EU Considering Digital Euro Legislation for 2023

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The European Commission is aiming to create a legal framework for issuing a digital euro.

Digital Euro May Get Green Light Next Year

The EU may get a digital euro one day, but it will not be this year.

The bill establishing the framework under which a digital euro would operate is not planned to be delivered in until late 2023, according to Mairead McGuinness, EU Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union.

The legislation will be used by the European Central Bank as the legal foundation for establishing a central bank digital currency.



The legislative initiative will also include full EU-wide coverage of instant payments through Sepa Instant credit transfer early next year and will aim to address the fragmented market for cross-border real-time payments. It is also intended to spur open banking initiatives across the European Union.

Although there are not many details, EU finance chief Mairead McGuinness announced the Commission’s legislative plans at a fintech conference on Wednesday morning.

During the announcement McGuinness said, “Our goal is to table legislation in early 2023. A targeted legislative consultation in the coming weeks.”

The ECB is currently conducting internal trials of the digital euro and are planning to develop a prototype by the end of 2023. Policymakers have started to conduct these trials due to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and because of pressure from tech giants, who are developing new payment methods with digital assets.


ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta told Members of European Parliament in mid-November:

“If we don’t satisfy this demand, then others will do it. As co-legislators you will play a key role in any changes to the EU legislative framework that may be necessary to introduce a digital euro.”

Although policymakers within the Commission and across Europe are already onboard with the idea of a CBDC, it is the ECB’s Governing Council who will have the final say on whether a digital euro is needed.

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Optimism Fixes “Critical Bug” Discovered By Outside Developer

Key Takeaways

  • Optimism, a popular Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, has patched a major vulnerability in its network.
  • The team was alerted of the vulnerability last week by a developer named Jay Freeman, also known as “saurik.”
  • He was awarded the maximum possible bounty award of more than $2 million.




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Optimism has fixed a “critical bug” in its Geth (Ethereum’s most popular implementation) fork. The bug was discovered by Jay Freeman, the developer behind both Cydia and Orchid Protocol, who informed Optimism about it on Feb. 2 and was subsequently awarded its highest bounty. 

Optimism Bug Fixed

Large losses may have been avoided by a simple bug discovery. 

Optimism, the fourth-largest Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution by total value locked, announced today that it had patched a critical bug in its Geth fork that had been discovered by developer Jay Freeman. Freeman was awarded the maximum bounty award of more than $2 million for alerting Optimism of the vulnerability.



If exploited, the bug would have allowed for ETH to be repeatedly created on Optimism through “triggering the SELFDESTRUCT opcode on a contract that held an ETH balance.” The SELFDESTRUCT function allows for the destruction of certain Ethereum smart contracts. 

The bug was never exploited, though it might have been triggered by an Etherscan employee by accident. No “usable ETH” was created upon this accidental triggering, though. 

A fix for the vulnerability was tested on Kovan, Optimism’s test net, and then deployed on the network’s mainnet—as well as on its infrastructure providers and forks—within hours after confirmation. The network remained operational throughout. 


To patch the issue, Optimism developers shared a private patch with “key parties” immediately. After the patch was revealed as successful, it was “publicly released…hidden in an inconspicuous commit.” The team had to go about the patch fix and release with care due to the growing number of parties in the protocol’s ecosystem: various bridges, providers, and mainnet forks. This complexity contributes positively to decentralization but makes releases, especially security releases, more difficult, said the team. 

The bounty Optimism pays for whitehat hackers is based on the threat level posed by the bug—in this case, Freeman received the maximum possible award. 

Vitalik Buterin has discussed the importance of Layer 2’s for Ethereum’s future in order to combat the networks’ high transaction fees that, he said, made the network “not ready for direct mass adoption” on Layer 1. Last November, he introduced EIP 4488, an Ethereum improvement proposal focused on reducing gas fees even on Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies. 

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Ripple Could Face Rejection at $1

Key Takeaways

  • XRP has gained over 68% in market value in the past two weeks.
  • Even though prices could advance towards $1, a correction appears imminent.
  • A spike in selling pressure could push XRP to $0.85 or even $0.75.




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Ripple has seen almost 68% gains  over the last two weeks; still, the cross-border remittance token could be bound for a retracement before its uptrend resumes.

