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Bitcoin staged a lowkey rally last week after weeks in the doldrums. The world’s largest cryptoasset saw its price surge close to $29,700 midweek before tapering off. It is now trading just shy of $29,100 - up more than 1.25% week on week - its first weekly gain since June. 

Ether saw week-on-week rises of just over 1% too, with an early rally above $1,840 before falling away slightly to now trade around $1,825. 

The market overall continues to hunt for good news to cling to, with few serious shifts in the price for major cryptoassets in the past few weeks - marking a relatively sedate summer. 

The early week rally came on the back of PayPal announcing a US dollar-linked stablecoin which gave the market some cheer, but not enough to really sustain serious upward momentum. 
 

Visa testing Ethereum gas fee payment innovation

Major global transactions processing firm Visa is looking at ways to make it easier for customers to pay Ethereum transaction or “gas” fees. The firm is looking at automating the process of paying such fees in fiat currency using an existing credit or debit card. 

This might seem like a minor thing but it is currently a significant barrier to adoption for many when it comes to using crypto such as ether as a form of payment. Currently, the issue arises when the blockchain network meets the traditional financial (TradFi) infrastructure. 

Overcoming the transaction complexity at the meeting point of the two systems could be a major step on the road to wider adoption. Users could soon be able to hold cryptoassets in self-custody wallets and then use those wallets to make payments essentially anywhere, with gas fees and exchange to fiat done instantaneously at the point of sale - something that isn’t straightforward necessarily at the moment. 
 

Pro Bitcoin candidate takes lead in Argentina elections

A pro-Bitcoin presidential candidate, Javier Milei, has taken the lead in the Argentine presidential elections. The result could be a major driver of political change in the country which suffers from in excess of 100% inflation. 

Milei has vowed to put the nation on a path to dollarisation thanks to the collapse of the country’s own fiat currency, the Argentine Peso. He also holds pro bitcoin views, and has called the Argentine central bank “a scam.” A victory for Milei could see a major South American nation take a big step toward wider adoption of the cryptoasset. 

El Salvador was seen by many Bitcoin enthusiasts as the first domino of many in the Americas on Bitcoin adoption. But El Salvador is a small country, especially compared to Argentina. Adoption by such a major nation could be transformative, especially with a population of millions looking for a haven away from a collapsing fiat standard. 
 

Bitcoin mining could drive the green energy transition

A scientific study has suggested that bitcoin mining, far from causing more emissions, could become a major driver of the green energy transition. 

Bitcoin mining involves high energy consumption in order to mine new tokens and process transactions on the cryptoasset’s blockchain. But the research suggests this process could in itself drive wind and solar adoption. 

In times when demand is lower and energy prices are cheap - potentially making renewables unviable -  it posits that excess energy produced by wind and solar could be absorbed by bitcoin mining operations generating a financial reward for those firms and keeping their machines running. 

This could essentially subsidize renewable energy operations where financial incentives from states are lacking, something that is currently a major barrier to entry for many as the operating costs of renewables are difficult to square despite the clear need for clean energy production to prevent climate change.  

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