By James Davis
After four straight weeks of recording losses, the crypto market was in the green this week, with several top 30 digital currencies posting nominal gains. Meanwhile, Ethereum and Bitcoin have stayed flat over the last seven days.
BTC rose by just 1.7% this week. It changes hands at $27,292 as of this writing. On Monday, the largest coin by market cap crossed above $28,000 after news broke that the United States policymakers had passed the proposed debt ceiling deal.
Ethereum, on the other hand, posted 7-day gains of 3.2%, reaching $1,905 at press time. Apart from Polygon, which is down 2.2% for the week, most of the popular cryptocurrencies enjoyed good rallies. XRP surged 10.6% to $0.53; Solana rose 8.2% to $21.19; Litecoin increased by 9.8% to 96.93%; and TRON added 9.3% to trade for $0.083.
Another notable milestone that was achieved this week involves Tether’s USDT. The stablecoin’s market cap reached a new peak of $83.56 billion.
Regulatory Environment in the US, Hong Kong and Bali
Wayan Koster, the Governor of Bali, a well-known holiday destination in Indonesia, reiterated the crypto payments ban on Monday. He warned tourists disobeying the law that they were risking deportation.
The recently implemented Indonesian law requires every transaction to be settled using Rupiah, the country’s currency. However, crypto users in that region can still hold digital assets.
In the US, House Representative Warren Davidson took to Twitter on Tuesday to confirm that the debt ceiling agreement signed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden blocked the 30% tax proposal targeting America-based crypto mining companies.
On Wednesday, the UAE and Hong Kong central banks held a meeting in Abu Dhabi aimed at working together to formulate effective crypto regulations.
Retail investors in Hong Kong are now allowed to trade digital assets. This is a massive step for the crypto industry in China, considering that the country announced a regulatory war in 2021 on crypto companies.
On Thursday, crypto-hating lawmaker Elizabeth Warren insisted on her calls for a crypto ban. She told members of the Senate Banking Committee (SBC) that an undisclosed criminal organization had used crypto to purchase precursor drugs in order to manufacture lethal Fentanyl estimated to be worth $500 billion.
Another US-Based Crypto Exchange Seeks Global Expansion
That day, crypto trading platform Gemini tweeted that it was looking to secure a permit to set up shop in the UAE. The news came just five days after the company announced settling for Ireland’s Dublin as its European headquarters.
Gemini is not the only America-based crypto exchange looking to explore opportunities overseas. A few weeks ago, Coinbase announced receiving a license from Bermuda. The company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, said Coinbase will run a derivates exchange in that region.