The trading volume on decentralized Ethereum exchanges exceeded $1 trillion in 2021. The segment leader Uniswap accounted for more than 64% ($686 billion). SushiSwap exceeded $156 billion, Curve – $84 billion.
The year 2021 opened a lot of L2 solutions to the cryptocurrency community to scale Ethereum. The total blocked liquidity in such protocols exceeded $5.5 billion by the end of the year. Arbitrum remains the segment leader ($2.4 billion). The top three are dYdX and Loopring with almost $1 billion and more than $550 million, respectively.
Bitcoin is ‘integral part of digital asset revolution’, says IMF
IMF economist Tara Iyer said that “Crypto assets such as Bitcoin have matured from an obscure asset class with few users to an integral part of the digital asset revolution”, adding this transition comes along with financial stability concerns.
In absolute terms, the overspills from Bitcoin to global equity markets are significant, explaining about 14% to 18% of the variation in equity price volatility and eight to 10% of the variation in equity returns.
Pakistan’s central bank reportedly wants to ban crypto
Pakistan’s finance and law ministries are yet to make a decision on a potential blanket ban on crypto in the country. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is reportedly seeking to ban all cryptocurrency transactions in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Sindh High Court reportedly held a hearing related to the legal status of cryptocurrencies in the country, in which several Pakistani authorities, including the SBP, submitted a document to the court, arguing that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) are illegal and cannot be used for trade.
Tether has blocked 160 million USDT
According to Etherscan, stabelcoin issuer Tether recently froze three addresses containing over $160 million worth of USDT.
A company spokesperson stated that, Tether has blocked 3 addresses with a total of $160 million at the request of law enforcement, and at this time they can’t disclose details.
Recall: Tether has previously stated on multiple occasions that it regularly cooperates with regulators to oversee suspicious accounts, perhaps this is just the beginning
Visa survey finds 25% of firms willing to accept cryptocurrency payments
About 25 percent of small businesses in nine countries would accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, according to the latest Visa Inc. survey.
📌 The survey was conducted among 2,250 small business owners from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Ireland and Russia.
📌 The researchers found out that digital money can become a universal means of payment. In addition, Visa surveyed 1,000 other adults in the U.S. and 500 adults in nine countries.
“I think people feel safer with cryptocurrencies,” said Visa global director of commercial sales and acquisitions Janie Mundy.
📌 While the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has increased globally over the past two years, and digital assets are popular with investors of all levels, they are still not a payment instrument.
The number of U.S. cryptoinvestors increased by 70% in 2021
According to the latest survey conducted by cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, the majority of cryptocurrency owners from the United States made their first crypto investments in 2021.
📌 The survey covered 3,100 U.S. adults and was designed to gauge respondents’ knowledge of cryptocurrencies, their sentiments and attitudes toward the crypto market. The study found that 68% of respondents first learned about crypto and started buying it in 2021. 21% of respondents started investing more than two years ago. 12% of Americans surveyed made their first crypto investments in the last four years, and 9% got into digital currencies more than four years ago.
📌 However, according to the survey results, Americans are not investing too much in crypto. 46% of those surveyed have invested $1,000 or less in cryptocurrency. 25% reported owning between $1,000 and $10,000 in digital currencies.
On-Chain Data Shows Number of ETH Holders At All-Time High
There are now over 68 million Ethereum addresses holding a balance, showing steady growth despite a declining price.
The number of Ethereum addresses holding ETH is at an all-time high. Transactions are also trending upward, with the number of daily ETH transactions at approximately 1.2 million.
Coinbase partners with Mastercard
Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to simplify the NFT buying process for regular users.
Coinbase believes that: “Just as we first helped millions of people access Bitcoin in an easy and reliable way, we want to do the same with NFT.”
To recap: Coinbase recently launched a peer-to-peer NFT marketplace called Coinbase NFT. And the aggregate trading volume of NFT has grown almost 400 times in a year.
UK will tighten the terms of cryptocurrency advertising
📌 The U.K. Treasury Department announced that it will take tough action against “misleading cryptocurrency advertising. Such campaigns will be brought in line with the rules applicable to traditional finance, “ensuring their honesty and clarity.
📌 Only organizations already regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Bank of England will now be able to carry out crypto-advertising campaigns.
📌 The statement notes that while about 2.3 million Britons own cryptocurrencies, awareness of the asset class is declining. In this regard, most advertising is aimed at retail investors with low knowledge, which makes them bear significant financial risks.
📌 The agency emphasizes that strengthening consumer protection will not be accompanied by any risks for innovation.