Crypto Recap Feb 12: Constructive Conditions Amid Drop in Global Volumes

Top Crypto Headlines

* Headlines below — except HOT! — are listed in chronological order. Make sure to follow us on Twitter at @CoinLive_IO and share the report, help us spread the word. We are launching the website this week!

• HOT! Coinbase Implements Paypal-Like Functionality for Top Cryptos
• HOT! IMF’s Lagarde Says Cryptocurrency Regulation Is ‘Inevitable’
• HOT! Nano Creator Say No Issue with Nano
• Bitcoin’s Third Largest Mining Pool ViaBTC Launches ETC
• Ubiq Core Developers Discuss Exciting Updates in Community Meeting
• Vechain Partners with 188 Business Allianz Association
• Aragon Labs Is Born — An Approach to Experimental R&D
• IOTA Releases Ledger Nano S Development Report
• Po.et Launches “Frost”, an Open API for Publishers
• NEO to Airdrop ONT to Their Community
• Does the ERC20 Token Standard Have a Vulnerability?
• Two Researchers Have Found out How to Integrate AMPs into Lightning
• The Enigma Marketplace Is Getting Launched
• ICON Announces New Project with Smilegate Stove
• Suspect Questioned by Japanese Police Over Coincheck Heist
• Ripple Signs Deal with UAE Exchange
• Japan’s SBI Group Begins Mining Bitcoin Cash
• Abu Dhabi Works on Regulation of ICOs and Cryptocurrencies
• European Regulators Release an Official Warning on Cryptocurrencies
• Major American Universities to Offer Courses on Cryptos and Blockchain
• Europol Study Shows Criminals Laundering Over $5b Through Cryptos

Market Summary

In percentage terms, the last 24h of trading saw relatively low volatility by crypto asset standards. So far, the reduction in volatility has played in favour of top cryptos by market cap, as Bitcoin finds further acceptance ahead of a solid wall of offers into the $9k vicinity, while Ethereum follows a very similar trajectory, gaining ground towards $900. Meanwhile, after weeks of confusion, USDT/USD has found stability again, anchored around parity, a positive development for the overall market sentiment.

The total market capitalization stands around $430 billion, with global volumes in major exchanges lower than average. In the last 24h, Bithumb and Binance saw volumes down by 5 ($1.5 bill) and 25% ($1.2 bill) respectively, same applies for OKEX and Huobi, over 10% lower (circa $0.8 bill), while Bitfinex volumes were largely unchanged around $1 billion. To underlying reason for the global decrease in volumes can be found in the cautious stance by market participants in anticipation of further regulatory measures being taken across the globe. Large pools of capital remain on the sidelines until more clarification is obtained over new regulatory oversights in key regions such as the United States or in Europe.

Policy-makers in France and Germany are urging nations to engage in discussions in order to further curb regulations ahead of the G20 Summit. Enforcing a more comprehensible regulatory framework in crypto policies has been at the top of the agenda for the most powerful nations in Europe for quite some time. That said, what will certainly represent a major challenge is a coordination among different nations. We have also seen the International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde argue that regulation on cryptocurrencies is inevitable. Meanwhile, in a recently published official joint statement, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for securities, banking and insurance and pensions voiced their concerns on the risks involved in cryptocurrencies.

Last but not least, while the general public perception is that US regulators at the helm of the CFTC and SEC are supportive of the blockchain technology, there are some significant risks that many ICOs may be considered securities, which makes a large number of existing Alts potentially in limbo should new legislation were to be applied retroactively. From an extract of a video put together by a popular Youtuber (Crypto Investor), he adds: “It was mentioned many times at the hearing that exchanges weren’t adequately regulated due to state-specific legislation and the idea that money transmitter licenses weren’t designed for such secondary market trading.”

Aside from regulatory concerns, there were motives to be bullish on the space as we learned a number of positive developments. Coinbase, one of the biggest crypto exchanges, launched a payment functionality very similar to paypal, which allows merchants to accept payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. With regards to the progress of Bitcoin’s lightning network, worth mentioning are the efforts by Olaoluwa Osuntokun and Conner Fromknecht, who are trying to solve the scalability issues by putting an Atomic Multi-Path on top of the Bitcoin lightning network; this will help a sender to “atomically split a payment flow amongst several individual payment flows”.

On the Nano hacking fiasco, new developments came to the surface on that front. Tony Arcieri, an independent security researcher, tweeted out that the money was stolen because “the checks for whether you had a sufficient balance to withdraw were only implemented as client-side JavaScript.” Nanex creator, “jaydubs”, released a Reddit post to talk about the recent “nano-bitgrail” saga. Meanwhile, in what became the largest hacking in history just a few weeks back, citing sources familiar with the investigation of Coincheck hack that resulted in the theft of more than $500 million worth of NEM tokens, Nikkei Asian Review reported that Japanese police have questioned a trader who suspected to be involved in the incident.

The most relevant updates in crypto assets included: ViaBTC stated in an announcement on their website that they added Ethereum Classic to their mining pool, a piece of news that has obviously increased the appeal towards the asset. VeChain Foundation announced it has partnered with Australian 188 Business Allianz Association to offer Big Data solutions for warehousing zones and logistic park for business operations. IOTA released a development report on their work with Ledger Nano S, with both starting to implement the functionality that will allow the Ledger to sign and create transactions. Po.et announced the launch of Frost, giving blockchain-based solutions for bloggers and content creators.

Ontology revealed, via their twitter account, that they decided to airdrop ONT to all NEO holders; the airdrop will have 20 million INT. It will be given to the NEO community as a gift. In another identical initiative, NavCoin announced that they are embarking on a 500 NAV giveaway to their community. The Enigma team also announced via their blog that they are going to launch the Engima Marketplace. Electroneum, a UK-based company, announced that it was going to partner up with QUOINEX. Meanwhile, ICON announced a new project with Smilegate Stove, while more awareness was raised after featured in Naver, one of the most mainstream platforms in South Korea. Also, in some big news, Ripple signed a deal with forex giants UAE Exchange.

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