Banano narxBAN

🗞️ Need to catch up on the news? Here's our top 10 from today: 🔸The SEC declares meme coins are not considered securities. 🔹United States Secretary of the Treasury adds Galaxy Digital's Tyler Williams as a digital asset advisor. 🔸The SEC dismissed its lawsuit against Coinbase with prejudice, ending the case permanently. 🔹Sam Altman announces GPT-4.5, calling it the first AI that feels like talking to a real person, but warns of GPU shortages delaying its full rollout. 🔸The SEC has dropped its case against Consensys. 🔹Michael Saylor met with the House Financial Services Committee to discuss how to make the “U.S. the global leader in #Bitcoin and crypto.” 🔸Texas Business and Commerce Committee passes #Bitcoin strategic reserve bill, now heads to the Senate floor. 🔹House Democrats reportedly set to introduce the MEME Act, a bill that would ban public officials from issuing or endorsing memecoins like $TRUMP. 🔸Ripple partners with South Korean custodian BDACS to offer institutional-grade custody for $XRP and $RLUSD. 🔹Trump says tariffs set for March 4 will go into effect as scheduled, with China facing an additional 10% tariff.

US President Donald Trump’s first month in office has been highly volatile for risk assets, but his administration will likely be a net positive for Bitcoin in the long run, according to Standard Chartered.In a Feb. 27 interview with CNBC, Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick, said he expects Bitcoin’s (BTC) price to reach $200,000 this year before surging to $500,000 before President Trump concludes his second term. He cited growing institutional adoption and the potential for clearer regulations as positive catalysts. Geoffry Kendrick responds to “crypto’s $800 billion wipeout.” Source: CNBCDespite recent volatility, crypto markets should become less rocky over time as more institutions adopt the asset class, said Kendrick. These players will also alleviate the security risks that seem inherent to crypto protocols, as evidenced by the recent $1.4-billion hack of crypto exchange What we need are traditional financial players, like Standard Chartered, like BlackRock and others that have ETFs now to really step in,” said Kendrick. “It’s institutions like ours that now offer custody businesses that are much more secure than the hacks.”“As the industry becomes more institutionalized, it should be safer,” he said. Related: House Democrats propose bill to ban presidential memecoins: ReportBitcoin’s stomach-churning volatilitySince reaching an all-time high above $109,000 in January, Bitcoin’s price sank to a more than three-month low of around $80,000 this week as President Trump reasserted his tariff threats on China and allies Mexico and Canada. Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods scheduled to go into effect on March 4 “will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump said on Truth Social.Source: Donald TrumpBitcoin reacting so sharply to tariff threats suggests that the digital asset has become highly correlated with stocks and liquidity conditions, according to market commentator The Kobeissi Letter.Global Macro Investor Julien Bittel said Bitcoin’s recent pullback is “normal in bull markets,” especially after the massive run-up in price following the US presidential election. Source: Jamie CouttsMeanwhile, Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision, said two of three “core liquidity measures” in his framework have turned bullish following the recent sell-off. Expanding central bank balance sheets and a rising global money supply usually bode well for Bitcoin. The only domino left to fall is the US dollar. $BTC

Crypto executives say the British ban on crypto derivatives is hurting retail investors rather than protecting them. Crypto execs are slamming the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority over its ban on crypto derivatives, saying it’s hurting retail investors more than helping them. Joshua Barraclough, CEO of One Trading and a former JPMorgan executive in an interview with Financial News said the “terrible” ban is “harming consumers,” suggesting that people should be able to make their own investment choices, even if they come with risks. Konstantinos Adamos, Revolut’s legal counsel for crypto, shared similar views. He noted that while the FCA’s concerns about the complexity and volatility of crypto derivatives are understandable, retail investors should still be allowed to decide for themselves. Carly Nuzbach Lowery, founder of Gateway 21, believes that the ban is outdated, as it feels “blunt” and unnecessary. You might also like: Coinbase CPO urges US Congress to act on crypto regulation The FCA first introduced the ban in 2020, reaffirming it later in a March 2024 update. FCA’s tough stance on crypto has driven firms like crypto exchange Bybit to suspend their operations in the United Kingdom. Only 14% of the 368 crypto registration applications received by the FCA since 2020 have been approved so far. Meanwhile, the FCA failed to remove all illegal crypto ads as nearly half of flagged promotions still online. As crypto.news reported earlier, between October 2023 and October 2024, the FCA issued over 1,700 alerts about illegal crypto ads, apps, and websites. However, less than 55% were taken down. Read more: FCA doubles down on hawkish crypto stance to fight money laundering

The Democratic Party of the U.S. House of Representatives intends to introduce a bill to ban public officials from issuing meme coins similar to TRUMPcoin. The bill will be submitted on February 27. Currently, 12 Democratic members support it and are seeking cross-party consensus.

🇺🇸👀 House Democrats are preparing to introduce a bill that would ban government employees from launching memcoins and profiting from digital assets.