Bitcoin has had a mixed start to the new year. The price has climbed, most likely for potentially controversial reasonsbut, meanwhile, at least one minor cryptocurrency is going from strength to strength.

The bitcoin price has climbed over the first few days of 2020 but has failed to make meaningful gains and breakout of its long-running malaise, leaving many cryptocurrency traders and investors disappointed.

However, chainlink, a top 20 cryptocurrency traded under the name link boasting an $800 million market capitalization, has risen 25% already in 2020bringing its year-on-year rise close to a staggering 500%.

The bitcoin price has outperformed most major cryptocurrencies over the last year but some smaller ... [+] tokens, including chainlink, are making huge gains.

The chainlink price reached its highest in late June of 2019, hitting $4.55 and up over 1800% from the start of 2019.

The massive rally was caused by interest in chainlink from China, the world's largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, working with chainlink developers so-called decentralized finance products, and search giant Google using chainlink's blockchain to bridge legacy databases.

"As with most blockchain projects in their infancy given the low liquidity initially, any surge in demand is likely to cause significant impact on price," said Simon Peters, bitcoin and crypto analyst at investment platform eToro.

The chainlink price has fallen back somewhat from its all-time high but has broken the broader cryptocurrency downward trendwith almost all so-called altcoins failing to recover after the brutal crypto winter of late 2018 and early 2019.

The chainlink price hits an all-time high of $4.54 back in July of last year and has since fallen ... [+] back from there but remains significantly up on the start of 2019.

"With chainlink developers working with the likes of Swift to help connect banks to smart contracts, as well as major companies like Google, naturally this has caused excitement around the potential of the platform going forward," Peters added.

"This has subsequently encouraged investors to buy the link token, speculating on the project's future success. With link prices increasing over the last year, this was further compounded by the 'fear of missing out' phenomenon."

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As Bitcoin Struggles, This Minor Cryptocurrency Is Up Almost 500% Over The Past 12 Months - Forbes

The cryptocurrency market has been growing strongly following the successful launch of options on Bitcoin futures on CME. Positive momentum has been increased by technical factors as Bitcoin and may altcoins broke crucial resistance levels and thus attracted new speculative buyers to the market. The cryptocurrency market capitalization increased to $228 billion, while an average daily trading volume reached $99 billion. Bitcoin's market dominance is registered at 68.1%.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit the intraday high at $8,587 during early Asian hours and retreated to $8,517 by. press time, The coin has gained over 5% both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of the day. Despite the retreat, BTC/USD is still trading above critical $8,500, reinforced by 50% Fibo retracement for the upside move from December 2018 low to July 2019 high. While the short-term trend remains bullish, the intraday volatility has been decreasing gradually.

Ethereums price action took it above $151.00 to an intraday high of $151.61. The strong bullish move was triggered by a decisive breakthrough above $148.00. The prevailing short-term trend is bearish as the coin has been in retreat from the recent high, though the longer-term perspectives look good as long as it stays above $150.00.

Ripple came close to the highest level of $0.2255 and retreated to $0.2200 by press time. The third-largest digital asset has been growing steadily after the resistance of $0.2100 gave way. XRRP/USD has gained 4.5% since the beginning of Monday, moving in sync with the market. The short-term trend is bullish.

Bitcoin SV (+25%) - $204.93

Dash (+23%) - $81.00

Litecoin (+7.6%) - $53.96

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Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin and major altcoins start the trip to the moon - FXStreet

Ripple's XRP, now the 3d largest digital asset with the current market value of $10.1 billion has gained over 7% in recent 24 hours. The coin touched the highest level of 2020 at $0.244 on Tuesday and retreated to $0.2323 by the time of writing. The coin has been moving in sync with the global cryptocurrency market, driven by a strong wave of bullish sentiments.

The Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Heath Tarbert thinks that it is not clear whether XRP is a security. The Agency has been working with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to figure out the status of Ripple's token. Notably, the head of CFTC has now doubts as to the status of Ethereum, which is regarded as a commodity.

Meanwhile, Ripple Labs is often accused of earning from XRP sales to retain investors: Ripple executives deny the claims saying that they sell token for negligible amounts compared to other sources of funding.

XRP/USD bottomed at $0.2259 during early Asian hours and recovered to the area above $0.2300 by the time of writing. While the coin is still below the recent highs, a sustainable move above $0.2200 the previous recovery high of $0.2250 has improved the short-term technical picture. The crucial support area is created by a combination of SMA50 1-hour and the lower line of 1-hour Bollinger Band on approach to the above-said psychological $0.2200. If it is broken, the sell-off may be extended towards $0.2130 (SMA200 1-hour).

