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Crypto And Blockchain Weekly Wrap Up – 27 May 2019 – 02 June 2019

Weekly Wrap up | Cryptocurrency | Blockchain | Update

It seems that all that was required to kick off the ‘Crypto Winter’ was the onset of summer and as we progress into summer months, the price points and trading volumes of almost all cryptocurrencies are showing steady growth, breaking their slumber of the bear market. Let’s see the main highlight of this week’s cryptocurrency and blockchain market.

Price points 

Bitcoin – As bitcoin continues its bull run by spiking up to $9,000 mark on May 30, it did dip in the month end and started June at a price point of over $8,500. As of press time, BTC was at $8,736.47.

Ethereum – Similar to Bitcoin ETHUSD nosedived after hitting the $290 level, dropping to 250 USD after it maintained the price range for some time. As of press time, Ethereum was at $271.78

Ripple – Over the past few days, XRP has been on a bullish trend that placed the price above the $0.46 level on May 30. While the Bears temporarily lost their control and Ripple price increased, a big bearish candle emerged suddenly and the price decline. So, will XRP bearish trend continue?, as of press time, XRP was at $0.44

Bitcoin Cash – On May 29, BCH rallied up to $483 and thereafter dropped to $401.73, showing a bearing trend. Though June brought back its value, as of press time, BCH was at $445.50.

Bitcoin is flying high

Riding high on its bullish movements Bitcoin managed to achieve several benchmarks including high BTC trading volumes in South Korea. The country observes new levels of Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange LocalBitcoins as per the charts on BTC statistics service Coin Dance.

 The data shows that bitcoin’s weekly trading volumes rallied over the past two weeks, recording a new high of around 219 million South-Korean won ($185,000)

The biggest cryptocurrency as per market capitalization, Bitcoin (BTC) hits an all-time high versus the Argentine peso, while the currency is facing a steady decline. As per the FT, the price of bitcoin rallied as high as 394,000 pesos ($8,762.95 at press time), reaching prices versus the Argentine peso not seen since the bubble in late 2017.

Bitcoin SV becomes the highest gainer of May 

Often touted as the “problem child” of the cryptocurrency industry marked, Bitcoin SV(BSV) surprised many with the said feat. While at the start of the month starting at a disastrous note, wherein top exchanges like Binance and Kraken, delisted the token all thanks to its key mover Craig Wright.
To the dismay of many, the controversial Australian entrepreneur, Craig Wright has been self-claiming himself as Nakamoto and recently he went ahead and filed copyright registrations for the bitcoin white paper and original code. Obviously leading to a controversy, which subsequently resulted in BSV surging over 200%.
In addition, some scammers took advantage of the situation this week, they claimed that Wright has transferred Bitcoin from the original bitcoin wallet, which as expected did lead to a massive price surge for Bitcoin SV, a $60 boost in less than 10 hours. However, the story tale received another twist as there are now two suitors who have filed copyright for bitcoin white paper and original code.
A certain Wei Liu is claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto and to have originated the work. The filing is dated May 24, 2019, while Wright’s is dated April 11, 2019. As of now, the identity of Wei Liu is declared and neither is why the reason behind the filing is known. Though it could be attributed as a much-needed step to counter Wright’s ownership of fundamental bitcoin property.

A Good Week For EOS As Well 

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID) releases its 12th edition of crypto rankings on May 23, and EOS retains its top spot, while bitcoin it at 12th place, rising three places from the last edition. The top five cryptocurrencies in this edition were EOS, tron, ether, steem, and ontology.

Next up, a major United States-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase announces adding support for EOS in a press release on May 30. Reportedly, the token will be available for trading and storage in most areas covered by Coinbase, except the United Kingdom and New York at press time.

The parent company of EOS, Block.one had partnered with Tether, a blockchain tech company in order to launch the latter’s stablecoin (USDT) on the EOS blockchain (EOSIO). Reportedly the Tether EOS and its delegated proof-of-stake design are well-suited for peer-to-peer microtransactions.

Regulatory Updates 

The topic of regulations of cryptocurrency has been a sore issue for many nations and their respective governments. While some believe in warning their citizens about it others are prepping up to embrace it and then there are some who are taking things as they come.

Warning their citizens – The central bank of Malawi, Africa issues warning against cryptocurrency, stating that crypto such as Bitcoin (BTC), and any crypto-related activities are not legal in the country. The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) stated that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Malawi, adding that they do not represent a substitute to the Malawi kwacha (MWK), local fiat currency.

Embracing Cryptocurrency –  The government of Egypt might be stepping up to  embrace cryptocurrency by loosening the restrictions employed over them. A source close to the matter disclosed that a bill is proposed that will ban the creation, trading, or promotion of cryptocurrencies without a license as compared to the outright ban of all cryptocurrencies under Islamic law.

Taking things as they come – The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA)
illustrates a cautious approach towards cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in comments at the finance committee of the upper house of the National Diet.

On sort of the same page with Japan,  the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil orders the formation of a commission that will ponder over the regulations required for cryptocurrency in the country.  Deputy Rodrigo Maia, the President of the Chamber of Deputies requested on May 30, that a special commission should be created, aimed at delivering an opinion on bill 2303/2015 that aims to regulate Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital currencies in Brazil.

