The State Of The Market: Bitcoin managed to maintain its stability this week, going to a low of $260 before bouncing back. Bitcoin is still indecisive at $7,500 and is currently priced at $6,480. However, it was other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin which put a strain on the market. Ethereum reached a new low of $170, and the last time Ethereum traded at those levels was 14 months ago, on August 2017. Litecoin also crashed below $50 for the first time in 2018. The total market cap went to $186.5 Billion, the lowest in 2018. With the current crash, the cryptocurrencies have lost 80% of their value from their peak, which is now bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash which saw a 78% drop.
Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, run by the Winklevoss twins has announced Gemini dollar, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Gemini received permission to launch Gemini Dollar from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Another blockchain startup, Paxos also received a license from NYDFS to launch a stablecoin today. Gemini will hold the fiat funds in a U.S.-based State Street Bank and insure it through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Gemini Dollar will be an ERC20 token on the Ethereum Blockchain (Read More).
According to a report published by the Australian Financial Review, the Singapore based cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has invested $3 Million in Bitcoin Australia. Bitcoin Australia currently operates in 3 markets, and with the additional investment, the exchange will expand to 50 markets over the next two years. The exchange has already made efforts to launch in Canada and the Netherlands (Read more).
Huobi Global’s Japanese subsidiary, Huobi Japan Holding Ltd has announced that it has acquired a majority stake in BitTrade. BitTrade is one of the 16 regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Japan. Huobi Japan’s President Haiteng Chen is now the chairman of BitTrade. Chris Lee, the former CEO of OKEx and Huo Li, Huobi Capital Inc. CEO will join as outside directors. Huobi is one of the world’s largest exchange, which saw a volume of $520 Million in the last 24 hours (Read more).