Cryptocurrencies saw modest gains this past week, breaking a six-week stagnation period.
Bitcoin (BTC), the market leader, rose 1.5% to trade at $29,408 on Saturday. According to CoinShares, institutional investors halted their fourteen-week Bitcoin shorting spree.
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, kept pace with a 1.3% gain to reach $1,851.
Among the top thirty coins, three altcoins posted notable rallies:
- Solana (SOL) climbed 8.5% to $24.55
- Toncoin (TON) added 10.1% to hit $1.32
- Shiba Inu (SHIB) surged 17.8% to $0.00001108
Shiba Inu maintained last week’s momentum after announcing plans to shed its meme coin status and implement a new identity protocol across its ecosystem.
The overall market saw modest gains this week following July’s cooling U.S. inflation data.
In the news…
Monday brought two notable announcements:
- Payments firm PayPal revealed plans for a new Ethereum-based stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), issued by Paxos. PYUSD aims to become part of PayPal’s payments infrastructure, with monthly reserve reporting beginning next month.
- Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters expressed concerns over PYUSD launching without federal regulation and oversight given PayPal’s size.
On Tuesday, Brazil unveiled its central bank digital currency name: the “digital real” or DREX. However, developers discovered concerning capabilities within DREX’s code, including account freezing and balance decreases. This has drawn criticism over enforced centralization.
Other Tuesday highlights:
- Binance secured licenses to operate in Bitcoin-friendly El Salvador amidst U.S. regulatory pressure.
- The Federal Reserve announced upcoming guidance for banks dealing with stablecoins. The Fed aims to increase monitoring of settlement finality, irreversibility, and transaction records.
On Friday, the SEC appealed its lawsuit loss against Ripple regarding XRP security status.
Saturday brought news of Visa’s new solution allowing Ethereum gas fee payments via Visa cards.
Overall, the past week saw gradual market recovery and notable adoption despite persisting regulatory uncertainty.
