Industry analytics firm DappRadar has just released a report on the situation, and it doesn’t look pretty. On May 13, the firm reported that DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) is down more than 40% over the past seven days.
It stated that the slump had been caused by investors flipping tokens into stablecoins in preparation to cash out into fiat. However, the massive slump in token prices would also have impacted TVL, a dollar-based figure.
At the time of writing, DappRadar was reporting a nominal TVL of $83.4 billion, a dump of 48% since the beginning of the year.

🔥 Total value locked in key lending protocols is dropping as investors started flipping tokens to stablecoins with the intention of cashing out to fiat. @terra_money @AaveAave
➡️ Read More:

The policymaker has continued to stake a claim for the crypto asset industry for his agency tasked with regulating securities in the United States.
According to Gensler, cryptocurrencies should be regulated the same way as securities. In a speech on reducing risk and increasing transparency of derivatives at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Annual Meeting on May 11, he said:
“Most crypto tokens involve a group of entrepreneurs raising money from the public in anticipation of profits — the hallmark of an investment contract or a security under our jurisdiction,”
Security or Not Security
Gensler is angling for full control over the regulation of the crypto sector, which is likely to result in harsh restrictions for companies and investors in the country.

According to a forecast on the crypto industry released on April 20 by research firm Insider Intelligence, nearly 34 million Americans will own cryptocurrency by the end of the year. That equates to around 10% of the population, though the company reported a higher figure of 12.8%, possibly taking the adult population figures into account rather than the total.
The researchers predicted that the number of U.S. adults who own and use crypto for payments will double digits by 2023. It added that 3.6 million Americans would use digital assets as a payment method at some time this year.
Crypto Adoption Surging
Crypto payments will surpass $10 billion in total transaction value globally for the first time in 2022, the forecast informed. According to the figures, this is an

The United Arab Emirates national carrier has announced that it will be launching collectible and utility-based NFTs, with the first project already underway.
In an announcement on April 14, Emirates stated that it will be launching NFTs and “exciting experiences in the Metaverse” for its customers and employees.
Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive, said that the region was already a leader in the digital economy:
“Dubai and the UAE are blazing the way in the digital economy, having a clear vision supported by practical policies and regulatory frameworks in areas such as virtual assets, artificial intelligence, and data protection.”
Flying into the Metaverse
The company also stated that its Emirates Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai site will be

On March 8, Cega Finance announced that it had raised $4.3 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital Partners. There was also participation from various DeFi and crypto VCs, including Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, and Solana Ventures.
The platform, founded by former UBS derivatives trader Arisa Toyosaki, now has a valuation of $60 million. Cega aims to build the next evolution in DeFi derivatives by introducing “exotic derivative capabilities” to the space, according to the announcement.
Exotic DeFi Products
The team at Cega wants to explore the relatively untapped market of DeFi derivatives which traditionally includes products such as futures, options, and leverage.
The Solana-based platform currently offers basic call/put options with

Mexican senator for the State of Nuevo León, Indira Kempis, has stated that she wants to make the country second after El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin. However, the chances of this actually happening are slim at best.
Speaking to local media this week, she noted that she aims to promote the use of Bitcoin in the country and use her political position to achieve that goal.
“We need bitcoin to be legal tender in Mexico, because if it is not so, if we do not make that decision as El Salvador did, it is very difficult to take action.”
During the interview with Diario El Salvador, she added that El Salvador is “undoubtedly becoming the most important hub or laboratory in the world about the future with bitcoin.”

🌎 #Bitcoin
«El Salvador se está convirtiendo en el hub más

Speaking to CNBC on Jan. 11, the billionaire investor said he looks for utility when researching crypto investments. He followed up with “tokens trading are the least important part of crypto” in a Tuesday tweet.
Decentralized platforms leveraging smart contract technology and DAOs are his preferred choices, he stated.

