Institutional Interest in Cryptocurrencies is Trending Again – Crypto Weekly Update

This week, the total market capitalization exceeded 1.16 trillion EUR. The increase at the 7-day interval is 0.86%. Bitcoin decreased by 0.4% during the week to a current value of over 28,200 EUR. Bitcoin dominance is 46.5%.

Institutional Interest in Cryptocurrencies is Trending Again

A recent report from CoinShares, which tracks various funds focused on investing in digital assets, shows that many institutions are showing renewed interest in allocating their capital to cryptocurrencies at current price levels.

According to the report, institutional investors poured 99.5 million dollars into crypto funds over the past week, marking the second consecutive week in which the funds have seen net positive capital inflows.

Funds based on the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fared best during the past week, with inflows of $125.9 million. Bitcoin-based funds have seen net inflows of $506.2 million year-to-date.

However, the second largest cryptocurrency Ethereum did not fare too well during last week. Institutional investors withdrew $32.3 million from funds, with Ethereum-based funds seeing net capital outflows of as much as $357 million year-to-date.

Multi-asset funds and Solana cryptocurrency-based funds also saw modest capital inflows last week, gaining $4.3 million and $0.1 million, respectively.

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A Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrencies in the US

The long-awaited bill regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the United States, called as “Responsible Financial Innovation Act”, which aims to create an effective regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, was introduced in the United States Senate on Tuesday.

The bipartisan bill, coming from Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, addresses various challenges related to cryptocurrencies, including the oversight of the cryptocurrency market, the regulation of stablecoins, and the tax treatment of digital assets.

The first and very important requirement included in the bill is that the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the US should be covered primarily by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC is a well-known institution in the cryptocurrency field that is very keen to interfere in cryptocurrency-related activities and has long opposed the launch of a bitcoin spot ETF fund.

Part of the proposal is focused to exempt crypto transactions of up to $200 from income tax. In practice, this would mean that payments for coffee, lunch or ordinary purchases paid for with cryptocurrencies would be exempt from cryptocurrency tax, so that the originator of the transaction would not have to investigate the difference between the purchase price and the price at the time of sale and pay capital gain tax.

In addition, the bill also includes a study on the environmental impact of digital assets, the creation of an advisory committee on innovation or the development of guidelines for cybersecurity.

However, the vote and potential approval of this bill is still a matter for the future. The bill will first go through votes in the Senate Banking, Agriculture, Intelligence, and Financial Services Committees to make it to the final approval process. Source

Bitcoin Standard Can Be a Reality

The fact that institutions around the world are showing increasing interest in cryptocurrencies is no surprise. However, one global internet company has decided to implement a full Bitcoin standard.

Octagon Networks, a cybersecurity company with more than 20 employees, announced on its website on Monday that it has finished the process of converting its liquid assets and entire balance sheet into Bitcoin.

The group will also start accepting Bitcoin payments for all of our services, with a 50% discount when paid in Bitcoin.

Web portal Cointelegraph interviewed the Ethiopian co-founders of Octagon Networks, who explained that the adoption of bitcoin was driven largely by a belief in bitcoin and in the future of decentralized money that will not be managed by any central authority.

Octagon Network thus became the first cyber-sector institution with transition to the full Bitcoin standard. Source

Paypal to Allow Withdrawal of Cryptocurrencies

After two years of waiting, the online payment system Paypal will allow its users to send cryptocurrencies to external addresses.

Users who have purchased and hold Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies on the platform will soon be able to transfer the cryptoassets to their private wallets. This is an important functionality that will allow investors to hold assets on their own software or hardware wallets.

“Starting today, PayPal supports the native transfer of cryptocurrencies between PayPal and other wallets and exchanges,” a PayPal representative said in a statement.

The cryptocurrency withdrawal will initially only be available to users in the United States and will launch within the next two weeks.

The company’s senior management is particularly bullish on crypto assets. PayPal began allowing users to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies within the platform starting in 2020 in the US, bringing this functionality to UK users a few months later. Source

New York is Considering Bitcoin Mining Ban

Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining has been a very divisive topic in New York in recent years, with several environmental groups publicly speaking out and protesting against Bitcoin mining companies in the past.

It is widely acknowledged that the PoW consensus algorithm is the most secure and decentralized method reaching consensus, but it comes with the oft-repeated burden of its high energy consumption.

Last Friday, the New York State Senate passed a controversial bill to ban PoW cryptocurrency mining, which would completely restrict and ban all mining in the state. This proposal would have not only prevented the influx of new miners into the state, but also denied the renewal of licenses to those already operating in the state. The only exception would be companies that use 100% renewable resources for mining.

This Tuesday, however, New York State Leader Kathy Hochul said she has not yet committed to signing this bill into law. Instead, she noted that her team will be looking very closely at the proposal over the next few months. So it appears that Hochul does not want to rush into her decision, as New York’s Senate elections will be held on June 28. Source

Kazakhstan Plans to Launch Initiative to Investigate Cryptocurrencies

Kazakhstan has become one of the major players in the crypto industry in recent years, currently known as one of the leaders in cryptocurrency mining. However, that’s not all. Last summer, the government empowered local banks to offer customers the ability to purchase digital assets.

Galymzhan Pirmatov, the governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said in his latest statement that the national bank is actively interested in the crypto industry and plans to launch an initiative to explore its potential in the near future.

“We are interested in the opportunities for innovation that these new technologies give us. Therefore, we will conduct these discussions so that our decisions do not negatively affect macro-stability and the interests of consumers of financial services.” Said the Governor.

Asked whether digital assets urgently need to be put under the government’s supervision, the central banker answered, “it’s too early” for such a move. He disclosed that the authorities have yet to discuss the matter and decide how to address it.

In addition, Pirmatov revealed that Kazakhstan is actively working to launch a digital form of its national currency (CBDC). The National Bank is expected to announce the methodology behind the project by the end of June, while a final decision will follow in Q4, 2022. Source

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