[Digital Today Reporter Hyunwoo Choo] Last week, the biggest issue in the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market was the listing of Coinbase. Coinbase, an American virtual asset exchange, was listed on the NASDAQ market on the 14th (local time).
Coinbase’s stock price started trading at $381 and rose to a peak of $429.54 during the week. The market capitalization rose to 100 billion dollars (about 112 trillion won) at once. Eventually, the deal on the first day closed at $328.28. With a market cap of $85.8 billion (about $95.700 billion), it is equivalent to the market cap of British global bank HSBC (about $87.75 billion).
Taking the listing of Coinbase as a boon, the price of virtual assets jumped significantly. Bitcoin temporarily broke the $63,000 mark, while Ethereum jumped to the $2400 mark. Altcoins such as Ripple, Cardano, and Dogecoin also rose 5-20%.
As the value of virtual assets soared, mainstream financial firms and financial authorities expressed concern. On the day of listing on Coinbase, Fed Chairman Powell issued a check, saying, “Virtual banking is a kind of speculation. It has not yet reached the status of a currency that can be settled”
This year, the voices of strengthening regulations regarding the overheated atmosphere of virtual asset investment are also rising. Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong once expressed the view that “the growth of the digital asset market has not yet reached its peak. The biggest obstacle to the market is regulation by the authorities” ahead of the listing.
Two days before Coinbase’s listing, a specific stock-following derivative product called’Binance Stock Tokens’, introduced by Binance, also received market attention. In particular, it attracted investors’ attention in that it was followed by’Tesla’. Binance explained that stock tokens are a valuable product in terms of being able to invest in both the traditional stock market and the virtual asset market, securing liquidity and enjoying high flexibility.
Large European insurance company AXA has announced that it will start supporting Bitcoin payments in Switzerland. This means that insurance premiums can be paid in bitcoin instead of cash. Bitcoin investment by non-financial companies has been gradually spreading since Tesla’s news of Bitcoin investment in February this year.
In addition, the news that Kasikorn Bank, one of Thailand’s major banks, is expanding its business to the DeFi (decentralized finance) field also attracted attention.
The share of bitcoin in the investment portfolio of virtual asset users around the world has increased significantly compared to the same period last year. As a result of the Dove Wallet survey, a whopping 54% of all respondents answered that it’increased’. 22% said it was’reduced’ and 24% said there was no change. It appears to be the result of a survey reflecting the booming virtual asset market this year.
Dogecoin, known as a project started for fun, has jumped 400% in price this week alone.
Again, the tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to have had an impact. A few days ago, after CEO Elon Musk tweeted about Dogecoin, the price of Dogecoin tripled in 36 hours.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that forked the Litecoin code and originated from Doji Meme, which attracted attention on the Internet in 2013. Billy Marcus, the developer who created Dogecoin, is said to have started the project for fun at first.
However, in terms of price alone, it has already become a non-negligible entity in the cryptocurrency version. Dogecoin’s market cap is around $45 billion, ranking 6th among all cryptocurrencies. Excluding the stablecoin Tether, the only cryptocurrencies that have a larger market capitalization than Dogecoin are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, and Ripple XRP.
The surge in the price of Dogecoin, which is evaluated as having no special technology or app, no innovation or business, is interpreted as a result of the combination of fun elements based on memes, community power, and the sentiment of people that investing will make a lot of money do.
In addition, the news of the virtual asset exchange Gopax’s cumulative member surpassing 600,000 and the launch of the Metadium blockchain-based mobile youth age verification service attracted attention.
Last week, the 5th live broadcast of Crypto Anarchist’s hangout (Kasu) was filled with discourse about stablecoins and CBDC. The structure of the stablecoin and the CBDC, the fundamental differences, the impact on the national economy, and the diagnosis of the CBDC’s present and future were discussed. The 5th episode of Kiasoo can be viewed again on the YouTube Deeper News channel.
Author/ Translator: Jamie Kim
Bio: Jamie Kim is a technology journalist. Raised in Hong Kong and always vocal at heart. She aims to share her expertise with the readers at blockreview.net. Kim is a Bitcoin maximalist who believes with unwavering conviction that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency – in fact, currency – worth caring about.