💥 Will Mt.Gox repayments crash Bitcoin?

GM!We'll be covering a busy couple of days. From the impact of Mt. Gox's bankruptcy repayments on Bitcoin's price, to American's views on the financial system and their ownership of cryptocurrency, and Vitalik Buterin's emphasis on the need for improvements to the Ethereum network to make it more conducive to using ETH as a means of payment.

Markets

UBS says Mt. Gox repayments are unlikely to destabilize bitcoin price (2 minute read)According to UBS strategists, the upcoming bankruptcy repayments of Mt. Gox are unlikely to have a negative impact on the price of bitcoin. Despite the sluggish crypto market towards the end of February, with bitcoin trading just below $23,500, there is speculation that the liquidation process of the now-defunct Japanese exchange could be a significant moment for the price of bitcoin. However, Ivan Kachkovski, a strategist at UBS, notes that only a fraction of the bitcoin originally held by the exchange will be disposed of during the repayment process, with roughly 20% of the stolen funds being recovered. Specifically, creditors are expected to recoup around 142,000 bitcoin, 143,000 bitcoin cash, and 69 billion Japanese yen ($505,000).

Wintermute researcher links wallet associated with UST depeg to Jane Street (2 minute read)Wintermute's Head of Research, Igor Igamberdiev, has suggested that a wallet linked to the depegging of Terra's stablecoin UST may be associated with trading firm Jane Street. According to Igamberdiev, one of these addresses borrowed $15 million from the lender two weeks after UST's collapse, and repaid the funds with an additional $10 million. The researcher also noted that the same wallet received 84.5 million USDC from Wallet A, which caused UST's depeg. As the wallet had no other interactions other than these two deposits, Igamberdiev believes it is highly likely to belong to the same entity as Wallet A.

Americans ‘frustrated’ by financial system inequality, 20% own crypto (5 minute read)According to a new survey commissioned by Coinbase, 80% of American adults believe that the financial system favors those with "powerful interests," while 20% currently own cryptocurrency. The online survey, conducted in February by business intelligence firm Morning Consult and involving more than 2,000 American adults, also found that 67% of respondents have called for significant changes or a complete overhaul of the financial system. The survey aimed to examine perceptions of the global financial system and how US adults and crypto investors view the future of the crypto market and exchanges.

Tech

Vitalik Buterin says 'more still needs to be done' over high Ethereum txn fees (3 minute read)Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), has emphasized the need for continued improvements to the network to make it more conducive to using ETH as a means of payment. In a blog post published on Feb. 28, Buterin shared an experience in which he tried to pay for tea for himself and friends at a coffee shop in Argentina in 2021 but had to pay 0.01 ETH (around $40 at the time) as that was the minimum deposit for the owner's exchange account. Although he didn't mind the overpayment and treated it as a tip, Buterin noted that outliers remain on the Ethereum network despite recent improvements. He added that sending a transaction at the same time as many others and experiencing a spike in base fees could result in the transaction not being accepted, which is not always reflected in wallet user interfaces.

Ethereum testnet successfully forks in Shanghai upgrade rehearsal (2 minute read)The Sepolia testnet on the Ethereum blockchain has successfully undergone an upgrade that simulates the upcoming Shanghai hard fork, which is expected to take place on the mainnet in March. The upgrade, called "Shapella," was implemented on the testnet on February 28 and combines the names of the Shanghai and Capella hard forks. The upgrade includes a major change that allows validators to withdraw their staked Ether (stETH) from the Beacon Chain back to the execution layer. Previously, validators needed to stake 32 Ether to validate on the Ethereum blockchain, but they will now be able to withdraw rewards in excess of 32 ETH while continuing to validate. Validators who wish to fully withdraw can take all 32 ETH plus rewards and cease validating.

Misc

SEC, CFTC Charge FTX's Singh With Fraud Following Criminal Plea (3 minute read)On Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures charged Nishad Singh, a former FTX director of engineering, with fraud allegations. Singh had already pleaded guilty to similar charges in a federal court. The regulators accused FTX of misleading the public about its separation from Alameda Research, a prop trading shop founded by FTX's CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. They also alleged that FTX mixed corporate and customer funds, using them for various purposes, including investments and trading activities. The CFTC complaint claimed that Singh moved $8 billion in Alameda liabilities to a customer account to avoid paying interest on a large outstanding balance.

Bitcoin NFT Mints Surpass 200K—But Is Interest in Ordinals Fading? (2 minute read)In January, Ordinals became the new hot topic on the Bitcoin network, with over 200,000 Inscriptions as of Monday, according to data from Dune Analytics. Ordinals are similar to NFTs and are digital assets inscribed on a satoshi, the smallest unit of Bitcoin. This became possible after the Taproot upgrade was launched on the Bitcoin network on November 14, 2021. The popularity of Ordinals caused fees on the Bitcoin network to rise significantly, with inscription fees alone surpassing $170,500 on February 15, 2023, and miners receiving over $1.31 million in fees. However, since February 15, daily fees paid to miners have gradually decreased from $54,000 on Feb. 20 to just over $11,000 at the time of writing.

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