“Weekly what changed in crypto” by Alte.Capital — 7–14 May 2018
Most important stuff we’ve seen previous week in crypto world with personal thoughts
Whole week major drivers
We could observe two interesting developments last week. Firstly, rumors about CFTC and SEC officials meeting regarding classifying the cryptos as security. As we stated in previous week letter, no decisions were made, even there wasn’t any public statement issued. Secondly there were few rumors and news about riding by police biggest crypto exchange in Korea (UpBit) which also caused sell-off.
The most interesting thing about these events is that Bitcoin and Ethereum prices firstly dropped much, but within few hours they bounced back. This looks like we entered into consolidation market and for more 3–4 weeks market will be moving between 470–300 billion dollars area.
Major crypto events in week 7–14 May 2018
Biggest Korean exchange UpBit gets raided|
Authorities searched the exchange’s offices on Thursday and Friday, according to an official from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, who asked not to be identified citing office policy. She declined to provide further details of the raid, which was first reported by the Korea Economic Daily. “Upbit is currently under investigation by prosecutors and is cooperating,” the exchange said in a notice to clients. Transactions and withdrawals were unaffected and that client assets were safe. Worth to note is that EOS and Tron got highest volumes on Upbit.
Mt.Gox trustee again transfers Bitcoin
On 11th of May, 8,000 bitcoins was moved from four wallets. Interestingly, also Bitcoin Cash wallets were transferred to other portfolios in the amount of approximately 16,000 BCH.
Despite the criticism, the Mt. Gox trustee continued mass sale of bitcoins on exchanges, even after recognizing that the such big sale of bitcoins can easily move the market when sold on exchanges instead of on OTC market.
First Regulated Ethereum Futures
Crypto Facilities (regulated by UK FCA) launched Ethereum based futures market. Liquidity will be provided by Chicago-based Akuna Capital. Crypto Facilities already offers bitcoin and XRP futures contracts. Moreover, the firm provides CME Group with the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, which the Chicago-based exchange uses to offer its bitcoin futures contracts.
Huawei is adding Bitcoin wallet to their app shop
The BTC.com wallet will be the first cryptocurrency app offered in Huawei AppGallery. The AppGallery will be pre-installed on all new Huawei and Honor phones and will be rolled out to older devices in the coming months.
BTC’s Bitcoin wallet was approved for official release in multiple countries and regions, but not in Mainland China.
Facebook is launching blockchain dedicated team
The team will be small at launch, fewer than a dozen people, but will include a few key Instagram executives who are moving over to join David Marcus (who has been running Messenger app and has previously worked at PayPal). The move is noteworthy because there were rumors recently that Facebook is thinking about payment plans. Adding a token inside Facebook ecosystem can allow that.
Young Iranians are buying cryptos
Iranians are now turning to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to get their money out of the country. The Chairman of the Economic Commission of the Parliament of Iran said that Iranian citizens have reportedly bought more than $2.5B worth of cryptocurrencies. Iranians do not have access to the international banking system and the transfers can only occur through unconventional ways, such as exchange dealers or international travelers.
Next “What changed in crypto” letter is due on May 21st, 2018
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