From the longer-term point of view, strong support is created by SMA50 daily at $0.2080 followed by the middle line of the daily Bollinger Band at $0.2045.

On the upside, the key barrier is created by SMA100 daily currently at $0.2430. This resistance area has been validated twice, which means that the bulls will have a hard time with it. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $0.2500. The ultimate resistance comes at $0.2680 (SMA200 daily).

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Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD capitalizes on the global cryptocurrency bulls' run - FXStreet

The overwhelming surge across the cryptocurrency market has greatly revived interest in the major cryptocurrencies. For instance, Bitcoin SV has more than tripled in value since the lows traded last December. The cryptoasset is trading at $345 after adjusting from highs at $450. Other assets that have improved greatly, include Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold and Dash.

However, the surge appears to be on the rocks as the cryptocurrenciesstartto reverse. The majority of the major cryptos are in the red on Wednesday led by Bitcoin, which is down 6%, Litecoin follows at 3% and EOS at 4.21%.

On the other hand, the cryptoassets that are still in the green include, Dash with its 31% rise on a daily basis, Bitcoin Gold is trading 27.7% higher and Ethereum Classic is up 4.3%.

Bitcoin is down 2% on the day following a surge towards $9,000. An intraday high formed at $8,899 saw the bears start to swing into action. At the time of writing, BTC is valued at $8,627 amid a growing bearish momentum. If the support at $8,600 fails to hold, the zone at $8,400 could rescue the bulls. More support can also be expected to emanate from the former resistance at $8,200.

Ethereum, on the other hand, retreated from the new January 2020 high at $171.67. Support appears to be establishing at $160. Meanwhile, ETH/USD is valued at $162 (market value). Additional support is expected at $155, the 50 SMA on the 1-hour chart, and the 100 SMA.

Ripple blasted its way through the resistance at $0.22 as well as $0.24. An adjustment in the price has occurred with Ripple slide back to $0.2342. Immediate support could be found at $0.23. Besides, the leveling RSI suggests that Ripple could settle the dust above $0.24 while the upside capped at $0.24 in the near term.

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Cryptocurrency Market Update: Two-day recovery on the rocks as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple trim gains - FXStreet

North Korea is holding a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang next monthand United Nation experts strongly advise against making the trip.

A confidential report soon to be submitted to the U.N. Security Council says anyone who travels to the event would likely be in violation of sanctions because it previously featured "discussions of cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion and money laundering," Reuters reported.

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The 2020 Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference is set to take place in the capital between February 22-29, according to its website.

Cybersecurity experts say North Korea has links to a hacking unit known as Lazarus, which is allegedly responsible for targeting banks, bitcoin exchanges, cash machines and ransomware outbreaks in an attempt to generate funds for the regime.

Despite U.N. sanctions against North Korea being in place since 2006, designed to curb its nuclear missile programs, the hermit kingdom reportedly brought in up to $2 billion for those programs with the use of cyberattacks in recent years, Reuters reported last August. The U.S. government refers to the North Korean government cyber activity under the name Hidden Cobra.

Ignoring the warnings could have serious consequences.

Two months ago, U.S. citizen Virgil Griffith, 36, was charged after going to the North Korea tech event last April to "deliver a presentation and technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions," the Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

He was charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The U.S. state department said it previously denied Griffith permission to travel to the nation, which is officially titled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK.

"Griffith provided highly technical information to North Korea, knowing [it] could be used to help North Korea launder money and evade sanctions," said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. "In allegedly doing so, Griffith jeopardized the sanctions that both Congress and the president have enacted to place maximum pressure on North Korea's dangerous regime."

According to the conference website, organizers welcome U.S. passports, which it says will not be stamped "so there will be no evidence of your entry to the country." It also adds: "Your participation will never be disclosed from our side unless you publicize it on your own."

There is no full program schedule listed online. The itinerary shows multiple tourist trips before daily events, held inside the Pyongyang's Science and Technology Complex.

The main days are simply listed as: "Blockchain and Cryptocurrency conference."

Day five is described as containing a "general business presentation and private business meetings with interested counterparts." After a visit to the Masikryong Ski Resort on days six and seven, attendees will transfer to the airport and return to Beijing on day eight.

"The interest of participants to continue building bridges of friendship and collaboration with the DPR of Korea, as well as the exclusive environment of confidentiality and contacts with the highest government officials and engineers, demanded to organize a second conference with even more audience and wider scope," reads a blurb on the conference's website.

