Author: Ibiam Wayas

Ibiam is an optimistic crypto journalist. He loves to associate with like-minded individuals and collaborate with them on similar projects. He spends much of his time honing his writing and critical thinking skills.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Nigeria

Nigeria To Allow Cryptocurrency In Country Due To 32% Adoption

Nigeria To Allow Cryptocurrency In Country Due To 32% Adoption

Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently banning local banking institutions from serving cryptocurrency users and companies in the country, the interest in crypto has been surging.

Amid the growing adoption rate of cryptocurrency in Nigeria, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, recently assured publicaly that cryptocurrency would be brought back to life in the country.

Nigeria Will Allow Cryptocurrency

The Nigerian central bank withdrew its support for cryptocurrencies in February, citing speculative risks associated with them. They also said digital currencies were used in financing illegal activities.

We have carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate.

CBN governor

However, the governor assured in their 279th MPR meeting that cryptocurrencies would come back to life in the country. The governor added “We are committed in the CBN, and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria.”.

Nigeria Records Massive Increase in Crypto Adoption

One can easily predict that the central bank of Nigeria is open to forming a framework to regulate digital currencies. This is important due to the increasing rate of crypto adoption in the country.

Nigeria is considered one of the top countries with the highest rate of cryptocurrency adoption. A recent survey conducted by Statista in different countries (1,000 to 4,000 respondents per country) showed that 32 percent used/owned cryptocurrency in 2020.

The numbers are increasing rapidly as many people are flocking to Bitcoin on P2P exchanges to hedge against the depreciating value of the national currency, Naira (NGN). This is evident as Paxful exchange recently announced Nigeria as its largest market, with over $1.5 billion in trading volume as of April.  

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Binance Crypto News NFTs

Binance NFT Marketplace To Launch With Celebrity Creators: eStarPro, Michael Owen, Lewis Capaldi And Others

Leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has unveiled the first batch of the “premium event” creators for its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace ahead of its June 24 launch. The list includes celebrities in diverse industries, including music, sports, and art.

The lineup of Binance NFT Content Creators

Following the announcement on Thursday, the first batch of creators includes Esports team eStarPro, two-time BRIT Award winner Lewis Capaldi, top professional football stars Michael Owen and Alphonso Davies, and visual artist.

The NFT collection by Lewis Capaldi will be made available through Bondly on Binance NFT, while Michael Owen’s NFT collection will be made available through TopGoal and eStarPro Esports club NFTs exclusively through NFKings Productions.

Binance wrote

Binance NFT Marketplace Launches Next Month

Binance NFT marketplace is coming at a time where interest in NFTs is skyrocketing. As Crypto News Australia reported in April, the exchange initially disclosed its intention to launch an NFT marketplace following the increase in interest and trading volume for NFT contents.

The marketplace is scheduled to launch on June 24 and will feature content from both celebrities and small value creators, according to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance. At the time, the Head of Binance NFT, Helen Hai, informed that the Binance NFT marketplace would allow issuing and selling of NFT contents at minimal fees.

Our aim is to provide the largest NFT trading platform in the world with the best minting, buying, and exchanging experience by leveraging the fastest and cheapest solutions powered by Binance blockchain infrastructure and community.

Helen Hai commented
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Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Trading

Ethereum to Flip Bitcoin With Over $20 Billion USD in Trading Volume

Ethereum Flips Bitcoin With Over $20 Billion USD in Trading Volume

Ethereum is gradually outperforming Bitcoin in several metrics that point towards its complete “Flippening” of Bitcoin as the largest blockchain network.

Recent data from Messari, a cryptocurrency data insights and analytics platform, showed that Ethereum has surpassed Bitcoin in daily spot trading volume.

Ethereum Posts Over $20 Billion Volume

As Messari Researcher Ryan Watkins shared on Wednesday, Ethereum spot trading volume surpassed Bitcoin since the past month. Presently, Ethereum sees over $20 billion USD in trading volume, while Bitcoin sees less than the amount.

This record checks off one of the “Flippening” metrics that Ethereum is expected to fill before it completely outperforms Bitcoin as the largest blockchain network, as per Blockchain Center.

