Since the inception of Bitcoin, volatility has been a part of the cryptocurrency narrative even before exchanges and the current mainstream mentions. Now that traditional markets are showing volatility further exacerbated than anti-fragile cryptocurrency during the coronavirus pandemic, the community is seeing how traditional marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange handle equity and commodity volatility through circuit breaker implementation.

In cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, liquidation auctions have been the answer for periods of market turbulence. The prominence of the traditional marketplaces triggering the circuit breakers has led some cryptocurrency exchanges to implement similar measures. So as the community debates the needs for mechanisms to protect investors versus decentralization, there are a few options and scenarios to consider.

When speaking on circuit markets and market volatility in a conversation with Cointelegraph, Vadym Kurylovych, the founder of STEX a regulated cryptocurrency exchange based in Estonia said:

Trading derivatives on the offshore exchanges looks similar to playing roulette in Madagascar casino. You knew you'd get busted the minute you joined but the potential payout entices you to take the risk.

While the popularity of derivatives and financial products continues to grow within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, educating investors is an important step that exchanges are now beginning to take. While this does not fully prepare non-sophisticated investors in advance for when strong solutions are developed, crypto is left borrowing protection mechanisms from the traditional space. For clarity, protection mechanisms in cryptocurrency will be broken down into circuit breakers at the exchange level as well as the token level.

Mimicking the traditional market, some cryptocurrency exchanges have implemented protection mechanisms in the form of circuit breakers to safeguard their users, while others are resistant to this level of control citing decentralization or other measures to meet demand during periods of high liquidation. So, should exchanges implement circuit breakers to protect users from plummeting prices?

The New York Stock Exchange implements three circuit breaker thresholds that measure a decrease against the prior days closing price of the S&P 500 Index -- 7% (Level 1), 13% (Level 2), and 20% (Level 3). When the first two levels are reached, a 15-minute suspension of trading occurs. At the level 3 threshold, daily trading ceases. In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Ryan Salame, head of OTC for Alameda Research which manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion per day stated:

[It] seems to me more like a philosophical debate than anything else, but I imagine you get a more stable market with circuit breakers thus a larger audience would be in favor of them. I personally love a 24/7 market with no circuit breakers and 100x leverage with high volatility, but can certainly see the argument against it.

The difference may be in the type of product being offered to the financial community. While Bitcoin is decentralized, other financial products in the cryptocurrency space may need circuit breakers to protect against black swan events just like the traditional market has experienced.

The cryptocurrency market has many large liquidation events to point to, but recently, the now-infamous Black Thursday on BitMex is a great example. The massive sell-off was reportedly triggered by two DDoS attacks causing a flash crash in the Bitcoin (BTC) price. This attack did major damage to investors, and it is being reported that Binance now tops BitMex for Bitcoin Futures. BitMex lacks circuit breakers and therefore benefits financially in times of market volatility. While the financial benefit may have been large for BitMex, the fallout from not protecting users may cost the platform in the long run.

Currently, Binance has not implemented any form of circuit breakers in their exchanges. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, the exchanges CEO Changpeng Zhao touched upon circuit breakers, but did not give out any indication of future Binance plans for them. He did, however, remark that blockchain is much fairer in solving the fundamental problems of the old system, which means the fiat-based system. This lends credence to Binance upholding its decentralized philosophy and resisting the development and implementation of circuit breakers.

Jake Stott, the founder of blockchain think tank dGen, lent his insight in a conversation with Cointelegraph, saying, With circuit breakers, we start to see a cryptocurrency market that betrays some of the fundamental reasons for it to exist. He went on to add:

Without circuit breakers, we may never see products such as a Bitcoin ETF, due to the huge price variations that could occur between the 24 hour and traditional exchange-traded product. Im personally in favour of the circuit breakers because it appears much of the recent problems were caused by margin traders uncovered shorts and subsequent clogs in the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. Price crashes were much more extreme for those reasons.

So what will cryptocurrency exchange circuit breakers look like? A circuit breaker introduced by the Huobi exchange may give some insight into how the industrys trends could traverse. The liquidation circuit breakers only allow partial liquidation of orders rather than full liquidation, which previously was the case. The circuit breaker acts differently than traditional market circuit breakers, which are used to curb panic-selling. The Huobi circuit breaker will terminate liquidation orders on positions where the margin ratio is 0% when abnormal price deviation between the market price and liquidation price is identified.

