Possible ban on mining in the EU and bitcoin in Guinness World Records. Main events of the week

Bitcoin’s rate has fallen by 1,7% over the past seven days. The asset reached its highest values on October 14, when BTC was trading at $19 854. The lowest values were registered on October 20 — $18 900 per coin. As of October 21, 07:45 UTC, the bitcoin rate is $19 055 (according to Binance).

The value of the second most capitalized cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has declined 0,01% over the past seven days to $1286. The native token of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance (BNB) has fallen by 1,4% and is trading at $267,8.

The total capitalization of the crypto market fell from $0.,62 trillion to $0,912 trillion for the week, with bitcoin dominating at 40%. Ethereum’s share is 17,3%.

APT listing on Binance

The price of the token of the Aptos (APT) blockchain platform jumped by 10 000% immediately after trading opened on the Binance crypto exchange. Paired with the Tether (USDT) stablecoin, the value of the asset increased from $1 to $100, but dropped to the $7-8 level shortly afterward. As of October 21, 07:45 UTC, APT is trading at $7,44. The Aptos Foundation also held an airdrop of native tokens of the blockchain. In total, the project team airdropped 20 076 150 APT to 110 235 users.

The Aptos mainnet was launched on October 18. The goal of the project is to provide “the safest and most scalable layer 1 blockchain.” This event was the result of four years of technical development.

New restrictions for Russian users

US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken began to comply with the eighth package of EU sanctions, completely prohibiting the service of users from the Russian Federation. In the letter that the company sent to Russian clients, it is noted that restrictions have been imposed on their accounts. In this, the exchange will leave the option of withdrawing assets, to do this, it is necessary to contact the support service.

NFT platform Dapper will allow Russian users affected by the eighth package of EU sanctions to withdraw their NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, and UFC Strike NFT tokens from the Dapper wallet to the Blocto wallet. The company also notes that its previous actions to freeze Russian customers’ accounts were the result of a directive from Circle, which serves as Dapper’s payment processing partner.

On October 21, the centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) Cryptopay will stop providing services to users from Russia. The platform supported the eighth package of EU sanctions, which completely prohibits cryptocurrency companies from serving customers from Russia, regardless of the sum of assets on their accounts.

Ledger, a manufacturer of hardware crypto wallets, announced the termination of shipments to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Previously, the company sold devices through the Russian representative office Ledger Russia on the marketplaces Ozon and Wildberries.

CBDC and stablecoin news

On October 14, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a meeting titled “Central Bank Digital Currencies for Financial Inclusion: Risks and Rewards.” As part of the discussion, the IMF representatives suggested that CBDCs should be programmed in such a way that they are used alongside the social credit system. Subsequently, the transaction data can be used by financial institutions in assessing the creditworthiness of citizens, and regulators will have the opportunity to monitor the targeted spending of funds provided as welfare payments.

During a speech at Harvard University, Chris Waller, a member of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System (Fed), said that the launch of a national digital currency would not strengthen the dollar’s position on the world stage. According to him, the asset by itself will not be able to sufficiently reduce traditional problems to prevent fraud, theft, money laundering, or terrorist financing.

According to Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Congress should give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more authority to control stablecoins. Gensler noted that control over stablecoins will reduce risks to the financial system.

Adoption of cryptocurrencies

German bank N26 announced the launch of a cryptocurrency trading service through its mobile app. Initially, the N26 Crypto platform will offer 100 digital coins for Austrian customers, with another 94 assets to be added in the next month. The bank intends to roll out the digital asset trading service in stages in key markets over a six-month period.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and payment platform Primer announced a strategic integration that will allow retailers around the world to add cryptocurrency as a standard payment method for online checkout.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FCA) of the Republic of South Africa updated the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act to include BTC and altcoins. Under the amendments, these assets are recognized as financial products. The notion of a “financial product” in South Africa implies any instrument for obtaining money, licensed providers can offer them.

Fidelity Investments, a US-based financial services holding company, will open the option for institutional investors to trade Ethereum. The service will be available starting October 28, 2022, on the platform Fidelity Digital Assets.

The Japan Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchanges Association (JVCEA) relaxed listing rules for digital assets. The regulator will allow coins to be listed on platforms without going through a lengthy screening process. At the same time, tokens that have just appeared on the Japanese market must go through a full listing process. The rule changes will go into effect in December.

Guinness World Records added bitcoin and a number of achievements in digital assets to its latest edition under the category “Cryptomania.” The 2023 edition, launched in September, included significant crypto-industry events that cover BTC, cryptocurrency adoption, fan tokens, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Suresh Kumar, chief technology officer of the largest US retail chain Walmart, said that cryptocurrencies would become an important part of online and offline retail transactions. Kumar noted that digital assets would be used more often on social networks and metaverses to pay for goods and services. He also added that blockchain and cryptocurrencies can be used not only as a payment tool but also, for example, as a way to track the delivery of goods.

Mastercard payment company will partner with cryptocurrency platform Paxos to launch a program that will allow financial institutions to offer a digital asset trading service. Mastercard will act as a “bridge” between Paxos and the banks and will handle regulatory compliance and security issues.

Former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack acknowledged that digital assets have a number of advantages over the traditional financial sector. He noted that cryptocurrencies would play a key role in the digitization of the economy. According to Mack, in 50 years virtual assets may become the basis of monetary transactions.

Representatives of Singapore’s bank DBS said that bitcoin is a unique means of payment. According to investment strategist Daryl Ho, the uniqueness of the first cryptocurrency is determined not by its price, but by its utility, which allows one to transfer funds in a decentralized manner without the involvement of a central counterparty to clear the trade.

