Autor: Mary Murphy

• Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated recent gains on March 21, as markets awaited the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
• Ethereum (ETH) remained below $1,800 for the second straight session, following a recent climb into overbought territory.
• Many expect that the Federal Reserve will maintain rate hikes, however at a slower pace of 25 basis points.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Technical Analysis

Awaiting FOMC Meeting

Many traders are awaiting the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting to see how it will affect market volatility. The U.S. recently announced that it would explore measures to guarantee client deposits at embattled banks following a crisis, which adds to the uncertainty of what may come from the meeting.

Bitcoin Consolidates Gains

Bitcoin was trading slightly below $28,000 as traders consolidated recent gains ahead of the FOMC meeting tomorrow. BTC/USD hit an intraday low of $27,439.65 earlier today after reaching its nine-month high earlier this week of $28,352.76. The 14-day relative strength index (RSI) failed to move beyond a ceiling of its own and is currently tracking at 71.47 marginally below its resistance level of 72.00; however bitcoin has since risen back above $28,000 with price swings likely to persist throughout the day leading up to Wednesday’s decision from the Fed Reserve .

Ethereum Remains Below $1,800

Ethereum also saw declines as ETH/USD fell to an intraday low of $1,725.01 after trading at a peak of $1,788.13 yesterday despite seeing an upward crossover between its 10-day and 25-day moving averages earlier in the day . The RSI also fell back below support levels at 61 , and is currently tracking at 60 .74 . For bulls to recapture their goal of hitting $1 , 800 , they must first break through this ceiling on the RSI .

Final Thoughts

It appears that market volatility is likely going to increase around Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and traders have been consolidating their positions leading up to it due to uncertainty surrounding what may be announced by Federal Reserve officials regarding interest rates increases or other measures designed to stabilize financial markets in light of recent events such as bank crises . It appears that both bitcoin and ethereum have seen some declines but could potentially rise again if bulls can break through key resistance levels outlined above before Wednesday’s announcement from the Fed Reserve .

• Alchemy Pay has partnered with ZD Group, the parent company of Mouette Securities, to gain access to four Hong Kong financial licenses.
• These licenses are necessary for conducting financial and investment businesses in Hong Kong.
• This strategic collaboration is aimed at promoting resource sharing between the two entities.

Alchemy Pay Partners With ZD Group

The leading fiat-crypto payment gateway, Alchemy Pay, has revealed that it has joined forces with ZD Group, the parent company of Mouette Securities, a reputable global investment fund.

Shared Financial Licenses from SFC & IA

Within the frame of this strategic collaboration, ZD Group provides investment and shares its four financial licenses authorized by Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Insurance Authority (IA) of Hong Kong with Alchemy Pay. The three licenses granted by SFC cover areas in dealing in securities, advising on securities and asset management. In addition, Sunbright Wealth Management will share its Insurance Broker Company license issued by the Insurance Authority of Hong Kong with Alchemy Pay.

Aimed To Promote Resource Sharing

This collaboration aims to promote resource sharing and foster stronger business ties between the two entities while Alchemy Pay commits to provide crypto payment solutions to all businesses in ZD Group. It should be highlighted that Mouette Securities is listed as a registered institution on SFC of Hong Kong’s official site for further details about their shared Financial Services Licenses.

Acquisition Of Licenses To Ensure Secure Payment Solutions

With the acquisition of these licenses, Alchemy Pay can better ensure the provision of secure, compliant and regulatory payment services to an extended group of partners which should drive its growth in the global market and expand its user base beyond Hong Kong.

ZD Group’s Layout In Web3 Industry

Rui Huang, the founder of ZD Group emphasized that partnering with Alchemy Pay is an important layout of ZD Group

• Crypto adoption has been skyrocketing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region due to factors such as high inflation and residents‘ desire for high-return investment opportunities.
• Mustafa Kheriba, the executive chairman of asset management firm Iceberg Capital Limited, said that interest in digital assets has not diminished despite bearish conditions.
• According to Kheriba, countries like Egypt and Turkey are being pushed towards crypto while Gulf states are being pulled by its potential as an investment opportunity.

Crypto Adoption Soars in MENA Region

The rise of cryptocurrency has been swift and pronounced in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region. According to Mustafa Kheriba, the executive chairman of asset management firm Iceberg Capital Limited, this is due to a variety of factors.

High Inflation Drives Demand

Kheriba pointed out that countries such as Egypt and Turkey are feeling the impact of high inflation rates, which is pushing citizens towards crypto assets as a store of value and hedge against fiat currency devaluation.

Gulf States See Investment Opportunity

In contrast, affluent Gulf States have seen cryptocurrency as an investment opportunity rather than a tool for safeguarding wealth from economic instability.

