Bitcoin News Summary - November 19, 2018

Here’s what happened this week in Bitcoin in 99 seconds.

Markets moved sharply to the downside to a new low for 2018. The $212 billion market cap moved down to $183 billion with Bitcoin falling almost $1,000. Ethereum lost its second place position in market cap rankings to Ripple.
The messaging app Kik announced it will migrate its ICO token, Kin, from Ethereum to the Stellar blockchain. Kin raised nearly $100 million in Ethereum tokens and it cites Ethereum scaling issues as the reason for the switch.
Bitcoin Cash hard forked and many attribute the recent market price drop to this split. Bitcoin Cash ABC has the support of Bitmain CEO, Jihan Wu, and influencer, Roger Ver. Bitcoin cash SV is backed by billionaire Calvin Ayre, and the flamboyant Craig Wright. It’s still unclear which side will be regarded as the “real” Bitcoin Cash and retain the BCH ticker symbol. Currently, ABC has the most support from exchanges and companies.
A Venezuelan Bitcoiner revealed that one of the nation’s big department stores began accepting Bitcoin. The user, Vito, reports that Bitcoin is well-known across the country and considered the preferred payment method for online work.
Finally, the SEC is investigating crypto lending service, Salt, as well as Erik Voorhees, its former CEO and current CEO of popular exchanger, Shapeshift. The SEC is apparently investigating various aspects of Salt’s $50 million ICO process – primarily whether it was an unregulated securities offering.
That’s what happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.