News Weekly | MetaMask supports US users to buy Ethereum with PayPal

Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance, covering key news, mining information, project trends, technological progress and other industry trends for the week. This article is one of the weekly news magazines, giving you a glimpse of the major events in the blockchain industry this week.

Headline

**▌MetaMask now supports US users to buy Ethereum via PayPal

On May 12th, according to the official blog, the encryption wallet provider MetaMask has integrated PayPal into MetaMask through cooperation with PayPal to provide Ethereum purchase services for US users (except Hawaii). MetaMask says this makes it the first Web3 wallet to enable such transactions with PayPal. In addition to buying ETH directly, the integration also supports transferring ETH from PayPal to MetaMask to help more users self-custody. Previously, in December last year, MetaMask announced that it had reached a partnership with PayPal and would allow users to purchase Ethereum through PayPal.

**▌Data: Since the Shanghai upgrade1*month, the net increase of ETH pledges exceeds 57 million pieces *

According to the news on May 12, Token.Unlock data shows that since the completion of the Shanghai upgrade of the Ethereum mainnet on April 13, about 3.14 million ETHs have been unstaked, and about 2.57 million ETHs have been newly deposited into pledges, showing a net increase in the total amount of pledges About 575,700 ETH. In addition, about 260,000 ETH are currently pending withdrawal.

▌Binance.US is exploring a plan to reduce the shares held by Changpeng Zhao

Jinse Finance reported that Binance.US and CZ are actively exploring strategies to reduce CZ’s dominant stake in Binance.US. According to The Information citing two sources on May 11, since the summer of 2022, both CZ and Binance.US have been trying to sell some of CZ’s shares in Binance.US. Since the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Binance and CZ in March, company leaders have discussed how it could help improve the company’s image in the eyes of U.S. regulators. Binance.US executives said that as long as CZ retains its majority stake, the company’s ability to obtain the required regulatory clearance in the United States may be hindered.

▌****Ethereum recovered after a second performance failure within 24 hours, the reason is still under investigation

Jinse Finance reported that the Ethereum blockchain encountered a technical problem in the early hours of this morning, causing the network to stop, and it took more than an hour to finalize the block. This is the second such interruption in the past 24 hours. The incident, the cause of which remains a matter of speculation, raises major security concerns for users of the second-largest blockchain by market capitalization. According to the Ethereum Foundation, when blocks are not finalized, pending transactions risk being reordered or removed from the network. At the time of the interview, the network had resumed finalizing blocks, but this was the second performance hit in 24 hours for Ethereum, which suffered the same problem earlier yesterday when Final processing was suspended for approximately 25 minutes. (CoinDesk)

▌****Ethereum Beacon Chain resumed after a brief interruption early this morning, and developers are investigating the cause

Jinse Finance reported that the data provider Beaconcha.in showed that the Ethereum beacon chain suffered a brief interruption in the early hours of this morning. From epochs 200,552 to epochs 200,554, the number of proofs received dropped sharply. The first problematic epochs occurred around 04:13 Beijing time today, and network data shows that the problem was resolved in about half an hour. Ethereum core developers said they are still investigating what caused the outage and will report it to the community as soon as possible.

policy

▌****UK High Court Rescinds Temporary Exclusive Injunction Against Binance

Jinse Finance reported that a British high court recently revoked an exclusive injunction issued against cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In its application to challenge the ban, Binance said the action was taken without notice. Binance also stated that it was unable to comply with the injunction because it was granted after the fraudulently obtained related crypto assets were transferred.

▌** Estonian Regulator Cuts Number of Cryptocurrency Licenses to 100**

Estonian regulators cut the number of cryptocurrency licenses to 100, Jinse Finance reported.

