twitter.com/phvoODMj5o
Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicators are still in a bearish trend on daily charts but are moving closer to the positive axis.
MACD and RSI are both bullish on the 4-hour time frame. Price is over the 22-period EMA, and the 21-period EMA is over the 55-period EMA. The 200-period EMA has been stable with current price action, and current candles have closed over all EMAs.
Institutional interest in SOL also appears to be growing, with analyst Gordon reporting that real estate firm Janover has purchased an additional 80,567 SOL worth approximately $10.5 million. This acquisition brings Janover’s total Solana holdings to 163,651 SOL in its treasury.
