Headlines
▌Since the FTX crash in October 2022, the market value of USDC has shrunk by nearly 7 billion US dollars
Since the FTX crash in October 2022, the market value of USDC has shrunk by nearly US$7 billion. According to Glassnode data, before the FTX crash, Tether’s market value was approximately US$69.95 billion, while USDC’s was US$47.33 billion. Today, USDC’s market value is US$40.96 billion, a decrease of approximately US$7 billion. USDT’s current market value is approximately US$68.48 billion, but with USDC relatively small decline. In addition, the market value of BUSD dropped from about US$21 billion to about US$16 billion in the same period, a decrease of more than US$5 billion.
Policies
▌The new US SEC proposal intends to change the rules of qualified custodians, or make it more difficult for hedge funds and others to cooperate with encryption companies
According to people familiar with the matter, the new proposal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to change the rules of qualified custodians, making it more difficult for hedge funds, private equity companies, and pension funds to cooperate with many encryption companies. Hedge funds and some private equity firms and pension funds are currently required to use qualified custodians to hold client assets, and if finalized, the rule could mean that institutional funds may have to move their client assets elsewhere and could face escrow with custodians or unannounced audits related to relationships or other consequences.
▌Dubai builds virtual asset framework
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued the 2023 Regulations on Virtual Assets and Related Activities, which established a comprehensive virtual asset framework to support economic sustainability and cross-border financial security. The framework will provide regulatory certainty to the market by mandating gold standard risk assurance and anti-money laundering (AML) standards for licensed entities in Dubai. The seven licenses under the VARA regime include Advisory Services, Broker-Dealer Services, Custody Services, Transaction Services, Lending Services, Payment and Remittance Services, and VA Management and Investment Services. Issuance is also a regulated activity under the VARA regime, allowing consumers to make more informed decisions about new tokens launched in Dubai and the related obligations of issuers.
Cryptocurrency
▌Azuki launches two new BEANZ NFT characters: Jay & Jelly
According to the official Twitter, the NFT project Azuki announced the launch of two new BEANZ characters: Jay and Jelly, and encouraged Azuki fans to follow these two characters on the @BEANZOfficial social media account. In addition, BEANZ also released a short video introducing Jay&Jelly. According to NFTGo.io data, the current floor price of Azuki is 12.49 ETH, and the floor price of BEANZ Official has risen to 1.26 ETH, an increase of 3.17% in the past 24 hours.
▌Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta will be released on March 27
The Beta version of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet will be released on March 27. Polygon did not specify what the beta network will contain, but said that the team will release more details in the next few weeks. Last October, Polygon launched its zkEVM testnet, which deploys the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for its ZK rollup, allowing Ethereum developers to transfer their smart contracts from the main blockchain without using a different Language reprogramming. In December last year, Polygon zkEVM launched the final testnet version.