{"id":9087,"date":"2021-09-18T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T21:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=9087"},"modified":"2021-09-18T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T20:46:15","slug":"cardano-price-smart-contract-launch-walmart-litecoin-fake-news-coinbase-raises-2b-junk-bond-sale-hodlers-digest-sept-12-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2021\/09\/18\/cardano-price-smart-contract-launch-walmart-litecoin-fake-news-coinbase-raises-2b-junk-bond-sale-hodlers-digest-sept-12-18","title":{"rendered":"Cardano price dips after smart contract launch, Walmart working with Litecoin is fake news, Coinbase raises $2B from junk-bond sale: Hodler\u2019s Digest, Sept. 12-18"},"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

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

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<\/b>Cardano launches smart contracts after successful hard fork<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n

After years of anticipation, Charles Hoskinson\u2019s brainchild, Cardano, finally launched its smart contract functionality via the Alonzo hard fork on Monday. You\u2019d think the result of this would be some bullish price action for ADA but, alas, its <\/span>price dropped 10%<\/span><\/a> following the rollout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Cardano was keen to celebrate the milestone, it also emphasized in a blog post that it\u2019s still in the \u201cearly days\u201d of the project, adding that now is when \u201cthe mission truly begins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The team also urged its community to not be overzealous in boarding the hype train just yet, and to be patient with the smart contract functionality in its formative stages:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are high expectations resting on this upgrade. Some unreasonably so. Cardano watchers may be expecting a sophisticated ecosystem of consumer-ready DApps available immediately after the upgrade. Expectations need to be managed here.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Fake news: Litecoin price surges 35% following Walmart adoption hoax<\/b><\/a>
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While real news made the price of ADA drop, fake news made the price of Litecoin (<\/span>LTC<\/span><\/a>) pump this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Numerous publications reported Monday that Walmart planned to have a \u201cpay with Litecoin option\u201d for its e-commerce websites starting on Oct. 1 as part of a partnership with the Litecoin Foundation. Following the spread of the fake report, the price of LTC surged 35% before sharply falling within hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson from Walmart confirmed that the news was fake within an hour, while the Litecoin Foundation’s director of marketing, Jay Milla, also told Cointelegraph that the announcement did not come from Litcecoin’s side of things.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Litecoin Foundation has yet to enter into a partnership with Walmart,\u201d said Milla.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vitalik Buterin makes list of Time magazine\u2019s 100 most influential people in 2021<\/b><\/a>
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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of this year, joining the likes of Naomi Osaka, Britney Spears, Xi Jinping and Elon Musk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buterin was featured in the \u201cInnovators\u201d section of the Time 100 list, with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian authoring his profile. Ohanian highlighted Buterin\u2019s work in building the Ethereum network and encouraging the development of decentralized apps and NFTs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one person could\u2019ve possibly come up with all of the uses for Ethereum, but it did take one person\u2019s idea to get it started,\u201d Ohanian said. \u201cFrom there, a new world has opened up, and given rise to new ways of leveraging blockchain technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>Coinbase increases junk-bond offering to $2B after investors swarm<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n

After seeing enormous demand for its <\/span>$1.5 billion junk-bond<\/span><\/a> offering that was announced on Monday, Coinbase reportedly increased the size of the sale to $2 billion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a report from The Economic Times, there was at least $7 billion worth of orders that were placed in competition for seven- and 10-year bonds offering interest rates of 3.375% and 3.625%, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coinbase stated on Monday that the raised funds will be put towards \u201ccontinued investments in product developments\u201d and \u201cpotential investments in or acquisitions of other companies, products, or technologies\u201d in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The funds might also come in handy when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, comes knocking on the door with a lawsuit if the USD coin lending program is actually launched.<\/span><\/p>\n

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US lawmakers propose adding digital assets to \u2018wash sale\u2019 rule and raising capital gains tax<\/b><\/a>
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Reports surfaced this week that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed tax initiatives that could swipe some extra profits from the gains of \u201ccertain high-income\u201d crypto users.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a document released by the House Committee on Ways and Means on Monday, the proposal would<\/span> increase<\/span><\/a> the tax rate on long-term capital gains from the existing 20% to 25%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the same day, <\/span>President Joe Biden<\/span><\/a> said he planned to nominate acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, to assume the role permanently, while also naming Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero to fill two other vacant commissioner seats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a private meeting held on Sept. 8 between <\/span>Fidelity Digital Assets<\/span><\/a> President Tom Jessop, six of the firm\u2019s executives and several SEC officials, the executives outlined a number of reasons why the enforcer should finally approve the Bitcoin (<\/span>BTC<\/span><\/a>) exchange-traded fund.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

These examples included increased demand for digital assets, the prevalence of similar funds in other countries, and the rise of Bitcoin adoption \u2014 all of which sound like reasons that would fall on deaf ears for the SEC. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

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At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at <\/span>$46,951<\/b>, Ether at <\/span>$3,376<\/b> and XRP at <\/span>$1.07<\/b>. The total market cap is at <\/span>$2.11 trillion<\/b>, <\/span>according<\/span><\/a> to CoinMarketCap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Curve DAO Token <\/span>(CRV)<\/b> at 41.73%, Hedera Hashgraph <\/span>(HBAR)<\/b> at 41.16% and Avalanche <\/span>(AVAX)<\/b> at 33.23%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Arweave <\/span>(AR)<\/b> at -19.24%, Solana <\/span>(SOL)<\/b> at -21.27% and Revain <\/span>(REV)<\/b> at -17.11%.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

