Top Stories of the Week: Cardano Listing on Coinbase, New Bitcoin ETF and More in One Video

Here’s what has taken place in the crypto space over the past week.

The major event last week was the ADA listing by the biggest U.S.-based crypto exchange, Coinbase

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, digital trading platform Coinbase spread the word about adding support for Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, ADA.

Immediately after trading began, ADA reached a new all-time high at the $1.88 level at 4:15 p.m. UTC.

The spread between the ADA price on Coinbase Pro (ADA/USD) and on Binance (ADA/USDT) hit 39 percent on that day.

Flare Networks considers adding Cardano’s ADA to its blockchain. The Flare team set up a poll to learn whether this decision would find support among its users.

Speaking of Cardano, the Twitter page of Charles Hoskinson, the IOHK founder that stands behind Cardano, has finally been verified by Twitter with a blue verification check.

Thirty-three-year-old Hoskinson had been struggling to get verified on Twitter for years, and he finally stated that he would leave Twitter unless he got verified soon. The social network’s team finally responded favorably to his request.

Latin America approves the first Bitcoin ETF

The financial regulator of Brazil, its Securities and Exchange Commission, has greenlit the first-ever exchange-traded fund operating in Latin America.

The Bitcoin ETF by QR Capital will launch on the B3 stock exchange under the QBTC11 ticker. This is the second country that has approved a Bitcoin ETF; the other three kicked off in Canada earlier in 2021.

Morgan Stanley Bank bids to buy a stake in major South Korean exchange Bithumb

U.S. investment banking giant, Morgan Stanley, intends to buy a stake in major crypto exchange Bithumb headquartered in South Korea, as per a report by Naver News.

A previous deal for the exchange to be acquired by NXC Corporation did not work out due to slow negotiations.

IOTA launches its brand new wallet, Firefly

IOTA Foundation has announced the launch of its new cryptocurrency wallet, Firefly. It is based on two Rust-written libraries and has encrypted backups, along with secure memory enclaves.

Unlike the previous IOTA wallet, Trinity, users of Firefly can get their transactions verified much faster. They can manage multiple accounts and recover their wallets using a patented Stronghold backup.

Ripple keeps opposing the SEC in a legal battle

The legal team that defends Ripple Labs and its two highest-profile executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, have asked the federal judge to make the U.S. SEC produce documents showing the basis on which the regulator believes Bitcoin and Ethereum to be non-securities.

Following that, on March 19, a senior attorney at the SEC stated that Ripple-affiliated XRP cannot be compared to Ethereum and Bitcoin. Besides, the SEC attorney is doubtful that XRP has any utility and insists that the token is a security after all.

Besides, the SEC trial attorney insists the regulatory agency has evidence that Ripple cofounder Chris Larsen continues to shift XRP despite being in the middle of a legal suit.

Grayscale launches several new altcoin trusts

Grayscale Investments spreads the word about the launch of five new crypto-based trusts linked to Filecoin (FIL), Chainlink (LINK), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Decentraland (MANA) and Livepeer (LPT).

These are the first trusts that Grayscale has set up since 2019. Earlier this year, it shut down its XRP trust after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs.

Coinbase delays its direct listing until April

It has been reported by Bloomberg that the U.S.-based Coinbase crypt giant, under the leadership of Brian Armstrong, has chosen to postpone its direct listing on the Nasdaq to April rather than conduct it in March.

The reasons have not been disclosed to Bloomberg by anonymous sources who shared this information. Initially, Coinbase filed for a direct listing back on Feb. 25.