With hopes of renewed demand from exchange-traded funds, bitcoin continued its upward trend and hit its highest price since May of last year.

As of 8:11 a.m. (7:31 p.m. IST) on Tuesday in New York, the greatest digital asset had risen as much as 11.5% to above $35,000 before reversing some of the gain and trading at $34,605. This brings its year-to-date recovery from the 2022 digital asset collapse to 108%.

Speculative enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency is being fueled by the potential approval of the first US spot Bitcoin ETFs in the upcoming weeks. BlackRock and Fidelity Investments are two asset managers competing to provide these kinds of products. Bulls in digital assets claim that the ETFs will increase the cryptocurrency’s ubiquity.

Grayscale Investments LLC has won its battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Monday, according to a US federal appeals court.

Due to concerns about fraud and market manipulation, the SEC has thus far opposed approving exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that make direct investments in Bitcoin. The court decision and a rush of applications from major investors seeking to launch spot funds fueled rumours that the agency might give in.

MicroStrategy, a Bitcoin holder, and trading platform Coinbase Global Inc. see increases of 7.7% and 8.9%, respectively. Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings, two miners, are each up about 14% so far in the morning session.

According to analyst John Todaro of Needham, “we believe the crypto sector is coming upon an inflection point that will lead, in any of our scenarios, to increasing volatility in crypto-linked stocks,” in a note.

A new survey by digital asset management company Bakkt has revealed that 50% of gig workers are comfortable with receiving part of their pay in cryptocurrency, while 38% said they might consider earning their entire paycheck in digital assets.

Bakkt Chief Product Officer Nicolas Cabrera commented on the survey results, which clearly showed that cryptocurrencies are attractive among gig workers, saying:

“While this group could benefit from a better understanding of how cryptocurrencies can be used, ride-hailing drivers, food delivery drivers and other gig workers are citing crypto as the next generation of currency and are attracted by the potential increase in the value of their pay.”

The study asked 1,018 gig workers from across the US during June and July 2022. The aim of these questions was to reveal the acceptance of cryptocurrencies, the sentiments and opinions of the participants towards payments through cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency Preferences
Among the 50% who said they would be willing to take part of their salary in cryptocurrency, freelancers (writers, developers, designers, etc.) have the highest willingness rate at 62%. Passengers (52%) and grocery shoppers (55%) follow.

Participants gave different answers to the question about the part of the salary paid in cryptocurrencies. 31% of gig workers said they would prefer 20% or less of their paycheck to be paid in cryptocurrency. 34% said they would be comfortable with 20-40%, while 21% said they would prefer to receive 40-60% of their income in cryptocurrencies.

Crypto appeal
The survey also explored why participants preferred crypto payments. Almost half of participants (49%) said the potential increase in salary value is the most compelling reason to get paid in cryptocurrency, despite the current bear market.

Another 26% said they preferred crypto payments because they were issued instantly. On the other hand, almost one in ten (11%) said they see cryptocurrencies as a long-term investment plan for retirement.

According to the numbers, more than half of gig workers said their income was sufficient to meet their living needs, as opposed to a “nice to have” income. Given how they perceive their gig work, their willingness to be paid in cryptocurrency indicates a significant level of acceptance among gig workers.

Crypto barriers
The most significant barrier against crypto payments appeared in education, at 48%. Only 33% of participants rated their knowledge of cryptocurrencies as above average or very high, while almost a quarter (26%) said they were more familiar with traditional investment tools.

Another significantly highly rated barrier emerged with 34% of participants reporting that they still had to pay bills in USD. Another 33% said cryptocurrencies are too volatile and they don’t want to risk having their payout cut.

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Cryptocurrency prices rose for a second day today, with Bitcoin trading above the $23,000 mark

Cryptocurrency prices rose for a second day today, with bitcoin trading above $23,000 and ether-related tokens leading gains, as optimism grows over a long-awaited software update to the Ethereum blockchain network.

The world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin rose more than 5% to $23,868. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization crossed the $1 trillion mark today as it rose more than 4% to $1.14 trillion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

On the other hand, Ether, a coin linked to the ethereum blockchain and the second largest cryptocurrency, gained nearly 7% to $1,714. Meanwhile, Dogecoin was trading more than 5% higher at $0.06 today, while Shiba Inu was also up more than 5% at $0.000015.

Ethereum’s transition from the current system of using miners to a more energy efficient system using staked coins is imminent. The transition to this so-called proof-of-stake system is expected in September.

This week, Ethereum developers signaled continued progress in testing the new system and are holding a series of events for potential stakers and other community members in the coming weeks. Ethereum Classic is up more than 21%.

Other cryptocurrencies also performed better today as XRP, Solana, BNB, Litecoin, Stellar, Chainlink, Apecoin, Avalanche, Polkadot, Tether, Polygon, Tron, Uniswap all traded with gains in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the broader crypto market continued to benefit as traders dialed back bets on a Federal Reserve hike after a grim economic reading fueled fears of a US recession.

US banking regulators have ordered crypto firm Voyager Digital to cease and desist from “false and misleading” claims that its customers’ funds were protected by the government, Reuters reported. Voyager was one of several crypto firms that struggled with the extensive turbulence in the crypto market.

Several crypto companies have filed for bankruptcy or been forced to seek emergency capital infusions. Rising interest rates and high-profile crashes like crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital have hit digital tokens this year. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin rose sharply in 2020 and 2021, but have fallen sharply this year.

Cryptocurrencies have proven to be great investments over the years despite many ups and downs in the market. It’s also true that saturated tokens can wipe out your savings overnight. How do you find cryptocurrencies that are really worth investing in?

This article examines the top eight cryptocurrencies that are poised to explode in 2022. Some of them are new to the market, while some are currently in a downtrend. Emerging or established, they are all undervalued right now. It’s time to collect them!

Battle Infinity (IBAT) — The best cryptocurrency to invest in 2022

Lucky Block (LBlock) — The best cryptocurrency with earning potential

Decentraland (MANA) — The best metaversion token

Polygon (MATIC) — The most popular Ethereum scaling solution

Chainlink (LINK) — Connecting the blockchain and the real world

Earthling (ETLG) — Top cryptocurrency with a social mission

Ethereum (ETH) — The most undervalued cryptocurrency

Bitcoin (BTC) — The ultimate digital store of value

Battle Infinity tops our list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy in 2022. As the world’s first NFT-based fantasy sports game integrated with the metaverse, Battle Infinity presents some excellent value propositions. It allows you to build your own battle team and earn while showing off your gaming skills in the metaverse.

Battle Infinity is launching six products. The first is Battle Swap, a DEX that acts as a bank in the Battle Infinity ecosystem. With Battle Swap, you can buy IBAT tokens directly and exchange your rewards for another specified currency. As the DEX is integrated with the game marketplace, game store and arena, transactions on the platform are fast and smooth. Game assets in Battle Infinity are graded by rarity. You can trade them on the Battle Market, an NFT marketplace that lists assets like characters and weapons tokenized using BEP721 smart contracts.