Your guide to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Web 3.0
This week in coins. Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt.
Last week was the first real red week in 2023 thanks to an SEC crackdown on Kraken and efforts that shook crypto confidence, most leading cryptocurrencies managed to regain value this week.
Bitcoin (BTC) rose 13.7% over the past seven days to reach $24,608 as of Saturday morning, according to CoinGecko data, after briefly regaining $25k on Thursday. The world’s number one cryptocurrency is currently being lifted off the success of Ordinalsa popular NFT project on the blockchain.
Due to the limited functionality of smart contracts (compared to its closest competitor Ethereum), Bitcoin is not usually known for NFTs, but the number of Ordinals minted on it has hit 130,000 since the project was launched last month.
Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, rose 12% over the past seven days and is currently trading around $1,700.
Both market leaders card traded sideways on Valentine’s Day as investors chewed on the conclusions of the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation in January reached 6.4%, exceeding the Bureau’s expectations by 0.2%, but it has generally declined since June last year.
Cardano (ADA) had a strong 12% increase after the network dropped the Valentine upgrade. Valentine improves cross-chain functionality and security for dapps on Cardano. Blockchain’s native token’s price is currently around $0.40.
Strong rallies were enjoyed by holders of Avalanche (AVAX), which rose 10.4% to $19.66; Tron (TRX), which climbed 12% to $0.07; Litecoin (LTC), which rose 10% to $101, Solana (SOL), which rose 14% to $23, Lido DAO (LIDO), which rose 13% to $3, and Polkadot (DOT), which exploded 17% to $7 ,31.
But three other names from the top 30 blew the rest out of the water: Filecoin (FIL) surged 55% to trade at $7.43; OKB rose 30% in seven days to reach $52.98; and Polygon (MATIC) jumped 25% to $1.54.
No significant losses were recorded by any of the thirty largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, and virtually all appreciated in value this week.
Cryptopolitics in Europe and America
The last week’s coin rally was despite indications from regulators not improving.
On Tuesday, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority issued a press release to say that it is knocks down on unregistered crypto ATMs, after finding several of them operating in the city of Leeds, England. The FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward said: “Crypto businesses operating in the UK must register with the FCA to combat money laundering.”
Same day across the Atlantic, legislators and experts met in Washington DC to discuss crypto regulation, but failed to agree on how to go about it, with some encouraging a more heavy-handed approach than others. Notably, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was not present, despite being one of the most vocal and visible potential regulators in the industry. Lawmakers noted that he would attend the committee’s next hearing.
The European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday guidance issued tells European banks that due to crypto’s inherent risk, they should cap all holdings even before Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s (BCBS) global standards come into force in 2025. The move comes a week after the block was published a new draft law obliges banks by law to assign crypto the highest possible risk rating.
And the SEC continued its crackdown this week, prompting enforcement actions large and small: a high-profile case against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, and a smaller $1.4 million fine against former NBA star Paul Pierce for shilling EthereumMax, the same token Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million for promotion.
SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce Thursday took to Twitter to criticize the agency’s proposal for crypto custody. In it, she specifically cited the proposal’s timing, feasibility and agency jurisdiction as potentially problematic and said the public needs more time to analyze and debate it. You can hear her extensive interview about the SEC’s approach to crypto on Decrypthis gm podcast from December.
