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TA Highlight

The cryptocurrency market was relatively quiet this week.

After $BTC spot price touched a high of $48,200, it began to lose the momentum that had extended two weeks of gains.

After a few days of continuous sideways trading, $BTC spot price showed a clear downward trend. It gradually converged from the upper end of the Bollinger band to the middle line of the Bollinger band.

This week $BTC spot price touched a low of $42,720, falling below the middle line of the Bollinger band position. But then the cryptocurrency price rebounded again and drew closer to the center line.

This week's cryptocurrency trading volume was better than last week. The market continues to show an active trend.

Crypto Alerts

Vitalik Buterin Releases Article: BTC is a Powerful Asset Worth Holding

Buterin released an article titled "In Defense of Bitcoin Maximalism" in support of Bitcoin maximalism, saying that we live in a dangerous world where protecting freedom is a serious matter and that blockchain is, at its core, a security technology -- a technology that fundamentally protects people and helps them survive in such an inhospitable world.

Bitcoin does this brilliantly with two key elements: (I) a strong and defensible technology stack (1 MB block size, 21 million and a simple Satoshi Nakamoto PoW consensus mechanism) and (II) a strong and defensible culture (an uncompromising, committed maximalist culture).

Crypto assets like Bitcoin have real cultural and structural advantages that make them powerful assets worth holding and using. Cryptocurrency is not just only the "first application" of blockchain, it is the most successful one to date. So far, cryptocurrencies have been most successful for storing wealth and making payments.

Grayscale: AVAX, DOT and ATOM added, SUSHI and SNX removed

As part of its quarterly rebalancing, Grayscale Investments added three crypto assets to three diversified funds and removed two others from the offering.

Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDF) bought Avalanche (AVAX) and Polkadot (DOT) with an allocation of about 3.3% and did not remove any tokens. Smart Contract Platform Ex-Ethereum Fund added Cosmos (ATOM). Grey DeFi Fund removed SushiSwap (SUSHI) and Synthetix (SNX) as they failed to meet market cap requirements.

MicroStrategy CEO: Bitcoin is better for us than gold

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor made the statement during the Bloomberg warm-up event for the Bitcoin 2022 conference, which opened today.

Quoting Saylor's speculation, the company's current position would be significantly different if MicroStrategy chose to adopt the gold standard instead of the Bitcoin standard. In his own words, "If I had chosen gold when I bought Bitcoin, we would probably have about $250 million in gold. Our shareholders would have missed out on $400 or $5 billion."

Saylor also argues that he does not see cryptocurrencies as being antagonistic to the dollar, but rather as having a positive impact on it. Meanwhile, the data shows that Bitcoin has greatly outperformed gold over the past decade. Bitcoin's 10-year return on investment (ROI) has increased by 955,954% compared to gold's 19% increase.

ProShares Plans to Launch ETF Betting on Inverse Performance of Bitcoin Futures

ProShares, the company that launched the first U.S. bitcoin futures ETF, reportedly plans to launch a product that will short Bitcoin.

The ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF will track the inverse performance of the bitcoin futures index, according to a filing with the SEC on Tuesday.

ProShares reportedly launched the Bitcoin Strategy ETF (Ticker: $BITO) last October, which is one of the most popular ETFs of all time.

If approved by regulators, the fund would be the first U.S. ETF to bet inversely on bitcoin futures. Its rival Direxion had proposed a similar strategy after BITO's launch last October, but withdrew its application at the request of the SEC. And this time, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, the likelihood of the U.S. SEC approving the launch of an inverse futures ETF has increased.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first tweet NFT listed for sale at 14,969 ETH

A copy of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first tweet has been listed for sale as an NFT on OpenSea for 14,969 ETH, or about $47.65 million.

Sina Estavi, the current owner of the NFT, has pledged to donate 50% of the proceeds from the sale to the charity GiveDirectly, which was previously reported to have completed its first sale in March 2021 for $2.9 million by Sina Estavi himself who is the CEO of Malaysian blockchain company Bridge Oracle.

Market Updates

SEC Approves Teucrium's bitcoin futures ETF

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved ETF provider Teucrium to issue a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) that plans to trade on NYSE Arca.

