Crypto Scoop: Bitcoin's Price Slumps Below $45,000 As MicroStrategy Acquires More BTC.

It’s another exciting week in the crypto space with the juiciest news on cryptocurrencies, NFTs and crypto adoption or regulatory policies. In this week’s crypto scoop, we’ll be reviewing:

• Bitcoin’s price slump and MicroStrategy’s purchase of more BTC
• Progress on South Africa’s CBDC
• Nigerian musician, Falz ’s NFT collection
• Ukraine’s crypto donations and

MicroStrategy Acquires More BTC as Bitcoin’s price slumps.

Following rumours that Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy had purchased another round of bitcoin,  bitcoin price briefly surpassed $47,000.  MicroStrategy announced another 4,167 bitcoin purchases in a tweet by CEO Michael Saylor (BTC).

The acquisition was expected after MicroStrategy stated it had borrowed $205 million to acquire more bitcoin. MicroStrategy presently has 129,218 bitcoin in its wallet. According to Saylor's tweet, MicroStrategy did not use the entire loan to buy bitcoin, instead spent around $190 million at an average price of $45,714 per BTC. However, Bitcoin’s price has since slumped below $45,000, trading just above $43,000. 

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) releases updates on its CBDC 

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has completed a technological proof-of-concept for its CBDC bringing the country one step closer to establishing its central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Project Khokha 2 (PK2) is the follow-up to SARB's Project Khokha (PK1), launched in 2018. It used distributed ledger technology (DLT) to settle interbank payments, successfully mimicking the banks' "SAMOS" real-time gross settlement system.

The second phase, PK2, began in February 2021 and evaluated DLT in a proof-of-concept setting, including clearing, trading, and settlement. The project's findings revealed the regulatory, business, and operational ramifications of DLT in the market. 

According to a statement from SARB, the technology would integrate operations previously performed by distinct infrastructures into a single platform, potentially decreasing cost and complexity. The exact end date of the study has not been revealed,  although SARB estimates it will be somewhere around 2022.

Nigerian musician and actor, Falz launches NFT collection

Folarin 'Falz' Falana, a Nigerian musician and actor, has launched an exclusive Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection on Binance NFT Marketplace.

The limited NFT collection, which coincides with the release of his new single, Ice Cream, features NFTs that reflect the numerous roles he has played during his career. The NFT collection was unveiled on Thursday, March 31, 2022. With this one-of-a-kind collection, fans will get a rare glimpse into Falz's creative mind and gain exclusive access to parties and limited edition products. Speaking on the launch of his NFT collection, Falz noted, “I am really excited about the NFTs because I feel like it is something that people are going to love.

Speaking on NFTs, Lamborghini has chosen to auction its the last Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae Coupé as an NFT. This is in commemoration of the end of petrol-powered cars. The Lamborghini drop will be the world’s first NFT-physical supercar auction.

Ukraine raises over $655,000 in NFT sales as Ethereum Co-founder donates $5M ETH.

Ukraine recently announced the launch of the first-ever NFT museum, MetaHistory NFT museum. The money from the sale of Ukraine's NFTs will be used to reconstruct museums, theatres, and other cultural and heritage sites devastated due to the country's war with Russia. On the first day of sale, Ukraine sold 1,282 NFTs for 190 Ether (ETH), or about $655,000 at the time of writing.

The Ukrainian MetaHistory NFT-Museum tweeted updates on the transactions throughout the day, with the final number of 1,153 NFTs sold for more than $500,000. To celebrate reaching the half-million mark, the country also announced that one of the unique NFTs would be given away.

Ukraine has received $133M in crypto donations, and Vitalik Buterin has quietly contributed significantly to that sum. Buterin didn’t officially announce his $5M ETH donation, but the transaction was traced to him via the Ethereum Name Service domain name vitalik. Eth.