Related: What Is a Circuit Breaker and Why Do Exchanges Need Them?

While there have been calls to ban shorting, such a move could disrupt liquidity, while an approach like the one Huobi developed protects users funds first. While Huobi may be on the right path, Jens Willemen, a partner at Kairon Labs Market Making which provides liquidity to exchanges outlined implementation struggles for circuit breakers, saying that for the smaller tokens, the ones that are just getting listed a circuit breaker would be a good thing, adding that overall:

Circuit breakers do make sense for the larger, more liquid tokens to add in a bit more stability to the markets. In practice we believe this will be very hard to implement in the crypto space. Most tokens are listed on a number of different (unregulated) exchanges, getting all these exchanges to agree on when and how to implement these circuit breakers will be very difficult to say the least.

A similar sentiment was shared by Michael Creadon, a board advisor at Inveniam Capital Advisors a digital financial instruments tool for private capital markets told Cointelegraph that traders would be caught out either with or without circuit breakers in place:

Circuit breakers wont work because there are too many exchanges and no centralized rule-making body. If Coinbase freezes up but the market moves another 50% on Binance, you won't be able to get out. So youre damned if you do, damned if you dont. For long term hodlers, I think this is less important. For day traders, this is very important. Circuit breakers are a good thing, but hard to deploy when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of trading venues.

Understandably, competition and high trade volume is beneficial to exchanges, which lends itself to a future where not all will implement circuit breakers. Exchanges will continue to ensure they make money even if practices may harm investors and prevent wipeouts due to system overloading and attacks.

While exchange circuit breakers take the first step in protecting investors, the shortcomings appear to stem from the difficulty of widespread implementation and consensus on best practice. Additionally, individual tokens have the ability to implement governance circuit breakers and reserves in an effort to protect users.

While discussing the potential of seeing token-level circuit breakers in any upcoming projects and launches with Cointelegraph, Leslie Lei, listing director for Cointiger the first cryptocurrency exchange to introduce an equity mechanism through their native token remarked:

The decentralized goal of the cryptocurrency industry will not be left up to the exchanges alone and a project we are aware of is already implementing circuit breakers like investment downside protection. We see innovative projects developing and launching daily that strive to meet the needs for the whole ecosystem in a decentralized fashion. Most options exchanges implement present major centralization issues with everyone running on different APIs, so the token-level approach may be a preferred solution while keeping users interests first.

While DeFi companies seek an alternative to overarching exchange circuit breakers, the potential solution could also lie in non-correlating reserves. While this is possible and currently being implemented with DAI, Dmitri Laush, CEO of GetID an omnichannel Know Your Customer solution noted to Cointelegraph:

The Crypto industry is still in the Wild West zone in survival mode, with monopoly or duopoly on this market finally we can see those rules, but it will not in the near future. And as altcoins usually reflect BTC and ETH in their drops and raises, the circuit breakers can help traders dealing with altcoins and tokens as well.

The dependence on volatile assets such as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) places strain on reserves and values of tokens. A recent example is Ethereums crash creating issues for DAI during Black Thursday. MakerDAO remedied the dependence on a volatile Ethereum and implemented another reserve that utilizes USD Coin (USDC), a fiat-pegged stablecoin. Liquidity through demand or reserves is necessary, yet only reserves can be legally controlled.

Eventually, cryptocurrencies may need to add their own circuit breakers to protect the baseline value of assets. For example, during the DAI Auction, a number of users won liquidation auctions for 0 DAI because of a bug. While the Ethereum used to create the DAI was not worth 0, the drop in price caused mass auctions to occur. These failures triggered a $28 million lawsuit against the Maker Foundation.

For this reason, reserves themselves may need to act as a circuit breaker. For example, Gemini Dollar does not see major exchange fluctuations because it is minted and burned at a 1:1 ratio to the fiat currency it tokenizes. Likewise, Bancor-based reserves produce slippage on available funds in a transparent way to disperse liquidations.

The community appears split on whether cryptocurrency and exchanges should implement circuit breakers and is even more divided on whether those circuit breakers should be at the exchange level or token level. However, one piece seemed clear throughout all the opinions and developmental research: Projects that focus on the success of investors and users will come out of this as winners.

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Crypto Industry Divided Over Introducing Circuit Breakers on Exchanges - Cointelegraph

A fan of Ripple and long-time XRP investor is going viral on Reddit after saying hes concerned about the future ofthe third-biggest crypto asset on the market.

