One day things seem to be looking up for Bitcoin, only for the markets to make a U-turn and leave investors watching helplessly as the value of their cryptocurrency plummets. That has been more or less the story of Bitcoin since the start of July 2022.
The value of the market’s biggest digital asset has seen extreme highs and lows within the space of a few months. The uncertainty surrounding the future of cryptocurrency has resulted in a mad rush to offload as much of it as investors can. This has seen the value of Bitcoin and other digital currencies fall to their lowest levels in years.
Many up-and-coming digital companies have been forced to declare bankruptcy and seek the protection of the authorities from creditors demanding their money back. The situation has been made worse by a sharp increase in hacker activities, with cybercriminals targeting various crypto exchanges and making off with billions worth of digital assets.
Ether Stands Strong While Bitcoin Drops
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Ethereum has been holding steady while the value of Bitcoin has continued to fall. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to below $23,788 after a brief surge in prices a couple of days ago.
A pattern that had become common since the beginning of the Crypto crash was that the movement of Bitcoin served as an indicator of how the rest of the market would behave. However, now it seems that ETH is the one remaining strong while Bitcoin suffers.
ETH has had a slight increase in value, with the coin trading at as high as $1,900. Analysts have even suggested that there is a chance that in the next 12 months ETH could exceed the cap set by Bitcoin. This is mainly because the Ethereum blockchain now uses a proof-of-stake mechanism that will reduce the production of token coins.
Singapore-based Crypto Lender Hodlnaut Applies for Creditor Protection
Investors in Singapore are also feeling the pinch caused by the dramatic rise and fall of Bitcoin and other digital assets. One company, in particular, Hodlnaut, a crypto lender, was forced to declare bankruptcy last week.
As if that was not bad enough, it has been confirmed that Hodlnaut is seeking protection from its endless stream of creditors. This means that thousands of investors are now at risk of never seeing their money again.
According to the official Hodlnaut website, the company applied for credit protection on 13 August. If granted, the company will be temporarily allowed safety from any legal claims. It is hoped that this will give the struggling company some time to form a strategy on how best to recover without having to liquidate investors’ assets.
Hackers Have Cost the Crypto Industry More Than $1.9 Billion in 2022 Alone
As if the crypto industry did not have enough on its plate already, hackers have been relentlessly targeting the crypto market since the start of the year. To date, they have managed to walk away with more than $1.9 billion of investors’ money.
The hacking of many popular crypto platforms, such as Nomad and Solana, has caused a lot of concern among investors. Hacker activity has increased by up to 60 % over the last six months. With no evidence that these hackers will slow down any time soon, the crypto industry has been scrambling to find better ways of securing its platforms.
Most of these hacks seem to be the work of groups that are affiliated with North Korea, with the bulk of their activity focusing on US-based companies.
While there has been an increase in hacking, it seems that scammers are now fewer than before. Whether this is a sign of the increase in awareness by investors or simply a reflection of the downturn in the crypto industry is unclear. The only clear thing is that hackers are causing the entire industry a huge headache.
Final Thought
Since the onset of the crypto crash, it has been an endless succession of bad news from the digital market. Bankruptcy and hacking seem to be the order of the day, and as yet, there is no sign of the situation improving any time soon.
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