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The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been the biggest geopolitical development of the year. Following the Russian invasion, a series of developments have left global markets rattled. Given that this is the first major, global-scale conflict since the crypto market became mainstream, analysts are eager to see how cryptocurrencies have performed thus far.
Earlier this month, digital assets analysis firm Arcane research published a report on the state of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, in which it examined key factors behind the growing popularity of Bitcoin’s flagship Layer 2 scaling solution.
The markets have been in a state of a gradual pullback over the last seven days. During that period, the value of most major digital currencies has diminished by double digits, including Bitcoin (-10.7%) and Ethereum (-11.8%). Consequently, the total value of all digital currencies in circulation shrank from $2.21T on April 4 to $1.98T on April 11.
The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a non-profit organization launched in early 2021 to ensure stability and growth of the Terra ecosystem, has acquired more than $170 million worth of Bitcoin over the weekend. The company’s treasury that is designed to maintain UST’s dollar peg now has 39,899 BTC in its UST Forex Reserve wallet.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Zap CEO Jack Mallers revealed that the company’s Lightning Network wallet, Strike, has partnered with leading global payment processors, including Shopify, NCR, and Blackhawk Network.
After trading in a relativity narrow trading range over the past week, Bitcoin’s price has dived below the $45,000 mark today, for the first time since April 1st. Bitcoin’s negative price movement reverberated across the crypto market and sparked a minor sell-off, which saw the majority of digital assets enter the red zone in the last 24 hours.
Lightning Labs, one of the leading developers of Bitcoin’s Layer 2 scaling solution Lightning Network, has announced it raised $70 million in its Series B funding round, which saw participation from a number of notable investors, including Valor, Goldcrest, and NYDIG, to name a few.
According to blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, the holdings of Canadian Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have ballooned over recent months, highlighting the fact that institutional investors are seeking ways of gaining exposure to Bitcoin beyond direct market buys.
American business intelligence company MicroStrategy has acquired an additional 4,167 BTC at an average price of $45,714 per coin. With the latest purchase, the Virgina-based firm now owns 129,218 BTC, by far the largest Bitcoin stash out of any publicly-traded company.