The side effect of Regulatory stiffness 

It has been a well-discussed topic, adding on to the motion the CEO of KIK, a Canadian tokenized social media startup, Ted Livingston revealed that the firm has spent over $5 Million on negotiations with the SEC. Following his announcement, Livingston also announced in a podcast that the platform is launching a $5 million crypto initiative dedicated to funds its lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Dubbed as DefendCrypto fund, the fund is aimed at legally challenging the U.S. SEC, so as to get regulatory clarity from the major U.S. financial watchdog.

Notable launches or Collaborations

Taotao launches a trading service – Taotao, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, owned 40% by the Internet giant Yahoo! Japan’s YJFX, will be launched its trading service on May 30. Taotao initially will be offering bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). The platform will also avail margin trading in litecoin (LTC), XRP and bitcoin cash (BCH), addition to BTC and ETH.

Telegram releases TON testnet –  Telegram, an encrypted instant messaging service officially releases test client for its Telegram Open Network (TON) via some files posted on test.ton.org. As per the readme information file, these new files are a distribution of a preliminary version of the TON Blockchain Network Lite Client and include relevant portions of the TON Blockchain Library.  The archive of files is a simplified stable version of the Lite Client.

In addition to this, Telegram Open Network (TON) gets one of its first decentralized applications with Button Wallet this week. Recently, opened to beta development, the secretive project and Button wallet collectively published a blog post elaborating about the collaboration.

Binance collaborates with Cred – Binance, a major crypto exchange collaborates with Cred, a California-based decentralized crypto lending platform, in order to bring its services to the Binance ecosystem. As per the agreement Cred will be migrating some of its ERC-20 LBA tokens to Binance’s mainnet,

EY provides blockchain solution to track wine –  Big Four audit firm Ernst & Young (EY) plans to provide its proprietary blockchain solution to a major new platform, that will aid consumers across Asia to ascertain the quality, provenance, and authenticity of imported European wines.

Dubbed as Tatto, the e-commerce platform is developed for Blockchain Wine Pte. Ltd., utilizing Ernst & Young’s OpsChain blockchain solution that was launched in fall 2018. The flagship blockchain product allows secure and private transactions over the Ethereum (ETH) public network through zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology.

Blockchain Adaption

A blockchain for artworks – Swisscom, a major Swiss telecommunications company has announced plans for a distribute tokenized artwork through its Swisscom TV television network. The app is developed in collaboration with Swiss tokenization startup Dloop. As per the press release, the artworks will be limited initially to 100 works by 30 artists, exclusively available on the Swisscom TV box through the NOOW app.

Blockchain-based mortgage Platform – UAE-based Mashreq Bank partners with the Dubai Land Department (DLD), the real estate arm of the Executive Council of Dubai in order to release a blockchain-based mortgage platform. As per the report, the blockchain-based platform will be a depository for mortgage records and will also act as a way to confirm that the mortgages are in line with registration policies.

The platform will also accommodate on-going updates following a property sale, such as recording liquidation and payment defaults or changes to the mortgages. Reportedly, the platform will act as a key element of DLD’s efforts to streamline their services.

Test of City N –  The Russian state of Nizhny Novgorod tests  “City N,” a blockchain-based application that will aid monitoring public administration tasks.  Reportedly, by utilizing the application the state residents could file their taxes on the blockchain-based Vostok platform. Further, City N will include several features such as the ability to verify the identity of Nizhny Novgorod residents and to track expenditures residents have paid to the state’s budget via the online portal of public services Gosuslugi.

Blockchain to streamline insurance claims –  United States insurance giant State Farm has collaborated with military-affiliated bank United Services Automobile Association (USAA) in order to test a blockchain-based subrogation solution with real claims data. As per the report, the blockchain technology will be employed by both the insurance titans to automate and streamline the subrogation process in insurance claims.

Blockchain Gaming 

Virtual car sold for $110,600 – A virtual racing car in the upcoming blockchain-based game F1 Delta Time gets sold for 415.9 ether (ETH) or $110,600 at the time of sale, as per an announcement on the game’s website. The said virtual car will surely be one-of-a-kind as the auction page promises to never release more.

Actionality makes a record-breaking sale –  A unique crypto collectible was sold at auction on the Auctionity platform for more than 8 ETH. The crypto collectible, named Darta-Nyan, is the only musketeer Blockchain Cutie in existence and was created especially in honor of the latest collaboration between Auctionity and Blockchain Cuties Universe.

Oh oh 

Bitfinex shuts its services temporarily –  Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex announced a temporarily shut down its services via a tweet published on May 31.  As per the tweet, the exchange has temporarily paused deposits and withdrawals “due to the outrage of one of [their] network providers.” Since such an announcement alarms users, the firm offers some relief and added that “Funds are safe in cold storage. The situation should be restored ASAP (ETA 3/4h). Apologies for the inconvenience.”

Paolo Ardoino, CTO for Bitfinex further tweeted links to the exchange’s hot wallets in order to ensure everyone that there are no outgoing tokens and that user funds were secure.

BCH endured a double spend –  Bitcoin cash (BCH) network experienced a hard fork on May 15, which brought some troubles for the network. As per a report released by the research arm of cryptocurrency, derivatives exchange BitMex on May 24, the network experienced two-block chain reorganization,  resulting in a 3,392 BCH (about $1.35 million at press time) double spend.

 

 

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