Monday, April 25, 2022 12:44 pm
Bitcoin prices surged from $ 39,000 to $ 42,800 last week, and cryptocurrencies have since endured a fall to $ 38,500, according to CryptoCompare data.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, moved in the same way, hitting a high of $ 3,150 in a week and then plummeting to the trading level of $ 2,800 at the time of writing.
This week’s cryptocurrency headline focused on launching physically supported cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds in Australia. This includes two ETFs launched by the Swiss-based company 21Shares AG and ETF Securities, a leading ETF provider.
These funds, ETFS 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) and ETFS 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH), will be operational on April 27 and will invest directly in BTC and ETH, respectively. Both funds are traded on the CBOE exchange and track the price of crypto assets in Australian dollars.
The assets that support them are refrigerated by Coinbase. With the addition of Cosmos Asset Management’s Bitcoin ETF, we will provide indirect exposure to spot BTC investments through the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, which was listed on the CBOE and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange last November.
These new products came when Robin Hood, a popular fee-free trading platform, revealed that it had agreed to buy Ziglu, a London-based fintech app that allows users to trade Bitcoin and other crypto assets. Will appear.
After Robin Hood reported in the fourth quarter of 2021 that monthly active users fell from 18.9 million in the previous quarter to 17.3 million, the deal could provide a decisive boost to Robin Hood’s growth outlook. I have.
These moves make it easy for investors to gain exposure to major cryptocurrencies, even when the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) spaces is stagnant. After a spectacular surge in activity last year, locked totals fell by 20.8% from the end of 2021 to the first quarter of this year and are now just above $ 150 billion.
The stagnation may be due, in part, to the downturn in cryptocurrency market performance in the first quarter of this year. Despite the market downturn, cryptocurrency startup Blockchain.com is reportedly interviewing banks about an initial public offering (IPO) that may go public soon this year. Blockchain.com recently reached a $ 14 billion valuation in the Series D round.
With the prices of most crypto assets falling in a week, Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) has become the third largest stablecoin on the market after surpassing Binance USD (BUSD). Its supply is still below the supply of USDC and USDT.
“Bitcoin is close to currency” – Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley said in a research report that few people currently use cryptocurrencies to pay for everyday items due to high transaction fees and low merchant recruitment, but the trend is changing. ..
For Morgan Stanley, partnerships with physical stores are an important milestone in the evolution of Bitcoin’s use as a payment method, as 85% of US sales are generated in stores rather than online.
The charge for sending BTC transactions using Lightning Network is close to zero, which is more practical for Morgan Stanley when making small payments. Banks added that merchants who accept cryptocurrency payments will lead to lower volatility.
Cryptocurrency payments may look different to Russian users than anywhere else in the world. The country plans to carry out a “pilot transaction” of digital rubles that can be used for international payments as early as next year.
Cryptocurrency payments aren’t as widespread as some advocates want, but the new application built is that space is launched fairly regularly. One such application recently launched is Coinbase’s long-awaited non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, which is currently in beta for some customers.
Anyone can access the NFT Marketplace, but at this time, only some users can buy and sell assets on the NFT Marketplace. Coinbase opened the marketplace waiting list in October, with over 1.5 million users registered.
Beta testers are selected based on their position in the waiting list. Testers can create profiles in marketplaces accessible using any self-custodian wallet. Coinbase does not charge transaction fees for a limited time and is partnering with the 0x protocol to optimize network fees.
The market is likened to a kind of social network of NFT. At the moment, it only supports Ethereum-based assets and payments, but plans to integrate it with other blockchains in the future.
Francisco Memoria A content creator at CryptoCompare, addicted to technology, he focuses on helping people understand the value of digital currencies. His work has been published in many reputable industry publications. Francisco holds a variety of cryptocurrencies.
Featured image by Unsplash.
