Monat: Dezember 2020

Ripple: first hearing in February in case against SEC

The first hearing of the SEC’s case against Ripple will not take place until 22 February 2021 in the Southern District Court of New York, with Judge Analisa Torres presiding.

Ripple claims that the SEC complaint is an attack on the entire cryptocurrency industry in the United States.

In reality, the question as to whether some cryptocurrencies, such as XRP, should be considered as security does not apply to all cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoin and Ethereum, for Bitcoin Code example, have repeatedly expressed opinions, including institutional opinions, against this association.

But, although some cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH are now commonly considered commodities even by the institutions themselves, other cryptocurrencies may in fact run risks similar to those that XRP is running.

It is no coincidence that some of these have lost value in recent days, albeit much less than XRP, precisely because of shared fears.

Ripple claims that there is a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity for the crypto sector in the United States, whereas in the UK, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore there are clear rules for the use of this cryptocurrency. It also states that the holders of XRP have no connection to the company itself.

This point should be reiterated: XRP is not the cryptocurrency of the Ripple company – or at least not anymore – so if it could be considered a utility token, and not a security token, its fate could theoretically be unrelated to that of the company.

Ripple states:

„With this decision, the SEC has brought and put only more uncertainty into the marketplace, actively harming its community of consumers and investors, which it should actually be protecting in the first place. Unsurprisingly, various industry players are reacting conservatively and reflexively in the face of these facts, moving very cautiously about the future of the very industry in which we all operate.“

He refers in particular to the decisions of several exchanges to suspend XRP trading as a precautionary measure for US users.

Ripple-SEC case, hope in new governance

It also reiterates that it will ensure all its services are fully operational in the meantime, not least because most of its customers would not be in the US, just as most of the XRP trading volume would be traded outside the US.

One point that might be of interest is the change in the presidency of the government agency.

The company in this regard states:

„We look forward to working with the new leadership of the SEC once the new representatives are appointed. First, we note that recently the SEC chairman, six of its directors from each division of the SEC, the SEC’s chief economist and the SEC’s legal counsel have left (many left just last week) and our continued commitment to constructive regulatory engagement has not changed.“

These changes could also open up new scenarios specifically regarding the agency’s attitude towards the crypto world.

Ren, un protocolo abierto que permite el movimiento de valor entre blockchains, ha anunciado su próxima integración de RenVM con NUTS Finance, un DAO de desarrollo de blockchain.

acBTC, NUTS first dApp ahora admite depósitos nativos de BTC a través de RenJS

Esta nueva característica agiliza el proceso de cadena cruzada de BTC y la acuñación de acBTC en una sola transacción, proporcionando una experiencia óptima para los usuarios.

acBTC es una solución de Bitcoin compuesta en Ethereum, diseñada para unir ERC20 BTC para maximizar la usabilidad y la interoperabilidad en las redes blockchain

El ecosistema acBTC integra Bitcoin nativo y ERC20 BTC con aplicaciones de intercambio, ahorro y préstamo en un estándar seguro, eficiente y utilizable.

“RenVM ofrece una experiencia de usuario perfecta para conectar la liquidez de BTC a la red Ethereum en un entorno sin permisos. Esperamos aprovechar aún más el sólido conjunto de productos de Ren para aumentar la adopción y la usabilidad de ERC20 BTC „.

– Terry Lam, cofundador de NUTS Finance

The market-leading stablecoin is being pulled to new heights in the slipstream of Bitcoin.

The market-leading Stablecoin Tether ( USDT ) has achieved a market capitalization of over US $ 20 billion for the first time.

As the stablecoin data on December 18 show, Tether is now worth $ 20 billion, which will further strengthen its position as the fourth largest cryptocurrency.

Tether doubled since September

„Tether has just cracked a market capitalization of US $ 20 billion,“ as the corresponding message on Twitter says. And further:

„This fantastic milestone is further confirmation that Tether has expanded its leading position as the cryptocurrency with the highest liquidity, stability and trustworthiness!“

The market capitalization of stablecoins has recently increased at a record pace , with the then record of 10 billion US dollars only broken three months ago.

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino euphorically underscores the new record with a simple “BAM!” On Twitter

The steadily increasing creation of new currency units by Tether, the so-called „minting“, has repeatedly caused controversy in the past, as some market researchers fear that the Bitcoin ( BTC ) price will be artificially increased as a result. In addition, there are still allegations against iFinex, the company that operates both Tether and the Bitfinex crypto exchange, which is adding fuel to the fire.

The demand for tether is nonetheless unbroken, as the stablecoin is an important bridge to other cryptocurrencies and DeFi tokens. The USDT has now further expanded its market leadership among „stable value“ coins.

Google Trends data show that Bitcoin searches peaked annually, while the price of BTC rose to $19,400.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) extended its rise to an all-time high on November 25, with the price rising to $19,412 in the morning trading session.

Determining the all-time high for BTC is somewhat debatable, as different exchanges have different numbers listed. For example, Coinbase recorded $19,892 as the peak of Bitcoin, while BitMEX and Binance have $19,891 and $19,799 respectively. Thus, for most traders, $20,000 is likely to be the big focal point that will solidify the BTC’s record set.

The rise above the $19,000 level occurred faster than many expected, especially after the price of Bitcoin plummeted to $18,000 on the night of November 23. This fall was almost in tandem with the 30% drop in XRP at Coinbase after altcoin reached US$0.92.

Data from TheTie, a social media data platform, shows that as the price of Bitcoin lost momentum on Nov. 22 and 23, trading sentiment struck a perceptible blow when traders anticipated a possible retreat from lower supports in the area below US$18,000.

According to Joshua Frank, founder of TheTIE

„The daily sentiment score analyzes how positive or negative investors have been in the last 24 hours compared to a continuous 20-day window. This metric (daily sentiment) has been positive (over 50) since November 16, when Bitcoin was close to $16,000. For the daily sentiment score to remain positive, this means that conversations must become increasingly positive. So if investors are positive in the last 20 days, they must be even more positive in the last 24 hours for the score to be above 50“.

This suggests that regardless of strong setbacks at, say, $18,000 or less, most people who invest or track the price of Bitcoin still feel extremely optimistic about the digital asset outlook when compared to historical price and sentiment data.

Google Trends data also shows that searches for the term „Bitcoin“ also hit a high in 2020 on Tuesday, with the price rising above $19,000, but the figure is far from the high seen in December 2017.

What next for the price of Bitcoin?

As shown on the four-hour chart, the Bitcoin flow to $18,000 created a double bottom on the right on the main support, and the hoists came on the scene to buy the dive with three successive high-volume peaks.

By the time this article was written, the price had already retreated to test the lower support again at $18,900 and if this level does not hold, the next support is at $18,650, which is slightly above the 20-day MM and a high-volume node on the VPVR.

Similar to the move to $18,000, a period of consolidation and support construction is normal and healthy to sustain momentum in an upward trend.

According to Matt Blom, head of global sales at EQUOS:

„Bitcoin is focusing on reaching a new historical record and it seems highly unlikely that, having come so close, it will not break the 2017 record. With resistance levels scarce above the head, thoughts turn to the next important target. Using the Fibonnaci retracement levels, we see $29,100 as the target, with a move from $1,618 from $4,644 to $19,447 price points as our base. ”