This Week in Web3: L2 Token Reckoning, Bitcoin Blows Up, MiCA Goes Live with Circle

While altcoins across the board have had an abysmal month, there's been some severe reshuffling of L2 native tokens specifically

1️⃣ L2 Token Reckoning

ETH's major L2 ecosystems saw their market caps slashed this week as a rush of new entrants and a broader downturn in altcoin prices battered L2 native tokens.

Optimism's OP fell 23% week-over-week and 45% on the month, while Arbitrum's ARB dropped 19% this week and 43% over the past 30 days. Newer entrants like ZKS and STRK fell 43% and 59% respectively in the past month.

2️⃣ Bitcoin Blows Up

BTC's price fluctuated as much as $10K this week, with Mt Gox redemptions and the German government's market sales spooking traders.

Wallets linked to Mt Gox shifted 47,229 BTC as they prepared to repay depositors, and the move sparked a sell-off as traders reacted to the prospect of a large tranche of BTC hitting the market. To add to the drama, German authorities began selling their multi-billion dollar tranche of BTC, which was seized through various criminal cases.

3️⃣ MiCA Goes Live with Circle

The EU's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework went live this week, and Circle became the first stablecoin issuer to earn a license under the new regulation.

Circle will now be able to mint the USDC and EURC stablecoins, and the EU is urging EU-based traders to convert non-compliant stablecoins. This could prove to be a boon to Circle, which still lags behind Tether in circulated stables.

4️⃣ EigenLayer Competitor Shows Traction

Symbiotic, a competitor to the much-hyped EigenLayer, just surpassed $1 billion in deposits after less than a month, quickly climbing the ranks among restaking protocols.

Symbiotic's close relationship with staking giant Lido and EigenLayer's perceived vulnerability following a poorly received "stakedrop" token launch has left plenty of market excitement for Symbiotic and its associated Mellow Finance LRT protocol. However, EigenLayer still dominates the restaking scene with $19B in deposits.

5️⃣ Silvergate Pays Up

Crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank settled charges with a litany of government agencies and paid $63 million in fines over suits that it had not sufficiently monitored nearly $1 trillion in crypto transactions, including those from FTX. Regulators also argued that the bank had misled the public as to the effectiveness of its internal compliance programs for crypto customers.