Market Update:
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is sitting at $11,040 representing a gain of 3% in the last 24 hours. More than $1.5B worth of BTC were exchanged in the BTC/USD market representing a 38% share of daily volume, followed by the BTC/JPY pair that represents a 30% share.
The Ethereum price has risen by 2.9% over the past 24 hours and is currently sitting at $1,003, with over $550M worth of Ether exchanged in the past 24 hours on the ETH/USD pair which has a 35.5% market share of the daily trading volume
See live charts https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/eth/overview/USD and https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/btc/overview/USD
Payment Processor Stripe to End Support for Bitcoin:
Yesterday, payment processor Stripe announced that it will end support for Bitcoin as a payment method in April. Product manager Tom Karlo wrote in a blog post that Stripe would transition away from Bitcoin over the next three months, fully ending support for the largest cryptocurrency on April 23, 2018. Karlo stated:
"Because of this [lengthy transaction times and growing fees], we've seen the desire from our customers to accept Bitcoin decrease. And of the businesses that are accepting Bitcoin on Stripe, we’ve seen their revenues from Bitcoin decline substantially. Empirically, there are fewer and fewer use cases for which accepting or paying with Bitcoin makes sense."
SEC Chairman Signals a Storm Coming for Fly-by-Night ICOs:
On Monday, in a speech delivered in Washington, SEC chairman Jay Clayton stated that “blockchain squatting” will no longer be tolerated. Basically, startups with no working product seeking to raise funds, or traditional companies rebranding themselves as blockchain connoisseurs are liable to attract the ire of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton made no bones about the absolute state of the crypto space, opening his remarks by saying:
"Market professionals, especially gatekeepers, need to act responsibly and hold themselves to high standards. To be blunt, from what I have seen recently, particularly in the initial coin offering (“ICO”) space, they can do better. Most disturbing to me, there are ICOs where the lawyers involved appear to be, on the one hand, assisting promoters in structuring offerings of products that have many of the key features of a securities offering but call it an ICO, which sounds pretty close to an IPO.”
Cryptocurrency Exchange BitFlyer Launches New EU Branch:
Japan-based Bitcoin exchange operator bitFlyer has set up shop in Europe, having already expanded to the U.S last year. The exchange announced Tuesday that it had received a payment institution (PI) license to operate its services in the European Union and is initially seeking to attract professional, high-volume traders. In an announcement, Andy Bryant, COO of the new European branch of the exchange, said:
"Through our web interface or API, traders can get up and running quickly and benefit from some of the most robust systems, highest speeds and an interface designed with their specific needs in mind."
Coinbase Revealed Recorded Turnover of $1 Billion Last Year:
Coinbase claimed the lion’s share of the money that’s pouring into the crypto space at a dizzying rate last year. Recode reports that the company’s revenue exceeded $1 billion last year, most of it derived from the trading fees it levies. These vary from between 0.25% and 1%.
State of the Crypto:
Bitcoin is up 3.08% at $11,040.440 with a volume of Ƀ142.2k - $1539.2M on the USD pairs.
Ether is down 0.07% against Bitcoin at Ƀ0.0913 per Ether and up 2.9% against the dollar to $1003.87 with average volume Ƀ47.0k on the ETH/BTC pair.
Bitcoin Cash is down 1.27% to Ƀ0.1475 with volumes of Ƀ16.0k and up 1.63% against the dollar at $1621.33.
Ripple is up 2.8% to Ƀ0.0001247 with volumes of Ƀ17.0k and up 5.38% against the dollar at $1.37.
Zcash is down 0.32% for the day to Ƀ0.04057 per ZEC and up 2.98% against the dollar to $448.74 with an average volume of Ƀ3.3k for the 24 hour period.
Litecoin is up 2.37% against the dollar for the day at $179.71 and down 0.79% to Ƀ0.01632 on volumes of Ƀ7.4k.
Dash is down 0.69% at Ƀ0.06911 with Ƀ4.6k volume and up 2.59% against the dollar at $765.32.
Iota is down 0.04% to Ƀ0.0002289 on Ƀ1.4k volume.
Ether Classic is down 1.61% to Ƀ0.00263 with volumes of Ƀ3.4k and up 1.61% against the dollar at $29.03.
Monero is down 0.03% against the dollar at $311.42 and down 2.55% against Bitcoin at Ƀ0.02829 on volumes of Ƀ5.7k.
Neo is up 1.7% for the day to Ƀ0.01139 per NEO and up 5.8% against the dollar to $125.93 with an average volume of Ƀ5.0k for the 24 hour period.
Waves is up 1.1% to Ƀ0.0007562 on Ƀ2.0k volume.
Stratis is up 2.25% to Ƀ0.001134 on Ƀ1.2k volume.
