Bitcoin and cryptocurrency priceshave fallen sharply over the last few days,with around $50 billion wiped from crypto markets.

[Updated: 07:32am EST 03/12/2020] The bitcoin price, which had been trading around $10,000 per bitcoin just last week, is now down almost 30% over the last seven days after suddenly plummeting this morning and wiping out all its 2020 gains. Bitcoin earlier collapsed to under $6,000 per bitcoin, sending many other major cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, Ripples XRP, bitcoin cash, and litecoin, even lower. Read the full story here.

Bitcoin's sudden sell-off was put down to global market turmoil sparked by oil cartel Opec's failure to agree to a supply cut, sending the oil price to historic lows, but some think bitcoin's move lower could have its origins elsewhere.

The bitcoin price had climbed through the first few months of 2020 but the recent falls erased ... [+] almost all it year-to-date gains.

"The sudden drop in prices seems to arise out of the selling of [bitcoin] by PlusToken," the chief executive of India-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch.co, Ashish Singhal, told bitcoin and crypto industry news site CoinDesk.

PlusToken, a Ponzi scheme that swept China and Korea over the last few years, saw around $2 billion worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies stolen from investors.

Last Saturday, ahead of the traditional market rout caused by Opec, PlusToken scammers moved a little over $100 million worth of bitcoin to so-called mixers, designed to disguise the origin and destination of the coins.

The fraudsters may have then sold off the bitcoins, causing prices to fall as supply flooded the market, according to Singhal.

The bitcoin price fell by almost $1,000 per bitcoin on Saturday, before stock markets and other assets crashed.

"PlusToken scam moved another 13,000 bitcoin's yesterday," bitcoin and cryptocurrency analyst Kevin Svenson said via Twitter on Sunday.

"They also did something similar after bitcoin crossed above $10,000 this year. They are slamming the market with sell orders. Essentially we have a giant whale unloading after every move up."

Bitcoin has been battling against falling trading volumes and stalled adoption in recent months (though that's not stopped some from betting big on the number one cryptocurrency).

When trading volumes are low the market is more susceptible to manipulation by big traders.

The bitcoin price has lost around 20% over the last month, all but destroying the narrative that ... [+] bitcoin had begun performing as a so-called safe-haven asset.

Many have taken the latest fall in the bitcoin price as proof it is failing to act as a so-called safe-havenan idea that had gained popularity in recent months as bitcoin rose in the face of escalating U.S. and Iran tensions and then apparently gaining on fears the coronavirus could knock global trade.

Traditional safe-haven assets, such as gold and the Japanese yen, usually move higher in times of greater risk and uncertainty.

"Bitcoin is down 8% in the last day, much more than global equities," Nobel prize-winning economist and outspoken bitcoin critic, Nouriel Roubini, said on Sunday night viaTwitter.

"Another proof that bitcoin is not a good hedge versus risky assets in risk-off episodes. It actually falls more than risky assets during risk-off."

More here:
[Updated] The Real Reason Behind Bitcoin And Cryptos Massive $50 Billion Crash? - Forbes

A new cryptocurrency bill is being floated in front of congress this week. The proposed cryptocurrency act of 2020 intends to split cryptocurrencies into three distinctions: Commodity, Security, and Currency.

According to Marshall Hayner, founder and CEO of crypto payments firm Metal Pay, the bill will "fundamentally restructure" cryptocurrencies in the States.

Along with Rep. Paul Gosar, Hayner is cited as one of the founders of the bill and introduced it in congress on Monday. A day after he explained the proposal to all 541 members of the legislature, Hayner took to Twitter and produced a compressive tweetstorm on the subject.

Per Hayner's thread, the bill seeks to split cryptocurrencies up into three separate classifications: crypto-commodities, crypto-securities, and crypto-currencies.

The first, crypto-commodities, are defined as tradeable, fungible digital assets that exist on the blockchain. These can also represent contracts, utilities, or commodities in the physical world. These would likely include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other such tokens.

The second, crypto-securities, represent a "security-like instrument." According to Hayner, these too exist on a blockchain but often derive their value from external assets. These may pertain to real-world tokenization on the blockchain.

As reported by Decrypt, fast-food chain Fatburger recently issued securities on the Ethereum blockchain. It's likely that such assets would fall under this category.

The third and final classification is cryptocurrency, but as Hayner describes them, it seems to refer to stablecoinscryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies. These include Tether, USDC, and the Paxos Standard.

The bill cites them as "basic tools of a digital, global economy," built to resist counterfeiting, money-laundering, and manipulation.

Further, the bill proposes that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provide appropriate oversight for each classification.

While the proposed act intends to bring some clarity and order to the cryptocurrency regulation, it's already been the victim of considerable community backlash.

Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, argued that since the bill concerns multiple regulatory jurisdictions, it would need assent from two committeeswhich would be almost impossible. This, in Brito's view, is made even more challenging by the fact that the bill's co-founder, Rep. Paul Gosar, is not a member of either of the considering committees.

Further, Alex Gladstein, CSO for both the Human Rights Foundation and the Oslo Freedom Forum, raised an issue with the act.

Per the bill, any individual transacting cryptocurrencies with a business will have their information shared with the relevant regulatory agencies. He argued this would be an infringement on everyones financial privacy. Not that blockchains have much privacy anyway.

Link:
The unlikely cryptocurrency bill that went to Congress - Decrypt

YouTube is reportedly taking action against a cryptocurrency advertising scam featuring fake endorsements from Elon Musk and Daniel Craig.

The false advertisements were discovered by Business Insider and promised huge returns to investors who bought Bitcoin Era an automated trading app that claims to be backed by high-profile entrepreneurs including Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

The advertisement purports to be from Blitz News promoting an article called Bond franchise comes to an end. However, when users click the ad, they are redirected to a post with the headline SPECIAL REPORT: Brits are listening to 007s Daniel Craig and theyre raking in millions from home.

The article says readers can take advantage of a wealth loophole that can turn anyone into a millionaire in three to four months.

Crypto scammers have a rich history of targeting celebrities. Since 2017, schemers have created phony accounts designed to look like Elon Musks official profile in an attempt to trick users into giving away their digital assets. Last year, schemers promoted a similar wealth loophole featuring Elon Musk, Kate Winslet, Richard Branson and Bill Gates.

As for this new advertising scam, YouTube has declined to comment. However, a source at the company says the ad has been removed. So far, theres no comment from Musk or Craig.

Read the original here:
Elon Musk and Daniel Craig Featured in Cryptocurrency Scam Promising Massive Returns - The Daily Hodl

Zabo, which enables any financial services company to connect to their customers cryptocurrency wallets in a few lines of code, announced it has raised $2.5 millionin new funding. The round was led by Moonshots Capital with participation from Blockchange Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CoinShares, Tezos Foundation, Capital Factory and others. The investment will be used to expand Zabos engineering and grow its customer base.

Cryptocurrency is quickly becoming a mainstream asset class. Unfortunately, FinTechs, banks and brokerage firms have been very challenged to provide services, in part because their current technology doesnt support cryptocurrency. This comes at a time when the next generation of customers, who prefer to own cryptocurrency more than shares in stocks like Disney and Netflix, are in the process of selecting their primary financial institutions. Zabo gives financial services companies the tools to build compelling products around cryptocurrency in order to serve this new generation of customers, saidAlex Treece, Co-Founder and President at Zabo.

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Zabos technology is used in a variety of financial services applications, including personal financial management, investments, digital banking, tax software and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Despite being on a path to touch billions of customers and be an asset class measuring in the trillions of dollars, cryptocurrency is very underserved relative to other financial services. This is partly because connecting cryptocurrencies, wallets, and exchanges to the traditional financial system is highly technical and complicated. Zabo solves this by dramatically reducing the complexity. We enable leading financial services companies to swiftly and easily integrate into hundreds of leading cryptocurrency wallets with just a few lines of code, saidChristopher Brown, Co-Founder at Zabo.

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Zabo has put together an impressive team and have been experts in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space for years. They have built an incredibly important piece of technical infrastructure that will enable cryptocurrency financial services to touch billions of people. Were excited to support the team to bring cryptocurrency to mainstream financial services, saidCraig Cummings, General Partner at Moonshots Capital.

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Excerpt from:
Zabo Raises $2.5m to Connect Cryptocurrency Accounts to Banks, Brokerage Firms, Fintech Apps and Tax Software - AiThority

The king of cryptocurrency Bitcoin is moving through some rough times, but one analyst is adamant that the Bitcoin price should be hitting $9000 soon.

Coin Market Cap is reporting an almost two (1.96) percent decline in the BTC price while the king has shredded almost 15.5 percent of its value since the high on the 7th of March.

Bitcoin price chart by Trading View

BTC price was floating at the $9197 high on the 7th of March right before a flash crash took the price to $8800 range. The downward trend continued for two more falls to the $8200 range.

At the time of writing, BTC price is in a continuous downward motion towards that $7600 mark whereas, $7650 is serving as strong support for the king of cryptocurrency.

While on the other hand, cryptocurrency analyst on Trading View BitFink is predicting that the Bitcoin price would be touching $9000 mark soon. So far, his prediction is moving spot on the dot chart line. While on the other hand, the current dip is just another Bitcoin price move that is nothing to be worried about.

