Last Week In Bitcoin is a series that discusses the previous week’s events in the Bitcoin industry and covers all the major news and analysis.
Summary of the week
This week has been relatively quiet. We’ve seen Bitcoin briefly cross the $ 50,000 mark a few times, but it has struggled to stay above this important threshold in the past few days. This could very well be the calm before the storm, as El Salvador will officially adopt Bitcoin as legal tender next week. Not to mention, we’re only two months away from activating the Taproot soft fork. Bitcoin may be preparing very well for a decent run.
There has been some fascinating news that has hit the market – Twitter is working on integrating Bitcoin payments, El Salvador is finalizing its Bitcoin plans, mining is moving into the spotlight, and the SEC chairman continues to praise Bitcoin. Here’s this week in Bitcoin:
Bullish news
On Monday, the Bitcoin network set a new record with weekly transaction volumes of over $ 8 billion, a notable milestone as Bitcoin approaches its market cap mark of $ 1 trillion again.
On Tuesday, the El Salvador Democratic Assembly approved the country’s $ 150 million Bitcoin trust before the nation officially adopts Bitcoin as legal tender early next week. Upon launch, every citizen will receive $ 30 worth of Bitcoin through the country’s dedicated Chivo wallet, which has 200 ATMs to be installed across the country.
Also on Tuesday, Genesis Digital Assets was offered an option to purchase 200,000 Bitcoin mining rigs from Canaan. The company acquired 20,000 oil rigs from Canaan with an option to purchase an additional 180,000. Genesis currently accounts for 2.4% of the global bitcoin hashrate, and that percentage could increase nearly tenfold by 2023.
On Wednesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged citizens to mine Bitcoin using the country’s excess electricity instead of looking for low-income jobs abroad. As more counties and countries push incentives to take miners to their shores, Belarus could end up doing the same thing, for the benefit of the Eastern European nation’s economy.
Also on Wednesday, the leading bitcoin reward app Fold announced that it has partnered with OpenNode to operate fully on the Lightning Network by 2022, paving the way for fast and affordable bitcoin payments.
Bitcoin superfan and US SEC chairman Gary Gensler also spoke about Bitcoin in front of the European Parliament on Wednesday, noting that the network works 24 hours a day, seven days a week and across borders. He said that “this innovation was and could continue to be a catalyst for change in finance and money” and “I think the transformation we are going through could be as big as the internet in the world” in the 1990s . ”
To round off Wednesday’s busy day in Bitcoin, some leaks were shared from Twitter beta tests of a Bitcoin tip service in collaboration with the flash payment app Strike, which were later to be confirmed by the company’s product manager. This follows comments from CEO Jack Dorsey in July that Bitcoin would be implemented for tips, super follow, trades and subscriptions.
As of Thursday, Vast Bank became the first chartered bank in the US to offer bitcoin services. Customers can buy and sell Bitcoin directly from an FDIC-insured checking account, while Bitcoin custody solutions include a mobile trading platform with instant settlement on their accounts.
Also on Thursday, Franklin Templeton, an investment manager with over $ 1.5 trillion in assets under management and active in 34 countries around the world, posted a job posting on LinkedIn looking for a “Research Analyst – Crypto Currency”. Bullish much?
Late Thursday, US e-commerce platform Shop.com became the newest retailer to accept Bitcoin payments thanks to a partnership with crypto payment platform BitPay.
Bearish news
This week there were several small protests across El Salvador against the official introduction of Bitcoin as legal tender in the next week across the country. Although the US $ 30 that every citizen receives in Bitcoin is a drop in the ocean compared to the daily volume of the world market, the majority may discourage other countries from adopting Bitcoin as legal tender if the Majority decides to sell their new stocks.
verdict
Twitter and Bitcoin? Yes, please! This week has been relatively calm on the news, but it could be said that no news is good news. Bitcoin managed to hover between $ 47,000 and $ 50,000 for most of the week but struggled to break through $ 51,000 and topple a runner.
Next week will be a crucial week for Bitcoin, perhaps historically. El Salvador will officially adopt Bitcoin as legal tender when it introduces 200 Bitcoin ATMs and 20 Bitcoin kiosks across the country. Every citizen receives $ 30 worth of Bitcoin through the country’s dedicated Chivo Bitcoin wallet. One country introduces Bitcoin as legal tender and give every citizen bitcoin.
What happens next week in El Salvador is either going to be hyperbullish or a little bearish. A smooth rollout isn’t necessarily a must, but it will be crucial to ensure that citizens don’t just ditch their new stocks and keep using dirty fiat. If their Bitcoin rollout proves successful over the next few weeks or even months, we might very well see more countries pushing through plans to do the same.
I think we are in the calm before the storm. Bitcoin is preparing for a breakout. El Salvador could be a catalyst or the market could just prove to be ready to rumble. Whatever happens, I’ll stack up a few sats and grab the popcorn.
This is a guest post by Dion Guillaume. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
