February 21, 2018

Building a Base? Crypto Market Hovers Around $500 billion

With bitcoin above $11,000, the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is gyrating around the $500 billion mark – and possibly building a base for a step higher.

As of writing, the total value of all cryptocurrencies around $480 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The figure has risen by 43.20 percent from the Feb. 6 low of $276 billion. However, over the last three days, the wider crypto market has consolidated in the range of $475 billion to $520 billion.

In the last 24 hours, the total value has dropped by $32 billion as the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap suffered losses.

bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, suffered an overnight drop of more than $1,000. Prices hit a low of $10,948.20 in Asian trading hours today, and were last seen at $11,143 – down 3 percent in the last 24 hours.

That said, bitcoin ranks second from the bottom on the list of losers in the last 24 hours among top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Litecoin (BTC) is the top loser today, with 8.96 percent drop in the last 24 hours – a decline could be due to profit taking, given the cryptocurrency has rallied more than 100 percent from the Feb. 6 low of $106.94.

Investors poured money into LTC last week with the hope of making easy money via litecoin cash hard fork. However, post-fork LTC has remained resilient and is continuing its love affair with the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $222 on Coinbase’s GDAX exchange. As of writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $222.68, according to CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile, bitcoin cash (BCH) is down 8.69 percent. Its U.S. dollar exchange rate (BCH/USD) witnessed a bullish inverse head and shoulder breakout last week, but lacked the strength to cut through a bigger head-and-shoulders neckline resistance (former support). On Bitfinex, prices fell to a six-day low of $1,322.70 today.

Also, of particular interest is dash. The cryptocurrency has replaced IOTA’s place as the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. It’s also the most resilient cryptocurrency of last 24 hours, down only 2 percent, while it ranks third on the list of gainers from the Feb. 6 lows among the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.

Building blocks image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at news@coindesk.com.

Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.

Published at Wed, 21 Feb 2018 12:05:22 +0000

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Palestine May Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency as Sovereign Legal Tender

Palestinian officials are planning for the region of Palestine to receive its own digital currency within the next five years. The motivation for this stems from concerns about potential Israeli interference, Azzam Shawwa, Governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA), told the news agency Reuters.

Palestinians have no sovereign currency of their own and use a combination of different currencies, including the euro, the dollar, the Jordanian dinar and the Israeli shekel, to conduct their daily financial transactions.

Due to the lack of a sovereign currency, Palestinian officials have little control over money supply and inflation. This is why the Palestinian Monetary Authority wants to introduce a bitcoin-like digital currency as the territory’s new legal tender, which will be called “the Palestinian Pound,” according to Shawwa.

It is the Palestinian Monetary Authority’s goal to become a fully-fledged and internationally recognized central bank for an independent Palestine. However, it is still unclear how a digital sovereign currency for Palestinians would sit with the 1994 Paris Protocol agreement. The protocol agreement gives the Palestinian Monetary Authority the functions of a central bank; however, it has not granted the institutions the right to issue its own currency. The Paris protocol recommends the use of the shekel in the region and, thereby, effectively provides Israel with a veto over the establishment of a Palestinian currency.

A sovereign digital currency, though, would make sense for Palestine. Not only would it allow the PMA to have more control over the country’s money supply and inflation, but it would also circumvent the practical challenges of delivering hard currency into the country as the PMA has no money-printing facilities.

“If we print currency, to get it into the country you would always need clearance from the Israelis and that could be an obstacle. So that is why we don’t want to go into it,” Shawwa explained to Reuters.

While the digital Palestinian pound is planned to be issued within the next five years, this will be no easy task for Palestinian authorities, given that the Palestinian Monetary Authority has been trying for over a decade to become an internationally recognized central bank.

Another option for the Palestinian monetary situation would be to keep the current status quo of the four above-mentioned currencies in use or to officially recognize one of the these currencies as the territory’s legal tender. However, a digital sovereign currency would be the preferred choice for Palestine, according to Shawwa.

The post Palestine May Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency as Sovereign Legal Tender appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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