Bitcoin (BITCOMP) continued to retreat from its all-time high last week, trading as low as $55,911 on Friday morning after four days of fairly consistent decline from its weekly high of $65,988 on Monday. BTC then somewhat stabilized over the weekend, ending Sunday at $58,685 before a dip back towards the $57k mark early this morning. 

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Likewise, Ethereum (ETH-X) opened last week just under $4,630 before tumbling further in the following days. However, ETH bottomed out slightly sooner than bitcoin, hitting $3,974 on Thursday night, and recovered slightly more swiftly, ending Sunday at $4,266. Early today, it dipped again towards the $4,130 level. 

What’s caused the fall in bitcoin?

Bitcoin and a host of other cryptoassets fell precipitously last week, with a few possible factors in play.

Firstly, the Taproot upgrade to the bitcoin blockchain created uncertainty in the investor community. Perhaps the most important upgrade in the past four years for the network, Taproot was meant to streamline the cryptoasset’s transactions, making them faster and cheaper. Upgrades of this nature can cause short-term uncertainty as investors hold fire to see what will happen to the network.

Also affecting price levels recently is the US infrastructure bill. The bill, led by President Joe Biden, could see companies subjected to stricter rules around the reporting and handling of cryptoassets, and this has fed into further investor uncertainty. 

Finally, with bitcoin and other cryptoassets having reached fresh all-time highs, there was always likely to be a measure of profit-taking from investors which then translates into price weakness. Both BTC and ETH go from strength to strength, and the ups and downs of the market are a part of this story.

Ticketmaster teams up with NFL to issue NFT tickets

Ticket reseller Ticketmaster has teamed up with the US NFL to issue souvenir NFT tickets.

American football fans can now redeem their NFTs alongside game tickets as a “token of appreciation” for buying on the platform. 

In order to redeem their NFT tickets, fans must scan into their NFL game with the Ticketmaster Safetix ticket. They can then get one NFT per eligible game – but, crucially, they must attend the game in order to be able to redeem it. 

The program offers up the chance to create digital memorabilia for fans but leaves out one of the crucial aspects of ticket buying and reselling – scalpers. NFT technology could largely eradicate the issue of scalping, but Ticketmaster appears to have held back from making that step at this time. 

Hong Kong Monetary Authority previews two-tier digital HK dollar

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently published a white paper looking at the potential makeup of a digital HK dollar.

The analysis proposes a possible two-tier system for the digital HKD which would incorporate an ‘interbank layer’ amounting to a wholesale issuance and redemption system, usable by the Hong Kong central bank and commercial banks in the financial hub. 

The second layer of the system would be a wallet layer for end users or consumers, in theory enabling direct distribution and circulation of e-HKDs via such wallets.

The plans reveal an enticing set of ideas, in which both institutional entities and private individuals can benefit from CBDC technology, reducing the need for intermediary transactions but still retaining the ability to circulate digital HK dollars at an institutional level. 

The HKMA, however, was keen to point out that the ideas are simply a white paper at this point and not a blueprint for the direction of its digital currency.