The democratic lawmakers of the US have now demanded the country’s crypto firms to disclose all the data in relation to their diversity practices.

According to the reports, the US Representatives administered by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters has issued a letter to 20 largest firms connected with crypto, Web3 and digital assets companies.

These big companies include, Aave, Andreessen Horowitz, Binance.US, Circle, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Digital Currency Group, FTX, Gemini, Haun Ventures, Kraken, OpenSea, PancakeSwap, Paradigm, Paxos, Ripple, Sequoia Capital, Stellar Development Foundation, Tether, and UniSwap

Lawmakers Issue Questionnaire

The reason behind demand for the letter is that lawmakers will use this letter to understand how the companies are working towards creating an unbiased environment for everyone. The letter was basically a questionnaire regarding the various practices that the companies are practicing.

However, the reports state that the questionnaire wasn’t made public. According to the letter, alarmingly, there is a shortage of information that is readily available to the general public for assessing the diversity of America’s major digital assets businesses and the investment firms that have major stakes in these firms.

The letter also mentions that the companies have just four weeks of time to respond to the questionnaire as the said date is on or before September 2nd.

As known, the information regarding cryptocurrencies are very limited and now the lawmakers are attempting to change this scenario. Even regulators are eager to understand what is it going on with investors?

Till today, the questions related to crypto didn’t have much information as it just consisted of what they sold, received, or exchanged any digital currencies.

A further development states that the SEC is currently looking into every US cryptocurrency exchange, including Binance, according to a spokesperson for Senator Lummis. It is already a widely known reality that Coinbase is being looked into by the regulatory authority.

With a partnership arrangement with Coinbase, BlackRock is the most recent company to express interest in Bitcoin (BTC). The asset class has attracted the attention of institutional clients of the largest asset managers in the world, which is a significant step. 

Clients of BlackRock will now have access to Coinbase’s cryptocurrency services in what might be historic cooperation. Despite worries about regulatory obstacles, the crypto community has universally embraced the Blackrock Coinbase alliance.

The largest asset manager in the world, according to assets under management (AUM), is BlackRock, with an astounding total of $10 trillion in AUM. Governments, central banks, and other institutions, among others, are among its numerous institutional clientele in different nations.

According to a statement, the collaboration will give institutional Aladdin customers of BlackRock access to Coinbase Prime’s capabilities. Clients of BlackRock will have access to a variety of Coinbase Prime services, including custody, cryptocurrency trading, and prime brokerage. The services are presently only available for Bitcoin (BTC), and their expansion to support additional digital assets will depend on how well they are adopted.

Why did Blackrock collaborate with Coinbase?

Blackrock aims to assist its clients in managing their assets more effectively, which is why it has partnered with Coinbase. Clients will be able to manage their Bitcoin holdings directly through Coinbase Prime thanks to the relationship. Blackrock stated that managing the operational lifecycle of crypto assets effectively would be its main priority.

Following the announcement, the crypto community reacted with great confidence. Blackrock’s foray into the cryptocurrency market is “a significant step forward for the industry in the long run,” according to Nick Mancini, host of a crypto markets show. He described the development as significant given the size of the assets Blackrock overseas on a worldwide scale.

The crypto market was in joy as the broader market had entered the recovery phase where major cryptocurrencies had gained their key price levels.

However, today the crypto space has yet again stepped back on a bearish pull. This has made experts and analysts anxious as they speculate if this could be the start of a bear market and whether the inflation has spiked.

Bitcoin had recently gained $24,000 level and now the currency has even lost $23,000 level and is trading around $22k area. Even the second largest currency, Ethereum, which had reclaimed the $1700 mark, is now hovering around the $1600 level. Along with these two major cryptocurrencies, others have also made a significant loss.

Adam Parker, who is the CEO and founder of Trivariate, while in conversation with CNBC, claims that the Consumer Price Index will stay high. These CPI numbers play an important role in the financial world as they are used by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation.

As per Parker, the rentals in the housing market have seen a rise of 12% yearly, and for crypto and stocks to rally the CPI should remain below 2. He further states that for CPI to drop below 2, the economy should see a massive recession.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s Chris Toomey also believes that inflation is still under control. He then talks about global GDP which is a matter of global concern. As per Toomey, currently, inflation is considered structural rather than transitory.

Another Interest Rate Hike Will See Bear Market?

If at all the economy is hit with inflation, then the crypto market will see a huge downfall. The recent reports claimed that inflation is at 9.1% and to hold back this, the Fed increased the interest rates by 0.75%. This move pulled down the global crypto market.

However, though July’s CPI numbers suggested increased inflation, it did not have much effect on the crypto market. According to analysts, this was because the market had already experienced a downfall with the previous CPI data and interest rate hikes.

On the other hand, if the market sees another negative CPI data along with an interest rate hike, the crypto market will be dragged into a bear market.