This Week in Crypto – April 9th
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Cryptocurrency Market Cap Hits $2 Trillion
On Monday, the cryptocurrency market cap reached $2 trillion for the first time. Part of this rally was driven by Ethereum hitting its own all-time high of $2,151 on Tuesday morning. It was up over 180% year-to-date. Much of the growing excitement about Ethereum is related to its role in DeFi applications and NFTs.
Considering that the market cap was at $1 trillion just over 2 months ago, mass adoption is clearly on the way in.
Paris Hilton Writes Article about NFTs
Earlier this week, Paris Hilton published an article on her blog calling NFTs the “future of the creator economy.”
Within the article, she also shared a Q&A of herself discussing NFTs and why she’s so excited about them.
To break down NFTs to her fans, she used the example of baseball cards. She explains “as the owner of the card, you can create a token on the blockchain representing the authenticity of that baseball card. You can now trade or sell it for other valuable goods on the blockchain.”
As one of the first celebrities to sell an NFT back in August of 2020, Hilton encourages her fans to learn more about the subject.
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Reaches 10,000 Active Nodes
Over the last year, the number of nodes on the network has nearly doubled. The Lightning Network is a layer on top of the Bitcoin blockchain that leads to cheaper and faster transactions. Furthermore, the number of nodes is most likely even higher when you account for nodes with private connections. The Lightning Network currently holds $69 million in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Becomes MicroStrategy’s Main Treasury Reserve
MicroStrategy recently purchased around $15 million more in Bitcoin. The firm said that they paid an average price of $59,339 per coin. This means that MicroStrategy now holds over 90,000 BTC at a total purchase price of $2.23 billion. Notably, MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor recently joined Forbes’ 2021 Cryptocurrency Billionaires list.
My latest thoughts on why #Bitcoin is the most powerful & disruptive technology of our lifetime, why it is irrational & tragic to dismiss it as speculative fervor, how it is good for the health & prosperity of the both the US & the rest of the world.https://t.co/lWDizIWuPN
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) April 5, 2021
Digital Yuan Campaign Planned for Island in the South China Sea
Later this month, China’s Hainan Province will launch a 2-week campaign to promote the use of the digital yuan on a contested chain of islands. They plan to hold a parade on Yongxing Island to encourage user adoption of the digital currency.
As well, the Industrial and Commercial Bank’s Hainan Branch will support the use of the currency by offering a discount to users of the coin. This campaign will be targeted towards city government staff, local corporate employees, and residents of the island.
Bank of Japan Pushing for Common Rules on CBDCs
According to a Reuters report, the Bank of Japan is looking to layout common rules for Central Bank Digital Currencies long with 7 other major central banks. Kazushige Kamiyama, the head of the bank’s payments and settlements department said that it’s”better to come up with common rules among countries with similar economic structures.” He continued to say “as such, it’s desirable for the BOJ to discuss common rules with the six other major central banks.” Among the seven other banks would be the U.S Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
That’s the end of this week’s recap. If you want to learn more about cryptocurrency with NetCents, make sure to subscribe to our blog below! If you see an interesting story that you think we should feature, send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
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