- After a strong January, BTC price ended February almost unchanged, but sharply increased in the first hours of spring. Prices have risen by at least two percent per day (9:49 AM UTC) and have been moving without a clear direction recently. Meanwhile, the BTC derivatives market is sending signals that speculators are already waiting for a price of USD 30,000 per BTC, although some are forecasting USD 20,000.
- Reuters reported that payment giants Visa and Mastercard are reportedly suspending partnerships with crypto companies until the market situation improves and the regulatory environment becomes clearer. The partnerships and projects that are being suspended are not disclosed, but in the same text, both companies state that their crypto strategies remain unchanged. Cuy Sheffield, Visa's crypto chief, additionally emphasized that Reuters' claims are not accurate, and the company continues to partner with crypto companies. However, he mainly talked about plans related to stablecoins.
- It is estimated that in February, 570 employees were laid off in the BTC and crypto industry, or 80% less than in January.
- The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) calculated that data provided by the banks surveyed shows that the value of BTC and crypto assets held by these banks in June last year was EUR 2 billion and was 66% lower than at the end of 2021. However, the bank emphasizes that this drop was also due to significantly fewer banks providing responses and the market downturn reducing the value of such managed assets. 17 out of 126 surveyed banks admitted to holding such assets, with one unnamed bank holding 62% of the total amount mentioned above, and 35% held by four banks. In any case, it seems that BTC and crypto assets still make up a tiny fraction in banks, and stricter capital requirements for holding such assets may further reduce this fraction.
- Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr, recently famous for the BTC 216 theft story, protested that his name and software code were being used without his consent to profit from NFT sales.
- One of the former executives of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, Nishad Singh, admitted his guilt to charges of fraud and others, and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in further investigating the FTX case.
- More than USD 9 million worth of digital tokens were stolen from the Algorand (ALGO) wallet "MyAlgo."
- John Cunliffe, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, said that the UK's CBDC (central bank digital currency), or digital pound, could help consumers if the banking system were to collapse.
- Goldman Sachs may strengthen its digital asset division this year, which already has about 70 people.
- After another stall, Solana (SOL) announced plans to fix the problem.
- Mi Primer Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education program based in El Salvador, announced a new and improved diploma program in English.
- Sparrow Wallet released its version 1.7.3.
Yesterday's roundup can be found here.
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