The State of The Market — November 20, 2018BTC: $4,500.40 (-14.87%)XRP: $0.450667 (-6.77%)ETH: $135.25 (-13.59%)
While the crash on Monday was shocking, what came after was even bigger. Bitcoin reached a low of $5380, losing nearly $1,000 in less than 24 hours. All of the top ten cryptocurrencies suffered double-digit percentage losses, except XRP. XRP has managed to hold its price, while Ethereum continues to decline. Ethereum failed to hold on to its support at $150 and reached a new low of $128. The total market cap, for the first time in 2018, went below $150 Billion to $140 Billion. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Cash is down by more than 50%, suffering the biggest loss in the market.
In other news, cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has listed its first Stellar-based token, Wollo. Wollo (WLO) is a project dedicated to spurring mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and financial education. It is now available on Bitfinex in the XLM and USD markets. Margin markets will open once there is enough liquidity in the coin. Also, Trezor, the well known and trusted cryptocurrency hardware wallet company, recently posted a blog warning crypto investors about some fake Trezor devices that have been spotted around the market. Rather than being a clone that uses the Trezor code for a different product, this product appears to be designed as a one-to-one copy of the Trezor One wallet, indistinguishable from the one manufactured by Trezor and sold under the same name.
1) U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recently called for international cooperation in the investigation of crimes carried out through the use of cryptocurrency. Rosenstein made the proposal during Interpol’s 87th General Assembly on Sunday and he emphasized that “we must not allow cybercriminals to hide behind cryptocurrencies.” Rosenstein did admit that there are plenty of valid use cases for cryptocurrencies but he also announced that many criminals use them for illegal purposes. He then referred to the WannaCry ransomware attack and money laundering operation run by BTC-e executive Alexander Vinnick. Rosenstein proposed that international regulators and authorities should work together to develop policies that regulate cryptocurrencies and ensure that they are not “abused by criminals, terrorist financiers or sanctions evaders.” (Read More)
2) The Indian government has come close to clarifying its stance on cryptocurrencies. The government created a finance ministry panel in November 2017, and it might avail draft regulations in December. The Narenda Modi government clarified this in a counter-affidavit. Quartz has reviewed a copy of this affidavit that the government filed it on the supreme court on November 19. This news comes as the supreme court is hearing a case in which crypto businesses have accused the government and the RBI of suffocating the crypto ecosystem. Headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, the panel has two scheduled meetings in December and January to deliberate the draft report. (Read More)
3) Ethereum’s hash rate has dropped from 297 terahashes (TH/s) in August to 236 TH/s, its lowest in 9 months. The 25% drop suggests that Ethereum miners are struggling to make a profit. In August, the electricity costs for mining one ETH were $152 and this does not factor in other overhead costs like storage, rent, and the cost of mining hardware. The cost of mining one ETH can drop as low as $91 in some areas of China and the U.S. where electricity rate is extremely low but even these miners are operating at a loss. One theory for the drop in hash rate is that the expected return on investment is greater for those buying ETH than those mining the altcoin. (Read More)
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