Forbes - Witching day 🧙‍♀️

Happy Friday! This is Billy Bambrough, here with what's driving the day in the world of bitcoin and crypto.

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24-hour crypto market snapshot
Bitcoin (-1%) $40,302
Ethereum (+1%) $2,787
Under a spell 🪄
Cryptocurrencies are broadly treading water this morning, with bitcoin falling slowly back toward $40,000. Ethereum is managing to hold onto its latest gains but recent high-fliers are leading the market lower. Terra's luna is down 6% while avalanche is down almost 3%.

Outside the top flight,
apecoin, a cryptocurrency launched this week by the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection creator, Yuga Labs, has rocketed higher and is now ranked as the 33rd largest cryptocurrency by value on CoinMarketCap with a $4 billion price tag. The Verge has a good apecoin explainer while crypto critic Amy Caster has been aruging "it looks like an unregistered penny stock offering."

Watch out today... for any stock market volatiliy as a result of "quadruple witching day"—the one day per quarter (the third Friday of March, June, September, and December) where stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single-stock futures expire on the same day, creating higher than normal trading volume and arbitrage opportunities.

Watch:
Biden’s Crypto Executive Order—Breakthrough Or Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing?
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True Value Of Cryptocurrencies
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Trouble Down Under and across the pond
Celebrity scams: Australia's competition watchdog has filed a lawsuit against Facebook's parent company Meta, accusing the social media giant of failing to prevent fraudulent crypto and similar money-making schemes from misleading users. One user is thought to have lost almost $500,000.

Doesn't add up: The ads Facebook is accused of running in Australia took "users to a fake media article that included quotes attributed to the public figure featured in the ad endorsing a cryptocurrency or money-making scheme," according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. "Users were then invited to sign up and were subsequently contacted by scammers who used high pressure tactics, such as repeated phone calls, to convince users to deposit funds into the fake schemes."

Famous faces: Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest, chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, launched criminal proceedings against Facebook last month over scam ads that used his image to promote cryptocurrency schemes. Similar such scams elsewhere around the world have also resulted in lawsuits, including Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert, who reached a settlement with Facebook in 2019.

Meanwhile, across the pond... Both the U.K. and the European Union have ramped up scrutiny of technology and crypto companies this week. Tech companies in the U.K. are to be forced to tackle scam advertisements through the new Online Safety Bill, while the country's financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has approved only a quarter of applications by crypto firms for permissions necessary to run their business ahead of an end of March deadline, it was reported by the Financial Times.

Help needed: This week, it was reported the FCA is looking to hire someone to head its digital assets department, build a new crypto-focused team and the regulator's crypto policy while supporting innovation in the crypto sector and aligning the FCA with government policies and directions. Probably not a job you can knock off early from...

Triple threat: Three E.U. bodies have warned people risk losing all the money they put into crypto and are at high risk of being scammed, the European Union's securities, banking and insurance watchdogs said in a three-way joint statement it was reported by Reuters. "Consumers should be alert to the risks of misleading advertisements, including via social media and influencers. Consumers should be particularly wary of promised fast or high returns, especially those that look too good to be true," the statement said.

Now read this: Is bitcoin really anonymous?
Rare, Spotified NFTs 🔎
🎙️ Audio streaming giant Spotify is looking into incorporating blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into its streaming service as artists eye the huge returns some have seen from tokenizing their work.

💼 Spotify, which has hit the headlines recently for its support of controversial podcaster Joe Rogan over smaller artists, has posted two job listings for developers who are familiar with web3—the blockchain and crypto-based version of the internet that some think could succeed the Silicon Valley-centric web 2.0.

🔮 Last year, it was predicted by Saxo Bank cryptocurrency analyst Mads Eberhardt that the likes of Spotify and Apple Music would jump into NFTs in 2022 to combat NFT-based music platforms winning market share from traditional streamers.

Good to know: The crypto startup that wants to scan everyone's eyeballs is having some trouble
Warren's war on crypto ⚔️
Senator Elizabeth Warren has previously argued bitcoin and cryptocurrencies pose a risk to investors and the financial system.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has previously argued bitcoin and cryptocurrencies pose a risk to investors and the financial system. GETTY IMAGES
📜 U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren, a long-time crypto critic, has announced a new bill that would block bitcoin and cryptocurrency companies from doing business with those hit by sanctions. Read the full story on Forbes.

🗣️ "No one can argue that Russia can evade all sanctions by moving all its assets into crypto," former presidential hopeful Warren said during a Senate Banking Committee 
hearing where she introduction of the Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act. "But for Putin’s oligarchs who are trying to hide you know a billion or two of their wealth, crypto looks like a pretty good option."

💰 The bill would crack down on the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to evade strict sanctions put on Russia, Belarus and wealthy oligarchs since the invasion of Ukraine.

Now read this: In Austin, a coronation for crypto, a celebration of doodles, and confusion for Nicolas Cage
hello world
Billy Bambrough
Forbes Senior Contributor
I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business. I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.
Follow me on Twitter or email me.
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