The cryptocurrency market continues its new year slump.
On Monday morning, the price of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell below $ 40,000 for the first time since september, falling to $ 39,771, according to Coin Metrics. It is currently trading at around $ 41,530.
Ether, the second largest, also fell, going below $ 3,000 to $ 2,979. It is currently trading at around $ 3,037.
After the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting were released on Wednesday, stating that begins to reduce your balance, Mark again his support for monetary policy and potentially raising interest rates, riskier assets like cryptocurrency took a hit and have fallen since.
Along with the price movement, here are five big things that happened in the cryptocurrency space last week.
1. Mozilla Foundation criticized after saying it would accept cryptocurrency donations
On Thursday, the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the Firefox browser, announced its decision to "pause" your previous decision of accept donations in cryptocurrency.
The announcement came later reaction received by Jamie Zawinski, who co-founded Mozilla, and others online regarding the possible environmental impact of cryptocurrencies. "Everyone involved in the project should be terribly embarrassed by this decision to partner with Ponzi scammers who incinerate the planet," Zawinski tweeted.
Mozilla is not alone. Other companies, including Kickstarter, Discord and Ubisoft, also halted plans to introduce cryptocurrencies and digital assets due to customer feedback.
2. Scammers stole $ 14 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, says Chainalysis
3. GameStop to launch an NFT market
GameStop hired more than 20 people to develop a market for video game-inspired NFTs, such as accessories and weapons for avatars, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Additionally, the retailer seeks to establish cryptocurrency partnerships to "create games and items for the market," a a source told CNBC.
Following the news, GameStop shares rose on friday.
4. PayPal can launch its own stablecoin
On Friday, PayPal confirmed to Bloomberg you are exploring creating your own stable currency, potentially called PayPal Coin.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are intended to be pegged to a reserve asset, such as gold or the US dollar. In turn, they are supposed to be less volatile than other cryptocurrencies.
"We are exploring a stablecoin. Whenever we look to move forward, we will work closely with the relevant regulators," Josรฉ Fernรกndez da Ponte, PayPal's senior vice president of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies, told Bloomberg.
5. Signal CEO writes about Web3
Matthew Rosenfeld, CEO of encrypted messaging app Signal, criticized Web3 in a blog post on Friday, which then attracted attention over the weekend. Web3 is a decentralized iteration of the internet based on blockchain technology.
In the post, Rosenfeld, often known under the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike, assessed the status of Web3. At one point, he criticized NFTs' reliance on markets like OpenSea, sparking a lot of discussion on Twitter.
"If your NFT is removed from OpenSea, it also disappears from your wallet," Rosenfeld wrote. "It doesn't matter functionally that my NFT is indelibly on the blockchain somewhere", because the wallet uses OpenSea to display the NFTs.
Many, like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who has been a open critic of Web3, also shared the post online.
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