Developer Interest Growing

Recent research has revealed that experienced software developers are showing increasing interest in blockchain projects.

SWIFT’s Future Uncertain

Kheriba also shared his thoughts on the future of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). While he did not predict what will happen with SWIFT’s current model, it was clear that crypto was seen as a viable alternative.

• The U.S. Treasury’s Nellie Liang recently gave a speech to the Atlantic Council concerning central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
• During her speech she discussed President Joe Biden’s executive order which called on the government to develop an approach for the digital currency sector.
• Liang also noted that members of the U.S. government plan to meet regularly to discuss CBDCs and address objectives such as global financial leadership, national security, privacy, illicit finance, and inclusion.

U.S Treasury and White House to Hold Regular Meetings on CBDCs and Payment Innovations

Nellie Liang’s Speech on Central Bank Digital Currencies

On March 1, 2023, Nellie Liang, undersecretary for domestic finance at the U.S. Treasury delivered a speech to the Atlantic Council in Washington about central bank digital currencies (CBDC). She detailed how a CBDC can be one of several options for “upgrading the legacy capabilities of central bank money” and mentioned that members of the Treasury, Biden administration and Federal Reserve will begin meeting regularly to discuss this topic.

Liang outlined three core features of a CBDC: it would be legal tender; convertible one-for-one into other forms of central bank money; and clear/settle nearly instantly. To ensure success in developing a CBDC, she emphasized that it must address global financial leadership, national security, privacy concerns as well as illicit finance and inclusion issues at hand in American society today with its large unbanked population.

Biden Administration’s Executive Order Regarding Digital Currency Sector

President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on the government to develop an approach for regulating activities involving digital assets such as cryptocurrencies due to events like last year’s collapse of some crypto businesses or “runs on stablecoins” caused by commingling customer and firm assets. Therefore regulators must enforce existing laws more vigorously in order to protect consumers from such occurrences in future projects involving digital currency sector activities according to Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang during her speech at Atlantic Council titled “Next Steps in Future Money & Payments” .

US CBDC Working Group Focus Areas

The US CBDC Working Group is focused on meeting global financial leadership objectives ,national security measures ,privacy standards while also addressing illicit finance and ensuring inclusion especially when considering America’s large population without access to banking services .

Regular Meetings Scheduled Between US Government Agencies

Members of different branches within US government have plans set up already where they will meet regularly regarding issues surrounding central bank digital currencies (CBDC) . 11 countries have already implemented their own version of a retail or wholesale CBDC so conversations around this new technology are ongoing between various entities involved with payment systems innovation within United States .

Overview of Momint’s Blockchain-Based Solution

• South African startup Momint has launched a blockchain-powered solution to ease the country’s energy woes.
• Investors can purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) linked to solar cells for about $9, which are then leased to institutions such as schools and hospitals.
• The blockchain solution makes the project transparent and lowers risks for Momint.

Suncash Initiative Launched by Momint

South African startup Momint has said the recently launched Suncash initiative aims to ease the country’s power generation challenges. For about $9, investors can reportedly buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) linked to solar cells which are then leased to institutions such as schools and hospitals.
The solar cells are installed on rooftops of public institutions like hospitals and schools, with an example of one pilot project being at Delmas High School in Mpumalanga province in South Africa. The NFTs are purchased for a minimum price of just under $9, with the generated electricity being sold via a standard power purchase agreement.

Benefits of Blockchain Solution

Ahren Posthumus, CEO of Momint, commented that his company chose this project because it wants to help South Africa overcome its power generation challenges: “We are a technology company that’s trying to build for the next 15 years, but what we realised is we can’t build a technology company in a country that doesn’t have electricity.“ He also noted that his organization does not expect any financial gain from this project as it is „not financially sustainable“.
Posthumus further explained why his startup chose blockchain technology; stating that this not only makes the project transparent but also lowers risks for his company. He stated: “We take legal contracts that represent ownership of each individual cell, and we put those legal contracts into a file that’s typically referred to as ‚the token‘ on the blockchain. It’s called a smart contract.“ This smart contract grants ownership rights over the underlying asset and any revenues generated from it.

Momint Seeking Partnerships with Multiple Institutions

Moment has been actively seeking partnerships with multiple institutions in order to expand their reach across South Africa. These partnerships allow both parties involved – including investors – access to innovative solutions while providing electric power at lower costs than traditional sources would provide. Additionally, these partnerships will help Moment achieve their goal of providing clean energy solutions while helping reduce environmental pollution caused by traditional energy sources such as coal or oil plants used by many countries worldwide today.

