Weekly Update: 13 Apr 2023
1) JPMorgan, Fidelity at odds on the impact of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade on ether [The Block]
– Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade to allow withdrawals from April 12. JPMorgan and Fidelity’s reports on price impact differ, while crypto-native researchers predict a muted impact.
2) G7 to discuss digital currency standards, crypto regulation [Reuters]
– G7 to push CBDC standards for developing nations, seek stricter crypto regulations. Also, to address debt issues of mid-income countries, with Japan optimistic about Sri Lanka talks.
3) Former FTX US president reportedly quit after ‘protracted disagreement’ with Bankman-Fried [CoinDesk]
– A new 45-page report detailing accounting failures at the exchange says that at one point employees were instructed by an unnamed higher-up to “come up with some numbers? Idk.”
4) MetaMask launches new fiat purchase function for cryptocurrency [Cointelegraph]
– The new feature will allow users to purchase cryptocurrencies using various payment methods, such as debit or credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers and instant ACH.
5) South Korean crypto exchange Gdac hacked for nearly $13M [CoinDesk]
– The exchange said hackers transferred the crypto assets from a hot wallet to an unidentified wallet.
6) Sushi DEX approval contract exploited for $3.3M [CoinDesk]
– Developers asked users to revoke contracts as a security measure early Sunday.
7) Texas lawmakers propose a gold-backed state digital currency [Cointelegraph]
– The bills state that the trustee must hold enough gold in reserve for all units of digital currency that have been issued and are still in circulation.
8) Bank of England targets 30-strong team for digital currency: report [CoinDesk]
– Among the positions available are digital pound security architect and digital pound solutions architect.
9) Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary declares now is the ‘right time’ for Web3 adoption [CoinDesk]
– Finance chief Paul Chan said in a blog post that despite recent volatility in crypto, now is the time to push forward Web3 technologies.
10) AI-focused blockchain CryptoGPT raises $10M funding at $250M valuation [CoinDesk]
– CryptoGPT recently rolled out AI assistant “Alex” and is developing its ZK rollup layer 2 blockchain and a data-to-AI engine.