Tokens trading are the least important part of crypto. Being able to create businesses on decentralized platforms leveraging smart contracts, validators, DAOs and more, create a unique ability to offer more efficient biz processes and disrupt industries. https://t.co/qHrse3S7fQ
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 11, 2022

NFT and Ethereum Maxi
He told CNBC that this mantra also applies to everyday investors and what they should look for when considering

Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference on Sept. 29, a16z partner Katie Haun said the U.S. should look towards China for what not to do.
She was referring to Beijing’s incessant crackdowns on the crypto industry and any activities related to the trade of digital currencies.
In her view, financial regulators in the U.S. should be doing the exact opposite, but at the moment, it appears they are following in China’s footsteps with moves to over-regulate crypto rather than ban it outright.
“This is an opportunity for the United States, because we should be doing the exact opposite in my mind in this realm of what China is doing,”
Don’t Follow China
Haun, who currently manages Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto investments, predicted that China will “tie trade, tie loans, tie

Portfolio manager at Los Angeles-based TCW Group, Bryan Whalen, has stated that crypto investors are asking big institutions for loans against their digital assets.
The comments came at a Morningstar Investment Conference this week, according to Bloomberg. Whalen went on to indicate that:
“The market is starting to knock on the doors of big institutions, even in the bond world.”
Borrowers issue bonds to raise money from investors who are willing to lend them money for a certain amount of time. Crypto assets are now becoming a form of collateral for bond markets, it seems.
“What I’ve found has crept our way is incoming inquiries about the question of lending against crypto,” the asset manager added.
Legitimizing Crypto
TCW’s fixed-income group oversees around $225 billion,

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank are among the financial institutions that are opposing the new rules that would require them to set aside a dollar in capital for every dollar of Bitcoin they own.
The rules were proposed in June by a group of global central bankers and regulators known as the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS).
The Global Financial Markets Association, which includes the two banks and 5 industry associations, published a letter this week, according to reports. In it, they argued that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin should not face such strict capital requirements.
1,250% Crypto Risk Factor
Banking regulators have cited the same tired reasons for their continued crypto scrutiny: money laundering and terrorism financing.
The banks and trade

As regulatory pressure mounts in the U.S., policymakers are putting stablecoins at the top of their agendas.
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg has reported that officials are crafting a policy framework set to be released in the coming weeks. Their primary concern is ensuring that investors can reliably move money in and out of tokens, it added.
The anonymous insiders are worried that a “fire-sale run on crypto assets could threaten financial stability and that certain stablecoins could scale up dangerously fast.”
Strengthening Regulatory Efforts
The Financial Stability Oversight Council is also preparing a formal review into whether stablecoins pose an economic threat.
The officials are focusing on how stablecoin transactions are processed and settled

Bitcoin prices are skyrocketing at the moment, with the digital asset surging as high as $40,000 on some exchanges. Futures prices went even higher with BTC tapping $48,000 on Binance futures.
BTC futures, Binance – Tradingview.comAccording to Tradingview, Bitcoin has cranked 14% over the past 6 hours. It has currently retreated to trade at $38,300 at the time of press, after a gain of 7% over the past 24 hours.
The massive momentum began early on Saturday when Bitcoin broke out of a trading range at around $32K to push up to a two-week high over $34K. It continued to build from there culminating in the massive spike within the past hour or so.
Bitcoin Shorts Liquidated
Bitcoin prices have now moved above the 50-day moving average and are targeting resistance at around

In early Sunday trading, BTC prices had fallen to their lowest levels for over 11 weeks, hitting $46,700 before a minor recovery.
The last time Bitcoin dropped to these levels was at the end of February during the second major correction of this ongoing rally. A rebound off that bottom sent prices above $60K for the first time in the two weeks that followed.
Later today, Bitcoin is going to close another weekly candle. In case the candle closes at those levels, this will become the worst weekly close since February 22nd, when BTC ended the week at $45,240, according to Bitstamp. Two weeks ago the weekly candle closed at $49,200, which the current lowest week close since February.
Second ‘Lower Low’ For Bitcoin
This time around, things feel slightly different and the

