Former Meta executive David Marcus has revealed that he sees the end of the company’s stablecoin project Libra – formerly known as Diem – as “100% a political kill” after the firm worked with regulators to get it off the ground.

The native token of the XRP Ledger may have been seeing a “leverage-driven” pump after it surged more than 50% over the past week to surpass Solana’s market capitalization.

South Korea is set to delay the implementation of its cryptocurrency gains tax for another two years. The Democratic Party of Korea, the majority party in the legislature, has agreed to the proposal, which is expected to be voted on by the National Assembly.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Meta’s Stablecoin Project Was a ‘Political Kill’, Says Former Exec
• XRP Surges Past Solana’s Market Cap in ‘Leverage-Driven’ Price Pump
• South Korea Postpones 20% Crypto Tax Implementation
• Stablecoin Pairs on Centralised Exchanges Trending Toward Record Monthly Volumes This Year

Meta’s Stablecoin Project Was a ‘Political Kill’, Says Former Exec

Former Meta executive David Marcus has revealed that he sees the end of the company’s stablecoin project Libra – formerly known as Diem – as “100% a political kill” after the firm worked with regulators to get it off the ground.

Despite years of development and numerous concessions made to appease lawmakers and regulators, the project faced significant political headwinds, he said. Marcus, who headed the project, alleges that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen played a pivotal role in its demise, expressing concerns about the potential concentration of economic power and the potential for political backlash.

Following Yellen's opposition, the Federal Reserve reportedly pressured participating banks to abandon the project, effectively killing it. He wrote:

“Shortly thereafter, the Fed organized calls with all the participating banks, and the Fed’s general counsel read a prepared statement to each of them, saying: “We can’t stop you from moving forward and launching, but we are not comfortable with you doing so.” And just like that, it was over.”

At the time, Politico reported that Facebook’s business model and its potential to control a significant portion of the financial system concerned regulators. A report on stablecoin regulation dating back to November 2021 warned that the “combination of a stablecoin issuer or wallet provider and a commercial firm could lead to an excessive concentration of economic power.”

XRP Surges Past Solana’s Market Cap in ‘Leverage-Driven’ Price Pump

The native token of the XRP Ledger may have been seeing a “leverage-driven” pump after it surged more than 50% over the past week to surpass Solana’s market capitalization.

CryptoQuant analyst Maarten Regterschot highlighted in a post a significant spike in open interest for XRP, pointing out it moved up 37% in little time and that the “last similar event led to a -17% drawdown.”

Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that haven’t yet been settled. Data from CoinGlass confirms a 30% surge in XRP's open interest within a 24-hour period, reaching a total of $4 billion.

Various factors have contributed to XRP's price rise, including strategic partnerships, new product developments from Ripple Labs, and the anticipation of an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF). Additionally, unsubstantiated rumors about Elon Musk's potential investment in XRP and Ripple have further fueled speculation.

South Korea Postpones 20% Crypto Tax Implementation

South Korea is set to delay the implementation of its cryptocurrency gains tax for another two years. The Democratic Party of Korea, the majority party in the legislature, has agreed to the proposal, which is expected to be voted on by the National Assembly.

This marks the third time the country has postponed the 20% tax on cryptocurrency gains exceeding 2.5 million Korean won ($1,784). The delay, according to Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Park Chan-dae, aims to provide more time for regulatory refinement and to address concerns about the potential impact of the tax on the cryptocurrency market.

While the Democratic Party initially pushed for a higher tax-deductible threshold of 50 million won (around $35,714) that would come into effect next year, it ultimately agreed to the two-year delay.

Stablecoin Pairs on Centralised Exchanges Trending Toward Record Monthly Volumes This Year

Last month, stablecoin pairs saw their trading volume on centralized exchanges rise 77.5% to $1.81 trillion as of the 25th, with these volumes being on trend to record a yearly high.

Trading volumes have soared amid heightened institutional confidence in the asset class with the industry braced for a period of favourable regulation under the new US government. 

Tether’s USDT stablecoin continues to dominate trading activity on centralized exchanges, accounting for 82.7% of the market share. FDUSD remains the second most traded stablecoin, with a 9.01% market share, above USDC’s 8.09% share.

Dig deeper into the stablecoin sector through CCData’s latest Stablecoins & CBDCs report.

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