{"id":7736,"date":"2021-05-08T16:21:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T20:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=7736"},"modified":"2021-05-21T09:46:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T13:46:26","slug":"eth-dazzles-dogecoin-fears-elon-on-snl-05010508","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2021\/05\/08\/eth-dazzles-dogecoin-fears-elon-on-snl-05010508","title":{"rendered":"Ether dazzles, Dogecoin fears, Elon Musk\u2019s big night, Bitcoin boosts Square: Hodler\u2019s Digest, May 2\u20138"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coming every Saturday, <\/i><\/b>Hodler\u2019s Digest<\/i><\/b><\/a> 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 \u2014 a week on Cointelegraph in one link.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Top Stories This Week<\/b><\/h2>\n

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<\/h4>\n

Altcoins rally as bulls pile into large-cap tokens and layer-one projects<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

We\u2019re well and truly in the throes of \u201caltseason\u201d now, with Bitcoin\u2019s dominance showing no signs of diminishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ether delivered a stunning surge that took its price above $3,000 for the very first time, breaking new records throughout the week. <\/b>On Saturday, ETH remained in uncharted territory after racing to highs of <\/span>$3,800<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among those celebrating ETH\u2019s spike will be Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, <\/span>who has officially become a crypto billionaire<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Excitement is continuing to build ahead of a long-awaited upgrade that will overhaul the network\u2019s gas fee structure in July.<\/b><\/p>\n

ETH is in good company, too. EOS <\/span>rallied by more than <\/span>100% <\/b>this week<\/span><\/a> following a recent protocol that increases the project\u2019s inflation rate. Litecoin has <\/span>hit a one-year high against Bitcoin<\/span><\/a>, with many analysts predicting extended upside momentum. And <\/span>Bitcoin Cash jumped <\/span>68%<\/b><\/a> amid rumors that a looming hard fork could boost the network\u2019s user base.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Ethereum Classic, the hard fork sparked by disagreements after a devastating 2016 hack, <\/span>has pumped <\/span>130% <\/b>in the past week<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s one altcoin in particular that continues to steal the show\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 8 \u201cday to watch\u201d for Dogecoin amid warning it can suffer an XRP-style crash<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

DOGE has seemed unstoppable in recent weeks. <\/span>It hit unprecedented highs of $0.7376 early on Saturday. <\/b>To put into context how bonkers the joke cryptocurrency\u2019s surge really is, <\/span>$1 <\/b>invested on Jan. 1 would now be worth <\/span>$139<\/b> at current prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mania over the financial homage to Shiba Inus everywhere may be about to reach a climax when DOGE enthusiast and mega-billionaire Elon Musk hosts <\/span>Saturday Night Live<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s inevitable that his appearance will feature endless sketches about Dogecoin, and that could pump prices even further.<\/span><\/p>\n

But not everyone is finding DOGE\u2019s surge to be a cause for celebration. <\/b>Lowstrife, a popular account on Twitter, believes the end is nigh, with the crypto trader spotting eerie similarities between DOGE\u2019s current charts and XRP in the heady days of 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back then, XRP had hit all-time highs of <\/span>$3.20 <\/b>that remain true to this day, but then slowly faded to lows of <\/span>$0.14 <\/b>\u2014 a loss of <\/span>95.6%<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warning of an impending apocalypse for DOGE, Lowstrife wrote: \u201cEach of DOGE\u2019s major rallies this year has been smaller and less aggressive. What took 18 hours at first has been ongoing for 2 days now. I suspect this is the final push before it\u2019s all over for good. May 8th is the day to watch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Musk himself has been cooling the hype<\/b><\/a>, reminding followers that crypto investments remain speculative.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Square\u2019s Bitcoin revenue up 1,000% in 12 months<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

A flurry of earnings results this week powerfully illustrated the impact that Bitcoin\u2019s sensational first quarter has had.<\/span><\/p>\n

Square blew analysts\u2019 expectations by delivering earnings of $0.41 per share between January and March \u2014 far beyond the $0.16 forecast. <\/b>Revenue came in at <\/span>$5.06 billion<\/b>, dwarfing predictions of <\/span>$3.36 billion<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bitcoin alone drove <\/span>$3.5 billion<\/b> in revenue, an astonishing increase of <\/span>1,000%<\/b> in just 12 months. <\/span>Overall, the crypto-friendly company\u2019s gross profit also surged 79% year on year to hit $964 million.<\/b><\/p>\n

