Coming every Saturday Hodler Digest It will help you keep track of every important news that happened this week. Best (and worst) quotes, top adoption and regulation, leading currencies, forecasts and much more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
This week’s top news
Cryptocurrency markets rallied after the Fed committed to printing and Evergrande plans to pay off its debt
Cryptocurrency markets were showing signs of recovery during the week as the US Federal Reserve committed to continuing its spending habits, while Chinese real estate giant Evergrande was able to strike deals with bondholders to avoid defaulting on massive loan commitments.
A possible default of $305 billion in debt from Evergrande has been a looming time bomb for the global financial market, with some asserting that this is China’s Lehman Brothers moment. However, the company is safe in the near term, and the news coincided with an 11.3% rise in bitcoin (BTC) price on Tuesday.
The price hike also came on the heels of comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who made it clear that the central bank plans to continue the ridiculous level of monthly bond purchases for the foreseeable future. Both reports indicate that the FUD related to Evergrande and the Fed’s spending habits can now be pushed back to a later date.
Old FUD, New BTC Price Fall – Crypto ‘Ban’ in China for Weeks Leads to $42,000 Drop in Bitcoin Price
Speaking of FUD, it seems that the recovery of the cryptocurrency market was short-lived as old news regarding China was suddenly picked up on social media, leading to an immediate price crash across the crypto market.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is down 2.7%, while Ether (ETH) is down 6.4%, and FUD is up 100%. This quick reaction was the result of a memo from the People’s Bank of China, or PBOC, criminalizing virtually all crypto activity except for possession.
But Chinese-speaking commentators noted that the People’s Bank of China issued the updated guidance on September 15, but posted it online on Friday.
It seems strange that the market has responded to China’s ban on cryptocurrencies once again, because it’s not as if the local government has done anything to boost the excitement over digital assets in the country recently. At this point, they may outgrow it and ban the acquisition as well.
Biden nominates professor of anti-crypto law and anti-big banks to run OCC
On Thursday, reports emerged that the Biden administration intends to nominate Kazakh-American lawyer, academic and former policy advisor Sully Amarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC.
Umarova is a crypto critic who is also not very fond of big banks, and has previously vowed to “end banking as we know it.” Currently working as a law professor at Cornell Law School, she is expected to put pressure on cryptocurrencies with tougher regulation, as she believes the industry threatens the stability of the economy.
If confirmed, bankers and crypto proponents alike could be in a difficult moment as Omarova single-handedly demolishes both sectors under the guise of protecting the economy.
Sports-themed NFTs spark a gold rush as projects raise $930 million in a week
To clear the palate, there was upbeat news in the NFT sector this week as two companies known for their token sports collection projects raised a total of $930 million.
France-based NFT game developer Sorari has closed a $680 million Series B funding round led by SoftBank worth $4.3 billion. Dapper Labs, the team behind the Flow blockchain and NBA Top Shot, also announced a $250 million funding round led by technology-focused hedge fund Cotawi.
Sorare and Dapper Labs have outlined plans to expand their iconic collectible model beyond football and basketball, respectively, along with scaling up existing, widely popular NFT projects. The grand total of $930 million represents a huge bet for the token sports segment at a time when the broader NFT market is facing a drop in sales volumes and floor prices.
John Cena describes his NFT sales as a ‘miserable failure’
John Cena, a WWE celebrity known for his ‘You Can’t See Me’ cult trend, recently saw limited sales during his foray into the non-fungi.
The professional wrestler said fans only bought 7.4% of the dropped WWE NFTs last month, calling the sale a “fiasco” and citing the NFT Gold package price point as being too high at $1,000.
There was a total of 500 NFT gold tier on display, which was part of a package containing physical collectibles, including a hat, shirt, bracelets, belt, towel, and autographed photo.
“I talk a lot about failure – that idea failed,” Cena said. “The people in WWE and I thought $1,000 was a fair price point. We were wrong. We were completely wrong.”
Winners and losers
At the end of the week, bitcoin is at $42,223, ether in 2,905 dollars and XRP in $0.93. Total market value at 1.88 trillion dollarsAnd according to To CoinMarketCap.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Selo was the top three gainers of the week (CELO) by 49.84% Celer Network (CELR) by 34.97% and Cosmos (corn) by 17.34%.
The three biggest altcoin losers for the week are Huobi Token (HT) By -32.21%, Sushi Swap (sushi) At -28% and EOS (EOS) By -26.22%.