XRP Approaches Overbought Territory

XRP appears to be gearing for a correction after incurring significant gains.

The sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has been on a roll lately. It was able to surge by nearly 68% in the last two weeks after reaching a local bottom at $0.55. Given the significance of the bullish impulse, XRP could soon be bound for a brief retracement.



The Tom DeMark (TD) Sequential indicator could soon present a sell signal on XRP’s daily chart. The bearish formation would likely develop as a green 9 candlestick, which is indicative of a one-to-four daily candlesticks correction.

Based on the moving averages, it appears that XRP could run towards the 200-day moving average at $1 before its uptrend reaches exhaustion. A spike in profit-taking could then push prices towards the 100- or 50-day moving average. These crucial support levels sit at $0.85 and $0.75, respectively.

XRP US dollar price chart
Source: TradingView

XRP’s network growth further validates the pessimistic thesis. Data from Santiment shows that the recent upward price action has not been supported by a spike in the number of new daily addresses on the network. This sort of bearish divergence between prices and on-chain activity could result in a steep pullback as forecasted by the TD setup.


XRP Network Growth
Source: Santiment

Although the technicals and the fundamentals anticipate a pullback in the near term, investors should pay close attention to the $1 resistance level. A sustained daily candlestick close above such a significant interest zone could have the strength to invalidate the bearish outlook.

Slicing through the $1 barrier might trigger FOMO among market participants, increasing the upward pressure behind XRP for an upswing towards $1.24.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, this author owned BTC and ETH.



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Indian Central Bank Chief Likens Crypto to Tulips

Key Takeaways

  • Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India has made fresh comments against crypto assets.
  • The governor said private cryptocurrency was a threat India’s macroeconomic and financial stability.
  • He warned Indians against investing in cryptocurrency, claiming that their underlying value is less than a Tulip.


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The Reserve Bank of India’s governor has stated that cryptocurrencies a “threat” to financial stability. He also said that their underlying value amounted to less than a tulip.

India’s Central Bank Questions Crypto’s Value

India’s central bank appears set on its anti-crypto stance.

Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, made fresh comments against crypto assets Thursday, describing private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as a financial threat. Das also opined that crypto assets have less value than a tulip.



“I have spelt out the RBI’s stance before, too. Our position is very clear. Private cryptocurrency is a big threat to India’s macroeconomic and financial stability,” Das stated on earlier today while speaking with the media.

He warned Indians against investing in cryptocurrency, claiming their underlying value is less than a tulip.

“It is my duty to tell investors who invest in cryptocurrencies to keep in mind that they are investing at their own risk. These cryptocurrencies do not have an underlying value—not even a tulip,” the governor added. Das’ comment on tulips is likely a reference to the 17th Century European tulip bubble, where the price of the flower rose to extremely high levels only to crash years later.


The comments from the reserve bank governor have made it clear that despite recently introducing crypto taxation rules, the Indian central bank will maintain its long-standing disapproval of the asset class. Since 2013, the Reserve Bank of India has cautioned investors against investing in cryptocurrencies via public notices. In 2018, the apex bank ordered commercial banks to support servicing crypto exchanges, but the rule was overturned by India’s Supreme Court in 2020.

India is still waiting for more explicit regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies. According to reports, the much-needed regulatory clarity will likely come with a crypto-specific bill that is yet to be presented in the country’s Parliament.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin, Ethereum Dip as U.S. Inflation Hits 40-Year High



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The market is reacting negatively to the consumer price index’s report on U.S. inflation. 

Bitcoin, Ethereum Dip on Inflation Update 

U.S. inflation has hit a 40-year year-on-year high, and crypto assets are sliding in response. 

BTC/USD (Source: CoinGecko)

Bitcoin and Ethereum both dipped Thursday immediately after the Labor Department reported that the consumer price index had jumped 7.5% since last year. Price hikes in January contributed to the yearly rise as the cost of all items increased by 0.6%. 



The 7.5% figure is the highest U.S. inflation rate the CPI has recorded since 1982. The Dow Jones had estimated that the figure would come in at 7.2%. Markets quickly reacted as the news that the rate had surpassed predictions broke, with futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 respectively falling 0.8% and 1.3%. 

