Greedy L2s are the reason ETH is a 'completely dead' investment: VC

Ether’s (ETH) declining appeal as an investment comes from layer-2’s draining value from the main network and a lack of community pushback on excessive token creation, a crypto venture capitalist says.

“The #1 cause of this is greedy Eth L2s siphoning value from the L1 and the social consensus that excess token creation was A-OK,” Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter said in a March 28 X post.

Ether “died by its own hand”

“ETH was buried in an avalanche of its own tokens. Died by its own hand,” Carter said. He said this in response to Lekker Capital founder Quinn Thompson’s claim that Ether is “completely dead” as an investment.

Source: Quinn Thompson

“A $225 billion market cap network that is seeing declines in transaction activity, user growth and fees/revenues. There is no investment case here. As a

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Elon Musk’s sale of X to xAI just made fraud lawsuit a ‘lot spicer’

Billionaire investor Elon Musk has sold his social media platform X to his AI startup xAI, sparking controversy as it coincides with a US judge rejecting his bid to dismiss a lawsuit tied to the social media platform.

The transfer of ownership of X to xAI on March 28 means that the class-action lawsuit against Musk — accusing him of defrauding former Twitter shareholders by delaying the disclosure of his initial investment in the social media platform — has become “a whole lot spicer,” Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran said in a March 28 X post.

Acquisition may open up xAI to more ‘exposure’

On the same day that Musk said “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction,” a US judge reportedly rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. Cochran said

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Zhao pledges BNB for Thailand, Myanmar disaster relief

Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is donating 500 BNB (BNB) each to Thailand and Myanmar following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that caused severe damage to buildings and widespread flooding.

Zhao plans to distribute the funds through Binance and Binance Thailand if a third-party onchain donation platform cannot be found to distribute the disaster relief funds.

“I hope everyone is safe in Thailand,” the Binance founder wrote in a March 28 X post before announcing the contributions to both countries affected by the earthquake.

According to The Guardian, at least 144 people are confirmed to have died as a result of the catastrophic earthquake as first responders in both countries continue rescue efforts to free people trapped under rubble.

Source: CZ

Related: Thailand regulator approves USDT, USDC stablecoins

Disaster strikes Myanmar

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Senators press regulators on Trump’s WLFI stablecoin

Five Democratic lawmakers in the US Senate have called on leadership at regulatory agencies to consider the potential conflicts of interest from a stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto firm backed by US President Donald Trump’s family.

In a March 28 letter from the US Senate Banking Committee, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and four other Democrats asked the Federal Reserve’s committee chair on supervision and regulation, Michelle Bowman, and acting comptroller of the currency, Rodney Hood, how they intended to regulate WLFI and its stablecoin, USD1.

March 28 letter from five Democratic senators to OCC, Fed leadership. Source: US Senate Banking Committee

The letter came as members of Congress are considering legislation to regulate stablecoins through the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act. The bill, if signed into

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Bitcoin price falls toward range lows, but data shows ‘whales going wild right now’

Bitcoin price extended its decline on March 28, falling for a fourth consecutive day to paint an intra-day low of $83,387. BTC’s (BTC) decline mirrored the Wall Street sell-off, where the DOW closed 700 points lower, alongside the S&P 500 index, which dropped 112 points. 

The sell-off in equities is widely attributed to investors increasing worries over inflation after the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index data from February rose to 2.8% (a 0.4% monthly increase), which was higher than expected. 

S&P 500 drops $1 trillion in market cap value. Source: X / The Kobeissi Letter

The sell-off was further amplified by the markets’ response to US President Trump’s newly levied “reciprocal tariffs,” which applied a 25% tariff to “all cars that are not made in the United States.” 

The chances for a Bitcoin relief rally or oversold bounce are

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Crypto market cycle permanently shifted — Polygon founder

The four-year crypto market cycle that traders and investors have become accustomed to is no longer as pronounced due to the maturation of crypto as an asset class and the participation of institutional investors, according to Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.

During a recent episode of Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction, Nailwal said that Overall speculative activity is down due to high interest rates in the United States and low-liquidity conditions, but will rebound once rates are cut and the Trump administration settles into its new role.

Although interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds have come down significantly, rates still remain relatively high. Source: TradingView

Nailwal added that while he expects 30-40% drawdowns between cycles and still expects the Bitcoin (BTC) halving to have some effect on markets, the four-year

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US regulators FDIC and CFTC ease crypto restrictions for banks, derivatives

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said in a March 28 letter that institutions under its oversight, including banks, can now engage in crypto-related activities without prior approval. The announcement comes as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that digital asset derivatives wouldn’t be treated differently than any other derivatives.

The FDIC letter rescinds a previous instruction under former US President Joe Biden’s administration that required institutions to notify the agency before engaging in crypto-related activities. According to the FDIC’s definition:

”Crypto-related activities include, but are not limited to, acting as crypto-asset custodians; maintaining stablecoin reserves; issuing crypto and other digital assets; acting as market makers or exchange or redemption agents; participating in blockchain- and distributed ledger-based settlement or payment systems, including performing node functions; as well as related activities such as finder activities and

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Crypto Biz: GameStop takes the orange pill

It has been a wild few years for GameStop, the video game retailer turned memecoin stock. After being pulled from the edge of bankruptcy in 2021 thanks to a surging stock price, the company has made sensible business decisions over the years, such as shrinking its physical footprint and focusing on higher-margin items. 

Now, GameStop is trying to secure its survival by investing in Bitcoin (BTC). This approach seems to have worked for Strategy, Michael Saylor’s business intelligence firm turned Bitcoin bank. Strategy has now amassed more than 500,000 BTC through successive purchases. And despite experiencing massive volatility, Strategy’s stock has rallied more than 2,100% since acquiring its first Bitcoin back in 2020.

GameStop has memed its way back to relevance — who says it can’t secure at least the next decade of its existence by riding the Bitcoin wave?

This week’s Crypto

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Donald Trump pardons three BitMEX co-founders — Report

US President Donald Trump has reportedly issued pardons to three of the co-founders of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, who had pleaded guilty to felony charges.

According to a March 28 CNBC report, Trump granted pardons to Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, who were facing a range of criminal charges related to money laundering or violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Hayes and Delo pleaded guilty in February 2022, admitting they “willfully fail[ed] to establish, implement and maintain an Anti-Money Laundering program” at BitMEX, while Reed entered a plea a few weeks later.

At the time of publication, the White House had not released a statement suggesting that Trump planned to pardon the three men. Cointelegraph contacted BitMEX for a comment regarding the pardon, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump

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Ethereum futures premium hits 1+ year low — Is it time to buy the ETH bottom?

Ether (ETH) price fell 9.3% between March 26 and March 28, testing the $1,860 level for the first time in two weeks. This correction led to over $114 million in liquidations of leveraged ETH futures and caused the premium relative to the regular spot market to drop to its lowest level in over a year. 

Some traders have said that the rock-bottom ETH futures premium is a bottom signal, but let’s dig deeper into the data to see if this perspective makes any sense.  

ETH 1-month futures premium relative to spot markets. Source: Laevitas.ch

Ether’s monthly futures typically trade above the regular spot price as sellers demand compensation for the longer settlement period. A 5% to 10% annualized premium usually indicates neutral markets, reflecting the cost of opportunity and the exchanges’ risk. However, ETH futures dropped below this threshold on March 8, following a 24% price correction in

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