On the whole, the crypto market remains down — but a few cryptos have managed to buck this trend. The biggest success story comes from TRX, up 9.1%, while GMT rose by 2.6% and DFI by 2.5%. Surprisingly, DOGE made a small comeback and saw its price increase by 1.3%.
The number of cryptocurrencies that fell in value is much more significant than the gainers. Those that fell saw some big swings, ZIL dropped 30.9%, AXS 28.1%, FTM 26.3%, and many more weren’t far behind.
BTC dropped by a modest 2.1%; similarly, the ETH value fell by 2.8%. SOL experienced a much starker fall down by 9.1%, and XRP also took a hit by dropping down 12.6%. We’re still in a day-traders market so careful how you go and always keep an eye on your risk.
Crypto News
$285m for Bored Apes’ Otherwise
The Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) is already one of the most popular NFT projects. Still, it made big moves recently by raising $285 million for its latest offering: The metaverse project Otherwise, which sells NFTs representing virtual land plots in a new social crypto platform. But while this was great news for BAYC, the buyers didn’t fare so well.
Otherside has made headlines for charging shockingly high Ethereum gas fees — it’s estimated that around $176 million went toward fees in the busiest 24-hour period alone. There’s speculation over whether the gas fees will be at least partly refunded by BAYC.
Wikipedia Stops Accepting Crypto Donations
Wikipedia has announced that it plans to stop accepting donations in the form of cryptocurrency, stating environmental concerns as the main reason. This decision follows three months of debates on the topic after a contributor claimed that the acceptance of digital currencies functions as a kind of endorsement for crypto, which contradicts the organization’s sustainability commitment. Most voters (71.7%) were in favor of the proposal.
Solana and Rari Capital Hacked
Solana had a nasty surprise over the weekend. An influx of traffic swarmed the network, getting past safeguards and overriding the validators that keep the proof-of-stake protocol going. The result was that block production completely stopped for around seven hours, leaving the Solana team scrambling to get things back on track. The incident contributed to the SOL token crashing drastically on Saturday night, but things seem to be recovering now the network is back on track.
Yet Solana wasn’t the only crypto protocol to struggle with hackers last week. The DeFi lender Rari Capital (known as Fei Protocol before merging with Rari) lost $80 million at the hands of hackers. The hack comes after the protocol lost $10.6 million to hackers around a year ago. Rari has now paused all borrowing while it secures the network and has announced that no other funds stored in the protocol are at risk. It’s offering a $10 million bounty for anyone who can return the funds lost.
Juno Concerned by Large Token Owners
Whales (a term for individuals that hold a disproportionately large number of tokens for a protocol) have long posed an ideological dilemma for the crypto community. On the Juno blockchain, a whale was accused of using its position to claim more tokens than it was entitled to in an airdrop.
Since then, the protocol has been figuring out how to deal with this individual, and a proposal was put forward in March to revoke their tokens. Finally, a vote has passed this proposal, and the funds will be secured by a smart contract controlled by the community, ensuring members can vote on how the money will be used.
Belgium Pushes Forward on Anti-Money Laundering
As of last Sunday, crypto firms in Belgium have to register with authorities as part of the European Union’s anti-money laundering legislation. New organizations must register immediately, while those already trading have until June to put forward their details. Companies that fail to comply could face a $10,500 fine or even jail. This creeping legislation has been a theme of recent months and appears to be an attempt to replicate the restrictions imposed on exchange-listed stock investors.
However, the European Banking Authority recently revealed that it doesn’t yet think it’s necessary to impose restrictions on banks since the crypto markets are still relatively small. It will monitor the sector carefully to monitor risks, though.
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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