Trade Leveraged Tokens & Complete Tasks to Win $6,000 Airdrops；Vitalik Backs Ukraine；Warren Buffett Advises Against Holding Gold & Bitcoin；Russia Allows“Conditional”Crypto Trading

2022-02-25, 09:10

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TA Highlight

Affected by the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the cryptocurrency market has shown great volatility this week.

On the 24th, Russian troops raided Ukraine, a sudden war that would have far-reaching effects on the world economy. The panic caused by the war had a huge impact on the cryptocurrency market, with BTC spot price breaking through the $35,000 barrier to reach $34,333 on the same day.

The sudden plunge also triggered a 'pins and needles effect' within 24 hours; the entire network liquidated $250 million. However, the BTC spot price rebounded quickly after a sharp drop yesterday. The spot price of BTC is trading at $38,345 as of this report.

It looks like cryptocurrency prices have recovered from the shock caused by the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. However, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will have a deep impact on the world economy, and the cryptocurrency market is bound to be further affected.

Whether BTC is a safe-haven asset like gold, or a risky investment like stocks, will also be verified in this conflict.

Crypto Alerts

Vitalik Buterin slams Kremlin calling Ukraine invasion 'a crime'

Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-Canadian co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, railed against Russian president Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, condemning it as a "crime against the Ukrainian and Russian people".

Buterin has been vocal in his opposition to escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine, tweeting earlier this month that he hoped the Kremlin would "chose wisely" in its course of action over Ukraine.

Buterin is known for expressing his opinions publicly. This week, he slammed the Canadian government for blocking crypto transfers and the bank accounts of truckers protesting in Ottawa.

Elon Musk Reveals Dogecoin Will Be Accepted at Tesla's New Futuristic Diner, Drive-in Theater

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk tweeted about future dogecoin payment acceptance Friday in reply to a tweet by developer Ryan Zohoury, who said a new Tesla supercharger station in Santa Monica, California, is almost full 10 minutes after it opened.

At the time this writing, the Tesla CEO has not clarified what exactly customers can pay for with the meme cryptocurrency. Some people assume that Tesla supercharger stations will accept dogecoin while others interpreted Musk’s tweet as applicable to only the upcoming diner and drive-in theater in the Hollywood area.

The price of dogecoin, however, is fairly unaffected by this news. At the time of Musk’s tweet, DOGE was trading at $0.1417 based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. While the price did subsequently rise slightly to $0.1450, it fell to $0.1411 at the time of writing.

Grayscale Asks Investors to Help Approve Spot Bitcoin ETF

As reported by Bloomberg, the SEC received over 170 letters from Grayscale investors in February alone. This followed a public solicitation from the regulator last week, asking for their thoughts on Grayscale’s recent application and the potential Bitcoin spot ETFs present as a vehicle for fraud.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is currently a trust fund. Under this format, share prices can’t be traded to accurately reflect market sentiment. As a result, the fund’s shares have traded at a discount to its underlying Bitcoin for close to a year.

Shares have declined 17% since 2022 began – compared to Bitcoin’s 13% slump. On Thursday, prices closed a whole 25% below the value of its Bitcoin holdings

Market Updates

Warren Buffett on War: Don’t hold cash, gold, or Bitcoin

Warren Buffett has warned against dumping stocks, holding cash, and buying gold or Bitcoin when war breaks out, as he believes investing in businesses is the best way to build wealth over time.

Buffett, who has said he avoids doing business in Russia after running into problems there, emphasized that the US stock market rose during World War II and had marched higher over time.

Buffett acknowledged that the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted US progress, but he argued that the country always comes out ahead. "Never bet against America," he said.

Puma registers ENS domain, changes name to Puma.eth on Twitter

The sports company added the ENS domain name to its growing collection of NFTs, joining Nike and Adidas in the metaverse.

Puma is one of the biggest global sportswear brands alongside Nike and Adidas, which have made their own entrances into the Web3 space with a big splash. Nike acquired the virtual sneakers and collectibles brand RTFKT, while Adidas Original's launched an NFT collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic and gmoney.

Puma's ENS name is one of several NFT-related moves that the company has made recently. According to the Puma.eth OpenSea page, Puma has invested in various feline inspired NFT collections including Cool Cats NFT, Lazy Lions, Gutter Cat Gang and CatBlox.

Manchester City to build Etihad Stadium in the metaverse

Premier League champions Manchester City and its new partner Sony have begun building a virtual replica of the Etihad Stadium, which will be the team’s central hub in the metaverse.

Etihad Stadium is the home of Manchester City, England’s top soccer team at the moment. On Friday, the team announced that it had signed a three-year agreement with Sony, which will provide virtual reality to experts to use image analysis and skeletal-tracking technology from subsidiary Hawk-Eye.

Sony’s Hawk-Eye subsidiary has long been dedicated to enhancing sports for viewers and officials. It helps officials make in-game judgments in real-time with specialized replay technology. Its visualization applications will be used to recreate the dimensions of Etihad Stadium in the metaverse.

Global Headlines

Russia to Restrict Crypto Trading to Licensed Platforms, Certified Wallets

Russian residents will be limited to conducting digital currency transactions through licensed operators, a restriction that in effect renders peer-to-peer trades illegal, according to the Ministry of Finance's proposed bill on regulating cryptocurrencies. Only certified cryptocurrency wallets will be allowed.

The Ministry of Finance earlier this week said it introduced the bill regulating crypto trading and mining despite the objections of the Bank of Russia, which insists on a full ban on cryptocurrency trading, mining and ownership.

The bill defines digital currency as property and electronic data stored in an information system that can be used as payment while not being a legal tender in the Russian federation, or as an investment tool without any entity backing it.

It will be possible to buy cryptocurrency on these licensed platforms only using accounts at Russian banks, according to the bill. Trading platforms must provide records about users and their transactions to the anti-money laundering agency. The platforms must make a special note about funds coming from miners’ addresses.

Tonga for Bitcoin

In terms of the country’s Bitcoin mining operations, the potential is staggering. Tonga has 21 volcanoes (a Bitcoin coincidence) that produce in excess of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of power annually. The national grid consumes 40 MW per year, meaning Tonga has “a potential 1960 MW with nothing to do.”

Lord Fusitu’a, a former member of the Tongan parliament, has shared a timeline for the country’s plan to adopt Bitcoin (BTC). A Tongan nobleman, Fusitu’a had previously disclosed the four-step plan, a copy of the Salvadoran Bitcoin playbook.

Step one is remittance, two is legal tender, three is Bitcoin mining, and four is moving national treasuries into Bitcoin, effectively upgrading the nation onto a Bitcoin standard.

Currently, Bitcoin mining companies that are keen to see the Tongan Bitcoin story play out have gifted Lord Fusitu’a mining rigs in 40-foot shipping containers to test out capacity. The companies remain secret.

India releases Ads Guidelines for Crypto ads

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has released new guidelines for advertisers publishing ads about virtual digital assets (VDA) including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Advertisers have also been warned against using the words “currency”, “securities” and “depositories” while advertising VDA products and services because ASCI says consumers associate those terms with regulated products.

All advertisements will also be required to clearly give out the name of the advertisers and a method of contacting them, either through phone or email. One of the guidelines published requests all celebrities to do their own due diligence when it comes to the statements they make on advertisements to avoid misleading customers.