Bitcoin, after undergoing multiple sets of capitulation recently, appears to have stabilised for now on the back of strong US gross domestic product (GDP) growth data. According to the economic data released, the US economy grew at 6.9% in the last quarter of 2021 despite the increase in Omicron cases. However, global financial markets including the cryptocurrency market continue to paint mixed signals with bursts of selloff and recovery as uncertainty over Ukraine borders and US Federal Reserve's hawkish tone (likely to increase interest rates) on tapering lingers.
In this article, we will cover the major stories that revolved around the cryptocurrency markets this week.
After the central bank of Russia called for a blanket ban on trading and mining cryptocurrencies last week, the Russian Ministry of Finance has discouraged any type of radical measures and instead seeks to promote innovation by introducing a set of regulations for the Bitcoin mining industry to prosper. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also reportedly backing the Government proposal to regulate the space. However, the President wants to restrict Bitcoin mining to only regions with surplus electricity given its high energy consumption.
Meanwhile, the US White House wants to form a set of policies to regulate the crypto industry. To begin with, the Biden administration is likely to release an executive order in the coming weeks to task the federal agencies with assessing the risks and opportunities the digital assets possess. This move is claimed to bring order to the unstructured approach to cryptocurrency space that the Government is employing currently.
El Salvador, the Latin American nation which made a historic move by adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender, appears to have irked the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IMF board members have urged the nation state to renounce the status of Bitcoin as legal currency. To set the context, El Salvador had sought a $1.3 billion loan from the IMF last year and the talks have been impeded ever since.
Apifiny Group, a New York based digital asset trading network for institutional investors, has announced plans to go public through a $530 million merger with Abri SPAC I, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Apifiny has partnerships with a number of global exchanges like Huobi Global, OKEx, KuCoin etc. The firm will list on the Nasdaq after the merger. This merger is aimed to accelerate Apifiny's growth in the digital assets markets.
Another solo miner has successfully won the mining rewards for finding the valid block hash with less computing power, the second such occurrence in the last one month. The miner with only 86 terahashes per second of capacity has managed to successfully mine a new block on the Bitcoin network, earning a block reward of 6.25 BTC. This, however, does not mean that the network is weak. It just indicates the rise in the number of solo miners who have won block rewards against unlikely odds.
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Disclaimer:This article was authored by Giottus Cryptocurrency Exchange as a part of a paid partnership with The News Minute. Crypto-asset or cryptocurrency investments are subject to market risks such as volatility and have no guaranteed returns. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.