The world has been in chaos over the last week, but the cryptocurrency market seems to have recovered from an initial plummet. LUNA surged ahead, increasing a massive 67.4% in value — and ANC wasn’t far behind, with a price increase of 66.5%. WAVES (up 34%) and JUNO (up 29.7%) also did well.
There were a fair few cryptocurrencies that performed badly too. CVX went down 24.7%, BIT by 16.7%, and HEART by 12.9%. Many others saw substantial declines.
Yet it was good news for investors of the big names. The BTC price increased by 5.6%, ETH by 6.7%, and SOL by 5.1%, with various others also enjoying a successful week.
At first, you might think the state of the world right now has little to do with the world of cryptocurrencies, but they’ve actually featured in many major stories. Russian-born Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has made headlines for his comments against the Russian regime. Plus, the Ukrainian government has asked for donations in the form of bitcoin and ethereum — millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies has been raised already. As the world discusses sanctions against Russia in the form of blocking SWIFT transfers, it also shines a light on the role of centralized financial institutions in our lives.
BTC’s price dropped at first amid the madness — proving that it’s far from being a safe haven asset like gold, which reached high points when the news of war loomed. However, BTC’s price recovered after the first few days, as reflected by its net increase over the last week.
Interestingly, the cryptocurrency tether (USDT) fared a little better, with its value surpassing $1 on a major Ukrainian exchange. This shows that stablecoins may indeed have a solid use case as an alternative to the dollar.
Meanwhile, the Russian government has made moves to restrict crypto trading, following in the footsteps of China. Now, Russian residents can only use a select few cryptocurrency wallets and platforms, and comprehensive financial reporting must take place. There’s not yet a full ban, but it seems that the nation wants to move in this direction.
Yet not everything in the news last week relates to the conflict roaring on. One of the biggest stories came from LUNA, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain payments platform that unexpectedly enjoyed a significant price gain toward the end of last week. What gives? LUNA’s success is due to the need for more decentralized finance solutions, which reduce reliance on centralized financial institutions. Various other big names in the crypto sphere have gotten involved, such as Jump Crypto and Three Arrows Capital.
Another big headline was Ethereum’s upgrade. The leading blockchain protocol’s need for greater scalability has been talked about a lot recently, with competitors like Solana and Avalanche gaining more traction. The fact that one of the protocols behind its scaling efforts — called zkSync — has released its latest upgrade way ahead of schedule is cause for good news. It has launched a new zero-knowledge rollup compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine, which will help create a more efficient environment for Ethereum.
Major crypto exchange Kucoin has announced a $50 million accelerator program for projects that will enhance its ecosystem. Developers will have the chance to receive funding through hackathons, listing recommendations, incubation funds, and more. Overall, the end goal is to become a leading place to trade cryptocurrencies while minimizing gas fees.
The head of Coinbase Ventures, Katherine Wu, has left the organization after just five months — despite her being part of the firm when it enjoyed a record year for investment. Now, Wu will join the young investment firm Archetype instead.
Disclosure: The author is not a licensed or registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. They are not providing you with individual investment advice. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before you invest your money.
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Tim Thomas has no positions in the stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, forex, cryptocurrencies, or commodities mentioned.
This post was produced by Smart Bitcoin Buyer/ Timothy Thomas Limited and syndicated by Tim Thomas.
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