For more information on crypto prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
Most unforgettable quotes
“We have absolutely no intention of embracing cryptocurrencies. […] On the contrary, we have a separate war, a separate battle against them. We will never support [cryptocurrencies]Because we will go forward with our own currency that has its own identity.”
ok ErdoganTurkey President
“The Matisse board can cost $100 million because very few people decide it is worth $100. Over 150 million people around the world have decided that bitcoin is worth something. That’s enough for me.”
Mike NovogratzCEO of Galaxy Digital
“Stablecoins work almost like poker chips in a casino right now.”
Gary GenslerChairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission
Ninety-nine percent is about being in the right circle, and getting the right information at the right time. In the NFT space, you live with this constant frustration of missing out on an opportunity to earn a billion dollars.”
Gauthier Zubinger, chief operating officer of Nonfungible.com on the NFT investment
“I know crypto enthusiasts never want to hear me say ‘sell’, but if you get as big as I did, I beg you. Don’t let it become a loss. Sell some. Stay long until the rest, then let’s wait and see if China changes Her attitude toward the Evergrande bailout plan.”
Jim Cramer, Host mad money on CNBC
“I believe we should always be open, and as such, I am very interested in all new creations and expressions from the art world. Metaverses will emerge, but I still believe that material art will always hold a very special place in everyone’s collection.”
Elio Dana, founder of HOFA
“The ultimate test we will apply when evaluating central bank digital currency and other digital innovations is, are there clear and tangible benefits outweighing any costs and risks?”
Jerome PowellChairman of the US Federal Reserve
“I am uncomfortable that any immaterial currency is the only one.”
Lord Pembernelltexan and redditor
Predicting the week
Bitcoin ‘Heavy Breakout’ Fractal Suggests BTC Price Could Reach $250,000 to $350,000 in 2021
Bitcoin analyst Bit Harington on Twitter recently posted a chart indicating a possible upcoming price hike for BTC, if history repeats itself.
Harington plotted the levels above the Bitcoin price chart from Buy Bitcoin Worldwide and Twitter User PlanB. The Harington levels mainly showed Bitcoin price resistance levels after the 2012 and 2016 Bitcoin halving. On both occasions, the price rejected resistance levels, gained strength, and subsequently broke through the levels, leading to large rallies.
After these price spikes, Bitcoin eventually returned to those breakout levels, finding them as support. Harington has listed the new $60,000 resistance level on their chart. So far, the chart is showing Bitcoin rejecting this level, thus finding support and looking higher towards the resistance level.
Harrington noted that Bitcoin jumped above the two previous resistance levels by about six times each time. Analyst Michaël van de Poppe took a peek at the chart, crunched some numbers, and determined that BTC could reach close to $250,000 to $350,000, followed by a drop close to $65,000 if BTC reacts similarly to the past.
However, this week Bitcoin faced a number of bearish price moves and Comments indicating a bearish outlook for the future for the emergence of cryptocurrency.
FUD of the week
Turkish President Erdogan says “we are at war” with cryptocurrencies
According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country is at war with cryptocurrencies but is very fond of blockchain technology.
Erdogan hosted a question-and-answer event in Mersin, Turkey, with naive youths from all over the country who had no idea that cryptocurrencies were a threat to their sovereignty. When asked about his views on cryptocurrencies, and whether the central bank will embrace cryptocurrencies, Erdogan did not utter his words when he said, “We have absolutely no intention of embracing cryptocurrencies.”
“On the contrary, we have a separate war, a separate battle against them. We will never give support to [cryptocurrencies]Because we will go forward with our own currency that has its own identity.”
Binance stops crypto futures and options in Australia
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has once again restricted its services in another country after notifying crypto investors in Australia that they have 90 days to close their positions on futures, options and leveraged tokens.
As of Friday, Australians are no longer able to increase or open new positions for derivative products on Binance. However, they will still be able to increase their margin balances to prevent liquidations and margin calls in the meantime.
According to the latest announcement, Binance’s crypto futures and options market will be shutting down on December 23 as the company restructures itself in order to reach its regulatory compliance targets.
A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph: “We are committed to our industry for the long term and want to ensure that our product offerings are welcomed by users and local regulators.”
Latest DeFi hack targeting BSC sees $12.7M in bitcoin stolen from pNetwork
Cross-chain platform pNetwork has become the latest protocol to be hacked on the Binance Smart Chain after the team reported a loss of nearly $12.7 million in Bitcoin on Monday.
According to a Twitter thread posted by pNetwork, hackers pulled 277 pBTC off the exchange – the majority of the network’s collateral. The team noted that the attack was carried out by exploiting a bug in its database, adding that a fix is already in progress.
The pNetwork team was also kind enough to offer the hacker a reward of $1.5 million if the stolen money is returned.
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Ukraine joins crypto-friendly countries with new regulations
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