Welcome to another edition of Crypto NFT Today! If you enjoy cryptocurrency, NFTs, and riding emotional rollercoasters, this is the place to be.
Is the crypto winter finally thawing? Did the goundhog NFT see its shadow, and did someone buy that shadow for a quarter million? And most importantly, are you ready for the crunch? Let’s get started.
India Proposes Ban on Crypto
India’s government informed parliament Monday of its intention to ban cryptocurrency in the country. India is the world’s second-largest internet market, which suggests the move could have significant consequences for crypto investors’ bottom line.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the minister of finance in India, said Monday that the Reserve Bank of India has expressed concerns about the “destabilizing effect of cryptocurrencies on the monetary and fiscal stability of a country” and has recommended “for framing of legislation on this sector.”
The Indian government has been attempting to regulate and reign in crypto transactions for several years. On April 1, the country implemented The Finance Act, which taxes cryptocurrency and NFT transactions and profits at a 30% flat income tax rate.
Bitcoin Miners Exit Their Positions En Masse
Bitcoin miners are exiting their Bitcoin positions en masse. New data from blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant shows 14,000 bitcoin, or more than $300 million at its current price, was transferred out of wallets belonging to miners in a single day. Prior to the mass exodus, miners have been steadily offloading their crypto. In the last few weeks, analysts have seen the largest drop in Bitcoin positions since Jan. 2021.
This “miner capitulation” is a tactic by miners to sell their previously mined coins in order to cover ongoing mining expenses.
Has Bitcoin Bottomed Out?
BTC reached the $22,000 mark Monday and has been oscillating between $21,000 and $22,000 since. The price of the flagship cryptocurrency has been steadily increasing from its 2022 bottom of under $19,000 in June.
After Bitcoin’s decline and the subsequent stability seen through the last two months, investors and speculators are asking one crucial question: Have cryptos hit their bottom?
Bitcoin continues to hold around the highest levels since a selloff in mid-June drove the largest crypto as low as $18,000 from $30,000, and is changing hands at less than one-third its all-time high near $69,000 from eight months ago, according to Barron’s.
An improving macroeconomic picture could help Bitcoin find it’s bottom. Fears of a recession are beginning to recede, which means analysts have a clearer lens through which they can see the state of the crypto market.
Lawmakers Push for Crypto Mining Energy Use Reports
Democratic lawmakers want more robust energy use reporting on companies mining crypto.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy want to require more energy use reporting, in an effort to curb the impact crypto mining has on climate change.
In a letter to the Biden administration Friday, Democratic lawmakers said the government must intervene to limit the impact of cryptocurrency mining on climate change. They also said information they collected about energy capacity by seven cryptomining companies was “disturbing,” according to CNBC.
According to the senators and representatives who penned the letter, the current lack of regulation and reporting requirements on crypto mining limits the government from understanding the scope of damage it exacts on the environment.
