This week in Cryptoverse… Fear & Greed Index hits a new Low
China’s CBDC, Bakkt launch, SEC’s delays Bitcoin ETF decision & much more…
Cryptocurrencies have been stuck in a general bearish consolidation ever since the peak reached in late June. Bitcoin has undoubtedly been the pick of the lot when it comes to holding the general market. So far the support zone of $9000–$9400 has kept a constructive sentiment in BTC.
According to the data from Alternative.me, the Fear & Greed Index for Bitcoin is precariously close to the yearly lows (chart below). The service analyzes emotions & sentiments from various data sources to provide one simple number between 1–100. Lower numbers point to pessimism & fear, while higher readings signify optimism & greed.
While there are three groups of analyst predictions right now — one depicting extended losses to $7–$8K before any kind of rebound is seen, the second group sees extended consolidation between the $10-$14K price levels & an optimist lot that thinks the price will take off soon. What’s your take on it?
BTC dominance stood at 68.2% with a total market cap of $ 282 billion at the time of writing. Let’s move on to some of the headline stories of the week…
China’s CBDC
Chinese Central Bank — PBoC has been aggressively working on the development of its own digital currency. The process had been given an impetus after fears that Facebook’s Libra was going to bring dominance of the US dollar to the digital world, being pegged to the reserve currency.
PBoC deputy director Mu Changchun has now announced the development of a prototype that adopts blockchain architecture. The new currency is more of an attempt towards digitization & control rather than presenting a challenger to mainstream Cryptos. The vague details that have emerged so far point towards a centralized digital coin.
The need for a CBDC (central bank digital currency) is a little surprising, considering the payment systems in China have more or less been completely replaced by AliPay & WeChat. In 2018, the two mobile platforms processed 57 billion transactions at almost 1,800 transactions per second, which is more than the processing capacity of the Top 4 cryptos — BTC, ETH, XRP & EOS. The CBDC launch raises more questions than it answers…
Bakkt Launch
The most anticipated launch of the Bitcoin physical futures launch platform has finally been given the go-ahead to launch. Bakkt is finally going to ‘lift-off’ on Sep. 23rd after receiving regulatory approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
The charter gives it the status of a Trust company. Two types of contracts are expected to be offered are a daily and a monthly contract, which will be settled via the Bakkt Warehouse. The core services include the secure custody of digital assets along with institutional trading capability.
Bitcoin ETFs delay
The U.S SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) has, yet again, delayed its decision the three Bitcoin ETF proposals. The decision to delay VanEck SolidX, Bitwise Asset Management and Wilshire Phoenix proposals to different dates in September & October have been outlined in the documents.
ETFs have long been sought as the biggest step forward to the mass adoption of digital assets. Citing the example of Gold ETF which saw an exponential rise after its launch in 2003, the investors believe Bitcoin would see a similar parabolic rise. Let’s wait and watch.
Wrapping it up here with some important news stories from the Cryptoverse.
UPGRADES:
- NEO is in integration talks with Celer Network to improve Scalability
- 6 Changes for Upcoming Istanbul Hard Fork in Ethereum approved
- Dash Releases Upgrade In Response to Newly Exposed Vulnerabilities
- Privacy Token Beam Completes First Hard Fork Against the ASICs
ADOPTION:
- Alibaba Files US Patent for Blockchain Domain Name Management System
- Google Cloud Partners With Enterprise Blockchain Platform Cypherium
- Samsung Discreetly Adds Bitcoin Support to Blockchain Keystore
- UK’s Pensions and Welfare Department Eyes DLT for Faster Payments
- Amazon Managed Blockchain Gets Cloud Support
BANKING & ECONOMY:
- New Zealand Rules Bitcoin-Denominated Wages, Bonuses Legal
- R3’s Marco Polo Trade Blockchain Takes Another Step Toward Production
- Korea’s Oldest Bank Is Building a Blockchain-Based Security System
- Leading Latin America Investment Bank Joins Distributed Ledger Group
- Chainzilla and Pundi X to Enable Retail Bitcoin Payments in Panama
TRADING & EXCHANGES:
- Coinbase Reveals Password Glitch Affecting 3,500 Customers
- Binance to Resume US Operations Within Two Months
- Crypto Exchange Poloniex to Delist 23 Trading Pairs Due to Low Volume
- Brave Browser Adds Access to New Crypto Wallets
- Binance Jersey Partners with Caspian Crypto for faster trading