This Week in Coins: Bitcoin and Ethereum Dip as Chainlink, XRP, XLM Lead Growth

Last week’s blistering altcoin rally tapered off this week as Chainlink, XRP, XLM, Stellar and TRX were the only coins to post any notable gains over the last seven days. 

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) entered the weekend slightly lower than they did this time last week. 

Bitcoin dropped 1.5% to its current price of $29,869, according to CoinGecko. Meanwhile, the world’s second favorite coin, ETH, dropped 2.5% to trade at $1,888 at the time of writing. 

The steepest pullbacks among leading currencies this week were from Solana (SOL), which dropped 9.8% to $25.68, and Avalanche (AVAX), which shed 8.1% to $13.77.

Several altcoins appreciated; notably, Toncoin (TON) grew 8.3% to $1.46, Stellar (XLM) blew up 23% to $0.163126, and Chainlink (LINK) rallied 15% to $7.98.

Chainlink began its rally on Monday with the launch of its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) on its mainnet. The protocol currently supports Avalanche, Ethereum, Optimism and Polygon networks. It is also integrated with DeFi lending protocols Aave and Synthetix. Chainlink says it is as an onramp for TradFi institutions to get into tokenized digital assets. 

The week’s news

On Monday, G20 watchdog the Financial Stability Board issued nine top-level recommendations for regulators on overseeing crypto companies and markets. It also issued revised recommendations on the oversight of stablecoins.

The recommendations are designed to prevent crypto crashes on the scale of FTX and Terra incorporate feedback from the FSB’s public consultation on the topic, including calls for cross-border cooperation between regulators, governance requirements for crypto issuers, and mandatory disclosures for the industry.

The following day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accepted Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Spot ETF proposal for official review. This is the second spot ETF application that has moved to the next round, following asset manager titan BlackRock’s on July 13.

Exchange operator Nasdaq on Wednesday said it was delaying plans to launch a digital assets custodian service. Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said, “Considering the shifting business and regulatory environment in the U.S., we’ve made the decision to halt our launch of the U.S. digital assets custodian business and our related efforts to pursue a relevant license.”

She added the company would “remain committed to supporting the evolution of the digital asset ecosystem.” 

That day, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill that would require decentralized finance (DeFi) services to abide by the same compliance rules as financial firms like banks and centralized crypto exchanges, in a bid to reign in “criminals, drug traffickers, and hostile state actors such as North Korea.” 

On Thursday, the UK Treasury rejected a House of Commons Treasury Committee recommendation to classify crypto trading as gambling, stating that it “firmly disagrees” with it.

Finally, on Friday, Republican lawmakers in Washington introduced a 212-page bill entitled the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act. The bill aims to bring clarity and a “much-needed regulatory framework.”

The act includes a pathway for blockchains to be certified as decentralized. The SEC would have an opportunity to push back against assertions made by token issuers that their projects meet the standard outlined in the act. It also seeks to establish a disclosure regime for the transparency and compliance of digital asset issuers.