3/25 FAL Weekly Digest
Welcome to the FAL Weekly Digest, a source for this week’s biggest news articles and crypto market updates.
Here is what you need to know:
Russia Considers Selling Oil for Bitcoin
Russian government officials have recently signaled that they are exploring new forms of payment for its oil and gas exports, including possibly accepting Bitcoin payments. Peter Zavalny, head of Russia’s State Duma committee on energy, stated that the nation is considering shifting away from oil and gas payments in U.S. dollars and euros to accepting payments in other national currencies such as the Russian ruble, Chinese yuan, and the Turkish lira. Zavalny had also mentioned the openness towards Bitcoin payments for oil shipments, stating “you can also trade bitcoins.”
These new trade conditions come at the same time that Russian President Vladmir Putin demanded that Russia will only accept oil and gas shipments in the Russian ruble from “unfriendly” nations. This is seen as an effort to bolster the Russian currency which has significantly diminished in value since the onset of the war in Ukraine and the many sanctions placed against Russia by the international community.
While the statements are not a direct indication that nations “friendly” to Russia such as China and Turkey will move towards trading oil for Bitcoin, the fact that the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest supplier of oil is considering Bitcoin payments represents a significant shift in the international community’s stance towards the dollar as the de-facto trade denomination and as the reserve currency status of world.
Many view the COVID-19 pandemic as an acceleration of the digitization of our everyday lives, and the war in Ukraine is only contributing to that movement. Even Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, recognizes the potential impact these events can have on the global adoption of digital currencies.
Market Update - BTC
The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization is about $1.99 trillion, a 5.85% increase from last week’s valuation of $1.88 trillion. At the time of publication, Bitcoin ($BTC) is valued at $44,571 per bitcoin with a market capitalization of $844 billion making up 42.3% of the overall market.
Bitcoin has continued its strong performance throughout the week, recovering from range lows of about $37.5k on March 14th and rallying to range highs of about $45k. It currently is approaching an important level of resistance at the ~46k mark, which has acted as a significant price ceiling throughout Q1 2022.
Without a confirmed close above the resistance level, it can be assumed that Bitcoin will continue to trade within this greater range between $37k-46k until either level is broken and the market is given a clearer directional bias.
Bitcoin Mining Fuels Up
Traditional oil and natural gas companies are increasingly turning towards Bitcoin mining for additional streams of revenue. A recent announcement from ExxonMobil revealed that the company has been successfully running a Bitcoin mining pilot program in North Dakota since January 2021 that utilizes excess natural gas harvesting to power cryptocurrency mining operations. ExxonMobil is now looking to expand these projects to other regions that it operates in, including Alaska, Germany, Nigeria, Argentina, and Guyana.
Excess gas harvested from these operations would normally be burned through “flaring”, or simply released into the air which would have a detrimental effect on the environment. By diverting this excess gas towards the powering of Bitcoin mining operations, these companies are making use of resources that would normally be wasted. A study from CoinShares and Messari indicates that there is great potential in the redirection of flaring excess natural gas towards more beneficial practices such as Bitcoin mining.
The debate over the merits of Bitcoin mining continues to rage on around the world, with some regions considering outright bans due to environmental concerns. Regardless of public opinion, Bitcoin mining is here to stay and will continue to evolve over time as adoption accelerates.
U.S. DoJ Fights Back Against NFT Fraud
Anyone researching the crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) space can quickly realize that the fields are plagued with fraud and scams. One such scheme has caught the attention of the United States Department of Justice, which recently pressed charges against the founders of the “Frosties” NFT collection. The lawsuit claims that defendants Ethan Nguyen and Andrew Llacuna executed a $1 million NFT fraud scheme in January 2022, and were preparing for a second fraudulent NFT sale with the release of the “Embers” NFT collection prior to their arrests.
The DoJ claims that the pair performed a “rug pull”, which means that they took advantage of their anonymous identities and abandoned the project after selling out the NFT collection. The Frosties website was then deactivated, and the $1.1 million in cryptocurrency profits from the sales were distributed to a variety of wallets under their control in multiple transactions to conceal and launder the money.
These actions come as the DoJ ramps up its enforcement capabilities in the crypto space with the formation of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to combat criminal and illegal use of digital assets.
GameStop NFT Marketplace Enters Beta
Beloved video game retailer GameStop has pushed forward with its plans to create an NFT marketplace powered by blockchain technology. The new platform has entered a beta test phase, and has confirmed that it will be powered by Loopring, an Ethereum based layer-2 protocol.
A recent blog post on Medium by Looping head of growth Adam Browman has revealed more details regarding the partnership between the two companies. Whether it is in brick and mortar stores, or in the burgeoning digital asset space, GameStop is continuing to revolutionize the transfer of gaming media and giving “power” back to the players.
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