As Bitcoin failed to move past $4,100 yesterday, there was a minor crash. However, the bounce-back was swift and Bitcoin once again successfully defended its support at $4,000. With lower volumes in the weekend, it could once again test its resistance at $4,100 and even go past it. Most of the market is in green today, posting single-digit gains. The total market cap added nearly $2.5 Billion in the last 24 hours.
In other news, Sirin Labs has announced a partnership with Ethereum wallet provider MyEtherWallet (MEW). Sirin Labs will soon integrate MEW in their Finney blockchain smartphone. Additionally, MyEtherWallet users can purchase the device through its mobile and web interface. Also, IOTA Foundation announced that its partnership with FCA-regulated fintech startup Zeux will permit the use of IOTA for in-store payments with merchants who accept Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Zeux will launch in the EU in April and users preferring to pay with IOTA will select it and pay using the Apple Pay and Samsung Pay terminal. The IOTA tokens will automatically be deducted from the consumer’s wallet and the merchant will receive fiat.
1) Mt. Gox is set to return the remaining bitcoins to its users soon. In 2014, Mt. Gox, the largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time suffered a major hack. The thieves managed to steal some 850,000 BTC. It has been nearly 5 years, and victims are yet to receive any compensation. Its former CEO Mark Karpeles was even recently sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison in Japan. However, not everything is lost. Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi has published a report that he still has access to over 141,000 BTC and 142,000 BCH. The document also discussed rehabilitation. Over the next few days, users will be notified if their claims for funds are accepted or rejected based on their previous applications. The criteria for approval is also not clear yet as some legitimate users claim they were denied. (Read More)
2) Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has announced new trading pairs for IOST. IOST enjoyed a successful mainnet launch last month, which was supported by all major exchanges. Just yesterday, Binance announced a trading competition to celebrate the Mainnet launch. The exchange is giving away 10,000 BNB for the top IOST traders. To make trading easy, IOST will also be tradable against BNB and USDT from today. These pairs will also be accounted for the trading competition. IOST had released its first DApp-Endless Game on Mar. 20, with transactions volumes breaking above 700M IOST on its very first day. Plus, IOST/BTC trading volume also tops on the Binance ranking board, totalling 9478.23BTC in the past 24 hours. According to IOST’s announcement on its official blog, more diverse DApps are in the pipeline. (Read More)
3) This week the Federal Assembly of Switzerland voted to put cryptocurrency on equal footing as traditional assets. 99 members of the National Council supported a motion to bring forward a proposal which would apply the existing legislation of administrative and judicial authorities to cryptocurrencies. Giovanni Merlini, a liberal public representative in the lower house of the Federal Assembly, voted against the measure and claimed that “a large part of the crypto is completely anonymous, which favored extortion and money laundering.” It is yet to be seen whether holding crypto-assets to the same regulatory obligations as traditional assets is a positive or negative for Switzerland’s crypto sector. In December Swiss finance minister Ueli Maurer suggested that Switzerland should adapt existing rules to fit the needs of the industry instead of drawing up a new regulatory framework. (Read More)
