Crypto Classified Issue #8

Hi there! ??

We’re back to give you the latest updates in the crypto world... ???

Thank you for subscribing to our monthly “Crypto Classified” newsletter. If you’re new here, welcome to the family! ??

This newsletter will give you the most current and important information you need to know when it comes to navigating the crypto world. If you don’t have time to follow crypto news daily, by simply subscribing to LocalBitcoins’ newsletter you’ll have access to useful information including a general idea of where the market may be headed as well as what’s going on with Bitcoin and the wonderful world of cryptocurrency…

In this month’s edition, we’ll be taking a look at what the White House has to say about crypto, and we’ll also take you through the Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index that was published this month!

Oh! We also have some exciting news about LocalBitcoins. Don’t miss it!? ??

BTC Price… ??

On September 1, Bitcoin was at a value of $19,969 where it showed some stability after a big fall in mid-August. The lowest point in September was $18,837 on September 5, but it rose to $22,370 on September 11. Unfortunately, since that high, September has seen Bitcoin on a steady downwards trend, but let’s keep our fingers crossed! ??

Popular cryptocurrencies in recent times… ??

• Ethereum ?? ETH started off the month at $1.587. On September 10 it went as high as $1.776 before unfortunately taking a huge fall on the 16 where it went as low as $1,421.
• Tether ?? Tether has had a nice smooth month, ranging from $1.001 to $1.003. It slightly fell to a round $1.000 on September 16, but this crypto has never been much of a rollercoaster ride anyway!
• Polkadot ?? It’s been quite a rollercoaster for Polkadot this month, a quick glimpse at the value chart will tell you that! This month, the lowest was on the 5 when the value dropped to $6,879. However, it quickly recovered to $7.785 on the 11, only to drop back down again to $6.761 on the 16. Well, you know what they say, what goes up…!

World Crypto News… ???

Crypto adoption… who’s next?

This is the third year that Chainalysis, a blockchain market analysis company, released a Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index (GCAI) report on blockchain usage and adoption across 145 countries and territories. According to this year’s index, Vietnam tops the list for the second year in a row. It is followed by the Philippines, Ukraine, India, the United States, Pakistan, Brazil, Thailand, Russia, and China! ??

In Chainalysis’ first Index, Vietnam ranked 10th but in the last two years, it has held its position as top-adopter! Vietnam is one of the world’s first countries to have an official Blockchain association. ???

Another particularly notable top-adopter this year is China, which had fallen back to being in position 13 last year, and is now back among the top 10. This is especially interesting given the ban on all cryptocurrency trading announced in September 2021. It seems the ban has either been ineffective, or loosely enforced.?

According to Chainalysis, users from lower-income countries choose cryptocurrency to send remittances in order to protect their savings in times of economic crisis, or simply to satisfy their financial demands. ?? Bitcoin and stablecoins are more preferred in these areas than others.

White House on Crypto… ????

The Biden White House has just released its first-ever framework which basically outlines the ideal plans for crypto regulation in the U.S.! The document outlines how the financial services industry should evolve to facilitate borderless transactions, as well as how to tackle fraud in the digital asset space.

Here is what you need to know about the White House’s new crypto framework:

• Fighting illicit finance - The President will evaluate whether to call upon Congress to amend all laws that protect finance, as well as all laws against unlicensed money transmitting, to apply explicitly to digital asset service providers — this includes crypto exchanges and NFTs.
• A new kind of digital dollar - ?We all know there are USD-pegged stablecoins, including Tether and USD Coin. However, the White House is planning on taking on a hypothetical digital dollar. This would essentially just be a digital twin of the U.S. dollar: Fully regulated, under a central authority, and with the full faith and backing of the country’s central bank.
• Safeguarding financial stability - To make stablecoins “safer,” the administration says the Treasury will “work with financial institutions to bolster their capacity to identify and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities by sharing information and promoting a wide range of data sets and analytical tools.”

Whether you agree with these specific measures or not, you can’t deny that the crypto world should celebrate that the United States government is finally accepting cryptos and everything they have to offer. Let’s remember this is just the first framework, so hopefully the White House will find the right measures to help crypto grow without taking away what benefits its users!

Dogecoin comes in second ??

Following the Ethereum Merge (If you don’t know what we’re talking about, 1. Where have you been? And 2. Re-read our last newsletter!), Dogecoin now only trails Bitcoin as the biggest proof-of-work cryptocurrency.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though,? at $385.74 billion, Bitcoin (BTC) obviously remains miles ahead of Dogecoin’s market cap of $7.83 billion. However,? the well-followed memecoin is still comfortably ahead of the third place PoW cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic (ETC) with a market cap of $4.69 billion.

But we can’t ignore the elephant in the room when talking about Dogecoin. As you may have already heard, Musk is accused of running a pyramid scheme to support Dogecoin. The $258 billion lawsuit filed against Elon Musk, Tesla, and Spacex over their dogecoin promotion has expanded with new defendants and DOGE investors added this month. ?? The plaintiffs allege that the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin is a Ponzi scheme, emphasizing that Musk and his companies “falsely and deceptively claim that dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all.”

We’ll see that verdict soon enough but, as of right now, Doge is being a good boy.

LocalBitcoins News ?????

LocalBitcoins team is now back from summer holidays and working on finalizing the new website. We have got plenty of feedback and improvement proposals from you, our customers. Thank you so much! The improvements? will be implemented within the coming weeks and months. ??

In addition to our website, we will continuously improve our mobile app. New releases with improvements and new features are rolling out bi-weekly, and our customers truly are noticing it. ?? Over half a million users have downloaded LocalBitcoins mobile app and given 4.2-star rating in the app stores. Thank you for your support!

Finally, while we are still in deep crypto-winter, we start to see signs of spring in certain markets, especially in Africa. While these early signs might be misleading, it is encouraging to get reminded once in a while that after the winter always comes the spring. ??

Well, that’s it for another newsletter. Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter! Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram! ????