This week saw a significant surge in the world of cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin notching up a one-week high as MicroStrategy indicated its plans to amplify its BTC coffer. Meanwhile, stablecoin Tether marked a praiseworthy quarter having procured BTC 1,529 which amounts to $45.4 million, and successfully generating profits over $1 billion, a 30% increase while maintaining $3.3 billion in excess reserves. The crypto market witnessed a staggering 277% hike in USDT-ruble trading volume, thanks to the maneuvers of the Russian private military company Wagner Group.
On the rescue end, an ethical hacker facilitated recovery of ETH 2,879 for DeFi protocol Curve Finance, sparing it from a formidable $47-million hack. Cryptocurrency stalwart Justin Sun assumed the role of a white knight, averting a potential financial catastrophe for Curve. The tech giants too weren’t far behind, with Google Cloud uniting with Celo Network as a validator while Apple squabbled with regulatory scrutiny over the blockchain parameters and NFT policies in its App Store guidelines.
Bridging across the Atlantic, the central Bank of Korea shortlisted Jeju, Busan, and Incheon as potential venues for its CBDC pilot while the National Bank of Ukraine urged local crypto companies to unveil their financial specifics. In the meantime, Genesis Digital Assets is gearing up for a major Bitcoin mining expansion in the USA.
On the exchange front, Coinbase revealed its public-entry plans on August 9 with Base drawing in millions in ETH ahead of its formal inauguration. However, there was also a note of caution with the US SEC eyeing the exchange’s operations, calling for suspension of trading in all cryptos, barring BTC. Amidst these challenges, many anticipate Coinbase to outperform its Q2 predictions.
Contrastingly, Binance, achieved a significant milestone by securing operational license in Dubai and heralded its grand entry into the Japanese market. However, Binance wasn’t without controversies, as the US DoJ purportedly mulled pressing fraud charges against them.
In an odd development, WorldCoin reportedly sought to allow governments and private enterprises to harness its contentious iris-scanning and identity-verification technology, leading to Kenya suspending WorldCoin’s operations and launching a probe into the company. The luxury fashion brand Gucci chose to reward some of its NFT holders with physical gifts, while GameStop had to declare the closure of its NFT wallet due to legalese uncertainties in the crypto arena.
This week marked some tuneful highs and some dissonant lows in the dynamic symphony of the crypto world, keeping the global audience tuned in for the next performance.
Source: Cryptonews
