What are cryptocurrencies? | Decomplicated
Bitcoin has seen a slight price rise on Thursday after dropping to its lowest level since 2020 this week.
Some cryptocurrency analysts have speculated that Wednesday’s low may be the bottom of the cycle, as it bounced off its four-year moving average, however others warn that more volatility may be on the way.
BTC remains more than 70 per cent down from its all-time high, which it reached in November 2021, though previous major downturns following then-record highs in 2013 and 2017 resulted in corrections of more than 80 per cent.
The overall crypto market is still below $1 trillion, following heavy price falls for other leading cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) over the last week.
Major platforms including Celsius and Binance have experienced operational issues this week, which they blamed on an influx of investors liquidating their assets.
Crypto exchange Coinbase has also announced that it is culling over 1,000 employees after previously rescinding job offers, however Binance has announced it is hiring 2,000 more staff.
Tether sees another wave of redemptions
Investors have pulled out nearly $1.6 billion in 48 hours from Tether’s USDT.
The stablecoin’s circulating supply has dropped to about $70 bn, the lowest since October 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Vishwam Sankaran16 June 2022 07:21
Bitcoin miners scaling down production
Bitcoin miners are reportedly scaling down production due to the crypto market crash and surging energy costs.
The bitcoin hash rate, which is a measure of the amount of power spent for minting new coins, has slipped by 4 per cent since the beginning of this week, according to data from Blockchain.com.
“Currently, it’s not fun to be in the mining business,” Alexander Neumueller, digital assets project lead at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, said according to the Financial Times.
Vishwam Sankaran16 June 2022 06:28
Bitcoin sinks but regains value
After sinking very close to the $20,000 mark on Wednesday, Bitcoin has marginally risen to over $22,000, growing in value by about 3 per cent in the last day.
The leading cryptocurrency is still down by over 25 per cent compared to its price last week.
Ethereum has also grown by over 2 per cent in the last day, but is down by over 30 per cent compared to its value a week ago.
Cardano, polkadot, and dogecoin have grown by over 10 per cent in the last 24 hours.
The overall crypto market has grown by 3 per cent in the last day, but is still below the $1 tn mark.
Vishwam Sankaran16 June 2022 04:42
‘Bitcoin is the best performing asset’: MicroStrategy CEO responds to price crash
We reported earlier that more than $1 billion has been wiped from MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings following the latest market downturn.
CEO Michael Saylor has today addressed those losses on live TV, appearing on CNBC to say he has a long-term view of the bitcoin market, noting that bitcoin has never moved below its four-year simple moving average in its history. That means anyone who has ever bought bitcoin and held it for more than four years has not lost money.
“I think it’s been a net positive,” he told CNBC.
“Over any time frame – two years, four years, eight years – bitcoin is the best performing asset, I can’t come up with a better idea.”
Anthony Cuthbertson15 June 2022 17:30
Coinbase’s reduction in staff shows shows the dangers of relying on HODL, instead of a calculated approach to the crypto industry, according to Dmitry Gooshchin, co-founder of AI trading platform EndoTech.
“Investors and pioneers have failed to factor market volatility into their business models, which is an oversight given that volatility is an inherent component of this young market. It’s clear that both investors and crypto pioneers took a HODL approach instead of one that represents a more calculated approach to this nascent industry”, Mr Gooshchin said.
Adam Smith15 June 2022 17:00
Crypto exchange Binance is hiring
Just a day after Coinbase announced that it would be firing 18 per cent of its workforce – totalling roughly 1,100 people – rival crypto exchange Binance has announced that it is hiring.
CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, said the company has 2,000 open positions, which he attributed to Binance not splashing the cash on expensive crypto ads and sponsorship deals during the latest bull run.
Anthony Cuthbertson15 June 2022 16:39
Crypto crash: MicroStrategy’s bitcoin losses top $1 billion
Today’s losses mean MicroStrategy, the world’s biggest corporate investor in bitcoin, is now down more than $1 billion from its initial investment.
CEO Michael Saylor remains adamant that the firm won’t sell its holdings, and that previous concerns on a margin call on one of its loans were over stated.
After spending nearly $4 billion on its stockpile, MicroStrategy’s BTC is now worth less than $2.7 billion. Advocates would say that the USD value may drop but the number of bitcoins remains the same.
You can read more about it here.
Anthony Cuthbertson15 June 2022 16:02
stETH has dropped to $4 billion from about $10 billion last month as holders sell while ether’s price crashes.
“In the short term, stETH will face tremendous selling pressure,” Huobi Research Institute’s report states. “Turbulence is expected in the near future.”
Adam Smith15 June 2022 15:00
Celsius holds 409,260 stETH tokens
Celsius, which froze withdrawals last weekend is also holding 409,260 stETH tokens.
Celsius took a loss of almost $71 million earlier from staking stETH on Stakehound because Stakehound misplaced the keys, according to Johnny Louey and Andy Hoo, analysts at Huobi Research Institute.
“What Celsius can do is sell its stETH in order to buy ETH on the market to satisfy client requests,” Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at crypto market maker Genesis, told CoinDesk
Adam Smith15 June 2022 14:00
Bill Gates says NFTs are based on ‘greater fool theory’
Billionaire Bill Gates has once again spoken out about cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, claiming they are “100 per cent based on greater fool theory – that somebody is going to pay more for it than I do”.
Speaking at TechCrunch talk, he joked: “Obviously digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely, and that’s so incredible.”
As the biggest private owner of famland in the US, he added: “I’m used to asset classes like a farm where they have output or a company where they make products.”
Anthony Cuthbertson15 June 2022 13:34
