Crypto Flipsider News – Interest Rates Hiked; Bitcoin Pumps; Ravencoin Spikes 25%; Green Bitcoin Mining; Coinbase Funds Lawsuit

Read in the Digest:

British pound sterling falls as the Queen of England passes away – ECB and Fed hike interest rates.

Bitcoin (BTC) leads crypto market recovery with 10% rally to hit $21k.

Ravencoin (RVN) continues its parabolic rise, spiking 25% amid miners exodus.

The White House calls for greener Bitcoin mining, or risk a possible ban.

Coinbase pledges to fund Tornado Cash lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury.

British Pound Sterling Falls as the Queen of England Passes Away – ECB and Fed Hike Interest Rates

On Thursday, September 8th, 2022, Buckingham Palace announced in an official statement that “the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.” The market’s reaction to the sad news saw the British pound fall against the U.S. dollar and the Euro.

The Pound fell by at least 0.3%, while the Euro gained 0.1% against the GBP. The hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to offset the British policies unveiled by Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss were also a potential contributor to the drop.

Jerome Powell reiterated that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates in order to tame surging inflation. The Fed is expected to meet between September 20th and 21st, after which it could announce another rate hike.

The European Central Bank has assumed a similar stance, increasing its interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point, bringing the deposit rate above 0% for the first time since 2012.

Flipsider:

The interest rate hike follows rising eurozone inflation, which hit a record rate of 9.1% last month amid rocketing natural gas prices.

Why You Should Care

The interest rate hikes by the Fed and ECB could put pressure on the Bank of England to follow suit when its policymakers meet next week.

Bitcoin (BTC) Leads Crypto Market Recovery with 10% Rally to Hit $21k

The crypto market, led by Bitcoin (BTC), has broken out of the two-week long downtrend that saw it meet a new 2022 low. The sharp rally has helped the majority of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, to wipe out the losses of the last week.

Bitcoin’s price increased by a whopping 10.1% in the past 24 hours to trade above $21k for the first time in September, and set its highest price in 2 weeks. At press time, Bitcoin trades at $21,180.

The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

The rest of the cryptocurrency market joined in the rally, with Terra (LUNA) staging an unexpected 120% spike in a day. As a result of the rally, the global crypto market cap has staged a recovery to above $1 trillion.

Flipsider:

Despite the comeback, Bitcoin mining revenue has dropped to its lowest point in approximately two years.

Bitcoin’s year-to-date loss of 55%, and the rising global energy costs have contributed to a shrink in miner profitability.

Why You Should Care

The ongoing crypto market recovery has helped quell investors’ growing fears that the prices of digital assets could fall even lower than they were.

Ravencoin (RVN) Continues Its Parabolic Rise, Spiking 25% Amidst Miner Exodus

Ravencoin (RVN), a fork of the original Bitcoin code, has enjoyed a parabolic rise over the course of the last week. With the crypto market briefly recovering, the price of RVN has shot up by as much as 25%, making it today’s second-biggest gainer.

The 24 hours price chart for Ravencoin (RVN). Source: CoinMarketCap

Ravencoin has gained 57% in the last 7 days to see its price rise from $0.028 to trade as high as $0.04562 – for the first time since May. Ravencoin is now ranked as the 81st largest crypto as its market cap has shot up to $463.8 million.

The 7 day price chart for Ravencoin (RVN). Source: CoinMarketCap

Ravencoin’s triumphant rise can be linked to the growing exodus of Ethereum miners seeking alternative platforms. As a fork of Bitcoin that offers better block times, Ravencoin has been an attractive option.

In addition to offering better block times, Ravencoin increased its total supply cap, from Bitcoin’s 21 million, up to 21 billion, as well as integrating asset creation and messaging features on the network.

Flipsider:

Despite promising better performance than Bitcoin, Ravencoin (RVN) has not enjoyed as much utility as first predicted when it launched in 2018.

Why You Should Care

With the network’s growing hashrate and the migration of miners from RVN, investors speculate even more growth for Ravencoin (RVN).

The White House Calls for Greener Bitcoin Mining, or Risk a Possible Ban

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, released on Thursday, September 8th, urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to take measurable action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in crypto mining.

The report follows the March issuance of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14067, which sought to establish a broad strategy for the U.S. government in order to regulate the growing technology sector, referred to here as the digital assets industry.

The report specifically criticizes Proof of Work (PoW) projects for their energy use, highlighting Bitcoin and Ethereum respectively generate 38% and 20% to 39% of the global energy usage generated by blockchains.

The report adds that, since crypto mining consumes a large allotment of electricity, which undermines U.S. sustainability goals, the industry should work on providing better data on the use of clean energy, or the use energy-intensive crypto mining, which should be limited or eliminated.

Flipsider:

With Ethereum migrating to Proof of Stake (PoS) model in the coming days, its energy consumption is predicted to drop by 99.9%.

Why You Should Care

The White House’s calls for greener crypto mining align with its broader plans to combat climate change in the United States.

Coinbase Pledges to Fund Tornado Cash Lawsuit Against the U.S. Treasury

America’s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, has pledged to fund the lawsuit filed by users of the recently sanctioned Ethereum blockchain and cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, against the U.S. Treasury Department.

The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. district court in Texas on Thursday by six Tornado Cash users. Two of the plaintiffs, who are Coinbase employees, have accused the Treasury of overstepping its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash.

The lawsuit also claims that the Treasury infringed on the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by barring them from exercising their right to free speech.

On August 8th, the Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash from offering its service on the claim that over $7 billion worth of virtual currency had been laundered via its mixing service.

Flipsider:

Not all crypto enthusiasts are against the sanction, with the likes of Kevin O’Leary applauding the measure as a worthy price to pay for institutional adoption.