It remains unknown how many people are expected to attend. The conference website says the notoriously brutal country is safe for visitors, with some caveats.

"The DPRK can be considered the safest country in the world. As long as you have a basic common-sense and respect for the culture... you'll be always welcome," it notes.

Applicants have to send a scan of their passport and full address, phone numbers and a CV. It does not accept passports of citizens from South Korea, Japan and Israel. Journalists are not allowed to attend in order to "preserve the confidentiality of the participants."

While it can prove difficult to attribute digital attacks to an exact culprit, evidence of North Korea's cybercrime has mounted in recent years. Its fingerprints were found on a brazen attack on the Bangladesh Central Bank in 2016 which tried to siphon over 800 million.

"Lazarus is not just another APT actor. The scale of the Lazarus operations is shocking," analysts from Kaspersky noted in a report exploring the inner-workings of the group in 2017. APT, often used to describe state hacking units, stands for Advanced Persistent Threat.

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North Korea is Holding a Secretive Cryptocurrency Conference, and Experts Warn it's a Very Bad Idea to Attend - Newsweek

Bitcoin SV (BSV) is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after a turbulent day sent its value skyrocketing against the US dollar, up more than 100% at its peak on Tuesday. Its price, which hit an 24-hour high of $441.20 on Tuesday, subsequently plunged by nearly $100.

The massive surge in value comes amid new developments in the lawsuit against Craig Wright. The Australian computer scientist and self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin is one of the biggest supporters of BSV, and he now says he can access a massive trove of Bitcoin holdings.

Wright is being sued by Ira Kleiman, brother of Wrights deceased business partner David Kleiman, for the alleged misappropriation of more than one million BTC that was once held jointly by the two business partners. Wright responded that the cryptographically locked Bitcoin, which requires a private key to unlock, was inaccessible.

US judge Beth Bloom gave Wright until February 3rd to access about $9.2 billion worth of Bitcoin which Wright said was locked in a Tulip Trust, an encrypted document that holds the keys to the BTC that Wright and Kleiman mined together.

Wright claimed a bonded courier who possessed the keys that could unlock the encrypted Tulip Trust would arrive this month, and on Tuesday, he filed a notice of compliance stating that the third party had indeed provided him with the information he needed to unlock the file. Wright also claims he has provided Kleimans side with a list of his Bitcoin holdings.

In a counter filing, the plaintiffs expressed their lack of satisfaction with Wrights list.

Say Kleimans lawyers,

The document produced by Craig is simply a list of 16,404 addresses. Craig, however, did not provide any information on the bounded [sic] courier, the company he/she worked for, when he/she came, or the message delivered.

Plaintiffs request they be provided with seven (7) interrogatories about the courier that Craig must respond to in ten (10) days. Plaintiffs will then use those responses to seek discovery from the bonded courier and his company. In the interim, Plaintiffs are having their experts review and analyze the list.

Plaintiffs expect that they will be ready to depose Craig after this discovery occurs, in early March.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Smelov

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Bitcoin SV Blasts Ahead of Litecoin, Tether and Bitcoin Cash to Become Fourth-Largest Cryptocurrency - The Daily Hodl

After a year of rocketing growth, 2020 looks set to push investors into staking platforms even further as latest reports show, According to Staking Rewards, a staking platform data aggregator, the total staked amount in dollars currently stands at $6.961 Billion USD, with seven of the top ten coins all registering over $100 million USD in staked coins. However, the research conducted by Crypto Differ excludes Tron (TRX), which stakes 22% of the total ~1 billion USD worth of TRX.

Staking allows cryptocurrency holders to earn passive income by storing their coins on protocols designed to payout interest.

The research from Crypto Differ places the total staked amount in dollars at $6.961 billion USD, excluding TRX, with the push to $7 billion USD set to happen sooner rather than later. Staking cryptocurrencies have gained traction in the past year as a number of exchanges introduced zero fee staking such as Binance Staking Protocol which launched a free staking platform for Tezos at the end of last year.

The market capitalization of staking cryptocurrencies currently stands at $11 billion dollars, which shows over 60% of the total cap is held in staking protocols. The top seven coins which hold at least $100 million USD including EOS, Tezos, Cosmos, Algorand, Dash, Synthetix and NEM, hold a combined $4.5 billion of the total ~$7 billion staked, representing approx. 64% of the total.

