• Rep. Maxine Waters criticizes PayPal’s stablecoin and demands regulation on par with financial institutions
• Jury trial in SEC v. Ripple Labs to be set for Q2 2024
• Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 chain Base is live to the public
Rep. Maxine Waters Criticizes PayPal’s Stablecoin
Rep. Maxine Waters has recently spoken out against PayPal’s proposed stablecoin, calling for regulations that are on par with existing financial institutions. She believes that the cryptocurrency should be monitored and treated similarly to traditional banking systems. This comes as Ripple Labs is set to have a jury trial in their case against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as early as Q2 2024.
Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 Chain Live
In other news, Coinbase has launched its Ethereum layer-2 chain called Base which is now available to the public for use. The platform is designed to provide faster transaction speeds while still maintaining security standards similar to those found on the main Ethereum chain. Additionally, it will also allow users access to decentralized applications (dApps).
Federal Reserve Action on Stablecoins
The Federal Reserve is requiring state banks to obtain written „non-objection“ from a central bank before engaging with any kind of stablecoins or other digital assets. Furthermore, Bitstamp has announced that they will halt U.S trading of seven tokens identified as securities by the SEC in both Coinbase and Binance cases.
Decline in Crypto-Margined Futures Signals Maturity
Data gathered from Glassnode indicates that there has been an overall decrease in crypto-margined futures open interest when compared to cash-margined futures open interest – which could signal a maturing market shift towards risk mitigation strategies such as using USD or stablecoin collateralization instead of Bitcoin when trading futures contracts.
Conclusion
Overall, recent developments indicate a growing preference for stability and risk mitigation in the cryptocurrency market – which could be seen as a sign of maturity relative to previous periods of heightened volatility and speculation.