Earlier on Aug 14, Bitcoin surpassed US$25,000 ($34,320) briefly for the first time since mid-June, as momentum continued from lower-than-expected US inflation data and Ethereum’s (ETH) rally.
The cryptocurrency market has had an exceedingly difficult first half of the year as the Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked rates to combat high inflation levels, with the prices of BTC, ETH and many other tokens falling by more than 50%, a Bloomberg report recaps.
Meanwhile, there continues to be added optimism for ETH during this time, as the token surpassed US$2,000 on Aug 13 since May 13 with renewed hope towards the completion of its blockchain’s much-anticipated software upgrade known as “the Merge”.
The Merge involves a move from proof-of-work (PoW) mining to proof-of-stake (PoS) instead which will use a significantly lesser amount of energy in its transactions moving forward. It is likely to take place mid-September, according to Ethereum network cofounder Vitalik Buterin.
BTC and ETH are trading at US$24,866 and US$1,982 apiece respectively on Aug 15.
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Huobi founder Leon Li is currently in talks with several investors to sell his majority stake in the crypto exchange for as much as US$3 billion.
The Chinese crypto-mogul is looking to sell a roughly 60% slice of the company he founded almost a decade ago, according to a Bloomberg report.
The report adds that existing backers including ZhenFund and Sequoia China were informed about Li’s decision during a July shareholders’ meeting, where a deal could be completed as soon as the end of Aug.
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Previously the most active Bitcoin trading platform in the world, Huobi has in recent years retreated from China — once its biggest user base and revenue source. This is due to Beijing declaring crypto-transactions illegal last year. At present, its larger rivals are that of Binance and FTX.
Cover Image: Bloomberg
