Ethereum (ETH-X) came under significant pressure last week as its value collapsed midweek. The cryptoasset fell sharply on Wednesday, from trading around $2,350 to now hovering just over $2,150.
Bitcoin (BITCOMP) similarly suffered a midweek slump but has since recovered some of its losses. The world’s largest cryptoasset spiked to $34,802 but failed to breach $35,000 during the course of the week. It fell as low as $32,406 on Wednesday but has now recovered to trade around $34,000.
Both cryptoassets have been hit by crypto crackdowns in China and regulatory changes in different jurisdictions around the world. The Ethereum hash rate, which measures the overall computing power of the network, has fallen by 20% since May reflecting the increased pressure faced by market participants.
Visa crypto payments hit $1 billion
More than $1 billion-worth of crypto payments have flowed through Visa cards in the first half of 2021, the payments infrastructure firm has revealed.
The figures underline growing mainstream adoption of cryptoassets as a payments solution. Visa (V) now partners with over 50 crypto-related firms to underscore payments through Visa cards.
Talking to US news channel CNBC, Visa’s chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu commented: “Today, the value of cryptoassets held in regulated digital wallets is in the hundreds of billions. For the tens of millions of people using those platforms, one of the simplest ways to spend crypto is through a Visa card.
“We’re partnering with 50 of the leading crypto platforms on card programs that make it easy to convert and spend digital currency at 70 million merchants worldwide.”
Bob Diamond takes Circle public
Former Barclays Bank chief executive Bob Diamond is set to take crypto firm Circle public via his special acquisition company (SPAC).
Circle is the firm which launched USD Coin - a stablecoin tethered to the value of the US dollar. It is set to combine with Diamond’s firm Concord Acquisition Corp which will see the firm valued at around $4.5 billion.
Circle says it has more than $25 billion-worth of USD Coin in circulation, an increase of over 3,400% this year. Speaking on Twitter, Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire commented: “So many of the ideas that were mere glimmers in the eyes of technologists eight years ago, are now flourishing, growing and on the way to becoming foundational to how the international economic system functions, impacting all of humanity.”
Diamond, who will serve on the newly-listed firm’s board commented: “Circle is the true pioneer of trusted digital currencies, an increasingly critical part of the global financial system.”
Shibaswap launch locks in over £1.5 billion value
Cryptoasset shiba inu (SHIB-X) has launched its own decentralised exchange called Shibaswap, allowing users of the cryptoasset to freely trade the coin.
The decentralized exchange or ‘dex’ gathered over $1.55 billion of value over the first 72 hours. This sets the dex, called Shibaswap, just below well-known dexes including Sushiswap ($2.72 billion) and above others including Bancor ($1.22 billion) and Balancer ($697 million).
SHIB itself has experienced a meteoric rise and fall this year, worth less than a fraction of a dollar, $0.000000000074, at the beginning of the year, rising to $0.00003389 in May, before falling away to trade around $0.000007825 at the time of writing.
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