This week in web3 #17
Every Friday afternoon, we share with you the most important news of the week in the world of web3.
1️⃣ Kraken ends staking program in the US
Crypto exchange Kraken will end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pays $30 million in a settlement with the SEC. https://www.ft.com/content/77312c18-899f-4460-a858-fe5439373cb5
2️⃣ Coinbase drops most since July
Coinbase’s shares fell the most in more than six months after rival Kraken was forced to stop providing an investment service also offered by the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-09/coinbase-shares-tumbles-as-sec-cracks-down-on-crypto-staking
3️⃣ Bitcoin activity spikes to 2-year high thanks to... NFTs
This uptick in activity stems from the popularity of the Ordinals protocol, which allows for NFTs to be stored on the Bitcoin blockchain. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/02/09/cryptoquant-bitcoin-network-activity-spikes-to-two-year-high-thanks-to-nfts/
4️⃣ ConsenSys founder optimistic about Ethereum
Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of ConsenSys, said that classing Ethereum as a security is as likely as if Uber was made illegal. https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-co-founder-joe-lubin-says-no-chance-eth-is-classed-as-security
5️⃣ NY regulators investigate Paxos
The New York Department of Financial Services is investigating stablecoin issuer Paxos. Paxos’ stablecoins include the Pax Dollar ($USDP) and Binance USD ($BUSD), a Binance-branded stablecoin. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/02/09/stablecoin-issuer-paxos-is-being-investigated-by-new-york-regulator/
6️⃣ Warp announces KV storage
Warp Contracts, the technology that allows the deployment of smart contracts on the Arweave blockchain, just announced Key-Value storage. https://twitter.com/warp_contracts/status/1623333608827281409