Square\u2019s also sitting on paper profits of <\/span>$250 million<\/b> after making two high-profile Bitcoin purchases \u2014 one in February and one in October.<\/span><\/p>\n

PayPal has also been heralding the \u201cgreat results\u201d<\/b><\/a> it has been receiving from its crypto service. <\/b>The platform\u2019s earnings and revenue also exceeded predictions in Q1.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coinbase stock plunges to record low, further decoupling from crypto<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

The celebratory atmosphere isn\u2019t universal. <\/span>Coinbase shares tumbled to fresh lows on Thursday as Wall Street investors continued to cycle out of high-flying tech stocks.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

COIN bottomed at <\/span>$255.15<\/b>, where it was in danger of breaching the <\/span>$250 <\/b>reference price set on the eve of its public listing in April. <\/span>All of this comes despite the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies surging beyond $2.4 trillion.<\/b><\/p>\n

FBB Capital Partners\u2019 director of research, Mike Bailey, told Bloomberg: <\/span>\u201cWe saw a mini-bubble in SPACs, IPOs, crypto, clean-tech and hyper-growth in late 2020 and early 2021 and many of these asset classes are nursing bad hangovers.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

(That said, his assertion that crypto is nursing a \u201cbad hangover\u201d is misplaced.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Coinbase\u2019s woes may be linked to increasing competition among crypto exchanges, which has left retail investors spoiled for choice. There\u2019s a danger that this could eat into the revenues it derives from transaction fees, which make up most of its income.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Comedian Bill Maher excoriates environmental impact of crypto<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Elon Musk\u2019s stint on the box this weekend serves as a powerful counterweight to comedian Bill Maher, who didn\u2019t leave crypto enthusiasts in stitches during a recent segment.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Maher\u2019s program, he compared the industry to a virtual game \u2014 and talked about mining in a derisive tone. <\/b>Maher also implied that investing in tokens was a childish endeavor, and illustrated his point with quotes from Warren Buffett.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere is something inherently not credible about creating hundreds of billions in virtual wealth with nothing ever actually being accomplished and no actual product made or service rendered. […] Unfortunately, what is real is the unfathomable amount of electricity those massive supercomputers suck up for their mining.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maher even quipped that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by Bitcoin\u2019s inventor, is the Japanese term for \u201cMonopoly money.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Anthony Pompliano shared the clip along with this caption: \u201cNever ask a comedian for investment advice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao replied, writing: <\/span>\u201cVery sad to watch. Feel really hopeless for him. Joke\u2019s going to be on him. Time will show.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Winners and Losers<\/b><\/h2>\n

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At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at <\/span>$58,366.32<\/b>, Ether at <\/span>$3,811.20<\/b> and XRP at <\/span>$1.56<\/b>. The total market cap is at <\/span>$2,433,633,423,933<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are <\/span>Shiba Inu<\/b>, <\/span>Bitcoin Diamond <\/b>and <\/span>Telcoin<\/b>. The top three altcoin losers of the week are <\/span>Harmony<\/b>, <\/span>Huobi Token<\/b> and <\/span>Filecoin<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read <\/span>Cointelegraph\u2019s market analysis<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most Memorable Quotations<\/b><\/h2>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like Uniswap v3 is more gas expensive than v2, roughly as expected.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Haseeb Qureshi<\/b><\/a>, Dragonfly Capital managing partner<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWith cryptocurrencies already creating incredible worldwide wealth, it\u2019s real estate that will sustain that wealth and provide buyers with a legacy.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alex Sapir<\/b><\/a>, Sapir Corp chairman<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a mini-bubble in SPACs, IPOs, crypto, clean-tech and hyper-growth in late 2020 and early 2021 and many of these asset classes are nursing bad hangovers.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mike Bailey<\/b><\/a>, FBB Capital Partners director of research<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely can go much higher, I think we can see the price go to $10,000, where a lot of ETH bull price targets begin to kick in and people take profits.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nikhil Shamapant<\/b><\/a>, retail investor<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve committed to having no HQ, and it\u2019s important to show our decentralized workforce that no one location is [more] important than the other.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coinbase<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cEach of DOGE\u2019s major rallies this year has been smaller and less aggressive. What took 18 hours at first has been ongoing for 2 days now. I suspect this is the final push before it\u2019s all over for good. May 8th is the day to watch.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lowstrife<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cDeFi may lead to a paradigm shift in the financial industry and potentially contribute toward a more robust, open, and transparent financial infrastructure.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Federal Reserve of St. Louis<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cVolatility is everywhere [\u2026] It is not unique to crypto.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Changpeng Zhao<\/b><\/a>, Binance CEO<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I hate the Bitcoin success, and I don\u2019t welcome a currency that\u2019s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists and so forth.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Charlie Munger<\/b><\/a>, billionaire investor<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something inherently not credible about creating hundreds of billions in virtual wealth with nothing ever actually being accomplished and no actual product made or service rendered.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bill Maher<\/b><\/a>, comedian<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prediction of the Week<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/h4>\n

