Gm☀️

You can almost smell it in the air - the unmistakable aroma of a bull run brewing.

With Ripple Labs scoring a key win against the SEC and Bitcoin trading volumes soaring at the $30K mark, this week is painting an optimistic picture for the crypto landscape.

You don’t want to miss today’s issue!

📈 MARKETS | PAST WEEK %

Bitcoin and ether are cruising relatively sideways, mostly since they weren’t the beneficiaries of last week’s biggest news—Ripple’s partial victory in its lawsuit against the SEC. Bitcoin and ether weren’t named as securities by the SEC to begin with, so their prices didn’t shoot up like others did.

Stocks are on a roll after a week signaling the end of the inflation crisis and big banks continuing their profit streak.

DONUT HOLES

Hole lotta news…

• Binance lays off 1,000+ employees out of its ~8,000 employees

• Celsius’ CEO arrested and charged with fraud, after the company went bankrupt last year

• MATIC → POL

• Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF application accepted by SEC for review

• Multichain CEO was taken away by Chinese police

REGULATIONS

The 933-day wait is finally over

Crypto prices soared Thursday after Ripple clinched a groundbreaking win against the SEC—a first in the crypto sphere. This judicial thumbs-up has injected fresh optimism into the market.

What is Ripple?

Ripple, a digital payment protocol and cryptocurrency (XRP), once held the title of the 2nd largest crypto after bitcoin. Ripple aimed to replace existing banking systems with speedy, low-cost global transactions, and had 100 banks onboard by 2018.

Then, the SEC sued Ripple for allegedly selling unregistered securities. In the following months, XRP tumbled down to 8th place in market cap.

After 933 days of an expensive battle against the SEC, it finally enjoyed a key win. Here’s the gist:

• XRP itself “is not necessarily a security on its face” (yay)

• Ripple sale of XRP on crypto exchanges isn’t a securities offering (yay)

• Institutional sale of XRP to banks, hedge funds, VCs, etc, is a securities offering (nay)

• The SEC may appeal this case, and the results may change (nay)

Fun fact: One of the legal precedents used in this case is from 1966, and it literally compares the sale of XRP to that of a horse. Yes, a living horse.

Despite uncertainties, it’s definitely a win for crypto.

XRP’s price briefly skyrocketed 100% to almost $1, and reclaimed its place as the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap. It was also relisted on Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken for traders to buy and sell.

Most of SEC’s other cases against the crypto industry (Binance, Coinbase, and 10-15 altcoins) are on the basis that these cryptocurrencies are securities. If they lose that narrative, many crypto projects could be off the hook from the SEC.

BITCOIN

BTC at $30K is the most popular buy price ever

If you’ve been reading our newsletter or following bitcoin at all, you may be wondering why the price hasn’t been budging from the $30K line for weeks. It’s no surprise that $30,000 had a record number of trades, with over 3.8% of bitcoin’s total supply being traded at that price.

Adding to that, Glassnode highlighted $30K as the “equilibrium point” in Bitcoin trading, where half of all trading days have witnessed a greater profit/loss balance and half lower. Once this level es reached, it experiences a lack of macro market movements, and sideways yet volatile trading. Sound familiar?

All in all, Glassnode thinks that an early-stage bull market is just around the corner, and that the $30,000 level is “the dip”.

BITCOIN

Transactions now faster and cheaper on Binance with Lightning Network

Because of its focus on decentralization and security, Bitcoin suffers from high transaction fees and lengthy wait times. The Lightning Network was designed to improve this by bundling multiple transactions together. It has since allowed for faster and cheaper transaction, paving the way for new possibilities—such as sending bitcoin tips on Twitter.

Less than a month after they announced their plans to integrate this technology, Binance tweeted yesterday that Lightning Network is available for deposits and withdrawals.

For average users, this means that they can send and receive bitcoins to and from other wallets and supported exchanges much faster and cheaper.

Sadly, it won’t help to get rid of Binance’s fees that are charged when you cash out your bitcoin on the platform.

Meanwhile, Coinbase also shared plans to integrate the Lightning Network back in April, but we haven’t heard any updates since.

🐦 TWEET OF THE WEEK

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