Cryptocurrencies saw wild swings on Thursday ahead of U.S. regulators' decision to list ether-based exchange-traded funds.

During the busy hour before approval, ETH first fell to $3,500, then jumped to $3,900 before settling above $3,800.

Bitcoin {{BTC}} experienced a similar episode, falling to $66,000, then rising to $68,300 and falling below $68,000.

During the volatile episode, liquidations across all leveraged cryptocurrency positions skyrocketed to more than $350 million in a day. Most of the liquidations were long positions betting on rising prices, amounting to about $250 million. ETH traders took the biggest hit with $132 million in liquidations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Form 19b-4 applications filed by issuers seeking to launch an Ether ETF. This is a key step in bringing the fund to market.

However, approval of Forms 19b-4 does not guarantee final approval of Forms S-1, which are required for a public offering of new securities.

Possible issuers include BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Ark/21Shares and Invesco/Galaxy.

An SEC spokesman said the agency would not comment beyond Thursday's order.

The US House of Representatives voted 279 to 136 to pass the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act. The bill, supported by a majority of Republicans and 71 Democrats, will now head to the Senate. If passed, the bill would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, helping to determine when a certain token is a security or a commodity. However, not everyone thinks it will work as expected.

The US House of Representatives voted to ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The bill introduced by Tom Emmer aims to stop the development of the "digital dollar." 213 Republicans and 3 Democrats voted for the bill, while 192 Democrats voted against it.

However, both the market structure and anti-CBDC bills will likely fail in the Senate, as half of Congress does not have a counterpart for either bill.

Blockchain technology and its user base may be at odds. Despite advances in technological capabilities and financial literacy over the past five years, it's hard to say that audiences have evolved in the same way.

Social platforms have become a place for the growth of new projects, actively participating in discussions about cryptocurrencies. However, in an industry like cryptocurrency, its inherent online culture makes it extremely susceptible to trolls.

Constructive criticism makes progress, and cryptocurrency is no exception. The critical eye of commentators helps distinguish real innovation from projects that create the illusion of activity.

Efforts to educate, streamline processes, and strengthen security are necessary to attract the next wave of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

"Marketing in the Web3 space faces the challenge of re-targeting true users rather than creating noise, according to CoinDesk. Most projects distribute their marketing budgets to anyone willing to support them on social media. However, a new approach called MarketingFi offers greater rewards for users who bring quality to projects through participation in marketing activities.

It is also noted that up to 70% of all airdrops go to bots. Solutions that help eliminate bots from airdrops already exist on the market. Now you need to change your approach and understand that short-term success and information noise are not worth the sacrifice of long-term retention.

It is also important to determine which KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) bring quality audiences, and are not just pumping up empty numbers. To do this, marketers should use analytics and work with KOLs that provide the desired conversion."

The US Supreme Court ruled against Coinbase Inc. in a dispute over which legal agreement should prevail when the parties are under two different contracts and the first one requires arbitration. The case arose from a dispute over whether an arbitration clause in the original contract should have controlled what happened in a subsequent contract related to the 2021 Dogecoin drawing.

“The question of whether these parties agreed to arbitration can only be resolved by determining which contract applies,” the court's opinion said.

The loss in this second technical case leaves Coinbase with mixed results in the Supreme Court, having previously won its dispute over a different arbitration issue.

The emergence of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States has generated a lot of interest, especially among institutional investors. Clients are increasingly asking questions about whether they should own the underlying asset directly or whether holding an ETF is right for them. Miguel Coudri, CEO of L1 Advisors, answers questions about the future of Ethereum ETFs.

Blockchain foundation Fantom Opera has announced the creation of the Sonic Foundation and Sonic Labs to support the new Sonic blockchain. Sonic will have improved speed and security compared to Fantom and will be connected to Ethereum via a layer 2 bridge. It is expected that users and developers will completely switch to Sonic. Once launched, Sonic will have its own $S token, compatible with Fantom's existing $FTM token. Fantom also closed a $10 million funding round led by Hashed, which will go towards developing the Sonic ecosystem.

