Bitcoin Crashes To Yearly Low And Kik Is Going After The SEC

The State of The Market — January 28, 2018BTC: $3,462.27 (-3.30%)XRP: $0.291639 (-5.92%)ETH: $105.14 (-8.15%)

After nearly two months of stability, the market crashed today with Bitcoin reaching a low of $3,450. Bitcoin failed to cross $3,600 and bears gained control. Bitcoin has now reached a one-month low and its lowest in 2019. Along with Bitcoin, all of the top 25 cryptocurrencies are flashing red right now. Over $6 Billion was wiped off from the total crypto market cap which is at $113 Billion. Bitcoin could continue to fall and test its support at $3,000 once again.

In other news, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has confirmed that Binance DEX will permit users to retain full control of their private keys when interacting with Binance DEX. CZ tweeted that “Binance DEX will support hardware wallets from day one of launch” and while CZ did not pinpoint which wallets will be supported, a safe guess would be that Trezor, Ledger, and KeepKey will be supported. Also, over the weekend, LocalBitcoins’ security was compromised, and users lost nearly 8 BTC (approx. $28,000) to an unknown hacked in a phishing attack. The peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange has now published a statement that there was a problem with a feature related to a third party software which was exploited. The exchange has been able to find only 6 confirmed cases of affected users. The problem has been fixed, and outgoing transactions have resumed once again.

1) Ted Livingston, the CEO of Canadian messaging app Kik Interactive Inc, has said that he will take the SEC to court over the looming possibility of enforcement against the startup for its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) for the company’s cryptocurrency called Kin. A Kik spokesperson said that the stakes are high for the entire crypto-sector and the representative said that while they are unsure of how the SEC will vote, it’s highly plausible that “any enforcement action against Kik, Kin, and the foundation would be detrimental to the entire cryptocurrency industry.” Livingston said that ICOs and the SEC are “the thing that everyone in the industry is dealing with, but nobody wants to talk about” and he emphasized the importance of dealing with this issue in order for crypto-startups to “continue hiring, innovating, and competing”. Livingston also argued that the SEC’s argument that Kin is a security is baseless and incorrect as “Kin was designed, marketed and offered as a currency to be used as a medium of exchange within a new digital economy.” (Read More)

2) Iran could release its state-backed digital currency at Tehran’s Electronic Banking and Payment Systems event which is to be held this week, according to an Al Jazeera report on 27th January. The cryptocurrency is expected to skirt US economic sanctions on the country and be an alternative to SWIFT. Russia and Armenia are also to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as an alternative to SWIFT. Although it is unclear whether there will be a large scale adoption of the crypto-rial, it will be used locally for consumer payments. In December 2018, the United States lawmakers stated that they would sanction Iran’s state-backed digital asset. (Read More)

3) Ripple has launched a new accelerator program for new banks joining the RippleNet. These financial institutions are required to be market leaders in the processing and promotion of transactions on RippleNet. Their rewards will be processed through an adoption market incentive and volume rebates. For the case of an adoption marketing incentive, Ripple will match the marketing costs in XRP or USD of institutions which promote their solutions to their users. On the other hand, volume rebates will provide fees to institutions which reach integration and volume targets before set deadlines. This program has been funded by XRP worth $300 million. (Read More)

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