BTC, ETH dip amidst regulatory worries

All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are therefore not subject to protection.

With scores of crypto assets kicking off ’22 Q2 cloaked in crimson, there are some weekly gains within the Top 100 from which we can't peel away our eyes.

Over the past seven startling days, Zilliqa (ZIL) is up 315%. ZIL, 53rd-largest coin in terms of total market capitalization, gained 3% in the past day.

And, in an oddly mimicked price move, there stands the No. 77 coin, STEPN (GMT), also +315% over seven days.

Not to be overlooked in the altcoin mover/shaker stakes race is Waves (WAVES) which has gained 77% in the past week. The 32nd-largest coin is the native asset of the Waves blockchain, a customized token enabler.

Yesterday, WAVES reached above $61, an all-time high. Last April Fool's Day, and we are not kidding, WAVES was about $12.

Minutes after European Union lawmakers voted for a ban on anonymous crypto transactions, even miniscule ones, the price of Bitcoin quickly slid from $47,500 to $46,400.

BTC immediately snapped back to $46,700 and then embarked a steady, hours-long decline toward $44,000.

Over 24 hours, as of Friday at 8 a.m. (EST), BTC shed 4%, as did, in that same span, Ethereum. BTC was firmly above $45K as of 9:19 a.m. (EST).

On Monday, recall, the most gigantic digital currency briefly touched $48K.

The approved EU measure, which still has a circuitous legislative journey ahead of it, would require crypto exchanges to obtain and hold personal information from individuals making transactions using non-custodial crypto wallets (Decrypt).

WhaleStats is tracking a surge of inflows into Shiba Inu (SHIB) after its metaverse launched earlier this week.

"The biggest players in the crypto arena are stocking up on a popular meme coin," The Daily Hodl said.

Large ETH wallets piled into SHIB over the past day, making it the sixth-most acquired token among whales.

"How is making a random metaverse and selling fake land with Ethereum adding utility to their project?" tweeted Billy Markus, the outspoken Dogecoin co-creator who left the project before it got huge and who on Twitter goes by the name Shibetoshi Nakamoto, raining down sobering utterances aimed at keeping the industry in check. 

Markus notably opined that Dogecoin should reject its meme status and pivot to actually being a digital currency (ZyCrypto).

Meanwhile, new research from banking behemoth Citi predicts the metaverse could grow into a multi-trillion-dollar industry by 2030.

A new Netflix documentary about the strange and shady circumstances surrounding the demise of Gerald Cotten, Canada's mysterious “Crypto King,” has already struck a chord with a community still flabbergasted by the saga.

Cotten, the CEO of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, died in 2018. QuadrigaCX went bust soon thereafter. Some $215 million worth of customer funds were lost. Given the murky circumstances surrounding his death — complications from Crohn’s disease while on a honeymoon in India — and the enormous amount of money he controlled, Decrypt said, "it’s no surprise that conspiracies quickly sprang up."

The investigative flick is an engrossing watch, both for crypto novices as well as community veterans who may have even been impacted by the notorious episode, Cointelegraph said.

"It’s insane," one captivated watcher said on Twitter.

"What a crazy story," agreed another. "Dig up that grave!"