Crypto Weekly – Mar. 29 3/29/2018 10:43 AM ET
Bitcoin has been falling for most of the week and is now near its “death cross,” a level much feared by technical analysts as a sign of bad things to come. Litecoin tanked after a much hyped payment processing startup abruptly ceased operations.
Market sentiment remained hurt at the start of the week amid concerns over Japanese regulatory action against crypto exchange Binance, which also announced plans to shift operations to Malta. Sentiment soured further during the week after Twitter’s ban on cryptocurrency-related ads came into force and Snapchat also followed suit. In some positive news, Ripple made a massive donation to meet classroom requests on a crowdfunding platform for public schools and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin joined hands with a payment start up to fund refugee relief.
Here is a collection of the main stories from the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain this week, so far.
Bitcoin Nears ‘Death Cross’, Litecoin Tanks
Bitcoin fell below $7,500 Thursday morning and was approaching its “death cross”, as markets prepare for a long weekend. A “death cross” occurs when the 50-day moving average moves below the 200-day moving average. The top cryptocurrency traded in a range between $7,850 to $8,950 from the start of the week till Wednesday.
Litecoin, the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization on CoinMarketCap, tumbled nearly 10 percent on Monday on the news that payment processor LitePay has ceased all operations. The incident prompted Litecoin creator Charles Lee to apologize to the cryptocurrency community.
Social Media Giants May Attract Lawsuit On Crypto Ad Ban
Twitter Inc. started banning cryptocurrency-related advertising from its website effective Tuesday. Following the news, the price of bitcoin fell below $8000 and other major cryptocurrencies were also on the decline. The social media giant’s new ad policy follows that of Google and Facebook in their efforts to crackdown scams to protect investors from fraud.
Further, Snap Inc., also banned such ads on its popular instant messaging app Snapchat . Meanwhile, all these ad bans prompted cryptocurrency and blockchain industry bodies in Russia, China and South Korea to form a Eurasian Blockchain Association that has announced that it is planning to sue the social media giants in a US court. Elsewhere, public discussion forum Reddit dropped Bitcoin as a payment option for its premium membership.
Big Crypto Exchanges Eying Europe After Asia Turns Hostile
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by 24-hour trading volume, announced plans to open business in Malta as it fell out of favor with the Japanese financial regulator for failing to get a license to operate in the country. And Bitfinex, which is the world’s fifth largest crypto exchange , is reportedly considering shifting its base from Hong Kong to Switzerland. The plan was first reported by the Swiss weekly newspaper Handelszeitung, citing Bitfinex head Jean Louis van der Velde.
Ripple Gives $29 Mln For Classroom Needs, Buterin Joins $1 Mln Refugee Relief
Cryptocurrency major Ripple played a genie to students and teachers across the US on Tuesday, as the company funded every single live classroom request on the crowdfunding platform for schools, DonorsChoose.org.
The San Francisco-based Ripple funded 35,000 classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org with a donation of $29 million in XRP, the non profit and the company both announced on their websites. And Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin joined hands with the payment startup OmiseGo to donate $1 million for refugee relief in Uganda. The donation was made in OMG tokens directly to refugees through GiveDirectly, a New York-based charity with a mission to “send money directly to the extreme poor.”
Coinbase May Buy Startup Earn.
com
Cyrptocurrency exchange Coinbase is in talks to buy Bitcoin social network startup Earn.com , reports said.
Under the proposed deal terms, Earn.com CEO Balaji Srinivasan is likely to join Coinbase. The purchase price is $30 million, according to blockchain-focused media outlet Coindesk.
Another report said the total value of cash, cryptocurrency, stock and earn-out in the deal would exceed $120 million.
Cboe Asks SEC To Allow Bitcoin ETFs
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., an exchange holding company, urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission not to stand in the way of Bitcoin exchange-traded-fund or ETFS coming to market, noting that they are similar to other commodity-based ETFs. In an open letter , Chris Concannon, president and COO of the Cboe, said, “Cboe encourages the Commission to approach Cryptocurrency ETPs holistically and from the same perspective that it has historically approached commodity-related ETPs.
Tradewind Unveils Digital Gold Trading Platform On Blockchain
Tradewind, a digital solutions provider for precious metal trading, launched a blockchain-powered gold trading and settlement platform which aims to make transactions quick and easy. The New York-based company founded in 2016 is backed by the stock exchange operator IEX, precious metals asset manager Sprott Inc. and one of the leading gold producers, Goldcorp Inc.
IRS Reminds Taxpayers To Report Cryptocurrency Transactions
As the last date for filing income tax returns approaches, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reminded taxpayers to also report income from virtual currencies while filing their returns. The IRS has warned tax payers of serious consequences for non filing .
As per the IRS guidelines for reporting digital asset gains, virtual currency, also known as digital currency, is treated as property for U.S. federal tax purposes.
Belarus’ New Accounting Standards For Cryptocurrency Effective
Belarus has officially introduced a new accounting standard related to cryptocurrencies.
The Ministry Of Finance’s ordinance No. 8 on digital economy development, which was dated December 21, 2017, came into force on March 28. The new accounting standard specifies the procedures for keeping accounting records of crypto transactions. Meanwhile in Chile, two leading crypto exchanges have asked the country’s banking industry body for clear regulations after the two had their corporate accounts closed by several banks.
Drug Lord Escobar’s Brother Claims Bitcoin Is U.S. Govt Scam
If the mystery linked to Bitcoin’s founder is not enough, late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brother has spiced it up further for those who care – he claims the top cryptocurrency was created by the U.S.
government. And he has launched an alternative for it – dietbitcoin . A hard fork of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the symbol DDX launched by Roberto Escobar is offered at a 96 percent discount – at only $2 versus its original price of $50 – in a pre-ICO round 1, the initial coin offering’s website said.
Current Prices
As of 9.39 am ET on Thursday, Bitcoin was down 14.05 percent for the week at $7,494.02, Ethereum was lower by 24.62 percent at $407.
05 and Litecoin was down by 26.86 percent at $119.81 on Coinbase.
by Jyotsna V RTTNews Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.
com.
