Hi, crypto-curious Medium community! During the previous week, there has been quite a bit going on in the crypto world. In What’s Hot? ChangeNOW offers weekly reviews of the most interesting and trending happenings on the crypto market. Last week has all been about Bitcoin, so BTC news is exactly what we want to cover in this digest.
Now, what was the community talking about this week?
Bitcoin price plunges
It was a dark week for BTC holders. Everybody was waiting for the price to finally bounce back after a new yearly low of $3,456. It seemed like all the community was talking about the extreme price changes — no surprise, as BTC/USD, fell below $4.000 for the first time during this year (and scared the hell out of BTC investors).
Sure, the decline was rapid, but, at least, it was followed by a minor recovery to $4.000 at the time of writing. The experts, however, claim that the recovery of Bitcoin is not something to be looking forward to and that it is just another dead cat bounce.
BTC payments down
Yet another story of the Bitcoin struggle. According to Chainalysis, the retail payments made in BTC are down 80%. The extreme volatility of the currency and the general expensiveness of transactions in Bitcoin are to blame, the data experts say. The real mass adoption in retail payments can only be possible when the market conditions are met and more retailers get on board with the BTC payment method.
Edward Snowden talks Bitcoin
In a recent interview with Ben Wizner, Snowden answered a question about the future of Bitcoin and crypto in general. According to the most known ex-CIA, Bitcoin can be compared to the traditional paper money. If we are to put the whole answer to the general terms, Snowden says that the cryptocurrencies are here to stay as the concept of “free money” for the people who might not be able to use the banking services but is hesitant about the future of BTC in particular.