2022-02-18 13:37:01
COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (18/02/22)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
Binance, the world’s largest exchange, has reportedly ceased all marketing to Israeli consumers as well as various other activities after a request from Israel’s financial regulatory bodies regarding licensing…
As Israeli news outlet, Globes, reports, the country’s Capital, Market, Insurance and Savings Authority has requested that the exchange provide detailed information on the various services that Binance provides to customers in Israel, as well as the licenses under which it operates.
The regulatory body claims that it never received an application from the exchange that would permit it to conduct business in Israel.
It has been noted that Binance no longer lists Israel’s native currency, the Shekel, as a means of payment for buying cryptocurrency on the exchange.
However, it has also been noted that Binance is still advertising for a number of jobs to work for the exchange in Israel.
The end of 2021 and the beginning of this year has seen Binance come under increasing scrutiny by nations like the UK, Canada, Japan and the Cayman Islands, to list just a few.
Despite the nation’s scepticism of Binance’s operations, Israel seems to have made some crypto friendly moves, with President Herzog even receiving an NFT to commemorate him taking the oath of office in July of 2021…
https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-stopped-all-activities-focused-on-israel-following-regulatory-request-report
Since the start of 2022, gas fees on Ethereum have been in decline. In the grand scheme of things, the fee levels we are seeing now are still very high. This is especially the case when we compare Ethereum to other smart contract-compatible networks like Near or Solana, which feature low to negligible fee costs.
However, for those of us that have witnessed fees of more than $150, the drop in transaction cost is very significant.
I read a very interesting article this morning on Decrypt, that set about looking for the reasoning behind the fee-drop.
The study investigated the increasing adoption of layer 2 solutions on Ethereum, such as Arbitrum, but found a disappointingly low correlation.
The piece went further and considered the rising uptake of competing layer 1 networks and their infiltration of the DeFi space over the last year. For context, at the start of 2021, ETH held around 97% of the DeFi market share. At the start of 2022 however, this figure was a little over 62%...
That said, it was when NFT transaction volumes (dominated by Ethereum) were examined that a significant correlation was noticed.
The most interesting period came around the start of February wherein volumes on Opensea (the marketplace that still accounts for biggest slice of the NFT scene) dropped from $247 million to $124 million. Over the same period, gas fees on ETH saw a 50% price drop too…
Now, this is not to say that the previously mentioned factors do not have a significant impact on gas fee levels. However, I must say, the correlation witnessed between fees and NFT volumes is interesting to say the least…
https://decrypt.co/93154/nft-trading-slow-down-falling-ethereum-gas-fees
Also relating to the NFT market…
Europe’s largest asset management company, Amundi, of French origin, is looking to invest in the NFT space!
The firm is considering how to offer clients the ability to invest in this crazy emerging sector. In a report that is yet to be published, Amundi reportedly said that, “Ultimately, we cannot rule out that NFTs will also become investable assets.”
Whilst Amundi, is initially considering exposure to companies operating effectively in the NFT space, they are looking into the option of a fund dedicated to pure NFT positions, also.
Chief investment officer, Vincent Mortier had the following to say:
“Some artists are doing artwork only for the NFT market. This section of the market has some legs and is investible”.
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