The Sleeping Bull
Honestly, it's been quiet in the crypto world this week. A small bump to $13,103, then a little drop, and eventually Bitcoin evened out at $11,343 by press time. The good news is, Bitcoin holds securely above the $10,000 level and maintains the trust in the “gold” of cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, Ether fluctuates at around $1,000, reminding us of the behavior we have already seen several times before, after previous bull runs.
However, a certain event did manage to find some crypto investors angry this week. Bitconnect (BCC), a very popular lending and exchanging platform, shut down its platform this week. This was followed by numerous speculations, stating the platform has been a Ponzi scheme from the very beginning. The price of Bitconnect subsequently fell from roughly $400 at the beginning of the year to as low as $11 at press time. Bitconnect is now facing numerous charges in the UK and the US, and will likely have a hard time earning its trust back from new investors.
Bitcoin laundering less than 1% of all transactions
A recent study, carried out by the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, suggests that less than one percent of Bitcoin transactions are being used for money laundering, confronting recent critics of cryptocurrencies with indisputable evidence.
Coinbase concludes 2017 with over $1 bln in revenue
One of the biggest profiteers of the last year was undoubtedly Coinbase. An exchange, a fiat on-ramp to the crypto world, and a leader in the US market, which has finished the year with over $1 billion in revenue.
UN forms blockchain coalition to tackle climate change
One of the most vocal early adopters of the blockchain technology is the United Nations Organization. After having successfully delivered humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees via Ethereum, it is now forming its own initiative to curb carbon emissions.