Terra temporarily halts blockchain to prevent attacks
After Terra’s UST stablecoin lost its US dollar peg earlier this week, the firm’s crypto token LUNA crashed. After losing nearly 100% of its value over the past week, Terra validators announced that they would halt the blockchain. Given how dramatically the price of the LUNA has fallen, the blockchain network rapidly became prone to attacks. The blockchain resumed block production nearly one and a half hours after the halt.
Crypto prices today: Bitcoin jumps 9%, ETH rises 10%
Bitcoin is currently trading at $30,319.92, an 9.3% increase over the previous day. Ethereum jumped 10,7% over the last 24 hours to $2,074.65. Solana surged 32.5% to $51.6, while Cardano is trading higher by 24.5% at $0.569. Avalanche (AVAX) rose 45.65% to $34.6. The global crypto market cap stands at $1.30 trillion, a 16.25% increase over the previous day.
Global crypto regulation body likely in next year, says top official
Global market regulators are likely to launch a joint body within the next year t0 coordinate crypto rules. Ashley Alder, Chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), said the boom in digital currencies was one of the three main areas authorities are now focused on, along with COVID-19 and climate change.
Nomura offers its first Bitcoin derivatives
Japenese investment bank Nomura has begun offering Bitcoin over-the-counter derivatives to clients. This is the latest move by a traditional financial institution into the crypto industry. Nomura’s s clients can start trading Bitcoin futures and options in the market.
Ethereum gas prices surge
Ethereum gas prices more than doubled from Tuesday to Wednesday and were on track to double again on Thursday, as per data from blockchain explorer Etherscan. The increase in gas price is mainly due to transfers involving the addresses of centralized stablecoins, Tether, and USDC. Tether stablecoin transactions have accumulated the most in fees over the last 24 hours.
[Gas fees are the transaction fees that users pay to miners on a blockchain protocol to have their transaction included in the block.]
