January 2021 was an eventful month not just in crypto but stocks as well. Since more people work virtually, they have more time to explore digital currencies. Remember, it was the first pandemic January we’ve entered since cryptocurrencies were created so many people are winging it. But from what we’ve seen so far, it may rain gains all year. Here’s how January went:
Bitcoin Magic
Even though Bitcoin started its latest bull run last year, things took an amazing turn last month. Bitcoin came with it’s A-game in January, giving the crypto world a taste of what’s to come. On the 8th of January, BTC hit a new all-time high of $41,564 (approximately ₦20 million). It has since struggled to go back up to that point but analysts are hopeful that it will. In fact, the price went back up to $38,000 on the 30th when billionaire Elon Musk added “#Bitcoin” to his Twitter bio.
New ATH for ETH
Ethereum saw Bitcoin moving and refused to get left behind. As BTC approached $41,000, ETH also made its way to a new All-Time high of $1471. This wasn’t surprising since Ethereum started pumping last year after Ethereum 2.0 was announced. But it’s still awesome to see ETH move from stagnation to new milestones.
RIP to Ripple?
When other coins started moving to new All-Time highs, people waited patiently for Ripple to join the trend. But it was not to be because the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) slammed Ripple with a lawsuit. Basically, the gist of the matter is that Ripple has always claimed that XRP is a currency. But the SEC maintains that XRP is a security. So now they have to battle it out in court. Large trusts like Grayscale started selling off their XRP, driving the price from above ₦300 to less than ₦120.
Tethered Banking
The office of the US Comptroller of the currency gave the green light for banks to use digital technologies including stablecoins to carry out payments. This might not be the adoption the world was gunning for but it’s a huge step in the right direction. Banks adopting stablecoins brings central banks one step closer to accepting digital currencies as real usable currencies. This could also shed a light on regulations that make it easy to use these currencies.