Conclusion

Moment has taken an innovative approach towards solving South Africa’s electricity woes through their Suncash initiative powered by blockchain technology. By allowing individuals and organizations alike access to lower cost electricity produced through rooftop solar systems, Moment is helping create an efficient energy supply chain while promoting renewable energy sources such as solar power across Africa and beyond– ultimately benefiting both people and nature alike!

• Solana (SOL) rebounded from losses to start the week, despite U.S. inflation figures missing expectations.
• Tron (TRX) rose for a fifth straight session, breaking out of a recent ceiling in the process.
• Both tokens have seen bullish sentiment in recent weeks, with moving averages trending upwards.

Biggest Movers: SOL Rebounds

Solana (SOL) was one of Tuesday’s notable movers, as the token rebounded from losses to start the week despite U.S. inflation figures missing expectations and coming in at 6.4%. SOL/USD surged to an intraday high of $21.70 earlier in today’s session and reentered its $20 price floor after a failed breakout attempt to start the week. The relative strength index (RSI) maintained a floor at 42 and is currently tracking at 47.46 with 50 as the next visible resistance point.

TRX Up For Fifth Straight Session

Tron (TRX) rose for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday, breaking out of a recent ceiling in the process. Following a low of $0.06414 to start the week, TRX/USD raced to an intraday high of $0.06638 earlier in the day pushing it to its highest point since last Thursday after prices broke out of a ceiling at $0.06565 . Overall sentiment has largely been bullish in recent weeks with moving averages trending upwards supported by RSI which is currently tracking at 61 and edging close to 63 as next resistence point .

Recent Momentum

Recent momentum for Solana has been largely bearish coming following downwards crossover of 10-day (red), and 25-day (blue) moving averages however bulls have moved forward halting any further sell-offs . For Tron , overall sentiment has largely been bullish in recent weeks with moving averages trending upwards supported by RSI which is currently tracking at 61 and edging close to 63 as next resistence point .

What Will The Federal Reserve Do?

The Federal Reserve will likely take action due to consumer prices coming higher than expected at 6%, instead of the anticipated 6%. This could mean that more stimulus packages are put into place or interest rates could be adjusted accordingly depending on how inflation progresses going forward..

Conclusion

Overall both Solana and Tron have seen bullish sentiment over past few weeks but there may be some volatility ahead depending on what measures are taken by central banks due to rising inflation ..

• The value locked in 11 Ethereum-based liquid staking protocols has risen above $11 billion, with Lido, Coinbase and Rocket Pool recording 4-10% gains over the past month.
• Lido holds more than 73% of the total value locked out of the 6.87 million ether held by the 11 liquid staking platforms.
• Coinbase’s wrapped ether has 1,081,304 ethereum (ETH) locked into the platform and the TVL has gained 5.74% last month.

Ethereum Liquid Staking Trend

The trend of Ethereum liquid staking is gaining traction as it was introduced on Beacon chain contract in February 2021 and since then 16.47 million Ethers are currently locked worth $26 billion on the network which cannot be withdrawn until March hard fork is completed. Out of this 41%, 6.87 million Ethers are being held by 11 decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, with a total value locked of more than $11 billion.

Lido Leads The Pack

Lido holds 73% of the Total Value Locked (TVL) out of all 11 liquid staking protocols with a 4.27% increase in its market share last month valued at around $8.18 billion as on Feb 7th 2023 while Coinbase’s wrapped Ether platform holds 15.72 % of TVL after witnessing a growth of 5.74%. Rocket pool and Frax Ether had highest gain in terms of monthly percentage increase among top five projects with 1071 % and 76.73 % respectively while Stakewise is fifth largest holding 1.23 % with 84,481 ethers locked valued at $136 million respectively .

Remaining Six Platforms

Apart from these top five platforms remaining six DeFi based liquid stakers have garnered lesser market share collectively amounting to 5%. These include Snowfork , Alpha Finance , Bao Finance , Pylon Network , Anchor Protocol & Cream Holding . All these protocols have performed relatively well over past couple months to join ranks amongst top eleven liquidity providers for Ethereum assets .

Future Outlook

Liquidity for Ether tokens continues to rise steadily as DeFi based applications become more popular due to low transaction cost & higher returns associated with them compared to traditional financial instruments like bonds & stocks . This trend will continue to swell further as Ethereum developers continue their effort towards scaling up network & introducing new features such as sharding & zk Rollup solutions making it possible for large scale enterprise level applications to be built atop blockchain technology .

Conclusion

Liquid staking is becoming increasingly popular amongst investors who want to earn rewards without having to rely on custodianship which make it highly attractive choice for users who don’t want risk associated with leaving large sums of money idle but also need liquidity when needed . As we move forward we can expect even greater surge in Ethereum based liquidity providers due to availability scalability solutions & robust smart contracts that ensure secure storage thereby enabling larger investor base participation .

