Table of Contents
Welcome to today’s overview of crypto news:
MARKETS
The weekend began at a high level after news that the very first ETF futures on BTC could be launched in the US this week. As a result, the price of the primary cryptocurrency reached a six-month high of almost $ 63,000.
At the end of Saturday and the beginning of Sunday, the situation calmed down a bit, then the bears got involved again and pushed the asset south. Within hours, BTC had dropped below $ 59,000.
However, after this significant correction, the situation changed again. BTC’s value began to grow rapidly, adding nearly $ 4,000 and approaching $ 63,000 again. After that, BTC retreated slightly and closed the week at around $ 62,000. Currently, its price is around 60,800 USD.
Recently, it is quite common for most altcoins to fail to make the same gains as their leader. ETH jumped to $ 4,000 over the weekend, but soon failed and has now returned to just over $ 3,800.
Cryptocurrencies
SHIB will turn green on Monday, with almost 40,000 new holders in 10 days
Shiba Inu (SHIB), a decentralized meme currency, traded in the green again on Monday as retail demand for the asset remains high.
Against the background of impressive recent performance, the Dogecoin (DOGE) token has gained almost over 40,000 new holders in just ten days, according to data presented by Finbold.
Earlier, a report dated October 8, 2021, showed that Shiba Inu was being held by 699,971 people. As of October 18, 2021, there are 738,483 meme token holders, which means that there was an increase of 38,512 new holders at the time of publication.
Zimbabwean government is one step closer to adopting crypto
According to a news in the Herald, Finance Minister Ncube believes that cryptocurrencies will serve better as an investment class tool than as legal tender. This position suggests that the Victoria falls exchange platform could list cryptocurrency-based products in the near future.
In 2017, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe issued a statement in which it clearly stated its position on the use of cryptocurrencies within the country. Said that BTC and other currencies are not legal tender and should therefore not be treated as such. Virtual currencies are not regulated by Zimbabwean law, the top bank said. And as such, they run the risk of becoming a vehicle for money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, and even terrorist financing.
Banks, crypto exchanges, companies
Epic welcomes blockchain games, but don’t expect any Fortnite NFT
Game platforms choose the sides of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and unmistakable tokens (NFT) within their ecosystems.
Following reports that Valve has banned cryptocurrency and NFT-related games on the Steam platform, their main competitor, the Epic Games Store, has shown support for blockchain developers and the use of cryptocurrencies in video games.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said the Epic Games Store will allow blockchain games to be played as long as developers comply with applicable laws and disclose their terms. Games must be age-rated by the appropriate group.
BTC Bakkt Institutional Exchange is entering the NYSE today
Bakkt has announced that it has completed a business relationship with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose vehicle (“VIH”).
The merged company now operates under the name Bakkt Holdings, Inc. and Class A ordinary shares and Bakkt warrants will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, October 18, 2021 under the ticker symbols “BKKT” and “BKKT WS”, respectively.
The merger results in a gross revenue of approximately $ 448 million for Bakkt.
The proceeds from the transaction are expected to be used to finance investments in the company’s platform capabilities and marketing efforts, and to accelerate current and future partnerships, which the company expects to significantly accelerate the company’s growth trajectory.
CBDC, Regulation
The CBDC is likely, but not with a blockchain, says the former president of the Boston Fed
In his comments on the potential of the US CBDC, Rosengren suggests that it will exist in the future. As this would require an agreement between the White House, Congress and the Fed, he also said it could take a long time. Interestingly, Rosengren specifies that the national CBDC would be mutually exclusive with stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies.
According to Rosengren, blockchain technology is insufficient for CBDC needs because they want sufficient throughput and transaction speed that a distributed ledger is not such an effective mechanism for meeting the kind of operational needs they think they will need. He also believes that the CBDC for the US would be more like existing digital money transfer systems.
The Bank of Japan seeks financial coexistence with the CBDC
On Friday, October 15, the Executive Director of the Bank of Japan, Uchida Shinichi, addressed the topic of CDBC in his speech. The remarks were made at the second meeting of the Liaison and Coordination Committee for Digital Currencies of Central Banks. He made it clear that while cash is still in demand in Japan, the digital payments sector is growing.
In its current form, there are significant problems with the interoperability of digital payments between private payment service providers. This prevents “full use of economies of scale and network effects”.
Therefore, the digital currency issued by the Central Bank of Japan (BoJ) will be simple and compatible. It should act as a tool for private companies to develop financial and payment services for consumers.
