OTC’s Weekly Retrospect 15/04–21/04/2023

Each week we bring you a round-up of the most important Bitcoin and virtual asset-related stories making waves in the cryptosphere.­­­­

Major news stories this week;

1. EU lawmakers approve world’s first comprehensive framework for crypto regulation
2. Tether mints another billion USDT on Ethereum as its stablecoin dominance grows
3. Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Skyrockets, Demonstrating Network Strength
4. United Arab Emirates to Start Accepting VASP Licensing Applications
5. SEC poised to increase its scrutiny of decentralized finance exchanges

Story Summaries;

1. In a vote Thursday, the EU Parliament voted 517 in favor and 38 against to pass the Markets in Crypto Act, or MiCA. The legislation, which seeks to reduce risks for consumers buying crypto assets, will mean providers can become liable if they lose investors’ crypto-assets. The rules will impose a number of requirements on crypto platforms, token issuers and traders around transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions, the EU Parliament said in a statement Thursday.
2. According to Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino, the minting represented an “inventory replenish.” He added that it was “an authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for the next period [of] issuance requests and chain swaps.” The total amount of USDT on Ethereum amounts to over 35 billion tokens. Its closest competitor, the Circle-issued USDC, accounts for less than 30 billion tokens.
3. Despite the current negative market, the average Bitcoin network hashrate hit a new high of 348.6 EH/s at the same time that mining difficulty is increasing. This implies that more miners are entering the network, which is encouraging for Bitcoin’s stability and long-term health. According to the most recent information made accessible by BTC.com, mining Bitcoin is now more challenging. This modification increased the difficulty of mining Bitcoin by 1.72%, pushing it up to a record-high of 48.7T.
4. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), a federal financial regulatory agency, is now accepting licensing applications from companies looking to offer virtual asset services within the nation. UAE’s federal financial regulator’s move to accept licensing applications for VASPs represents a step forward in regulating and supervising the virtual asset sector, paving the way for a secure and attractive environment for global companies and institutions.
5. The commission declared on Friday that rules governing trading exchanges in the U.S. also apply to decentralized finance. The procedural move isn’t a change to rules, but rather an effort to make explicit whether existing exchange rules apply to decentralized finance. The proposed clarification and amendments to the definition of an exchange are subject to a vote by the Democratic majority commission that leads the agency, making them likely to pass.

And that’s all for this week’s news! Wishing you a great weekend ahead!