Last week, one of the biggest news stories was OnlyFans banning sexually explicit content due to pressure from its payment providers. Although the company has now reversed its decision, the event highlighted the importance of decentralized solutions and left many in the crypto community feeling buoyed by the new case for alternatives to banks.
Still, the overall performance of the cryptocurrency market has been a mixed bag. Bitcoin Cash ABC has seen the most significant gains of the week (of the top 100 coins by market cap), rising by 94.2% over the last seven days. A few other big names have also done well, with Solana up 25.1%, Terra up 24.9%, and Cardano up 18.1%.
But not everyone has been so lucky. XDC Network was the biggest loser of the top 100, declining by 20.5%, and Sushi is only just behind, with a 16.3% drop. Dogecoin also fared badly — it’s down by 11.6%.
The prices of two best-known cryptocurrencies have barely budged, but they declined slightly in value — Ethereum fell by 0.9% and Bitcoin by 1%.
A higher value hasn’t been the only good news for Solana this week. The cryptocurrency has also entered the list of the top 10 cryptos with the highest market cap for the first time. Its booming popularity partly comes down to its involvement in NFTs and partly down to leading Decentralized Finance efforts. Many institutional investors have begun to take note and buy into these booming sectors.
Last Friday, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey made public (through Twitter, of course) his ambition to make a decentralized bitcoin exchange. The aim is to create a platform that is both non-custodial and lets users fund their wallets with fiat currency from anywhere in the world. It will be part of Square.
In other news, it seems that India has entered the race to launch a viable Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The country began researching how a CBDC would affect the country’s economy recently and is now thinking of moving onto trials later this year. It follows other nations like China, Sweden, and South Korea.
Another week has passed, and more DeFi and crypto projects have successfully earned funding. Over in Taiwan, the blockchain company TradeTech raised $17 million from several investment companies for its blockchain project. It plans to use the money to increase fiat currency holdings and get hold of more licenses.
Also, the blockchain game MIR4 launched last week, which features in-game digital tokens called DRACO that users can exchange for goods and services. Since the game’s launch, the value of DRACO has jumped significantly, serving as an interesting case study for crypto in gaming.
But it’s not all good news. After caving in to pressure, Binance has stopped supporting the Norwegian language, Norwegian krone pairs, and any trading in the currency. This follows similar measures the company took regarding South Korea recently, and raises questions about how Binance and other exchanges will work alongside national governments.
Competitor CoinDesk hasn’t fared much better in the past week. The leading cryptocurrency exchange was listed on the stock exchange back in April 2021, and since then, the price has fluctuated continuously. Now, the research firm New Constructs has said that the share price is currently overvalued, which could shake market sentiment.
The UK has also expressed concern about the growing interest in crypto investments among its population, leading the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to launch a $15 million advertising campaign to spread a warning about the risks. Could more concrete regulation follow in the future?
Meanwhile, Cuba has announced that it will begin to introduce rules for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. In the future, licenses will be needed to operate in the space, and only certain entities will be allowed to continue.
The battle between private and public is unlikely to stop any time soon.
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Remember, this is not invest or trading advice. Do you own research before investing. Cryptocurrencies are very volatile and you can lose all of your money.