Weekly crypto roundup: Bitcoin drops below $35,000 as global market selloff spreads to cryptocurrencies

In today’s edition of Bitmama’s weekly crypto news roundup, we cover interesting developments in the cryptocurrency industry. From Bitcoin  price dropping below $35,000 to El Salvador planning to offer crypto loans to small-scale entrepreneurs, to Botswana Government planning to have law regulating cryptocurrencies. Let’s get started.

Bitcoin drops below $35,000 as global market selloff spreads to cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin prices were trading at levels not seen since August on Saturday, as a selloff of perceived riskier assets spread to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has now shed more than 50% from its record high in November.  Bitcoin BTCUSD, -5.55% fell as low as $34,042.78 , a drop of 7.2%, before paring losses. Other digital assets also slid, with Ethereum ETHUSD, -9.29% down 12%. Solana and Cardano each fell at least 17%, 

The declines followed a volatile session on Wall Street on Friday that saw stocks swing from early gains to a selloff, as investors repeated this week’s pattern of selling rallies, pushing the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.72% deeper into correction territory.

“The pessimism continues to grow among investors and traders when it comes to riskier assets and this is chiefly influencing the price of equities and bitcoin,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a note to clients.

“The thing with bitcoin is that when it begins to fall, the price action drops like there is no tomorrow,” said Aslam, who added that January also tends to be a volatile month for the cryptocurrency on a historical basis.

El Salvador plans to offer crypto loans to small-scale entrepreneurs

Small companies in El Salvador will be able to receive funding to power their companies with cryptocurrency. The program is directed to include owners of small companies that still lack access to traditional finance tools. The loans will be offered through Conamype, the National Commission for Micro and Small Enterprises, which plans to offer these loans to their registered members.

The announcement was made by Paul Steiner, President of Conamype, and Mónica Taher, in charge of Tech & Economic International Affairs, during a Facebook stream on January 19. The organization will provide $10 million in funding to these companies using Acumen, a decentralized finance protocol based on Solana. The details of the deal are still being finalized, but volatility is to be minimized by virtue of Acumen giving the loans in dollar-pegged tokens, such as USDT and USDC, and borrowers repaying the loans in dollars.

Botswana Government Set to present Virtual Asset Bill to parliament to regulate cryptocurrencies

The Botswana government is set to present a “Virtual Asset Bill” to the country’s parliament, a move that could see it become one of the first countries in Africa to have laws regulating cryptocurrencies.

The planned presentation of the Virtual Asset Bill alongside other bills such as the Financial Intelligence Bill comes just over two months after the country’s central bank warned residents engaged in cryptocurrency trading that Botswana does not have a regulatory framework to govern such trading.

Yet, in the draft that was published in the Extraordinary Government Gazette on December 23, 2021,Botswana authorities suggest they are not only seeking to recognize crypto trade but plan to include “provisions for managing, mitigating and preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism” into the proposed law. The draft also seeks to prevent the proliferation risks that are associated with virtual assets and new emerging business practices and technologies.

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