The department will explore economic growth, investment and business opportunities in these areas, as well as implications on regulation.
The U.K.’s newly formed Department of Science, Innovation and Technology will advance the country’s metaverse and Web3 strategy, an individual familiar with the matter not authorized to speak publicly told CoinDesk.
The country’s 2023 Spring Budget, released in March, said the government wanted to “lead on the future of web technology, sometimes known as Web3 or the metaverse.” The new tech department, set up in February, will lead the charge in this work. The department’s work will not focus on specific technologies like blockchain and virtual reality but will instead look at potential economic growth opportunities, investment and business models associated with concepts including the Metaverse and Web3, along with implications for regulation, according to the source.
The metaverse, which is a collection of virtual worlds where people can buy and sell things, was described as a $13 trillion dollar opportunity by investment bank Citigroup. Meta – formerly known as Facebook – dove into the sector, shifting much of its operations to focus on building the metaverse, though the recent crypto winter has put a damper on its growth.
The U.K. government has said its science and technology framework will be supported by more than 370 million British pounds ($463 million) in new funding “to boost infrastructure, investment and skills for the U.K.’s most exciting growing technologies, from quantum and supercomputing through to artificial intelligence.”
It’s not clear how much of that money has been dedicated to the tech department and its metaverse work. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who had previously vowed to turn the country into a crypto hub, said the department was put in place to turn scientific and technical innovations into “practical solutions to the challenges we face.”
CoinDesk has reached out to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology for comment.
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A report noted an increase in spot DEXs offering derivatives trading on their platforms.
Crypto derivatives trading volumes across both centralized and decentralized exchanges rose for a third consecutive month in March, the first three-month streak since at least January 2022, according to figures from CCData.
Crypto derivatives are financial contracts such as futures and options that relate to cryptocurrencies. They are popular because they allow market participants to hedge their positions or to speculate on market direction.
CCData
Derivatives trading accounted for about 74% of the roughly $4 trillion crypto market volume last month, the data show. While the bulk of derivatives trading took place on centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges accounted for $68.7 billion, with dYdX taking a 62.6% share.
CCData
“We expect decentralized derivatives protocols to continue performing well and gain market share in the next quarter,” said CCData in a report.
There has been an increasing trend of spot DEXs adding derivatives trading to their platforms as they notice the potential of derivative DEXs, according to CCData.
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In March, DEX PancakeSwap announced it was partnering with ApolloX to introduce trading of perpetual swaps. Quickswap, a decentralized exchange built on Polygon, is also launching perpetual products soon, CCData said.
The spike coincided with a bevy of financial institutions joining Avalanche’s Evergreen subnet “Spruce.”
Layer 1 blockchain protocol Avalanche is picking up steam, reaching a six-month high in daily active addresses earlier this week.
According to blockchain data firm Artemis.xyz, Avalanche’s daily active addresses hit nearly 80,000 on April 12. Its daily active user base grew 85% in the past 90 days, making it one of fastest growing protocols, ahead of BNB Chain, Tron, Ethereum, Aptos and Bitcoin. Only four protocols grew faster, per Artemis: StarkNet, Arbitrum, Stacks and Canto.
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The high watermark coincided with Avalanche’s April 12 partnership with a bevy of financial institutions that will contribute to its network infrastructure, signaling traditional finance companies’ increased interest in the Avalanche ecosystem.
The price of Avalanche’s native token AVAX stands at $18.53 at press time, down 1.34% in the past 24 hours, per CoinDesk data. Avalanche is the seventh largest blockchain by total value locked, which currently sits at $878.7 million, according to crypto stats website DefiLlama.
The rebalancing comes as ether rallies off a successful Shapella upgrade.
Decentralized reserve crypto project Olympus will increase holdings of “volatile assets” such as ether (ETH) in the treasury backing its OHM token after member approval Friday of a new Treasury Framework.
“We’re targeting 75% stablecoins and 25% directional exposure,” said an analyst on the Olympus treasury team who goes by the screen name Relwyn. That’s a change from the 79%-21% breakdown comprising Olympus’ $200 million treasury of stablecoins, volatile assets and protocol-owned liquidity.
The tweaking will give Olympus more exposure to ether, which at $8.4 million Friday was already the largest “volatile asset” in the reserve treasury backing OHM. Ether rallied hard this week after the much-anticipated Shapella upgrade failed to trigger the mass sell-off many traders had feared would come from a flood of newly unlocked ETH.
This shift is unlikely to be as “aggressive” on ETH that the framework’s authors said many community members called for. It will, however, result in a decrease in Olympus’ exposure to so-called stablecoins such as DAI that faltered during the March banking crisis.
