Crypto Scoop: ETH Hits 11-Month High At $2,100

Solana announces a launch date for its web3 phone as we see continued growth in the crypto space. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review the following:

• Price moves of top cryptocurrencies
• Ethereum post-shanghai launch
• Solana’s mobile phone launch 
• Africa’s blockchain growth and more

Price Moves of Top Cryptocurrencies

Last week, the top cryptocurrency, bitcoin, breached the $30,000 benchmark and soared to $31,000. The global crypto market cap rose as much as 2.25% while Ethereum soared to $2,100 after its much anticipated Shanghai went live. 

Although BTC currently trades below $30,000 and ETH at $1,900, the crypto community remains optimistic about crypto growth. The renowned author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, noted that he expects bitcoin’s price to keep rising and asserted, “I’m betting on it.”

While DOGE saw a 6% decrease in price, the DOGE community remains positive following Elon Musk’s recent announcement. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the postponement of the Starship rocket test flight and announced it would go live on April 20. Last year, the Dogecoin community declared April 20 as DOGE Day and speculated that Elon was again showing support for DOGE by launching his starship on Doge’s birthday. 

While top cryptocurrencies did not experience any significant price gains this week, Tether USDT attained a milestone. Since January 2023, the number of tether stablecoins in circulation has grown from 66 billion to 80.9 billion, indicating more adoption and demand for the stablecoin. 

Ethereum’s Performance Post Shanghai Launch

The much-anticipated Shanghai upgrade went live last week, and Ethereum’s price soared above $2,100. However, although ETH is currently $1,900, data indicates that ETH deposits now exceed withdrawals for the first time since the upgrade. As of April 18, 929,999 ether worth $1.94 billion were pending withdrawal, but 112,568 had been added to liquid staking pools over three days. 

Bitinfocharts.com data indicates a rise in Ethereum’s network fees over the week. The average Ethereum network transaction charge is 0.0059 ETH, or $12.45 per transfer, while the median Ethereum network transaction fee is 0.0025 ETH or $5.30 per transfer. 

Ethereum Name Service also announced to the community that it was including fiat payment options for the community, allowing people to now pay for ENS domain registrations with their local currencies. 

Solana Announces Launch Data For Its Web3 Smartphone Saga

The Saga smartphone from Solana, which supports Web3, will go on sale on Monday, May 8, 2023. The Android smartphone was created by OSOM and is tailored for Web3 applications. Its Seed Vault feature enables users to self-custody cryptographic assets.

The Solana blockchain ecosystem's developer, Solana Labs, Inc., revealed that the Saga smartphone would go on sale on May 8, with pre-orders starting on April 20. The $1,000 Web3 smartphone, which runs on the "Solana Mobile Stack," also has a Solana Dapp Store, which currently hosts 16 apps covering NFTs, DAOs, staking, and more.

Africa Records Growth In Blockchain Funding And Development

According to CVVC's "African Blockchain Report" for 2022, blockchain deals in Africa raised $474 million in total in 2022, an increase of 429% over the $90 million raised in 2021. The surge in funding for blockchain technology significantly outpaced the global average, which only witnessed a 4% increase.  

Africa increased by 429%  Year on Year (YoY), with most of the money coming from South Africa and Seychelles. Nigeria was the frontrunner regarding the number of blockchain startups receiving funding, followed by South Africa, Seychelles and Kenya.

Bitcoin Soccer Club Real Bedford FC Wins The League

The self-acclaimed Bitcoin Soccer team, Real Bedford Football Club, has won the United Kingdom’s South Midlands League for the 2023 season.

Fans worldwide flew in to watch the last home game, a non-national league soccer team in a North London town. Chairman of the team, Peter McCormack, told Cointelegraph that he bought Bedford FC and rebranded it to be Bitcoin-friendly Real Bedford. He shared his vision of one day owning an English Football League and putting it on the Bitcoin world map. 

The club has a Bitcoin logo on its strip, and the emblem sports a founding block height: of 712,003. After the win, Peter McCormack cheered on, saying he would get the team into the premier league.