His post, entitled Long-term hodler losing confidence, shot to the top of the r/Ripple subreddit. The trader questions the level of XRP adoption among financial institutions and whether Ripples crypto-based payments product, called On Demand Liquidity (ODL), will boost the price of the cryptocurrency.

In particular, he says comments made by Ripples executives, including chief executive officer Brad Garlinghouse, stating that a significant number of banks would utilize XRP, have not yet come to fruition.

Garlinghouse and Schwartz mentioned dozens of banks would be using XRP, Ripple would be working with major household names, but two years have passed and very little has been made public Perhaps the developments continue to happen behind the screens, but so far the use case/ODL have not had any positive impact on price and XRP continues to move along with BTC.

The investor says he first bought XRP back in 2017 and says hes not planning on selling.

The top response to the investors criticisms indicates a more positive trend: rising volume for Ripples XRP-based liquidity product.

Ripple has publicly stated (XRP 2019 Q4 Markets Report) that they will be introducing a new market in Latin American, Asia-Pacific, and Europe in 2020 Crypto holders have been waaaayyyy out in front of their skiis for several years now. Being frank, XRP is the only asset that is delivering on its use case in Production on any scale today.

Ripple raised $200 million in a Series C funding round in December and says it will use the funds to grow its XRP-based remittance platform, boost development on the XRP Ledger, onboard new talent and better serve its customers.

XRP is outperforming traditional markets in 2020. It began the year at $0.1936, shot to $0.3372 during the crypto-wide bull run in February, and then returned to January levels. The digital asset is currently trading at $0.1938 at time of publishing.

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XRP Investor Goes Viral, Says Hes Losing Confidence in Ripple and Third-Largest Cryptocurrency - The Daily Hodl

Tether has replaced XRP, the native token of the San Francisco-based blockchain payment firm Ripple Labs, to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Top cryptocurrency tokens by market cap as on April 22 | Source: Messari.io

The dollar-pegged stablecoin, which protects traders from the extreme volatility associated with Bitcoin and similar crypto-assets, saw its reported valuation surpassing $7.5 billion on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the size of the XRP market squeezed under $5.5 billion as its prices fell into negative territory on a year-to-date timeframe.

The rise in Tethers market capitalization followed a voluminous flight to cash in the first quarter of 2020. Data aggregator Messari wrote in a client note that demand for stablecoins, especially USDT, was as high as it was in the entire 2019, indicating that traders anticipate wilder price volatility in the rest of the crypto market.

The sentiment takes cues from the ongoing macroeconomic crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. As equities and commodities crashed to their record lows in mid-March, they also prompted bitcoin and other digital assets to pursue a similar downward trajectory.

The crypto market capitalization on whole fell by circa $60.25 billion in March 2020.

Crypto market cap is recovering following global central banks stimulus programs | Source: TradingView.com

XRP was one of the victims of the March crash, falling 24.32 percent to close the month at circa $0.17. On the other hand, traders appetite for Tether, the topmost stablecoin, surged, making it the top crypto beneficiary of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The largest beneficiary of the March volatility was Tether, said Ryan Watkins, research analyst at Messari. Its fitting that the top 3 crypto assets now feature the top 3 verticals in blockchain technology: Money, DeFi, and Stablecoins.

At the same time, Mr. Watkins anticipated the demand for stablecoins to head higher as the world comes face to face with a US dollar shortage. He said USDT, as well as its competitors, including USDC and BUSD, could quadruple their growth in 2020.

With the announcement of Libra and the growth of stablecoins last year, many consider 2019 as the year of stablecoins, said Ryan Watkins, research analyst at Messari. But if trends from the past quarter persist, 2020 could very well give 2019 a run for its money.

Photo by Maico Amorim on Unsplash

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Tether Surpasses XRP to Become the Third-Largest Cryptocurrency - newsBTC

Cryptocurrency prices are quite susceptible to news, according to a recent paper. While, somewhat unsurprisingly, adverse announcements lead to immediate sharp declines, the establishment of clear regulations tends to mark serious market gains.

The report compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas initially questioned the efficiency of instituting actual regulations on cryptocurrencies. It argued that digital assets can function without institutional backing and are intrinsically borderless.

Thus, regulations, more specifically national, could not provide the necessary effect. Yet, upon completion of the study, the report informed that at the current juncture, authorities around the globe do have some scope to make regulation effective.

The paper examined what the consequences in terms of price developments following particular newsworthy announcements on the matter are:

News indicating possible novel legal frameworks tailored to cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) coincide with strong market gains.

