The Digest is available for reading;

• Fed Hikes Interest Rates; Ignores Sentiments To Hold Over $40,000

• President Zelenskyy Signs into Law Bill Legalizing Cryptocurrency in Ukraine

• MetaMask surpasses 30 million users, confirms native token and DAO

• The Director of Developer Relations is now gone. What you should know

• FTX is partnering with AZA Finance in order to bring Crypto and Web3 into Africa.

Fed raises interest rates, Bitcoin ignores sentiments to hold above $40,000

To curb rising inflation rates, U.S. Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark rate by 1% for the first-time since December 2018.

The Fed plans six additional hikes for 2022, increasing its interest rates 0.25 percent. The Fed dots plot shows that the Fed could raise its interest rates as much as 2.8% by 2022.

As the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee tightens its monetary policy, market analysts and investors have expressed their concerns that the move could further down the economy.

Bitcoin rose 6% despite the negative sentiments surrounding the market. It reached $41.5k on March 10, the first time in over a year. Bitcoin trades now at $40,689 and has maintained a 1.2% increase over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin price chart 24 hours (BTC) Source: Tradingview

Bitcoin’s new high comes on the back of a three-day winning streak, which has seen the premiere cryptocurrency move from as low as $37,680 to as high as $41,544.

Flipsider:

• Speaking at the end of the latest two-day policy meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said officials would not shy from raising rates more aggressively if they don’t see improvement.

Why you should care

In order to stabilise prices and counter rising inflation, the Fed will increase its interest rates.

President Zelenskyy Signs into Law Bill Legalizing Cryptocurrency in Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a bill passed last month by Ukraine’s parliament to legalize cryptocurrencies. Confirming the development on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement that the law

“determines the legal status, classification, ownership, and regulators of virtual assets, as well as setting registration requirements for crypto services providers.”

According to the Ministry, crypto exchanges can be legally operated and banks will have access to them. Ukraine’s crypto market will be the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market.

This move is coming as war-torn countries have received more than $100 million in cryptocurrency donations during the last three weeks to help support their defense against Russian aggression and fund humanitarian aid.

Flipsider:

• The Indian central bank has likened crypto to a ponzi scheme, stating that banning it is ‘perhaps the most advisable choice.’

Why you should care

Crypto users can now freely transact crypto and fiat with the newly passed law.

MetaMask surpasses 30 million users, confirms native token and DAO

MetaMask is setting the benchmark for wallets with a new milestone: it has reached over 30,000,000 monthly active users (MAUs). MetaMask is now the most popular Ethereum wallet.

MetaMask’s MAUs have increased 42% in the past year, which saw it report 21 million MAUs. ConsenSys has developed a crypto wallet that allows you to store Ether and other cryptocurrency with Web3 apps.

Joseph Lubin (CEO of ConsenSys) announced that MetaMask would launch its own token to increase wallet growth. MataMask also plans to launch a decentralized autonomous organisation (DAO). According to reports, the DAO will fund the wallet’s growth.

Flipsider:

• Lubin clarified that the DAO “won’t govern MetaMask,” but will aid the creation of novel pieces of MetaMask to be funded.

Why you should care

In an interview, Joseph Lubin explained that the developments will help MetaMask pursue “progressive decentralization.”

Ripple has lost its Director for Developer Relations. What you need to know

Ripple is still embroiled in a long-running battle against the SEC. One of the top Ripple directors has resigned. Matt Hamilton, who had been with Ripple for more than a year, announced his resignation on March 16.

Hamilton, who worked with Ripple on expanding the XRP ecosystem, leaves Ripple due to his wife’s mental health concerns. According to Hamilton, 2021 was a “bad year” for him, and he would need time to focus on his family.

Expressing his gratitude to Ripple for the “both personal and professional” support, Hamilton says he will remain an active member of the XRP community.

Flipsider:

• Ripple, which lost one its top developers in the past year, has now pledged one billion XRP ($789 millions) to developers.

FTX is partnering with AZA Finance in order to bring Crypto and Web3 into Africa.

AZA Finance and FTX announced a partnership to help capture the markets for web3 technology. FTX and AZA Finance, a Kenya-based payment firm will collaborate to promote the African web3 economy.

A statement was made Wednesday that the partnership would focus on five areas of web3 development in Africa. It will also offer support for withdrawals and deposits using African fiat currency on the global FTX platform.

Through the partnership, FTX seeks to improve Africa’s web3 infrastructure and create useful learning resources for participants in the region. AZA Finance and FTX also plan to create African digital currency trading pairs.

Last but not least, the partnership will focus on the rapidly-growing market for non-fungible tokens. This collaboration aims to bring African NFT artists onto the FTX NFT market.

Flipsider:

• AZA Financing’s founder, Elizabeth Rossiello is the CEO. She has highlighted the problem of lack of clarity and regularity in many African countries as a key challenge.

Why you should care

FTX’s strategic partnership with AZA Finance is a move to increase its presence in Africa which, as one of the fastest growing crypto markets, is a step towards reaching out to AZA Finance.

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