Bitcoin has had a month to forget, but Ether is tantalizingly close to hitting record highs. Plus, another setback for Facebook — now known as meta — as its top crypto executive steps down.
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Bitcoin's 'bearish' monthly close ❌
Dreams of a green Christmas for Bitcoin have been dampened after a disappointing monthly close. The world's biggest cryptocurrency finished November at $57,005 — well short of what many technical analysts hoped for. Tuesday's market activity was punctuated by a sharp rejection from $59,000. That came after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell suggested measures designed to stimulate the economy during the pandemic may end even earlier than expected. Here's what's happening.
Ether on brink of new all-time high 🤩
As Bitcoin stagnates, investor attention is increasingly turning to Ether. While BTC is flat right now — both on a 24-hour and seven-day timeframe — the world's second-largest cryptocurrency is on a tear. ETH has rallied by more than 10% in the past week, and is trading at a mere 2.6% discount to all-time highs. Bitcoin's gains since January stand at 94% — but that pales in comparison to ETH, which has surged by a whopping 542% over the past 11 months. Crunching the numbers.
SHIBA INU surged 38% on Tuesday 🚀
SHIBA INU has surged sharply after being listed by the Kraken crypto exchange. The joke coin rose by 38% in the space of 24 hours… hitting highs of $0.00005361 as a result. Momentum began on Monday after Kraken confirmed the listing. Given how a single unit of this altcoin costs a fraction of a cent, a minimum of 50,000 SHIB needs to be traded — that's worth about $2.27 at the time of writing. It's an act of redemption after Kraken irritated the ever-vocal #SHIBARMY. Read our article.
Facebook's head of crypto is leaving 🥺
David Marcus has announced he is leaving Meta — the company previously known as Facebook. The executive had played an instrumental role in building Novi, the tech giant's digital wallet. Marcus also helped to co-found Diem, a digital currency designed to reduce remittance costs for those trying to send funds across borders. Explaining his decision, Marcus said: "My entrepreneurial DNA has been nudging me for too many mornings in a row to continue ignoring it." What this means.
New CMC report reveals crypto trends 🔥
CoinMarketCap has released a new report that unearths some fascinating trends about how the website is used. In the year to date, positive developments in the crypto space have caused visits to CoinMarketCap to surge — but "adverse news had a direct and immediate negative effect on views." Tesla beginning to accept Bitcoin payments, as well as Coinbase's debut on the stock market in April, were both attributed with bringing new investors into the crypto market. Check out the other big trends here.
Sports NFTs set to explode in 2022 ⚽️
Demand for sports-related NFTs is going to explode next year, according to Deloitte. In an interview with Sportico, the consulting giant predicted five million fans will have embraced crypto collectibles by the end of 2022 — with transaction volumes doubling year on year to $2 billion. Deloitte's U.S. sports practice leader Pete Giorgio said the industry is at an early stage when it comes to tapping into other technological innovations such as the metaverse. Find out what he said.
FBI seizes 39 BTC from REvil 'affiliate' 🚨
The FBI has seized 39 BTC from a crypto wallet that is believed to belong to a man allegedly involved in ransomware attacks. Newly unsealed legal documents show the stash — worth $2.2 million at the time of writing — was seized from an Exodus account in August. Officials say the forfeited Bitcoin is linked to Aleksandr Sikerin, whose last-known address placed him in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg. Sikerin is accused of being an affiliate in the REvil group. Here's our story.
Bad news for crypto buyers in the U.K? 🇬🇧
Major crypto exchanges are going to be slapped with a digital services tax in the U.K. The updated rules will affect trading platforms with sales of more than £25m ($33m) — and it means an additional 2% of their revenues will have to go to the taxman. There are now fears these costs could end up being passed on to consumers — following in the footsteps of Amazon, Google and Apple. Ian Taylor of CryptoUK has described HMRC's updated policy as "regressive." Our story.