While the field is growing at an astronomical pace, four of the top staking projects seem to be controlling much of the market with ~$4 billion staked across the four crypto projects. Eos (EOS) leads the pack with $1.822 billion USD staked, representing a quarter of the total amount staked. Tezos (XTZ), Cosmos (ATOM) and Algorand (ALGO) complete the list of project with over $500 million USD staked with $832 million USD, $771 million and $515 million staked respectively.

We calculated the ratio of staked coins to the circulating supply as well. The leaders are Cosmos (98.6%), Livepeer (95.6%), Synthetix (88.3%), Kava(86%) and Tezos (85.8%). StakingRewards.com on the 2020 staking report.

However, there remains questions of the exclusion of Tron (TRX) from the list of staking projects as explained by enthusiast and community member, Mike McCarthy. The eleventh largest crypto has a total of $329 million USD staked, as at time of writing representing approx. 22% of its total market capitalization.

The field of staking is just taking off and this year looks to provide a larger market for staking products. Can the market breach $10 billion in 2020?

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RESEARCH: Cryptocurrency Staking Value Soars To A Record $7 Billion USD

Description

Total value in USD on staking platforms on the verge of breaching $7 billion USD.Eos, Tezos, Atom and Algo lead the standings with over $500 million USD staked in each platform

Author

Lujan Odera

Publisher Name

Coingape

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RESEARCH: Cryptocurrency Staking Value Soars To A Record $7 Billion USD - Coingape

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions, and Deribit B.V., holding company of the leading Dutch cryptocurrency futures and options exchange Deribit, today announced TT has launched connectivity to Deribit.

Founded in 2016, Deribit is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, providing its services in Europe and Asia. Through the TT platform, users who are eligible to trade on Deribit will be able to access all listed productsBTC and ETH futures, perpetual and options contracts.

By connecting with Amsterdam-based Deribit, TT continues its emphasis on providing the professional trading community with diversified international market connectivity and multiple tools for cryptocurrency trading. Users will have access to TT's full suite of professional-grade tools, including advanced order types, Autospreader, ADL, charting and analytics, the MD Trader static price ladder, and the TT Mobile app for Android and iOS. Users also will have the ability to trade cryptocurrencies on the same screen as derivative products from nearly 50 futures markets around the world.

"Deribit is the market leader for crypto options, and we have seen strong demand for Deribit futures, perpetual and options from our users," said Michael Unetich, VP of Cryptocurrencies at Trading Technologies. "The exchange has strong volume, solid technology, and users throughout Europe and Asia. As we came to know the Deribit leadership team, we knew this would be an ideal fit for TT as we continue to enhance our product line by adding more high-quality crypto exchanges."

"We are excited to partner with derivatives specialist Trading Technologies and to welcome TTs professional traders to our exchange," said Deribit founder and CEO John Jansen. "We look forward to offering new trading opportunities to their traders in our unique options suite, regular futures and naturally our key volume contributor the BTC Perpetual."

With the addition of Deribit, TT now supports five crypto-only exchanges. TT has expanded from its traditional derivatives base to build out a cryptocurrency offering over the past two years, previously launching support for BitMEX, CoinFLEX, Coinbase and Bakkt.

About Deribit

Deribit (https://www.deribit.com) is a leading crypto futures and options trading platform based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Deribit provides professional-grade trading solutions and a highly liquid marketplace. The framework of the platform was developed to assure the ability to handle large numbers of requests with ultra-low latency. The matching engine was developed from scratch and all of Deribit technology is proprietary. Deribit was the first to launch European style cash-settled options on BTC and ETH and pioneered functionalities like multi-instrument block trade for crypto derivatives. Furthermore, Deribit remains the market leader in crypto options and continues to set the standard for the rest of the industry.

About Trading Technologies

Trading Technologies (www.tradingtechnologies.com, @Trading_Tech) creates professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions for a wide variety of users, including proprietary traders, brokers, money managers, CTAs, hedge funds, commercial hedgers and risk managers. In addition to providing access to the worlds major international exchanges and liquidity venues via its TT trading platform, TT offers domain-specific technology for cryptocurrency trading and machine-learning tools for trade surveillance.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200115005235/en/

Contacts

TT Media Contact Lorna Kiewert3Points Communications(312) 725-7950, Ext. 1Lorna@3ptscomm.com

Deribit Media Contact Andras CaronDeribit Exchange0031628493144andras@deribit.com

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Trading Technologies Launches Connectivity to Leading Futures and Options Cryptocurrency Exchange Deribit Via the TT Platform - Yahoo Finance