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BTC, ETH and several top cryptocurrencies record price gains with several NFT and Metaverse initiatives rolled out.

October rounds up with exciting new initiatives as the crypto market takes a green turn. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review

Price gains of top cryptocurrencies
Yellow Card’s African Crypto license
Crypto Adoption initiatives in Nigeria and Mexico
Lionel Messi’s Web3 partnership
Twitter and Telegram’s NFT initiative

BTC, ETH, DOGE, SHIB, ADA Record Price Gains

This week, top cryptocurrencies recorded a significant price swing, with several trading in Green. Bitcoin soared to $21,000 for the first time since September, and Ethereum hit $1,500. With its new price, Ethereum became the 50th largest asset in the world, with a market cap of over $188 billion. Bitcoin currently ranks at $14th in the world.

Dogecoin also jumped over 10% in just 24 hours of the announcement of Elon Musk’s Twitter deal nearing conclusion. The Forbes billionaire Elon Musk will conclude the Twitter purchase by 5:00 pm ET on Friday. DOGE traded at a monthly high of $0.065, with a market cap of $7.5 billion. Shiba Inu, the second-largest meme coin, also rose 4.4% this week. Cardano ADA, also trading in red this week, soared 13%, its highest since August. The total Crypto market cap again hit $1 Trillion with these price gains.

With this in mind, it’s not surprising that former white house deputy Chief of Staff USA and CEO of Messina group, Jim Messina, expressed that he is willing to bet his Porsche that BTC will hit $60,000 again. He asserted that he remains bullish and continues to buy the dip with the expectation that bitcoin will again rise to its previous ATH.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Skyrockets and USDC also loses 20% of its Market Cap

Bitcoin mining difficulty rose 3.4% this week, hitting a new ATH of 36.84 trillion. While mining difficulty is closer to 160Z, the difficulty ribbon has compressed, possibly indicating good buying opportunities. Difficulty compressions have historically suggested good buying opportunities.

Core Scientific, one of the world's largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, is on the verge of insolvency. Insolvency is when a firm cannot generate profit to meet its bills or financial obligations. The company declared that the falling prices of BTC and the increasing electricity costs are pushing it closer to insolvency. The company currently holds just 24BTC and $26.6 million in cash, a significant decrease from September when it had 1,000BTC and $29.5 million in cash.

While several top cryptocurrencies have noted an increase in their market cap, the same isn't for the second-largest stablecoin, USDC. Since USDC froze over 75,000 USDC of funds linked to 44 Tornado cash addresses, the stablecoin seems to have lost community sympathy, which has caused backlash and multiple withdrawals.

At the same time, USDC is in the middle of a market dominance battle with Binance BUSD, pushing its asset to replace USDC as the second-largest stablecoin. Following this, Binance unlisted USDC on its platform. While Binance BUSD saw an increase of 22% to $21.62 billion, USDC fell from $53.3 5o $49.9 billion.

Yellow Card Receives First-Ever African Crypto Licence

Pan African Crypto Exchange Yellow Card Attains First African Virtual Asset License

We proudly announce that Yellow Card has attained the very first African license for African crypto exchanges in Botswana. This is a significant milestone as it portrays regulatory approval to continue expanding our operations across the continent.

Yellow Card has received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) licence from Botswana's Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA). CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, Chris Maurice says the new license opens up greater opportunities for the firm's expansion to payment partners and banking institutions across Africa. "This will further show regulators in other markets that we are not just any other cryptocurrency company — we are pioneering, pushing boundaries and setting the standard."

Nigeria Celebrates One Year Anniversary of its CBDC

On October 25, Nigeria marked the one-year anniversary of the Central Bank of Nigeria's e-naira, although residents haven't fully adopted the CBDC. The central bank is offering a 5% discount to motorised rickshaw drivers and passengers who use the e-naira to increase the use of the CBDC.

Speaking on cryptocurrencies, Nigerian presidential aspirant Asiwaju Bola Tinubu promised to set up an advisory committee to review regulations that govern blockchain and virtual asset services if it wins in the upcoming elections. The APC also stated that it "will collaborate with the Central Bank and the financial sector to review and improve the exchange rate regime carefully.

Metaverse Initiatives Roll Out Across The Globe

Mexico launched its first shopping mall in the Metaverse, Island Shopping Mall. While the shopping mall will launch over 80 brands, it is expected to host over 800 brands soon. The mall can be accessed from mobile devices by downloading an app from AppStore or Google Play. Bath & Body Works, LA Colors, GOC, Biss, Golden, LA Girl, Momiji, Pai Pai, and Victoria's Secret are the leading brands confirmed for the mall's opening.

The international police organisation INTERPOL has released information about its law enforcement-specific Metaverse. By embracing the technology and influencing governance at this early stage, INTERPOL hopes to take preventative action against Metaverse criminality. The concept aims to bring together law enforcement officials from all over the country for cooperation and training. The idea was unveiled at the 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL in New Delhi, India. During interactive sessions led by the developers, delegates got a firsthand look at the INTERPOL Metaverse.

Nokia, one of the first manufacturers to develop a mobile phone system, predicts that the mobile phone trend will succumb to the Metaverse. Nishant Batra, Nokia's chief strategy and technology officer, explained while augmented reality devices have a long way to go, Nokia believes that there will be an increase in audience interest in such devices, which will power this metaverse push.

Lionel Messi Enters Another Partnership To Enable Web 3 Adoption

Bitget, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced a partnership with Lionel Andrés Messi, the iconic Argentine footballer. Bitget's partnership with Messi will give Messi fans a unique opportunity to learn about Web 3.0. There is also an agreement that the collaboration will allow both parties to commit to more impactful efforts beyond cryptocurrency and football.

Gracy Chen, Managing Director of Bitget, says, "We try to reflect the diversity and richness of our platform community in the partnerships we choose. We open up Web 3 to sports fans; they open the field to crypto traders. And to top it all off, we pool our resources to help those who need it. I can't imagine it any other way.

Twitter And Telegram Roll our NFT Initiatives.

Twitter's new feature, Tweet Tiles, will allow users to buy and sell NFTs via tweets. The NFT Tweet Tiles integration displays an NFT's artwork in a dedicated panel within a tweet and includes a button that allows users to navigate a marketplace listing.

Those marketplaces are spread across several blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Flow, Polygon, Tezos, and Immutable X. According to a Twitter representative, the feature is blockchain-agnostic, which means that all networks are supported as long as the links are from a partnered marketplace.

Telegram launched a TON blockchain marketplace to auction off rare username handles. Telegram will begin with auctions of four- and five-letter handles, making shorter handles available to all users for the first time. The auction will last a week, with a price minimum for a four-character handle likely set at 10,000 Toncoin, the TON blockchain's native token. Individual Telegram users will be able to auction off their usernames as well.

Crypto Scoop: BTC Skyrockets to $21,000 As The Crypto Market Takes A Green Turn