after posting small earnings Last weekend, the price growth of crypto market leaders Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) slowed to nothing this week.
Bitcoin remains at the level it was this time last weekend, hovering around $28,820, a decline of about 5% from its April high of $30,979 established almost three weeks ago, but still 77% up from early January when the price was $16,615.
Ethereum added 4.2% to its value over the seven days and is currently changing hands at $1,885, a decline of around 7% from its 2023 high of $2,129 set in mid-April and 66% higher than on April 1. January, when the price was $1197.
TRON saw the highest growth this week and was the only cryptocurrency in the top thirty to grow 8% over the week to trade at $0.070261 at the start of the weekend.
All other leading cryptocurrencies remain virtually unchanged for the past seven days.
The lack of market growth this week is due, at least in part, to the Fed's decision to raise interest rates one another 25 basis points to combat inflation, the tenth consecutive rise since March of last year.
In macroeconomic terms, interest rate hikes tend to steer investors away from risky assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies as the cost of borrowing rises, making money more expensive and therefore , discourages the most speculative investments.
On Tuesday, the White House released a report reinforcing the idea of โโa Energy tax Mining of digital assets (LADY). It would apply to both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake cryptocurrency miners, despite their differing levels of energy consumption and, starting in 2024, assess a tax based on their electricity costs, starting at 10% and increasing each year until reaching 30%.
The proposal has already received strong rejection from the crypto industry, especially since it does not take into account the energy sources of mining companies. critics argue that the US government is passing a value judgment on crypto mining as a bad (or consumptive) activity, regardless of whether a miner uses energy from renewable sources or not.
Presidential candidates and crypto
A 2024 presidential hopeful for the Democratic party, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tweeted Tuesday that he believes there is a top-down approach "war against cryptocurrenciesโ which had something to do with the recent collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate and Signature.
Just a month ago, Kennedy published a lengthy tirade about Crypto Twitter criticizing the idea of โโthe Federal Reserve publishing a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency. However, Kennedy's thread was based on a misreading of an article about the Fed's new digital payments system "FedNow," which has nothing to do with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
In the red corner, meanwhile, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for president next year, once again came out against CBDCs at a Tuesday press conference titled "Government of laws, not awakened politics".
DeSantis issued a package of bills opposing "'Environment, Social and Governance" or ASG policies ESG policies assess factors beyond fiscal performance when evaluating a company or organization, such as environmental and community impact. One example is the White House DAME tax mentioned above.
DeSantis criticized the ESG approach as a "virtue sign" and tied up concept from a CBDC to ESG โwake-upโ practices by saying that CBDC proponents will โimpose ESG and social credit scores on that, and that will be a huge reduction in freedom for people in this country.โ His words echoed his previous comments that a US CBDC would be โBig Brother's digital dollar."
Finally, in adoption news, famed auction house Sotheby's on Monday launched a chain NFT Market for NFT secondary sales, allowing collectors to list and bid on artists' work.
Meanwhile, Argentinian cryptocurrency fans fear they may be witnessing the beginning of a cryptocurrency crackdown. On Friday the country's central bank forbidden payment platforms offer cryptocurrency trading services to their customers.
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