Following the Flippening data, Ethereum has already surpassed Bitcoin in transaction count, transaction volume, and total transaction volume. However, it has a lower market capitalization, active address, node count, and Google Search Interest compared to Bitcoin.

Ethereum Flippening [BlockchainCenter.net]

At the time of writing, the Flippening index reads that Ethereum is about 43.9 percent closer to overtaking Bitcoin completely. Judging by the number, the chances of Ethereum completely Flippening Bitcoin seem still relatively low, probably because the market capitalization of both coins is considered the major factor. Bitcoin has a market cap of $725 billion USD, while Ether sees $317.8 billion USD at the same time.

Most Altcoins Still Correlate With Bitcoin

Regardless of the Flippening metrics, Bitcoin still leads the cryptocurrency market. A separate data analysis from Messari also indicated that many major altcoins – including Ethereum, Binance Coin, Ripple and Litecoin – have a correlation of about 60-80 percent with the market value of Bitcoin.

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Crypto News Payments

Apple is Hiring Expert With Crypto Experience to Head Its “Alternative Payment” Program

One of the world’s largest technology company, Apple, is seeking to hire an expert with experience in digital currencies and wallets, according to a recent job posting.

The tech giant is seemingly planning to form a partnership framework and commercial models with strategic alternative payment partners, which will also include cryptocurrency solutions.

Apple to Hire Crypto Expert

Following the details of the job posting, the payment unit of the technology company “The Apple Wallets, Payments, and Commerce (WPC)” is seeking to hire a Business Development Manager to spearhead the operations of their “Alternative Payments Partnerships” program.

Apple expects the ideal candidate to have 10+ years of professional experience and 6+ years in business or market development working for several companies in financial services segments. The company also expects the candidate to have over five years of experience working with alternative payment providers in cryptocurrency, digital wallets, BNPL, and Fast Payments.

We are looking for a proven professional in global alternative and emerging payment solutions. […] This position will be responsible for the end to end business development, including screening partners, negotiating and closing commercial agreements and launching new programs.

Apple job ad

Apple Can Benefit From the Cryptocurrency Space

Despite this, Apple hasn’t publicly disclosed its stance with digital currencies. However, many people believe that the tech company can fit in the industry.

In February, RBC Capital Markets researchers noted that Apple has a “clear opportunity” to gain market share of the crypto industry if they can tackle and provide a better buying and selling mechanism for digital currencies. The researchers said Apple could generate up to $40 billion in revenue annually from running a crypto exchange.

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Crypto News Stablecoins Tether

Market Cap of Stablecoins Has Surpassed $100 Billion USD

Market Cap of Stablecoins Has Surpassed $100 Billion USD

The market capitalization of stablecoins has surpassed $100 billion USD, according to market data from CryptoDiffer. As of May 25, stablecoins accounted for more than $86 billion USD in 24hrs trading volume.

Notably, there has been a consistent increase in demand for major stablecoins since the beginning of the year. These coins serve as the base currency for trading in exchange, as well as lending and borrowing on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.

Ten Largest Stablecoins by Market Capitalization

Following the information by CryptoDiffer the top ten stablecoins include:

USDT, USDC, and BUSD are some the most popular and traded stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market. They have a combined market capitalization of nearly $90 billion USD, which is about 88 percent of the entire stablecoin market valuation. Demand for stablecoins is increasing rapidly.

On Monday, Tether surpassed the $60 billion USD market cap. Demand for USDT has been increasing significantly in accordance with the entire growth of the cryptocurrency market. For reference, USDT had a market cap as low as $8 billion USD in May 2020, resulting in a 581 percent increase year over year when compared to the current record.

Also, the market capitalization of USDC increased from $18 billion to $20 billion USD within two weeks.

The Binance USD stablecoin has over $8 billion market capitalization, and a 24hrs trading volume of over $15 billion USD, according to CoinMarketCap.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News

Michael Saylor Hosts Bitcoin Miners and Elon Musk in Effort to Promote Sustainability

Michael Saylor, CEO of business intelligence company MicroStrategy, has stepped up his support for Bitcoin.

