Crypto Market Week in Review (Jan 7 - Jan 14 2022)
Bitcoin tweet-anniversary
Bitcoin has been in celebration mode lately. Just a few days ago, we celebrated the crypto market leader's 12th-year birthday. Also, a few days ago (11th January), the first cryptocurrency marked another landmark with the first tweet containing Bitcoin. Although things have quickly escalated, with the total number of Bitcoin mentions on Twitter having surpassed two million according to data from Bitinfocharts , it is still important to remember one's history.
The first Bitcoin tweet came from Hal Finney at exactly 4:33 am on 11th January 2009, and it only contained the words "Running Bitcoin." Many suspect him to be Satoshi Nagamoto, because of his words, him tweeting the words just a few days after Bitcoin had been launched, and his close relationship with Dorian Nakamoto, but even after much pestering, he denied being Satoshi until his last breath.
Wiki contributors look to drop crypto donations over environmental concerns
Wikipedia's parent company, Wikimedia Foundation, announced in July 2014 that it partnered with Coinbase to accept crypto donations. The open-source platform explained that its decision was because of communal decisions, but things, as we know it, are about to change.
A proposal made by a contributor, Molly white, has thrown the Wikimedia group into two diverging groups. The first group supports crypto donations, while the other group is joining forces to compel the foundation to boycott crypto donations.
Molly white's claim states that accepting digital tokens is not in tandem with the company's desire to sponsor environmental sustainability, and sticking to this decision is going to be the foundation's choice to destroy its reputation.
The three cryptocurrencies accepted by Wikimedia include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. Although White called for a crypto boycott, she further suggested there might be a review of the platform's current coin/token choices and advised they go with fewer energy-consuming cryptocurrencies.
The Wikimedia Foundation has opened up to say this is not a decision that would be made by voting or prejudice. Still, the Wikimedia contributors will sit to discuss the argument.
Bitcoin rallies to $44,000 as inflation hits 7.8% in December 2021
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December is out, and unsurprisingly, the index hit 7%, the highest in almost 42 years. Bitcoin had been on a short upward trajectory, hitting $43,000 before the announcement was made, and it continued on that run before retreating after the $44,000 mark.
Castle Island Ventures, a venture capitalist company focusing on increasing crypto adoption through public blockchain sponsorships, was also involved in the news. Its CEO, Nic Carter, jokingly exclaimed that he is eager to watch how inflationists cope if the consumer Price Index hits double digits.
Most developed countries of the world have turned their attention to their various inflation metrics after spending voraciously on curbing the economic meltdown the CoVid pandemic posed. The United States particularly should be concerned, as the 7% CPI is the highest rate since the 1980s.
OpenSea competitor LooksRare exceeds $394M in sales
OpenSea now has a new competitor, and in a moment of utter shock, reports are in that the daily volume on the new NFT marketplace has gone over $394 million, just two days after it launched.
LooksRare is an NFT marketplace that uses the LOOKS token as its utility token. One perk the token offers that makes it distinct is that it offers 2% fees on basic sales while going on a no-fee trade on private sales. Its major competitor, Opensea, has a 2.5% fee for all transaction types. When a person buys or sells NFT in the marketplace, they also earn rewards in the form of the LOOKS token.
The top collection on the LooksRare marketplace is the Meebits collection, the third in the series from the makers of Cryptopunks and Autoglyphs.
The perks offered by the LooksRare platform have come under honest attacks by whales. They list artworks under the private sales, and for buying and selling the collection, they earn the LOOKS token, which can be sold on exchanges. This claim of false and repeated transactions was first brought to the limelight by crypto-journalist Colin WU, and the LooksRare team has not commented on it.
IMF- Bitcoin matured to be an integral part of the digital asset revolution
This past week, also the IMF spoke about Bitcoin. Should we start shouting “To the Moon?”, or should we be cautious? While we get ready to shout, or perhaps not, let's see the news of the IMF's quarters from this week.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that cryptocurrencies had become a major part of our traditional finance, and for a good reason. The interconnectedness between crypto and equity markets has grown over time, and one can predict the movement of one from the other. According to IMF economist Tara Iyer, major crypto assets like Bitcoin have grown from relatively unknown assets to millions of active users.
The price volatility from Bitcoin has spilled into emerging market indices, with the figure rising from 12% pre covid to about 16-18% now. Tether, which is the most traded stablecoin, has also influenced these indices by an increase of 6%.
With these results, it is clear why the IMF has paid keen attention to cryptocurrencies in order to prevent global financial crises. The correlation poses a never-before seen risk, and except things change soon, we might see various governments look into cryptocurrency with the great intent.
Palau President Talks Stablecoin Plans Following Island Nation’s ‘Digital Residency’ Rollout
The Republic of Palau, a 20,000 person country, is looking to revamp its economy using digital assets. The country has had an economic meltdown owing to the coronavirus, and this attempt by the president will both attract foreign investors and could potentially help the country back to its former glory. Palau will partner with Cryptic labs to launch the world’s first digital residency program.
The project will use Cryptic Labs’ Root Name System (RNS) technology to give anyone, and everyone, who registers an NFT of their resident ID card. They would be able to enjoy Palau-based perks, such as shipping and a physical address, even without stepping foot in the republic.
This would be the first of many lined up activities, as the country will look to follow the likes of El Salvador and Singapore to have more crypto inclusiveness. Other projects include a stablecoin, a local-based exchange, and a digital wallet for every citizen to solve the cash shortage problems the country is facing.
Bank of America predicts that Solana will become the Visa of the Digital-Asset World
The Solana blockchain has been the biggest of the Ethereum killers, and for a good reason. While it has not seen a solution to the Blockchain trilemma itself, choosing scalability at the expense of full decentralization and security has made it the fan-favorite for performing small transactions. Ethereum’s choice to forego scalability has led to network congestion and often exorbitant transaction fees, and this has made it cede some market share to Solana.
The Bank of America, in a note to its clients, explained that Solana is poised to become the next visa, a global payment giant. Looking at process transactions between the two compared entities, one would see some similarities. Visa performed 164.7 billion transactions over the past one year, and Solana performed 50 billion transactions since it first went live in 2020. The massive adoption of both platforms has made them dearly beloved, and who knows? There might be some form of collaboration between the two in coming years.
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