Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, ado
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Russian government and central bank agree to treat Bitcoin as currency
The Russian government and central bank made an agreement to regulate crypto as an “analogue of currencies” instead of “digital financial assets.”
The updated regulation is part of a draft law that is slated to launch on Feb. 18, and will see approved cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin function in lawful exchanges through the banking system or licensed intermediaries.
As part of the incoming framework, crypto transactions worth more than 600,000 rubles ($8,000) would have to be declared; otherwise, such transactions could be considered a criminal act. Those who illegally accept cryptocurrencies as payment will incur fines.
Upcoming Apple iPhone feature to give merchants a way to accept crypto payments
This week, Apple unveiled a new Tap to Pay feature for its iPhones that will enable businesses and merchants to conduct contactless point-of-sale transactions with Apple Pay, credit cards, debit cards and digital wallets.
The move also enables customers who use crypto payment methods such as Coinbase Card and Crypto.com Visa Card to use their holdings to make payments via Tap to Pay. However, it will most likely involve the conversion of crypto to fiat in real time to do so.
Apple announced Stripe as the first platform to offer Tap to Pay on the iPhone and indicated that other payment platforms and apps will introduce the feature throughout 2022.
XRP gains 30% after Ripple gets permission to explain ‘fair notice defense’ vs. SEC
The price of XRP surged 30% this week on the back of positive developments in the long-running court case between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to court documents from last week, Judge Analisa Torres permitted Ripple to respond to the SEC’s memorandum of law in support of the motion to strike Ripple’s fourth affirmative defense. The judge also ordered for the unsealing of three documents concerning the case, including two email threads belonging to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen respectively, as well as Garlinghouse’s deposition notice.
Shortly after the news was published, the price of XRP rallied around 30% between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7. The gains have held up well over that period, with CoinMarketCap data showing a 32% gain in XRP’s price over the past seven days at the time of writing.
YouTube sees ‘incredible potential’ in NFT video sales despite backlash threat
YouTube is looking at integrating NFTs, blockchain and Web3 tech into its platform in a bid to roll out new features for its partnered creators. In a Thursday blog post, YouTube’s chief product officer Neal Mohan also stated the firm is aiming to ramp up its metaverse-based services.
Mohan outlined that YouTube creators are looking for new ways to make content and add revenue streams, and the Web3 tech could be the solution, stating:
“Web3 also opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they’ll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible.”
McDonald’s files trademarks for McMetaverse restaurants… that deliver
In a move that seems entirely unnecessary, fast-food giant McDonald’s was said to be eyeing the metaverse this week after reports surfaced that the firm had registered 10 virtual world-related trademarks.
Trademark attorney and founder of Gerben Perrott PLLC, Josh Gerben, stated via Twitter that the McDonald’s trademark applications involved “a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods” and “operating a virtual restaurant featuring home delivery.”
Based on the application, McDonald’s seeks to provide downloadable multimedia files for artwork, audio and video files, and NFTs. At the same time, it’s also working on providing virtual concerts and events.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $43,485 Ether (ETH) is at $3,103 and XRP is at $0.81. The total market cap is at $1.67 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
The top three gainers of the week are Gala (GALA) at 63.46%, IoTeX (IOTX) at 39.76% and Shiba Inu (SHIB) at 39.27%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Maker (MKR) at -8%, Convex Finance (CVX) at -5.8% and Nexo (NEXO) at -3.42%.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
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