Crypto.com hacked, Russia proposes a crypto ban, and a 22-year-old made 1 million dollars with NFT selfies. These stories and more this week in crypto.
Bitcoin has been trading at levels not seen since August of last year. Bitcoin broke below a key support level of $40,000, as the selloff of riskier assets spread to the crypto market. Crypto is following the wider markets with the NASDAQ losing 5% of its value this week and the S&P 500 being down for its third straight week.
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com acknowledged that the company lost $34 million in digital assets after a hack that took place on January 17th. The exchange detected the suspicious activity when transactions were being approved without 2FA authentication and subsequently suspended withdrawals. Crypto.com has said that all affected customers have been fully reimbursed for the losses.
Russia’s central bank has proposed banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory. The Bank of Russia said that financial speculation was responsible for crypto’s rapid growth and it warned of potential bubbles in the market that threaten stability and Russian citizens’ wellbeing. It was later clarified that restrictions on owning cryptocurrency are not being considered.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitmex is acquiring one of Germany’s oldest banks. The acquisition of Bankhaus von der Heydt brings Bitmex a step closer in its plans to create a regulated crypto powerhouse in Europe. Their aim is to establish a one-stop shop for regulated crypto products in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
The US government released its long-awaited report on CBDCs laying out the potential benefits of a government-issued cryptocurrency, a digital form of the dollar that would run on blockchain technology and be issued by the Federal Reserve. Although ultimately the report takes no position, it does call for input and debate from the public before further action is to be taken.
Following the steps of Miami, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor in Brazil announced that the city plans to invest 1% of its treasury reserves into Bitcoin. The mayor has plans to transform the city into a cryptocurrency hub by launching Crypto Rio incentives, which offer discounts for those paying certain taxes with bitcoin in the city.
After months of anticipation, Twitter has released an official verification mechanism for NFT profile pictures. Users can link their Ethereum wallets to their Twitter accounts and set NFTs that they own as their profile pictures. Twitter fetches users’ NFTs using an API from the online marketplace OpenSea, but as of now only for users with Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.
A 22-year-old computer science student from Indonesia, has sold nearly 1,000 selfie images as NFTs for a total amount of 317 Ether – or the equivalent of more than $1 million. He took photos of himself for nearly five years to document his journey towards graduation. Each NFT in the collection is personalized with background information to accompany each photo.
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That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.
