ETH, Bitcoin, PayPal Crypto, Record FX Volumes: Editor's Pick

In another rollercoaster of a week in the crypto world, here are the standout stories from the worlds of forex, fintech and crypto in our best of the week segment.

ETH Price Slid Roughly 20% in 24 Hours, but Signs of Recovery Are Showing

The week started with Ethereum (ETH) taking a little of the spotlight from Bitcoin. As of Monday, ETH had fallen nearly 20 percent over the last 24 hours. Mirroring moves by Bitcoin, ETH had actually fallen even further at one point earlier in the day but was showing some signs of recovery.

Was it expected? a number of analysts have been predicting that Ethereum’s high transaction fees and slow transaction speeds would catch up to the network, and the currency, eventually.

Read more on the ETH Crash here.

Cryptocurrency Market Loses $170 Billion in 24 Hours

As well as the ETH crash, Monday saw Bitcoin drop below $34,000 as the total cryptocurrency market cap reached $940 billion, which is down from $1.1 trillion on Sunday.

XRP, the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency dipped nearly 18% to reach $0.27.

Read more on Last weekend's crypto drop here.

Bitcoin Crash Liquidates 262,344 Traders

As Finance Magnates revealed on Monday, the weekend's crypto drop saw 262,344 BTC traders with long positions liquidated.

Approximately $1.94 billion worth of long Bitcoin positions were liquidated in the 24 hours on Sunday/Monday. Around $855 million worth of long positions got liquidated within just one hour at one point.

Read more on the Bitcoin liquidation here.

To Buy the Dip?

WIth crypto crashing, Finance Magnates asked the questions, is the big Bitcoin rally finally over? Or is this just another bump in the road?

We sought the opinions of the biggest names of crypto to help determine the state of the crypto market and whether or not it was a good time to buy.

Read more on whether to buy the dip here.

Forex Hub London Is Tough to Replace, Even after Brexit

In a Finance Magnates analysis, we looked at the impact Brexit has and will have upon London as a Financial hub.

With expert insights from Faizan Anees, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ThinkMarkets and Jon Light of Devexperts, we discussed whether or not London can maintain its dominance in the FX world.

Read more on the impact of Brexit on London's financial hub.

German Company Uses Stellar Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term to Issue $24 Million Bond

In a first, Vonovia, one of the leading housing companies in Germany, announced that it has issued €20 million ($24.3 million) worth of digital bonds on Stellar blockchain.

The newly launched three-year bond will use Stellar blockchain technology for the transfer of real estate rights.

Read more on the Vonovia Stellar Bond Issue here.

Condolences: On the Passing of Andrew Edwards, CEO of Saxo Capital Markets UK

It was with sadness that Finance Magnates reported the passing of Andrew Edwards, who served as the Chief Executive Officer at Saxo Capital Markets UK (SCML).

While there is so much that can be said about the passing of human life, Finance Magnates took a moment to highlight some of Mr Edwards’ professional accomplishments.

Read more on Andrew Edwards here.

Crypto Volume on PayPal Hits Record $242 Million

Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term giant PayPal set another record with its cryptocurrency transactions this week as $242 million in digital coins changed hands.

The latest record in daily volume broke the previously set record of $129 million just a week earlier.

Read more on the PayPal crypto record here.

NAGA Group Ends 2020 with Record €25.9 Million Sales

NAGA Group announced preliminary numbers for the previous year today and mentioned that the German-based company has recorded total sales of €25.9 million in 2020. NAGA Group also expects the recent growth to continue in 2021 as the company mentioned the sales guidance of €50 million to €52 million in 2021.

The company processed more than €40 billion in trading volume in Q4, a 33% jump compared to the previous quarter. Additionally, NAGA Group processed over 1.9 million transactions in the last quarter, 20% more than Q3 of 2020.

Read more on the NAGA results here.

Retail Investing Metrics Hit Records in Q4, DriveWealth Report Shows

As Finance Magnates reported this week, Q4 of 2020 hit new record highs in account openings, a number of trades and volume traded, as retail investors were still highly engaged, in spite of the continued Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data from US broker-dealer, DriveWealth, LLC, key Q4 findings show that retail investing finished the year strong, with total accounts up 275% compared to a year earlier, while funded accounts were up 277% over 2019. Taking a quarter-over-quarter perspective, total accounts and funded accounts were up 26% and 22%, in Q4 and Q3, respectively. November was the strongest month in the quarter, increasing 9% over October.

Read more on the Q4 Retail Investing metrics here.

Man Has to Figure Out Password to Unlock $240M Worth of Bitcoin

Lastly, we finish on the story of Stefan Thomas who has just two password attempts left before a hard drive containing 7,002 bitcoins lock his account and seize his fortune.

Stefan, who lives in San Francisco, earned his bitcoins as a reward for making a video explaining how Bitcoin works in 2011.

He wrote the password of his IronKey hard drive that holds the credential to his digital wallet on a piece of paper. However, he lost that piece of paper many years ago and since then made eight failed attempt to guess the password to no avail. If he guesses wrong two more times, he will never see the money.

Read more on Stefan Thomas' Bitcoin password dilemma here.