Crypto Scoop: Bitcoin Dips Below $60K temporarily

It’s the end of another equally exciting month in the crypto space. New ATHs have been reached as new crypto adoption policies roll in. As we round off this month, here are the highlights of this week’s crypto scoop:

• Bitcoin Dips Below $60,000 temporarily
• Central Bank of Nigeria launches its CBDC, eNaira
• Facebook’s Metaverse to support NFTs
• MicroStrategy acquires bitcoin holdings of over $7billion

Bitcoin Dips Below $60,000 temporarily.

Bitcoin reached a new ATH the past week, soaring about $66,000. Yet, bitcoin’s price may have run bearish after reaching its recent ATH, making it dip below $60,000. However, the price dips seem only temporarily as bitcoin was soon able to soar past $60K following El Salvador’s purchase. El Salvador, the first nation to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, purchased 420 bitcoin amounting to $25million, noting that it was buying the dip.

President Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, announced that the country had bought the dip on his Twitter account. Currently, the nation’s treasury holds an estimate of 1,120 bitcoin in its holdings. With increased crypto adoption and policies rolling in, Crypto enthusiasts like Mathew Dibb, Chief operating officer at Stack Funds, expect that bitcoin and Eth will surpass recent all-time highs in the next few weeks.

Central Bank of Nigeria launches its CBDC, eNaira

The much anticipated Nigerian CBDC, eNaira has been launched. The eNaira was launched to “make financial transactions easier and seamless for every stratum of the society,” the Central Bank of Nigeria reports. The CBDC was set to roll out on Oct 1st but was postponed as its release date coincided with the nation’s anniversary of independence.

Although the CBN maintained its ban on crypto transactions in the banking sector, eNaira was rolled out to eliminate the limitations of its fiat currency, Naira. eNaira’s launch was accompanied by the release of a wallet that Nigerians can link their bank accounts or pay as they go on its prepay option. The eNaira is designed to be stored in a mobile wallet, have the same value as the traditional naira, and be used interchangeably in everyday transactions.

In line with this, Nigeria’s central bank has rolled out two eNaira wallets both available on the Google play store and App Store. One of the wallets was designed for individuals and the other for merchants. However, following a lot of sceptism resulting in several poor reviews being placed on the Google Play store, the app has been taken down. At present, the App is still available on only the App Store (iOS). The Central Bank of Nigeria is yet to address the poor reviews left or make a statement to this effect.

Facebook's Metaverse to support NFTs

Facebook has announced it will be changing its name to Meta as it pursues its Metaverse aspirations and goals. The company's Metaverse would roll out a feature that supports no-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its platform. Vishal Shah, Facebook Head of Metaverse products notes that the addition would make it easier for people to sell their Limited Edition digital objects like NFTs and display them in their digital spaces and even resell them to others securely. NFTs are fast becoming a rave in the crypto space as this week, a CryptoPunk non-fungible token was sold for over half a billion dollars. This sale makes it not only one of the largest NFT sales in history but also in history of art. However, on-chain analysts suspect that the sale might just have been an elaborate publicity stunt. The NFT was sold for 124,457.07 ETH sales worth over $530 million.

Shah noted that the company's goal was to "provide a way for as many players as possible to build a business in the MeMetaverse" Facebook is fast setting a base in the virtual world as it pushes its Metaverse uniFacebook'sk's head of payments and financial services, David Marcus, tweeted that the redesign would bring all of the company's payments and financial services units and products under the Novi banner, including Facebook Pay. In another hint on Facebook's fascination with the Metaverse, the company's shares will begin trading on December 1 under the ticker name MVRS.

Read also: How To Make Your Own NFT

MicroStrategy acquires bitcoin holdings of over $7billion

Leading business intelligence company Microstrategy now owns bitcoin that amounts to $7billion. This comes as exciting news as Microstrategy is worth about $7.4billion in market cap. In essence, the company's total market cap comprises majorly of bitcoin. In the third quarter, 2021 alone, the company has amassed 9,000 bitcoins, thus bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 114,042. The funding for the bitcoin was obtained after the company effectively raised funds in the quarter through its at-the-market equity offering. The company noted that it would continue to "evaluate opportunities to raise additional capital to execute on its bitcoin strategy.

On MicroStrategy's earnings conference call, the CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, stated that the company is dedicated to buying bitcoin and has no plans to sell. Bitcoin. Saylor explained that Bitcoin is a "great" long-term investment for investors. He emphasized that he was open to collaborations that might enable MicroStrategy to purchase additional bitcoin.  According to Saylor, bitcoin has seen "very dramatic" developments in the last three months, including increasing institutional use and ongoing regulatory debates. Saylor adds bitcoin-linked ETFs are another "checkbox" for an institutional investor.  Saylor went on to say there's a "deep game-changing relationship here with big tech and bitcoin, citing Twitter's tip feature and Square's Cash App, among others

Get Started With Crypto