Crypto Scoop: Bitcoin Will Hit $100k Before Mid-Year

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Crypto enthusiasts foresee a bullish run in 2022, with new companies like Samsung launching NFT initiatives; Yellow Card relaunches in Nigeria as crypto adoption booms and adds a new feature, USDT wallets, to its platform.

Happy New Year! It is the start of a new year, and we are delighted to bring you the trendiest news from the crypto space. Buckle your seatbelt as we prepare for an exciting year in the crypto space. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we will be reviewing:

  • President Bukele's prediction of bitcoin's price to $100,000
  • The top altcoins to look forward to in 2022
  • Yellow Card's relaunch in Nigeria and the introduction of its latest feature, USDT
  • Samsung's NFT project and,
  • Africa's crypto movement and growth
    Even though the year has only just begun, the crypto space appears to be in full swing, with new crypto initiatives and growing crypto acceptance. Could we be in for a bullish run before the end of the month, and what exciting crypto projects can we look forward to before the year rolls out?

“Bitcoin Will Hit $100k Before Mid-year”, says President Bukule

Bitcoin ended the year 2021 on a bearish run with its price at $45K. However, it is yet to recover the bearish run, and it is still below $45,00 dipping as low as $42,000. Bitcoin’s price dip below $43K has been reported to lead to $800M liquidation which may have caused over 87% of losses to arise from crypto traders in long positions

Yet, there is a lot of positivity surrounding the year 2022, with Nexo CEO, Antoni Trenchev predicting that Bitcoin’s price will hit $100,000 mid-year. Goldman Sach analysts and President Nayib Bukule, President of El Salvador equally support this notion, noting that despite the apparent bearish run bitcoin would definitely scale past $100k. This was one of the six predictions of President Bukele who predicted that two more countries would adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2022. Bukele also noted that El Salvador's Bitcoin City will start construction this year and the country's volcanic bonds will be oversubscribed.

This comes at a time when crypto enthusiasts gather to celebrate the 13th anniversary of bitcoin with the former first lady of the US, Melania Trump who had recently taken to NFTs. That’s not all! Bitcoin’s third-largest whale also made a purchase of 436 BTC to commemorate this special occasion bringing the whale’s bitcoin holdings to 120,845.57 BTC worth over $5.6 billion. It seems that more people are keen to buy the bitcoin dip, as Microstrategy also made a purchase of 1,914 BTC as the year 2021 drew to a close. 

Bitcoin Soars To The Moon

Bitcoin Soars To The Moon (Source: Stakin)

Popular Finance company, Moneygram has also announced its investment in Bitcoin ATM Coinme noting that there would more investments in the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has indeed soared in its value and popularity with analyst company, Visibrain, reporting 101 million tweets containing the word “bitcoin” in 2021. This represents an increase of 350% from the volume recorded in 2020.

Better Days Ahead for Ethereum 

As BTC seems to be set to rise against its bearish run, Ethereum although equally suffering a bearish run may soon experience new additions that could change its path to bullish. CEO of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin has proposed a new ‘multidimensional’ Ethereum fee structure based on“Multidimensional EIP-1559. This will involve calculating different gas prices for different resource usage which may streamline and lessen the current fee structure for Ethereum.  according to Buterin.

Solana's Performance Chart 2021 (Source: Coinmarketcap)

Top 5 Altcoins To Look Out For in 2022

2021 recorded significant price gains for several altcoins. As we begin the new year, here are some top altcoins to look out for in 2022.

1. Shiba Inu: Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an iconic meme coin that was launched in 2020 as a spin-off from Dogecoin (DOGE). From start to end in 2021, SHIB holders saw a mouth-watering gain of 29,513,624.1 percent. With the launch of ShibaSwap DEX, which now has up to $324.5 million in total value locked (TVL), two new native tokens, and support for NFT drops, there is a lot to look forward to from SHIB in 2022. 

2. Solana: SOL is also popularly referred to as Ethereum killer because it can process more transactions per second with less gas price. Solana recorded significant gains in 2021. However, SOL's price may have fallen from its price of  $167 to $144 on Thursday allowing many to enter its market by buying the dip. 

3. Dogecoin: Dogecoin also a memecoin gained a lot of traction in 2021 with Elon Musk, referred to as the “Dogefather” solidly pushing behind it. Dogecoin attained several ATHs in 2021 with Tesla announcing that it will accept DOGE for merchandise payments.

4. Cardano: Cardano (ADA) was the most developed blockchain in 2021, according to a recent report by CryptoRanks and Santiment. Cardano may have recently been under fire because of its lack of usable dApps. Cardano's signature Alonzo Fork took place in September, allowing smart-contract capabilities on its proof-of-stake (PoS) network. Cardano's is also off to a great start in 2022 as it has locked a total value of $845k in just two days. The total number of ADA wallets has also reached 2 million. 

