crypto | cryptocurrencies: Crypto week at a glance: Bitcoin falls below $22,000 as gloomy September looms

Panic returned to financial markets this week with the US Dollar Index DXY crossing 108. This ended a brief rally across markets following the release of favorable US CPI data in early August. Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen by more than 13% this week and has failed to hold the $22,000 support after breaching $25,000 in the meantime. Ethereum (ETH) has fallen 18% weekly and is now trading near $1,600. The total market cap for crypto is now close to $1 trillion.

Given that September is traditionally a red month for Bitcoin and crypto markets, investors expect further pain before the final bottom is discovered. With Ethereum’s merger planned for mid-September, the possibility that the “sell-the-news” event wiped out monthly gains in ETH is strong. As this bear market plays out, we look at some positives in adoption and other stories in the week below.

Buenos Aires to deploy Ethereum validator nodes

Buenos Aires (the capital of Argentina) is set to become one of the first public entities in the world to help run Ethereum’s network infrastructure. In 2023, the city will partner with private enterprises to install validator nodes, which are machines that run the Ethereum client software.

The validators are responsible for storing data, processing transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain, which will become part of the proof-of-stake (PoS) network consensus system implemented in connection with the merger expected to take place in mid-September.

With this move, Buenos Aires would be one of the pioneer cities to host its own cryptocurrency nodes. In April, the city also decided to allow residents to use cryptocurrencies to pay their taxes.

Alphabet, Samsung among the most active investors in blockchain

Tech giants Alphabet and Samsung have been ranked as the most active investors in blockchain-related companies, participating in 13 funding rounds between September 2021 and June 2022.

BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the other investors on the list. The data was obtained from Blockdata, a blockchain market intelligence platform.

According to Blockdata, Alphabet participated in investment rounds for businesses such as Fireblocks, Dapper Labs, Voltage and Digital Currency Group that raised $1.5 billion.

Blockdata also estimated that the top 40 companies invested approximately $6 billion in blockchain startups during this time.

The Houston Texans become the first NFL team to sell game packages with crypto

The Houston Texans of the American National Football League (NFL) become the first organization in the league to sell single-game suites in exchange for cryptocurrencies.

The Texans have partnered with the Houston-based cryptocurrency firm to make BitWallet the team’s official digital currency wallet. BitWallet will also provide intermediary services by exchanging crypto for cash for the Texans.

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Remit cooperation for real-time payments between Japan and Thailand

Expanding its footprint in the Asia-Pacific, Ripple announced a new partnership with SBI Remit to enable money transfers between Japan and Thailand.

This enables people to instantly send money between countries at no cost. The new partnership also puts Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) on the board.

As part of the agreement, SBI Remit and SCB will process real-time remittance services using Ripple’s enterprise blockchain system RippleNet.

It makes the most sense for Ripple to develop in Asia, as it is currently among the regions of the world with the highest growth.

Australia’s leading gas station chain that accepts crypto for fuel

Australians can now pay for fuel through cryptocurrencies at petrol stations and convenience stores under the leading On The Run (OTR) brand of service powered by Crypto.com.

Crypto.com revealed that the service is available at 175 OTR stations in the states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

The partnership provides the world’s first scalable option to use the Crypto.com app to pay directly in-store for common goods without first converting to fiat currency.

The point-of-sale terminal is provided by Sydney-based payment system Datamesh, while Crypto.com offers the Pay Merchant service as a payment settlement platform.

Apart from gas, users can also use cryptos like Bitcoin to pay for other daily products.

Anthony Hopkins launches the NFT collection to celebrate his career
Veteran actor Anthony Hopkins, in collaboration with Orange Comet, is set to launch the first batch of his NFT series called ‘The Eternal Collection’.

Collectors will have access to more than 1,000 exclusive images of the actor during this time, which will be based on the performer’s oeuvre.

Bitcoin: predictions
Analysts and investors are hoping for a easing recovery to ensure that further declines are moderated. The bottom of the bear market is probably not in yet, and given previous cycles, an 80% drop from the all-time high is possible leading to a price range below $14,000 for BTC.

Investors are advised to cost average in BTC and ETH whenever possible while stacking money to buy BTC at low prices when a bottom occurs.

Top Winners This Week – (from 19:00, 20 August 2022)

Chiliz (CHZ): 12.6%

UNUS SED LEO (LEO): 5.9%

Shiba Inu (SHIB): 4.8%

Top Losers This Week – (from 19:00, 20 August 2022)

Lido DAO (LDO): -33.1%

Convex Finance (CVX): -29.6%

Oasis Network (ROSE): -29.0%

(Note: Analysis includes only top 100 cryptocurrencies. Source: Coinmarketcap)