This week has been a much wilder ride than the weeks previous, with Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies falling 15 percent or more before recovering nearly to their previous high levels.
Every week, I will be collecting some news stories / opinion pieces that I have found to be interesting in the crypto world and condensing them down into one easily digestible article. All the article and images are taken from a news source that I like to use and an alternative to CoinTelegram called BeInCrypto.
BeInCrypto is a news website founded in August 2018 that specialises in cryptographic technology, privacy, fintech, and the Internet — among other related topics. The primary goal of the website is to inject transparency into an industry rife with disingenuous reporting, unlabelled sponsored articles, and paid news masquerading as honest journalism. You can visit their website by clicking here or join their new Telegram Trading channel by clicking here. I am also part of that group and like the content they are discussing. There is a lot of news that came out last week, So let's get started!
Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Overtakes $1 Trillion Level for First Time
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has hit a record-breaking $1 trillion for the first time since its inception. The journey to this benchmark was led mostly by the market’s top cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, as institutional and retail investors continue to flock in droves. When do you think that we will see the 2 trillion mark? You can read more about this story by clicking here.
Threats on Ledger Owners Escalate After Another 20,000 Customer’s Data Is Leaked
Ledger wallet owners are getting more threats after the hardware wallet manufacturer revealed that a further 20,000 customer’s personal details were leaked by Shopify. The backlash against the company is increasing as more and more disgruntled customers take to the internet to vent their angst at Ledger’s negligence.
The company has refused to compensate its customers, even the ones that have had their wallets emptied by SIM swapping or other thefts. What do you think about this? You can read more about this by clicking here.
Welsh Man Offers Local Council $72 Million to Dig Up Bitcoin Hard Drive
A Newport resident has again reached out to the local council for assistance and approval in digging up a lost hard drive containing over 7,500 bitcoin. While the undertaking might seem like a no-brainer to most, the Newport council believes that the operation could do more harm than good.
The council has previously declined Howells digging request. To read more about this story, click here.
PayPal’s Cryptocurrency Trading Volume Soars Past $242m in 24 Hours
International payments giant, PayPal, saw record daily cryptocurrency trading, as volumes rose to $242.5 million on January 11. The figure almost doubles the previous record of $128.9 million, set only one week earlier To read more about this, click here.
Kraken Becomes Latest Exchange to Halt XRP Trading
US residents see their options shrink even further as Kraken freezes trading of the beleaguered crypto.
Kraken announced on Jan. 15 that it would halt trading in XRP for US residents. The company made the move because of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing against Ripple Labs. To read more about this story, click here.
Top 100 Bitcoin Addresses Add $11 Billion in BTC in the Last Month
Although the skyrocketing Bitcoin bull run has started slowing down, it hasn’t seemed to deter the biggest whales from continuing to stack their satoshis.
According to BitInfo Charts, which tracks the top 100 richest bitcoin addresses, the top 100 users have added almost 350,000 bitcoin to their holdings. The amount is worth about $11 billion at current prices.
These top 100 addresses currently own $82 billion worth of bitcoin, representing almost 13% of the entire circulating supply. To read more about this story, click here.
European Central Bank President Calls for Bitcoin Regulation
Talking at the Reuters Next conference this week, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde expressed her opinion on Bitcoin and the lack of regulation surrounding the digital asset. What do you think about her statement? Personally I think she should look into banks more.
You can read the full article by clicking here.
Crypto Exchange Bakkt Prepares to Go Public
Multiple cryptocurrency-based firms like Bakkt, whether they be mining farms or trading exchanges, are opting to go public to raise additional capital and increase credibility.
The latest organization is Bakkt, the cryptocurrency exchange owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE). ICE owns the New York Stock Exchange and a variety of other financial and derivatives markets. To read more about this topic, click here.
Grayscale’s Assets Under Management Reaches $25B
Grayscale Investments has crossed $25 billion in assets under management, going up by nearly 13x since Q1 2020.
Digital asset management firm Grayscale Investments tweeted on Jan. 12 that it had reached $25 billion in assets under management (AUM). The company has also resumed offering its products to new investors after suspending inflows last month. To read more, click here.
Sushiswap and PayPal Enjoy Trading Volume Highs
On the 12th of January, SushiSwap recorded almost $700 million in daily volume, a significant uptick compared to its previous all-time high of around $600 million a few days earlier.
To put this in perspective, that would put SushiSwap above Binance and just below Gemini in transaction volume if comparing it with centralized exchanges. To read more about this, click here.
Elon Musk OK With Being Paid in Bitcoin
Responding to a tweet by writer Ben Mezrich in which he said he’ll never turn down being paid in Bitcoin again, Elon Musk tweeted: “Me neither”.
The comment immediately drew reaction from the cryptocurrency community. Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance (colloquially known as ‘CZ’) tweeted “attaboy” to Elon Musk in response. To read more about this topic, click here.
That is my weekly roundup of the interesting news coming from the crypto world. What do you think about the topics / news stories and what was your favourite article? If you liked the content, please consider following me and tipping the article. Also are you a trader? If you are check out my favourite Telegram Trading chat, where you can discuss and find out more about crypto projects. Click here to start conversations with other crypto traders!
