​Elon Musk's conspiracy theory and the review of the key events. Summing up the results of the week

The past week has not brought pleasant surprises to bitcoin owners. After falling to $45 032 on Saturday, December 4, the asset rose only once to $51 900 before continuing its decline. As of Friday, December 10, bitcoin is losing 15,58% in value and is trading at $47 940.

Today's popular conspiracy theories have not bypassed cryptocurrency users. For example, part of the community has rushed to blame the slump on Elon Musk, who released a collection of red shorts at $69,42 in July.

I bought a pair of XL— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2020

According to supporters of this theory, Musk foresaw a market movement with bitcoin likely reaching the $69 000 mark and further correction to $42 000. And given that the word “shorts” in traders' slang means to bet on a decline in the value of assets, the idea has a growing number of followers.

Despite the drop in the exchange rate, there is an increase in hashrate in the bitcoin network, which means the new miners joining and increasing interest in the coin. Since the migration of the miners from China, the hashrate has risen 93% from the lows of June, reaching 172 EH/s. In addition, the investors have not withdrawn large amounts from wallets and exchanges in the past week, continuing to accumulate the asset in anticipation of further growth.

The second cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is also losing in price, with a weekly drawdown of 10,66%. Binance Coin also continued its downtrend, with the asset trading at $574, down 7,08% from last week.

Only six assets from CoinMarketCap's top-100 ranking were in the green. The top three are NEAR (+15,84%), LEO (+4,48%) and BTT (+1,07%). As for the outsiders, QTUM (-33,66%), ROSE (-33,25%) and FTM (-32,97%) showed the largest drop.

The total capitalization of the crypto market fell from $2,382 trillion to $2,242 trillion in 7 days with bitcoin dominating at 40,4%. As can be seen on the infographic of the Coin360 portal, the overall market backdrop is in the red zone.

Source: Coin360

Blockchain project news

The fourth parachain auction was held in the Polkadot network, with the Parallel Finance project winning. It was supported by more than 4 000 people who sent 10,75 million DOTs, about $294 million.

The rollout of parachains represents the final stage before the launch of Polkadot's core network. However, despite the successful progress of the process, the native DOT blockchain token continued its decline this week. As of Friday, December 10, its value stands at $26,55, with a weekly drawdown of 25,73%.

On the Cardano network, the analysts have recorded a significant increase in the number of smart contracts. The functionality became possible after the deployment of the Plutus framework, which provides fast access to the network's applications and services. On December 8, the number of contracts signed reached the 888 mark.

Source: Cardanofoundation

The ADA cryptocurrency from the Cardano project ranks sixth on the CoinMarketCap ranking with a total capitalization of $42,87 billion. ADA has fallen 22,38% in the past seven days.

For Solana, the week ended with a 23,73% decline in the exchange rate. Currently, the asset is in the 5th position in the ranking with a value of $176,55 per coin. The news background around the project remains negative, with the Solana blockchain previously facing a DDoS attack. This is not the first time, the previous attack in September 2021 led to the network shutdown for 17 hours.

What events took place in Russia?

The regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Russia is gaining momentum. On December 9, it became known about the offer of Russia's Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to introduce the concept of “cryptocurrency” into the criminal law space. Among the official's other ideas is the development of laws that will enable a legal possibility of arrest and confiscation of virtual assets that are in illicit circulation. One of the measures to reduce the risks of money laundering may be the introduction of the digital ruble. According to Krasnov, this will increase the transparency of all settlements and allow the fight against corruption.

Another high-profile event of the week was the announcement by the US cybersecurity experts that the Moscow City business center is a hub of illegal activities with digital assets. The Recorded Future analysts identified more than 50 cryptocurrency exchanges linked to possible money laundering.