The price of the leading cryptocurrency slipped below $55,000, a plot of virtual land in the NFT-game Axie Infinity was sold for a record 550 ETH, Biden signalled plans to keep Jerome Powell as chair of the Fed, and other events of the week.
Bitcoin price slips below $55,000
On Friday, 26 November, the price of the first cryptocurrency dipped below the $55,000 mark. The drop was accompanied by a wave of liquidations totalling $156 million on the futures market.
The following day, Bitcoin’s price continued to slide, at one point reaching $53,500 (on Binance).
One reason could have been the nearly $3 billion options expiry on November 26. Another was news of a new COVID-19 variant. Traditional markets also reacted to the news.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading near $54,100.
Bitcoin dragged the rest of the market. According to CoinGecko, all top-10 digital assets by market cap closed the week in the red. The biggest declines were Cardano (-23%) and Polkadot (-21%).
Founder of SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci stated that investors should seize the latest market pullback to scale up their positions, as cryptocurrencies have upside from a fundamental perspective.
wrote that the state Bitcoin fund took advantage of the dip and bought another 100 BTC.
According to CoinCodex, the biggest gainer among digital assets over the week was The Sandbox’s token. The price of SAND rose 75%, its market cap reached nearly $6.3 billion, according to CoinGecko.
The biggest loser was the WOO Network token. WOO price fell 4%, and its market cap dropped to $475 million, according to CoinGecko.
Russia to introduce liability for illegal turnover of digital assets
The Bank of Russia proposed introducing liability for illegal turnover of digital financial assets and establishing a framework for taxing transactions with them.
In its Financial Stability Review, the regulator named Russians among the most active participants in the cryptocurrency market. The central bank argues that widespread adoption of digital assets creates increasing risks.
The Federal Tax Service of Russia added that cryptocurrencies are currently under active study. In the Federation Council intend to take this matter seriously.
Biden to nominate Jerome Powell to second term as Fed chair
The United States President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Jerome Powell for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz saw this as a risk for Bitcoin. In his view, the reappointed Fed chair could pursue a more aggressive monetary policy.
What else happened in the United States?
- In the Senate sought information from stablecoin issuers about how they operate.
- Banking regulators will prepare guidance on digital assets in 2022.
- Hillary Clinton warned about manipulations of cryptocurrencies by Russia and China.
In the People’s Republic of China, officials proposed a system to track crypto-transactions
Gao Wenjun proposed creating a system to track cryptocurrency transactions as part of tougher regulation.
On November 26, it was reported the shutdown of one of China’s crypto news portals Chainnews after local users lost access to the site and app, as well as rival portals ODaily and BlockBeats.
At the same time, providers began blocking access to mining-pool domains, including F2Pool, ViaBTC and BinancePool.
Celsius Network to allocate an additional $300m for Bitcoin mining
Celsius Network will allocate an additional $300 million (having previously invested $200 million) for Bitcoin mining on U.S. soil.
In addition to equipment purchases, Celsius Network is investing in the U.S. blockchain hosting provider Core Scientific, the Texas-based Rhodium Enterprises and the Luxor Technologies pool.
On 26 November media reported the arrest of Celsius CFO Yarone Shalem by Israeli authorities. Celsius Network said it was aware of “a police investigation in Israel involving an employee,” but did not disclose the name or position.
What else happened in the mining sector?
- Russia received applications to host 1.8 million devices after China banned mining.
- Canaan delivered 2,000 Avalon Bitcoin miners to Kazakhstan.
- Authorities in Abkhazia acknowledged their inability to curb illegal mining.
Grayscale forecasts Web3 metaverse revenue to reach $1 trillion annually
The annual revenue of the Web3 metaverse sector could reach $1 trillion in the near term, according to Grayscale Investments.
They note that since 2020 the number of active wallets in metaverses has grown tenfold, approaching 50,000 by June 2021. In Q3, gaming blockchain companies drew $1 billion in 14 deals.
On 24 November, the prices of GameFi metaverse tokens Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND) updated all-time highs at $5.33 and $7.26 respectively.
Polkadot second parachain auction ends; Moonbeam wins
Moonbeam won the auction for the second parachain slot on Polkadot. In its support, users locked 35.7 million DOT worth around $1.43 billion.
Moonbeam edged out Acala, which last week won the first slot.
Since London, Ethereum has burned 1 million ETH
In 109 days since the London upgrade was activated on the Ethereum network, the protocol has burned more than 1 million coins. The leader in burn is the NFT marketplace OpenSea (110,175 ETH).
According to Ultrasound Money, in the first half of 2022 Ethereum supply will peak at 119.7 million ETH, after which the coin will become deflationary.
Vitalik Buterin proposed a method to reduce L2 transaction costs for Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin outlined a roadmap for Layer 2 solutions based on the Rollups for Ethereum. To increase throughput, he proposed restricting block data and gradually introducing sharding.
According to Buterin, the starting point should be limiting the amount of data in calldata in a block and lowering the cost of those operations from 16 gas per byte to three. This space stores information provided when calling a smart contract.
Media point to possible conflicts of interest in SEC v Ripple
Fox Business published an extensive investigation into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case against Ripple. The reporters contend that staff involved in filing the suit may be affiliated with Ethereum.
Earlier this week Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse acknowledged that a settlement with the SEC could be achieved in 2022. He said Ripple has made “significant progress.”
Axie Infinity land plot sells for record 550 ETH
On 25 November, Lunacian #789512 paid 550 ETH (about $2.46 million at the time) for a rare land plot in the NFT game Axie Infinity.
Representatives noted that this was the largest such purchase in the sector’s history.
DappRadar to launch its own RADAR token
The analytics service DappRadar, which provides data on decentralised apps (dapps), announced plans to launch a native token, RADAR.
The token will help DappRadar decentralise its business. The service plans to pivot to a full-scale marketplace for dapps. RADAR holders will vote on the development of the ecosystem.
India to present bill banning most private cryptocurrencies
On 23 November it emerged that the Indian government will present a bill regulating the digital assets market during the winter session of Parliament. According to the preliminary agenda, authorities plan to ban most “private cryptocurrencies.”
The news sparked panic among traders — by 24 November prices of major cryptocurrencies on Indian platforms traded below global levels.
Also on ForkLog:
- Adidas concluded a partnership with the Bitcoin exchange Coinbase.
- Elon Musk forced Binance to reveal details of the Dogecoin transaction glitch with old transactions.
- Died crypto-trading hamster Mr. Gox.
- A DuneDAO participant bought a print edition of Dune by Hodorowsky for $3.8 million.
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, founder of Distributed Lab, Pavel Kravchenko discussed the metaverses of the future, the barriers to their creation and the risks involved.
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For institutional readers, see our weekly “Institutional Ledger” newsletter.
On 22 November, in a ForkLog LIVE broadcast, we discussed mining in the US, the SEC–Ethereum relationship and what might stop Elon Musk from becoming president. Our guest was trader and ForkLog resident Ton Vays.
Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — news, prices and analysis.
Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — news, prices and analysis.