The Binance Smart Chain powered DEX has surged in popularity in recent months as DeFi newbies flock to the platform to avoid paying heavy gas fees on Ethereum.
Figures from on-chain data providers indicate that the record figures for BSC and PancakeSwap have indeed surpassed that of the Ethereum network, despite its record price high of $3,100 today.
PancakeSwap’s analytics dashboard does not appear to be updating TVL and volume figures, but its daily transaction count is currently a whopping 1.93 million.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao never misses an opportunity to plug the exchange-based ecosystem and bash its rivals.
? pic.twitter.com/5AJu0YaQ6A

— CZ ? Binance (@cz_binance) May 2, 2021

His ETH bashing continued on May 2 with these comments:
“Eth is the ultimate utopian

In an announcement on April 23, Coinbase Pro stated that it had enabled trading for the Tether stablecoin. The move is huge news as previously the leading exchange would only support its own native stablecoin, USDC.
The announcement added that support for USDT will generally be available in Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State. The only version of USDT available will be the Ethereum ERC-20 standard.
Trading will begin on or after 6 PM Pacific Time Monday, April 26, if liquidity conditions are met, it added. The following pairs will be available: BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, USDT/EUR, USDT/GBP, USDT/USD, and USDT/USDC.
Tether is not available on the regular Coinbase exchange yet and is limited to the Pro version which is more suited to

Multinational blockchain technology company Emurgo initially announced the AgeUSD stablecoin in January 2021. The firm has since announced a partnership between the Ergo Foundation, Emurgo, and Charles Hoskinson’s Input-Output Global, the parent company of IOHK.
The AgeUSD stablecoin will be available on Cardano as soon as smart contract capabilities are launched on the blockchain, it revealed.
Do We Need Another Stablecoin?
Emurgo aims to prevent events like MakerDAO’s Black Thursday, which emerged through vulnerabilities in its Dai collateralization mechanism. A mass liquidation of the vast majority of Maker vaults resulted in around $4 million in Dai being under-collateralized at the time in March 2020.
AgeUSD’s so-called “Staticoin” protocol-inspired design does not

The latest report by on-chain analysis provider Glassnode has unraveled more details on Bitcoin spending habits that could suggest that market sentiment is still bullish.
Glassnode observed that held coins are beginning to mature, and continued outflows from exchanges demonstrate accumulation is not slowing down.

#Bitcoin held above $50k last week as early signs of coin maturation showed up on-chain.
This week we analyse– Ageing of coins bought in this bull– Spending behaviour of old coins– Deep Dive into Exchange Balances
Read more in The Week On-chain?https://t.co/2RdKg356eC
— glassnode (@glassnode) March 29, 2021

HODL Waves Getting Bigger
As reported by CryptoPotato, smaller accounts are increasing as ‘stacking sats’ becomes popular for new entrants to Bitcoin and

In a blog post on Feb. 25 titled “Coinbase is a decentralized company, with no headquarters”, CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the firm has moved to a ‘remote first environment’.No HQ = Decentralized?He added that 52% of their employees have joined the company in a ‘post-office world’ and 95% of them have the option to work from home. Originally based in San Francisco, many company employees have dispersed across the globe since the beginning of 2020.“It has helped us attract top talent. One of the best parts about being a decentralized company is that we can hire more of the best people.”This does not make the company decentralized in crypto terms, as the respondents to the tweet pointed out.Despite being one of the largest fiat to crypto onramps in the world, Coinbase has garnered a

On Sunday, Feb. 14, Bitcoin prices hit an all-time high of $49,850 according to Tradingview, however, on some exchanges it may have reached $50k.Since then, it has begun a sharp correction dropping prices by 7% in a retread to just over $46k during early trading in Asia on Monday. At the time of press, Bitcoin was changing hands for $47,100 and looking in danger of falling further if current support levels fail.BTC/USD Binance – Tradingview.comThe next level of support below the current one is a little over $44k. Blocktower Capital CIO Ari Paul acknowledged what he is calling a “brief and minor correction” but is still convinced we are in the midst of a “violent bull run”;We’re probably entering (I think) a brief and minor correction now, but we’re still in the midst of a violent bull run

