Cryptocurrency prices were climbing Monday with the parody cryptocurrency Shiba Inu coin soaring to a record over the weekend before losing ground.
Shiba Inu’s recent surge appears related to unconfirmed rumors that the coin would soon be listed on the popular stock trading app Robinhood (HOOD) – Get Robinhood Report, according to Fortune.
Robinhood Chief Executive Vlad Tenev told CNBC last week that its cryptocurrency wallet, which launches early next year, already counted more than one million customers on its waitlist.
Shiba Inu coins traded at a record $0.0000455 at 7:20am U.S. Eastern. That topped the previous record $0.0000388 from May 10, Coindesk reported, citing Messari data. It’s currently trading at $0.000039.
Some market observers said that the currency started falling after Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report CEO Elon Musk, famed for rattling crypto markets worldwide, tweeted on Sunday that he does not own the cryptocurrency.
“Don’t bet the farm on crypto,” Musk tweeted. “True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form.”
Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up 4.1% at $63,022, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum was up 2.2% to $4,137 and Dogecoin was up 1.7% to 26 cents.
Regulation remains a factor in the cryptocurrency world.
David Lesperance, managing partner of immigration and tax adviser Lesperance & Associates, said that “exchanges worldwide are racing to try and stay ahead of governments who have put a laser focus on the crypto space.”
This global regulation effort, he said, includes:
— “[The] U.S. Congress predictably looking at imposing standard financial industry ‘Know your Client’ and Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements
— “[The] UK warning about investor protection
— [The] EU cracking down on money laundering,” and,
— “China clearing the field for the introduction of the digital yuan.”
Lesperance said the crypto world of 2021 and 2022 will be fundamentally different than in the past and those who can adapt and comply will thrive, “while those who cannot or will not will be crushed.”
“Smart crypto enthusiasts are evaluating the exchange landscape along with the evaluating specific cryptocurrencies,” he said. “Even a good choice in the latter will be wasted if the former is not taken into account.”
Winston Ma, a former managing director and head of North America at China Investment Corp., said Chinese regulatory authorities are strengthening their supervision of NFTs, “as regulators cast a weary eye on this new virtual asset market as a potentially huge bubble.”
“They have spoken with Big Tech companies about this market, according to a tweet posted on Saturday by Colin Wu, an influential blogger,” said Ma, who is author of “The Digital War – How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace.”
By Monday, Ma said, Chinese technology giants Alibaba Group (BABA) – Get Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Sponsored ADR Report and Tencent Holdings have both renamed their nonfungible-token offerings “digital collectibles.”
The rebranding actions taken by Alibaba and Tencent reflect their efforts to steer away from any potential conflict with China’s digital economy regulators, Ma said.
The countries authorities have started a sweeping campaign to “prevent the irrational expansion of capital” and address “barbarous growth” in China’s technology sector, he said.
