Day: January 29, 2018

Coming off several weeks of intense criticism enterprise blockchain startup Ripple has revealed several clients using its native cryptocurrency, XRP.

As the day progresses, we see more and more cryptocurrencies suffer from major losses once again. The main culprit is the Bitcoin price, which seemingly can’t catch a proverbial break right now. More specifically, the Bitcoin price has dropped once again in the past 24 hours, resulting in a decline of 4.77%. Although the value of one Bitcoin is still 1 BTC, the USD value is slowly dropping to $11,000 and potentially lower again.

Another bad day for the Bitcoin Price

Looking at the Bitcoin price for the past 7 days, it is safe to say there have been nearly a dozen ups and downs. Things started out decently a week ago, with an initial Bitcoin price of just over $11,500. Unfortunately, there is a lot of market volatility, which sends the market up and down on a regular basis. One silver lining is how the price has not dropped below $10,000 in the past week, but it is evident there is sufficient pressure on the market to reject a push to $12,000.

In fact, we have seen an attempt to push the Bitcoin price to $12,000 over the weekend. Unfortunately, that effort did not amount to any noteworthy success. While it seemed all cryptocurrencies were on the path to recovery again, the Bitcoin price has been pushed down to $11,500 last night and is now heading to $11,000 as we speak. This bearish attitude to Bitcoin also hinders the growth of alternative cryptocurrencies, creating a sort of domino effect on the entire market.

With the Bitcoin price now heading lower again, it is unclear what we can expect later today. Looking at the charts, it is evident such dips occur virtually every day, and they are usually followed by a sharp increase in value again. For now, it seems the Bitcoin price will remain stuck between $10,500 and $12,000 for quite some time to come. Anyone who has a bullish outlook on the short-term Bitcoin price may want to readjust their expectations rather quickly.

There are some positive statistics as well, though. Despite this current Bitcoin price decline, the world’s leading cryptocurrency still generates over $7.42bn in 24-hour trading volume. It is not the $10bn or more we have seen in recent weeks, but the volume is still more than respectable in its current form. Unfortunately, it does appear most of these orders related to selling Bitcoin rather than buying it. Trends like these can always reverse rather quickly, though, but for now, things look pretty bleak.

Surprisingly, neither Bitfinex nor Upbit are the leading exchanges ranked by trading volume right now. That honor falls upon OKEx, as their BTC/USDT pair is off the charts today. Although the gap over Bitfinex is just $40.8m, it will be difficult for the USD market to catch up today. Upbit is also positioning itself as the leading Korean cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume. Bithumb isn’t even in the top 10 anymore these days, which is somewhat surprising.

Looking toward the future, it is a bit unclear what comes next for the Bitcoin price. Any positive momentum is quickly squashed, yet there isn’t sufficient negative pressure to push the price below $10,000 either. This period of “sideways trading” will probably continue for a while longer. At the same time, cryptocurrency markets are inherently volatile and unpredictable. Making accurate Bitcoin price predictions has always been difficult, and the year 2018 will be no exception in this regard.

Major Japanese electronics retailer Yamada Denki is partnering with the BitFlyer exchange to trial bitcoin payment in two of its stores.

Bitcoin’s possible upside appears capped by a recent run of negative news, most notably a major Japanese exchange hack.

Following last week’s huge hack, Japan’s Financial Services Agency has said Coincheck must report on the issues and its plan for improvements.

As is usually to be expected on a Monday, most cryptocurrency markets are in the red once again. There are a few exceptions in this regard, as the NEO price is still up by 9.63% compared to 24 hours ago. This is mainly made possible thanks to the strong increase in BTC value, which is something very few other currencies can present right now. Whether or not the NEO price will be able to sustain this momentum for another few days, is rather difficult to predict at this point.

NEO Price Approaches $160 Again

With so many currencies in the red once again, it is almost surprising to see NEO in the green At the same time, a lot of cryptocurrencies respond in very different ways whenever market volatility ensues. In the case of the NEO price, the current volatility hasn’t caused its NEO/BTC rate to drop, hence the overall USD value remains stable and even goes up. In fact, we see a NEO price increase of 9.63% in USD value over the past 24 hours, which is rather significant in its regard.