“Treasury team recognizes the need for Olympus to decrease reliance on stablecoins with centralized backing,” the proposal read. “Increasing ETH exposure marginally is one step in that direction while not undermining the relative stability of OHM’s backing in the near term.”
Relwyn said the treasury operations team “agrees” with community members’ bullishness, but cautioned the protocol can’t just YOLO everything into ETH without incurring a hearty dose of risk. Number may go up right now, but “number can go down, too,” said Relwyn,
Another reason for the measured approach is operational, Relwyn said, noting Olympus’ mechanisms for rebalancing OHM’s backing could get wonky if the treasury’s ether holdings grow too large. Those mechanics currently price OHM in DAI, by far the treasury’s largest crypto holding at nearly $80 million.
“If it priced itself in ETH, it could have more heavy ETH backing,” Relwyn said. “Mixing the two can be dangerous” for how Olympus manages its so-called range-bound stability.
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The vote passed with nearly unanimous approval midday Friday. Seventy-six wallets that together held 23,000 OHM tokens participated in the vote.
Ether has risen more than 9% since the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade, which held center stage in crypto markets for much of the week. Bitcoin held fast above $30,000.
Major digital assets surged in an eventful week that included encouraging inflation veri and the much anticipated Ethereum Shanghai upgrade. Once-shaken confidence in crypto markets rose, along with valuations and trading volumes.
Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) have risen about 9% and 11%, respectively, over the past seven days, with much of the gains occurring over the latter few days.
In recent economic reports inflation was lower than expected and jobless claims were higher than expected. The Fed may have been hoping for such signs as reason to justify not raising interest rates again when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next meets in May.
Bond markets have begun to respond. The spread between two- and 10-year Treasury bonds, while still negative, has narrowed since early March.
Crypto markets’ biggest news was the completion of the Shanghai update, allowing ETH stakers to withdraw their ETH deposits. Ether has responded positively, increasing about 9% in price since the upgrade was completed.
Ether 04/14/23 (TradingView)
One of investors’ prevailing fears was that the potential unlocking of 18.2 million ETH would lead to selling pressure on the asset. However, markets have so far viewed the de- risking of ETH staking positively.
ETH’s price upswing has led to the asset chipping away at bitcoin dominance by market capitalization. Crypto market trading volume also rose, as ETH’s daily volume spiked to more than twice its 20-day moving average on Thursday. BTC volume breached its 20-day moving average each day this week, with the exception of Thursday
Both BTC and ETH breached the upper range of their Bollinger Bands this week, an indication of increased bullishness. The Bollinger Bands indicator is a technical tool that plots an asset’s moving average and two standard deviations above and below. A breach of Bollinger Bands in either direction is considered to be a significant event, in this case a bullish one.
Some altcoins had a push higher this week as well. ARB, the native token for Ethereum layer 2 system Arbitrum, led the way – up 28% over the past seven days. Solana (SOL) and Immutable X’s IMX also had strong weeks, rising 20% and 17%, respectively.
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BTC and ETH have risen about 9% and 12%, respectively, over the past seven days. While BTC has driven the market this year so far, the Shapella upgrade has boosted ETH trading, according to an analyst.
Bitcoin and ether’s prices rose handsomely in an eventful week of mildly encouraging inflation veri and Ethereum’s long-awaited Shapella upgrade.
Bitcoin (BTC) was recently trading at $30,450, up 0.4% from 24 hours ago and more than 9% for the week, according to CoinDesk veri. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization breached $31,000 earlier in the day before retreating during the U.S. intraday (ET).
Ether (ETH) gained 5.4% on Friday to recently trade at $2,105. It’s up over 12% for the week.
Bitcoin, Ether 7-Day Returns (CoinDesk Research)
“Ether and bitcoin have both seen upside follow-through after confirming base breakouts in late March, which are as positive intermediate-term developments on their charts,” Will Tamplin, senior analyst at technical research firm Fairlead Strategies, told CoinDesk in an email.
Tamplin noted that ETH and BTC’s next major resistance levels are roughly $2,400 and $35,900, respectively, targeted over the next several weeks.
Yet, he added that with both assets “beginning to look extended in the short term … we would not rule out a pullback in the coming days to digest recent gains,” with initial support near $1,670 for ETH and $25,200 for BTC.
Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at crypto analytics firm Amberdata, highlighted in an interview with CoinDesk that the relative expensiveness of ETH calls versus puts in ETH – also known as the risk reversal skew – currently sits positive to the call side for all expirations post-Shapella. Magadini said that this trend signals “bullish activity in the sense that people are willing to hisse more on the call side.”
Typically, a call buyer is bullish about the market, while the put buyer is bearish.
