Coinbase launches Crypto 435 campaign; FTX's Nishad Singh pleads guilty

The biggest news in the cryptoverse for Feb. 28 saw Coinbase announce a campaign called Crypto 435 in order to advocate for pro-crypto policies in U.S. politics. Visa and Mastercard were reported to be reducing their crypto efforts — while a top Visa executive said the company does not plan to do so. Plus, FTX executive Nishad Signh has pled guilty.

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Coinbase launches campaign to bolster crypto advocacy in US politics

Coinbase announced the launch of Crypto 435 — a grassroots campaign aimed at improving and supporting the crypto advocacy community in ensuring that regulators and legislators make policies that benefit the overall industry.

Crypto 435 intends to build a community of crypto advocates and empower them with tools and resources necessary to influence policy making in the U.S. Additionally, the campaign aims to promote innovation and protect jobs in the crypto industry, as well as enhance awareness and education of crypto for the American populace.

Visa, Mastercard to push back on crypto-related services

Global payment giants Visa and Mastercard have reportedly moved to push back on their crypto-related plans over the recent market collapse and unclear regulation, Reuters reports.

Since the start of 2021, Visa and Mastercard have announced several partnerships with crypto firms to help users purchase crypto seamlessly. Specifically, Visa has partnered with over 70 crypto firms, serving 80 million merchants globally.

However, the recent market collapse that pushed many crypto firms, including FTX and BlockFi, into bankruptcy has forced the payment giants to rethink their crypto partnerships.

Sources close to Visa and Mastercard confirmed to Reuters on Feb. 28 that the payment giants will push back on inking new partnerships with crypto firms.

Visa’s head of crypto disputes report of company pausing crypto push

Visa’s head of crypto Cuy Sheffield described Reuters’ report that the payment giant was pausing its crypto endeavors as “inaccurate.”

In a Feb. 28 Twitter thread, Sheffield said the company has continued to partner with crypto companies to build new products.

Nishad Singh becomes latest FTX exec to plead guilty

Former FTX executive Nishad Singh has agreed to plead guilty to six U.S. criminal charges brought against him in the case against the collapsed exchange, Reuters reported Feb. 28.

The charges are one count of wire fraud, three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by violating campaign finance laws.

Goldman Sachs ‘hugely supportive’ of exploring further use cases for blockchain tech

Goldman Sachs Group believes blockchain technology can help improve various TradFi markets like private equity and is committed to exploring further use cases for the tech, Bloomberg News reported Feb. 28.

Goldman Managing Director Mathew McDermott told Bloomberg that the lender is “hugely supportive” of blockchain applications following the recent launch of its blockchain tokenization platform GS DAP and is on the lookout to hire additional experts in the field as needed over the coming months.

OKX says CELT token price was manipulated; affected users to be compensated

The price of gaming project Celestial’s native token CELT was manipulated by some malicious actors on OKX, the exchange said in its investigation report.

On Feb. 27, the price of CELT fluctuated sharply, falling around 54% in less than two hours, according to Coingecko data. This caused many to question if there was market manipulation involved from malicious traders looking for profit.

Wintermute researcher links wallet associated with UST depeg to Jane Street

Wintermute’s head of research Igor Igamberdiev said “there is a good chance” one of the wallets linked to Terra’s UST depeg could be tied to trading firm Jane Street.

In a Feb. 28 Twitter thread, Igamberdiev said Clearpool unwittingly disclosed three addresses associated with Jane Street when it announced that the trading firm borrowed 25 million USDC from BlockTower in May 2022.

According to Igamberdiev, two weeks after UST collapsed, one of these addresses borrowed $15 million from the lender and repaid the funds with an additional $10 million.

Bitcoin hash rate reaches ATH

The computing power of the Bitcoin network reached its all-time high earlier this week. Data from Blockchain.com showed the total hash rate reached as high as 320 EH/s between Feb. 20 and Feb. 26, posting a 10% increase since the beginning of the month.

The 320 EH/s represents a 44% increase from the December low of 222 EH/s.

Rep. Tom Emmer roasts Gary Gensler in fiery speech on the House floor

HSBC to launch custody service for tokenized securities

Such a notable increase in hash rate can mostly be attributed to a rise in uptime for miners located in the U.S. Throughout December. The U.S. was hit with severe winter storms that strained the country’s power grid and forced many miners to curtail their operations to maintain grid stability.

Ripple asks SEC chair to recuse self from crypto enforcement cases

Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty asked the U.S. SEC chairman Gary Gensler to recuse himself from voting on any enforcement case relating to cryptocurrencies because he has prejudged the issue.

In a Feb. 28 tweet, Alderoty alluded that Gensler’s statement that “every cryptocurrency, except BTC, is an unregistered security” was evidence of his disposition towards other crypto assets.

The Ripple official cited a legal case between Antoniu and the SEC as the basis of his argument.

Bitcoin core developer distances himself from NFTs using his code without permission

Bitcoin (BTC) core developer Luke Dashjr has distanced himself from an NFT that auctioned his code for 0.41 BTC — worth roughly $10,000.

Dashjr said he was not involved in the creation or sales of the NFT, adding that he did not consent to use his code or name for the purpose. He said:

Dashjr continued that the NFT creators had offered him 90% of the proceeds, which he describes as an apparent attempt to “bribe” him into silence or obtain his consent.

However, the developer rejected the offer, asking the creators to refund the NFT buyer 100% of the fund.

True USD becomes 5th largest stablecoin after market cap surges 15%

Over the last few weeks, the market value of True USD (TUSD) has surged and it is now ranked, according to Coin Market Cap, as the fifth largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

In the last 24 hours, TUSD’s market capitalization has risen by over 15%, currently at over $1.1 billion.

Glassnode’s Netflow measure is a useful tool for analyzing the activity of a cryptocurrency like True USD. Netflow refers to the difference between the number of coins flowing into and out of a particular exchange or mining pool. When the Netflow value is above 0, it indicates that more coins have flowed into the exchange/mining pool than have flowed out.

Using this measure, Glassnode has observed that True USD’s activity levels have recently increased. This can be seen in the significant drop in activity levels on the chart prior to February, followed by a noticeable pick-up in that month.

Arthur Hayes gives his timeline for the next crypto ‘mega upcycle’

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes expects a risk-on, crypto bull market between now and 2026.

Speaking to New York Magazine (NYM,) Hayes discussed his early career at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, the founding of BitMEX, and his indictment by the Department of Justice, among other topics.

His take on the market and what’s to come was particularly interesting. The former BitMEX CEO said, “every central bank will be fixing the price of their government bonds within the next 12 to 18 months.”

This event will trigger “the next mega-upcycle” for risk-on assets, which he predicts will end by 2026. At which point will come an economic collapse on the same scale as the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Sweden seeks to allay CBDC concerns by saying it has no ‘interest in looking at how people pay for things’

Head of Swedish Central Bank’s digital currency project, Mithra Sunberg commented on the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and said that the country doesn’t care about how people issue their payments, as reported by DL News.

Sunberg acknowledged that people feel agitated about CBDCs because they think it will increase government’s control on money movements, according to DL News.