This week in coins: Ethereum bounces back, Bitcoin slides, Russia bans cryptocurrencies

While many cryptocurrencies have fallen over the last seven days, the previous weeks were still much worse.

And while Bitcoin has fallen around 3.5% in the last seven days to $ 20,831 as of this writing, Ethereum has added 11.1% over the same period, and is now trading close to $ 1,357.

Notable gains this week included Polygon’s rise of 19.46% to $ .70, Uniswaps’ 11.6% rise to $ 7.07, and Monero’s 10.5% jump to $ 139.39.

Several leading projects went the other way: Cardano fell 8% to $ 0.44, Dogecoin fell 9.6% to $ 0.06, and NEAR Protocol fell 8% to $ 3.44.

On the news

One of the heaviest battles against cryptocurrencies this week came from an inflation report Wednesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which noted that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 9.1% during the 12 months to June. This is the largest increase in 12 months in over 40 years, with the largest price jumps in terms of food, shelter and petrol.

Last month, in response to May inflation measurements, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75%, the sharpest increase since 1994. The new CPI figures could cause the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further to increase borrowing costs and curb inflation.

Several crypto and stock sales followed that news, as investors dumped more risky assets. An hour after the numbers were released, Bitcoin had fell more than 4% while Ethereum fell by over 6%. (At one point, the report may have pushed the price of Bitcoin down by as much as 6%).

On Friday, data released by Bloomberg revealed that the Bitcoin-to-Nasdaq correlation is approaching lowest point this year. This means that despite their respective bear markets, Bitcoin has withstood more downward pressure than stocks. This is a completely different story compared to April, when Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation with Nasdaq was highest level in over one year.

Ethereum’s relative price resistance into the weekend stems from expectations of the network’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake. On Thursday, the network ran a successful one of the last samples for The mergerwhich at that time pushed Ethereum up almost 13% in 24 hours.

The merger will transfer the entire Ethereum network to a proof-of-stake version of itself running in parallel with Ethereum’s current proof-of-work mainnet. On Friday, Beacon Chain community manager superphiz.eth shared a tentative timetable of the latest updates.

In Global Politics, Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced on Monday, it will come up with its own proposals to ensure that crypto gets “robust regulation and oversight.” The FSB consists of financial officials and central banks from a group of 20 (G-20) economies. It will report to G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors in October, outlining regulatory and supervisory approaches to stable coins and other cryptocurrencies.

And finally, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law national ban on the use of digital assets for payments, although it is still possible to buy and hold cryptocurrencies.

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