Weekly News Digest for Sep 14-20
Market Update
The crypto market last week saw a blend of bullish and bearish trends, with Bitcoin experiencing a surge to over $62,000 following of a key Federal Reserve decision. Standard Chartered’s prediction of Bitcoin reaching $125K under a Trump presidency contributed to optimism, while mixed technical signals kept Bitcoin below $60K for much of the week. Ethereum struggled below $2,300, reflecting bearish sentiment. Notably, baby doge coin surged over 100%, contrasting with the 20% drop of Rocket Pool. The NFT market also cooled, with sales falling by 7.91%. Despite periods of stagnation, analysts warn of potential future volatility for Bitcoin.
Top Stories of the Week
Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, maintains his prediction that bitcoin will reach $1 million this year, considering it currently "massively undervalued." He likens bitcoin to a beach ball held underwater, suggesting an inevitable rise due to consistent purchases by entities like Tether, Microstrategy, and Semler. Mow emphasizes the scarcity of bitcoin, indicating that large entities can no longer significantly increase their holdings.
Microstrategy has increased its Bitcoin portfolio by purchasing an additional 18,300 BTC for $1.11 billion, financed by selling stocks, resulting in a total holding of 244,800 BTC with an average purchase price of $38,585 per bitcoin. As of September 12, the company's executive chairman Michael Saylor reported a Bitcoin yield of 17.0% year-to-date, indicating a positive performance relative to the number of shares outstanding. This recent acquisition follows a stock sale agreement from August 1, which allowed for up to $2 billion in share sales to fund the ongoing strategy of accumulating more digital assets.
The article predicts the irrelevance of fiat currencies within a decade, as they will be replaced by decentralized, permissionless cryptocurrencies due to factors such as inflation, changing investment habits, and technological advancements. Traditional financial systems are failing to keep up with inflation and demographic pressures, while blockchain technology offers a superior alternative with benefits like privacy and accessibility. The loss of trust in central banks and outrage at government policies will accelerate the shift towards cryptocurrencies, potentially leading to broad economic and social transformations on a global scale.
Fantom's rebranding to Sonic Labs made headlines with its testnet demonstrating an impressive transaction finality of 720 milliseconds, indicating the potential for Sonic to become the fastest distributed ledger system. Sonic Labs aims to provide a secure L1 network with a revamped Ethereum Virtual Machine and more efficient storage, along with a native token "S" utilized for transactions, staking, and governance. The transition from Fantom to Sonic is promising significant advancements in blockchain technology, with an official launch anticipated for late 2024.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that 34 countries are interested in joining BRICS activities, reflecting its increasing global appeal. Russia, holding the current BRICS chairmanship, is overseeing the integration of new members and has already organized over 150 related events. BRICS, which now includes 11 members with recent additions, is also expected to establish its own parliamentary organization, reinforcing cooperation based on shared values of democracy and respect.
Brazilian Federal Police conducted Operation Niflheim, targeting three organizations that laundered over $9.7 billion through cryptocurrencies. The operation resulted in eight arrests and 19 search and seizure orders across multiple cities, with assets worth $1.58 billion in bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges being blocked. The laundered money, linked to various crimes like drug trafficking, was moved internationally, utilizing shell companies to obscure its origin.
Bitcoin and Ethereum's transaction fees have significantly decreased, making it an optimal moment for cheap transactions, gathering unspent transaction outputs for Bitcoin, and handling everyday transactions cost-effectively. The current low-fee environment is ideal for consolidating Bitcoin funds to save on future costs and for Ethereum users to transfer funds or manage other transactions like NFT sales more economically. With Ethereum's average on-chain fee around $1.63 and Bitcoin transactions averaging $0.92, it's a financially advantageous time for users to execute transactions that would be more expensive during busier periods.
Crypto analyst Austin Hilton touts Shiba Inu as poised for a parabolic breakout and singles out Crypto All-Stars as a top pick for the next bull run due to its innovative utility. Crypto All-Stars, a meme coin with a recent $1.2 million ICO, is building the first unified staking platform for meme coins. Hilton speculates that the new token could see up to 10x gains following its exchange launch, buoyed by its unique features like MemeVault, which allows staking of various meme coins for rewards.
The Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Alkhorayef, signaled Saudi Arabia's openness to adopting the petroyuan for settling oil shipments, emphasizing a separation of politics from commerce. Saudi Arabia, which imported 86 million tonnes of crude from China in 2023, is interested in deepening bilateral investments and cooperation with China, particularly in sectors like EVs and passenger planes. While the timeline for adopting the petroyuan depends on the will of the parties involved, former President Trump has threatened heavy tariffs on countries moving away from the U.S. dollar.
Mercado Libre, the e-commerce and financial services behemoth in Latin America, is expanding the reach of its dollar-pegged stablecoin, Meli Dólar, to other markets, starting with Mexico. This move comes after the token's initial launch in Brazil and is seen as a significant step given Mexico's high rate of cryptocurrency adoption, trailing only Brazil and Venezuela in the region. The Meli Dólar, created in partnership with Ripio, enables users to maintain the value of their income stably without needing a dollar-based bank account and is offered without transaction fees.
Coinmarketcap and Footprint Analytics have published a report outlining Bitcoin's growing importance in the decentralized finance (defi) sector due to technical advancements like Rootstock and Taproot, which expand its capabilities in smart contracts and complex financial applications. Bitcoin's defi projects have seen a total value locked increase to $1.07 billion, indicating its rising prominence alongside Ethereum in the defi space, enhanced by layer two solutions and sidechains that preserve its security and decentralization. The report suggests a positive trajectory for Bitcoin in defi, with developments in areas such as lending, borrowing, and yield farming expected to attract more investment and potentially alter the wider cryptocurrency landscape.
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