Weekly Flip Thru: Bitcoin Price Rallies to 30-Day High, Celsius Plans to Pay Back Creditors Through Bitcoin Mining
Boy oh boy, does bitcoin ever rest? Not really. The news of broader macroeconomic developments does have substantial implications for the world of cryptocurrency (as it turns out). This week, news of the U.S. central bank’s actions on interest rates moved the dial for bitcoin prices, among other interesting developments from around the world.
Read on for the latest crypto news for the week of July 25, 2022.
Bitcoin rallies to 30-day high on news of softer Fed rate hike (CNBC) The price of bitcoin (BTC) went up to $24k for the first time in more than a month on July 20, 2022. The news of a less aggressive interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve drove some of the BTC price rally, according to crypto industry analysts. The Fed was considering increasing interest rates 100 basis points (a full percentage point) at their July 27-28 meeting. But forecasts from economists are now predicting a softer bump of only 75 basis points coming from the U.S. central bank. The news has put some wind back in the sails of the volatile crypto markets. But crypto winter is far from over – bitcoin is still 50% off its all-time peak price from November 2021.
More good pricing news could be found on the ethereum (ETH) front, with prices for ETH climbing up to $1,600 last week. For the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, the positive news of the upcoming ‘merge’ has many crypto investors feeling bullish for the first time in a while. The ‘merge’ is a software upgrade that will shift ETH from a proof of work mining process to a less energy-intensive proof of stake consensus mechanism. Speaking of crypto mining…
More reading: Proof of work vs. proof of stake. What’s the difference?
Bankrupt lending firm Celsius has a plan to pay back creditors: crypto mining (Fortune) How does a company that filed for bankruptcy in the previous week plan to make up a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet? By mining more crypto, of course! Specifically, the latest proposal from embattled lender Celsius calls for increased bitcoin mining to raise the cash needed to pay back creditors. Bankruptcy watchdogs are skeptical, though. Maybe because it could take roughly 5 years to mine enough new bitcoin to pay back investors whose funds weren’t able to move off the exchange before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Central African Republic to sell national cryptocurrency said to be worth $21 million by month’s end (Reuters) The Central African Republic will sell a national cryptocurrency known as Sango Coin as part of a leapfrogging initiative to become a digital-first, blockchain-based economy in the heart of Africa. Bitcoin became legal tender in the Central African Republic in April 2022. Sango Coin will be backed by bitcoin and the first genesis cycle sale kicks off on July 25, according to the project’s website. The coins will provide a pathway to e-citizenship for foreign investors and there’s a broader plan to use the sale of Sango Coin to finance construction of a brand-new Crypto City in the capital, Bangui. The name Sango refers to a trading language originated by the Adamawa-Eastern branch of the Niger-Congo family.
Binance fined $3.4 million by Dutch central bank for operating illegally (CNBC) Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was hit with a stringent fine by the Dutch central bank for operating without a license in the Netherlands. The fine was announced after a protracted back-and-forth between one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges by trading volume and Dutch regulators. Still, Binance is pursuing a license to operate in the Netherlands despite the $3.4 million penalty. Binance has acquired licenses to operate elsewhere in Europe, including Spain, Italy, and France.
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