Visa Stablecoin Plan, Effect of Debt Ceiling on Bitcoin Price: Hodler's Digest, April 23-29

Top stories this week Circle Launches Cross-Chain USDC Transfer Protocol

Circle has launched a cross-chain between the Ethereum and Avalanche blockchains. The protocol works by burning the selected amount of native USDC on the source string and minting an equivalent amount of new USDC on the intended destination string. The protocol essentially makes USDC transfers between the two networks faster and more user-friendly, because before its launch, users had to use third-party bridges or a Circle partner to facilitate transfers between the two networks. Additional support for Solana and other blockchains will be added later in 2023.

Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, announced a new cryptocurrency-related project on April 24. Details are scarce at this point; however, Sheffiled shared a job listing relating to the project, with the description noting that "the Visa Crypto team is building the next generation of products to facilitate commerce in everyone's digital and mobile life." The job posting is looking for candidates with a good understanding of Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions, as well as experience in writing smart contracts using the Solidity programming language, among others.

> Kraken asks San Francisco court to intervene against IRS claims

Crypto exchange Kraken has (IRS) on what it considers an "unwarranted scavenger hunt" for user trading information. According to court documents, the company asked a federal court in San Francisco to intervene and ask the IRS to back down. The IRS issued a summons in February demanding additional information about Kraken users who traded $20,000 or more in a single year from 2016 to 2020.

Meta disclosed in its first quarter earnings report that its metaverse unit, Reality Labs, in the quarter. In what has been a costly undertaking for the company, the $4 billion loss comes on top of Reality Labs' $14 billion loss in all of 2022. Still, Meta posted a total profit of 5.7 billion in the first quarter, with the company's work on artificial intelligence. limit losses somewhat. Mark Zuckerberg was also not phased by the loss of Reality Labs, as he reiterated that "we continue to expect Reality Labs' operating losses to increase year-over-year in 2023. as the company looks to long-term growth.

Viral clips of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler showing him taking a very contradictory stance on crypto compared to what he currently holds. As it stands, Gensler believes that almost all crypto assets except BTC are security and has gone to great lengths to regulate the crypto industry from this perspective. However, in an excerpt from one of his 2018 “Blockchain and Money” lectures – while working as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Gensler said: “Three quarters of the market is not securities, it's just a commodity, cash, crypto. He even suggested that Ether was not a security, although he has repeatedly suggested otherwise over the past two years.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $29,275, Ether (ETH) at $1,900 and