Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Spike Recording All-Time Highs
On Nov. 9, BTC (bitcoin) surpassed the $68K mark with its price at $68,978 while ETH (ethereum), the second most dominant cryptocurrency soared to almost $5K with its price at $4,841. Both cryptocurrencies have recorded their newest all-time high at that time.
The recent price surge of the two most dominant cryptocurrencies comes after the launching of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the first Bitcoin ETF for US investors in October. In a report by the Business Insider, investment amounting to $1.5B poured into the crypto market.
The introduction of the new regulated financial product in crypto has boosted the confidence of investors into entering an industry at odds with regulatory bodies. Last week, the Australian government has approved spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the two largest cryptocurrencies, BTC (bitcoin) and ETH (ethereum) in a report by Investopedia. The article states:
“The approval will allow Australian investors to gain direct exposure to the physical assets’ price through funds that trade on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). It also cements Australia’s intent toward digital innovation and opens the door for regulators in other jurisdictions to fast-track spot crypto ETFs as the asset class continues to gain momentum with investors.”
The growth of the DeFi market and NFTs have also been attributed to the surge of prices not just of BTC (bitcoin) and ETH (ethereum) but other major cryptocurrencies like BNB (Binance Coin) and SOL (Solana). Both altcoins have already recorded their newest all-time highs as the market goes bullish in the past few days.
Indonesia Islamic Religious Council Bans Crypto
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has banned Muslims from trading crypto-assets like BTC (bitcoin). The Islamic religious council has stated that cryptocurrencies don’t follow Sharia principles and on this account, Muslims are forbidden to use them.
In a report by Bloomberg, Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of fatwa at the Indonesian Ulema Council stated that the characteristics of these virtual assets like uncertainty, wagering, and harm are against the central principle of the Islamic law.
Indonesia does not deem cryptocurrencies as legal tender but trading in commodity and futures markets is allowed. But the MUI has expressed that trading of digital assets is the same as gambling is now deemed as unlawful under Shariah. But Sholeh added that if cryptocurrencies comply with Shariah principles and are actually beneficial, it is likely that the ban will be lifted.
Although there was no regulation that is being implemented as of this time, this may affect the local crypto market in the country.
Brave Browser Partners with Solana
Privacy browser Brave has recently partnered with Solana network, an Ethereum rival. The partnership entails Brave of supporting Solana wallets by early next year.
Brave CEO Brendan Eich commenting on the recent partnership has stated:
“With more and more users and creators requiring tools for fast and affordable access to the decentralized Web, this integration will seamlessly pave the way for the next billion crypto users to harness applications and tokens.”
Solana dubbed as one of the ETH killers has over 65,000 TPS and 400ms block times which is a far cry from Ethereum’s 13 TPS. This is one of the reasons why Brave has added Solana on top of Ethereum. Another factor is its low gas fee which could go as low as 0.000005 SOL (Solana) or $0.001 according to Solana Beach. With surging fees and scalability issues on the Ethereum network, the Solana network is now becoming one of the best alternatives resulting in its users’ growth. This has resulted in the recent spike in the price of the altcoin.
Brave on the other hand has 42 million active users and is fast becoming a favorite among users due to its privacy feature. Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs stated:
“Deep integration with browsers is key to helping dapps build the best web experiences. Brave’s announcement of Solana wallet support across all versions of their browsers is an important step to onboard the next billion users to Solana.”
SOL (Solana) market cap has soared to $69,136,052,520 in data by Crypto.co. On Nov. 6, it has recorded its newest all-time high at $259 and has since become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in the crypto market. SOL (Solana) is now at $ 227.57 while BAT (Basic Attention Token), an Ethereum token that powers Brave is at $1.21 and has a market cap of $ 1,812,968,541 in data by Crypto.co.
Free Bitcoin for Miami Residents According to Mayor Suarez
Francis Suarez, Miami’s pro-bitcoin mayor has recently announced in a recent interview with Coindesk TV that it will be staking MiamiCoin, its native cryptocurrency to yield more BTC (bitcoin).
“We’re going to be the very first city in America to give Bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents.”
Before only holders of MiamiCoin could earn STX (Stacks), the native cryptocurrency for the Stacks protocol or Bitcoin. But with the recent announcement, qualified residents will be given a Bitcoin wallet where they can receive the cryptocurrency even without MiamiCoin holdings.
But receiving the digital wallet “is going to be a challenge” according to Suarez. He is considering whether the recipients would be taxpayers, citizens with an address in Miami, or voters in the city.
The goal of his program is to help qualified citizens get their wallets, set up accounts, and block scammers to “just moving to Miami to get Bitcoin.” But the main goal is to get make Bitcoin accessible to more people. He further stated:
“Yes, Bitcoin is increasing in value. And yes, we want you to hold Bitcoin. But at the same time, we also want to increase the utility of Bitcoin.”
