Bitcoin under threat, El Salvador rejected, Mark Cuban stung, McAfee ‘has nothing’: Hodler’s Digest, June 13–19
Coming every Saturday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Hawkish Fed comments push Bitcoin price and stocks lower again
The crypto markets had started the week with a spring in their step.
Last Sunday, Elon Musk revealed that Tesla would be prepared to accept Bitcoin as a payment method again once it could be proved that 50% of the energy used by miners comes from clean, renewable sources.
Traders reacted positively to the tweet, and there were green candles aplenty. Upbeat sentiment helped drive Bitcoin above $40,000 for the first time in over a fortnight. Unfortunately, though, it seems prices above this level were unsustainable.
A new wave of selling reared its ugly head days later after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell suggested that interest rates may rise in 2023 a year earlier than planned. Other officials went further, indicating the first increase could happen in late 2022.
Bitcoin wasnt alone in suffering the sell-off. Stocks and gold also fell, eating away at the narrative that BTC is an uncorrelated asset.
With prices falling as low as $35,000, there are now fears that a death cross may be forming for Bitcoin. Some traders are forecasting that $32,500 could be the next stop before BTC revisits the swing low at $30,000.
World Bank refuses El Salvadors request for help on BTC transition
As determined as El Salvadors president may be to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender, a series of unfortunate events this week showed that its harder than it looks.
The World Bank has refused to assist the country in its transition, citing the environmental and transparency shortcomings associated with the digital asset.
Although prominent Bitcoiners werent pleased with the World Banks refusal, its fair to say that they werent surprised either.
One particularly sarcastic contribution came from Blockstreams chief strategy officer Samson Mow, who tweeted: BREAKING: WORLD BANK CANNOT HELP EL SALVADOR MAKE WORLD BANK OBSOLETE. Miaow.
Elsewhere, an El Salvadorean minister denied reports that the country was examining the possibility of using Bitcoin for salary payments, warning such talk was too premature.
Economists have also been continuing to issue warnings about the potential ramifications of El Salvadors move. Steve Hanke pulled no punches when he said going through with this law has the potential to completely collapse the countrys already fragile economy.
Striking a cheery note, he said the politicians who backed President Nayib Bukeles Bitcoin Law were stupid, adding: Youre not going to pay for your taxi ride with a Bitcoin. Its ridiculous. […] 70% of the people in El Salvador dont even have bank accounts.
Mark Cuban calls for stablecoin regulation in wake of Iron Finance bank run
Billionaire crypto enthusiast Mark Cuban has called for stablecoins to be regulated after losing money in a dramatic rug pull.
Iron Finance fell victim to a historical bank run that detailed the price of the IRON stablecoin. Consequently, the value of its native token TITAN crashed by almost 100% over two days from all-time highs of $64.04 to a mere fraction of one cent.
In an email sent to Bloomberg, Cuban wrote: Even though I got rugged on this, it’s really on me for being lazy. The thing about DeFi plays like this is that it’s all about revenue and math and I was too lazy to do the math to determine what the key metrics were.
Crypto Twitter, already reeling from the U-turn performed by Elon Musk, wasnt a fan of Cubans remarks.
Krakens CEO Jesse Powell said a lack of regulation wasnt the problem, tweeting: Not doing your own research and YOLOing in to a terrible investment because your time was worth more than your money is your problem.
The death of NFTs? CNN, Fox, Mila Kunis (and the U.S. Space Force) dont think so
Earlier this month, some critics were sounding the death knell for nonfungible tokens after a Protos report suggested that sales had slumped by 90% since the peak in early May. However, things may not be as dire as they first appear.
First off, lets not forget that Sothebys auctioned off a rare CryptoPunk for $11.8 million earlier this month setting a new world record in the process. Also, its worth noting that theres no shortage of new NFT announcements.
Heres just a few that have emerged in recent days. CNN said that its planning to tokenize historic moments from the news. That came as Fox, another U.S. media behemoth, revealed its launching a $100 million fund for NFT content creation. Sothebys confirmed that it is going to auction off the source code for the World Wide Web in the form of a digital collectible. And not to be outdone, A-lister Mila Kunis is wading into the very masculine crypto space by launching her very own NFT project.
Even the much-ridiculed U.S. Space Force thinks that NFTs are out of this world. Its tokens are literally going to the moon paying tribute to Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the lunar surface.
Given how all of these projects have the chance to capture the publics imagination, it may be unwise to characterize NFTs as a passing fad thats fading away.
I have nothing: Imprisoned John McAfee claims his crypto fortune is gone
Still behind bars in Spain as he battles extradition to the U.S., antivirus software pioneer John McAfee has told his one million Twitter followers that he doesnt have hidden crypto.
He wrote: I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized. My friends evaporated through fear of association.
And, striking a defiant note, he added: I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing.
A Spanish court is set to make a decision on whether to approve McAfees extradition within days. The businessman is accused of tax evasion and failing to declare income from paid crypto promotions, consultancy work, and gains from his investments.
