Crypto Scoop: Price dive of BTC, ETH Leaves The Crypto Market Cap Dangling Below $1 Trillion

Top cryptocurrencies may be trading in red, but the crypto community hasn't slowed down. In this edition of the crypto scoop, we review this week's highlights:

• The nosedive of Top Cryptocurrencies
• Crypto community's reaction to Tornado Cash ban
• Nigeria maintains its position as the largest crypto market in Africa
• Telegram proposal for Web3 Integration and more.

Top Cryptocurrencies Take A Nose Dive In Red

Earlier in the month, the prices of BTC and ETH had hovered above $25,000 and $2,000, respectively, before tipping below again. However, during the week, ETH’s price dipped 18% while the much-anticipated merge draws closer.

The total crypto market cap went down by over $120 billion in two days, and BTC is currently trading at a three-week low. While BTC traded below $21,000, Ethereum seemed to lose $100 daily. 

While top cryptocurrencies might be trading in red now, Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum, asserts that crypto is superior to fiat(traditional) currencies. He explained, “People continue to underrate how often cryptocurrency payments are superior not even because of censorship resistance but because they're so much more convenient”.

Crypto Community Reacts To Tornado Cash Ban

Tornado Cash was banned about two weeks ago, and its developer was arrested over money laundering and illicit activities on the app. While efforts to bail out the Tornado Cash developer have been futile, the crypto community debates what this ban means for the community. 

The danger of protocol-level transaction censorship has divided the Ethereum community in the aftermath of the ban on Tornado Cash. In order to combat transaction-level censorship on Ethereum, community members have suggested social slashing or even a user-activated soft fork (UASF). While some have called these proposals "traps" that will cause more harm than good, others have argued that they are necessary to give Ethereum "credible neutrality and censorship resistance properties."

Social slashing is the practice where validators have a fraction of their stake reduced if they don't accurately validate the incoming transactions or act dishonestly. It’s been argued that this could lead to a chain split as some validators may choose to process transactions without the censorship chain. 

Unlike USDC, Tether has not approved Tornado cash transfers. Tether reasoned that it complies with requests from OFAC to freeze addresses, although it hasn't gotten one for the well-known mixing service.

Therefore, owners of USDT can theoretically continue to conceal their funds using the smart contract. It's still unclear whether Tether's permissiveness constitutes a breach of American regulations.

Ripple Partners with Travelex to launch crypto payment in Brazil

Due to the arrangement, Travelex became the first bank in Latin America to use Ripple's ODL technology. Travelex in Brazil will distribute the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution from Ripple to provide rapid cross-border cryptocurrency payments. According to Ripple, Instant cross-border transfers are possible with Ripple's ODL at a minimal settlement cost. Additionally, the ODL does not need pre-funded money in the target market. 

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, stated that the company's mission was to provide genuine value and utility from day one. He remarked: “Brazil is a key market for Ripple given its importance as an anchor to business in Latin America, its openness to crypto and country-wide initiatives that promote fintech innovation. […] we are excited to collaborate with an innovative partner like Travelex Bank to help move money more efficiently for the benefit of its customers across Brazil.”

Nigerian BTC Peer-to-Peer Volumes Nearly $400M

Nigeria's bitcoin trade volumes in the first half of 2022 almost surpassed $400 million, according to Paxful. The West African country is now the largest market internationally when combined with the $760 million in trading volumes recorded in 2021. Kenya is the second-largest crypto market in Africa, with trade volumes of over $325 million within the same period.

Crypto adoption continues to foster in Nigeria despite restrictions by the Central Bank of Nigeria preventing banks and regulated financial institutions from facilitating crypto transactions. Nigeria's crypto trading volume continues to grow as Nigerians use Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading to buy and sell crypto.

Nike Ranks As Highest Earning Brand From NFT Sales

According to Dunes Analytics, Nike earned $185.34 million from NFT sales. Compared to the other 12 mentioned NFT-issued brands, Nike had the most secondary market transactions (67,500) and the highest secondary transaction volume ($1.29 billion).

Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, and Gucci complete the top 4 spots on this NFT revenue list with revenues of $25 million, $12 million, and $11 million, respectively. 

Nike caused quite a stir in the NFT community last December when it acquired the digital fashion company RTFKT Studios, which creates sneakers and clothing that can be worn in both the virtual and physical worlds and released the CloneX line of NFT avatars. In April, Nike and RTFKT unveiled their first virtual shoe collection, CryptoKicks. It had 20,000 NFTs, including one created by Takashi Murakami and bought for $134,000.

Telegram CEO Proposes Web3 Integration

The popular messaging network Telegram will soon receive several Web3 improvements, according to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Durov discussed the advantages of tradable usernames and channel links in the future. He proposed establishing a market where users may similarly use them as Ethereum Name Service addresses.

He explained, “Imagine how successful Telegram with its 700 million users could be if we put reserved usernames, group and channel links for auction,” The marketplace will employ “NFT-like smart contracts” to auction highly-sought usernames.

BAYC Floor Value at its lowest as Cryptopunks overtakes BAYC NFTS

The floor pricing of NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Collections has dropped to amounts not seen since the beginning of January 2022. The lowest price for the BAYC floor in eight months is 67 ETH. The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection's non-fungible tokens are going through a rough patch. 

This is in light of worries of large-scale liquidations on a site where owners of Bored Ape NFTs can use their gorillas as collateral. Nearly 3% of the Bored Ape collection is collateralised by the NFT lending site BendDAO, and numerous NFTs have recently entered the liquidation "danger zone." There is concern that NFTs close to liquidation and being forcibly sold could lead to further liquidations.

The floor price of the Cryptopunks non-fungible token (NFT) collection briefly topped the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, according to CoinGecko.  Although it wasn't by much, BAYC's least NFT was 64.99 ether, whereas Cryptopunks' floor was 66.45 ether; however, Cryptopunks momentarily reclaimed the throne it held the previous year.

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