Digital Assets report 83

• Last week, OFAC sanctioned the use of Tornado Cash, making it illegal for any U.S. entity to interact with the protocol, its core developper has been arrested in Amsterdam. USDC, Aave, Uniswap, Balancer have frozen transactions with wallets who have interacted with Tornado cash like the largest Ethereum miner, Ethermine. Why does this matter ?  It's a threat to the censorship-resistant narrative of Ethereum and Blockchain more broadly.
• Ethereum Merge prompts miners and mining pools to make a choice between Proof of Stake (Pos) and Proof Of Work (Pow).
• FDIC calls out FTX US, other crypto firms over insurance claims, to stop making false and misleading statements about the availability of deposit insurance for their customers. Unlike Swiss banks, deposits are not insured while exchanges largely advertise it.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) wants banks to have a crypto assets offering more consistent.
• Macro economics context ( energy / commodities ) and the censorship threat to Blockchain have propagated to Bitcoin and has triggered liquidations last Friday, the most important since mid June.

Business

Crypto broker Genesis slashes 20% of workforce and announces CEO exit after loans soured

Genesis CEO Michael Moro is leaving and the company is cutting jobs after losing money from loans to bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

CNBCAri Levy

Crypto Hackers Bagged $2B This Year as Exploits Jumped 58%: Report - The Defiant

Crypto may be slumping but it’s a bull market for hackers and other bad actors who stole $1.9B worth of assets from projects this year, according to a report released this week by Chainalysis.

The DefiantClaire Gu

FTX grew revenue 1,000% during the crypto craze, leaked financials show

FTX rode the crypto craze to a billion dollars in revenue last year while expanding its global footprint, according to internal documents seen by CNBC.

CNBCKate Rooney

Ethereum Name Creation Doubles In Four Months to 2 Million - Decrypt

It took five years to get to 1 million Ethereum Name Service registrations, and less than four months to double that.

DecryptJason Nelson

Ethereum Merge prompts miners and mining pools to make a choice

The Ethereum Merge to PoS is slated for the third week of September, eliminating PoW mining. Experts weigh in on how mining pools and miners would be impacted.

CointelegraphPrashant Jha

CME Group to Add ETH Options Ahead of the Ethereum Merge - Decrypt

Derivatives exchange CME Group plans to launch options on Ethereum futures next month—days before the long-awaited merge upgrade.

DecryptMat Di Salvo

Markets

Crypto Chart 77

Bitcoin Last time we said: Divergence in the MACD hinting that topside momentum is dropping we are looking for BTC to retrace lower in a wave (2) correction into the 22465-22990 area. Look to buy there with stops remaining at 20650. The low so far was 20765 so we are

The AssetsRomain Braud

• Macro economics context and the censorship threat to Blockchain have propagated to Bitcoin and has triggered liquidations last Friday, the most important since mid June.

Bitcoin traders hit by $210 million of long liquidations on Friday

When the price of bitcoin turned south on Friday, it took traders by surprise — liquidating $210 million of long positions.

The BlockArchitect of The DAO splits from Ethereum ‘circus’ after nine years

Ethereum Classic Hashrate Taps an All-Time High, ETC Hashpower Jumped 39% Higher in 4 Days – Mining Bitcoin News

Ethereum Classic’s hashrate reached an all-time high at block height 15,776,674 as it tapped 38.37 terahash per second (TH/s).

Bitcoin NewsJamie Redman

Regulations

FDIC calls out FTX US, other crypto firms over insurance claims

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued the letters ordering the companies to stop making false or misleading representations of deposit insurance.

American BankerBrendan Pedersen

Licensing of crypto-asset activities

European banking supervisors contribute to keeping the banking system safe and sound. European banking supervision comprises the ECB and national supervisors of the participating countries.

European Central Bank - Banking supervisionEuropean Central Bank

Canadian Bank Regulator Details Crypto Liquidity, Backing Rules

Canada joins U.S. and European authorities in explaining how its supervised entities can engage with crypto.

CoinDeskNikhilesh De

Opinions

Can Ethereum Fight Back Against the US’ Sweeping Censorship Attempt?

In a world where Ethereum users don’t want to be censored, there may be a way to push back.

CoinDeskGeorge Kaloudis

The BlackRock Trust: Crypto Legitimacy or the Beginning of the End for Bitcoin?

BTC’s anarchic beginnings are betrayed and legitimized by the world’s largest asset manager.

CoinDeskZac Colbert

Reading / podcasts

Ethereum’s Merge Will Increase Its Use Cases and Drive Its Investment Narrative

More efficiencies and scalability solutions could make Ethereum a more attractive platform to build on and invest in.

CoinDeskJackson Wood

Crypto is More in Step With Asia’s Equities, Highlighting Need for Regulation

By Nada Choueiri, Anne-Marie Gulde-Wolf and Tara Iyer中文, 日本語Crypto trading volume, and co-movement with equity markets, has surged in the region.Few parts of the world have embraced crypto assets like Asia, where top adopters include individual and institutional investors from India to Vietnam an…

IMF BlogIMFBlog