The document specified that the introduction of a non-security legal framework generates even more favorable returns. Most likely as those frameworks generally come with oversight rules that are milder than those under securities law, the paper reasoned.

Bitcoin, used as an example, sees serious gains in a one-day and ten-day period, as the graph above illustrates after news of clear regulations.

Although the cryptocurrency market operates under no formal legal homes and is available for international trading, it still relies on regulated institutions to convert regular currency into cryptocurrency. The papers conclusion estimated this to be the primary reason behind the price developments in light of regulations.

The report, rather expectedly, is quite clear on the matter. The cryptocurrency market marks a rapid adverse reaction on anything even remotely negative.

Besides general bans on [cryptocurrency] usage for financial transactions, news events related to their possible treatment under securities market law have strongly adverse impacts, as do events explicitly signaling that they will not be treated as a currency.

Regulatory news regarding anti-money laundering or combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures and limits on the interoperability of cryptocurrencies with the regulated financial system adversely impacts cryptocurrency markets. the paper explained.

For instance, back in 2019, when the Chinese government clarified that digital assets are (still) illegal, Bitcoins price dropped to a 6-month low almost immediately.

However, the document also informed that unspecific general warnings and news regarding central bank digital currency issuance and regulation have no outlining effect.

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Clear Regulations Have A Positive Impact On Cryptocurrency Prices, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Reports - CryptoPotato

Leading cryptocurrency tax software firm TaxBit simplifies the process of filing taxes to just a few clicks for cryptocurrency traders. TaxBit offers cryptocurrency holders and investors a slew of robust services including the easy calculation of profits, losses, tax liabilities, and generation of IRS-compliant tax forms, to make crypto trading a pleasant experience for traders.

Filing taxes doesnt particularly rank high in the list of tasks one would ideally want to do. Add to it the element of cryptocurrencies, and the process starts sounding all the more cumbersome. Fortunately, TaxBit is here to relieve crypto traders from this ordeal.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, TaxBits is the only cryptocurrency tax software founded developed by industry-leading blockchain CPAs and cryptocurrency tax attorneys. A leader in the cryptocurrency tax software space, TaxBit provides tax solutions for more than 4,200 cryptocurrencies, equities, commodities, and all fiat currencies.

TaxBit reduces the process of filing taxes to just a few clicks. TaxBit enables its users to connect their exchanges via its read-only API keys to the software in less than a minute. This rapid process allows TaxBit to pull the users entire cryptocurrency transaction history and feed the data into its tax engine.

Once the trading data has been fed into the engine, users can then see the real-time tax impact of their digital currency transactions. They can also download their yearly tax reporting forms to facilitate quick tax filing with the tax regulators.

As mentioned earlier, TaxBits innovative user interface has been carefully designed by top blockchain CPAs and cryptocurrency tax attorneys. TaxBits cryptocurrency tax engine holds the capacity to process millions of transactions with the highest accuracy.

Most notably, TaxBit takes immense pride in providing a fully immutable cryptocurrency tax audit trail to its users. This essentially means that during an audit, the users CPA or IRS investigator can narrow-down into any single transaction to determine how exactly their cost-basis and subsequent gains or losses were calculated.

The tax software provides its users with a suite of ready portfolio analytics tools that can help them track the performance of their crypto holdings throughout the year. Thanks to its dynamic tax-reporting mechanism, TaxBit displays users real-time portfolio metrics as and when they trade rather than producing a tax-form at the end of the financial year.

Additionally, TaxBit gives its users the option to calculate individual tax rates both federal and each state for their gains or losses so they can have a fair idea about the estimated total tax liability or refund.

Last but not the least, with TaxBit, users can generate one-click IRS 8949 cryptocurrency tax forms. TaxBit users are only required to connect their exchanges to the software to generate and download the IRS cryptocurrency tax forms in their account. Its Plus and Pro plans allow users to retrospectively amend prior years (up to 2014) tax forms for cryptocurrency transactions.

TaxBit treats user security and privacy with the utmost respect. This shows in its various security mechanisms reviews to date.

As TaxBit only gains access to read-only API keys, the platform, essentially, has access to view a users crypto transactions and not their actual digital assets. Basically, it means that TaxBit has absolutely zero access to view a users crypto portfolio or any data pertaining to their actual crypto holdings.

