Bitcoin climbs above $56,000

After dropping below $56,000, bitcoin is inching back to $57,000, but is still down by about 2 per cent compared to its value a day earlier.

The overall crypto market is down by about 1 per cent over the last day, and is currently valued at about $2.56 trillion.

Other top cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, solana, and cardano are also down by about 1 to 2 per cent in the last 24 hours.

Meme coins doge coin and its spinoff shiba inu are also down by over 11 per cent in the last week, but show signs of stabilising in the last 24 hours.

The chart still looks all red with marginal signs of recovery.

The price of bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level since mid October following a sudden dip.

It is currently trading just below $56,000 but there is no clear sign that it has reached the bottom of this price fall. Some analysts are saying there is resistance at this level, though during periods of price discovery the market can be particularly volatile.

Other leading cryptocurrencies are also seeing heavy losses, with Ethereum (ether), Binance Coin, Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ada) all falling in price by between 5- 8 per cent on Monday.

Here’s what Simon Peters, an analyst at the online trading platform eToro, has to say about the latest market correction: “With bitcoin and other cryptoassets having reached fresh all-time highs, there was always likely to be a measure of profit-taking from investors which then translates into price weakness. Both BTC and ETH go from strength to strength, and the ups and downs of the market are a part of this story.”

After barely catching his breath from belting out his ambition to build Bitcoin City, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has said he will appear at one of the biggest cryptocurrency conferences on the calendar.

Bitcoin 2022 will take place in Miami next April, providing a platform for many of the leading figures within the crypto industry. Up to 35,00 people are expected to attend the four-day event, one year after President Bukele first announced that his country would be the first in the world to introduce bitcoin as a legal form of tender.

Cryptocurrency firm MoonPay is now valued at a staggering $3.4 billion after just announcing a $555 million funding round.

The Miami-based fintech firm has described itself as “similar to PayPal, but for crypto”, as its software allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency using traditional payment methods like bank transfer, credit and debit cards, and mobile apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

At just three years old, it is the latest company to benefit from a record-breaking year for cryptocurrency.

A restaurant in Canada is up 460 per cent on a bitcoin investment made last year after deciding to plough all of its profits into the cryptocurrency.

Tahinis, which specialises in Middle Eastern cuisine, adopts a ‘Bitcoin Standard’ strategy, which sees it operate in traditional fiat currency and put all its cash reserves into BTC. The strategy has so far “worked like a charm”, restaurant co-founder Aly Hamam, told Business Insider.

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, whose software firm is the largest corporate investor in bitcoin ahead of Tesla, tweeted: “Their story is inspirational.”

Australia’s financial services minister Jane Hume has warned finance leaders in the country that cryptocurrency is “not a fad”.

Speaking at the Australian Financial Review summit today, Hume said that government and industry should not ignore the crypto industry.

She said: “This is not a fad. We should tread cautiously, but not fearfully. Don’t be the person in 1995 who said the internet was just a place for geeks and criminals and would never become mainstream. And don’t be the person who argued that email was a passing fad.”

El Salvador has announced plans to build a new city in the shadow of a volcano, whose geothermal energy is used to mine bitcoin.

The aptly-named Bitcoin City will be financed by a bond offering taking place in 2022 entirely in BTC, President Nayib Bukele told a crowd at the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference over the weekend.

It comes just over two months after El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender.

You can read more about the news here.

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