Welcome to The New Digital World<\/em>, where (as I write) the major cryptos look to end the week on a high note. Behind the scenes, we\u2019re learning what\u2019s going on in Washington, D.C., Cardano <\/strong>(ADA-USD<\/strong><\/a>), Helium <\/strong>(HNT-USD<\/strong><\/a>), and more. Here are the details.\t<\/p>\n Source: Marie Shearin Images \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not only does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have a Twitter account\u2026 He posts lots of videos there. Watching his latest one<\/a>, I suspect he\u2019ll continue to annoy people in the crypto industry with them.<\/p>\n In Thursday\u2019s video, Gensler said he\u2019s urged staff to \u201cget [platforms] registered and regulated, to ensure that those crypto tokens come in as well and register where appropriate as securities.\u201d Otherwise, we might \u201crisk undermining 90 years of securities law.\u201d<\/p>\n Gensler also criticized crypto exchanges for operating differently than stock exchanges. Namely, for \u201cact[ing] as market makers,\u201d as \u201cthat creates inherent conflicts of interest. I\u2019ve asked staff to consider whether it would be appropriate to segregate out the market-making functions on these crypto platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth:<\/strong> There are decentralized market makers<\/a> available for crypto trades. In other words, there\u2019s no (human) middleman. The decentralized exchange (DEX<\/strong><\/a>) itself uses a protocol that defines prices and provides \u201cliquidity pools\u201d \u2013 automatically.<\/p>\n Many of the most popular DeFis are in this business. There\u2019s Uniswap <\/strong>(UNI-USD<\/strong><\/a>), a mainstay of our Crypto Investor Network <\/em><\/strong>portfolio<\/a> for nearly two years. Other automated market makers include Curve <\/strong>(CRV-USD<\/strong><\/a>), PancakeSwap <\/strong>(CAKE-USD), Raydium <\/strong>(RAY-USD) and Kyber <\/strong>(KNC-USD<\/strong><\/a>), to name a few.<\/p>\n If crypto exchanges feel compelled to operate more like the NYSE or Nasdaq, I\u2019d expect them to benefit \u2013 and proliferate. For example, there are over 500<\/a> market-maker firms for the Nasdaq alone.<\/p>\n Also looking to oversee crypto:<\/strong> the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They\u2019re the preferred regulator in the new crypto bill from Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (likely to come into play in 2023<\/a>). To prepare, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam is creating an \u201cOffice of Technology Innovation.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n We also heard from three Democratic senators that it \u201cseems ill-advised\u201d<\/a> for Fidelity Investments CEO Abby Johnson to be allowing Bitcoin <\/strong>(BTC-USD<\/strong><\/a>) in 401(k)s\u2026<\/p>\n While the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission also entered the chat!<\/p>\n On Thursday:<\/strong> The FDIC (along with the Federal Reserve) sent a cease-and-desist<\/a> to troubled \u201ccrypto bank\u201d Voyager Digital.<\/p>\n According to them, Voyager\u2019s marketing implied that it is FDIC insured, therefore customers would be insured if Voyager collapsed. \u201cIn reality, the company simply had a deposit account at Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and customers investing via the company\u2019s platform had no FDIC insurance, the regulators said,\u201d per Reuters<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n How to check:<\/strong> Look up the legal policies on your crypto app\u2019s website. Oftentimes, it\u2019s just like Voyager: They\u2019re not FDIC insured directly \u2013 but send deposits to someone who is. If you go on the FDIC\u2019s BankFind<\/a> site, you can confirm the Voyager partner (Metropolitan Commercial Bank), and Coinbase<\/strong> (NASDAQ:COIN<\/strong><\/a>) partners like Silvergate<\/strong> (NYSE:SI<\/strong><\/a>), for example.<\/p>\n Cardano<\/strong> (ADA-USD<\/strong><\/a>) developers were expected to make a \u201chard fork\u201d of the blockchain this Sunday, July 31, to roll out some major upgrades for an all-new version of Cardano\u2026<\/p>\n But yesterday, in the July Cardano360 video<\/a>, we learned that the team needs more time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we make a roll-out plan, we give dates to help the community plan their own rollout\u2026 [But] from where we are, there could be a few more weeks before we go to the actual Vasil hard fork,\u201d explained Kevin Hammond, technical manager on the project.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the use [cases] have to be ready to progress to the hard fork, to make sure there\u2019s a smooth process. Both for them, but also very important, for the end users of the Cardano blockchain.\u201d Hammond came off very sensibly in the video\u2026<\/p>\n And ADA prices haven\u2019t reacted badly to the news. Like many other major cryptos, Cardano is up about +6% since then (as I write).