Investors Eyeing Central Bank Pivot

If one thing has been made clear over the last year, it is that crypto follows money flows.
As we are all painfully aware, crypto has been down-only since the Fed and other central banks began hiking interest rates. The hikes have been painful for stocks, crypto, the economy, and, worst of all, still aren’t effectively taming down inflation.
Regardless, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, has stated that he is standing firm in his fight:

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Uniswap Eyes $100-200 Million Raise in Expansion Plan

Crypto might just have a new unicorn.
Uniswap, DeFi’s dominant decentralized exchange by trading volume, is raising between $100 million and $200 million at a $1 billion valuation.
Besides its huge amount of money, the round is notable for including mainstream names like Polychain Capital and Singapore’s sovereign fund. Clearly, something big is brewing here.
But what can it be? Why would a DEX need so much money?
The Uniswap Expansion Plan
The reason for Uniswap’s money thirst is simple: they need capital for their expansion plans.
Although the expansion plans aren’t set in stone, we can speculate on what might be on the way:

SEC “Catches” Kim Kardashian

Another week, another SEC story on CoinSnacks.
Somehow, this one might be the most ridiculous yet.
On Monday, the SEC charged Kim Kardashian for failing to disclose that she was paid to promote a cryptocurrency. To her credit, Kim accepted responsibility and agreed to pay the $1.26 million fine.
Overall, a great day for SEC chairman Gary Gensler. He takes down another dirty crypto influencer, cuts a promo touting his greatness, and receives a lot of positive press.
But that’s not really the story.
The story is really how stupid this whole thing is.
Kim Kardashian, perhaps for the first time in her life, is a small fish in a big pond. For Gensler to revel in praise for catching her a year after her crime but not receive criticism for missing the whale-sized frauds of Terra and Celsius is a complete atrocity.
Is the point of the SEC to wrist-slap celebrities, or is it to protect investors? Unfortunately, we’re not sure anymore.
At some level, this is what we expect out of Gensler. He’s a wildly ambitious man who has hitched his career on being the crypto crusader. We would prefer if he focused more on stopping the staff bleeding that is preventing his agency from adequately doing their jobs, but ultimately, this is the path he’s chosen.
What really disappoints us is the excessive media coverage of the story. It’s just another example of the mainstream media’s agenda against crypto.
It’s ridiculous that we need to say this, but Kim Kardashian taking a payday to promote crypto does not mean that the entirety of crypto is a scam. Influencers take money to promote products all the time; it’s their job. Where is the media coverage on those products being scams?

EU Approves Comprehensive Crypto Regulation

Crypto regulation is coming to the EU.
On October 5th, the European Council approved the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) proposal and sent it to the chair of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary affairs. If it passes through another round of voting, the bill is set to become law sometime in early 2024.
The MiCA proposal is the most comprehensive crypto regulation framework yet introduced in Europe, with its overarching goal being to standardize crypto regulation among the 27 EU member states.
Although the proposal has been praised among crypto proponents for harmonizing European regulation, it is not completely free of criticism.
The primary point of contention is its cap on non-Euro stablecoins, which poses issues with the current dollar-dominated stablecoin market. Should this cap ultimately be included, then it is likely that USDC and USDT will lose some market share to a Euro-backed competitor.
The second controversial area is the crackdown on “crypto mixers”, such as Tornado Cash, which are designed to help users preserve their privacy. The right to privacy is considered sacrosanct in crypto, so it’ll be interesting to see how the industry handles this provision.
Overall, it is good to see the regulatory landscape becoming clearer. Hopefully the bill can be improved between now and 2024, so that it may set a strong precedent for future regulation.

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