Welcome back to this week’s wrap up of the crypto markets.
In a major breakthrough, last week the Ethereum testnet successfully transitioned to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consenses mechanism, with more than 106,000 validators and 3.4 million testnet ETH currently on it. If all goes well on the test network, the official network is expected to transition to PoS in June or July this year, which also means that the five-year development process is about to come to an end.
In market movements and financing news, a total of 30 investment and financing deals, primarily in infrastructure and GameFi, were completed last week, totaling US$1.33 billion in value. The total value locked in DeFi protocols were valued at US$77.51 billion last week, climbing from a low of around US$73.5 billion on March 14 before peaking around US$79.0 billion on March 20.
In industry and regulation news, governments around the world gave mixed responses towards crypto regulation, as scrutiny over the topic increased following U.S. President Biden’s recent executive order for regulation on digital currencies. Positive voices for crypto currencies sounded out in Malaysia, where the ministry of communication said it had pressed for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to become legal tender, as well as South Korea, where government is considering delaying the implementation of virtual currency taxation until early 2024.
The role of cryptocurrencies continues to grow in the Ukraine-Russia conflict as President Zelensky signed a law legalizing cryptocurrency last week, enabling foreign and Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchanges to operate legally. This legislation is driven by the reception of crypto assets valued at nearly US$100 million by the Ukrainian government. The Ukraine government also partnered with FTX and Everstake to launch a new cryptocurrency donation website called Aid for Ukraine.
For more news and the full weekly report from Huobi Research, click here.
Updates from Huobi
On Tuesday, Huobi Global announced the launch of Huobi Live, an integrated livestreaming platform on the Huobi Global app designed to deliver insightful commentary on market and investment trends. Join us at the inaugural streaming session on Monday, March 28th at 20:00 (GMT+8), hosted by Huobi market experts and Brad Varnell from Infinite Crypto. View the stream by clicking on the Huobi Live button in Huobi Global’s mobile apps or website.