Plume, a real-world asset (RWA) blockchain startup, has raised $10 million in funding. The company is developing the first layer-2 blockchain designed specifically for RWA. Plume technology is based on Arbitrum Nitro and is designed to record transactions on Ethereum quickly and inexpensively. There are currently over 80 projects testing Plume to host real assets on its private testnet. A full launch is planned for later.

Cryptocurrency projects are increasingly using press release distribution services to promote their initiatives. However, the quality and reliability of such coverage are questionable.

Press releases are usually simply “syndicated”, published on dozens of news sites, including cryptocurrency ones, but they often end up in the non-editorial section of the site, which is viewed much less frequently.

The content will be a duplicate version of the original press release, without editorial review, analysis, opinion or unique interpretation of what is happening. Just a bulleted press release with a mandatory disclosure that this is essentially paid advertising and does not create any credibility or trust in the projects.

If you're looking for compelling coverage of your news on a reputable site that is perceived as reliable, then going directly to an experienced reporter is the way to go.

Game developers on the Roblox platform have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of exploiting its audience, half of which are children under 13 years old. They argue that Roblox is abusing its rights to user-generated content, limiting their potential income and control over their intellectual property. This highlights the importance of digital ownership in the Web3 era, where users must have ownership and portability of their content.

Cryptocurrencies have lost value in anticipation of a decision from the US regulator on exchange-traded funds based on ether. Bitcoin fell below $68,000, ETH - to $3,700. The downturn affected other digital assets as well.

Speculation raises the possibility that the decline was caused by the sale of 6,968 ETH worth $27.4 million by trading firm Symbolic Capital Partner.

Also, the rise in the dollar after the publication of the PMI report showing the growth of the American economy could accelerate the fall in prices for cryptocurrencies.

The head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler did not comment on the upcoming decision regarding exchange-traded funds (ETFs). He noted that all the agency's actions are based on the law and its interpretation by the courts.

Earlier this week, the SEC asked exchanges supporting Ether ETF applications to restate their Forms 19b-4 in universal language. The SEC appears to be uncomfortable with the idea of ​​Ether ETF issuers being able to stake any assets.

Gensler also stressed that his agency will continue to work on its opposition to the cryptocurrency bill that passed the House on Wednesday.

Decentralized AI has become one of the most talked about topics in the web3 space. Many projects are looking to combine blockchain and AI tools. The movement's founders are gathering at Consensus 2024 in Austin for CoinDesk's first AI Summit. Projects such as Singularity NET and Gensyn aim to create decentralized networks for AI training. Many of the web3+AI projects aim to create decentralized GenAI models that can compete with OpenAI.

"For the first time in history, a bill on the structure of the cryptocurrency market has been introduced into the US House of Representatives. This was made possible thanks to the efforts of legislators and regulators seeking to determine how and when to regulate cryptocurrencies. Members of the crypto industry with unique knowledge and expertise play an important role in this process. views on how the technology works. To help with this, special organizations have been created, such as Crypto Policy Bootcamp, which provide the necessary tools for effective interaction with legislators."

Jeff Kaufman, founder of the JUMP network for branding professionals, believes the future of marketing lies in Web 3.0 social platforms. He emphasizes that the key differentiator for Web3 is the "on-chain" element to the user experience. Examples of successful use of this approach include the brands Coinbase and 9dcc. Kaufman argues that the importance of on-chain marketing for brands lies in the direct relationship with customers, who gain more control over the relationship as they manage the tokens in their wallet.

EQTY Lab, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) research, develops tools to improve transparency and collaboration in AI. One such tool is Lineage Explorer, which allows you to observe the process of creating a model in real time. Cryptography is used to provide transparency and proof of actions in the AI ​​training process. EQTY Lab's head of research, Ariana Spring, emphasized the importance of transparency and centralization in AI.

Nadine Chakar, Global Head of Digital Assets at DTCC, will be speaking at the Consensus Festival in Austin, Texas, May 29-31. With over 30 years of experience in global asset management, Chakar has become an advocate for blockchain-based innovation. She argues that tokenization will allow companies to be more capital efficient, create new business models and expand product offerings.

Fintech company Ramp Network has received virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration in Ireland. The company plans to make Ireland its European headquarters and obtain a crypto asset service provider (CASP) license. Registration will allow users to exchange fiat currencies for more than 100 crypto assets.