What happened last September in the cryptocurrency world? (2021)

There was powerful news last month (good and bad) for BitcoinBitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. It was created in 2009, by an anonymous founder or group of founders... More and cryptocurrencies. Regulations for cryptocurrencies are booming worldwide, but the market never gives up. Let’s check this September 2021 in the cryptocurrencyA digital currency running on a blockchain and built with cryptography. Contrary to central-bank issued currency, cryptocurrency issuance rules are... world!

On the markets

• Bitcoin price decreased by over 7% in the last month [CoinMarketCap]. That’s probably due to the bad news from China. However, the institutional investments on BTCAn abbreviation for Bitcoin. surpass $65 million, including 700 BTC by El Salvador government. Besides, it’s been calculated that over 80% of the total Bitcoin supply is owned by long-term hodlers.
  
• Evergrande, China’s second-largest property developer, is on the brink of bankruptcy with over $300 billion in liabilities. It already missed two payment deadlines, and it’s only 30 days far from default. As a result, markets worldwide (including cryptocurrencies) have been dragged into bearish territory.

For now, the Chinese government decided to inject over $16 billion into the banking system to prevent further global damages. The total market capitalization for cryptocurrencies decreased by over 8% in September.

• Despite the bad news, some altcoins managed to reach new All-Time-Highs (ATHs). Avalanche (AVAX) hit a new ATH with over $70 per coin (+150% in the last month), while Cosmos (ATOM) hit $38.7 per coin, with an increase of over 100% in the last month.

Cardano (ADA) reached an ATH of $3.10 per coin at the beginning of the month. On September 12, the update “Alonzo” finally introduced real smart contract capabilities on this network.

• Ripple has been busy: it launched a $250 fund for NFT projects and partnered with the central bank in Bhutan. They’re not planning on settling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) either. Despite the efforts, XRP decreased by 25% last month.
  
• Axie Infinity already has over $2 billion in all-time sales. Now, according to DappRadar, it’s the biggest contributor to the NFT economy. Its native token (AXS) was dragged into the bearish market last month, though. But it managed to end with an increase of over 8%.  

Regulations on cryptocurrencies

• The Bitcoin Law finally came into force last September 7 in El Salvador. It was received with mixed reactions. Some protesters have taken to the streets in the country, and some Bitcoin ATMs were burned. Nevertheless, the government is going on with home training to use BTC and declared that foreign crypto investors will be exempt from taxes.

• Ukraine and Cuba legally recognized the Bitcoin payments. BTC is still not legal tender in there, but now it’s protected by law. Meanwhile, Laos finally authorized Bitcoin trading and mining after three years of prohibition. Countries like Panama, Colombia, Chile, and Paraguay are preparing their own regulations for cryptocurrencies. Dubai exempted cryptocurrencies from taxes in its free zone.
  
• The U.S. SEC is investigating the decentralized marketplace Uniswap. This doesn’t imply necessarily an accusation, but the users aren’t satisfied with it. Beyond these borders, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) established that national exchanges and ATMs should ask for identifications for every crypto transactionA cryptocurrency transaction is an entry on the blockchain ledger, noting sender, receiver and number of coins transacted. surpassing 1,000 francs (around $1,074).
  
• Iran closed over 5,000 bitcoin mining farms for unauthorized operations. In South Korea, over 60 cryptocurrency exchanges closed for the same reason last month. For its part, the central bank in Russia issued a guide to prohibit banks and other regulated financial institutions from allowing crypto-related transfers.
  
• China applied a full ban on cryptocurrencies. According to the announcement, virtual currencies and related activities (such as trading, mining, or services) are officially illegal inside the country. The government is seizing thousands of mining machines and blocking cryptocurrency sites on the Internet. However, there are at least 133 BTC nodes still online inside the territory.

Hacks and scams

• Stefan Qin, the mastermind behind the scam Virgil Capital, was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Virgil Capital used to be a fake investment fund with cryptocurrencies. It defrauded over 100 investors since 2016 and snatched around $90 million with fraudulent promises.

• The U.S. government is planning to sanction the companies that pay ransoms in ransomware attacks. Last May, the Colonial Pipeline suffered a high-profile ransomware attack that stopped the gas supply for a while. Since then, this malware is considered terrorism by the government.
  
• Bitcoin.org, a major reference site for Bitcoin, was temporarily hacked. A pop-up appeared on the webpage offering a fake giveaway for several hours. Apparently, the hacker got around $17,600 with this trick. The other archives on the web (like BTC nodes for download) weren’t compromised.
  
• Another fake giveaway is being distributedA distributed system is made of components that are running on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions... by email on behalf of Elon Musk. The scammers deceive the victims to think they’re “donating” to others, and others are donating to them. Likewise, a fake walletA crypto wallet is a user-friendly software or hardware used to manage private keys. There are software wallets for desktop... extension on Firefox dubbed Safepal allowed the robbery of cryptocurrencies. At least, now it’s out of service.
  
• The hacks on DeFi platforms weren’t absent this month either. The victims in September were Vee Finance (+$30 million), pNetwork (+$13 million), Zabu Finance (+$3.2 million), SushiSwap (+$3 million), and NowSwap (+$1 million).

Other news

• Twitter integrated Bitcoin on its “Tips” feature. This way, anyone with a personal account inside this social media could enable tips with BTC on their profile. For now, the functionality is only available on iOS for the United States and El Salvador. It’ll be ready soon for Android and other countries.

• Green Bitcoin mining is becoming more and more popular. The company Bitfarms will install around 3,000 machines to mine with hydroelectric energy in Paraguay. The firm Stronghold Digital Mining is using discarded coal in Pennsylvania (USA), and the government of Florida is luring miners with nuclear energy. Besides, El Salvador already started to mine BTC with geothermal energy.
  
• Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, ex-development leader of Monero (XMR), was released by the U.S. court. Last month, he was arrested in this country, since he was being requested by the justice of South Africa, where he’s accused of fraud. Now, he’s planning to come back there and face the trial.
  
• A statue in honor of Satoshi NakamotoThe inventor of Bitcoin, which might be one person or a group of people who released the original Bitcoin whitepaper..., the mysterious Bitcoin creator, was erected in Budapest, Hungary. The public still doesn’t know who they were, so, the statue shows a golden human figure without a particular face. It’s designed to reflect the spectators, alluding to one famous phrase by Nakamoto: “We are all Satoshi”.
  

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