Mother Nature can’t be blamed for a slump in crypto prices, but it’s oddly fitting to see some red rolling intoĀ Earth Day. The digital asset space was again under the microscope in the halls of government in the U.S. and Europe, andĀ Elon Musk continues to drive people away from Twitter. Despite the purging of legacy blue checks,Ā many see Bluesky ahead. (No, we don’t have anyĀ invite codes.)
Both policy wonks and meme coin traders had a groupchat-worthy week.
Two separate hearings in D.C.āone focused on stablecoins and the other putting SEC Chair Gary Gensler in the hotseatāillustrated the unrelenting interest of government officials to erect guardrails around the digital asset space.
On the former,Ā Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) lamented that they wereĀ āstarting from scratchā after she saidĀ Republican meddling killed the Stablecoin TRUST Act last year. The latter hearing was even more fiery, with lawmakers describing GenslerĀ an “incompetent cop on the beat” whose fumbling is driving the crypto industry to China.
In lighter news, meme coin dogs had their day as Dogecoin resisted the broader market slump, and newcomer PEPE exploded onto the scene, setting recordsĀ and potentially netting one trader a 4,000% profit, his $250 bet bringing in over $1 million in PEPEāat least if he could actually sell it at the exceedingly fragile price.
š°Ā Coin of the moment
As tempting as it is to bestow the crown on PepeCoin, Ethereum remains the focus of most crypto watchers as they continue to weigh the long-term impact of the “Shapella” upgrade. Even as the price of ETH dipped back below $2,000, it’s the potential profitability and market impact of staking withdraws that has people pulling out their crystal balls.
Blockchain observers also pored over scant evidence from a $10 million Ethereum heist. On Bitcoin’s side of town, it was the unexpected movement of nearly $8 million of the OG coin after more than a decade in hibernation.
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Arthur Hayes says the speed at which projects like Terra grow and then implode is a feature of the crypto industry, not a bug. He founded crypto exchange Bitmex in 2014 and then became the original crypto bad boy. In 2021, the DOJ charged him in with violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act for not implementing an anti-money laundering program at Bitmex. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation and six months of home detention. In fact, he was still sporting an ankle bracelet on a recent cover of New York Magazine.
Arthur Hayes is living in Singapore, offering up his views on the crypto industry with long form, meme-filled essays, and still thinks the crypto industry will save investors from what he calls a broken banking system. “I don’t care if you’re capitalist or you’re a communist. Everybody put on a lot of debt. We’ve passed the point where that debt is becoming useful,” he said. “And therefore everyone is going to take an L unless they get some crypto or some goldāsome hard asset that’s outside of the traditional banking system.”
