Here is the news in the Cryptocurrency space for the  4th week of March, 2022.

Adoption

The latest news on the adoption of cryptocurrencies by institutions and users

Rio de Janeiro to accept Bitcoin for real estate taxes from 2023

• • The city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes related urban real estate within the city limits

  • Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao may have been the one who orchestrated the adoption, having promised that Binance would open an office in the city

  • Brazilian secretary Pedro Paulo states that there is a drive to in the future expand the usage of cryptocurrency from payment of taxes to services like taxi races and nonfungible tokens-based governance policies across various areas, such as the arts, culture, and tourism

https://cointelegraph.com/news/rio-de-janeiro-to-accept-bitcoin-for-real-estate-taxes-from-2023

Ethereum NFT Game Sorare Signs Partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS)

• • Having closed partnerships with more than 200 real-world clubs, Ethereum fantasy soccer game Sorare now has a multi-year agreement with MLS to feature MLS branding in the game and launch MLS-branded Sorare NFTs

  • Sorare enables its players to collect digital trading cards of their favorite players from various leagues, create their own fantasy lineups, and receive free NFT or cryptocurrency rewards based on the real-life player’s performance

https://decrypt.co/96266/major-league-soccer-ethereum-nft-game-sorare

ETF provider WisdomTree launches Solana, Cardano, Polkadot ETPs

• • American exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider WisdomTree launches 3 new crypto exchange-traded products(ETPs) backed by the physical cryptocurrency assets of Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT)

  • The new ETPs are meant to offer investors in Europe another option to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies other than Ethereum and Bitcoin of which WisdomTree already has launched ETPs for

  • WisdomTree has tried to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF before in the U.S in late 2021, but had its application rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Comission.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/etf-provider-wisdomtree-launches-solana-cardano-polkadot-etps

Regulation

The latest news on regulation that may affect the world of cryptocurrency

Coinbase to track off-platform crypto transfers in Canada, Singapore, and Japan while Thailand SEC bans crypto payments

• • Effective April 1, Coinbase users from Singapore and Japan will have to provide the recipeient’s name, full address, and crypto exchange name for every single off-platform transaction while users from Canada need to provide this information even when transferring in between their own wallets

  • Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) bans all crypto payments and proposes new rule requiring all Thai-based crypto businessses to disclose service quality and IT usage information

https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-to-track-off-platform-crypto-transfers-in-canada-singapore-japan

US President Biden Expects $5 Bi. in 2023 Tax Revenue From New Tax On Crypt

• • US President Joe Biden submits his budget proposal to tax unrealized gains from cryptocurrencies, even in cases where the taxpayer does not sell his or her crypto

  • The proposal requires US residents to report any offshore holdings above $50,000.

  • budget is currently just a proposal that could go into effect on the first day of 2023 if approved and appropriate details are hashed out over 2022

https://decrypt.co/96270/biden-eyes-5-billion-2023-revenue-applying-new-tax-reporting-rules-crypto

Macroeconomy

Ukraine war reduces 2022 global economic growth projection by 1%

• • According to United Nations, Ukraine War will be 2.6% down from 5.5% last year

  • U.N. recommends a multilateral fiscal reform on the scale of the US Marshall Plan after WWII so that development countries do not become insolvent

  • Middle-income countries, such as Egypt, Sri Lanka, Pakistan all have had to renegotiate payment terms with the IMF in the light of worsening economic conditions

  • World’s poorest, import-dependent countries will take the brunt of the economic downturn in the light of rise in prices of food, energy, and fertilizers

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114602

Crypto Market Sentiment

How is the market feeling about cryptocurrency right now?

Fear and Greed Index 

The Fear and Greed Index has recovered from last week from Neutral (49) to Greed (60).

Online Traffic – Google

There appears to be an uptick in the search for cryptocurrency on Youtube after the 1~2nd weeks of March, showing that the market is now bullish on cryptocurrency again

On-chain Data

Total Market Capitalization and Volume, USD

Current market capitalization of the cryptocurrency world stands at $2.1 trillion up by  down by around 25% since week and now down by 27.5% compared to the peak of the bull market in November of last year ($2.9 trillion)

Bitcoin Dominance

Bitcoin market share of the whole crypto market (referred to as ‘bitcoin dominance’) is more of less constant around 42% up from the Mid-January figure of around 39.7%, indicating investor sentiment preferring the safety of bitcoin over investments. The dominance of stable coins like Tether and USD Coin are dropping with alt coin market shares showing a small uptick.

Coin Market Prices

Markets are recovering on a huge scale compared to last week with BTC prices up 14.44% and ETH prices up by 16.9%. A huge green across the charts signals that a bull market may be around the corner with crypto regulations getting the clarifications they deserve by U.S lawmakers and the use of crypto proven by the large amount of war relief funds raised for Ukraine

Tech News

Massive Hack Drains $622M From Crypto Blockchain Game Axie Infinity’s Ronin Ethereum Sidechain

• • Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis announced the news today, writing that the exploit took place on March 23 but only discovered earlier today

  • Stolen funds are still in the hacker’s wallet

  • Hacker was able to approval transactions by taking control of 5 of the 9 validator nodes of the Ronin network via exploiting a backdoor through a gas-free RPC node

https://decrypt.co/96322/hacker-622-million-axie-infinity-ronin-ethereum