Week in Review: Bitcoin slides below $35,000 as Binance backs Elon Musk’s Twitter bid with $500 million

Bitcoin’s price hit a local low below $35,000, Binance provided Elon Musk with $500 million in financing to acquire Twitter, Luna Foundation Guard bought 37,863 BTC for $1.5 billion and other events from the past week.

Bitcoin price slides below $35,000

On May 5, after a brief spike in quotes against a rise in the US Federal Reserve’s key rate, the price of the leading cryptocurrency began to fall sharply, drawing near the $35,000 mark. The digital gold failed to reverse the downtrend — on Sunday the asset slipped below $34,400.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading around $34,500.

The flagship dragged the rest of the market. By week’s end, all assets in the top 10 by market cap were in the red.

The weakest performance was Terra (LUNA) — the cryptocurrency fell 16.5%. Among the reasons was a temporary loss of peg to the U.S. dollar by the algorithmic stablecoin UST. The incident occurred amid a decline in the deposit yield in the Anchor protocol. In less than two days, more than 2.2 billion UST were withdrawn.

According to CoinCodex, over the week among mid-cap digital assets the native token of the Algorand blockchain platform (ALGO) rose the most. Its price rose by almost 30%.

The token of Project Galaxy (GAL) fell the most. It slid 56%.

The total crypto market capitalization stood at $1.7 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index fell to 39.4%.

Binance backs Elon Musk with $500 million to finance the Twitter acquisition

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance allocated $500 million to finance the deal to acquire the social network Twitter, initiated by Elon Musk. The billionaire disclosed this in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the document, Musk raised $7.14 billion from “co-investors.” The largest check ($1 billion) was written by The Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust. In second place was Sequoia Capital, which contributed $800 million.

This week Binance also received a license as a digital asset service provider in France.

Luna Foundation Guard buys 37 863 BTC for $1.5 billion

The non-profit Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) added to its holdings by purchasing 37 863 BTC for a total of about $1.5 billion. The deal was conducted on the over-the-counter market, with Genesis Global Trading and Three Arrows Capital acting as intermediaries.

ApeCoin community approves staking mechanism integration for BAYC NFT ecosystem

The ApeCoin (APE) DAO backing the token approved three proposals for protocol improvements aimed at governance changes and integrating staking mechanisms for APE and NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem.

The authors of the initiatives valued the integration at $300,000-$500,000, with a 12-16 week timeline.

Mark Cuban proposes Twitter use Dogecoin to fight spam

The billionaire Mark Cuban outlined a plan to use Dogecoin (DOGE) to combat spam and fraud on Twitter. The idea was supported by meme-crypto co-founder Billy Markus and Elon Musk.

Cuban proposed adding a feature requiring every user to stake 1 DOGE to post a tweet. Anyone can flag messages as spam — if the complaint is validated, the violator’s stake is shared among the raters. To post new tweets a spammer would need to stake 100 DOGE. If the complaint is not sustained, the author loses their 1 DOGE.

Reports of Russian users’ accounts blocked on Bitstamp and Coinbase

One Russian Bitstamp client reported that the account was blocked with no ability to withdraw funds. On Reddit he said the company had taken measures “in light of the ongoing events in Ukraine and subsequent regulatory directives.”

In Bitstamp’s official channels there were no statements about restrictions for users from Russia. Nevertheless, it has been reported previously that the exchange blocks transfers involving sanctioned banks.

Meanwhile Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the exchange adheres to regulatory requirements, limiting access only to users on sanction lists.

Blender.io mixer placed under U.S. sanctions

The U.S. Treasury added to the sanctions list the Blender.io mixer and related BTC- and ETH-addresses.

According to OFAC, the service helped launder funds stolen by North Korean hackers and was allegedly involved in ransomware attacks.

Algorand to sponsor the FIFA World Cup

FIFA named Algorand as a regional sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The protocol became the official blockchain platform for the tournament. The project team will help FIFA develop a digital assets strategy focused on NFTs and provide a wallet solution.

Coinbase takes its first bitcoin-backed loan from Goldman Sachs

The largest US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has secured its first loan collateralized by Bitcoin, issued by Goldman Sachs. Terms were not disclosed.

According to Genesis managing director Matthew Ballensweig, such borrowers typically post Bitcoin valued at 40% to 60%. The collateral is held by a qualified custodian. The lender provides the loan in dollars at an agreed rate.

USDD launched on the Tron network

On May 5, the algorithmic stablecoin USDD was issued and put into circulation on the Tron network. The asset is also available on Ethereum and BNB Chain via the cross-chain BTTC protocol. The total supply of USDD stands at 100 million tokens.

Earlier, the project founder Justin Sun said that the governance body behind the stablecoin, the TRON DAO Reserve, would set a ‘risk-free’ annual yield of 30% for the asset.

Vitalik Buterin says L2 fees should be no higher than $0.05

To be truly affordable, fees on L2 solutions for the Ethereum network should not exceed $0.05. This view was stated by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the network.

Currently only the Metis Network offers sub-$0.05 fees; others in the list would cost between $0.12 and $0.85 per ETH transfer, and $0.71 to $1.19 for token swaps — while on Ethereum itself a user would pay more than $2 and nearly $12 respectively.

Kazakhstan sets requirements to start mining operations

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development Bagdat Mussin has amended the rules for reporting cryptocurrency mining activity.

People planning to mine or provide related services must submit information about their legal entity or individual entrepreneur 30 days before starting operations, including contact details, banking information and other data. Read more at the link.

Crypto.com token plunges 25% after staking rewards cut. Community backlash prompts revision

Crypto.com announced a reduction in staking rewards for CRO on prepaid cards — the average yield for 180 days will fall by 69.5%, and staking for entry-level cards will become unavailable altogether.

After community backlash and CRO’s price drop, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said the decision would be revised to ensure a more balanced approach.

Craig Wright sues Coinbase and Kraken for trading “false” Bitcoin

The self-proclaimed inventor of digital gold, Craig Wright filed suit against Coinbase and Kraken.

Joining Wright were Wright International Investments Limited and Wright International Investments UK Limited. They allege the platforms mislead clients by offering Bitcoin Core as Bitcoin.

According to Wright, the only digital asset that remains true to the original Bitcoin protocol is Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).

Also on ForkLog:

• Instagram will add NFT support on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow.
• A Portuguese apartment was sold for 3 BTC.
• SEC fined Nvidia for misrepresenting the impact of mining on its business.
• Ex-BitMEX boss asked not to be jailed and to be allowed to travel.

What else to read and watch

ForkLog studied the guidelines of the World Health Organization and Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, consulted psychologists and psychotherapists, and compiled a guide on how to cope with stress, preserve mental health and help others do the same.

They released a series of educational cards about the NFT collection CryptoPunks, the decentralized exchange Uniswap, the ERC-20 token standard, and the wallet MetaMask.

ForkLog AI compiled the most important AI news of the week.

Blockchain technology remains one of the hottest trends among finance, government and business worldwide. The ForkLog journal offers an overview of the most interesting latest initiatives.

On Monday, May 2, ForkLog LIVE discussed robots, the Internet of Things and decentralized services in the context of DeFi and Web 3.0. Guests included Vadim Manaenko and Dmitry Starodubtsev.

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