This privacy-preserving mechanism ensures that in the hypothetical event of a hack, the perpetrators would only be able to view a users transactions and not their total crypto holdings.

Its also worth highlighting that TaxBit stores no user personal information at all including their social security numbers or tax identification numbers.

TaxBit has cemented itself as a pioneer in the cryptocurrency tax filing space. Having partnered with various leading cryptocurrency exchanges, TaxBit enjoys goodwill in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency industry.

Backed by some of the most influential and reputable VC firms in the fintech and crypto space, including the likes of Peter Thiels Valar Ventures and Winklevoss Capital, TaxBit is playing a significant role in shaping the tax facet of the cryptocurrency industry as we know it.

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There is a lot of talking going on about Bitcoin halving. The idea of Bitcoin becoming one of the successful payment systems is here to stay, and there are no signs of it fading away. Bankers are never going to agree to the Bitcoin superiority, and this is why they say dont ask a banker about the Bitcoin (BTC).

@CryptosBatman state: People who think the halving is priced in should take a look at the previous cycles. The halving is not priced in. But dont expect an immediate price increase after the halving. The increase may take some time.

The economy is falling and is in a confused to state due to the pandemic. Bitcoin seems like the only option per enthusiasts.

IVAN on Tech opined that hyperinflation is baked into the design of all fiat. He also stated that the gold and real estate might not protect. Further stated that Bitcoin is the only solution.

Of note, Ivan on Tech is running the biggest blockchain academy educating smart money.

@IvanOnTech recently tweeted about having launched a Monster Privacy Course. The course is all about cryptography and the privacy provided in Bitcoin, Monero, ZCash, Dash, Tari, Dandelion, MimbleWimble, Beam, Verge, Aztec, Incognito and others.

Ivan opined that the school systems are failing and that it is important to learn about the nature, creation, and distribution of the currency early in life. Without learning the basics of Blockchain, he stated that our wealth is being taken away from us without even us noticing.

Sydney Ifergan, the crypto expert, tweeted: Learning about #Bitcoin (BTC), cryptos and blockchain is very important @IvanOnTech is right when he says, when we do not learn these tech we will be losing money without noticing.

Bitcoin is proving itself to be crisis-proof. Bitcoin has been up since January when several other assets were significantly down. Despite all these, people are continuing the idea of Bitcoin being risky and irresponsible.

It is important to adopt a thought pattern that will help understand Bitcoin (BTC). And for those who are thinking if this is the right time to invest in the Bitcoin during the markets going crazy, the ideal answer will be to spend enough time studying the concepts and ideals in the blockchain space and to take a discretionary decision.

Enthusiasts opine that eventually, all roads will lead to Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin (BTC) and Other Cryptocurrency Based Blockchain Privacy and Cryptography Course - The Cryptocurrency Analytics

In one of 2020s biggest stories about cryptocurrencies so far, the Indian Supreme Court struck down a blanket ban on trading cryptocurrencies issued by the Reserve Bank of India earlier in the year. Then, March happened, and everything changed as COVID-19 spread around the world, inducing quarantines across the world and stoking unprecedented volatility in financial markets.

India is now in a national 21-day lockdown with industries shuttered and strict enforcement doled out by the government. Following similar initiatives by other countries affected by the viral pandemic, the COVID-19 fallout changes the narrative of the Supreme Court ruling fomenting a distinct uncertainty about the future of fiat money globally.

The United States government has passed a $2-trillion fiscal stimulus package, and the total including the Federal Reserves standing lending facility of $4.25 trillion at the discretion of the Treasury Department equates to more than $6 trillion flooding the global economy, which is roughly 28% of the U.S. gross domestic product for 2019.

The sheer scale of the Feds response to the COVID-19 crisis is both unprecedented and causing ripple effects around the world as the U.S. dollar functions as the worlds reserve currency. Other countries, primarily G-7 countries, have even begun ramping up fiscal and monetary stimulus of their own.

Naturally, the deluge of money into the global economy raises questions about the origin of its value, which the Fed would tell you is just adjusting a few digits on its balance sheet. However, crypto enthusiasts have a more keen eye for the potential impact of unfettered money creation.

Whether the current bonanza of cash will lead to a cost-push inflationary environment is yet to be determined, as the floodgates first have to temper the current deflationary situation as USD demand surges. Meanwhile, in the context of India, a country whose monetary policy is whimsical at best, the coupling of the Supreme Courts ruling with the current situation has bred significant uncertainty.