The SEC announced the approval in a filing on its website on Wednesday, making Teucrium one of many other issuers.

Notably, Teucrium and NYSE Arca filed a Form 19b-4 with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Other companies have filed approved bitcoin futures ETFs under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which follow a slightly different path to regulatory approval.

Reddit Launches CryptoSnoos Series NFT

Social media giant Reddit has launched a new NFT series CryptoSnoos, which has a total of four NFTs, including Original Block priced at 175 ETH, Helium priced at 105 ETH, Snooprematic priced at 115 ETH, and Stardust priced at 70 ETH.

A previously report on the social media's job postings indicate that Reddit is developing an NFT marketplace.

Activision Blizzard Considers Adding NFT Elements to Call of Duty

According to industry insider "RalphsValve", Activision Blizzard is considering adding NFT elements to its upcoming Call of Duty franchise. But the proposal is still in the early stages of discussion due to the general resistance to encryption in the gaming community, such as the announcement by gaming platform Steam that it has banned NFT games.

Meta set to launch NFT pilot on Facebook this May

Meta has set a rough timeline for integrating NFT and blockchain technology into its apps and services, and plans to be the first to launch an NFT pilot on Facebook this May, according to a newly disclosed memo from the company obtained by the Financial Times.

After the pilot goes live, Facebook will "quickly follow up" with a new feature that will allow users with certain NFTs to gain membership to Facebook groups. In addition, Facebook will also launch an NFT casting program, which will be realized through "fees" and "ads" in the future

Global Headlines

U.S. SEC Chairman: SEC and CFTC should jointly regulate cryptocurrency exchanges

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said the commission is looking into optimizing the way cryptocurrency trading platforms are registered.

For months, Gensler has been urging some head crypto trading platforms to accept SEC regulation, saying the companies allow investors to buy and sell assets that meet the legal definition of securities, but has been rebuffed by those trading platforms, which dispute their own claims of trading securities and cite a variety of technical reasons why they believe SEC regulation is impractical.

In a speech for an event hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Gensler said these cryptocurrency platforms play a similar role to traditional regulated exchanges, and therefore investors should be protected in the same way.

Gensler added that he has asked his staff to work with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) to find ways to register and regulate platforms where securities and non-securities transactions are intertwined.

UK to Create NFT and Issue in Summer

The Royal Mint will create an NFT and issue it in the summer at the request of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, the Treasury's official Twitter feed said, adding that this is a decision that demonstrates the department's determination to take a forward-looking approach to the U.K.'s crypto assets.

The initiative is part of a broader effort by the government to "lead the way" in the cryptocurrency space, said John Glen, Economic Secretary at the U.K. Treasury.

Indonesia to Tax Cryptocurrency Transactions from May 1

On April 5, Indonesian officials said that Indonesia will impose a 0.1% VAT and income tax on cryptocurrency transactions starting from May 1.

Slovenia Introduces 5% Flat Cryptocurrency Tax

Slovenian authorities have announced a new flat tax plan, a move designed to allow the country to embrace the digital currency space.

The new flat tax, set at 5 percent, was introduced to streamline the country's digital currency trading process. The bill seeking to introduce the new tax rate was passed at a session of the Slovenian legislature on Thursday.

With the passage of the bill, Slovenians are now legally obligated to pay the tax on all forms of virtual currencies.

A statement issued by the government after the adoption said that legislation in this area would contribute to a more competitive position for Slovenia in the field of virtual currency taxation, which will become even more important given the growing importance of virtual currencies in global financial markets and the recent increase in uncertainty surrounding the sector.

Gate.io Weekly Blogs:

Understanding Crypto Taxes

Top Trading Patterns in Cryptocurrency

A Real Trick on April Fool’s Day: Jay Chou’s BAYC NFT was Stolen

Vitalik Buterin Explains Why You Should Keep Holding Your Bitcoins

The Cypherpunk Movement - Meet the influences behind cryptocurrencies

Author: Byron. B & Charles. F & Peter. L (Gate.io Researchers)

* The article only represents the researcher’s views and does not constitute any investment advice.

* Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.