???? BTC | $37,097 (+4,038, +12.3%)
???? ETH | $2,586 (+110, +4.4%)
???? XRP | $0.92 (+0.06, +7.1%)
???? LTC | $172 (+13, +7.8%)
China’s Qinghai province is the latest coal-based mining hub to ban cryptocurrency mining, following similar bans in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Keyword searches for cryptocurrency exchanges were also blocked on Chinese search engines, although tech-savvy citizens would typically be left unaffected by such a block.
Bitcoin sentiment seemed to rise thanks to an ongoing action by El Salvador to make Bitcoin legal tender. The basic plan is the creation of a fund to turn Bitcoin into Dollars on demand. El Salvador is highly dependent on the US Dollar (and thus highly vulnerable), and some think that turning to Bitcoin would lower remittance fees (remittances make up 20% of their GDP) and reduce dependence on the US government. The country suffered its worst economic crash in 2020, and the government may be exploring Bitcoin adoption as a method of raising more cash.
Concern over Bitcoin’s environmental footprint have spawned relatively creative solutions. Crypto asset manager One River Digital has revealed a new “carbon neutral share class” where the company buys one tokenised carbon credit (supposedly how much carbon mining one Bitcoin generates) for each Bitcoin purchased. Predictably, the company has reported red-hot interest amongst their institutional clients for this arrangement.