1. Market Wrap: Bitcoin, Ether Climb on Green Mining Plans Before Losing Steam
Major cryptocurrencies saw a pop in anticipation of a more environmentally friendly mining outlook before slipping.
The crypto market bounced then lost steam the past 24 hours, perhaps fueled by the behavior of new market participants joining this current bull cycle. Meanwhile, market data continues to suggest more and more ether being deployed and traded on the spot market to rival BTC.
Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $38,224 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 1.3% over the previous 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $37,600-$40,702
Ether (ETH) trading around $2,720 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). up more than 5% over the previous 24 hours.
Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,542-$2,895
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Wednesday by 3.3% as of press time. BTC was below the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a bearish signal for market technicians.
BTC climbed from $37,600 at 20:15 UTC (4:15 p.m. ET) Tuesday to as high as $40,702 by 00:45 UTC Wednesday (8:45 p.m. ET Tuesday), an 8.2% increase based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin has settled at $38,224 as of press time.
2. PayPal Will Let Customers Withdraw Crypto, Exec Says
“We want them to be able to take the crypto they acquired with us and take it to the destination of their choice,” says Jose Fernandez da Ponte.
Global payments giant PayPal plans to let users withdraw cryptocurrency to third-party wallets, its blockchain lead said.
Speaking Wednesday at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 conference, Jose Fernandez da Ponte told moderator Jeff John Roberts that a withdrawal function is in the works. At present, PayPal does not let users move cryptocurrency holdings off-platform, though it has let customers buy bitcoin (BTC, -2.59%) and other cryptocurrencies since October 2020.
“We want to make it as open as possible, and we want to give choice to our consumers, something that will let them pay in any way they want to pay,” da Ponte said. “They want to bring their crypto to us so they can use it in commerce, and we want them to be able to take the crypto they acquired with us and take it to the destination of their choice.”
The company ships new developments every two months on average, he said, though it’s unclear when the withdrawal functionality is coming.
PayPalCoin?
On a rumor that PayPal plans to launch its own stablecoin, da Ponte was more downbeat. “This is way too early,” he said.
3. Apple Is Looking for Crypto Experience in ‘Alternative Payments’ Job Post
Apple’s payments unit is looking for a crypto-savvy biz-dev specialist to lead partnership efforts.
Apple is looking to hire a business development manager with experience in the cryptocurrency industry to lead its “alternative payments” partnership program.
In a Wednesday job posting, Apple said candidates should have five years or more “working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL [buy now pay later], Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc.”
The Cupertino tech giant said the manager would be Apple’s chief negotiator for the alternative payments space.
“The Apple Wallets, Payments, and Commerce (WPC) team is seeking an experienced Business Development Manager to lead Alternative Payments Partnerships,” the company wrote.
Apple has long maintained an ironclad grip over payments, especially in its App Store, which has never accepted customers’ crypto and forces all catalog apps to use Apple’s commerce rails and play by Apple’s rules.
That tightly-controlled ecosystem is the focus of a blockbuster court fight launched by Fortnite developer Epic Games. Epic alleges Apple’s rules violate antitrust laws and stifle payments innovation. App developers could accept “bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies” if not for Apple’s restrictions, Epic claimed in the suit.
4. Binance Says ‘Rollback’ Not Possible After DeFi Exploits on Binance Smart Chain
Binance is not responsible for “rug pulls” on Binance Smart Chain, an exchange representative says.
Decentralized finance protocols built atop Binance’s smart-contract blockchain, Binance Smart Chain, have suffered an increasing number of hacks or exploits. Those include an exploit earlier this month on bEarn Fi that resulted in an $11 million loss.
A Binance representative on Wednesday suggested that’s just the way things are in DeFi, and there’s little the world’s largest exchange can do to roll back the exploits. It’s the case even though the exchange retains a significant degree of control over Binance Smart Chain, making it far more centralized than competing blockchains.
“BSC is a public permissionless infrastructure so anybody can deploy projects there,” Samy Karim, a coordinator of business and ecosystem development at Binance, said at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021. “You have malicious actors there and hacks, and exploits in DeFi are not new and definitely not unique to BSC.”
5. DeFi ‘Raises Challenges’ for Investors, Regulators, SEC’s Gensler Says
The regulator has suggested that a dedicated market regulator would offer some protection against fraud and manipulation.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) could pose fresh challenges for U.S. investors, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said Wednesday.
The cryptocurrency sector poses various risks to investors in the markets and challenges to the securities regulator, Gensler said in prepared testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. He pointed to volatility in the market and novel products as some examples of these issues.
“Crypto lending platforms and so-called decentralized finance (‘DeFi’) platforms raise a number of challenges for investors and the SEC staff trying to protect them,” Gensler said.
The crypto market had an overall market capitalization of $1.6 trillion on Monday after losing over one-third of its value in under two weeks, he said. While bitcoin (BTC, -2.74%) grabs most headlines, he noted that more than 80 tokens have a $1 billion market cap, while more than 1,500 had a market cap of over $1 million.
Founded in July 2018, ZBG is a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, a global platform of ZB.COM.
ZBG.com has quickly become one of the top 10 exchanges in the world with its innovative, efficient and global operations, and is known as a “New First-Tier” exchange.
Currently, ZBG supports 11 languages, with an average daily activity of more than 160,000, providing over 3 million users around the world with trustworthy cryptocurrency trading, contract trading and other crypto asset investment services.
In the future, ZBG will continue to expand its global market and provide stable, safe and fast blockchain project listing, diversified crypto assets and blockchain derivatives investment services to more blockchain enthusiasts around the world.
ZBG Official English (Telegram): https://t.me/ZBG_Exchange
ZBG Official Chinese(Telegram): https://t.me/ZBG_ChineseOfficial
ZBG Official Bangladesh (Telegram): https://t.me/zbgbangladesh
Twitter：https://twitter.com/ZBG_Exchange
ZBG, World’s top 10 crypto currency exchange.
Link to future value!
ZBG Team
May 27, 2021