During a court hearing earlier this week, he claimed the charges against him were politically motivated and that he would die behind bars if he is flown to the U.S.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $35,702.06, Ether at $2,228.54 and XRP at $0.79. The total market cap is at $1,496,219,684,262.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Quant, XinFin Network and Theta Fuel. The top three altcoin losers of the week are Kusama, Internet Computer and Decred.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraphs market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
[Crypto is] the first genuinely new asset class in about 150 years.
Ric Edelman, Edelman Financial Engines founder
While [El Salvadors] government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support, given the environmental and transparency shortcomings.
For new investors, its best to buy when the market is well below trend. Now is one of those times.
Dan Morehead, Pantera Capital CEO
There’s little risk of the #dollar dropping in value vs. similarly depreciating currencies, which means that diversification into store-of-value assets like #gold and #Bitcoin is simply a prudent move, in our view.
Mike McGlone, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist
Michael Saylor is clearly focused on a long-term investment strategy rather than short-term gains or losses. Putting company debt on the line is risky, but it could obviously lead to a massive return as well.
Kadan Stadelmann, Komodo chief technology officer
Youre not going to pay for your taxi ride with a Bitcoin. Its ridiculous. […] Youve got 70% of the people in El Salvador dont even have bank accounts.
Steve Hanke, economist
When more people are buying cryptocurrency than investing in a stock market ISA, you have to conclude the worlds gone crypto crazy.
Laith Khalaf, AJ Bell financial analyst
In my view, it looks like the bottom is in.
Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity Investments director of global macro
Even though Musk is temporarily causing turmoil in the market, his involvement could be beneficial for crypto in the long-term, as he is attracting new people to crypto, albeit for sometimes the wrong reasons.
Erik Nurm, CoinSwap founder
Prediction of the Week
Even Elon Musk cant save Dogecoin from crashing another 60%, analyst asserts
A dreaded head and shoulder pattern has emerged in Dogecoins charts and according to one analyst, this indicates the meme coins price could fall by another 67%.
Pseudonymous trader Tyler Durden claimed in a tweet that a fall to $0.05 is programmed, adding: Even Elon can’t save this with his tweets. He’s tried and each time he just created another lower high. Gulp.
With prices now dipping below $0.30, DOGE is a long way from the all-time highs of $0.73 seen in the first week of May the culmination of a jaw-dropping 15,000% increase since the start of the year.Interest in the joke cryptocurrency is now falling across several metrics, indicating Doge may have had its day.
FUD of the Week
Scammers mail out fake hardware wallets to victims of Ledger data breach
The consequences of Ledgers major data breach continue to be felt almost a year later.
A Reddit user who was among those affected claims they received a fake Ledger Nano X wallet in the mail wrapped in seemingly authentic packaging.
The device came with a poorly written letter purporting to be from the Ledgers CEO that warned you must switch to a new device to stay safe.
Even worse, they also received a fake manual asking them to enter their private Ledger recovery phrase to connect their cryptocurrency wallet to the new hardware.
Crypto fan tokens a mixed bag for game-deprived soccer fans
Not everyone is a fan of soccer fan tokens, it seems.
Organizations representing football fans in England and Wales have accused teams of trying to squeeze extra money out of supporters only to give them a cosmetic say in how clubs are run.
The value of fan tokens plunged along with the rest of the crypto market after peaking in April and May. This volatility, combined with rising matchday costs in general, has left some fans feeling priced out of having their voices heard.
Sue Watson, chair of West Ham United Independent Supporters Association, asked: Why should you have to pay to have any sort of say in the club?
This unknown cryptocurrency soared by 164,842% in hours, only to crash 99%
About $7.65 billion entered the cryptocurrency market in just three hours via a widely unknown altcoin on Monday.
WebDollar (WEBD) surged from $0.0003711 to $0.6121 in just three hours a 164,842% rise in its market valuation.
Over a five-minute period, its market cap went from $1.84 million to $1.5 billion. It had fallen back to $5.12 million 40 minutes later. And, 50 minutes after that, it surged again with a vengeance hitting a staggering $9.5 billion.
At one point, WebDollar was the 18th-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap, leapfrogging the likes of Stellar, VeChain and Tron.
It wasnt to last. Two hours after topping $9.5 billion, it crashed by more than 99%, with its ranking rapidly falling down to No. 873.
Best Cointelegraph Features
An asset for all classes: What to expect from Bitcoin as a legal tender
New tech that reduces costs of international payments would be a boon for poor countries that rely on remittances but will BTC as legal tender fix that?
Joining the ranks: Bitcoins correlation with gold and stocks is growing
BTC used to be an uncorrelated asset, but thats no longer the case. What can gold and stocks suggest about the crypto markets?
Bullish all the way? MicroStrategy doubles down on its Bitcoin bet
MicroStrategys latest bond offering seeks to deliver a yield of 6.25%6.5% significantly higher than an average junk bond yield of 4.01%.
