Weekly Roundup: Bitcoin outflows from exchanges falls to record low, Ethereum's London hard fork has been largely successful

Bitcoin

• Bitcoin outflows from centralized exchanges have climbed to record levels, with figures climbing to about $3.85 billion over the past month.
• Cash App’s Bitcoin services have generated $2.72 billion in Q2 for Square.
• Investment firm SkyBridge Capital has purchased approximately 38,436 tons of carbon credits to offset its Bitcoin holding.
• Oil exploration giant Saudi Aramco has dismissed claims that it is engaged in Bitcoin mining activities.
• The Bank of America has given a handful of reasons why El Salvador’s decision to make Bitcoin legal tender could be beneficial to the country.
• Victory Capital is seeking to launch a Bitcoin ETF in the United States. The investment firm has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Xiaomi’s Portuguese outlet has enabled support for Bitcoin payments.
• Melanion Capital has launched the first EU-regulated Bitcoin ETF.

Ethereum

• The top-five Ethereum mining pools generated $192 million in revenue in one week.
• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has lauded the London hard fork that recently went live, expressing his confidence in the future of the network. Meanwhile, an estimated $12 million worth of ETH was burned in the first 24 hours post-London fork.
• Ethereum reclaimed the $3,000 benchmark over the past week, as the entire crypto market moves into a “greed” phase.

Other News

• There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the latest U.S. infrastructure bill, which seeks to heavily tax crypto users. First, three pro-crypto Senators filed for an amendment of the bill. This was countered by a last-minute amendment from two other Senators. The bill has attracted a lot of criticism from the crypto community, with prominent players like Elon Musk lending their voice to the struggle.
• Still on the infrastructure bill saga, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been accused of lobbying senators to vote against the crypto-friendly amendment proposed by Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
• Blockchain-based fintech company ShuttleOne has launched its monthly reward liquidity program.
• Retail investors have reportedly generated an ROI of 45% on pre-IPO investments on Airbnb. The Raison app is reportedly democratizing the venture capital market by allowing anyone with €100 to become a venture investor.
• The crypto industry could face a new string of restrictions in the U.S., following calls from SEC Chair Gary Gensler for fresh regulations.
• A Uruguayan lawmaker has proposed a bill to legalize the use of cryptocurrencies for transactions.
• South Korea’s FSC is set to shut down about a dozen local crypto exchanges following allegations of illegal activities.
• Russian regulators are pushing an agenda that seeks to track crypto transactions and profile users.
• Australian users have welcomed the world’s first cryptocurrency Mastercard.
• German KYC services company Solidproof has sealed a partnership deal with Unicrypt to support its foray into the Smart Contract audit market.
• Coinbase has expanded the number of options available to users to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptos by enabling support for Apple Pay.
• Crypto market intelligence firm Messari has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round.
• XCarnival’s XBroker has passed the Certik security audit.
• Hong Kong-based new Binance users will no longer be able to access the platform’s derivatives market.
• China is planning to issue its digital Yuan at the 2022 Winter Olympics as officials reveal that it is considering all possible scenarios.