Crypto News, rétrospective 2022 [EN]

Weekly overview dedicated to crypto assets and blockchain-related regulatory, economic and technological breakthroughs.

Market Data 2022

Bitcoin (BTC) Price : € 15,424.34 / -62% YTD
Global Market Capitalization : € 742 billion / - 61% in 2022

BTC dominance began and ended the year at 40%
FUSEKI Indices : between -64% (FUSEKI 5 Performance) YTD and -58% (FUSEKI 10 and FUSEKI Liquidity) YTD

Crypto asset markets see their worst year since 2018, due to both:
Macroeconomic events : Russian war, global economical uncertainties, inflation and increasing interest rates
Crypto-specific events: Terra’s collapse, leading in several bankruptcies (Three Arrows Capital, Voyager, Celsius) and FTX collapse due to gross mismanagement, fostering mistrust in centralized exchanges

The 19th million BTC is mined
Ethereum deploys its long-awaited Merge, its energy consumption drops by 99.99%
Among others, Cardano and Eos also undergo major upgrades
USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle launches a euro-backed stablecoin* named Euro Coin (EUROC)

Instagram integrates Ethereum, Polygon NFTs
Rakuten launches an NFT marketplace
The gaming (Square Enix, SEGA) and music (Warner, artists) sectors get deeper into blockchain and NFTs

8% of French people own crypto assets (when 6.7% own stocks), and 33% of British people
Emerging markets lead global crypto adoption
Fidelity allows BTC in retirement savings in the US

Among others, Telegram, Paypal, Stripe, Robinhood, Shopify, Rakuten, Google Cloud and Visa go further in integrating crypto asset payments

BTC becomes legal tender in Central African Republic
Large firms start accepting crypto asset payments, including McDonald’s, Chipotle , Emirates , famous luxury brands Balenciaga and Gucci
Among others, US state of Colorado and Rio de Janeiro start accepting tax payments in crypto assets

GOin gets registered as a PSAN (French for Crypto Asset Service Provider) and launches its new offer designed for wealth management advisors and their clients

CME Group launches euro-denominated BTC and ETH futures - BlackRock and Grayscale launch crypto-exposed ETFs
Fidelity rolls out ETH trading for institutions
The SEC keeps delaying and rejecting the applications for spot BTC ETFs
Goldman Sachs offers first BTC-backed loan

BNY Mellon launches BTC and ETH custody services for investment firms
Société Générale gets registered as a PSAN, gets ready for crypto custody service
Nasdaq announces its institutional crypto custody service

Crypto fundraising hits $ 30.3 billion in H1 2022, outpacing all of 2021
Crypto remains largest investment sector in 2022 , outpacing Fintech and Biotech

The EU finalizes the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) and Travel Rule (TFR) Regulations. The final vote is expected for February 2023
The EU also reaches an agreement on an Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) for supervising all cross-border financial entities, including CASPs
The EU bans all crypto asset-related services to Russians

US: White House releases a ‘ comprehensive framework ’ for crypto regulation and development; the Fed releases new guidelines for crypto banks; US Treasury department sanctions controversial crypto mixer* Tornado Cash
Central Banks to set standards on banks’ crypto exposure limits

IMF recommends eco-friendly CBDCs and non-PoW* mechanisms for payments
BIS releases full report on mBridge wholesale CBDC platform after successful pilot
The European Central Bank issues halfway report on its digital euro investigation, and chooses 5 companies to prototype the digital euro app
Chinese e-CNY transactions beat out Visa at Winter Olympics venue; e-CNY can be used to pay taxes and charges

CBDC / Central Bank Digital Currency: Digital form of a fiat money, issued and regulated by the competent authorities
Mixing / mixers: On public blockchains where every transaction can be traced, mixers are services used to anonymize fund transfers, both for legal (incl. privacy) and illegal (incl. money laundering) purposes
NFT / Non-fungible tokens: Special type of cryptographic token that uses blockchain technology to link with a unique crypto asset that cannot be replicated
PoW / Proof of Work: Consensus mechanism used to confirm that network participants, called miners, calculate valid alphanumeric codes to verify crypto asset transactions and add the next block to the blockchain
Stablecoin: Digital asset whose value is tied to a fiat currency (often the US dollar) or a commodity (like gold)
Web3: Next evolution of the internet. Web3 is built upon the core concepts of decentralization, openness, and greater user utility.