Bitcoin Price: U$47,286.18 (-0.91%)
Ethereum Price: U$3,828.27(+1.67%)
President Bukele predicts Bitcoin $100k rally, further legal adoption and more
- On Jan 2, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shared five bullish predictions on Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance for the year 2022.
- Last year, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender under Bukele’s presidency as a countermeasure to the growing inflation in the country. Since legalization, the president acquired 1,370 BTC for the country’s reserve and reinvested its unrealized gains into new infrastructure projects including a hospital and a school.
- President Bukele predicted that two more countries will join El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2022. In the same year, he expects a bull run that will take BTC price to a new all-time high of $100,000.
Binance-owned exchange WazirX targeted by India’s government for alleged tax evasion
- Tax authorities in Mumbai announced Friday that they had uncovered tax evasion by the Binance-owned crypto exchange WazirX.
- According to a statement from the GST Mumbai East Commissionerate of Mumbai Zone, “while investigating the business activities of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX have detected GST Evasion of Rs 40.5 Crores. The Commissionerate has also recovered Rs 49.20 Crores in Cash pertaining to [goods-and-services tax] evaded, interest and penalty.”
- That amount equates to more than $6 million. WazirX was acquired by crypto exchange Binance in November 2019.
Square Enix plans to invest more in blockchain gaming in 2022
- One of the world’s best-known gaming companies intends to grow its footprint in the world of blockchain-based gaming this year.
- Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda spent much of a January 1st letter discussing what he termed “decentralized gaming,” noting that “I hope this becomes a major trend in gaming going forward.”
Bitcoin starts 2022 at $47.2K as fresh research pins performance on China trader exodus
- Hours before the yearly close, BTC/USD dived $2,000 to lows of $45,630 on Bitstamp before a modest recovery drew a line under 2021 at $47,200, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows.
- Blockstream also acknowledged the possible pressure from offloading Chinese users, who could be selling their BTC in order to withdraw capital — leading to rising balances.
- On shorter timeframes, thin holiday liquidity could provide another reason to discard price dips like the one seen Friday.
- Prior to the return of Wall Street and institutional traders, BTC price action overall may provide an unreliable impression of how the market will perform subsequently.
Ether drops below $3,800, but traders are unwilling to short at current levels
- Even though Ether (ETH) reached a $4,870 all-time high on Nov. 10, bulls have little reason to celebrate. The 290% gains year-to-date have been overshadowed by Dec.’s 18% price drop. Still, Ethereum’s network value locked in smart contracts (TVL) increased nine-fold to $155 billion.
- Looking at the past couple of months’ price performance chart doesn’t really tell the whole story, and Ether’s current $450 billion market capitalization makes it one of the world’s top 20 tradable assets, right behind the two-century-old Johnson & Johnson conglomerate.
