Crypto News: Here are the most popular stories from across the cryptosphere as featured on BeInCrypto this first week of the new year.

False Pi Listings

Reports that Huobi and XT.com were listing the Pi token sent its valuation soaring. However, the crypto community became skeptical of the listing, as there had been no official announcement from the Pi Network. Some even went as far as calling out Huobi for attempting to scam investors.

The Pi network team announced that they had not been involved with any purported listings. They warned that investors could sustain substantial losses by participating in unauthorized listings. According to the announcement, “Pi is currently in the Enclosed Network and is not approved by Pi Network for listing on any exchange or for trading.”

Trump tokens down

Non-fungible tokens recently launched by former US President Donald Trump have already fallen 80% below their peak value. The floor price of the collection dropped to 0.19 ETH from a peak of 0.84 ETH in less than two weeks.

In addition to the drop in floor prices, daily sales are also down 99% from their peak. This indicates a significant loss of momentum. CryptoSlam data showed one week’s sales volume had declined by 94% amounting to just over $386,170.

Schiff tries trolling Saylor

Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff said that 2023 would test the staying power of Bitcoin hodlers after Michael Saylor sold 700 BTC for tax relief. Schiff emphasized that Bitcoin had lost 65% of its value over the course of 2022. He created a poll asking how long Bitcoin would have to go before investors would sell. Defiantly, some 61% of respondents said they would hold until zero.

MicroStrategy had indeed sold 704 BTC for roughly $12 million but proceeded to repurchase 810 BTC a few days later. MicroStrategy founder Saylor admitted that selling Bitcoin introduces a capital loss that can offset the company’s capital gains tax.

Ripple’s top 5 crypto wins

Although its lawsuit with the SEC had stunted it in 2021, Ripple Labs had a more prosperous year in 2022. The company made several notable achievements in addition to making progress in its case with the SEC. BeInCrypto covered the top 5 crypto wins of Ripple and CEO Brad Garlinghouse over the past year.

In March last year, Ripple onboarded 4,000 NFT artists through its $250 million creators fund it launched the year prior. Later, the number of XRP tokens held across the company’s various wallets fell below 50 billion, exactly half the total outstanding supply of 100 billion tokens. In addition to dispelling concerns about over-centralization, Garlinghouse said it showed users were finding greater utility with the XRP Ledger.

Ripple also announced its intention to expand to Europe, through registration as a virtual asset service provider in Ireland. Garlinghouse emphasized that the SEC’s indictment had driven Ripple’s business development overseas, so it was now based primarily outside the US. Ripple also managed to secure important documents in its case with the SEC, which Garlinghouse expects to conclude in the first half of this year.

AI chatbots could populate the metaverse

The use of AI chatbots like ChatGPT has exploded in 2022, which offers intriguing solutions for populating the Metaverse. Within the shared digital spaces, AI chatbots offer users a world that feels more inhabited and organic than existing platforms.

The technology could also be used for customer service and onboarding new users to NFTs and DeFi services. AI-based chatbots could offer corporate giants the ability to staff their digital stores without actually requiring any personnel. However, without proper guardrails, chatbots could be yet another arm of surveillance capitalism.

This Week in NFT Sales

Following a noted dip on New Year’s, sales of non-fungible tokens have been on an upward trend this week. Daily sales doubled from $15 million on December 31 to $30 million on January 6. While the number of sales took a dip on January 4, they shot up again the following day. Bored Ape Yacht Club remains the highest-selling NFT collection, with a sales volume of $57 million last week. Source: Non-Fungible

Crypto Coin News

Several coins experienced notable gains this past week, as Solana led the pack with a 45% appreciation. Lido came in second with a 35% increase, while BitDAO, NEAR, and Ethereum classic all rose by roughly 20%. Source: BeInCrypto

Meanwhile, the past week’s biggest losers were Huobi and TRON, which fell 8% and 6%, respectively. Internet Computer and Hedera Hashgraph also fell 4% and 3%, respectively, while XRP dropped 0.69%.