Weekly Recap: Addressing Current Concerns
Last week, Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, made headlines while spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced a bearish turn. At the same time, Ethereum continues to face regulatory scrutiny.
Do Kwon’s appeal against his extradition to South Korea was denied by a court in Montenegro. However, the office of the prosecutor in Montenegro stated that Do Kwon’s extradition and the subsequent denial of his appeal are illegal. U.S. authorities are also planning to appeal the extradition decision.
Shortly after these remarks, reports emerged suggesting that Do Kwon’s extradition would be halted. This decision comes as plans are made to release the Terra founder from prison, as he has completed his sentence for possession of illegal documents.
On March 23, crypto.news confirmed that Do Kwon has been released from prison. However, his passport has been confiscated as a security measure to prevent him from leaving the country.
Despite the market turbulence, investors remain optimistic. The market witnessed sustained bearish consolidation, with Bitfinex highlighting that traditional investors, many of whom entered the market through spot Bitcoin ETFs, are being cautious.
This week, the global cryptocurrency market cap lost $140 billion, with Bitcoin leading the drop with a 4% price decline. Bitcoin ended the week at a price level of $65,000.
Nevertheless, industry leaders remain optimistic. Binance CEO Richard Teng predicts that Bitcoin will surpass the $80,000 threshold. Additionally, MicroStrategy announced on March 19 that it has acquired 9,245 more BTC, demonstrating its confidence in the asset.
Meanwhile, the stablecoin supply in the cryptocurrency market has experienced significant growth, surpassing the $150 billion mark. This represents an increase in buying power as market participants prepare to acquire more tokens during the market downturn.
Interestingly, new meme coins have entered the market as investors seek to take advantage of the ongoing craze. SLERF, a meme token based on Solana, raised $10 million in a pre-sale but the developer “mistakenly” burned it all.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw record outflows after experiencing $2.9 billion in inflows the previous week. Data from Bloomberg shows that these ETFs witnessed outflows totaling $742 million from March 18 to 20.
The outflows continued, with another $93.8 million being withdrawn on March 21. This marked the fourth consecutive day of losses. On March 22, these products recorded $51 million in outflows, the first time they have seen consecutive intraday outflows in a week.
As a result of these outflows, the broader crypto market dropped by 8% as of March 23, with the global crypto market cap losing $220 billion. Furthermore, data confirms that these outflows have surged above $836 million.
Ethereum is facing regulatory scrutiny, with reports suggesting that the Ethereum Foundation is being investigated by a “state authority.” The details of the investigation are unclear, but some speculate that it may be related to the pending launch of Ethereum spot ETFs.
Meanwhile, the U.S. SEC has postponed the decision on spot Ethereum ETFs, pushing back the deadline for VanEck’s filing to May 23. The SEC has also delayed the decision on Grayscale’s filing to May 30.
There has been a resurgence of global regulatory affairs and enforcement actions this week. In South Korea, authorities arrested the issuer of an altcoin on March 19 for alleged fraud amounting to $16.1 million. British authorities also arrested Wen Jian, a British citizen, in connection to a $6 billion Chinese scam.
In conclusion, last week was eventful in the crypto world, with developments in the legal cases of Do Kwon, market turbulence, and regulatory scrutiny on Ethereum.
