Forbes - Bitcoin Down, XRP Up | DeFi Heats Up

Happy Holidays, dear readers! We hope you and your loved ones are well, healthy and are properly celebrating. But in case you can’t leave the world of crypto even during the holiday season, we got you.

A BITCOIN AT $100K: BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR?

Cryptocurrencies started the year with a rally but are ending it in a slump—barring a breakout in the final week of December. As of Thursday morning, bitcoin is struggling to move past the $50,000 threshold, trading at $48,315—a far cry from the coveted $100,000 price target, but still 67% up year-to-date. The second largest digital asset by market capitalization, ether, increased more than five-fold this year but is also trading a mile away from its all-time high of $4,867, reached last month. The token is hovering just below $4,000 at the time of writing. The wider cryptocurrency market is trading 0.82% down, at a capitalization of $2.28 trillion. Ripple’s XRP and one other crypto are making gains.

Source: Messari. Prices as of 3:00 p.m. on December 23, 2021.

AGAINST THE CURRENT

Defying the aggressive selloff of the past weeks, LUNA, the native token of the Terra blockchain, notched a new record high above $90 as the network’s total value locked, or a sum of assets deposited in its decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, surged to nearly $19 billion—primarily thanks to the growth of the blockchain’s three largest protocols, Anchor, Lido and Terraswap. By this metric, Terra is now the second-largest hub for DeFi just behind Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. Alongside the decentralized finance infrastructure, the network supports algorithmic stablecoins pegged to various fiat currencies.

DEMAND FOR CRYPTO STAKING HEATS UP

Earning passive income on crypto through staking, a process that involves committing a portion of your tokens for a period of time as a way of contributing to a blockchain network, is becoming mainstream. Underscoring the trend, Canadian staking firm Figment this week announced that it had raised $110 million in Series C funding from a batch of high profile investors at a $1.4 billion valuation. The company has staked more than $7.5 billion in assets for clients like Coinbase, Crypto.com, Anchorage and Ether Capital, among others.

Additionally, crypto exchange Kraken announced the acquisition of Staked, a staking platform that enables investors to earn yield from staking without giving up custody of their assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but Kraken referred to it as “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date.” According to the company, in 2021 it saw its staking business grow by around 950% to nearly $16 billion.

ELSEWHERE

Instagram ‘Actively Exploring’ NFTs: CEO Adam Mosseri [Decrypt]

Jack Dorsey Says VCs Really Own Web3 (And Web3 Booster Are Pretty Mad About It) [The Verge]

Binance To Help Dubai World Trade Centre Establish A Crypto Regulatory Framework [The Block]

See you in 2022!  

Steven Ehrlich
Editor 
Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

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