▌****The British government is considering authorizing the tax agency to confiscate the encrypted assets of tax avoidance companies

Jinse Finance reported that the British government is considering a proposal that would authorize the tax agency to confiscate the encrypted assets of companies that fail to fulfill their tax obligations. Now, the UK government is actively reviewing a proposal to provide HMRC with the necessary authorization to access hosted digital wallets. The possibility of crypto wallets growing in popularity as a preferred method of payment for goods and services was highlighted in an April 27 consultation paper that discussed the potential impact of increased regulation of digital currencies. The newspaper noted that if HMRC has the ability to collect debts directly from bank accounts, it should also be able to do the same with digital wallets. This means that if someone owes taxes and has funds in their digital wallet, the agency should be able to recover the amount owed from there as well.

▌****Shanghai Second Branch of the Procuratorate: Using virtual currency for foreign exchange exchange is an illegal act of buying and selling foreign exchange

Jinse Finance reported that the Second Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Procuratorate issued a document stating that a few days ago, the Second Branch of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Procuratorate prosecuted a case of illegally buying and selling foreign exchange using virtual currency and won the verdict. Imprisonment for 3 years and 3 months and a fine of RMB 30,000. This case is a new type of criminal case involving the illegal trading of foreign exchange using virtual currency as a medium. Prosecutors reminded that this case is extremely confusing because of the so-called cross-border e-commerce business elements such as virtual currency trading, online payment, and recharge. Different from the early illegal exchange of "scalpers" in front of banks and other financial institutions, and the later realization of RMB and foreign exchange transactions through underground banks, what the defendant in this case implemented was based on the exchange of virtual commodities. Illegal trading of foreign exchange. Using virtual currency as a trading medium to realize currency value conversion between foreign exchange and RMB, including exchanging RMB for virtual currency, then converting virtual currency into foreign exchange, or exchanging foreign exchange for virtual currency, and then converting virtual currency into RMB, all It is illegal to buy and sell foreign exchange. The Internet is not a place outside the law, and virtual currency cannot be a cover for crimes. Any behavior that uses legal forms to cover up illegal purposes will eventually be severely punished by law.

▌****EU Special Envoy Approves New Cryptocurrency Legal Framework "Crypto Asset Market Law"

Jinse Finance reports, market news: The EU special envoy approved the new cryptocurrency legal framework "Encrypted Assets Market Act" (MiCA).

▌****New York State Introduces New Bill to Accept Stablecoins as Bail Payments

News on May 11, according to Watcher Guru, New York State introduced a new bill that will accept stablecoins as a form of payment for bail. Additionally, the bill would amend the current criminal procedure law to include the digital asset class in the way bail is paid.

▌****The Plenary Meeting of the Political Affairs Committee of the Korean National Assembly has passed the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act"

According to news on May 11, the Political Affairs Committee of the Korean National Assembly passed the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" at a plenary meeting held today. It is reported that the focus of the bill is to protect virtual asset users and restrict unfair transactions. It is the first domestic legislation on virtual assets in the country. (News 1)

▌****EU plans to force crypto firms to provide tax authorities with details of assets held by their customers

Jinse Finance reported that the draft EU law shows that the EU plans to force cryptocurrency companies to provide tax authorities with detailed information on assets held by their customers. Share data within the group. The bill requires the commission to establish a register of crypto asset operators by December 2025, and the rules will apply from January 1, 2026. Some finance ministers have yet to receive formal approval from parliament, the people said. The bill requires crypto companies to register with the tax authority, and controversially, the law, known as the Eighth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC8), still includes platforms for trading NFTs that can be used for payments or investments, as well as those from outside the EU. Suppliers with EU customers. Overseas crypto companies can report to foreign authorities in line with EU norms.

Blockchain Application

▌****Liechtenstein plans to accept BTCfor government services

Golden Finance reported that Liechtenstein plans to accept BTC for government services, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister Daniel Risch said in an interview that Bitcoin payment options are coming soon.

