Top 3 Cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency industry moves at neck-breaking speed. Project launches, corporate investment, regulatory moves, security breaches, and bankruptcy filings are just some of the latest crypto news today that drive the rise and fall of crypto prices.

For anyone observing the recent crypto bearish market, this article presents a roundup of the biggest cryptocurrency news in July. Admittedly, some of these developments have potentially long-term bearing on the future of the industry.

Voyager Digital Files for Bankruptcy

Voyager Digital is a cryptocurrency lending platform that offers users the option to earn interest in deposited crypto assets. Following a fallout in connection to unpaid loans from an insolvent creditor, Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy.

The filing revealed that Voyager had an estimated 100,000 creditors and assets worth around $1 billion to $10 billion. The company’s liabilities are also estimated to be worth around the same value, meaning there is a chance customers could recover the full value of their deposited assets.

In the meantime, Voyager Digital has blocked customer withdrawals as its bankruptcy proceedings develop. The platform lost around $600 million to the bad deal with 3AC.

Tesla Liquidates 75% of Bitcoin Position 

Back in February 2021, electric car maker Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin touting the cryptocurrency’s long-term potential. Fast forward to this month, Tesla revealed it had sold around 75% of its entire Bitcoin position to book approximately $950 million in the capital. The sale provides the company cash leeway following Covid-related constraints to Shanghai operations. 

Following news of Tesla’s Bitcoin sale, BTC’s price dropped around 5%, fading the recent upward trend. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has affirmed that the company remains open to buying Bitcoin in the future and still holds the remainder of its position.

Ethereum Devs Disclose September Merge Date

The long-awaited Ethereum switch to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model now has a tentative schedule. According to leading Ethereum developers, the merge of the Ethereum Proof-of-Work (PoW) with the PoS beacon chain will happen on September 19th.

Previous delays suggest that Ethereum investors are not to get too excited about the tentative date. However, the possibility of a final rollout of one upgrade that has been in the works for almost as long as most people started to learn about Ethereum has been one-factor driving positive market sentiment. The price of Ethereum ETH jumped by roughly 10% following news of the merge date.

Key Takeaways 

News of Voyager’s bankruptcy filings piles on growing misery for centralized crypto lenders. Ideally, more users are now resorting to using decentralized lenders, hurting the potential for the centralized space to stay around much longer.

Tesla’s exit of its Bitcoin position undermines the asset’s potential as a long-term investment in corporations. However, the story also demonstrates the cryptocurrency’s liquidity on a broader scale and paves the way for companies to allocate more short-term capital to the asset.

Finally, if and when Ethereum’s merge finally happens, industry observers will be keen to see and measure its impact on ETH and the broader market. The cryptocurrency industry matches on.