Crypto Week at a Glance: World moves towards crypto regulations amid volatility

We saw high volatility across the cryptocurrency spectrum over the past week. Bitcoin fell to its lowest at $37,000 on March 7 due to the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine.

Bitcoin reached its highest at $42,000 on March 9th when US President Joe Biden signed the executive order. It is trading above $39,000 with dominance of nearly 42 per cent over the past day.

The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, meanwhile, is trading at US$2,500. The fluctuations in the market may continue the next week too, due to the inflation due to war.

Joe Biden’s order

The US President Joe Biden signed the executive order associated with Central Bank Digital Currencies, it is a pretty good move. Several governments, including India, are up for it and have started planning and implementing it soon.

Even though the US is a bit late to enter this list, it is quite a progressive move. Weighing the pros and cons of CBDCs would also be helpful further in framing regulations.

Stripe launched its crypto services

The financial services company Stripe launched its crypto services, offering businesses the ability to use Stripe as a payment method for crypto and NFT transactions.

The company will also offer payout services for Web3 companies as well as KYC and fraud prevention. To smoothen the process, Stripe has partnered with the FTX exchange and blockchain.com among other partners.

S Korea elects a ‘crypto friendly’ President

The newly elected president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, is a crypto evangelist and even used NFTs in his election campaign. While he narrowly beat his opponent, his attitude towards cryptocurrencies made him the preferred choice among the young Korean voters.

The new president has stated that he would examine the 2017 ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), and also raise the capital gains tax threshold on cryptocurrencies.

eBay’s digital wallet

After enabling NFT sales last year, eBay flashed a “digital wallet” slide early in its Investor Day presentation. Speculations began about the future of crypto at the firm, as the CEO has been toying with the idea of adding crypto as a payment option to the platform.

While there is still no concrete announcement to follow the tease, experts believe a new payment wallet might soon get added to the platform.

Coming to the price action, among the top 100 cryptos by market cap, here are the best and worst-performing cryptos over the past week:

Top 5 crypto gainers during the week:

Waves (WAVES): 51% up

THORChain (RUNE): 36% up

ICON (ICX): 29% up

Zcash (ZEC): 25% up

Stacks (STX): 16% up

Top 5 crypto losers this week:

Anchor Protocol (ANC): 36% down

Fantom (FTM): 27% down

Mina (MINA): 14% down

SXP (SXP): 10% down

Oasis Network (ROSE): 9% down

(Note: Data as of 13.00 hours IST, March 13, 2021; Source: Coinmarketcap.com)

(The author, Edul Patel, is CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex)