Crypto

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has expressed concerns over El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender after President Nayib Bukele announced the launch of Bitcoin City. Bailey argued that ​​El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as a currency was alarming because consumers are likely to suffer from the cryptocurrency’s extreme volatility. Trading around $43,000 on the first day of El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption as legal tender, Bitcoin surged to a new historical high above $68,000 on Nov. 9. BTC’s price has significantly tumbled since then, with Bitcoin trading at $54,626 at the time of writing. Bitcoin 90-day price chart. Source: CoinGecko “It concerns me that a country would choose it as its national currency,” Bailey said at the Cambridge University student un...

Basic Attention Token (BAT) rallied to a new record high on Nov. 26 even as global markets plunged in tandem on fears about a highly mutated variant of Covid19 detected in South Africa. BAT’s price surged over 30% on Friday to reach $1.88 for the first time in history, with its market capitalization rising to $2.74 billion. Its climb appeared in contrast to the cryptocurrency market that lost up to nearly $283 billion in the same period. BAT market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap BAT snubs crypto crash Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, led the losses by falling by as much as 7.5% to under $54,000. Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto, dropped over 9% to almost $4,000. Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP, Binance Coin (BNB), an...

At least one out of four cryptocurrency investors in Japan had an experience of holding nonfungible tokens (NFTs), according to a new survey. Major Japanese crypto exchange BitBank conducted an online survey diving into the NFT investment trends in the Japanese cryptocurrency market. Releasing the survey results on Nov. 25, BitBank said that it polled 2,061 cryptocurrency users within a period from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2021. The respondents included clients of BitBank as well as crypto holders polled randomly via Twitter, a spokesperson for the firm told Cointelegraph. The survey results suggest that as many as 26% of Japanese crypto investors have tried out holding NFTs so far, with a majority of NFT investors being represented by younger generations aged between 20 and 40. For most respond...

Bitcoin (BTC) stemmed losses as Wall St. opened on Nov. 26 after concern over a new Coronavirus variant spark a global market sell-off. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Pfizer gains as Coronavirus panic sets in Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD ending its downturn at just above $53,500 on Bitstamp. The pair then added almost $1,500 as some sense of equilibrium returned to crypto markets, trading around around $54,400 at the time of writing. Both crypto and traditional assets were rattled on the day thanks to the proliferation of a new Coronavirus variant, designated “Nu,” which some parties claim could pose a problem for vaccine programs. Pfizer (PFE), one of the major producers of Coronavirus vaccines, conspicuou...

A transaction on the Solana network takes less energy than two Google searches, and 24 times less energy than charging your phone, according to a Nov. 25 report by the Solana Foundation. The report states that a single transaction on its network uses 0.00051 kWh, or 1,836 Joules, of energy. According to Google, an average search uses 0.0003 kWh or 1,080 Joules of energy. Perhaps more surprisingly, the report claims the entire Solana network uses an estimated 3,186,000 kWh per year, which is equivalent to the average electricity usage of 986 American households. In May, the Solana Foundation contracted Robert Murphy to write the report in order to “frame the environmental impact” of transactions on the Solana network. Murphy is the founder of Othersphere and was formerly an Energy Specialis...

A push in Thailand to boost gross domestic product (GPD) by targeting crypto digital nomads is coming closer to fruition according to local media. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has been looking into launching its own utility token called TAT Coin since September as part of a planned “cryptourism” campaign. The initiative aims to attract crypto wealthy digital nomads and the TAT has been in discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand regarding TAT Coin’s issuance. According to a Nov. 24 report from the Bangkok Post, the infrastructure behind the TAT Coin is “ready” to go and is now awaiting the green light from the Thai government. Speaking at the “Transform tourism with cryptourism” conference on Tuesday, Jirayut Srupsrisopa the founder and CEO of local crypto exc...

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has issued a report outlining its new definition of cryptocurrencies, along with proposed procedures for token issuers and punishments for non-compliance. The mooted rules could impose onerous regulations on individuals or platforms that mint non-art NFT’s intended for trading, as well as decentralized finance projects among others. The Nov. 23 report by the FSC details items it proposed in the Act on the Protection of Cryptocurrency Users that has been sent to the National Assembly for consideration. It lays down rules for token issuers who wish to have their tokens traded on Korean exchanges and suggested punishments for those the FSC has deemed to be making “undue profit through market manipulation or trading on undisclosed information.”...

The new German government has cited crypto in its coalition agreement, advocating for an equal playing field between traditional finance and “innovative business models.” Three German political parties agreed to a coalition deal this week that will see left-leaning Social Democrats (SDP), the Green Party and the right-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) take the reins from December this year. According to a rough translation of the 177-page agreement published on Nov 24, the coalition calls for a new “dynamic in relation to the opportunities and risks from new financial innovations” such as crypto assets and blockchain businesses: “We are making European financial market supervisory law fit for digitization and for complex group structures in order to ensure holistic and risk-adequate supervisio...

From the rise of the Metaverse to major brands announcing nonfungible token (NFT) drops, cryptocurrency mass adoption is well underway. Americans in particular have taken a growing interest in crypto, as recent findings from the Pew Research Center found that nearly a quarter of 10,371 adults in the United States were familiar with cryptocurrency, while only one-eighth (13%) were entirely unfamiliar with the concept. Additional research from online broker firm, BrokerChooser, discovered that the U.S. is the third most interested county in NFTs, falling behind Canada and Australia.  Given America’s curiosity for crypto, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the price of Bitcoin (BTC), NFTs and cryptocurrency in general are topics likely to be discussed at the Thanksgiving table this yea...

In a tweet posted by Axie Infinity late Thursday, a lucrative land plot within the monster-battle fantasy nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, game sold for 550 ETH ($2.3 million). Axies are creatures that users command to duel other players, battle enemies and complete daily quests. They are also NFTs that can be bred (minted), bought and sold freely. ✨A Genesis Land Plot just sold for 550 ETH! That’s over 2.3 M USD! Our player-owned Digital nation continues to shock the world pic.twitter.com/SVvAtFNYUF — Axie Infinity (@AxieInfinity) November 24, 2021 The game takes place in the world of Lunacia, which is inhabited by Axies. It is a 301 x 301 square grid where each section represents a tokenized plot of land called Terra, which players can also buy, sell or rent out to other players...

The U.K. Law Commission, tasked with monitoring the laws in the United Kingdom and recommending reforms, has said England and Wales do not need statutory law reform for smart legal contracts in the digital asset space. In a Thursday announcement, the commission said smart contracts built using distributed ledger technology are permissible within England’s and Wales’ current legal framework. The Law Commission recommended only “an incremental development of the common law” as needed for existing frameworks, but also encouraged any parties to smart contracts to explain risks relating to “the performance of the code” and any other necessary terms. The commission said the conclusions built on those reached by the U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce, which in 2019 recognized smart contracts as enforcea...