Magadini noted that while bitcoin has driven options volume, open interest and volatility this year, particularly as BTC surged in January and after last month’s banking crisis, “the Shapella upgrade is the first time that we’re getting some life back into the Ethereum market,” he said.
Prior to the upgrade, investors split on how the market would react to the event, with some expecting potential selling pressure to ETH and others believing no major impact on the market.
“On Ethereum, developers have proven that they can follow through on their vision,” Magadini said. “We’ve made a major milestone and so this brings back validity and credibility to Ethereum.”
Meanwhile, several other altcoins jumped Friday. Decentralized smart contracts platform Injective Protocol’s INJ surged more than 28% in the past 24 hours to trade at $8.64, while artificial intelligence-focused crypto protocol Fetch.ai’s FET rose by 13% to trade at 40 cents. Layer 2 network Optimism’s OP was up 7% to $2.62.
The CoinDesk Market Index, which measures the overall crypto market performance, was up 9% for the week.
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Equities wrapped up Friday lower as investors started to process the earnings season: The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was down 0.4% for the day.
By its very nature, bitcoin is stable and isn’t exactly the talk of the town, Michael Safai said.
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is steadfast and mundane, said Michael Safai, managing partner at financial services firm Dexterity Capital. But that’s a good thing.
“Bitcoin’s going to be the boring old grandpa right now in the room,” Safai told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” on Friday referring to why, during these uncertain economic times, bitcoin’s rally may be due to its simple, more familiar story.
Certainly a lot of the excitement in the crypto market is happening in ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, he noted.
On Wednesday Ethereum underwent its Shanghai upgrade, also known as Shapella. The blockchain’s upgrade raised questions about whether there would be major sell-offs. Instead, ETH’s price inched above $2,000 two days after the long anticipated upgrade, beating out bitcoin in options trading, for the first time this year.
While the upgrade allows users to withdraw the ETH they’ve staked (as well as reducing fees and opening space on the blockchain for more transactions), Safai pointed out that “a lot of things are happening” with ether, including allegations from U.S. government officials who say it is a security and should be regulated as such.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is sidestepping the “chaos of all the investigations,” he said. For now, at least, it appears the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is comfortable with treating bitcoin as a commodity, unlike its view of ether.
With Ethereum’s upgrade, the “rules of the game have just changed,” Safai said. It may also be the reason there is excitement in the markets from users.
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“We’re seeing more activity on the options side and I expect that to continue,” he said.
The stablecoin bill is the first major piece of crypto legislation in 2023.
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee published a discussion draft Saturday of a landmark stablecoin bill ahead of a hearing on the issue.
The bill, available on the Committee’s hearing page, represents the first major piece of crypto legislation to move in 2023. It creates definitions for payment stablecoin issuers, echoing a term former Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) used when he introduced his own stablecoin bill in 2022. The bill also calls for a moratorium on new stablecoins that are backed by other types of tokens until a study can be conducted.
The bill also calls for federal regulators to study the potential impact of a central bank digital currency issued by the Federal Reserve.
Punchbowl News first reported on the bill’s publication.
A House Financial Services subcommittee will hold a hearing on stablecoins on Wednesday, featuring Circle’s Dante Disparte, the Blockchain Association’s Jake Chervinsky, Columbia Professor Austin Campbell and New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris.
That hearing will come a day after the full Financial Services Committee meets to hear from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.
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Spokespeople for Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), respectively the Chair and Ranking Member on the committee, did not immediately return requests for comment.
Son dakika haberleri… İtalya Ligi takımlarından Lazio forması giyen golcü oyuncu Ciro Immobile, sabah saatlerinde trafik kazası geçirdi. İşte detaylar.
DIŞ HABER – AJANSSPOR
İtalya Serie A Ligi kümelerinden Lazio forması giyen Ciro Immobile, bugün sabah saatlerinde bir trafik kazası geçirdi.
Tramvay ile çarpıştı
Corriere dello Sport’ta yer alan habere göre; İtalyan golcünün, sabah saatlerinde çocuklarının da içinde bulunduğu aracıyla Roma’da trafik kurallarına uymayan ve kırmızı ışıkta geçen bir tramvayla çarpıştığı belirtildi.
“Neyse ki iyiyim”
Kaza sonrası olay yerinde bir açıklama yapan Immobile, “Neyse ki yeterliyim, sadede biraz kolum ağırıyor” tabirlerini kullandı.
Haberde, saat 08.30 sıralarında Piazza Cinque Giornate bölgesinde meydana gelen kazada arabada Ciro Immobile dışında dört çocuğunun da olduğu bildirildi.
Öte yandan, İtalyan golcünün ve çocuklarının durumunun düzgün olduğu ve tedbir emelli hastaneye gittikleri kelam edildi.