• The fate of the Panamanian crypto bill project now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court of Panama.
• The bill was introduced in 2021 to the National Assembly and passed by the institution last year, but vetoed by President Laurentino Cortizo.
• Congress rejected the veto measure, leaving the decision of whether to sanction the project in the hands of the court.

The Panamanian crypto bill project, which was introduced in 2021 to the National Assembly and passed by the institution last year, has been left in the hands of the Supreme Court of Panama. The bill, which was meant to create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry in the country, had been vetoed by President Laurentino Cortizo after it was sent to him for approval. Despite objections from the executive, Congress decided to support the project in its current form and rejected the presidential veto. This has left the bill’s fate in the hands of the court, which will have to weigh the arguments in favor and against the sanction of the project.

President Cortizo had issued heavy objections to the bill’s form when it was sent to him for approval. Specifically, he criticized articles 34 and 36, as well as the bill as a whole, for not adhering to the norms that regulate the financial system and the Panamanian monetary model. He stated that the document requires ‚adaptation‘ to these norms before it can be approved.

The Supreme Court of Panama will now need to decide whether to approve the bill or not, based on the arguments presented by both sides. If they decide to approve the bill, it would bring great changes to the cryptocurrency industry in Panama. It could bring much-needed clarity and regulation to the sector, as well as providing more legal protection for cryptocurrency users. On the other hand, if the court decides not to approve the bill, then Panama will remain without a clear legal framework for cryptocurrencies.

The future of the Panamanian crypto bill project is now in the hands of the Supreme Court of Panama. They will have to make a decision based on the arguments presented by both sides and the implications of their decision will be far-reaching. Whether the bill is approved or not, it will have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry in Panama and the country’s economy as a whole.

• Four more members of the Bitzlato crypto exchange team were arrested in Europe.
• Europol suspects that nearly half of the funds processed through the platform were associated with criminal activities.
• The operation involved law enforcement and judicial authorities from multiple European countries, as well as the US and Hong Kong.

European law enforcement authorities have conducted an international operation against crypto exchange Bitzlato, resulting in the arrest of four more of its senior management. The operation was led by the US and France and included Belgium, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Bitzlato is a Hong Kong-registered coin trading platform, which is suspected of facilitating the laundering of large amounts of criminal proceeds. Last week, its co-founder and majority owner, Russian national Anatoly Legkodymov, was arrested in Miami. The France-based digital infrastructure of the exchange was also shut down.

In addition to Legkodymov, four more individuals have been detained in Europe, including the CEO, financial director, and marketing director of the exchange in Spain, and another person in Cyprus. Police have conducted eight home searches in multiple countries, including Spain, the US, Portugal, and Cyprus. Wallets with €18 million ($19.5 million) worth of cryptocurrency, vehicles, and other assets were seized during the raids.

According to Europol, nearly half of the funds processed through Bitzlato were associated with various criminal activities, including money laundering and drug trafficking. The agency is currently working to identify victims of the exchange’s activities and to recover their funds.

Investigations into Bitzlato are ongoing and further arrests are expected. The exchange’s infrastructure has been dismantled in order to prevent any further activities of this kind from taking place.

• Vueling, a low-cost Spanish airline, is exploring the use of blockchain and NFT technology to accept cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
• The company has enlisted the aid of Criptan, a registered Spanish cryptocurrency exchange, and aims to open this payment option for users by Q3 2023.
• This agreement will place Vueling at the forefront of new technologies and innovation, further reinforcing its commitment to its customers.

Spanish airline Vueling is making moves to become one of the first low-cost airlines in Europe to accept cryptocurrency as a means of payment. The company announced it was exploring the usage of blockchain and NFT technology in order to allow customers to acquire plane tickets with crypto.

Vueling has partnered with Criptan, a national exchange that has already registered with the Bank of Spain, to serve as a payments company, processing and completing customers‘ orders using crypto. Jesus Monzo, Vueling’s alliances and distribution manager, stated that this agreement places them at the forefront of new technologies and innovation, further reinforcing their commitment to their customers and offering the best and most advanced tools and solutions on their website.

Jorge Soriano, Criptan’s CEO, explained that the introduction of crypto payments could improve user experience by showing customers the potential there is behind the implementation of such solutions. The functionality is expected to be available on the website of the airline by Q3 2023 and it will be using UATP tech, the global payments network for airlines, although some other payment methods may be available in the future as well.

Vueling is taking a big step forward by introducing cryptocurrency as a payment option. This move will make the airline more accessible to customers who are interested in using digital currency and it will place Vueling at the forefront of new technologies and innovation. The company aims to have the payment option available by Q3 2023, providing customers with a seamless and secure way to pay for their tickets.