[Bitcoin Now] Approaching All-Time High... Impact of Rising Coin Donations

Surpassing 65 Million Won in the Morning... Approaching an All-Time High
Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, Boosts Bitcoin with Donation News

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin has surpassed 65 million KRW, approaching an all-time high. The news that Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, will donate auction proceeds in Bitcoin appears to have acted as a positive factor. In particular, interest in the NFT-based virtual asset market is growing as he participated in the auction using a non-fungible token (NFT).

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, at 7:03 a.m. on the 11th, Bitcoin recorded 65.5 million KRW, up about 4% compared to the previous day. This is close to the all-time high of 65.85 million KRW recorded on the 20th of last month. It then slightly declined, recording about 63.9 million KRW as of 3:10 p.m.

The news that Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, will donate the proceeds from selling his first tweet in Bitcoin seems to have had a positive impact on the market. According to the U.S. economic media CNBC on the 9th (local time), CEO Dorsey stated, "After the auction ends on the 21st, I will convert the auction proceeds of 2.5 million USD (about 2.839 billion KRW) into Bitcoin and donate it." The donation target is known to be GiveDirectly, a nonprofit charity mainly active in Africa and other regions.

Meanwhile, the NFT used by CEO Dorsey in the auction also attracted attention. NFTs are cryptocurrencies based on Ethereum that encrypt assets and record them. Unlike Bitcoin, NFTs are not interoperable with other cryptocurrencies and can only be used on specific platforms. Additionally, each NFT is valued very differently. Due to these characteristics, NFTs have recently been used to store unique values in art pieces, sports memorabilia, and real estate markets. Because blockchain technology records transaction history and ownership, proof of ownership is possible even without physically holding the item.

Earlier, on the 3rd, Grimes, wife of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, sold 10 digital paintings named ‘War Nymph’ as NFTs for 5.8 million USD. The NBA memorabilia sales platform ‘NBA Top Shot’ is also actively utilizing NFTs. According to DappRadar, a provider of decentralized application (Dapp) information, NBA Top Shot had 55,158 users and a transaction volume of about 11 million USD on the 10th alone.

Meanwhile, former Microsoft (MS) CEO Bill Gates criticized Bitcoin for its negative environmental impact. According to The New York Times (NYT) on the 9th, Gates said, “Bitcoin consumes too much electricity per transaction,” and “It does not help the environment at all.” Prominent Bitcoin skeptic Professor Nouriel Roubini of New York University also mentioned on the 10th of last month that “If a carbon tax is applied to Bitcoin, which harms the environment, its value is effectively negative.” On the 11th of last month, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK pointed out that the annual electricity consumption used for cryptocurrency mining exceeds that of Argentina’s annual electricity consumption.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.