Bitcoin price chart by Trading View

BitFink predicts that the cryptocurrency would now be rising towards the $9256 mark. If the BTC price movement continues to follow the BitFink Bitcoin price prediction, traders can expect high yields in the short term. If the king decides to move sideways, well, everything is possible then. Cautious trading is advised as always.

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Disclaimer: The information provided is not trading advice but an informative analysis of the price movement. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability towards any investments based on the information provided on this page.

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Bitcoin price falls but this analyst is adamant on $9000 high - Cryptopolitan

The crypto space woke up this week to an interesting development. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) had introduced the cryptocurrency act of 2020 to the US Congress.

One fact about the submission was clear: He went solo. Submissions usually have co-sponsors. This case shows that we are still a long way from the broad adoption that the cryptospace hopes for.

The bill classified digital assets into three categories: Cryptocommodities, cryptocurrencies and crypto securities. as per the bill, Three Agencies will regulate each category: The US CFTC, The US treasurys Fincen and the US SEC.

The Act is a great start to defining new rules for the cryptospace in the US. The concept of primary regulation creates both problems and opportunities for many. It also narrows the definition of digital assets to certain use-cases.

Nevertheless, there are issues with the Act. Section 6 (16-21) includes operations of tracking transactions by the US Treasury FinCEN. The tracing will be based on instructions from the Treasury Secretary.

The trailing of transactions applies to the cryptocurrency class of digital assets. Government interference in the cryptospace will raise opposition to the bill.

This sort of action is also to be expected by the Government because of one word: currency.

Governments are flat out concerned about the control of their money supply. And private minting of tokens is bound to create problems down the line. Speaking about lines, the governments privacy invasion is an issue as well.

The purpose of tracing transactions seems clear. Financial transactions that have criminal origin might use the pseudonymous nature of digital assets to launder their funds. We all face the same thing when it comes to the US dollar.

My verdict?: Tracing transactions dont go well with the decentralized nature of crypto but isnt really a problem if you have nothing to hide. The hue and cry that the cryptospace is making about this are unfounded as this could be the road to adoption.

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The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto.This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

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Why The Cryptocurrency Act of 2020 Impact On The Crypto Space Could Be Huge - ZyCrypto

The adoption of cryptocurrency has been a major topic of discussion in the financial market and the factors that affect it have repeatedly been analyzed. The industry was also conducive to the point made by officials, and that was exactly what happened on Monday.

Just recently, Sri Shivanada, the Chief Technology Officer of Paypal talked about how crypto use cases need to be developed so that there is widespread adoption across the globe.

Shivananda spoke at the latest Economic Times Global Business Summit 2020 where he said that the cryptocurrency industry is truly at the forefront of cutting-edge technology. According to him, the future was bright in terms of financial developments, but for cryptocurrencies to be considered fully legitimate, some tests had to be carried out.

He believed that cryptocurrencies need to overcome its name tag of speculative and instead prove to everyone that it can compete on level playing fields. The PayPal official was one of many who sided with the rise of cryptos and even said the positive turn will occur soon. Shivananda continued:

The developments will urge crypto related business to become more user-centric and develop products that benefit the users. I believe that digitization of currencies is, in fact, not a matter or not it will take place but when it will take place. And thats when it will necessitate participation from all industry players, regulatory authorities, and the government.

Shivananda even talked about how cryptocurrency companies can take inspiration from Indias Unified Payment Interface [UPI]. The UPI is a unique real-time payment system that facilitates interbank as well as person-to-person payment transactions.

He said that the National Payment Corp of India was an inspiration-worthy model for cryptocurrency to grow in developing regions like India. Many proponents have admitted that the concept of UPI was extraordinary and that its teachings could be applied across the globe.

PayPal has been an active player in the cryptocurrency industry for a long time and had made a splash when it pulled out of Facebooks Libra Association. This decision came after regulators pointed out anomalies within the Libra framework. The Elon Musk co-founded company stopped all participation in the project and reaffirmed that they will not contribute anything to the Libra project.

PayPal was part of a roster that included MasterCard and Visa, both of which pulled out at later stages. The European Union was quoted as saying that Libras plans would have massive ramifications on the financial world. During the latest summit, Shivananda explained that the initial partnership with Libra was done on the basis of serving underserved regions of the world.

The comments made by the PayPal CTO came a few days after the Supreme Court of India shot down the crypto ban established in 2018. The ban was raised by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] initially because the central bank was fearful of the scams that originated from the digital asset industry. Now that the ban has been lifted, officials such as Shivananda can openly cite plans for organizations to adopt cryptocurrencies.

Read more from the original source:
PayPal CTO Admits Use Cases Will Pave The Way For Cryptocurrency Adoption - TWJ News