Bitcoin and ethereum are back on track

Cryptocurrencies kicked off slowly last week, with both bitcoin and ethereum recovering somewhat from the sharp drops in the previous weeks. Bitcoin started the week above $ 35, but dropped to nearly $ 000 on Monday. However, it rebounded from this low on Monday ($ 33), reaching over $ 000 on Tuesday. Since then, the value of the cryptocurrency has been in the range of $ 37-000.

Meanwhile, ethereum was less stable this week, hitting lows below $ 2200 on Monday and climbing above $ 2600 on Wednesday. At the moment, it is around $ 2500- $ 2600.

The cryptocurrency lender starts accepting NFT collateral

Crypto Genesis said it intended to accept NFT as collateral for loans and derivative transactions. Genesis is one of the leading cryptocurrency institutional investment platforms. The company says it already has some NFT protection from its customers. The head of the firm, which deals with trading in derivatives on the platform, said he would take a "very conservative" approach to using technology against loans.

It's not uncommon for large financial firms to use collateral against loan repayments, but the introduction of NFTs in this regard is an important step towards validating a sector that has accelerated sharply over the past year. Genesis took out $ 50 billion in loans in the last three months of 2021, which shows the enormous potential scale for NFT as collateral.

Belgian politician will take a salary in bitcoin

Belgian MP Christophe De Beukelaer He said he would be changing his salary to bitcoin every month. The MP will use the Bit4You platform to convert his salary of € 5500 into BTC. De Beukelaer said he was following the example of the mayor of New York in deciding to convert his salary into cryptocurrencies. The politician says he hopes this step will help promote Brussels and Belgium as a European crypto hub.

De Beukelaer is the first European politician to say he wants to earn money from cryptocurrencies but follows New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez. De Beukelaer commented in a blog post on his website: "I am the first in Europe, but not in the world, to want to highlight cryptocurrencies through this approach."

The IMF continues its war of words with El Salvador

International Monetary Fund reported that the use of bitcoin by El Salvador as legal tender poses a threat to the stability of the country. The Central American country was the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as its official currency last September, and the IMF was a staunch critic of the movement, led by President Nayib Bukele.

The IMF said that there is a "high risk" of using BTC for "Financial stability, integrity and consumer protection". The organization called on El Salvador to narrow the scope of its project and remove its legal tender status. Bukele is rebelling - he continues to buy BTC for the country and recently bought 410 additional tokens as prices in the wider market have dropped.