Bitcoin took a 3.5% dip from around $45,000 to $43,400, while Ethereum fell from around $3,250 to $3,100. Many other lower cap assets, including the alternative Layer 1 coins Solana, Avalanche, and Terra, were harder hit. 

The slump across global markets marks a stark contrast to the reaction to the news that U.S. inflation had hit record levels in November, when Bitcoin and Ethereum both rallied to all-time highs on the same day. The difference this time around is that the 7.5% jump indicates that the Federal Reserve is likely to push ahead with significant interest rate hikes in 2022 as planned (when interest rates increase, risk-on assets tend to tumble as the cost of borrowing money jumps). 


The Fed first signaled that interest rate hikes would be coming in December, and crypto assets dipped on the news. Markets then dipped when Jerome Powell confirmed the rate increases in January. The market has looked shaky since, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum maintain momentum. They’re respectively down 37.5% and 36.2% from their highs recorded in November. 

With interest rate hikes looking increasingly likely this year, crypto believers will be hoping that the market can make a recovery without spilling too much more blood. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies. 



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Binance Is Investing $200M in Forbes

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EOS Foundation Seeks $4.1B in Damages From Block.one

Key Takeaways

  • The EOS Foundation is seeking $4.1 billion in damages from Block.one over the company’s handling of the 2017 EOS initial coin offering.
  • EOS block producers had previously voted to halt token distributions to Block.one after failing to reach a compromise with the firm.
  • The EOS Foundation has retained a leading Canadian law firm to investigate Block.one’s past actions and take the company to court.




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The EOS Foundation is planning to pursue legal recourse against EOS backer Block.one. The foundation is seeking $4.1 billion in damages for “negligence and fraud” on the part of Block.one following the EOS initial coin offering in late 2017. 

EOS Foundation to Take Block.one to Court

The EOS community is seeking legal recourse against Block.one. 

EOS Foundation CEO Yves La Rose announced Thursday that the organization wants to take Block.one to court over its handling of the EOS initial coin offering in 2017. In a tweet revealing the foundation’s intentions, Rose stated that he shared the frustrations of the EOS community and that legal recourse to seek $4.1 billion in damages is underway.


Block.one is the company that helped EOS conduct its 2017 ICO, raising over $4 billion through public sales of the EOS token. However, many in the EOS community believe that Block.one is responsible for the EOS token’s lacklustre performance over the past five years (EOS peaked at $22.71 in April 2018 and has struggled to maintain momentum since; it’s now 88% down from its high). “Block.one knowingly misrepresented their capabilities, and this amounts to negligence and fraud,” said Rose during a speech to foundation members in November. 



In December, EOS block producers voted to stop issuing vested EOS tokens to Block.one, depriving the firm of a future 67 million EOS tokens scheduled to be unlocked over the next six to seven years. In a blog post released in tandem with the decision to take legal action against Block.one, the EOS Foundation stated: 

“In November and December 2021, we engaged in negotiations with Block.one to attempt to arrange a fair and reasonable resolution… Unfortunately, Block.one decided to walk away from the negotiations, and as a result, the EOS Block Producers determined it was in the best interest of the community to freeze the vesting of all the EOS tokens that Block.one was to earn in the future.”

However, for many in the EOS community, freezing Block.one’s tokens is insufficient. The EOS Foundation stated today that it had retained a leading Canadian law firm to investigate Block.one’s past actions and take the company to court. “The EOS Foundation promises vis-à-vis the EOS community and EOS investors to determine what legal avenues are available to seek redress,” the foundation explained. 


It is still too soon to judge how successful the EOS Foundation will be in taking legal action against Block.one. However, the move will help further reduce Block.one’s influence over EOS, something the EOS community will likely welcome. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies. 



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BSC, Ethereum DeFi Projects Hit in $14.4M Hack

Key Takeaways

  • An unknown hacker drained $14.4 million from Dego Finance and Cocos-BCX last night.
  • Dego confirmed the attack in an update and denied that it was an inside job.
  • The nature of the attack suggests that Dego and Cocos-BCX may be run by the same team.




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An unknown attacker targeted two crypto projects, the Binance Smart Chain-based protocol Dego Finance and Ethereum-based GameFi project Cocos-BCX last night, making off with about $14.4 million worth of digital assets.  

Hackers Bag $14.4M in Latest DeFi Attack 

Dego Finance and Cocos-BCX both suffered an exploit last night.

