Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Binance ends support for anonymous Litecoin transactions
Binance has decided to ban Litecoin (LTC) transactions sent through the most recent MimbleWimble (MWEB) upgrade from its exchange, noting that such transactions would now result in the loss of the related LTC. Binance isn’t delisting LTC entirely, unlike other exchanges that have decided to remove the cryptocurrency. Among its changes, the latest Litecoin MWEB update ushered in privacy features. Binance’s decision to end support for these transactions comes as global crypto regulation remains an ever-present focal point in the industry.
Ethereum difficulty bomb delayed but network adoption still growing
The difficulty bomb, a key piece of the puzzle in Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake (PoS), has been delayed. Put simply, the difficulty bomb makes mining on Ethereum’s current proof-of-work (PoW) chain undesireable in order to push everyone over to the PoS chain. Anticipated to occur in August, the move to PoS is has been dubbed The Merge by Ethereum. Ethereum developers recently concluded a successful testnet merge, which simulated how the real Ethereum PoS chain would play out.
72 of the top 100 coins have fallen 90% or more: Here are the holdouts
This week was a tough one for the crypto industry as prices across the board fell in dramatic fashion. Falling below the $1 trillion mark, the crypto industry’s total market cap posted a 24% decline. From their all-time high prices, 72 of the largest 100 crypto assets by market cap have dropped over 90%. During this bear market, even market leaders Bitcoin and Ether have posted 70.3% and 78% losses, respectively, from their all-time highs.
Three Arrows Capital has failed to meet margin calls: Report
Plunging crypto prices and large exposure to the Terra ecosystem debacle have placed significant pressure on Three Arrows Capital (3AC). The Singapore-based hedge fund and venture capital firm reportedly failed to meet margin calls from its lenders. 3AC has reportedly faced more than $400 million in liquidations during the most recent bout of market turmoil and is now considering a bailout, among other options.
Celsius exodus: $320M in crypto sent to FTX, user withdrawals pause
Recent moves by Celsius have fueled speculation in the crypto community as to whether the digital asset lending and staking platform is dealing with its rumored liquidity crisis. In addition to temporarily closing user withdrawals, Celsius has moved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital assets around different platforms, such as FTX, with no explanation given. A subsequent report stated that Celsius is recruiting legal consultation.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $20,535, Ether (ETH) at $1,079 and XRP at $0.31. The total market cap is at $892 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are OKB (OKB) at 2.43%, Neutrino USD (USDN) at 0.94% and Helium (HNT) at 0.65%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Nexo (NEXO) at -44.59%, Flow (FLOW) at -38.22% and Monero (XMR) at -36.20%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“The current situation is good for Bitcoin in the long term, cleansing the market from leverage, scams and dishonest institutions.”
Josef Tětek, Bitcoin analyst and brand ambassador at Trezor
“Executives often don’t agree on very much, but our research shows they overwhelmingly agree on one thing: 95 percent of them believe the metaverse will have a positive impact on their industry.”
Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey & Company
“We recognize that hurt feelings are inevitable in a global organization that is optimizing for team outcomes above individual sentiment.”
“Having been in this industry professionally for eight years, I’m tired of talking about regulations, particularly in the United States.”
Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer for CoinShares
“What is happening with Celsius will have serious repercussions for the industry. It’s a not-insignificant player, and its apparent failure will have ripple effects.”
Mahin Gupta, founder of Liminal
“All too often, people hear that you work in crypto, and they have a preconceived idea of what that looks like.”
Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block
Prediction of the Week
Bitcoin traders expect a ‘long consolidation’…
Read More: Crypto prices continue to tank, lawsuit takes aim at Binance.US, and Celsius