Tether has dominated stablecoin markets for the past three years as the treasury has kept churning them out with a record level of almost 27 billion in USDT circulating now.The latest figures from CoinMetrics, however, indicate that its market share has dropped below 75% for the first time ever. More stablecoin options are good for the industry in general as reliance on one centralized provider for dollar-pegged assets is never a good idea.$USDT market dominance in stablecoins is below 75% for the first time everOn the other hand, $USDC market dominance has grown to its highest ever level of ~15%https://t.co/ovrTyyEpuf pic.twitter.com/a4v6fNRTch— CoinMetrics.io (@coinmetrics) January 31, 2021USDC Growing FasterThe main rival to Tether is another centralized stablecoin, USDC, from Circle.

Blockfolio has long been a favorite for crypto traders as it provides a handy place to track their assets, trades, and profits (or losses) over time.The app has a reported user base of around 6 million so it has a good head start over rivals. It is also launching with zero fees which will be a bonus in times of high transaction prices for Ethereum based tokens.The new product launch comes five months after the crypto derivatives exchange FTX acquired the firm for $150 Million.Trade crypto and stocks with no fees. pic.twitter.com/uwKrP287gI— Blockfolio (@blockfolio) January 28, 2021More Crypto Trading OptionsThe move comes a day after popular millennial trading platform, Robinhood, halted trading for a certain stock that has gone viral recently. The new trading platform will put Blockfolio

Bitcoin and crypto markets are bleeding out this Friday morning as the selloff which initiated on Thursday, January 21, has continued with fervor into the Asian trading session.Bitcoin has shed a whopping $6,500 since the same time yesterday as it dumped to $29,000. The intraday high for BTC was $35,500 according to Tradingview, and it has currently reclaimed the $30k level.Chart – Tradingview.comFirst 30% Correction In 2020-2021 Bull RunSince its all-time high of $42,000, which was recorded on January 8 this year, Bitcoin price has corrected 30% to current levels which is not uncommon when looking at previous market cycles. Corrections are healthy and need to occur however the speed at which things dump on crypto markets will have the uninitiated in a spin. During the most recent 2017

Prices for Chainlink’s LINK token have skyrocketed over 19% in the past 24 hours propelling it to a new all-time high. From an intraday low of just below $20, LINK has surged to reach its highest ever price of $23.60 according to Tradingview.com.Chart – [email protected] has solved the biggest challenge for the implementation of smart contracts – connecting blockchains to real world data. $LINK price is $23.55 $USD – 24hr volume of $2.52 Billion $USD. $LINK is up 17.20% in 24 hours. $LINK – New ATH $23.55.pic.twitter.com/9s4Nzyjq1T— ƊÓȠ. (@Don_ChainLink) January 17, 2021The big move means that Chainlink has gained a whopping 37% over the past seven days and 65% over the past 30 days.The community, known as ‘Link Marines’, is overwhelmingly bullish even predicting that LINK will

As Bitcoin cools from its recent all-time high, HSBC has become the latest banking giant to restrict what its customers can invest in by preventing them from transferring any profits from crypto exchanges to their bank accounts.banAccording to a recent report in The Sunday Times, HSBC has blocked transactions to or from crypto exchanges as it takes a heavy-handed approach to Bitcoin and its brethren. A number of U.K. banks have also made moves to prevent their customers from buying crypto assets using their debit or credit cards.The U.K. is regarded as one of the more anti-crypto nations, alongside the U.S., as its financial institutions and regulators have increasingly strived to stifle the industry.More Banking DuplicityCNBC host and Onchain Capital founder, Ran Neuner, pointed out that