In a recent tweet, Saylor informed that he hosted a meeting between Bitcoin (BTC) miners in North America and the founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, on ways to promote Bitcoin sustainability and energy transparency.

MicroStrategy CEO Forms “Bitcoin Mining Council”

The meeting led to the formation of the “Bitcoin Mining Council”, which aims at promoting the use of renewable energy for Bitcoin mining. The meeting included executives from major mining companies like Riot Blockchain, Hut8Mining, Marathon, Galaxy Digital, Argo Blockchain, and many others.

The council will basically work to standardise energy reporting, pursue industry ESG goals, and educate/grow the Bitcoin marketplace.

Judging by global Bitcoin mining hashrate stats, the number of miners in North America is no match to those in China. However, many people believe that the formation of the council is a big step towards driving Bitcoin to cleaner energy.

Will Tesla Restart Accepting Bitcoin Payments?

The quest and criticism on the source of Bitcoin energy became mainstream debate after Elon Musk announced that his electric car company would no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for their products over environmental concerns. The announcement caused quite a notable drop in the price of Bitcoin (BTC), possibly leading into the recent massive correction.

Will the movement towards a “greener Bitcoin” prompt Tesla to reopen the possibility for customers to pay in BTC? Only time will tell, meanwhile Elon commented on the formation of the Bitcoin Mining Council, saying “potentially promising”.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis

Bitcoin’s Historical Corrections And Why They Happened

Bitcoin (BTC) has shown a tremendous increase in value since its inception and even been considered one of the best performance institutional digital assets.

However, its price history has not been a smooth one. In fact, the leading cryptocurrency has suffered a number of significant drops (not less than 20 percent) since January 2012, as shown in an infographic by Visual Capitalist Datastream.

Bitcoin’s Massive Drops

2012

After Bitcoin recovered from the first massive drop of  42.9 percent ($7 – $4 USD) in January 2012, the price further declined by 56.3 percent ($16 – $7 USD) in August the same year, following the exit of Bitcoin Savings and Trust Ponzi scheme with about 150,000 BTC belonging to clients.

2013 – 2016

The biggest BTC drop was noted between November 2013 – January 2016, when Bitcoin price declined from $1,163 – $152 USD, which accounted for about $86.9 percent price change. This happened after the news of Mt. Gox hack, China’s ban on Bitcoin, and regulatory challenges.

2017 – 2018

In 2017, the largest cryptocurrency also dropped by over 40 percent following the breaching of Coincheck, one of the leading Japanese exchanges. The attack resulted in the loss of over $530 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin also took a significant drop of over 83 percent ($19,666 – $3,220 USD) from December 2017 to December 2018. This had many people referring to Bitcoin as a “burst bubble.”

2019 – 2021

Bitcoin also dropped by over 60 percent between June 2019 and March 2020, which was partly induced by the coronavirus outbreak. This leads up to the recent market crash in March 2021, which was triggered by Tesla’s news that they stopped accepting Bitcoin for payment and China’s call to crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading. Bitcoin is down by about 33 percent when compared to its current price of around $38,000 USD at the time of writing.

Following these historical corrections of Bitcoin, many people are optimistic that the cryptocurrency will rebound from the current dip.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining China Crypto News

Déjà vu – China Crackdown on Bitcoin Trading and Mining

China’s State Council Calls for Crackdown on Bitcoin Trading and Mining

It seems like history is repeating itself once again as the Chinese authorities have reiterated plans to crack down on Bitcoin trading and mining activities in the country.

Upon the news, the price of Bitcoin dropped by 10 percent below $40,000 USD late on Friday and is still on the decline as we reported in the reasons why Bitcoin crashed.

This isn’t the first time China has caused FUD with Bitcoin, they did almost exactly the same thing back in 2013 causing the Bitcoin price to drop from $1k to $400. China then did the same thing again in 2018 causing the Bitcoin price to drop from $20k to $6k.

China FUD since 2017

China Ban Bitcoin Mining Operations

Following the report shared by the Chinese journalist, the State Council of China, and Vice Premier Liu, He is looking to step up regulatory measures to protect the financial systems while also preventing individual financial risks. This was discussed in their 51st meeting of the “State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee” of May 21. 