They see ETH rollin\u2019: Why did Ether price reach $3,500, and what\u2019s next?\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Ether\u2019s booming price has prompted feverish talk about a long-fabled \u201cflippening\u201d where ETH overtakes BTC as the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although that\u2019s fanciful right now, there are a number of bullish predictions when it comes to where Ether\u2019s price is headed next.<\/b><\/p>\n

One of them comes from Nikhil Shamapant, a retail investor who recently <\/span>published<\/span> a research report where he argued ETH could be worth <\/span>$150,000 <\/b>by 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

He told Cointelegraph:<\/span> \u201cIt definitely can go much higher. I think we can see the price go to $10,000, where a lot of ETH bull price targets begin to kick in and people take profits. I think we\u2019ll head up to that $10,000-to-$25,000 range, hit a lot of supply and could see some big drawdowns and consolidation at that point.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FUD of the Week\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The fees sting, but Uniswap v3 sees more volume on launch day than v2\u2019s first month<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Data suggests that Uniswap v3 had a successful first 24 hours \u2014 processing more than twice the volume that v2 did in its first month.<\/span><\/p>\n

But not everyone\u2019s been enamored with the latest iteration of the world\u2019s most popular decentralized exchange, with some users complaining about the costs associated with using it.<\/b><\/p>\n

One person wrote on Twitter: <\/span>\u201cEven more expensive to make mistakes now. Tried to migrate my UNI\/ETH liquidity to V3, failed and paid 108.09 usd worth of gas.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Dragonfly Capital\u2019s managing partner, Haseeb Qureshi, also wasn\u2019t impressed. On Twitter, he wrote: <\/span>\u201cLooks like Uniswap v3 is more gas expensive than v2, roughly as expected. […] Specifically, it\u2019s about 28% more expensive for single-hop transactions it looks like. For larger transactions that cross multiple ticks\/buckets, the gas costs should be slightly larger.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New York bill proposes ban on crypto mining for three years over carbon concerns<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

A Democrat senator in New York, Kevin S. Parker, is proposing a three-year ban on crypto mining.<\/span><\/p>\n

Data centers would only be allowed to operate if they pass an environmental impact review, amid concerns that BTC mining could cause the state to miss ambitious targets designed to tackle climate change.<\/b><\/p>\n

New York Senate Bill 6486 said: \u201cA single cryptocurrency transaction uses the same amount of energy that an average American household uses in one month, with an estimated level of global energy usage equivalent to that of the country of Sweden.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill is yet to receive widespread backing from other senators. However, the Democrats do control the lower house and senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Employer paid worker in crypto, then demanded it back when price rose<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

A United States-based business development specialist has claimed that a company that paid them for contract work using cryptocurrency now wants them to return the tokens following a significant rally in the asset\u2019s price.<\/span><\/p>\n

The unnamed employee, known only as \u201cCrypto Confused,\u201d wrote to MarketWatch and said: <\/span>\u201cI am not really sure what to do. I have worked with this person for many years, and he has a tendency to try to change the terms of payment after agreeing on a certain way of operating.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Columnist Quentin Fottrell replied: <\/span>\u201cIf the value of the cryptocurrency had fallen by 100% since August 2020, would he want to pay you in dollars? If it suddenly dipped by that amount today, would he follow up with his employees?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Best Cointelegraph Features<\/b><\/h2>\n

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<\/h4>\n

DOGE as internet money? TikTokers and sports fans see a use case for Dogecoin<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

As experts pinpoint various groups as Dogecoin\u2019s vanguard, the coin\u2019s potential base seems to be a wide coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

From nay to yay: JPMorgan\u2019s path to crypto could shake up finance<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

After bashing Bitcoin back in 2017, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon seems to have softened his stance on crypto, and so has the firm itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

As Bitcoin\u2019s payment options grow, BTC\u2019s true future role up for debate<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Declaring BTC a store of value \u2014 gold 2.0 \u2014 but not a medium of exchange, defies logic. It must first have a use case.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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