🔴 NFTs are choking Bitcoin | This Week in Crypto – May 29, 2023
AI tokens are on the rise, Binance launches NFT loans and one of crypto’s biggest haters makes a surprise move. These stories and more, this week in crypto.
AI Tokens Jump After Nvidia Report
AI-themed cryptocurrencies received a boost as Nvidia reported growing demand for chips that power artificial intelligence applications. Tokens related to AI projects, such as SingularityNET, Cortex and the Measurable Data Token, all recorded significant price increases, while most of the rest of the cryptocurrency market remained flat.
Binance Launched NFT Lending Feature
Binance Marketplace is launching a non-fungible token lending feature where digital asset holders can secure Ether loans using their NFTs as collateral. The new service, called Binance NFT Loan, will allow people to use blue-chip NFTs to borrow crypto with competitive interest rates, zero gas fees and liquidity protection.
Hong Kong Greenlights Retail Crypto Trading
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission announced that starting next month, it will allow retail investors to trade certain crypto assets on registered trading platforms. The new guidelines are part of Hong Kong’s broader push to become a global crypto hub, a stark contrast to China, which banned crypto trading in 2021.
Bitcoin Pizza Day Marred
Last week, bitcoiners celebrated Bitcoin Pizza Day, commemorating the day back in 2010 when computer developer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin. However, the day was marred by carpet covers and honey jars. 14 pizza-related meme coins were issued this week, four of which were reported as blanket covers with the creators disappearing while others are suspected of being what are called honeypots, where an asset can only be sold to the contract creator.
Chinese drug work is paid in crypto
New research shows that 90% of Chinese chemical manufacturers accept cryptocurrency as payment for fentanyl ingredients that they sell to drug operations around the world. Elliptic and Chainalysis released new findings that provide insight into crypto’s underreported role in the deadly opioid supply chain.
Global Crypto Hacking Drops 70%
Blockchain Intel firm TRM Labs reported that hackers stole $400 million from 40 crypto projects in the first quarter, which is a 70% decrease from last year. In addition, more hackers tend to return funds as the sanctions against Tornado Cash and the arrest of the Mango Markets infiltrator have left less room for the perpetrators to make off with their loot.
BRC-20s make the Bitcoin network the busiest
Daily transactions on the Bitcoin network have risen to an all-time high this month, nearly 40% higher than the previous peak in 2017. With the BRC-20 standard, crypto tokens are built directly on the bitcoin blockchain which resulted in 25,000 of these experimental coins minted in year, sending transaction numbers through the roof.
Crypto hater Peter Schiff wants to ditch NFTs
Despite hating crypto for years and calling NFTs worthless, Peter Schiff is set to release his NFT art collection on the Bitcoin blockchain. Reaction from the crypto community has been mixed, with people generally confused, amused or accommodating, with some eager to point out the apparent hypocrisy, in what seems like a parody, but isn’t.
That’s what happened this week in crypto, see you next week.
