Crypto Trends Weekly Jan. 8 – 14

Breaking crypto news from the last week (Jan. 8 – 14, 2022):

Jan. 8: As Turkey’s economy remains in turmoil, with inflation rising to 36%, its currency has lost 44% of its value against the US dollar since this time last year. Meantime, the use of stablecoins in Turkey has skyrocketed, and today, 28.96% of all trades with Tether (USDT) are paired against the Turkish lira.

Jan. 9: PayPal confirmed Friday that it’s currently researching a PayPal stablecoin, Bloomberg reports. Before, developer Steve Moser found code inside the PayPal app regarding PayPal Coin, a US dollar-backed stablecoin.

Meanwhile, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance, became the wealthiest crypto billionaire with an estimated net worth of $96 billion – and that’s without counting his personal crypto holdings.

Jan. 10: Art Dubai announced on Sunday the list of participating galleries at its 2022 edition, which will be its most extensive to date. The fair will occur at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, from 11-13 March 2022, with previews on 9 and 10 March. The upcoming event marks the debut of Art Dubai Digital, an innovative new digital art fair including NFTs, crypto, video art, and virtual reality.

Jan. 11: Despite a decline in the crypto markets, NFT marketplaces have made a tremendous surge in the previous month. According to data from Tradingplatforms.com, NFT global sales surpassed $4 billion in the last 30 days.

Jan. 12: Blockchain-based play-to-earn games are becoming one of the fastest-growing innovative sectors in the Middle East. They provide new models to help monetize time spent in games with crypto tokens, NFTs, and staking. Industry players believe that the gaming revenue will increase substantially soon.

Jan. 13: Pakistani government and its central bank have recommended banning cryptocurrency, arguing in a document submitted in a provincial court that allowing it would cause capital flight. Reuters reported that an official report recommends declaring all cryptocurrencies illegal, citing local media.

Jan. 14: Dogecoin soared 25% and briefly topped the $0.2 price range following Tesla’s announcement that it would begin accepting the meme coin. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, tweeted that the automaker would finally begin accepting DOGE, a move that the meme coin community had greatly anticipated.