Crypto

The first half of 2021 in the crypto markets brought many comparisons to 2017. Bitcoin (BTC) was on a tear to its all-time high, the new frontier of decentralized finance emerged, and nonfungible tokens were gaining myriad celebrity endorsements.  But after the initial months of euphoria and a subsequent sell-off, BTC’s performance has been far more lackluster. The recent market sell-off resulting from the Evergrande crisis has compounded fears. However, it can’t be ignored that many altcoins, particularly platform tokens, have undergone impressive runs and, in some cases, even bucked broader market trends.  With hopes still high that another bull run is likely during this halving cycle, should BTC holders be worried that the flagship asset is underperforming?  2021 by the n...

Morgan Stanley’s Dennis Lynch shared a light-hearted analogy during a discussion at Morningstar’s yearly investment conference today, claiming that Bitcoin’s insatiable ability to defy the odds and rise from both technical and fundamental adversity portrays that of the South Park cartoon character Kenny. The 24-series show has garnered a global audience base for its weird and wacky sense of humour, epitomised by the long-standing gag that Kenny dies in each episode, only to be rebirthed and gleefully unaware of his brutal demise in the following show. Head of asset management firm Counterpoint, a Morgan Stanley subsidiary — and a keen advocate of the show — Lynch expressed his belief in the resilience of leading cryptocurrency asset Bitcoin since its inception over a decade ago. Afte...

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele claims that 2.1 million of his fellow citizens are using the government-backed Chivo cryptocurrency wallet, offering a glimpse into the apparent success of the country’s Bitcoin (BTC) gambit.  The controversial president updated his 2.9 million Twitter followers Saturday afternoon, claiming that Chivo “now has more users than any bank in El Salvador” after just three weeks in operation. Bukele indicated that it’s only a matter of time before Chivo adoption eclipses all banks in El Salvador combined. 2.1 million Salvadorans are ACTIVELY USING @chivowallet (not downloads). Chivo is not a bank, but in less than 3 weeks, it now has more users than any bank in El Salvador and is moving fast to have more users that ALL BANKS IN EL SALVADOR combined. This is...

The average portfolio size on Australian cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has grown from $577.65 (795.5 Australian dollars) to $2,069.16 (2849.5 AUD) in the financial year 2021, signaling a 258.2% increase in portfolio holdings, according to exchange data compiled by Statista on a recent BTC Markets survey. Data on the survey shows that the average portfolio size of female and male investors in fiscal 20-21 on BTC Markets was $1,924.30 (2,650 AUD) and $2,214.03 (3,049 AUD), respectively. However, in 2020, the average portfolio size of female Aussie investors exceeded male investors slightly.  Transaction data on the exchange also showed a pattern of growing investment demand with aging. Considering the data provided by BTC Market on Australia’s average initial investment, inve...

Solana (SOL) reached a $216 all-time high on Sept. 9 after rallying 508% since Aug. The bull run caused some analysts to project a $500 target which would translate to a $150 billion market capitalization. It is worth noting that during SOL’s rally, the Ethereum network’s average transaction fee had surpassed $40. Surging interest in the NFT market accelerated investors’ transition to Solana, which was boosted by FTX’s NFT marketplace launch on Sept. 6. Solana, Avalanche, and Cosmos price at Binance. Source: TradingView The above chart shows SOL’s two-month performance compared to Avalanche (AVAX) and Cosmos (ATOM). Both are fighting for the same decentralized application user-base and offer faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum (ETH). Major pla...

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Crypto markets soar after Fed commits to printing and Evergrande plans to pay its debt The crypto markets were showing signs of recovery during the week as the U.S. Federal Reserve committed to carrying on its spending habits, while Chinese real estate giant Evergrande was able to strike deals with bondholders to avoid default on its hefty loan obligations.  Evergrande’s potential default on $305 billion worth of debt has essentially been a ticking time bomb that has loomed over the global financial marke...

Hold onto your hats, boys and girls! It’s a new world — a financial system without intermediaries, that anyone can access 24 hours a day with only a mobile phone and a wallet! As Julien Bouteloup said to me:  “In DeFi, what we are building is fully decentralised technology, fully transparent, run by mathematics. No one can beat that.” He continued: “We are building on research papers, 40 years of research, fundamental research, discrete mathematics being built and put on-chain that no one can beat. You cannot beat that. GitHub didn’t exist in the ‘90s. First, the fact that we’re going at the speed of light, is because everything is open source, and everyone can participate.” Related: DeFi literacy: Universities embrace decentralized finance education A Novum Insights repor...

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly fell below $42,000 on Sept. 25 as the weekend looked set to deliver an unimpressive weekly close. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Trader: Bitcoin “fine” above $38,000 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD losing $1,000 in just over an hour during Saturday before rebounding. The weekend had started with the pair at around $43,000 — a critical level some say should hold as the weekly close looms. Others argue that lower price action would also be suitable for Bitcoin in the aftermath of Friday’s volatility, with $36,000-$38,000 the cut-off point for bulls. Among them is Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe. “The critical level for Bitcoin is still the same, which is between $...

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is holding its 76th annual meeting between Sept. 14 and 30 to bring countries together at a critical time for marshaling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis, which has worsened the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Related: How will blockchain technology help fight climate change? Experts answer Ahead of the UNGA meeting, the latest report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change points out that ambitious climate action has now become a...

Welcome to the world of central bank digital currency, or CBDC, where big countries like China and small countries like the Bahamas are trying to mark their presence. It’s a world where 86% of the world’s central banks are trying to create digital currencies. Almost 60% of them are working on the concept and 14% have already introduced a pilot program. Related: Did CBDCs affect the crypto space in 2020, and what’s next in 2021? Experts answer CBDC: A global perspective A CBDC is the digital version of a national currency that can be exchanged throughout the world. Unlike a national currency, you can keep a digital currency on your smartphone to buy whatever you want. Five countries have already introduced their digital currency. The Atlantic Council believes that around 81 countries (contr...

The bullish momentum that had been growing across the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the past few days came to a screeching halt on Sept. 24 as news that China had banned cryptocurrency transactions made the rounds on social media and initiated an abrupt fall in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) from $45,000 to $42,000.  After the initial knee-jerk reaction and a brief period of time for the market to digest the news, traders jumped back in to buy the dips on several altcoins, which helped some of the losses seen earlier in the day. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that three of the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Ren (REN), Celer Network (CELR) and Civic (CVC). Ren brings...