Putting aside the COVID-19 and lockdown fiasco for a moment, the Indian Supreme Courts move was celebrated across the industry as a turning point for the worlds largest software exporter and home to more than 1.3 billion people.

The implications for the broader industry are tangible, and opening the floodgates to Indias booming tech-savvy market should help push the needle of crypto adoption forward significantly.

Numerous Indian-based crypto exchanges had already resumed fiat services before the crisis, and some observers believed the move would spark crypto financing opportunities in a previously arid Indian finance market for blockchain tech. That will assuredly change, pending the outcome of the next few months, but its important to keep in mind.

Indian-based blockchain projects, such as Matic Network, viewed the regulatory move as a compelling opportunity to showcase Indias push for crypto adoption. Additionally, many crypto projects have squandered their financial runways, whether from initial coin offerings or initial exchange offerings, meaning that sound money management of projects is now at a premium.

In particular, Matic Network has been focusing on the long-term picture, saving for the back-end of the current COVID-19 dilemma, when hopefully, the brightening Indian regulatory environment will continue.

I reached out to the company before the crisis to help provide insight into Indias push for such adoption. Despite much of the hype for blockchain technology, the adoption of most platforms is woefully lacking, said Sandeep Nailwal, the chief operating officer and co-founder of Matic, during our conversation. Now that we have more developed underlying technology for the industry, paired with a warming regulatory environment, this is the opportunity to capitalize on adoption.

While the situation is different today, Nailwals comments translate well into the new reality facing the crypto sector and the broader global financial system.

Its no secret that crypto user adoption numbers are waning. Pure DApps those that operate on a public blockchain network fail to attract any meaningful adoption when compared to traditional applications.

According to MakerDAO, the darling of Ethereums DeFi push, has a 24-hour peak user number just under 13K. Compared to surging financial apps like Robinhood, with millions of users, the numbers indicate a major hurdle left for the crypto industry.

The near-collapse of MakerDAO following the S&P 500s tumble off a cliff also hasnt done any favors for people exploring DeFi as a legitimate avenue for investing or credit instruments, though.

The metrics have not been lost in the crypto community. Poor UX/UI, significant onboarding friction, the complex learning curve of crypto and a lack of developer tools have all hindered user growth for many of cryptos leading applications not to mention the more obscure ones.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.

From a macro perspective, the implications of Indias lockdown are manifold.

India reportedly sources 80% of the raw materials for pharmaceutical drugs from China, which the U.S. relies on to meet medical demands, which are swelling right now. Additionally, Indias government is mulling a 1.5-trillion-rupee ($19.6 billion) stimulus package amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thats a highly conservative figure at best and likely to change considering they are only projecting to shave two points off its GDP projections for 2020, while JP Morgan is forecasting a minus 14% for Q2 in the U.S.

India already has much higher annual inflation than the U.S. and many G-7 countries, which means that it needs to carefully consider the impact of a Fed bazooka similar to what the U.S. did. After eliminating 86% of cash overnight only a few years ago, trust in the Indian governments monetary policy is likely not very high.

The opportunity for crypto to make a splash in India has never been more appealing, especially with the recent Supreme Court ruling inspiring some hopeful innovation.

However, the problem of crypto adoption remains tough. Bitcoins (BTC) volatility doesnt make it an ideal stability option during periods of helicopter money, so Indians may have an opportunity to turn to stablecoins, which, according to Coin Metrics, have been surging in supply to meet growing demand.

Distinct changes are coming in finance e.g., DeFi social media, identity and gaming centering on areas from privacy to data and digital property. Blockchain will be the main driving force behind this revolutionary disruption, said Nailwal. Crypto may provide a release valve for people trying to salvage value, tap into foreign currencies, or function as an intermediary vehicle for goods or services exchanges.

Nailwals sentiment is reflected by recent research from The Open Money Initiative, which indicated that Bitcoin and other crypto-assets are widely used in South America as ways to circumvent capital controls or function as an intermediary for exchanging local currencies.

Now, its just a matter of reducing the barriers of entry to showcase the possibilities of crypto applications. That entails a significantly improved user experience, however, and the elimination of critical vulnerabilities like flash loans in DeFi lending pools.

The censorship-resistance of DApps, their persistent uptime and privacy advantages during a crisis (see the EARN IT bill) could serve as vital anchors for people in distress. That reality may be far away, however. Nobody can predict how the next few months will play out, and if crypto adoption does begin to climb, it will likely be because it was forced out of necessity which means that the financial, economic and viral pandemic situation will have only deteriorated by summer.

