RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded lower on Wednesday, dropping 2.65 percent to $41,879 as of 8:00 a.m. Riyadh time.
Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,935.24, down 3.07 percent, according to data from Coindesk.
El Salvador postpones issuing Bitcoin-backed bond
Alejandro Zelaya, El Salvador’s finance minister, said on Tuesday that the country has postponed the issuance of a Bitcoin-backed bond it had planned for last week, while it waits for better market conditions.
Government officials had planned to launch the $1 billion bond between March 15 and 20, but the war between Russia and Ukraine and fluctuations in the cryptocurrency prompted authorities to reschedule the date.
Bitcoin has plummeted since hitting a record high of over $67,500 in early November, which may delay the launch until September.
NFT-startup Yuga Labs value at $4 billion
On Tuesday, Yuga Labs, the company behind the “Bored Ape Yacht Club” collection of non-fungible tokens, announced that it had raised $450 million from Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund a16z as part of a $4 billion funding round.
Participants in the latest round included metaverse gaming company Animoca, its subsidiary, The Sandbox, and cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
As cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rocketed to record prices last year, the hype has also spread to non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
DappRadar data shows that NFT sales reached $25 billion in 2021, up from just $94.9 million the year before.