Additionally, we see the NEO/BTC rate improve by 14.43% in favor of the altcoin. That in itself is rather significant, as it may indicate we see the NEO price head to $170 rather soon. Right now, the same NEO is worth $160, which is a very strong increase compared to about a week ago. It is evident reaching a new all-time high for NEO will only be a matter of time, even though the opinions may still be divided on this front right now. All cryptocurrency markets are subject to increased volatility, and NEO will not escape this spiral whatsoever.

The big question is why this sudden demand for NEO has become apparent. The project certainly has a lot of merit, but there is nothing that sets NEO apart from other similar projects as of right now. This doesn’t mean there is no real value to back the NEO price, but it is evident there is still a lot of work to be done in this regard. Similar to most other cryptocurrencies, the NEO price is currently based on hype and speculation first and foremost.

With $449m in 24-hour trading volume, things are looking pretty good for NEO right now. This trading volume is almost double of what it was yesterday afternoon, which seems to confirm there is a genuine demand for this specific currency as of right now. Over the past few days, we have seen the NEO price increase steadily without being pushed down again. If this slow and steady rate keeps up, we will see a price of $170 or even higher before too long.

Most of the NEO trading platform still originates from Korea’s Upbit exchange. Their volume represents 36% of all trades, which is well ahead of Binance’s BTC and USDT pairs.  Bitfinex has been overtaken by CoinEgg in terms of trading volume, although both platforms are pretty close to one another. It will be interesting to see how things will play out for NEO in terms of the trading volume. Even though Bittrex is also a very popular exchange for NEO, but their volume is pretty small in comparison to the rest of the world.

Determining the future of the NEO price is pretty much impossible at this point. With this market bucking the overall cryptocurrency trend right now, it is evident there will be some manipulation in the NEO market moving forward. Whether or not that will be a positive or negative development, has yet to be determined at this point in time. There is a very real chance the NEO price will keep going up over time, but we may also see a big price retrace in the future. For now, it’s best to hold and see what the next few days bring in this regard.

A Texas financial regulator has issued a cease-and-desist order, this time to decentralized banking platform AriseBank.

Last week’s big news was how Coincheck got hacked. With hundreds of millions in funds lost, things are not looking great. The company will refund all users by using money from their own reserves, though. Moreover, the exchange now faces additional scrutiny in Japan as well. The local financial regulator ordered the company to get its act together. A very strong warning not to be taken lightly.

To put this into perspective, Coincheck being hacked is a very real problem. Cryptocurrency exchanges have a history of such unfortunate events. It also highlights vulnerabilities found in centralized trading platforms first and foremost. Japan’s Financial Services Agency ordered Coincheck to step up their game sooner rather than later.  It is a decision which makes a lot of sense. The company shows their goodwill by refunding victims with Coincheck’s own funds. How this will be done exactly, remains to be determined at this point in time.

Coincheck Needs to Step up its Game

Cryptocurrencies are considered to be a legal form of money in Japan. As such, all cryptocurrency exchanges need to register with the government. Coincheck is one of the few companies able to bypass this requirement due to their long-standing reputation in the industry. This is why the FSA is a bit more lenient when it comes to this particular exchange. That doesn’t mean Coincheck can leave things go unpunished, though. They will need to come up with a solution to prevent future incidents like this one.

It’s worth noting the Coincheck hack has gone down a bit differently than people would expect. More specifically, none of the stolen money has been sold or sent to other wallets. Unfortunately, the exchange is unable to reclaim the money directly, which poses a big problem. It is evident this situation needs to be resolved sooner rather later.  For now, it remains to be seen what the future holds for Coincheck in this regard. Criminals will not stop targeting cryptocurrency exchanges anytime soon.

For now, the question remains how the exchange will handle this problem. While they will repay customers, preventing this type of hack from happening again will not be easy whatsoever. Cryptocurrency exchanges are a prone target for criminals of all kinds. This is also the second time in history one of the biggest Japanese exchanges gets hacked. For Coincheck, stepping up their game is of the utmost importance right now. Protecting consumer assets and securing the platform are the top priorities moving forward.

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