Weekly Market Roundup: Bitcoin critics change stance, Ethereum may need more than EIP-1559 to solves its high-gas woes, NFTs might fail
More early Bitcoin critics are now turning to embrace the leading cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, some analysts have said that Ethereum’s upcoming EIP-1559 may not solve the current problem of high gas fees. These and many more are covered in this week’s (Mar 21 to Mar 27) roundup. Find out more below.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin welcomed two of its early critics this week - Jordan Belfort (aka The Wolf of Wall Street) and Norwegian businessman Øystein Stray Spetalen. Belfort admitted that considering the shift in monetary policies, “Bitcoin does make sense as part of a portfolio.” Spetalen, on the other hand, has bought himself some Bitcoin.
Speaking of Bitcoin’s price, data reveals that whales have continued to accumulate and that the Bull Run may not be over. On the flip side, a Chinese mining executive predicted that bears may take over the market as early as September this year. But until this happens, Bitcoin is becoming the preferred choice for citizens in countries battling with high inflation or unpleasant monetary policies. In Turkey, for instance, Google searches for Bitcoin spiked by over 550% following the removal of the country’s central bank governor Naci Agbal.
Overall, Bitcoin is gaining deeper penetration. This year alone, the number of Bitcoin ATMs has increased by 20%. Several Americans have also invested their share of Biden’s stimulus package on the flagship cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, customers of Tesla can now pay for cars from the leading electric-car manufacturer in Bitcoin.
NFTs
The NFT craze rages on. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey finally sold the first-ever tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million. A piece of art created by a humanoid robot sold for $688,000. Newspaper giant The New York Times jumped on the NFT train over the week and sold one of its tokenized columns for over $570,000.
Amid the NFT euphoria, a software engineer has warned of the possible dangers of the industry. According to him, NFTs are built on a “House of Cards.”
Ethereum
According to a report from analytics provider Coin Metrics, the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-1559 may not be enough to solve the problem of high-gas fees.
Ethereum’s upcoming Optimism scaling solution has also been postponed until at least July.
