Headlines

▌U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen: The U.S. may default as early as June 1

U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen reiterated that the U.S. may default as early as June 1, and a default could trigger chaos in financial markets. Yellen said Biden was willing to negotiate alone on spending priorities.

Policies

▌Liechtenstein plans to accept BTC for government services

Liechtenstein plans to accept BTC for government services, Liechtenstein Prime Minister Daniel Risch said in an interview that a bitcoin payment option is coming.

▌EMU Financial Supervision Center Member: MiCA is expected to bring much-needed clarity and confidence to the crypto asset industry

Mete Feridun, a member of the European EMU Financial Supervision Center, said in a document that the European Parliament recently approved the Encrypted Asset Market Supervision (MiCA), marking an important milestone in the regulation of the encrypted asset industry in Europe and other regions.

MiCA will establish the first harmonized and comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto assets and related services and activities in Europe, characterized by the need for clearer regulations and standards.

The statute also stands out as the first legislation of its kind in the world and set a precedent for other legislation around the world.

MiCA applies to issuers and service providers and is designed to protect consumers and investors while ensuring financial stability and supporting innovation.

Key provisions for companies that issue and trade crypto assets include transparency, disclosure, authorization and oversight of transactions. Before MiCA, cryptocurrency firms had to comply with 27 different regulatory frameworks across European Union (EU) member states.

Therefore, from a regulatory compliance point of view, this regulation is indeed an essential step for the EU encryption industry.

From an investor perspective, on the other hand, MiCA is expected to bring much-needed clarity and confidence to the crypto asset industry.

The regulation requires crypto asset issuers to provide complete and transparent information about the crypto assets they issue and to comply with disclosure and transparency rules.

This means that the regulation can encourage more institutional adoption and activity in the EU cryptocurrency market.

MiCA will provide market participants with a clear set of rules and requirements that they need to follow, which will ultimately increase market transparency, reduce market abuse and protect investors.

The new regime will also establish cryptocurrencies as an asset class, providing these assets with much-needed certainty, confidence and credibility.

Cryptocurrency

▌Report: The proportion of French adults who understand cryptocurrencies increased significantly in 2022 compared to 2021

In the United Kingdom, only a small percentage of respondents claim to own cryptocurrencies by March 2022, according to a report published by ResearchAndMarkets, while also revealing a large gender gap in cryptocurrency ownership.

Among those who own cryptocurrencies, the majority prefer to own Bitcoin, followed by Bitcoin Cash.

Compared to the share of crypto-curious respondents planning to invest in cryptocurrencies in 2021, the percentage of crypto owners in Germany is only a few percentage points higher.

Furthermore, nearly half of the respondents who already invested or traded in cryptocurrencies intend to increase their investment in the next 6 months.

Germany has a small gender gap in terms of respondents interested in cryptocurrencies, with more than half of female respondents interested in cryptocurrencies compared to men.

While a small percentage of French respondents have already invested in NFTs or cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin remains a popular currency among those who have already invested and those who plan to invest in the future.

Furthermore, the proportion of French adults who know about cryptocurrencies will increase substantially in 2022 compared to 2021.

As of April 2022, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency of choice in Switzerland, with more than half of all cryptocurrency investors interested in buying and holding cryptocurrencies.

▌Bitcoin Network Congestion Causes Binance to Pause Withdrawals

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, temporarily paused Bitcoin withdrawals yesterday as the Bitcoin blockchain became overwhelmed with pending transactions and high gas fees.

According to Coindesk, on-chain data showed that there were nearly 400,000 unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions.

Transaction fees on Bitcoin are also at a two-year high, sitting at around $8. Analysts attributed this to the adoption of the new BRC-20 standard.

Binance has since resumed transactions.