▌****Jiangsu issued a digital renminbi pilot implementation plan in the field of education

Jinse Finance reported that the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education recently issued the "Jiangsu Provincial Digital RMB Pilot Implementation Plan in the Education Field", proposing to comprehensively promote the digital RMB pilot work in the education field, unblock the province's digital RMB income and payment channels in the education field, and actively build education fees, Application scenarios of business digital renminbi such as various examination registration fees, centralized payment by the treasury, and issuance of scholarships and grants. The "Plan" clearly promotes the digital renminbi pilot in the education field in stages. By the end of 2023, it will strive to make significant progress in the coverage of key application scenarios such as education fees, examination registration and payment, and grants of scholarships. Each provincial school will promote at least one digital renminbi application project . By the end of 2025, Jiangsu will basically form a digital RMB operation and management system in the education field with wide application coverage, convenient and efficient services, and a relatively complete ecology.

▌****EU member states, Norway, Liechtenstein launch a publicly accessible blockchain

Jinse Finance reports that EU member states, Norway, Liechtenstein and the European Commission have launched a publicly accessible blockchain. The regulated and permissioned blockchain is managed by the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). As of last year, it had 45 nodes in 23 countries, according to European Commission (EC) administrator Pierre Marro.

▌****The Central Bank of Zimbabwe issued a gold-backed digital currency worth 140 billion Zimbabwe

Golden Finance reports, market news: The Central Bank of Zimbabwe has issued a gold-backed digital currency worth 14 billion Zimbabwe.

Cryptocurrency

▌EthereumLayer2** total lock-up volume dropped to 90 billion US dollars, 7 daily drop*** 3.53%*

On May 8th, according to L2BEAT data, the current total locked position of Ethereum Layer 2 fell back to 9 billion US dollars, a drop of 3.53% on the 7th. Among them, the top five locked positions are: Arbitrum One ($6 billion, down 3.25% on the 7th); Optimism ($1.78 billion, down 5.81% on the 7th); dYdX ($354 million, up 4.06% on the 7th); zkSync Era∎ ($246 million, down 5.92% on the 7th); Metis Andromeda ($123 million, up 2.13% on the 7th).

**▌MicroStrategy has increased its holdings of **BTC for 11 consecutive quarters

Jinse Finance reports that MicroStrategy, founded by Michael Saylor, has purchased Bitcoin every quarter since August 2020. The company is the largest corporate holder of BTC and currently owns 140,000 BTC at an average purchase price of approximately $29,803.

▌BRC-20 total market value of tokens breaks through 5 billion US dollars

Jinse Finance reported that the data showed that the Bitcoin inscription token Ordi broke through $17, temporarily reported at $17.11, an increase of 78.97% in 24 hours, and its current total market value has reached $350 million. In addition, there are currently about 14,079 BRC-20 related tokens, with a total market value of more than $500 million, and a trading volume of $10,605,888 in the past 24 hours. It is reported that the BRC-20 protocol is written directly on the Bitcoin network, using Satoshi as the carrier, and using the JSON data of OrdinalInions to deploy, mint and transfer tokens. Ordi is the first Bitcoin inscription coin with a total supply of 21 million.

▌USDC circulation has dropped to about 301 billion as of last weekend

Jinse Finance reported that according to data from Circle’s official website, from April 27 to May 4, Circle issued a total of about 600 million USDC, redeemed about 1 billion USDC, and reduced circulation by about 400 million USDC. In the past 30 days, Circle issued a total of about 2.3 billion USDC, redeemed about 4.9 billion USDC, and the circulation decreased by about 2.6 billion. As of May 4, the total circulation of USDC is about 30.1 billion pieces, and the fund reserve is 30.2 billion US dollars.

▌****Data: The total profit of the top 15 holders of PEPE is $92.6 million million

Jinse Finance reported that Lookonchain monitoring data shows that the top 15 holders of PEPE (excluding exchanges and contract addresses) hold a total of 9.05% of the total supply. These addresses all made profits by holding PEPE, with a total profit of $92.6 million and an average purchase cost of $0.0000000853.

