Federal Reserve: 18 million Americans used or owned cryptocurrency last year
The Federal Reserve's latest annual household survey showed that the number of American adults who reported owning or using cryptocurrency fell to about 18 million last year. According to the Household Economic and Decision-making Survey (SHED) released by the Federal Reserve on May 21, 7% of American adults surveyed said they had used cryptocurrency in the 12 months ending October last year, down from 10% in 2022 and 12% in 2021. Only 1% of adults said they used cryptocurrency as a payment method or remittance, down by half from 2022, while 7% of adults bought or held cryptocurrency as an investment.
Vitalik: For a Layer 2-centric ecosystem to succeed, it is necessary to understand and solve challenges such as coordination
On May 23, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote that "Layer 2" and "sharding" are often described in public discussions as two opposing strategies for blockchain expansion. But when you dig deeper into the underlying technology, you'll find a mystery: the actual expansion methods are exactly the same. Both have some form of data sharding, both have fraud proofs or ZK-SNARK proofs, and both have ways to resolve cross-{rollup, shard} communication. The main difference is: who is responsible for building and updating these parts, and how much autonomy they have. A Layer2-centric ecosystem is a very real technical implementation of sharding, but it is a shard that can create its own rules. This is very powerful and can inspire a lot of creativity and independent innovation. But it also has key challenges, especially in terms of coordination. For a Layer2-centric ecosystem like Ethereum to succeed, it needs to understand these challenges and solve them head-on to get as many advantages of a Layer1-centric ecosystem as possible and get as close as possible to having the best features of both.
US Spot Bitcoin ETF Holds 850,000 Bitcoins
According to HODL15Capital monitoring, the US spot Bitcoin ETF has hit a record high and currently holds 850,000 Bitcoins, and the global ETF's Bitcoin holdings are close to 1 million.
10x Research: The narrowing discount of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust Fund means there is a 90% probability that the spot Ethereum ETF will be approved
10x Research posted on social media that a few hours before the Bitcoin spot ETF was approved, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), tweeted that cryptocurrency investors should consider all potential risks before making any investment.There may be a tweet this morning at approximately 9:00 ET that provides more clarity on whether approval is imminent. Just as the SEC previously sent warning signs before listing ETFs tied to cryptocurrency futures, January 2024 also clearly indicated that a Bitcoin ETF would be approved. Today, the market will be waiting for a similar warning. However, approval appears to be a matter of formality, as the discount on the Grayscale Ethereum Trust has narrowed from -30% a week ago to just -8%. An 8% discount means there is at least a 90% probability that the ETF will be approved. The trust, with $11 billion in assets under management, is sizable and may see some outflows from investors cashing in gains. The key question remains when these ETFs will begin trading if approved.
US House of Representatives Passes FIT21 Cryptocurrency Bill
The US House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT21) by a vote of 279 to 136, with House Democrats showing strong support, and the passage of the cryptocurrency market structure bill marks the industry's most significant legislative achievement in Congress. The United States lags behind other jurisdictions around the world in developing cryptocurrency regulation, and despite the House of Representatives passing the FIT21 cryptocurrency bill, implementing such regulation is far from complete.
