Chinese Companies Selling Synthetic Opioid Chemicals Receive Crypto Payments

• Chinese companies selling synthetic opioid chemicals have raked in $27 million in crypto payments.
• Coinbase has asked for mandamus against the SEC and continues to demand rulemaking.
• Prometheum has become the first crypto company approved by the SEC and FINRA as a special-purpose broker-dealer.

Effects of Ethereum’s Shapella Upgrade on Network

Ethereum had its Shapella upgrade recently, causing shifts in staking behavior, a decline in liquid staking tokens, and an impact on centralized exchange balances. Research shows that liquid staking tokens remain in the red five weeks after Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade.

Over 2.83 Million Staked ETH Withdrawn

The Shapella upgrade resulted in over 2.83 million ETH being withdrawn from staking pools. This shift shows that users are becoming more cautious about their investments and trying to protect their funds from potential losses due to market volatility or other risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum Balances on Centralized Exchanges Lowest Level In 5 Years

The withdrawal of these funds also resulted in Ethereum balances on centralized exchanges dropping to their lowest level since 2016 – just 1% of all ETH held within exchanges, compared to 7% prior to the upgrade. This drop could be attributed to investors wanting to take advantage of higher yields available through DeFi protocols or other decentralized financial solutions enabled by Ethereum’s technology stack.

Liquid Staking Tokens Remain In The Red

However, despite these positive developments for Ethereum’s network, liquid staking tokens remain in the red five weeks after the upgrade – showing that investors may still not be fully comfortable with committing large amounts of capital into DeFi projects and locking them up for long periods of time without any liquidity options available should they need them unexpectedly quickly.