The RBIs position on cryptocurrencies for payments appears to remain volatile, too. COVID-19 is in the drivers seat of the narrative now, and delayed government responses arent doing them any favors in the eyes of the public.

A few years ago, the notion of a warming regulatory environment in India seemed far-fetched. The Supreme Courts ruling altered that dynamic and stoked excitement for projects like Matic and others looking to spearhead the Indian crypto and blockchain scene.

COVID-19 then bludgeoned the global economy and has induced panic and volatility in financial markets, which will have unforeseen consequences on the global fiat system as we know it.

Whether that boosts cryptos preponderance in India is unpredictable, but at least the beginnings of a DApp ecosystem to let users tap into an alternative financial system are available now and have some judicial approval underscoring the technology for now.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Andrew Rossow is a millennial attorney, law professor, entrepreneur, writer and speaker on privacy, cybersecurity, AI, AR/VR, blockchain and digital currencies. He has written for many outlets and contributed to cybersecurity and technology publications. Utilizing his millennial background to its fullest potential, Rossow provides a well-rounded perspective on social media crime, technology and privacy implications.

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Indias Lift of Cryptocurrency Trading in the Context of COVID-19 - Cointelegraph

Yesterday, the world was aghast as they watched oil prices tumble into negative territory for the first time in history. The shocking price drop took the cryptocurrency community by storm, who have compared the long-traded commodity to an illiquid altcoin.

But this isnt the first time crypto traders are showing an increased interest in traditional markets, with increasing chatter around the stock market, gold, and much more.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple turned many everyday Joes into investors and traders for the first time. The allure of the emerging financial technology and wealth-generating rallies introduced investing and trading to many millennials for the first time.

Boomers who have long controlled the wealth in the world, preferred stocks, commodities, forex, and more.

But as cryptocurrency assets plummeted in valuations, and with traditional markets more explosive with volatility than ever before due to the coronavirus causing mass disruption and economic recession, traders cannot peel their eyes away from the record-breaking drops and historical rallies taking place left and right.

Related Reading | Stock Market Prints TD9 Sell Signal, Correlated Bitcoin Could Plunge in Tandem

Oil prices tanked yesterday by over 300%, into negative territory for the first time in the assets long history. Watching an asset fall to zero, and then even deeper, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it has caused an eruption in discussion amongst the cryptocurrency community.

Crypto traders are used to 300% moves, thanks to the low liquidity environment across many altcoins, however, in such a widely traded asset like oil, the event is monumental.

Well-known figures in the cryptocurrency industry began comparing oil prices to other assets, such as Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao comparing the price of the commodity to his native utility token, Binance Coin.

Others posit the question that if oil can drop to zero, whats preventing Bitcoin and other crypto assets from doing the same? Even more have called attention to how maybe Bitcoin isnt such a risky investment, after all, considering that something in as wide use as oil could become worthless.

Related Reading | VIX Points To Turbulent Week As Oil Prices Tank to Lowest in Two Decades

It wasnt just oil markets, either. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all saw strong drops yesterday after a sustained rally from lows put in around Black Thursday last month.

The historic volatility in traditional markets hasnt been this high since the recession in 2008, according to the VIX volatility index by CBOE. The massive rallies followed by epic declines are opportunities for traders to profit, making these markets even more attractive suddenly than crypto.

With traditional markets showing such strong price movements, will it lure more traders away from crypto, and potentially cause trading volumes to drop further? And is the move to traditional markets partly responsible for cryptocurrency trading volumes dwindling since the March collapse?

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Cryptocurrency Community Explodes In Chatter Over Oil and Stocks - newsBTC

Nothing screams confidence in the U.S. economy more than swapping Federal Reserve-issued money for a digital hedge against the mainstream financial system.

The U.S. government issued more than 80 million stimulus checks, each for $1,200, last week. To be deposited directly into bank accounts, the payment is intended to give citizens affected by the coronavirus a few extra dollars to pay for essentials, things such as food and utility bills.

But it appears some proportion of Americans instead of spending their stimulus check at Walmart, Amazon or wherever, may have decided to swap their dollars for crypto.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted earlier on Friday his exchange had experienced a sudden spike in the number of buys and deposits worth $1,200. Up until mid-April, around 0.1 percent of total buys and deposits had been for $1,200, then it suddenly spiked nearly 0.4 percent this week, around the time many Americans started receiving their stimulus checks.