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\u201cMany platforms have dozens or hundreds of tokens on them. While each token\u2019s legal status depends on its own facts and circumstances, the probability is quite remote that, with 50, 100, or 1,000 tokens, any given platform has zero securities.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gary Gensler<\/b><\/a>, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cOne can even see an inscription about the regulator\u2019s obligations on the banknotes, while cryptocurrency is not backed by anything.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Behzod Khamraev<\/b><\/a>, Central Bank of Uzbekistan deputy chairman<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cAdvocates say crypto markets are all about financial inclusion, but the people who are most economically vulnerable are the ones who are most likely to have to withdraw their money the fastest when the market drops. […] High, unpredictable fees can make crypto trading really dangerous for people who aren\u2019t rich.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elizabeth Warren<\/b><\/a>, U.S. senator<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cRising valuations across asset classes, massive price swings in cryptoassets and event-driven risks observed in 1H21 amid elevated trading volumes raise questions about increased risk-taking behaviour and possible market exuberance.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The European Securities and Markets Authority<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a no-brainer that your crypto earnings are taxable like other income and should be declared in the Income Tax Returns. As of now, it is not clear whether the GST would be applied on the amount of cryptocurrency bought or on the transaction fees paid by the user.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nischal Shetty<\/b><\/a>, WazirX CEO<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cIf a person has assets in Bitcoin and makes high profits, there will be no tax. This is done obviously to encourage foreign investment.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Javier Argueta<\/b><\/a>, legal adviser to El Salvador\u2019s president, Nayib Bukele<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile it might be helpful for the SEC to provide advisory guidance to companies, it has no obligation to do so.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marc Powers<\/b><\/a>, former SEC Division of Enforcement officer<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u201cIn a situation where the relevant taxation infrastructure is not sufficiently established, the deferral of taxation on virtual assets is not an option, but an inevitable situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Noh Woong-rae<\/b><\/a>, South Korea National Assembly member<\/b><\/p>\n

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

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New Bitcoin price model suggests BTC won’t go below $39K again<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Analyst William Clemente came up with a new metric for Bitcoin price boundary forecasts, posting the tool on Twitter this week. Called the \u201cIlliquid Supply Floor,\u201d the chart merges PlanB\u2019s stock-to-flow metric and on-chain Bitcoin supply data from Glassnode. The result? A chart showing Bitcoin\u2019s current price against the backdrop of possible upper and lower price range boundaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bitcoin\u2019s price rallied this week, showing recovery after the asset took a sizable dive down to the $43,000 range during <\/span>the week of Sept. 7<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Clemente\u2019s chart, the $39,000 price range could be the current bottom limit for Bitcoin\u2019s price should it drop once again, given \u201ca price floor based on Bitcoin\u2019s real-time scarcity\u201d \u2014 Clemente\u2019s description of the lower limit on the chart. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

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<\/b>Solana and Arbitrum knocked offline, while Ethereum evades attack<\/b><\/a>
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The recent Solana-rama was temporarily brought to a halt this week after the supposed \u201cETH killer\u201d suffered a denial-of-service disruption for around 45 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twitter account Solana Status explained that a large increase in transaction load to 400,000 per second overwhelmed the network, creating the denial-of-service and causing the network to start forking. The incident appears to have slightly damped enthusiasm in SOL, as the price is down 26% over the past seven days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethereum layer-two rollup network Arbitrum One also reported its sequencer had gone offline for roughly 45 minutes this week, while Ethereum was also the subject of an unsuccessful node attack from an unknown identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>OpenSea exec used the platform\u2019s influence to pump his own NFTs<\/a><\/b>
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Earlier this week, OpenSea head of product Nathan Chastain was named and shamed after he was outed for hyping NFTs he purchased and then featuring them on the homepage of the popular marketplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

While being bullish on NFTs is nothing new, getting caught for tokenized insider trading is \u2014 and Nathan Chastain is estimated to have earned at least 18.875 Ether (<\/span>ETH<\/span><\/a>), $65,700 at time of writing, from his antics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

OpenSea officially confirmed the accusations on Wednesday, noting that it was \u201cincredibly disappointing,\u201d and emphasized that the behavior did not represent the firm\u2019s values. Chastain then proceeded to hand in his resignation the following day with his tail between his legs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/b>Protesters burn Bitcoin ATM as part of demonstration against El Salvador president<\/b><\/a>
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Anti-Bitcoiners and protesters of El Savador President Nayib Bukele\u2019s policies destroyed a BTC ATM in the nation\u2019s capital city on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Local news outlets shared images of the ATM burning in San Salvador within a crowd of journalists and protesters. The booth hosting the BTC ATM was defaced with anti-BTC graffiti and a sign saying \u201cdemocracy is not for sale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite maintaining a strong approval rating, Bukele appears to have caused a stir with his forceful approach to politics. There have now been multiple protests in El Salvador regarding adoption of BTC, with activists taking the streets as early as July to voice their concerns. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

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Finding a new home: Bitcoin miners settling down after China exodus<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

Countries vie for cryptocurrency miner business as Chinese miners move to greener pastures. Here’s where they are ending up.<\/span><\/p>\n

El Salvador’s Bitcoin day: The first of many or a one-off?<\/b><\/a>
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Thanks to El Salvador\u2019s daring move, digital money looms large on global policymakers\u2019 radars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fidenza: Tyler Hobbs wrote software that generates art worth millions<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n

\u201cI started wondering if I could write a program that would create a painting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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