5. Binance Coin: BNB was initially created as a token for a discount on trading fees on Binance but has evolved to be a coveted cryptocurrency that has grown from its initial price of $0.10 in 2017 to around $520 on Jan. 3rd. 2021 a gain of approximately 520,000%.

Yellow Card relaunches in Nigeria and introduces USDT wallets

Leading Pan African Crypto Exchange, Yellow Card announced its relaunch in its first operational country, Nigeria, this week. Yellow Card paused operation in Nigeria in February 2021 when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a publication prohibiting commercial banks and all financial institutions from interacting with cryptocurrency entities and individuals. However, Yellow Card remained dedicated to its mission of financial inclusion seeking a means to ensure crypto accessibility for Nigerians. Oparinde Babatunde, Yellow Card Director of Operations, says this moment is a game-changer for the company.

Yellow Card also announced the launch of USDT TRC-20, a new feature on its platform that allows its users across Africa to buy, sell, and hold USDT with ease, as well as directly exchange USDT for other cryptocurrencies.

Samsung X NFTS (Source: Recentlyheard)

Television and NFTs Meet, What to expect?

The television company, Samsung has announced that it would be creating a new set of televisions that will support NFTS. Samsung's 2022 smart TVs, such as the Micro LED, Neo QLED, and The Frame, will include an NFT Platform app for "discovering, purchasing, and trading digital artwork.” The company explained its reason for this addition noting that “With demand for NFTs on the rise, the need for a solution to today’s fragmented viewing and purchasing landscape has never been greater.” While it is unknown whether NFT platforms or markets will be included in the aggregation, Samsung has stated that its smart TVs would maintain the image quality set by the NFT developer.

Also, popular musician Eminem has also announced the purchase of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT for $462K. The famous entertainer soon changed his Twitter profile image to the dazed-looking monkey, who is dressed in military-style headgear and hip hop clothes.

Crypto Adoption in Nigeria Increases

A recent IMF paper posed that Crypto may supplant the naira and other developing market currencies. Crypto assets, according to the IMF, represent immediate and substantial risks to the currencies of various emerging markets and developing economies, including the Nigerian naira. This was said by the IMF in a paper titled "Global Crypto regulation Should Be Comprehensive, Consistent, and Coordinated," which was released on Thursday. 

Crypto assets will eventually cause systemic financial instability in some nations, according to this report, as policymakers struggle to control risks. It was suggested that crypto-asset service providers who perform key activities be licensed or authorized. and systems should be put in place to coordinate their actions. According to the IMF, there is a compelling need for cross-border collaboration and cooperation to address technological, legal, regulatory, and supervisory concerns.  

Nigerians Rely on P2P to Lead Crypto Expansion

Africa tops peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms in terms of transaction volume across all regions with chainanalysis reporting growth of 1200% in the African crypto market. Nigeria is the world's second-largest cryptocurrency market, with 60,214 bitcoins traded. Furthermore, it is the largest in P2P, or peer-to-peer, trading. P2P trades account for the majority of bitcoin exchanges and transactions in Nigeria. The monetary volume of cryptocurrency received by Nigerian users has been steadily increasing: according to Chainalysis, Nigeria got $2.4 billion in May 2021, compared to only $684 million in December 2020. With Yellow Card’s relaunch in Nigeria, one can only look forward to more crypto growth and adoption. 

While Crypto adoption is fostering in Africa at large several countries have also taken positions about crypto adoption. Northern European country, Estonia has announced that it has no plans to ban cryptocurrencies as the Federal Bank of Boston also announces its hunt for a new director to head its CBDC project.

Africans Called To Unite To Create A Common Cryptocurrency

Following the Covid-19 issue, experts on the African economy believe that a single cryptocurrency, as well as an integrated capital market, will be essential to boost commerce and sustain development on the continent. According to a news release from the African Development Bank Group(ADBG), these professionals expressed their thoughts at a discussion on reviving Africa's financial sector. 

One of the professionals included in the declaration is Anouar Hassoune, a finance professor and the CEO of the West Africa Rating Agency, who believes that a common cryptocurrency has the potential to cut the cost of doing business. He went on to say: “We need to come up with a cryptocurrency that is acceptable to each member state. It’s better to do it at the continental level, and we have the expertise to do it. It’s a matter of governance, not an issue of technology.” Although it is uncertain how the introduction of a continental currency would look and function, it is an exciting concept that has the potential to boost crypto acceptance across Africa.