The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation Bitcoin fell to below US$16,000 early last week, before recovering to the US$16,200 level at press time. The cryptocurrency had last traded at that level in November 2020.
This follows a volatile market, amid reactions to the fallout of crypto exchange FTX as well as its sister firm Alameda Research. Bitcoin had fallen about 66% from the year’s high at above US$47,000 recorded in early January.
Chart: Bitcoin 1-year performance, CoinGecko
A study by Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that crypto exchange apps get more downloads and active users when the price of Bitcoin rises. According to the “Crypto trading and Bitcoin prices: evidence from a new database of retail adoption” working paper released Nov 14, the price of Bitcoin remains the most important factor when the authors control for global uncertainty or volatility, contradicting explanations based on Bitcoin as a safe haven.
The paper found that these new users are disproportionately younger male, commonly identified as the most “risk-seeking” segment of the population. These users are more sensitive to changes in the price of Bitcoin than female users and older men, BIS wrote.
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Photo: Ripple Labs
Crypto firm Ripple has announced the expansion of its on-demand liquidity (ODL) payments solution beyond financial institutions, now serving corporate customers including Singapore-based agriculture firm Nutrisource and Singapore Exchange-listed food technology firm Oceanus.
Ripple says that it continues to improve its liquidity management solutions by adding advanced machine learning capabilities to the product, which uses XRP tokens for instant settlement of payments. This allows it to fulfil its customers’ ODL needs at the optimal cost, the company claims. XRP is currently trading at 36 US cents apiece, down about 56% YTD.
