Ups & downs & memes: Germany embraces crypto??, Arbitrum sparks controversy?, Musk’s Twitter falls for Dogecoin????

We’re back with a fresh dose of crypto news, this time in a slightly different formula that is here to stay!

There’s too much going on to limit ourselves to the short posts, so let us introduce a full-blown crypto newsletter that we will share every week from now on. Here’s the recap on the most interesting events in crypto from the last week. ????

Germany updates its crypto regulations

The German regulator has introduced #crypto shares and improvements in the portability of crypto assets, paving the way toward further adoption of #cryptocurrencies. The update aims to include all crypto coins that are important to financial markets. To that end, the new category of "crypto assets" was added to the definition of financial instruments under the #KWG (The German Banking Act, Kreditwesengesetz). Crypto assets are defined as digital representations of value that aren’t issued or guaranteed by a central bank or a public authority, don’t have the legal status of currency or money based on agreement or actual practice, are accepted as a means of exchange or payment, or serve investment purposes, and can be transferred, stored, and traded electronically. ??

Arbitrum sparks controversy with its governance package

Arbitrum Foundation's decision to transfer nearly $1 billion in #tokens to itself sparked a community revolt. In response to the controversy, the organization that stands behind the Arbitrum #decentralized ecosystem publicly announced in a tweet that it sold 10 million #ARBtokens to cover short-term operational costs and finance the existing #contracts. The other 40 million tokens are said to "have been allocated as a loan to a sophisticated actor in the financial markets space." The move may have a negative impact on the ecosystem and reverberate beyond it, undermining the industry’s trust in the project.????

Twitter adopts Dogecoin's logo?

If you use Twitter , you may have noticed a subtle but significant change last week. For a while, Dogecoin 's logo replaced the platform's well-recognized blue bird. Following that, the #DOGE cryptocurrency's value surged by more than 35%. Although no official explanation was issued, the change is likely a callback to one of the followers' jokes, who suggested Elon Musk should buy #Twitter and replace its logo with the iconic Shiba Inu. Musk's affection for the meme coin has lately become a bone of contention, leading him to the courtroom. ????? #Dogecoin investors filed a lawsuit against him, accusing Musk of promoting the cryptocurrency despite it having no value.?

Bitcoin's whitepaper is on every Mac

Former Kickstarter CTO Andy Baio accidentally stumbled across a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s #Bitcoin whitepaper on his #Mac while trying to fix his printer. It turns out that the file, called "simpledoc.pdf", can be found in every version of #macOS since 10.14.0, released in 2018. It’s likely that a developer simply had it handy and used it without thinking twice.?????

Dubai regulators called for additional verification?

Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has allegedly requested further information from Binance regarding the crypto exchange's ownership structure and auditing processes.?? According to reports, #Dubai officials are still eager to support innovation while protecting customers' finances. This is still the echo of #FTX’s collapse. And with #Binance, at least a few questions might come up around its connection with China (its shareholder structure), the general risk for the entire industry (as 50% of trades are going through Binance), and the alleged engagement in improper compliance procedures and trading.

Uniswap volume beats Coinbase

???? For the second month in a row, Coinbase 's trading volume was lower than Uniswap . According to The Block Research, Uniswap's spot market volume was $71.6 billion in March, 45% greater than #Coinbase's. In terms of volume, March was the greatest month for the decentralized exchange since January 2022. #Uniswap outperformed Coinbase despite the latter’s volume increasing month over month. ??

The top 3 DEXs today are Uniswap ($916.41 million), #PancakeSwap ($153.777 million) and #Curve ($107.94 million). And in the world of #CEXs, the top three spots go to #Binance ($11.15 billion), #Upbit ($2.20 billion), and Coinbase Pro ($1.53 billion).

Ralph Lauren takes a big crypto step

The American fashion company has jumped on the crypto bandwagon. 拉尔夫·劳伦 will accept #crypto payments at its recently opened store in Miami's Design District via #BitPay, allowing bitcoin (#BTC), ether (#ETH), and #Polygon's token, MATIC. But that’s not the end of it! The brand is collaborating with Web3 community #Poolsuite to create a co-branded #NFT that will be given to existing Poolsuite NFT membership holders. Members will get access to a "special event" and will be able to customize their "Leisurist'' avatars with digital Ralph Lauren gear. ??????

?Samsung ChatGPT fiasco

The company’s semiconductor division let its engineers use #ChatGPT for source code verification, and ended up regretting that decision quickly ?? While using ChatGPT for assistance at work, #Samsung employees inadvertently revealed confidential information. The Economist Korea documented three such instances - from copying source code into the chat to check for issues to sharing a meeting recording to convert into notes for a presentation. ??

Quite a rollercoaster, isn't it? ??

From great news to controversies and fiascos, the crypto niche is always changing (and giving us that little adrenaline rush)??.

See you next week!??