Joe Biden Leads ‘Critical’ Call For New, Stricter Crypto Rules

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and we're here with the important stuff.

⭐️Today's selection:

• ❗Joe Biden Calls For Global Crypto Rules
• 🌪️Genesis/Grayscale After Effects
• 💰Venture Monday
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

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JOE BIDEN CALLS FOR GLOBAL CRYPTO RULES

The moment the world realized that it's over for FTX... was the moment when it got clear that we're about to hear some strict, angry calls for regulations. Of course, it happened.

The latest Presidential remarks come right after this year's G20 (Group of 20) gathering, where the Big Countries meet up and talk business.

This year it took place in Indonesia, and the call for "critical", unambiguous, and international rules crypto rules was a reoccurring motive.

Following the G20 meeting, there was a statement posted on the White House website. This line summarizes the direction that the regulators will keep focusing on:

'We welcome ongoing work by the FSB (Financial Stability Board) <...> to ensure that the crypto-assets ecosystem, including so-called stablecoins, is closely monitored and subject to robust regulation, supervision, and oversight to mitigate potential risks to financial stability.'

After this statement was posted, the crypto market reacted... negatively. Almost all crypto assets fell in value.

TL;DR: FTX Collapse sent a shock throughout the market. The President of The U.S. calls for government agencies to create 'critical' changes and regulatory measures.

TODAY'S ISSUE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY LEDGER

These past two weeks made it clear you better make sure that your money is safe. One way of doing so is not keeping your money in a crypto exchange. And using a Ledger Wallet instead.

Here's what you can do with it:

• Protect your crypto, NFTs, and tokens. Thanks to EAL5+ Certified Secure Chip, you can rest assured it's out of hackers' reach.
• Manage over 5,500 digital assets via 100 apps. At the same time. More memory. More possibilities.
• NFT transactions made easy. Full transparency and user-friendly interface in Ledger Live.

The thing is simple. It's dangerous out there! Don't wait and choose your Ledger hardware wallet!

GENESIS & GRAYSCALE AFTER EFFECTS

We wrote about how Genesis, the crypto lending platform, was having a bad time (withdrawal problems).

And how Genesis is a part of a bigger picture. Genesis stands under the umbrella of Digital Currency Group (DCG).

Digital Currency Group (DCG) Is the Genesis's parent company. It's also the parent company of Grayscale.

And Grayscale is one of the largest bitcoin holders. Their assets are worth $11B.

So it's vital to keep up-to-date on the state of the Digital Currency Group (DCG). A lot depends on their well-being. It's all interconnected, and the Domino effect could hurt.

And there's something fishy going on.

Grayscale refuses to... post their proof-of-reserves. To prove that their reserves are not hypothetical. 

Now that's a red flag.

The reason behind their refusal is 'security concerns'.

People were not impressed with such 'transparent' communication.

This signals fear. If a company with such colossal assets is acting in an uncertain manner... This could mean that their reserves are not in an ideal condition.

And imagine a scenario... Their reserves turn out to be unhealthy. A liquidity crisis knocks on the door. They have to sell their BTC holdings...

A dump of this size would send the entire industry into a knock-out.

Eventually, they realized that their 'explanation' caused a lot of panic.

So Coinbase Custody had to emphasize that Grayscale digital assets are protected from misuse as much as possible.

They confirmed publicly that Grayscale really has a lot of bitcoins - 635,235 BTC in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and 6390 BTC in the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund.

They cannot be provided to Coinbase itself, used for loans and other transactions - as it was the case with FTX.

So it looks like things are not that intense. BUT.

Taking into account everything that happened during the last weeks... People don't trust things that exchanges say. So... The fear clouds are still here.

Because proof-of-reserves remains unpublished.

TL;DR: Grayscale, the crypto fund that holds $11B worth of bitcoin, refuses to publish their proof-of-reserves. People don't like it. At all.

VENTURE MONDAY

It's Monday. It's time to see the biggest winners of the past week.

zkSync parent company Matter Labs raised $200M. Funding round was led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly, with participation from LightSpeed Venture Partners, Variant and a16z.

The total amount collected in all rounds is about $458M.

The money was raised so that zkSync could develop its own projects and create a learning platform for developers.

But they probably won't forget about early users either and organise an airdrop! We will observe the situation and prepare a guide, if this will happen.

In comparison: right now they have over $450 million. Aptos (we wrote about them giving away $20m worth of tokens) had $300 million.

And that was enough for to reward their early users.

zkSync is a layer 2 blockchain built on top of the Ethereum system. Its goal is to increase the speed of transaction processing and reduce the problem of high fees.

Another important mention is "Buildspace". They're the world's largest network of web3 builders. And they've just raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by a16z

Y-Combinator, Vayner Fund, Solana Ventures, and OpenSea Ventures are among the notable investors.

What they do is organise 6-week sprints for developers and builders in general.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX Owes Around $3 Billion to Its Largest Creditors. This will be difficult to 'write off'.
• FTX Hacker Converted Thousands of Ethereum Tokens to Bitcoin. Everyone sees what they're doing, no one knows who they are.
• South Korean Government Agency Investigates Crypto Exchange Native Tokens. Do Kwon's motherland is getting strict.
• Singapore Police Warns Public About Fake FTX-Related Websites. The infection spreads.
• Ripple's CEO is Interested in Acquiring Some Companies in FTX Group. Chaos is a ladder.