▌BRC-20 total market value of tokens breaks through 7 billion US dollars

Jinse Finance reported that the data showed that the Bitcoin inscription token Ordi broke through $19, temporarily reported at $19.58, a 24-hour increase of 17.96%, and the current total market value has reached $411 million. In addition, there are currently about 14,200 BRC-20-related tokens, with a total market value of more than $700 million, and a trading volume of $203,996,187 in the past 24 hours. It is reported that the BRC-20 protocol is written directly on the Bitcoin network, using Satoshi as the carrier, and using the JSON data of OrdinalInions to deploy, mint and transfer tokens. Ordi is the first Bitcoin inscription coin with a total supply of 21 million.

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Jinse Finance reported that according to NFTGo data, the current NFT market sentiment index is 29, with a rating of "Cool". In the past 24 hours, the number of buyer addresses in the NFT market was 4074, and the number of seller addresses was 4597. The number of profitable addresses in the past 30 days is 101,282, and the number of loss-making addresses is 406,632. Note: The NFT market sentiment index is calculated based on volatility, trading volume, social media and Google trends.

▌32% family offices currently hold digital asset investments

News on May 9th, according to a report titled "Looking Ahead: Family Office Investment Insights" released by Goldman Sachs on May 8th, 32% of family offices currently hold digital asset investments, including cryptocurrencies, NFTs, DeFi and focus on Blockchain Fund. Goldman Sachs pointed out in the "Family Office Investment Insights Report 2023" that although family offices' interest in crypto investments rose last year, such investors' confidence in the digital asset market has declined sharply in 2023

▌BRC-20Total market value of tokens breaks through10 billion U.S. dollars

Jinse Finance reported that data shows that there are currently about 14,307 BRC-20 related tokens with a total market value of $1,027,395,291.

▌****Ethereum’s pledge yield rose to 8.6% this week, a record high

Jinse Finance reported that according to the ETH Store data on the beaconcha.in website, the Ethereum pledge rate of return (annualized rate of return for validators) rose to 8.6% this week, the highest record after the merger of Ethereum. Validators earned 24,997 ETH (~$46 million) this week, a 40% increase from the 18,339 ETH ($33 million) earned in the last week of April. (the block)

▌****Interactive Brokers' crypto assets held for clients increased to $109.9 million in the first quarter

According to news on May 10, Interactive Brokers (Interactive Brokers: IBKR), one of the largest stock and bond investment trading platforms, said in its first quarter report that the company’s encrypted assets held in the name of customers through Paxos Trust Company increased to $109 million, an increase of 27% from $80 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. These encrypted assets include $66 million in BTC, $40 million in ETH, and $3 million in other cryptocurrencies. It is reported that Paxos Trust Company is responsible for the execution, clearing and custody of cryptocurrencies for Interactive Brokers customers. (Trustnodes)

▌****Bitcoin Lightning Network added more than 2500 nodes in a week, a record high

Jinse Finance reported that the data shows that the Bitcoin Lightning Network has added more than 2,500 nodes in the past week, a record high. According to 1ml data, the current total number of Bitcoin lightning network nodes has reached 16,379, and the total network capacity is 5375.50 BTC. According to previous news, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance has stated that it will work hard to enable BTC Lightning Network withdrawals after Bitcoin withdrawals were blocked. (cryptoslate)

▌****Emirates Royal Group Shorts Billions of Dollars in U.S. Stocks and Increases Investment in Cryptocurrencies

Jinse Finance reported that the Emirates Royal Group has held billions of dollars in short positions in US stocks due to concerns that an economic recession will put pressure on the market. According to a report from Bloomberg, the investment firm became bearish on stocks at the start of the year and shifted its portfolio toward short-term Treasuries. It also ramped up investments in commodities and cryptocurrencies. It was not immediately clear which stocks or sectors the firm was shorting. Royal Group, a conglomerate that helps manage one of the world's largest family fortunes, will seek to increase its exposure to the U.S. once valuations improve and the Federal Reserve signals it is preparing to cut interest rates, the report said.