Yesterday, the Solana network experienced a significant outage, going offline for approximately five hours before validators managed to restart the cluster and resume block production.

Bitfinex analysts have suggested in a report that while the newly launched spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting a lot of attention, prices have likely been suppressed by miners selling BTC.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved new rules that integrate cryptocurrency into federal oversight by approving new rules targeting entities with significant roles in providing market liquidity.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Solana Network Restarted After Five-Hour Outage
• Miner Selling Pressure Dampens Bitcoin ETF Launch Excitement
• SEC Adopts Rules Bringing Large Crypto, DeFi Liquidity Providers Into Federal Oversight
• Chart of the Week: Binance Overtakes CME in BTC Futures Open Interest

Solana Network Restarted After Five-Hour Outage

Yesterday, the Solana network experienced a significant outage, going offline for approximately five hours before validators managed to restart the cluster and resume block production.

An incident report reads that engineers will keep monitoring the network’s performance. The downtime was linked by Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, to issues with the “Berkley Packet Filter” mechanism, crucial for deploying, upgrading, and executing programs on Solana.

The network’s downtime was first reported at 10:22 UTC through a network status notice stating that “engineers from across the ecosystem are investigating an outage on mainnet-beta."

The outage halted block progression, effectively stopping transactions from going through. Solana’s last major outage was in February 2023, with the network then being down for several hours and being restored after two attempts.

Miner Selling Pressure Dampens Bitcoin ETF Launch Excitement

Bitfinex analysts have suggested in a report that while the newly launched spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting a lot of attention, prices have likely been suppressed by miners selling BTC.

Since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in mid-January, there has been a notable decline in the amount of Bitcoin held by miners, reaching its lowest level since June 2021, according to CryptoQuant data.

The day following the ETF launch, miners moved approximately $1 billion worth of Bitcoin to exchanges, taking advantage of the price spike to two-year highs. This activity indicates a significant miner sell-off or the use of Bitcoin holdings to raise capital, primarily to upgrade equipment and facilities, as highlighted in the Bitfinex report.

This sell-off comes ahead of Bitcoin’s next halving event, expected to occur in April, which will cut mining rewards in half. The halving could severely impact the profitability of mining operations, potentially driving smaller miners out of business or forcing them to consolidate with larger entities.

SEC Adopts Rules Bringing Large Crypto, DeFi Liquidity Providers Into Federal Oversight

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved new rules that integrate cryptocurrency into federal oversight by approving new rules targeting entities with significant roles in providing market liquidity.

The regulator voted 3-2 during a Tuesday meeting, on a proposed 194-page form that included regulations to include individuals and entities engaging in cryptocurrency transactions that are classified as securities or government securities, provided they manage assets over $50 million.

This 247-page regulation aims to bring certain cryptocurrency transactions under the same regulatory umbrella as traditional securities. Specifically, the rules will impact the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which has expressed considerable opposition, arguing the unique nature of DeFi — operating without a central authority and being purely software-driven — makes the application of such rules impractical and unreasonable.

Criticism also came from within the SEC, with Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, who voted against the adoption, voicing her concerns during the meeting. The DeFi Education Fund has outrightly labelled the new regulation as "misguided and unworkable," reflecting the broader crypto industry's resistance to the rule first proposed in March 2022.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler defended the regulation, emphasizing its necessity for investor protection in a rapidly evolving market landscape marked by electronic and algorithmic trading advancements.

He highlighted that many firms, acting as unofficial market makers without SEC registration, fail to meet requirements such as data reporting and record-keeping, underscoring the rule's role in addressing these gaps.

Chart of the Week: Binance Overtakes CME in BTC Futures Open Interest

For the first time since November 8, 2023, Binance's Bitcoin open interest has exceeded that of the CME.

This surge in Binance's open interest comes as the CME had seen a significant uptick in Bitcoin open interest, fueled by the anticipation surrounding the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

Build your project with CoinDesk Data

Terms | Privacy

13 Charles II St, SW1Y 4QU

London, UK

This email may include advertisements by third parties. None of the advertised or promoted products and services have been verified or approved by us and this email is not any endorsement by us of the third party or of their products or services.