<\/p>\n Context:<\/strong> This upgrade nicknamed \u201cVasil\u201d is\u00a0about scalability<\/a>. The goal is \u201cincreasing throughput and reducing latency in block transmission, to \u201callow for the network to process a larger number of transactions\u2026without affecting network performance,\u201d as I\u2019ve written before<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cardano hasn\u2019t made a hard fork like this since last September<\/a>, when \u201cAlonzo\u201d introduced smart contracts (so developers could build apps and NFTs). ADA has a history of rallying sharply<\/a> ahead of each major upgrade.<\/p>\n Liron Shapira, who created a dating-coach site called Relationship Hero<\/a> and shares the wisdom he learned in this blog, \u201cBloated MVP,\u201d<\/a> has been trolling Helium <\/strong>(HNT-USD<\/strong><\/a>) all week on Twitter.<\/p>\n First he wrote this<\/a>: \u201cHelium, often cited as one of the best examples of a Web3 use case, has received $365M of investment led by @a16z. Regular folks have also been convinced to spend $250M buying hotspot nodes, in hopes of earning passive income.<\/p>\n \u201cThe result? Helium\u2019s total revenue is $6.5k\/month,\u201d Shapira ends his tweet, citing this report from The Generalist<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>It went viral and landed Shapira an interview<\/a> with popular crypto YouTuber Tactical Investing<\/em>, who\u2019s posted excited videos about Helium Hotspots in the past.<\/p>\n Helium founder Amir Haleem responded with some corrections in his own Twitter thread<\/a> and provided context.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, why is there only $6,500 worth of data being paid for? Unlike cellular networks, there aren\u2019t millions of existing devices that can switch to @Helium. The best applications haven\u2019t been built yet, and it takes months or years to build them,\u201d is how Haleem addressed the main criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cExpand your time horizons and focus on projects that do real work and keep their heads down during the hard times. Everything else is just noise,\u201d Haleem advises us in his final tweet.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth: <\/strong>The Generalist<\/em>\u2019s conclusion on Helium was way different than the guy citing them on Twitter. And I generally find their content valuable, although you should note that their sources tend to work at venture-capital firms.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear Helium\u2019s network has room to grow. Indeed, it needs to. While it has done an exceptional job scaling the supply side of the project, nearing 1 million hotspots, more demand is necessary. Embracing 5G could send that side of the market through the roof\u2026 Indeed, winning the 5G war could set it on the path to becoming one of the world\u2019s most valuable entities,\u201d concludes The Generalist<\/em>\u2019s report.<\/p>\n If you go to OpenSea to check out the top NFTs of the past 7 days<\/a>, you\u2019ll see a surprising face among the apes, \u201cPotatoz,\u201d and Otherside metaverse plots\u2026<\/p>\n Ledger just launched its own NFT marketplace that you can access directly in its hardware crypto wallets. \u201cLedger Market will simply be the only safe place to mint and buy NFTs,\u201d claims the company<\/a>\u2026 And to celebrate, Ledger dropped its own NFT collection. It was a huge success:<\/p>\n 10,000 [ Ledger ] Market Passes \u2013 Genesis Edition sold out in less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n THANK YOU. pic.twitter.com\/l2kT4vC3jY<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Ledger (@Ledger) July 26, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ledger\u2019s NFT was basically a VIP ticket. It gets you \u201cprivileged access to new Ledger hardware\u201d and your own \u201climited edition black-on-black Nano X\u201d wallet, as well as exclusive NFT collaborations.<\/p>\n Ledger is targeting luxury brands in the fashion world and is a French company\u2026so perhaps when it comes up in conversation, we should pronounce it \u201cLedg\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of which:<\/strong> \u201cRedeem-and-retain NFTs are the future of luxury goods<\/a>,\u201d according to this thoughtful essay by Nic Carter.<\/p>\n The deep-dive and enthusiasm for NFTs is notable because Carter was better known as a poster-boy for Bitcoin<\/strong> (BTC-USD<\/strong><\/a>) in financial TV and media\u2026 Until he was \u201cexcommunicated\u201d<\/a> after investing in a Web3 startup that\u2019s multi-chain \u2013 not just Bitcoin\/Lighting Network. Gasp!<\/em> Now, his essay is a great read to see why a hardware company (or any consumer business) would find NFTs well worth their while<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the date of publication, Ashley Cassell\u00a0did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.\u00a0The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com\u00a0<\/em>Publishing Guidelines<\/em><\/a>. To have more news from The New Digital World sent to your inbox,\u00a0<\/em>click here to sign up for the newsletter.<\/em><\/a>\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/investorplace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/digital-dollar-300x169.png\")
<\/p>\nRegulators, Politicians Getting Loud About Crypto<\/h2>\n
Cardano Upgrade Pushed Back \u201cA Few More Weeks\u201d<\/h2>\n
Controversy Over Helium Hotspot Revenues<\/h2>\n
Crypto Wallet Maker Gets Into NFTs \u2013 And They\u2019re Very Popular<\/h2>\n
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