China’s crypto crackdown strengthens with potential fines, jail sentences
China’s years-long crackdown on crypto has stepped up another level. A new Supreme Court ruling paves the way for fines and potentially lengthy jail sentences for citizens found guilty of fundraising via crypto tokens. China previously banned crypto fundraising in 2017 amid the global surge in initial coin offerings (ICOs).
Crypto prices today: Bitcoin rises 11%, ETH up 12%
Bitcoin is currently trading at $38,552, an 11.25% increase over the previous day. Ethereum jumped 12.9% over the last 24 hours to $2,622.29. Solana rose 12% to $88.79, while Cardano is up 12.5% to $0.84. Polygon (MATIC) rallied 15% to $1.44. The global crypto market cap stands at $1.72 trillion, a 10.6% increase over the previous day.
Coinbase posts record revenue, user numbers in Q4
Crypto exchange platform Coinbase made nearly $2.5 billion in revenue last quarter (Q4 CY21), while its monthly active user base rose to 11.4 million. The company posted a profit of $840 million in Q4, which was double the previous one. The impressive numbers were driven by record-high crypto prices last October and November.
Bitcoin mining in Russia largely unaffected amid Ukraine invasion
Bitcoin mining in Russia remains mostly steady amidst the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Crypto industry participants are constantly checking for any disruptions to the network. However, sanctions imposed by various countries could affect miners. Bitcoin miners come into regular contact with exchanges and other entities connected to the traditional financial system as they exchange BTC for cash.
Over half of the Bitcoin network’s computing power comes from the US, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
Russia could use crypto to blunt the force of US sanctions: Report
As per reports, Russian entities are preparing to blunt/weaken some of the worst effects of economic sanctions by making deals with anyone around the world willing to work with them. They can use digital currencies to bypass the control points that governments rely on (mainly transfers of money by banks) to block deal execution. As per estimates, sanctions imposed by Western nations cost Russia $50 billion a year.
