Cryptocurrency Weekly News
The Bitcoin price took quite a tumble last week, dropping $2,000 in the space of two days before recovering to about half its previous level. The week started with the price at $11,500 — as it turned out, this was the week’s high. It mostly moved sideways on Monday, but dropped on Tuesday to $10,870. Wednesday saw another fall down to $9,979, and on Thursday morning it fell further to the week’s low of $9,510. It recovered during the rest of the day, reaching $10,439. Friday saw another fall, less drastic this time, to $9,762, followed by another recovery to $10,548. The price movement was much less marked over the weekend, with a small fall on Saturday then a small rise on Sunday. This morning it rose again, and at the time of writing the Bitcoin price is at $10,720.
Here is a chart showing the Bitcoin price movement over the last week:
An index which tracks sentiment among cryptocurrency investors, the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, is showing alarming indicators which haven’t been so low since December 2018. ‘Extreme Fear’ seems to be the sentiment. Read about it here
ADVFN’s Cryptocurrency page gives you prices for Bitcoin and altcoins
Bitcoin Opinions
Another expert has spoken up with a prediction of $100,000 for Bitcoin. Crypto hedge fund executive Murad Mahmudov says that his intuition on the current choppy price action is just a “steady accumulation phase.” Read what he said here
Bitcoin commentator Anthony Pompliano has some advice for those interested in Bitcoin. He said in a recent Tweet, “Very important reminder as we enter the next Bitcoin bull market:
- BTC is very volatile
- You can lose all of your money
- Only invest what is ok to lose
- Don’t buy BTC with credit cards
- Keep low time preference
- Do your own research”
Sound advice! You can follow him on Twitter: @APompliano.
Bitcoin enthusiasts can sometimes come across as a bit wild and over the top. Or even downright crazy. Take this comment from Max Keiser last week — he says Bitcoin could have stopped the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Wow! Read about this here
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Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency
The latest privacy scandal to hit Facebook could stop its plans for Libra in their tracks. The company has confirmed that it has been transcribing the audio chats on its Messenger app — which means humans have been listening to your conversations. Yet another privacy black mark against Facebook, which makes the privacy of Libra transactions suspect. Read the story here
As well as the Libra cryptocurrency, Facebook is developing a digital wallet that will store the digital asset. But it may face competition, because other companies are planning to launch wallets that will store Libra, such as Israeli developer ZenGo. Get the details here
China’s new state-run cryptocurrency could compete with Libra, counteracting the threat that Facebook’s new currency poses to China’s financial system. Find out more here
Governments and Regulations
In last week’s crypto news I told you about the Financial Action Task Force bringing 15 countries together to collaborate on a new system to collect and share data. Turns out this was FAKE NEWS!Read about it here
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the issuers of the VERI token for conducting an unregistered token sale in an ICO between late 2017 and 2018. The sale raised $14.8 million. The two companies have also been charged with material representations and omissions to investors. Find out more here
The SEC has reached a settlement with the promoters of PlexCoin, an illegal crypto scheme. The two people involved have been fined $7 million, some of which will be paid back to the defrauded investors. Read the story here
Exchange and Bank News
Barclays Bank has dumped cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The UK bank will no longer offer services to the crypto exchange, meaning UK customers have lost the ability to instantly transfer money into and out of the exchange. Coinbase has found a replacement bank, Clearbank, which should restore things in a few months. Read the story here
Coinbase recently announced it would no longer list Zcash — and now we may know why. It’s because of its new hook-up with Clearbank. The bank demanded that Coinbase delist Zcash because of its emphasis on privacy. Find out more here
Continuing with the Coinbase news, the company’s security chief Philip Martin has explained the challenge he faces in explaining security to customers who absolutely must remember their passwords and keep their keys safe. Read about it here
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has formed a partnership with BAM Trading Services which allows it to launch trading services for its users in the US. Read the company’s announcement here
Blade is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange expected to launch very soon. It has just raised $4.3 million from major investors, including Coinbase. Get the details here
Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten has officially launched a cryptocurrency exchange. Users can conduct spot trading of crypto assets using a dedicated smartphone app. Read the story here
