Crypto Scoop: Amid Bearish Market Conditions, Africa Takes The Lead In Crypto Adoption

While top cryptocurrencies trade in red, LUNA Classic and DOGE record significant price growth as several crypto initiatives roll out. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review

• Price moves of top cryptocurrencies
• Ethereum’s deflationary status
• Tether’s Cancellation of commercial reserves
• Africa’s lead in crypto adoption
• Meta & Microsoft’s metaverse initiatives

DOGE AND LUNA Classic Record Price Gains In A Bear Market

The bear market continues with top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin trading at $19,000 and ETH at $1,300. It seems Solana has suffered the worst hit falling below $30 for the first time since June. SOL which had attained an ATH of $259.96 in November 2021, went as low as $28.35 this week.

While top cryptocurrencies may be struggling in a sea of red, DOGE recorded a 2% increase after another heartwarming announcement from Elon Musk. Elon Musk’s Boring Company released a new perfume with a fragrance that reminds of a “candle at the dinner table”. The highlight for DOGE fans is that the perfume can be bought with fiat, dollar, and DOGE coin. 

Terra Classic USD, whose crash had caused a significant hit on algorithmic stablecoins, soared 40% this week after a Re-peg proposal. The proposal by Tobias Andersen suggested tackling existing issues of the coin to reduce the debt it had accumulated since its crash in May and pegging it to $1. 

Despite the bear market, Billionaire Paul Tudor remains convinced about Bitcoin and Ethereum’s bullish prospects. He noted that with inflation on the rise, it's an opportunity for people to appreciate Bitcoin and Ethereum more. Renowned tech giant Google is set to accept crypto payments for its cloud services. A handful of customers will first enjoy this new feature before it is rolled out to all its customers. 

Ethereum Attains Deflationary Status

Over the weekend, a new cryptocurrency project became the largest consumer of Ethereum transaction fees, pushing Ethereum to become deflationary. Deflationary is when an asset prompts a general price reduction to help mitigate inflation. XEN, the new project, gulped up over half of Ethereum's block space, causing network issuance to plummet and gas prices to soar.

XEN is a project founded by the "Fair Crypto Foundation," supported by Jack Levin, one of Google's earliest workers to work on cloud infrastructure. "Users have paid nearly $1.8 million in gas fees to interact with the token contract, which has a $500k market valuation," DeFi analyst '@0xfoobar' observed.

 As a result, the supply of Ethereum has been decreasing since October 8. XEN Crypto resulted in the burning of over 1,300 ETH, worth about $1.7 million, in less than 24 hours. Over the last week, the number of tokens declined by 4,000 as more ether was burned verifying transactions than it was created.

Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached an all-time high, putting even more strain on miners. The difficulty gauge increased by 13.55% two weeks after the last adjustment, the greatest increase since May 2021. It now takes 35.6 trillion hashes to generate one bitcoin (BTC). According to BTC.com, the current network hash rate is 257 million tera hashes per second (TH/s), a massive increase from last year when it was around 140 million TH/s. 

Tether Successfully Reduces Commercial Paper Holdings To Zero

On October 13, 2022, Tether Holdings Limited declared that the stablecoin issuer had decreased the company's commercial paper holdings to zero. Tether argues that reducing commercial paper holdings to zero "demonstrates Tether's commitment to backing its tokens with the most secure reserves in the market."

While Tether celebrates its recent initiative, Circle's USDC market cap fell below $50 billion for the first time  Since Terra's crash. USDC's utility has suffered due to Binance's move to stop listing USDC on its platform and Circle's decision to freeze Tornado Cash addresses. According to data provider CoinGecko, USDC's market value has decreased by $10 billion in three months to $46 billion, the lowest since January.

Microsoft and Meta Partner To Bring Office 365 apps to the Metaverse.

Meta's new Virtual Reality headgear will include a suite of Microsoft applications, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbing it the "virtual office of the future." The integration will allow businesses to manage and secure VR headsets on their corporate networks in the same way that they would computers or phones.

Meta is betting that its Quest Pro headgear, which is packed with additional functions, will entice consumers to work virtually. The business claims that the new headset is more comfortable, has more remarkable performance and has better clarity and resolution than its predecessor. 

"We're bringing the Microsoft Teams' immersive meeting experience to Meta Quest in order to give people new ways to connect. Now, you can connect, share and collaborate as though you are together in person." "As in-person work ramps up, we want everyone to have the ability to feel like they're present," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg added.