Here’s your crypto highlights of the week in less than 5 minutes.
FTX crisis triggers a bear run
Most cryptocurrencies suffered record losses during the week after the FTX exchange crisis, which lead to halting withdrawals, and client onboarding. FTX Token (FTT) was hit the hardest, starting from Monday, losing more than 86% of its value in the last 7 days.
Suspicions of the second-largest centralized exchange falling into insolvency and even bankruptcy shook the whole industry, sending Bitcoin to its lowest since November 2020, as its price dropped by more than 16% in the last 7 days. Solana, who’s highly correlated with FTX, suffered the highest losses with a price drop of more than 47%, in addition to losing 56% of its blockchain’s TVL in the last 7 days.
According to Coingecko’s numbers, the cryptocurrencies’ market cap fell below $900 billion for the first time since January 2021.
Polygon holds its one-dollar ground
Polygon was hit as hard as the rest of the major cryptocurrencies, falling from $1.19 to $0.78, before recovering quickly in the last two days, making it back above the one-dollar mark, trading at $1.02 – 1.14. Polygon has been one of the best-performing tokens in the last 30 days, with its value rising by more than 36%, boosted by several updates, mainly its NFTs’ integration with Instagram and other Meta products announced last week.
Litecoin recovers quickly
After going as low as $50.54 on Thursday, Litecoin’s price recovered quickly going back above the $60 mark, with a price hike of more than 19% in the last 24 hours. Also, in the long run, Litecoin seems to be among the few major cryptocurrencies ending the last 30 days in green, with a hike of more than 22%, since October 12.
Tether depegs for a short period
Tether had depegged for a short period on Thursday, reportedly falling as low as 97 cents on some exchanges, pushed mainly by doubt that swept the whole crypto industry as Bitcoin fell below $16,000. Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino Tweeted right after the depegging that Tether has processed almost $700 million in redemptions in the last 24h, adding “No issues. We keep going.” Tether Holdings Limited also issued a press release about BDO’s attestation of its reserves, assuring that “Tether’s reserves are extremely liquid with the majority of its investments, making up 82% of the total assets, being held in Cash & Cash equivalent and other short-term deposits.”
BitOasis co-found a new regional crypto and blockchain association
With BitOasis among its founding members, the Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA) officially launched from the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi last Tuesday. The new association will focus on education, coordination, and innovation across the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. Ola Doudin, BitOasis CEO and MEAACBA board member said the new association “will look to provide a center of excellence, where ideas and thinking can be exchanged to further accelerate the growth of the sector.”
Circle adds Solana support to its euro-pegged stablecoin
Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), announced it will expand its euro-pegged stablecoin Euro Coin (EUROC) to run on Solana’s blockchain, similar to USDC which runs on both Ethereum and Solana. The new update is set to take place in the first half of 2023. Sheraz Shere, Head of Payments at Solana Labs, said the new development will “allow for Euro Coin lending and borrowing and will be available alongside USDC as a payment currency in Solana Pay.”
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