Meta to launch metaverse hardware store, Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B, and ApeCoin pumps to new highs: Hodler’s Digest, April 24-30

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B — crypto industry reacts

Eccentric billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion this week, or $54.20 per share in cash. After the deal was accepted, Musk said he hoped that “even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.” 

The crypto industry’s reaction was mixed, with Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer describing the acquisition as a “hostile takeover” antithetical to the idea of freedom, while Bitcoin bulls Anthony Pompliano and Michael Saylor welcomed the move.

 

 

 

ApeCoin (APE) hits a new all-time high ahead of this week’s Otherside land auction

Bored Ape Yacht Club-affiliated ApeCoin (APE) hit a new all-time high of $22.60 on Thursday amid growing excitement about the upcoming Otherside metaverse land auction, which is being held by Animoca Brands and BAYC creator Yuga Labs.

Otherside is a forthcoming metaverse project within the BAYC ecosystem, and it is hosting the sale of its first 100,000 land parcels on Saturday. Wallets that already hold a BAYC or Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT will be able to claim a land parcel for free.

 

Meta will open physical metaverse-themed store in San Francisco Bay Area

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is set to open a retail store in Burlingame, California that will sell virtual reality and metaverse hardware. The store will be located on Meta’s Burlingame campus and will feature a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what users see using Meta headsets.

The store will also provide demos for anything related to virtual reality headsets, video communications displays and smart glasses. “The Meta Store is going to help people make that connection to how our products can be the gateway to the Metaverse in the future,” said store head Martin Gilliard.

 

 

Central African Republic will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender: Report

The Central African Republic (CAR) reportedly passed a bill this week enabling Bitcoin to be used as legal tender alongside the franc. The CAR now joins El Salvador in taking the ambitious plunge into fully adopting BTC. 

President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s chief of staff, Obed Namsio, was quoted as saying that the move was aimed at making the CAR one of the “boldest and most visionary” countries in the world. The nation of 5 million has one of the smallest economies in the world with a gross domestic product of roughly $2.4 billion.

 

Brazil’s Senate approves ‘Bitcoin law’ to regulate cryptocurrencies

The Federal Senate of Brazil also made a strong crypto move this week, passing the country’s first bill governing cryptocurrencies. The bill will enable the government to create a regulatory framework for the local crypto industry.

Senators have discussed providing crypto miners with incentives for setting up shop in Brazil, and they are also looking to introduce heavy punishments for any fraudulent or bad behavior in the sector. 

In order to become law, the bill must next be approved by the Federal Senate’s Chamber of Deputies and then signed off by President Jair Bolsonaro.

 

 

 

 

 

Winners and Losers

 

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $39,032, Ether (ETH) at $2,854 and XRP at $0.62. The total crypto market cap is at $1.77 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are ApeCoin (APE) at 60.14%, STEPN (GMT) at 20.28% and Kava (KAVA) at 13.88%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Zilliqa (ZIL) at -23.84%, Waves (WAVES) at -23.07% and Axie Infinity (AXS) at -23.02%.For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

 

 

 

 

Most Memorable Quotations

 

“Bitcoin will never become zero because it has intrinsic value beyond its technological and monetary merits.”

Lili Zhao, director of ecosystem growth for Neo

 

“There’s a pre-pandemic world and a post-pandemic world, and a post-pandemic world has a lot more government deficits — it has a lot more uncertainty related to growth.”

Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital

 

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla

 

“We were given a big gift when China banned crypto mining and trading — it was a big mistake for them.”

Greg Tanaka, Palo Alto City Council member

 

“Our survey shows something we have advocated over a long time: talking about the survival of digital assets is firmly over — the question is now about evolution.”

Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp

 

“The problem with [Bitcoin] is you can’t have truly free trade unless you have private trade.”

Edward Snowden, government surveillance whistleblower

 

 

Prediction of the Week 

 

Bitcoin repeats rare weekly chart signal that resulted in 50% BTC price dips

Bitcoin’s price traded largely sideways this week while still experiencing some volatility. The asset traded both above $40,000 and below $38,000 at times during the week, based on Cointelegraph’s BTC price index.

Bitcoin could be headed for negative price action, according to pseudonymous Twitter personality “Nunya Bizniz.” Bizniz pointed out a pattern on Bitcoin’s chart that has previously occurred prior to 50% price drops — the downward sloping of the asset’s 20-week and 50-week moving averages. This chart pattern has occurred twice before, each time seeing BTC’s price subsequently decline by more than 50%.

 

 

FUD of the Week 

STEPN impersonators stealing users’ seed phrases, warn security experts

Blockchain security firm Peckshield exposed multiple phishing websites for Web3 lifestyle app STEPN. According to the company, bad actors have been able to create and attach dubious MetaMask browser plugins that can be used to steal users’ seed phrases.

 

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs stolen in Instagram phishing attack

The Instagram account belonging to the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project was hacked on Monday. According to various unconfirmed social media reports, roughly 100 NFTs worth a combined $400,000 were stolen as part of a phishing attack and fake airdrop. Users believed the links used to carry out the attack were legit since it coincided with the one-year anniversary of BAYC’s launch.

 

New York State Assembly passes ban on new BTC mines that don’t use green power

The New York State Assembly passed a bill earlier this week that aims to place a two-year ban on all new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining facilities that are backed by carbon-generated power. The bill also states that current miners who rely on carbon-powered rigs won’t be able to renew their permits once they expire.

 

 

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