Crypto meltdown slows as market reels from Terra collapse – follow live

The overall crypto market has surged by nearly 10 per cent in the last day following its dramatic crash on Thursday.

Bitcoin has surged in price by about 9 per cent in the last 24 hours, inching close to $30,500.

The leading cryptocurrency is still down by over 15 per cent compared to its value a week earlier.

Ethereum has also grown by about 9 per cent in the last day.

Cardano, dogecoin, polkadot, and avalanche have each risen by over 20 per cent in the last 24 hours as Thursday’s crypto market meltdown appears to be slowing down.

The crypto market is currently valued at $ 1.3 tn, which is still close to half of its value last November.

The UK government is reportedly ready to take further regulatory actions on stablecoins following the crash of Terra and Tether.

The country’s treasury was already working on plans to regulate the crypto market with a particular focus on stablecoins, CNBC reported in March.

Now, it is expected to take further actions after the latest crypto market crash.

Tesla chief Elon Musk has announced that his deal to buy Twitter is on hold.

The billionaire chief of Tesla and SpaceX has said the Twitter deal is “temporarily on hold,” until he could get more information on the social media company’s claim that less than 5 per cent of its users are fake and spam accounts.

Mr Musk, who is a vocal crypto advocate and dogecoin investor, had said last month that one of his priorities after taking over Twitter would be to crack down on cryptocurrency scam accounts on the platform, as well as potential changes to introduce methods to tip other users in cryptocurrency.

Twitter’s share price has plunged by about 20 per cent in pre-market trading amid fears Elon Musk deal could be pulled.

However, it remains to be seen how the latest announcement would affect the price of dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies.

US SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has said stricter regulations on stablecoins may likely be around.

Following collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD and Tether crashing below its dollar peg Ms Peirce has said there could be some movement for regulations around stablecoins, Reuters reported on Thursday.

“That’s an area that has obviously this week gotten a lot of attention,” she said, adding that there be room for a “trial-and-error” regulatory framework.

“There are different potential options for approaching stablecoins…and with experimentation, we need to allow room for there to be failure,” the SEC’s lone Republican commissioner said.

The American credit rating agency Fitch Ratings Inc. has said the failure of Terra’s USD stablecoin (UST) has sent “shocks through the decentralised finance sector.”

“Bouts of volatility will probably continue as the crypto sector digests the repercussions of the failure of the UST peg, and as US policy rate increases and equity volatility pressure high-beta assets,” it said in a statement.

While the potential for crypto market volatility to cause wider financial instability is limited, according to the agency, it said many regulated financial entities that have increased their exposure to cryptocurrencies in recent months could be affected if the volatility becomes severe.

After reaching a record-breaking price of over $67 thousand in Early November, bitcoin has since lost over half of its value and is now close to $30,000.

In early 2022, bitcoin crashed largely due to political unrest and subsequent internet shutdown in Kazakhstan, a crypto mining hub.

Now, the latest crash is tied to stable coin terra breaking its $1 peg, and the collapse of Luna.

Some experts say the worst may not be over yet.

Scottie Siu, investment director of Axion Global Asset Management – a Hong Kong-based company that runs a crypto index fund, told Reuters that there may be “more downside in the coming days.”

“I think what we need to see is the open interest collapse a lot more, so the speculators are really out of it, and that’s when I think the market will stabilize,” he has said.

Global crypto exchange Binance has suspended spot trading with Terra ecosystem’s cryptocurrencies LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) following Thursday’s crash.

It said withdrawals for the cryptocurrencies will open when the network becomes stable.

“We are continuing to work with the project team to create a more stable environment for users, and will keep the community updated accordingly,” Binance said in a statement.

With Bitcoin falling in value by about 40 per cent since September last year, El Salvador may have lost about $35 million from its crypto investments.

The country spent about $105 million buying bitcoins in September 2021 after becoming the world’s first government to make it legal tender, Bloomberg reported.

The country’s reported 2,301 bitcoins now have an estimated value of close to $70 million.

Cardano has surged by over 30 per cent in the last 24 hours as Thursday’s crypto market meltdown appears to be slowing down.

In the last 12 hours, cardano (ada) has grown in value by over 25 per cent and is currently valued at $ 0.5764.

However, it is still down by over 25 per cent compared to its value a week earlier.

Polkadot has also grown by over 30 per cent in the last day.

Other top cryptocurrencies including avalanche and solana have also surged by nearly 20 per cent in the last 24 hours, gaining back some of the value lost during Thursday’s slide.

UAE airliner Emirates has announced it will embrace blockchain, metaverse, and cryptocurrency as part of its new strategy to connect with customers.

Emirates Chief Operating Officer Adel Ahmed Al-Redha reportedly said the company is planning to employ bitcoin as a payment service and is adding NFT collectibles on the company’s websites, according to Arab News.

The Dubai-headquartered airline said it will also hire new staff for metaverse and NFTs. The company said it also seeks to use blockchain technology in tracing records of aircraft.

“NFTs and metaverse are two different applications and approaches. With the metaverse, you will be able to transform your whole processes — whether it is in operation, training, sales on the website, or complete experience — into a metaverse type application, but more importantly making it interactive,” Mr Al-Rehda said.