Red Numbers, Crypto Centres, Wrong Hands and 20 Crypto Jokes

This past week, the markets went red. Anyways.

Just before the start of the week, Bitcoin’s largest upgrade in more than four years Taproot went live. Then CRO jumped following the news that Crypto.com had secured the naming rights for the famous Staples Center. While that was happening, Binance published a bill of rights for crypto users, and a “final and binding” Mt.Gox resolution was legally “confirmed” by the Japanese courts. The VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF had a slow start compared to its two earlier competitors, a survey said that only 1% of the super-rich South Koreans are willing to invest in crypto, a new DAO raised millions with a goal to acquire a rare print of the US Constitution – it failed, but silver linings abound, and retail condos in New York City were being sold for USD 29m exclusively in bitcoin. Meanwhile, an in-person tether swap turned into a bloody kidnap ordeal for a USD 3.1m-holding crypto trader.

In metaverse, KuCoin Labs launched a USD 100m fund to support metaverse-related projects and education on it, and SAND rallied as the Sandbox unveiled its upcoming metaverse event that includes earning rewards.

In India, lawmakers concluded that crypto sector’s growth can’t be stopped, but that cryptos must be regulated, PM Modi said if BTC gets into the wrong hands it can spoil the country’s youth, while a report stated that India is set to define crypto as an asset but ban payments and ads. Argentinian government’s new decree imposed a tax on credits and debts on crypto transactions, Israel’s AML authority announced that new and tightened regulations would now apply to cryptoassets, the US President Joe Biden signed the controversial Infrastructure act into law, Russian lawmakers and regulators were pressing for crypto change but will likely have to contend against the anti-crypto Central Bank, and a top official was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for allegedly “supporting” crypto mining in exchange for bribes and sex.