Bitcoin (BTC) has crossed $48,000 again amid a sustained week-long uptrend. At last check on Sunday, February 11, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap was trading at $48,067.30.
Meanwhile, Solana (SOL) is still in the spotlight after experiencing its first network outage of the year. And MicroStrategy announced that it purchased an additional 850 BTC. Here is our coverage from last week:
Solana records a 5-hour outage
- Solana suffered a network disruption around 10:00 UTC on February 6th.
- The outage, Solana's first in over a year, shifted investor sentiment at a time when the broader market was in an uptrend. SOL slumped 4% in an expected slump, but market participants praised its resilience given the circumstances.
- Network engineers and validators across the ecosystem stepped in to address the performance issue as the blockchain stopped transaction processing. After five hours, the network finally recovered from the downtime.
Bitcoin breaks $48,000
- Despite the Solana network outage, SOL rallied massively this week and its bullish price action can be attributed to Bitcoin's resurgence as the leading cryptocurrency saw impressive gains throughout the week.
- Bitcoin started the week with a positive outlook amid bullish updates, one of which revealed that the token recorded a cumulative monthly trading volume of $1.21 trillion in January 2024, its highest monthly volume since September 2022.
- Amid rising demand, the asset, which began the week at the $42,000 level, broke through several psychological resistance points in a rally that saw it post six straight weeks of intraday gains.
- On February 9, BTC finally reclaimed the price of $47,000, triggering a bullish market reaction that led to massive price increases for other cryptocurrencies. The token further broke the $48,000 mark and secured a point above the price level, which is currently hovering at $48,067.30.
MicroStrategy is expanding its BTC supply
- During the Bitcoin uptrend, Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy announced on February 6 that they had increased their BTC holdings again. According to the disclosure, MicroStrategy purchased 850 more BTC tokens last month for a total price of $37.2 million.
- Interestingly, at Bitcoin's current price, the assets are now worth over $41 million, reflecting an unrealized gain of $3.8 million for January purchases alone. Following the latest addition, the Tysons, Virginia-based company now holds 190,000 BTC, currently worth $9.18 billion.
- Saylor, owner and CEO of MicroStrategy, recently sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock, according to a recent SEC filing. Over the past year, he has sold a total of 120,000 shares and purchased no shares in the company.
Updates on spot Bitcoin ETF products
- The emerging spot Bitcoin ETF market in the US also made headlines this week. South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) reportedly wanted to undermine the U.S. approach to detecting Bitcoin ETF products.
- FSS chief Lee Bokhyun plans to meet with Gary Gensler, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These plans are part of a broader push to implement appropriate regulations for the Korean digital asset industry.
- In addition, the effort also includes a planned implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act on July 19 by the Financial Services Commission of South Korea.
- Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US continued to hit key milestones this week. Notably, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has slipped into the top 5 list of ETPs in the US with the largest capital inflows.
- Additionally, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas revealed that BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC posted the best 30-day initial performance of any ETF in the U.S. over the past 30 years.
- Despite the impressive inflows these investment products have seen in the first month of their launch, Valkyrie CIO Steven McClurg believes some of them will not stand the test of time. In an interview this week, McClurg predicted those products would drop to eight or seven.
The USA is having a hard time finding clarity
- Meanwhile, regulatory issues in the US continued this week. To provide clarity, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted two new rules that would require liquidity providers on Defi protocols to register with the SEC.
- According to the regulator, these rules would apply to liquidity providers that trade in assets that are considered securities. However, it would only affect companies with assets over $50 million. The rule set sparked backlash.
- US lawmakers sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responding to her call for stricter regulations on the crypto industry. The congressmen drew attention to the limitations of the Howey test for the emerging industry.
- In an interview on February 7, US House of Representatives member Maxine Waters revealed that lawmakers in the country are moving closer to a consensus on regulating stablecoins in the country.
Genesis settles with New York Attorney General
- Genesis, the bankrupt crypto lending company, has reached a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James in the case of customer losses in Gemini's Earn program.
- Under the agreement, customers of the now-defunct cryptocurrency earning program would receive compensation for their losses. Genesis would also pay off its creditors. These terms would be approved by a bankruptcy judge.
- Shortly after disclosing these settlement terms, the New York Attorney General expanded the lawsuit against Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group to $3 billion. The first lawsuit accused the companies of $1 billion in fraud.
Global Regulatory Affairs
- There has also been a revival of regulatory efforts and enforcement actions on the global stage. Reports on February 7 confirmed that Uzbekistan would fine Binance for operating in the country without a license. The fine amounts to 102 million som, worth $8,200.
- Interestingly, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) warned consumers about a cryptocurrency-focused fraud scheme linked to the well-known cryptocurrency exchange MEXC. Police also blocked MEXC's website in the region.
Craig Wright vs. COPA
- The legal battle between Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin founder, and the crypto non-profit organization Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) began this week.
- On the second day of the trial, COPA claimed that Wright forged the Bitcoin provenance document he presented in court. According to the organization, the 08 digits were visibly smaller than the 20 digits in the year “2008.” Wright denied forging the document.
- Meanwhile, on the third day of the trial, Wright produced a second Bitcoin Cash document from 2008 in which he persistently proved that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. The metadata on this document appeared to be genuine.
- COPA presented several pieces of evidence that several documents submitted by Wright were forged. On the fourth day, Wright admitted that he had indeed forged some of the documents, but blamed other people for the forgery.
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