Crypto Scoop: BTC Drops To $16,000 As Top Cryptocurrencies Hit Weekly Lows

This week, top cryptocurrencies began a downward price trend, with the total crypto market cap dipping below $1trillion. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review 

• Price moves of top cryptocurrencies
• USDC Circle’s response to FTX’s fall
• CBDC initiative of Zimbabwe
• Google Cloud’s Crypto initiative
• Lionel Messi’s Fantasy Sports Partnership

BTC Drops to $16,000 As Top Cryptocurrencies Hit Weekly Lows 

At the start of the week, Bitcoin's price skyrocketed to $21,500 but, following certain events in the crypto space, dropped below $16,000 before rebounding above $17,000. Following an investigation into popular crypto exchange platforms FTX and trading firm Alameda, the crypto space watched as several traders began sell-offs. 

While Binance initially proposed to acquire FTX to address liquidity concerns about FTX, Binance later pulled out of the deal, citing 'mishandled customer funds and regulatory scrutiny. The crypto market lost $200B in market cap as Bitcoin dropped to 2-year lows. Following the news of FTX's insolvency, FTX native token FTT experienced significant sell-offs. FTX recorded about $5 billion in withdrawals on November 6 2022. 

Coinglass data indicates that FTX's Bitcoin balance was negative at -197.95 BTC after over 20K BTC left the exchange in the past 24hr. Bitcoin wasn't the only crypto asset affected by the sell-offs, ETH dropped to $1,200, and SOL dipped over 40% during the week. With news of 18 million Solana tokens to hit the market following the end of their staking lock in-period, SOL further dropped under $20. 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao remarks that the "fall of FTX is not good for anyone." He noted that FTX's downfall might funnel into more regulatory restrictions.

While bitcoin's price may be at its lowest in years, it's not all gloom in the crypto space. Bitcoin mining difficulty in November was exceptionally high compared to its 28.35 trillion difficulty on August 17, 2022. Bitcoin miners were able to catch a small break on November 6, 2022, as the network's mining difficulty dropped 0.20%. This is its lowest in four weeks, dropping from 36.84 trillion to 36.76 trillion. 

USDC Circle's CEO Clarifies Misconceptions on FTX Relationship

Following FTX's abrupt downfall, there were some rumours that certain assets were transferred from Circle to FTX. Jeremy Allaire, CEO of USDC issuer, reassured the public that Circle has no material exposure to the troubled companies. Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Tether, also commented on the subject.

Allaire said FTX has been a customer of Circle Payment APIs for more than a year and provided card and ACH services for client transactions as the company distanced itself from the chaotic turn of events. He also said FTX and other exchanges are used for BTC/ETH liquidity in Circle's beta crypto payments product.

The largest stablecoin by market cap, Tether's USDT token deviated from its dollar peg on Thursday as market volatility persisted in the cryptocurrency industry. Tether temporarily dipped as low as 96 cents, but fast rebounded at $0.998. Following a request from law enforcement, stablecoin issuer Tether was forced to freeze $46 million worth of USDT held on the Tron blockchain by defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Zimbabwe’s Central Bank Pursues CBDC Initiative. 

Innocent Matshe, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, recently declared that his institution would move forward with plans to introduce its digital currency.

Matshe emphasised that it was unfazed by the reportedly slow adoption of the digital currency issued by the central bank of Nigeria. Instead, Zimbabwe will draw lessons from Nigeria to improve its CBDC. Zimbabwe also sent representatives to China and Ghana to draw insights into building its CBDC.  

Google Cloud Partners with Solana to become a Solana validator.

Solana and Google Cloud have announced a revolutionary partnership. Following the partnership, Google Cloud will add the network to its Blockchain Node Engine and BigQuery services and become a Solana validator.

Google Cloud will be able to participate in and validate the Solana network by running a block-producing Solana validator.

Messi Partners With Sorare In Another NFT Initiative

The French NFT trading card game Sorare has added Lionel Messi as an investor and a brand ambassador. The collaboration with Sorare is the latest in a string of agreements between cryptocurrency platforms and athletes.

Sorare enables users to manage five-person teams in fantasy soccer competitions and trade digital player cards. Messi will aid Sorare in creating new models of fan interaction with teams and athletes. Sorare added that they would collaborate to develop fresh content and fan experiences.