There is no denying that institutions and the big players have been the catalyst for this current crypto market cycle and that notion has been reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley’s latest acquisition.According to reports, Morgan Stanley’s investment management arm boosted a stake in Bitcoin vehicle MicroStrategy Inc. to more than 10% late last year.The move signifies a growing interest in crypto assets from major banks which are clearly paying more attention to the space.Boom!Morgan Stanley just filed an SEC form declaring they now own 792,627 shares (10.9%) of MicroStrategy.They’ve increased their position by 360%, adding almost 650,000 shares since Q3 2020.Even the banks want Bitcoin ? pic.twitter.com/SqvryJZu3t— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) January 8, 2021Institutional Exposure GrowingAccording to

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $38,200 as it pulls back slightly after blasting past $40,000 during late trading on Thursday, January 7. At current prices, the asset is up 33% since the same time last week and it still doesn’t look like it is ready to correct yet.Looking at centralized exchange movements could indicate when the inevitable correction will occur and eToro’s Mati Greenspan has observed that Bitcoin volumes across exchanges have just doubled its previous all-time high.Bitcoin volumes across exchanges has just doubled it’s previous all time highest level. pic.twitter.com/Hl5T4N4Sck— Mati Greenspan (tweets ≠ financial advice) (@MatiGreenspan) January 7, 2021Other metrics indicate that there has been an increased inflow of BTC to centralized exchanges which could be a

Three years ago, Bitcoin prices were just cooling off from a surge to an all-time high of $20,000. The altcoins had yet to peak, but this would come in the first week of January.Fast forward three years and Bitcoin prices are just cooling off from a new all-time high of $28,400 on Sunday, December 27 according to Tradingview.com.Those that stood their ground and battled through the brutal two-year bear market will have done well. But many that FOMO’d into cryptocurrencies in 2017, possibly getting burnt in the process during that hard and fast selloff in early 2018, appear to be disinterested this time around.No Retail Surge For BitcoinAccording to Skew analytics, taking data from Google Trends, there has been no spike in interest from retail markets during this Bitcoin rally.2017 vs 2020

A record high of $26,940 has been reached by Bitcoin a few hours ago according to Tradingview.com. The move has added another 7.5% to the price of the king of crypto over the past 24 hours.Currently, prices had retreated slightly to trade at around $26,800 which is not far off the recent high and signs are still indicating that there is more bullish momentum which could push prices up to a whopping $30k or beyond.Chart – tradingview.comAnalyst, Josh Rager, put it simply;“Kind of wild that Bitcoin is closer to $30k than $20k now,”Fellow analyst ‘Bitcoin Jack’ noted that current levels could develop a potential overthrow resulting in a heavy correction.$BTC $26.6 to 30K is a region in which a potential overthrow could develop, only confirmed by falling below the diagonals again, leading to a

A user on crypto twitter going by the handle ‘Jimmy McShill’ [@JimmyMcShill] posted screenshots of files that have been uploaded to forums purportedly contacting the ‘full database’ of Ledger customer’s emails, phone numbers, and addresses;⚠️⚠️ Uhh shiit! A hacker is dumping the full @Ledger database dump for free on raidforums! Emails, phone numbers and addresses!Get ready for a huge spam and phishing wave!#bitcoin #cryptcurrencies #phishing #security pic.twitter.com/XAQQHZ2wkW— Jimmy McShill (@JimmyMcShill) December 20, 2020Ledger responded stating that they believe the data is from a previous breach and not a new attack;“Today we were alerted to the dump of the contents of a Ledger customer database on Raidforum. We are still confirming, but early signs tell us that this indeed could be

On December 18, Coinbase Global announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The announcement cites Form S-1, which is the initial registration form for new securities required by the SEC for public companies that are based in the U.S. Any company or security that meets the criteria must have an S-1 filing before its shares can be listed on a national exchange.The SEC Form S-1, required by companies intending to file for an initial public offering, is also known as the registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933.A $28 Billion IPOResearcher at Messari Crypto, Mira Christanto, has taken a deep dive into some of the business and trading figures for the firm and arrived at a potential valuation of