Bitcoin Surges Retesting the $45K Mark
BTC (bitcoin) surges as it retests the $45K mark with its price at $44,960 in data by Coinmarketcap. The crypto market regained its $2 trillion market cap with prices of leading cryptocurrencies like ETH (ethereum), BNB (Binance Coin), XRP (Ripple) in an uptrend. The majority of the crypto assets have also spiked in prices.
The most dominant cryptocurrency has been struggling to sustain its price above $40K for the past few weeks. With prices in the stock market in an uptrend, BTC (bitcoin) price also rises. But could be the reason behind this mood? According to reports, this can be attributed to an announcement of Goldman Sachs OTC Bitcoin non-deliverable option in a recent partnership with Galaxy Digital. The Wall Street bank was the first-ever US major bank to perform an over-the-counter (OTC) crypto transaction as part of its plans of expanding its cryptocurrency offerings and crypto adoption.
Damien Vanderwilt, Co-President, and Head of Global Markets at Galaxy Digital in his statement on the recent partnership with Goldman Sachs.
“We are pleased to continue to strengthen our relationship with Goldman and expect the transaction to open the door for other banks considering OTC as a conduit for trading digital assets.”
He further added:
“Goldman’s continuing trust in us is a testament to Galaxy’s expertise and ability to meet the evolving demands by institutions as crypto solidifies itself as the fifth asset class.”
Failing to breach the $45K mark, BTC (bitcoin) has slightly declined which resulted in most cryptocurrencies now in red. Will it finally breach the $45K mark next time? In recent data by Crypto.co, BTC (bitcoin) is now at $44,296.78 with a current market cap of $840,850,449,276. Investors are still waiting for that one big pump that could send the price of the crypto asset to $100,000.
ExxonMobil Launched a Bitcoin Mining Powered by Natural Gas
One of the world’s leading energy providers and chemical manufacturers has recently launched a pilot Bitcoin mining project powered by natural gas. According to a report by Bloomberg, Exxon Mobil Corp. is using the excess natural gas from its Dakota oil wells supposedly subjected for burning. The said move is being facilitated under an agreement with Crusoe Energy Systems Inc, a company that engages with providing solutions to oil and gas companies for natural gas flaring. It transports the gas from an oil well pad in the Bakken shale basin which will then be used to provide power to run Bitcoin mining servers on-site. The project has been running for more than a year from its launching date in January 2021.
As further added by the report, Exxon plans to expand by starting similar pilot projects in four of its sites namely Alaska, the Qua Iboe Terminal in Nigeria, Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale field, Guyana, and Germany as stated by an unnamed source. Additionally, spokeswoman Sarah Nordin in an email stated:
“We continuously evaluate emerging technologies aimed at reducing flaring volumes across our operations.”
But things remained unconfirmed as she declined to answer the “rumors and speculations regarding the pilot project”. Even Crusoe made no comments on the matter.
Bitcoin mining has been widely criticized worldwide due to growing concerns over its voracious energy consumption and environmental effect. Bitcoin miners worldwide are now in search of the cheapest and clean energy source for Bitcoin mining. El Salvador, the first-ever country to adopt BTC (bitcoin) has boasted mining the cryptocurrency using geothermal energy from its volcanoes.
AXS Price Surges Amid Plans of Full Decentralization
AXS (Axie Infinity), the native token of the most popular blockchain gaming platform Axie surges following plans of full decentralization, a strong indication of investors’ approval. Holders of AXS (Axie Infinity) will be allowed to vote on changes that will be implemented on the platform. It also gives them the opportunity to submit proposals on how to improve the game.
In the past, the gaming platform has received backlash from its users by implementing updates that they believed are ineffective. In February, the gaming platform announced to its users that adventure mode SLP (includes rewards for the first time completion) and adventure SLP were both reduced to 0 (sunset). Arena reward structures were also changed with SLP rewards being reduced but the AXS leaderboard massively expanded. In a blog, Axie explained the reason behind this update.
“As we discussed in that post, inflation of SLP has been very high, with around 4x more SLP being created (supplied) per day than burned (demanded) through breeding. As we are building more burn mechanisms (see below), we are also looking at where we can strategically reduce issuance in order to balance the economy.”
The recent surge of AXS (Axie Infinity) shows that the recent announcement was favored by its users. But what are the inclusions in the recent update? Holders of the governance token may have a chance to participate in changing the platform’s tokenomics, utilize the treasury which is now worth $1 Billion for new initiatives, or even changes in the staking rewards. A framework has been laid by the Axie team on how it will be shifting to full decentralization which comes with three phases. Criteria were also included which will determine when to proceed to the next phase. How close is Axie to full decentralization? Here’s what is stated on the blog published on the platform’s website.
“To date, we’ve gotten closer to this goal. We’ve accumulated a number of victories and introduced Axie and Web3 to millions. We’ve also encountered complicated hurdles and roadblocks.”
Definitely, Axie users and investors are looking forward to the implementation of this newest update.
Russia Considers Accepting Bitcoin for Oil and Gas Exports
Pavel Zavalny, a deputy for the United Russia party in the 7th State Duma of the Russian Federation and the head of the country’s Committee on Energy has recently announced on Thursday that it might consider accepting BTC (bitcoin) as payment for its oil and gas exports.
Amid the Russia and Ukraine war, the US has imposed a ban on imports of Russian oil which created a global crisis and inflation. In line with this, Russia has imposed a new policy that now requires “unfriendly” countries who want to import gas and oil to pay using rubles, the country’s national currency.
“If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us, this is the national currency.”
Zalvany in his statement has offered an alternative payment option using BTC (bitcoin).
“The set of currencies may vary, and that’s normal practice. If there are bitcoins – we will trade in bitcoins.”
The announcement by Russia has resulted in a spike in BTC (bitcoin) price. European countries have been highly dependent on gas imports from Russia which accounts for 4o% of their gas consumption.
Nic Carter, co-founder of Coin Metrics in a report by CNBC has this to say.
“They have something the world needs. Russia is the No. 1 exporter of natural gas globally.”
In a report by CNBC in October 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated:
“I believe that it has value. But I don’t believe it can be used in the oil trade.”
With the country’s recent move, it seems like Putin has a change of heart about BTC (bitcoin) but can the most dominant cryptocurrency be able to support international transactions given its lack of liquidity?