According to security firm PeckShield, an unknown hacker successfully drained around $14.4 million from the liquidity pools for the projects on Uniswap and PancakeSwap. The incident occurred Wednesday at around 23:30 UTC. The hacker’s Binance Smart Chain currently contains around $9.6 million worth of BNB, Binance-pegged ETH, and other assets, while their Ethereum wallet holds roughly $4.8 million. The majority of the funds were drained from Dego Finance, the better known of the two projects. 



Dego aims to be a “lego” of the decentralized ecosystem, giving users a way to gain exposure to the burgeoning DeFi and NFT niches. It has its own NFT ecosystem and a token called DEGO. Coc0s-BCX is a “GameFi enabler” built on Ethereum. It focuses on supporting emerging GameFi projects through incubating, investing, and community building.

The hacker was able to steal the funds from the projects after a private key was compromised, the Dego team told PeckShield. The team added that the hack was not a “rug pull”—a common practice in the DeFi world in which project teams, usually those who stay anonymous, disappear with investors’ funds or remove liquidity so that the native token price tanks to zero. 

Announcing the exploit on Twitter early Thursday, the Dego team confirmed that it had asked cryptocurrency exchanges to close deposits for its DEGO token in order to prevent the hacker’s ability to profit off their liquidity. In a separate post, the team informed the community that it was working with security teams “to identify the hacker and retrieve loss.” Cocos-BCX, meanwhile, is yet to share an update on the hack through its official channels. 


Following the hack, DEGO crashed. According to data from CoinGecko, it plummeted from $4.50 to $3.81 and is now trading at $4.06 at press time, down about 11.4% on the day. COCOS, the native token for Cocos-BCX, had a milder drop of 3.4%, putting its current trading price at $1.54. 

Commenting on the attacks, PeckShield founder and CEO Xuxian Jiang told Crypto Briefing that it was possible the admin keys for both projects were secured on a single system that got compromised, such as a laptop. If true, this means the two projects may have been run by the same team. However, Crypto Briefing had not received a response at the time of publishing this article to verify the claim.  

The latest DeFi attack comes only a few days after a widely-publicized hack on Wormhole, in which $322 million in ETH was stolen from the Solana to Ethereum bridge. The $322 million loot made it the second biggest DeFi attack ever.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies.



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BlackRock Could Soon Offer Crypto Trading to Its Clients

Key Takeaways

  • BlackRock has plans to offer its investors crypto trading as well as the ability to borrow money with crypto collateral.
  • Various sources informed Coindesk of these plans. However, BlackRock has not officially confirmed these reports.
  • BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $10 trillion under management from institutional clients.




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The asset management giant BlackRock plans to offer cryptocurrency trading to its clients, according to sources interviewed by Coindesk.

Institutional Clients Will Likely Get Crypto Trading

According to those sources, BlackRock plans to give its institutional clients the ability to trade cryptocurrencies. Those clients would also be able to borrow money using crypto as collateral.

One source suggested that BlackRock will offer the service on its Asset, Liability, Debt and Derivative Investment Network, or “Aladdin.”

Another source provided further details of BlackRock’s plans, claiming that the firm aims to get “hands-on with … crypto” and that it is “looking for providers in the space.”



The third source said that about 20 BlackRock employees are currently investigating cryptocurrency and opined that those employees “see all the flow that everyone else is getting,” adding that “they want to start making some money from this.”

The sources did not indicate when the service might be introduced.

BlackRock Is Interested In Crypto

BlackRock has not confirmed those reports. However, it is known that the firm is considering blockchain. The firm began searching for a blockchain strategy lead for Aladdin last June. Prior to this, it posted job listings seeking a blockchain executive in December 2020.

While the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, has said before that he was “fascinated” by Bitcoin, he has been quick to mention the lack of demand for cryptocurrency among institutional clients. Meanwhile, BlackRock Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Rick Rieder, called Bitcoin more functional than gold in November 2020.


The company is also apparently planning to launch an ETF that tracks blockchain companies, according to SEC filings seen in January.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company, with more than $10 trillion in assets under management. Its clients include endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and public pension schemes.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 40,752.92 3.43%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,212.98 2.37%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 73.88 2.73%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 248.33 7.99%