Affordable coin SHIBA INU(SHIB) has gained 53% over the past 24 hours, bringing the total market value to $5.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, after Elon Musk tweeted a picture of his Shiba Inu pet Floki on Sunday night.
Q3 was characterized by conversations around scalability and broader adoption. With bitcoin officially becoming legal tender in El Salvador, the Lightning Network found its way into headlines as the Bitcoin network sought to transact value cheaply without needing to wait hours to confirm a transaction. A decisive breakout above $50,000 could yield further upside toward the all-time high near $60,000, unless buyers start taking profits.
The growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) caused transaction fees on Ethereum to rise so much that new blockchains were able to scoop up some of its market demand. That said, Ethereum still performed well in spite of potential substitutes, given how intimately tied it is to DeFi and NFTs more broadly.
Gas price surges to a record high in Europe on supply concerns. Natural gas contracts hit new highs in Europe on Tuesday, as soaring prices continue to put pressure on the region’s energy sector ahead of the winter period.
November contracts at the Dutch TTF hub — a European benchmark for natural gas — were trading at around 118 euros per megawatt hour (MWH) just after midday in London. The front-month contract was up almost 19% on the day, setting a new record high, and has risen almost 400% since the start of the year.
In the U.K. — which has been hit particularly hard by the surging cost of wholesale natural gas — prices for November rose 14% to £2.79 per therm on Tuesday. Meanwhile, British wholesale gas for immediate delivery rose by 23% to £2.50 per therm.
Soaring wholesale prices have partially been caused by a surge in demand, particularly from Asia, as economies emerge from Covid-19 induced lockdowns. A cold European winter and spring also meant supplies had already been heavily depleted by the summer.
Meanwhile, falling domestic production, adverse U.S. weather conditions and essential maintenance works have created a tight gas market and made restocking gas supplies ahead of the coming winter difficult across the region.
Several British energy suppliers have collapsed amid the gas price crisis. September alone saw nine companies cease trading, according to reports.
In a normal year, between five and eight companies exit the U.K. market, according to U.K. Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng.
Speaking to “Street Signs Europe” on Tuesday, Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy — which recently absorbed more than half a million customers from collapsed competitor Avro — said many companies had failed to weather the crisis because they were “buying short and selling long.”
“Octopus was able to hedge its supplies,” he said. “Today we’ve got over 3 million [customers], so you really can hedge up to scale. I think those [failed] companies were hoping that if prices fell, they could scoop up customers with a bargain, if they rose then they’d be able to batten down the hatches and see through the crisis. This crisis is so great no one could weather it if they weren’t hedged.”
Rising gas prices aren’t a problem unique to Britain. In recent weeks, governments in Spain, Italy, Greece, and France have taken drastic actions to minimize its impact on consumers.
French lawmakers are pushing for the EU to become less dependent on natural gas from external markets. Most of the bloc’s supplies come from Russia and Norway.
However, Britain is particularly vulnerable to the current price crisis because gas is crucial to the U.K.’s energy supply. It plays a significant role in heating, industry and power generation, and more than 22 million households are connected to the country’s gas grid.
The largest single source of gas in the country is the U.K. Continental Shelf, which made up around 48% of total supply last year. However, the UCS is a mature source, meaning it must be supplemented with gas imported from international markets.
Bitcoin topped $50,000 Tuesday, for the first time since early September. Meme coin SHIBA INU has gained 53% over the past 24 hours, bringing the total market value to $5.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, after Elon Musk tweeted a picture of his Shiba Inu pet Floki on Sunday night.
Bitcoin’s accumulation addresses hit an all-time high of about 550,000 on Sept 29, after China announced its most recent crackdown on crypto activity on Sept. 24, Martin Gaspar, research analyst at CrossTower wrote in Monday notes.
“Bitcoin is potentially due for yet another parabolic rally in the not-so-distant future,” according to a daily newsletter of crypto exchange Kraken, citing a downward pattern in the +1 year HODL Wave similar to 2013, when bitcoin rose from $10 to $1000.
The +1 year HODL Wave refers to the percentage of coins in circulation that haven’t moved in more than one year.
“When the number of untouched coins rapidly falls as price climbs, a new bull market may be underway,” according to Kraken exchange.
Reporter