This Week in Crypto – BTC and ETH Perform Underwhelmingly for the Fifth Week in a Row
Market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum are closing the week with minimal losses, marking the fifth week of poor performance from the two crypto assets. BTC has lost 1.94%, while Ethereum is down 0.3% to trade at $29,315 and $1,876, respectively.
The broader crypto market has remained relatively stable since Wednesday when the United States Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected margin of 25 basis points. The central bank started hiking interest rates last year to curb inflation. At one point, the Fed raised the rates by 75 bps.
Meanwhile, XRP has recorded some losses this week after rallying since July 13, following Court’s ruling that the token isn’t a security. Its issuer, Ripple, was charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020 with the allegations that it offered the public unregistered security in the form of XRP.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, XRP is valued at $0.7269 after declining by 3.5% over the last seven days. Another top-30 token that has posted a similar loss is Chainlink. It’s trading at $7.74 as of this writing.
Toncoin becomes the biggest loser among the leading 30 after plunging 19.4% to $1.23. Meanwhile, the top two meme coins, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, have defied the downward market trend to grow by 11% and 8.6%, respectively. DOGE started rallying earlier this week after billionaire Elon Musk hinted at Dogecoin integration with his social media platform Twitter, now called X. SHIB trades at $0.000084, while DOGE is valued at $0.0799.
Other News: Crypto Project Worldcoin Launches
Another news that made headlines this week is the launch of Worldcoin and its token WLD. Co-founded by Sam Altman, the Open AI boss, Worldcoin promises free WLD tokens to anyone willing to get their iris scanned using the orbs devices, which are currently available in Mexico City, Nairobi, Johannesburg, New York City, Seoul, Tokyo, London and Dubai.
According to Worldcoin, the biometric data collected will help to distinguish between AI and humans. The company also believes it’s creating a financial network that will bank the unbanked. However, not everyone is supporting the project. On Thursday, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said Worldcoin need to address the issues of security, centralization, accessibility and privacy for the project to become successful.
Further, the United Kingdom regulator, Information Commissioner’s Office, also released a statement expressing concerns over the security of the personal data collected by Worldcoin. The agency said it would make enquiries in the coming days. Regulators in France and Germany are also working together to investigate the crypto project.
CoinGecko’s data shows WLD is changing hands for $2.44 after declining by 29% from its all-time high of $3.30.
Crypto Politics in Korea, the US, and Russia
At the start of the week, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a bill that would see the digital ruble become legal tender. The central bank digital currency will be issued by Russia’s central bank. However, officials claim the digital ruble would take more than five years to be widely adopted.
On Thursday, South Korea launched the Joint Investigation Centre for Crypto Crimes, an investigation unit meant to tackle all crimes in the blockchain industry. The unit has thirty investigators, with most of them drawn from South Korea’s Customs Service, the Financial Supervisory Service and the National Tax Service.
That day, Republicans and Democrats debated the latest crypto bill, the Financial Innovation and Technology Act. House Representative Maxine Water called the bill a “wish list.” The policymaker claimed that the bill undermined the SEC’s role as well as existing rules.
Moreover, Democrats accused Republicans of tabling a bill that lacked consumer protections. House Representation Patrick McHenry defended the proposed rules saying even though they were not perfect, they were better than the existing crypto regulations.
Another bill that was debated is the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, which affects stablecoins. Democrats claimed that the bill didn’t have rules that would govern reserves backing US dollar-pegged stablecoins.
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