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	Happy Friday! This is Billy Bambrough, getting you up to speed with what's been going on with bitcoin and crypto as well as what to look out for over the weekend.

Seven-day crypto market snapshot

$40,785

$2,799

$25.11

$0.2021

Déjà vu


	Have we been here before? It certainly feels like it. Cryptocurrency prices, led by ethereum thanks to its closely-watched upgrade yesterday, have surged then stalled, with bitcoin once again failing to make meaningful gains over $40,000. This is bitcoin's third foray over $40,000 per bitcoin since late July, with buyers evaporating just a little over the line each time. The ethereum price is looking solid following its successful upgrade yesterday though there were early reports that transaction fees remain high on the congested network. It's thought it will take some time for the upgrade, designed to even out surging fees, improve network efficiency and curb ether token supply, to bed in and for its effects to be fully felt. Ethereum bulls are confidently predicting the London upgrade is the beginning of the so-called "flippening"—when the ethereum market capitalization surpasses bitcoin (they've been saying that for years though). Ethereum rivals (Binance's BNB, cardano, polkadot and solana) are all up between 5% and 24% over the last week and adding to gains today. The cryptocurrency market is looking broadly green for the last week, however, a couple of spots of red can be seen among major coins with Ripple's XRP and the meme-based dogecoin failing to rise with the tide. Outside of the crypto top ten, the token of the decentralized exchange Uniswap and non-custodial lending protocol AAVE have racked up double-digit gains this week after California-based crypto asset manager Bitwise created two funds for the decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. Now read this: Billionaire Hedge Funder Who Inspired ‘Billions’ Leads Investment To Turn Messari Into ‘Uber For DAOs’

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When regulation goes wrong 😬



	U.S. senators (including senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MS), pictured) are scrambling to finalize a huge bipartisan infrastructure bill Getty Images


	Panic on the streets of crypto Twitter: The U.S. cryptocurrency community went into meltdown last night after it emerged a rival amendment to a controversial crypto provision in the unfinalized $1 trillion infrastructure bill had been proposed. Catch up: The row began towards the end of last week over a provision in the bipartisan bill to raise some $28 billion via stricter tax rules on a broad definition of cryptocurrency "brokers" that some fear will make crypto mining—securing blockchains and validating transactions in return for new tokens—and wallet providing almost impossible in the country. This week, an amendment was proposed that somewhat clarifies the definition of a broker, explicitly excluding validators, hardware and software makers as well as protocol developers. Last night, Coindesk obtained a copy of a fresh amendment that excludes only proof-of-work mining (such as used by bitcoin but not Binance's BNB), or the selling of hardware or software that permits individuals to control private keys that provide access to digital assets. Who's who: The new amendment, put forward by senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mark Warner (D-Va) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz) is competing with an earlier revision proposed by senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore), Pat Toomey (R-Pa), and Cynthia Lummis, (R-Wyo). Biden's backing: In a surprising move, the White House has weighed in, giving its backing to the Warner and Portman amendment. The "amendment put forward by senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema strikes the right balance and makes an important step forward in promoting tax compliance," the White House wrote in a statement late Thursday. Outrage: The original provision and both amendments (to differing degrees) have been roundly derided by crypto investors, industry experts and technologists on Twitter. Tech investor and former Coinbase chief technology officer, Balaji Srinivasan, branded the Warner and Portman amendment "a backdoor bitcoin ban," while crypto lobbyist Jerry Brito, the executive director of the Coincenter think tank, called it "disastrous" and "ridiculous." Hold the phone: Speaking on a hastily assembled Twitter Spaces (organized by BlockWorks' Jason Yanowitz) last night, the chief legal officer of U.S. exchange Kraken, Macro Santori, called on people to pick up the phone and tell their representatives in Washington why they needed to vote against the Warner and Portman amendment. What's next: A vote is expected on Saturday, with the Biden administration hoping to get the bill through the Senate early next week. Don't miss: The IRS has seized $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency this fiscal year—here’s what happens to it

🚨🚨 BREAKING: Binance woes spread to Hong Kong


	Binance, the troubled, sprawling cryptocurrency exchange that's quickly grown to the world's largest crypto shop since it launched in 2017, is restricting some derivatives trading in Hong Kong. From today, users in the Hong Kong region of China will not be able to open new derivatives accounts while those with accounts will soon need to close their open positions. 💬 "New Binance users from Hong Kong can no longer open futures accounts and we will wind-down access for existing users," Binance chief executive Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, said via Twitter. "This is one of many proactive measures Binance is taking to help establish crypto compliance best practices worldwide." The move follows Binance partly withdrawing from markets across Europe as it seeks to head off global regulators intent on cracking down on the exchange. Binance is working on setting up regional HQs in order to better deal with local authorities, similar to its American Binance.US outlet. PIVOT: Binance is "pivoting from reactive compliance to proactive compliance," CZ tweeted earlier.

Profits over principles 🤑


	🤫 JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of bitcoin and crypto's most outspoken critics but that hasn't stopped the Wall Street giant from quietly offering crypto funds to clients. 🏦 The bank has started giving its wealth management clients access to six crypto funds in the past month, it was last night reported by CNBC, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. 🤭 According to CNBC, the sources each cited Dimon's criticism of bitcoin, calling it an "awkward fact." 💀 In 2017, Dimon called bitcoin a "fraud" and branded it "worse than tulip bulbs," referring to the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania. "It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed."

	Billy Bambrough
	Forbes Contributor

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.

Follow me on Twitter or email me.

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