From the world of mining

The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) released data for Q3 2022, showing that Bitcoin network energy consumption has increased by 41% over the past 12 months. Data from 51 of the world’s largest cryptocurrency mining companies was used to compile a report. Also, according to the document, BTC mining consumes about 0,16% of global energy production, which is slightly less than the consumption of the video game industry.

Electricity supply problems in the European Union countries could lead to a ban on cryptocurrency mining being imposed. Such measures are proposed in a new European Commission document on measures to digitalize the energy sector to improve efficiency and integrate renewable energy sources. According to the document, the EU member states should be prepared to instantly stop mining in case of excessive load on the power supply systems. In addition, the authorities should soon develop energy efficiency labels for various blockchains. Among other measures for the crypto sector, the European Commission is considering eliminating tax breaks for mining companies that mine cryptocurrencies using the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm.

According to Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors, the threshold bitcoin price below which miners can cease operations is $12 000. Holmes said that under such a scenario, mining the asset would become unprofitable. The entrepreneur believes that if the rate of BTC decreases, private miners will start to shut down their rigs.

Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, said that a new bill on the regulation of mining, which takes into account the position of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, will be submitted to the lower house of Parliament in the near future. On October 19, the State Duma rejected the bill on cryptocurrency mining, introduced by the New People party. Deputies noted that the clause, which provides for the right to use digital assets as a means of payment, contradicts the Constitution. According to Gorelkin, the new document will not threaten the ruble as the only means of payment in the country.

In Russia, there is a growing demand for the leasing of cryptocurrency mining equipment. BitCluster, Intelion Data Systems, and Chilkoot, as well as Transleasing, have already reported on the implementation of such initiatives. That said, according to Chilkoot, the total volume of this market in the country in 2022 reached 1 billion Russian rubles (RUB), and in 2023 could grow to “tens of billions.”

On October 17, it took miners 85 minutes to mine bitcoin block 759 054, while the average time provided by the blockchain algorithm is only 10 minutes. According to analyst Colin Wu on his Twitter, the block was eventually mined by the Luxor mining pool. He also noted that this situation caused a delay in transactions on the network.

NFT and metaverse news

Roofstock, a real estate company, sold a house in South Carolina as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $175 000. Buyer Adam Slipakoff noted that he was able to buy “a full title-insured, rent-ready property with one click.” The purchase itself was paid for with USD Coin (USDC) stablecoins through the Roofstock onChain platform.

Flipkart, India’s e-commerce giant, and eDao, a Polygon-incubated Web3 entertainment firm, launched a joint project that allows customers to pay for purchases in the Flipverse metaverse.

Ericsson ConsumerLab conducted the study, from which analysts found that the introduction of 5G would open up users to the metaverse. According to experts, 5G users continue to increase their use of immersive digital services. 4G users plan to increase their interaction with the metaverse once they connect to 5G, with 41% saying they will start or increase their use of augmented reality.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, which was sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) for $2,9 million in 2021, lost more than 99,9% of its value. Thus, the minimum price for which a user of the OpenSea NFT marketplace offered to buy the token from the current owner is only $1,34 (0,001 ETH). The offer marked by the marketplace as the best came three days ago and is $1270,11 (0,95 ETH).

Analytics company CoinShares launched an experimental Twitter bot, CoinSharesNFTAI, which can calculate a “fair price” for each individual NFT. The bot currently supports data for only 50 NFT collections, including Doodles, CloneX, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Moonbirds. CoinShares noted that the company wanted to create an honest tool to help investors and traders.

On October 14, beer brand Budweiser jointly with FIFA Sports Association released the Budverse x FIFA World Cup NFT Collection. The collection includes an NFT scoreboard that allows users to select teams for the 2022 World Cup, as well as track their progress in real-time throughout the championship. Budweiser’s representatives mentioned that token buyers will have a chance to win a trip to the World Cup finals.

Actor Anthony Hopkins’ first NFT collection, The Eternal Collection, sold out in less than seven minutes on the OpenSea marketplace. In this, high demand caused technical issues that delayed the launch by more than 45 minutes. The collection was created in collaboration with Orange Comet Inc., a Los Angeles-based NFT and Web3-focused design agency.

Predictions on cryptocurrency rates

Analytics firm Messari reported a drop in bitcoin volatility to a two-year low — the indicator is 18,83. Experts studied the 30-day volatility index (BVOL) of the asset, developed by the BitMEX crypto exchange, and also noted that the first cryptocurrency is currently trading in a narrow price range. According to historical data, the value of BTC could fall sharply in the case of BVOL growth.

Canadian businessman and investor Kevin O’Leary expects the price of bitcoin to rise when the United States passes the Stablecoin Transparency Act. In his opinion, this could happen after the November 8 midterm Senate elections. According to O’Leary, even though the document has nothing to do with BTC, it will be the first regulation passed by US regulators for crypto assets, so many will want to buy bitcoin for long-term storage. That, in turn, will cause the asset to break out of its $19 000-$22 000 trading range and begin to rise.

Miller Value Partners Chairman Bill Miller called bitcoin “misunderstood.” In his opinion, while prices for the asset may be volatile, BTC is an “insurance policy against financial disaster.” Miller believes that the bear market is the best time to buy bitcoin and company stocks.

Gareth Soloway, the chief market strategist at InTheMoneyStocks.com and trader, allowed a further bitcoin correction, noting that in the “worst case scenario” the price of the asset could fall to the $3500 level. In this, the expert noted that if this level is reached, the growth of the cryptocurrency will repeat the dynamics of Amazon stock prices during the “dot-com bubble.”

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