Blockchain News
IBM has filed a new patent for a blockchain-based web browser. Information from web browsing sessions such as the sites you visit, bookmarks, geolocation and so on (which you specify in advance) are transferred to a peer-to-peer network for storage and collection. Read the story here
A New York City startup called Blockparty is a ticketing company that uses blockchain technology to associate a concert or event ticket with the unique features of your face, in order to defeat scalpers and prevent identity fraud. The company hopes this will even stop the problem of bots bulk-buying tickets before humans can get a look-in. Find out more here
Blockchain company Bitfury has launched an artificial intelligence division, to aid it in analysing and extracting value from the tons of available data the company deals with. Get more details here
Mining News
It can’t be much fun living close to a crypto mining farm. Residents of the Chelsea Glen neighbourhood of Colorado Springs have been battling to get a Bitcoin mining operation to comply with the city’s noise ordinance, but the city authorities have refused to issue a citation. Find out more here
Blockchain technology company Blockstream has revealed the details of their massive Bitcoin mining facilities in Quebec, Canada and Adel, Georgia. The data centres are currently available to host enterprise-level mining activities. Read about them here
New Ways to Get Cryptocurrency
New Zealand has made it legal for companies to pay salaries in cryptocurrency as of the start of September. The preferred cryptocurrency must be pegged to a standard currency and directly convertible into fiat currency. NZ is the first nation to do this. Read the story here
Cryptocurrency Crime
Cryptocurrency crime continues to increase, and thefts, scams and fraud could hit $4.3 billion in 2019, according the cryptocurrency intelligence firm CipherTrace. Read the story here
The same report from CipherTrace showed that attackers are targeting cryptocurrency exchanges by innovating and outpacing the cybersecurity employed by the exchanges. It’s quite the arms race. Find out more here
The United National is investigating multiple cryptocurrency hacks carried out on South Korea by North Korea. The rogue state has also targeted India in attacks which hit a total of 17 countries.Read the story here
Between January and July this year, cryptocurrency scammers relieved Australian victims of $1.4 million. Many of the fraudulent operations used social media platforms, fake celebrity endorsements, or online trading platforms disguised as legitimate sites. Get the details here
A Chinese Ponzi scheme that defrauded around 10,000 investors has been dumping Bitcoin onto the market which may have triggered the selling pressure seen recently. Read about this theory here
A tech journalist who decided to take the plunge and buy some cryptocurrency got a lesson in just how hard it is to keep your digital assets safe from thieves when he lost £25,000 worth of crypto. He broke the first rule of cryptocurrency, and did not make sure his private key was secure. Read the story here
Other News
A poll which asked people from 15 countries about cryptocurrencies discovered that Austrians are the most sceptical about Bitcoin and crypto. The survey also found that most countries saw a downturn in crypto-positivity compared to last year — except for Turkey, Poland and Romania. Read the story here
Argentina is in crisis, with its currency collapsing. Crypto enthusiasts immediately started reporting that Bitcoin was surging in the country — but it turns out that wasn’t the case. Instead, locals were seeking refuge in the dollar. Find out more here
The Bitcoin price seems to follow the same trend as the price of avocados. Yes, really! Look at the charts in this article and the match is uncanny. Of course, it’s probably just a coincidence, but it’s fun to speculate as to why… Get the details here
And finally, if you’re new to cryptocurrency you may not be familiar with some of the main players in this new industry — and more to the point, the feuds and fights between them. Here’s a rundown of some of the colourful characters, and who they are having row with. Read it here
New Cryptocurrencies Book
From Clem Chambers
The CEO of ADVFN, Clem Chambers, has a book on cryptocurrencies out now in paperback and for the Kindle. Click here to buy the book from Amazon
Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin is an invaluable guide to making money in cryptocurrencies: how they work, how to invest in them, trading cryptocoins, mining, and the technical details behind them.
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CME Bitcoin Futures
ADVFN (LSE:AFN) is now offering free CME Bitcoin Futures data to its four million registered users.
Anyone visiting the ADVFN site can obtain quotes, view charts and access real-time news for CME Bitcoin Futures here. Users can add these contracts to their portfolios and see bid, offer, highs, lows and current prices along with traded volumes. They can also view them on their monitor pages alongside their other investments.
