Celsius’ iffy move, evergrowing prices and the BTC Academy

News from the crypto world

Nearly all cryptocurrencies have been experiencing steep plunges since last weekend. Bitcoin fell to €22,445 on Monday and kept falling in the days after, with BTC now trading at €20,090. Similarly, Ethereum plummeted to what, at the time, was its lowest price in more than a year at €1,139 on Monday, but continued plunging and ETH is now trading at €1,061. 

Most major altcoins followed the same downtrend on Monday, with Cardano and XRP falling by more than 8%, trading at €0.44 and €0.30 respectively, with Polkadot seeing slightly higher losses at almost -10% with DOT priced at €6.49. Other altcoins posted even higher losses at the beginning of the week, like Solana with losses of -14.5% and trading at €25.9 and Dogecoin at €0.05, losing 15% of its value on Monday. 

What’s up with Celsius?

Celsius is a decentralised crypto lending platform that made headlines this week. Unfortunately, the platform took the spotlight in the crypto news for freezing operations for their users. In a blog post called “A Memo to the Celsius Community", the company announced a halt on users’ withdrawals, swaps and transfers - which was apparently legitimate based on a clause in their terms of use: 

“Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts.” 

“We have activated a clause in our Terms of Use that will allow for this process to take place.”

Celsius investors and users, who had been promised “military-grade security” and “next-level transparency” on the official website, were not happy about the decision, and the price of the company’s token, CEL, dropped by 70% just one hour after the news broke. 

Bitcoin Academy in Brooklyn gets funding from Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey

Both Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z have been vocal supporters of crypto in the past and are now collaborating to fund and launch the “Bitcoin Academy” for residents of the Marcy Houses project in Brooklyn, New York. 

The Bitcoin Academy will consist of free summer classes (in-person and online) open to the residents of the Marcy Houses where they can learn about the basics of financial education and more about Bitcoin. According to the project’s website, participants will also be given MiFi devices and smartphones if they need them. 

The pair has been criticised for the Bitcoin-focus of their project, as some feel it could make people in an already disadvantaged situation more vulnerable to crypto scams and frauds.

If you feel left out by Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z, here’s some great news: you can learn more about personal finance, investing, blockchain and cryptocurrencies - yes, Bitcoin included - in our Bitpanda Academy. 

Don’t miss this week’s video recap!

News from the stock market

Recent earnings reports:

• Oracle (ORCL): June 13

• Adobe (DBE): June 16

→ Find out about upcoming corporate actions on Bitpanda

Stock market performance

The week in the stock markets started in the red overall. Major European indices, including the CAC 40*, DAX* and FTSE 100*, reported losses between -1% and -2% on Monday. The week started on a gloomy note for the US stock market as well, with S&P 500* and NASDAQ 100* opening in the red. The week began less than impressively also for the Asian stock market, with NIKKEI* and the SSE posting losses of around -1% on Monday.

Prices are getting higher: here’s the latest US and EU data

Last Friday, data from the U.S. Labor Department set the mood for a bleak weekend. The department reported an 8.6% increase in the consumer-price index compared to May last year, the highest increase since 1981. The consumer-price index, or CPI, measures the changes over time of prices of goods and services - including food, energy costs and fuel - paid by urban consumers.

In the European Union, similar data tracking consumer price inflation can be found in the HICP, short for the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices. The latest data from April 2022 report an annual inflation change of 7.4% in the EU, with Estonia reporting the highest change at 19.1% and France and Malta seeing the lowest at 5.4%. The categories that saw the biggest changes are costs related to housing, electricity and gas, with a 15.9% increase and transportation costs, which were reported to be 13% higher than last year. The next update, which will include May’s data, is scheduled for June 17, 2022.

Check out the price developments of your favourite cryptocurrencies, stocks*, ETFs* and precious metals on our app for iOS and Android or on our web app. Check our Bitpanda Blog and follow our social media channels to always be up to speed. Don’t forget to subscribe to the official Bitpanda YouTube channel for our weekly recaps and video content. 

Disclaimer

This article does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an offer or invitation to purchase any digital assets.

This article is for general purposes of information only and no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of this article or opinions contained herein. *Bitpanda Stocks are contracts replicating an underlying stock or ETF. More information and the PRIIPs key information document (KID) are available at bitpanda.com.