Last week, the crypto market experienced a significant $100 billion loss, causing Bitcoin to drop below $64,000. Despite multiple recovery attempts, Bitcoin struggled to regain stability, reaching a peak of $66.5K before falling back down to $63.4K.
As the upcoming week approaches, there may be continued pressure on the market, with bearish trends potentially hindering any recovery. However, amidst the turmoil, Ethereum managed to only lose 1.5% last week, thanks to positive market developments and regulatory news.
One of the key events that significantly influenced the market last week was the approval of Australia’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). This ETF, offered by VanEck, allows investors to put money into the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (‘HODL’), providing a new way to invest in Bitcoin.
In another major development, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unexpectedly ended its investigation into whether Ether is a security. This decision came amid mounting pressure, with the SEC no longer claiming that Ether is a security, as confirmed by Laura Brookover, a lawyer for Consensys.
Additionally, a bug exploited by Certik led to the holding of $3 million in digital assets from Kraken. The bug was reported by an anonymous security researcher, who demanded a reward for identifying and using the flaw. CertiK ultimately returned the $3 million in digital assets to Kraken.
MicroStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed software company and the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, made headlines by purchasing an additional 11,931 BTC for $786 million. This purchase increased their total Bitcoin holdings to 226,331 tokens.
Ripple also saw a victory in court, with the California courts dismissing all class action claims in a lawsuit concerning XRP. This ruling confirmed XRP’s non-security status and cleared Ripple of allegations of violating federal securities laws with its sales.
On the other hand, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was fined $2.2 million by India’s anti-money laundering unit for violating the country’s anti-money laundering regulations by providing services to Indian clients.
Overall, last week was filled with ups and downs in the crypto market, with various events shaping the future trajectory of digital currencies. Investors will be closely watching how these developments continue to unfold in the coming weeks.