The past week was a positive one for the crypto market. Exactly seven days ago (February 24, 2022), Bitcoin set a hard rise from €31,000, exceeding €40,000 last night. The rest of the market rose just as fast, bringing the total market capitalization back above $2 trillion (€1.8 trillion).

Besides the price action, there was lots of other positive news for cryptocurrencies. The EU has decided not to ban PoW crypto (including Bitcoin). Also, the U.S. state of Colorado will accept crypto for tax purposes. And from Ukraine came the heartwarming news that approximately €46 million has been donated in the form of cryptocurrencies.

Below you will find the weekly crypto news summary in detail:

Bitcoin (BTC) up with 27%

Bitcoin has risen at an unprecedented rate of about 27% in seven days. As mentioned earlier, BTC rose from €31,000 to €40,000 over the past week. It did this in two stages. At the beginning of the week, the number one cryptocurrency peaked at €35,500, after which it consolidated to €33,500. On February 28, it started another rise, peaking at €40,500 on March 3.

The rest of the cryptocurrencies also rose hard, but it was noticeable that Bitcoin was now really taking the lead. Normally, we see that when Bitcoin rises, other coins rise even harder and when Bitcoin falls, other coins fall even harder. This time, however, Bitcoin was one of the hardest risers.

Another thing that stands out is that crypto seems to be decoupling from the stock markets. For a while, we saw that crypto and stocks showed the same price action. When equities rose, crypto also rose and vice versa.

The crypto market has recovered quite a lot already, after the recent crash due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. But the stock markets don't seem to be picking up yet.

There are all sorts of theories as to why crypto is outperforming the stock markets. An example is that Russia is now massively buying crypto to avoid sanctions, but none of these theories have been confirmed.

Europe embraces Proof-of-Work

Recently, news emerged that the European Parliament wanted to ban Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies. Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that maintain their network through "mining." Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), among others, fall under the PoW cryptocurrency umbrella, so any ban would be very bad news.

A vote on this was to be held on February 28, but the vote was postponed with good news to come. The specific text regarding the ban was removed from the proposal, so Proof-of-Work and Bitcoin will not be banned in Europe.

Colorado accepts crypto for taxes

Another bit of extra utility value is being added to crypto by Colorado: The US state will soon allow its citizens to pay taxes with crypto.

"This is a logical step on the road to forming a digital state," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis.

Other U.S. states also joined the crypto revolution in the past year. For example, New York and Miami launched their own cryptocurrencies, NYCCoin and MiamiCoin. These two coins both fall under CityCoins, a project on the Stacks (STX) blockchain.

The mayors of these two cities have even already received their first salaries in crypto, symbolizing their belief in the emerging technology.

Ukraine receives €46 million in crypto donations

Although the situation in Ukraine is heartbreaking, on the other hand, it is heartwarming to see what kind of initiatives are being taken to support the country. One such initiative is the massive donation of cryptocurrencies to Ukraine. Since the outbreak of the war €46 million in crypto has already been donated.

In times like these, it shows how convenient the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies is. Normally funds would have to be set up around the world in order to be able to donate, but Ukraine has now simply posted a tweet with several crypto addresses where people can donate.

The largest donation came from Gavin Wood, the founder of Polkadot and co-founder of Ethereum. He donated €4.7 million in the form of DOT.