This is the first time that the highest level of the Chinese government has clearly proposed a blow to the mining industry.

Crypto reporter, Colin Wu

As part of the measures, the State Council intensified their call to crackdown Bitcoin trading and mining in the country and “and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field.”

China houses the majority of Bitcoin’s global hashrate. Over 65 percent of Bitcoin mining activities are observed in the country, and so, some people are curious about how the Chinese ban on BTC mining will affect the overall network health.

Monthly share of global Bitcoin hashrate. Source: CBECI

On the other hand, some believe the development will propel more Bitcoin mining activities in the United States with clean energy.

We reported that China was clamping down on Bitcoin mining operations back in March, forcing F2Pool to sell off their BTC.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Google

Cryptocurrency Hits New All-Time High on Google Search Trends

Cryptocurrency Hits New All-Time High on Google Search Trends

Search interest in cryptocurrencies around the world has reached another record high, according to Google Trends data.

This follows the recent downwards volatility in the market, which resulted in a significant decrease in the market capitalization of global cryptocurrencies.

Global Search Result Shows Investors Are Worried

The increase in search interest for cryptocurrencies was probably triggered by the recent decrease in many cryptocurrencies this week. The queries on Google showed that many people are worried about the current volatility of the market. For instance, recent data shared by Google Trend confirmed that questions on “What happened to cryptocurrency today” around the world increased by over 850 percent. 

At the same time, searches for “should I sell my crypto” in the United States increased by over 400 percent.

What’s even more surprising is that many people are interested in knowing how Bitcoin uses energy and environmentally friendly digital currencies. Searches for “how does Bitcoin use energy” surged by over 1,050 percent in the United States over the past week. 

This is coming after Tesla announced it has suspended accepting Bitcoin payments for its electric vehicles.

Did Tesla’s Announcement Affect The Bitcoin Market?

As recently as May 12, the founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, informed that the company has stopped accepting payments in Bitcoin due to the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal.” Shortly after the announcement, Bitcoin began dropping gradually below the $50,000 USD mark the next day. At some point, some claimed that Tesla’s announcement contributed to the hit on Bitcoin’s price on Wednesday. 

Bitcoin price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin is yet to reclaim the $50,000 USD mark. At the time of writing, it was trading at $37,227 USD on CoinMarketCap, with a market capitalization of over $697 billion USD. 

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Coinbase Crypto News

Coinbase Pro Announces Listing of Solana (SOL), Trading Starts Monday

Coinbase Pro Announces Listing of Solana (SOL), Trading Starts Monday

Major cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase Pro announced Thursday it’s listing the native digital currency of Solana blockchain, SOL trading is expected to commence next week. 

Solana Bags Coinbase Pro Listing

Coinbase Pro opened an inbound transfer for the cryptocurrency on Thursday, meaning users can start depositing SOL to the exchange head of trading date. If all liquidity conditions for SOL are met, Coinbase Pro will commence the trading at precisely 9 AM PT on Monday. 

The exchange will support the following trading pairs for the coin.

  • SOL-USD
  • SOL-BTC
  • SOL-EUR 
  • SOL-GBP
  • SOL-USDT

The Solana blockchain is a decentralized network aiming to address the issue of scalability by combining proof of history and proof of stake consensus models. The network reportedly processes about 50,000 transactions per second while still maintaining its decentralized property. 

SOL listing on Coinbase Pro is coming some days after the CEO Brian Armstrong said they would accelerate the time it takes to analyze and list new coins for trading on their platform. This followed their announcement to list Dogecoin (DOGE), with Armstrong adding that “the proliferation of alternative coins, including Dogecoin and Binance Coin, is a challenge because competitors support them, and Coinbase doesn’t.”

Coinbase Pro said they would issue a separate report when SOL lists on its exchange Coinbase.com and mobile apps.  

SOL Price Update

Over the past few days, SOL has been trending on Twitter. At the time of writing, SOL was trading at $47.96 USD on CoinMarketCap, which is about $10 USD below its all-time high of $58.30 USD. The circulating supply of SOL accounts for over $13.1 billion in market capitalization.

Solana Price Chart. Source: CoinMarketCap