News updates December 23, 2021
1. Revisiting Ripple's Legal Battle with SEC on Its One-Year Anniversary
A year ago, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency community by front-running the U.S. Securities and Exchange's bombshell announcement about suing the blockchain company and its top executives.
The SEC published the full text of its initial complaint on the same day, alleging that XRP is an unregistered security and accusing Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen of netting over $1.3 billion in illegal sales.
The price of XRP collapsed a staggering 60% within just two days. Exchanges seemingly administered a coup de grace to the controversial cryptocurrency with a wave of trading suspension announcements that came in the following days.
2. Three Predictions for the Crypto Market in 2022
1. Crypto Stablecoins to Go Mainstream
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities. Being a great enmesh between the traditional financial system into the crypto market, stablecoins are always favorable by new traders as they are a good stable investment that keeps them safe from the eye watering volatility of the markets.
2. Bitcoin Adoption will Continue and it will hit $100K
I know some of you are rolling their eyes when you read $100k, but wait let us explain why this prediction might be still valid. Although many respected crypto experts predicted that 2021 will be the year in which bitcoin will hit $100k, but yet BTC never broke above $65k.
3. Rise of NFT Popularity to Continue
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are a special kind of token that contains identifying information recorded in smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain but can’t be exchanged like other cryptocurrencies which are fungible.
3. German State Cleans and Sells $113 Million Worth of Seized Crypto
Prosecutors in the German state of Hesse have sold €100-million ($113-million) worth of cryptocurrencies that were confiscated by the authorities from three drug traffickers earlier this year.
4. CRYPTO MINERS HEADING TO SIBERIA
Crypto miners have turned their direction to fertile lands, especially after the latest pressures from China. When this is the case, cold countries are on the primary radar of miners and Siberia is leading in this regard. Due to its cold climate, it provides the perfect conditions for Bitcoin miners to operate at peak performance for extended periods of time. However, there is an increase in individual miners as well as institutional miners.
5. Crypto Pay on the Rise in South Korea as Commercial Giants Ink Partnership Deals
South Korean retail chains are embracing crypto- and blockchain-powered payment platforms – and so are their customers, according to new industry data.
6. Bitcoin ETFs in Europe & Canada Remain Popular Even With US ETFs Widely Available
The Canadian bitcoin ETFs differ from the ones listed in the US in that they are all backed by ‘physical’ bitcoin, whereas the US-listed bitcoin ETFs are only backed by bitcoin futures contracts, which increases both complexity and costs of managing an ETF.
Since being listed as Canada’s first bitcoin ETF, BTCC has seen its assets under management (AUM) grow substantially, and even holding up relatively well during periods of lower bitcoin prices.
7. Russia Still No Closer to Regulating Crypto Despite Central Bank ‘Concession’
Russia’s staunchly anti-crypto Central Bank has spelled out its “vision” for crypto regulation – but the painfully slow process of formulating a regulatory framework appears to be frustrating even the parliamentarian charged with creating legislation for the sector.