Of course, it's impossible to say for certain if all these deposits were U.S. citizens looking for a new home for their government-issued money. The graph doesn't specify what the split was between buys and deposits, so it's possible some customers may have simply parked their money in the exchange. We can't tell if these deposits even came from the U.S.

But despite a soaring unemployment rate, most in the U.S. are still working and still getting paid. Many who are financially secure may have decided to invest, rather than spend, their stimulus checks.

Investors aren't just heading over to Coinbase with their stimulus money. Speaking to CoinDesk, a Binance US spokesperson confirmed they had also seen a spike in $1,200 deposits. "People do seem to have deposited exactly $1,200 into Binance US in the past couple of days," the firm said.

Adding to the evidence, last Thursday was also the single largest day for USD deposits into Binance US for more than a month, the spokesperson added, but declined to go into the specifics of how many deposits that would be.

Crypto prices took a hit when COVID-19 outbreak fears peaked in March but they have since rebounded. With interest rates at record lows and other assets, like equities, reporting lackluster returns, some U.S. investors may see this is as an opportunity to try a new asset class.

CoinDesk reached out to Coinbase and other exchanges for further comment, but hadn't received a response by press time.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Continued here:
Some US Citizens Look to Be Splashing Their Stimulus Cash on Cryptocurrency - CoinDesk

@elaine-bennett

Freelance blogger, digital marketing specialist and tech enthusiast

Your Easter plans for this year probably looked a lot different. Instead of spending time with our families and enjoying the first days of spring, we stayed home wondering how the future will look like.

But the COVID-19 outbreak didnt only change our social plans. It disrupted all aspects of life from social interactions to the global economy. While saving lives is the primary goal right now, wondering how the economy will look like after the crisis is the concern that bothers many.

In the middle of these big economical changes and global financial insecurities, you might be wondering - whats happening with cryptocurrencies?

An unstable market situation caused by the ongoing pandemic might not seem like a good environment for cryptocurrency investments. Even if you already own cryptocurrencies, you might be tempted to liquidate and get more cash into your pockets.

However, this would actually be a terrible idea. In fact, as stated by Sir John Templeton The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.

Putting all of your eggs (pun intended) in one basket is rarely a good idea when it comes to investments, especially in a volatile situation such as this one when its impossible to predict how the market will look like in the following months.

Bitcoin has often been referred to as digital gold and praised for its potential to be a safe haven investment. While its impossible to predict what exactly is going to happen with Bitcoin during the crisis, weve already had a chance to see how it reacted to the first hit of crisis and it can serve as a guideline for future predictions.

The panic caused by COVID-19 surely caused traditional markets to tumble, with the largest stock market crash since the 2008 crises. However, alternative assets havent been spared either. Even the value of gold, the go-to safe haven asset that endured the test of time, fell more than 10% this year.

These ups and downs surely seem scary, but lets not forget that these are not normal circumstances. On the contrary, the current market situation is much like the 2008 crisis where we saw assets such as gold being liquidated, and the same thing is happening right now to Bitcoin. Further down the line, we can expect that the bitcoin will behave much like gold did during the 2008 financial crisis.

While this does call for caution, it seems that the worse has already passed. Its clear that bitcoin has recovered from the recent market crash faster than its traditional assets.

In the long run, we can expect that the value of Bitcoin will continue to rise. Investors who take advantage of the Bitcoin price dip and see this crisis as an opportunity to get Bitcoins at low price points will have the best chance to gain the most after the crisis is over.

Between the 13th and 31st of March, the total value sent to cryptocurrency scams on a daily bases dropped 61%. In the meantime, some of it has recovered, but the total values remain lower than before. Nearly all of those losses are concentrated around the two most popular scam categories - Ponzi schemes and investment scams.

However, its not all good news. Unfortunately, while investment scams and Ponzi schemes are being crushed by COVID-19, its given scammers the opportunity to develop whole new narratives around the crisis, especially those involved in email spamming tactics.

While these scams are rarely successful, they still need to be taken seriously and the general public should be aware of them.

We cant know for sure when the COVID-19 crisis will end, and the more it lasts, the more long term impact it will have on the cryptocurrency market and the global financial situation. We can probably expect more changes, so stay informed, stay home & stay safe!

Freelance blogger, digital marketing specialist and tech enthusiast

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More here:
Cryptocurrency in the Time of Crisis: What to Expect - hackernoon.com