5 Crypto News Shorts: Crypto Price Pain, First Twitter NFT Auction Fails, and More

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In last week’s crypto news, it seemed there was a change of fate for the crypto world, cryptocurrencies coming back down after enjoying price spikes. Unfortunately, things weren’t much better last week, with a recovery nowhere in sight. Fear is sweeping the crypto world, with worries that crypto assets will not fare well in a world with such uncertainty.

BTC fell by 7%, ETH by 8.7%, SOL by 12.2%, and ADA b 12.7%. Things could be worse, but they could also be a lot better – price volatility can take time to dissipate so manage your expectations!

As for the poorest performers, MINA fell by 25%, CVX by 25%, OSMO by 16.7%, and WAVES by 16.4%.

However, a few coins did manage to see increases. Among them were DCR (up 21%), STEPN (up 11.7%), XCN (up 7.9%), and XMR (up 1.5%).

One of last week’s biggest headlines concerned the possible sale of Twitter to Elon Musk. While it’s unlikely to happen, the deal would expand Musk’s portfolio, which includes Tesla and SpaceX.

1) Auction of First Tweet by Twitter’s Dorsey Falls Flat

Meanwhile, the NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, sold for $2.9 million last year, has returned to the news after its buyer seemingly decided to seize the moment to resell it. Sina Estavi, a crypto entrepreneur, listed the NFT for sale for $48 million, promising to give charity 50% of the profits. However, his confidence has backfired — the NFT received just seven bids, the highest of which was around $277. That’s awkward. It’s unclear whether Estavi will sell or continue to HODL.

2) Ex Ripple, Barr Nominated for Fed

US crypto regulation has been a constant point of discussion, and the latest update is that a former Ripple adviser has now been given one of the top spots. Michael Barr, who also served as a senior official in the Obama era, has been named one of the nominees for the position of vice-chairman at the Fed, hoping that his mix of conventional and crypto-specific experience will make for a winning combination. However, he isn’t guaranteed the position and is waiting for confirmation.

3) India Stops Payments to Crypto Exchanges

It’s not just in the US that crypto regulation is heating up. Over in India, various Indian payment processors have stopped allowing payments to crypto exchanges. The halt in payments came suddenly last week, and no official reason has been revealed, but it’s thought to be linked to the new taxes introduced in April and more robust regulations, which are putting pressure on payments platforms.

Some better news is that Portugal has given out its first crypto license to a bank, with Bison Bank receiving the honor. As a result, the financial institution will become a virtual asset service provider (VASP), meaning it can legally carry out crypto custodian and trading services in the country.

4) Brazil’s 2TM Launch Quant Trading

Meanwhile, in Brazil, 2TM — the holding company behind the country’s biggest crypto exchange — plans to launch a quantitative trading platform. 2TM hopes to partner with Brazilian asset management firm Giant Steps to provide the service to capitalize on the growth of the trading practice in recent years.

5) Bybit Overtakes CME for Bitcoin Futures

Bybit has become the second-biggest bitcoin futures exchange, overtaking the place of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) when measured by open interest, a figure showing outstanding contracts and total activity. Binance has retained the top spot so far. Some traders believe the change in fortunes could be due to Bybit’s super leverage offering, high liquidity, and lower spreads — but in this fast-paced field, anything could happen.

The organization behind the highly successful UST stablecoin and LUNA cryptocurrency, Terraform Labs, has donated the equivalent of $820 million LUNA tokens to its nonprofit arm, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). The organization aims to boost its currency reserves and maintain its function as a stablecoin.

Disclosure: The author is not a licensed or registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. They are not providing you with individual investment advice. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before you invest your money.

Tim Thomas has no positions in the stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, forex, cryptocurrencies, or commodities mentioned.

Originally published at Wealth of Geeks

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