In the past seven days, the valuation of the crypto market dropped from $184 billion to $138 billion, by more than $46 billion. The cryptocurrency market experienced one of the worst weekly sell-offs in all of 2018, and the prices of major digital assets like bitcoin have dropped by around 75 percent to 85 percent
The post appeared first on
In the last 24 hours, more than $6 billion was wiped out of the cryptocurrency market as bitcoin (BTC), the most dominant cryptocurrency in the market, recorded a loss of 8.6 percent from $4,500 to $4,110. On fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, the price of BTC reached a new weekly low at around
The post appeared first on
and the IMF’s association has finally been revealed. At the Fintech Festival earlier this month, the two were represented in conversation and collaboration. chairwoman gave a sweeping speech endorsing digital currencies, perhaps even vaguely describing XPR in particular. The two have already shared a history, especially through Ripple’s work with central banks.
Ripple and IMF meet in Fintech Festival
On November 12th at the 2018 Singapore Fintech Festival, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared the stage with IMF’s Ross Leckow. They discussed the role of blockchain in the Fintech industry, focusing on the ASEAN region. They agreed that it is a game-changer in the system of global payments.
Garlinghouse that blockchain will have a lasting impact on the global financial sector: “We must totally change the nature of how payments flow around the world. We must remove the friction and make the stream of value more instantaneous and reliable.”
The conversation between the two organizations is not new, but is more prominent and public than ever before. The plot thickens:
IMF speech endorses digital currencies (and Ripple?)
The next day at the Fintech Festival, the IMF held and published a what may be a historical at the Fintech Festival. The mighty and monolithic financial superpower the IMF has publicly announced it will change with the time, and embrace digital currencies.
In her speech, IMF’s managing director and chairwoman Christine Lagarde urged central banks follow “the winds of change” and consider issuing their own digital currencies.
“I believe we should consider the possibility to issue digital currency. There may be a role for the state to supply money to the digital economy,” Lagarde adds. This would would answer to the public policy goals financial inclusion, security and consumer protection, and provide privacy in payments.
The IMF suddenly highlights the importance of “being open to change, embracing change, shaping change. Technology will change, and so must we.” – If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
It is even that Lagarde even refers to Ripple’s micropayment application, , when she says that the IMF expects money to become more convenient – “readily available for online and person-to-person use, including micro-payments.” She continues to say that currency is expected to be “cheap and safe, protected against criminals and prying eyes.” With Ripple having significantly it seems to be painted as an ideal of the future of international currency.
Ripple supports central banks to use digital currency
Ripple’s digital currency acts as a bridge between fiat and cryptocurrencies, to be used by banks and payment providers. xRapid, Ripple’s liquidity solution for banks, is cooperating with payment providers Mercury FX and Cuallix, as well as cooperative financial firm Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union. The qualities designed for this XRP are to enable central banks to carry out international transactions as seamlessly as possible. This means fast and cheap international transactions, with a low impact of volatility.
Asheesh Birla, Ripple’s senior vice president of product, : “Here’s something where we’re finding a ton of value and providing a ton of value to our customers using digital assets to move money more efficiently.” The commercial application of XRP in transnational financial services is “a critical milestone in Ripple’s bid to make cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology a part of the financial mainstream.”
Ripple’s CEO Garlinghouse has affirmed he believes will use XRP by the this time next year. Meanwhile, in the Bangkok Fintech Fair earlier this year it was that Ripple is already working with 40-50 banks.
One year ago, Ripple hosted tens of the world’s central banks at the Central Bank Summit to explore the future of international payments. Garlinghouse at the event:
“The Summit provided an opportunity to explore the full payments landscape: central banks’ domestic trials, Ripple’s growing cross-border network and interoperability across systems. Together, these form the beginning of an Internet of Value, where payments move as easily as the data across the internet.”
Ripple is acting at the central link to connect between the traditional banking system and the fast-developing blockchained currencies. And who is behind all the central banks? The IMF. The IMF works closely with central banks and international loans, playing a decisive role in the global economy. By working closely with central banks, Ripple is inevitably working with the higher power of the IMF.
Ripple is trickling into the depth of the global financial system where it may be establishing a firm grip. Are we facing a new superpower collaboration?
The post appeared first on .
The sentiment on November 21, 2017 was pretty different from today’s tone. Today sees bitcoin looking for a price bottom, lurking around according to Blockmodo at the time of this writing.
The much anticipated Bakkt exchange has delayed its launch. The SEC has yet to approve a bitcoin ETF, after rejecting proposal after proposal. Sentiment may be doubtful currently, as the public looks toward the end of a tough year for crypto.
However, last year around this time was very much a different story.
November 21, 2017
Last year on this date, bitcoin was almost double its current price, at just over , according to Coinmarketcap.com data. Crypto folks looked with optimism toward the release of CME and CBOE bitcoin futures trading in .
The overall cryptocurrency market cap was just over , compared to about $148 billion seen today. Coinmarketcap.com’s taken on Nov. 26, 2017 saw ETH priced at $460, BCH at $1587, and XRP at $0.25.
bitcoin Gold Fork
Very surprisingly, bitcoin Gold (BTG) ranked 5th in overall in market cap, at a price of $352. bitcoin Gold was a result of a bitcoin fork that took place last October. This last October led to significant price action for bitcoin, as people bought the coin, received their free forked currency, and then their bitcoin shortly after.
bitcoin SegWit2x Fork
Forks filled the fall season last year. bitcoin Cash in late summer, and then bitcoin Gold in October. There was also one other highly anticipated fork, which was supposed to take place last fall close to .
However, this fork was actually cancelled in what was seen as a controversial fork and decision. The fork was cancelled several days before the anticipated date. According to a Tech Crunch from last November, “[t]he SegWit2x fork should have increased the block size to 2 megabytes”. The article talks about the block size controversy, mentioning that such a change could have potentially divided the bitcoin community.
Similar To Now?
The SegWit2x controversy last year coincidently relates to what is happening in the bitcoin Cash community right now.
Last , bitcoin forked into two coins – BTC and BCH. This was due to a debate on bitcoin’s ability to scale properly.
Since that time, the bitcoin Cash community has argued for bitcoin scaling via larger block size. bitcoin Cash even increased its block size to blocks earlier this year in May.
However, the community (and coin) has even recently, dividing into bitcoin ABC and bitcoin SV. The bitcoin SV side sees blocks as the answer (among other implemented aspects).
It’s interesting to see this argument still in play over a year later, with regards to block size.
A plethora of bitcoin forks have entered the market over the past year, for one reason or another. One by thenextweb.com from May of this year, mentions -“bitcoin alone has seen 44 forks of its blockchain since August last year, to BitMEX Research”. The article goes on to explain that many of these forks may simply be a money grab utilizing the bitcoin brand.
The market is in a different place this year in regards to sentiment and price. But apparently the block size war still wages on in the bitcoin Cash community, among other disagreements.
*Crypto Insider is sponsored in part by Blockmodo. as part of our arrangement with them, Crypto Insider may occasionally link to, and quote, Blockmodo when appropriate. this is done at the discretion of our staff. Crypto Insider sponsors have no say in any of our editorial decisions.
The post appeared first on .
