After a minor dip yesterday, the market is now back up above $110 Billion. Most cryptocurrencies are in green today, with small changes. Bitcoin continues to trade horizontally, between $3,400 to $3,500. Even Bitcoin Cash SV and EOS, which have been in free fall for the last few days are in green today.
In other news, Coinone Transfer, the payments business and a subsidiary of crypto exchange Coinone has launched Cross in Thailand and the Philippines. Cross is a mobile app that enables cross-border remittance across the two countries using Ripple’s technologies. Also, BitPay recently announced a new partnership with the OneGold precious metals and digital gold marketplace that will enable users of the OneGold platform to purchase gold and other precious metals with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
1) Partido Popular (PP), the ruling party in Spain, recently announced that it intends to introduce a draft bill on cryptocurrencies and blockchain regulations within the next few days. The announcement came during the opening ceremony of ISDE Blockchain and Law research center in Madrid. The purpose of the regulations is to provide some level of certainty to investors and to allow “everyone who wants it” to introduce their own coin, according to PP secretary Teodoro Egea. Egea also hinted at possible tax cuts for blockchain startups and companies that deploy decentralized technologies. (Read More)
2) Crypto.com, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payment platform recently hired ex-PayPal executive Tyson Hackwood as the new senior vice president and head of global merchant acquisition. Hackwood will help Crypto.com expand its services to consumers and further merchant adoption for point-of-sale (PoS) transactions. The cryptocurrency payments sector is expected to grow rapidly throughout 2019, and new service providers are vying to unseat crypto industry megaliths like BitPay and Coinbase. Hackwood was previously the head of PayPal’s Australian branch, and he also was the head of the Asia Pacific region for mobile and web payments offshoot Braintree. (Read More)
3) Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange announced last week that they’re launching their own blockchain called BNB Chain to power a decentralized exchange. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) made the announcement at a Forbes Asia event. The company has now confirmed that it will use a dBFT-based consensus mechanism. It is a proof-of-stake mechanism used by cryptocurrencies such as NEO, EOS, and Peercoin. (Read More)
