Bitcoin has staged a strong rebound from the $6,000 low it reached early this month and the sentiment in the cryptocurrency market remains bullish. More on regulation front, Switzerland, which hosts a “crypto-valley”, has released new guidelines for initial coin offerings, while the UK central bank chief said Bitcoin failed as a currency. And a leading rating agency has warned that it will be retail investors who will bear the brunt of a cryptocurrency market collapse.
Here is a wrap up of the main news from the cryptocurrency market over the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin Looking For Support Above $11,000
The Bitcoin price has stabilized above $11,000 since Monday and is testing key support levels, boosting the sentiment in markets. As of 3.47 am ET on Tuesday, Bitcoin was up 6.02 percent at $11,365.01 on Coinbase. The top cryptocurrency steadily climbed after finding support around $11,400 level late Monday. Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash were each lower by 0.2 percent at $938.01 and $1,504.78, respectively. Litecoin was up 6.2 percent at $236.94. In the last 7 days, Bitcoin has risen nearly 34 percent, according to Coinbase. Read more…
Swiss Regulator Issues ICO Guidelines
The Swiss financial market watchdog has released guidelines to regulate the launch of Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs, which are the initial sale of cryptocurrency tokens or coins. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, said the guidelines also define the information required to deal with such enquiries and the principles upon which it will base its responses, creating clarity for market participants. The regulator said it has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of ICOs planned or executed in Switzerland and a corresponding increase in the number of enquiries about the applicability of regulation. As the current legal and regulatory framework is with “partially unclear applicability”, FINMA decided to release the new guidelines. Read more…
BoE’s Carney Says Bitcoin Failed As Currency
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said bitcoin has pretty much failed as currency as its value is unstable and it cannot be a useful way to buy things. “It has pretty much failed thus far on … the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange,” he told students at Regent’s University in London. But the underlying technology used by cryptocurrencies could help to verify financial transactions in a decentralized way. Read more…
Venezuela Begins ‘Petro’ Pre-sale
Venezuela has officially launched the pre-sale of its new cryptocurrency Petro, which President Nicolas Maduro hopes would help to ease the country’s economic crisis, and circumvent U.S.-led sanctions. “Petro is born and we are going to have a total success for the welfare of Venezuela,” the state-sponsored Telesur television network quoted Maduro as saying Tuesday.
Malaysia’s HelloGold Secures Islamic Certification for GOLDX Cryptocurrency
Malaysian firm HelloGold has won an Islamic law, or Sharia, certification for its gold-backed cryptocurrency GOLDX. The token received the sharia certificaton from a Malaysia-based Islamic finance consultancy firm Amanie Advisors. HelloGold claims that its GOLDX token is fully backed by 99.99 percent investment grade gold that is stored in a vault in Singapore. 1 GOLDX is always tied to 1g of gold and is redeemable as physical gold in 1g increments, the firm said.
Telegram Raises $850 Mln To Develop TON Blockchain
Encrypted messaging app Telegram Group Inc. raised $850 million mainly to develop TON Blockchain, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The initial raising is said to be the pre-sale stage of its planned $2 billion initial coin offering or ICO for its proposed Telegram Open Network or TON project. The document, filed on February 13, shows that the company intends to use the proceeds for the development of the TON Blockchain, the development and maintenance of Telegram Messenger, and certain other purposes. Read more…
Poland Central Bank Paid For Anti-Crypto Campaign On Social Media
Poland’s central bank reportedly funded an anti-cryptocurrency campaign on social media, local media reports said. The National Bank of Poland allegedly doled out around 91,000 zloty to run a smear campaign on cryptocurrencies on social media websites such Facebook, Business Insider Poland said. The bank also paid Polish Youtube network Gamellon and a Youtube star Marcin Dubiel to produce anti-crypto videos and failed to disclose its sponsorship.
Current Prices
As of 6.14 am ET, Bitcoin was up 3.67 percent at $11,339.86, while Ethereum was down by 1.23 percent at $933.90 on Coinbase.
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