Ripple faces a potential disaster with XRP. Since the SEC announced that it would take action against Ripple, many of the company’s partners have dropped out, distanced themselves from XRP and partially withdrawn from the stock exchanges.

The SEC has brought proceedings against Ripple and its initiators, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, of selling an unregistered security and manipulating the market. This is no less than $ 1.3 billion.

Ripple and XRP are at the fore

The official SEC announcement has spread like wildfire in the community. As a result, the XRP price collapsed extremely and there is no end in sight. Since the peak at the end of November, the ripple price has plummeted by more than 70%. In the Bitcoin exchange pair even by more than 80%.

The sharp slump was mainly associated with various exchanges that have removed XRP from the program for certain regions or entirely. Yesterday, the largest American exchange – Coinbase – also announced that it would stop trading XRP for the time being . As a result, the ripple price collapsed even further.

It is currently not yet clear what will happen to Ripple and the two initiators. It may well be that a large fine has to be paid but XRP is not classified as a security.

On the other hand, there is still the risk that XRP will be classified as a security after all. Such a decision would not only be dramatic for the further price development, but also for Ripple itself. Because the company still lives from the regular sales of its own XRP. This would turn the SEC Ripple off the money.

Ripple about to end?

The XRP Ledger runs relatively independently of Ripple itself, but without the company behind it, with the various software solutions where XRP is used, the XRP Ledger will die in the long term or at least become more and more irrelevant.

Without Ripple and all the partners there is no need for a bridge currency that is highly volatile, depends on the Bitcoin rate, is largely in the hands of a company and was created at the push of a button. We already have more than enough of such cryptocurrencies and none of them represent a revolution or the like.

The dream of a global means of payment or a bridge currency for international payments is currently off the table. There is little hope that the tide will turn for Ripple anytime soon.

In addition, one of Ripple’s most important partners – MoneyGram – has distanced itself from Ripple and XRP .

At the moment one can only wait and warn all investors. There is currently little hope of a swift recovery. The process could take weeks or months and drive the price down further and further.

As always, we will keep you up to date and inform you immediately as soon as there is anything new in relation to the process.

Bitcoin’s price surpassed $20,000 for the first time ever, a historic milestone for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

On December 16, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) reached $20,000 for the first time ever. The historic milestone comes just over two weeks after it surpassed its previous all-time high.

The current rise differs from that of 2017 for several reasons, which could help BTC climb even higher. These include growing institutional demand, an increasingly strong perception among investors of Bitcoin as a store of value, and stronger network fundamentals.

Institutional demand is fomenting Bitcoin’s rise

In December 2017, data suggested that Bitcoin’s rally was fueled by retail and mainstream investors. At that time, CME BTC futures had just launched and the sector was devoid of institutional investment vehicles.

The bull run was predominantly supported by retail investors: it therefore came to an abrupt halt after a sharp sell-off caused by whales.

This time around, platforms focused on institutional investors are seeing explosive growth in trading activity. For example, recently the CME’s BTC futures market recorded an open interest of $1.27 billion, just behind OKEx and the second largest in the global Bitcoin Lifestyle market.

Institutional investors are unlikely to invest in Bitcoin with a short-term strategy. Many increasingly see it as a digital store of value and an alternative to gold.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, the increase in premium relative to Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust suggests that institutions are increasingly seeking exposure to BTC and are willing to pay a higher price than the spot market for this privilege.

BTC is increasingly viewed as a store of value

Both institutions and high net worth investors are beginning to recognize Bitcoin as a store of value and a treasury asset. MicroStrategy, the U.S. company that purchased $450 million in BTC this year, started a trend that has led other institutions to allocate their capital to Bitcoin.

The perception of BTC as a hedge against inflation and a stable store of value could make BTC attractive to the broader financial sector in the medium to long term. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy’s CEO, explained:

„Bitcoin is the best reserve asset and the emerging dominant currency network. It is the solution to the value reserve problem faced by every individual, business and government in the world. As this perception spreads, the world will change for the better.“

At the same time, Bitcoin’s performance has once again outperformed gold and the S&P 500 this year, despite both breaking their respective all-time highs.

So, it’s no surprise that Wall Street is now taking Bitcoin more seriously than it did in 2017. This shift was further demonstrated on December 3, when the S&P 500 announced its plans to launch cryptocurrency indexes next year.

Bitcoin’s fundamentals are stronger than ever before

As reported by Cointelegraph, Bitcoin’s fundamentals have never been stronger, considering that the network currently moves $500,000 per second around the world. In other words, every day Bitcoin transfers a value equivalent to $4.627 billion.

Furthermore, the network is ten times more secure than it was in the last months of 2017, as both hash rate and mining difficulty continue to reach new records this year. The hash rate indicates how much computing power is dedicated to validating Bitcoin transactions and protecting the network.

November er bare stengt, og desember kan være den høyeste volummåneden for Bitcoin. Etter å ha brutt alle psykologiske og tekniske prisbarrierer, handler Bitcoin nå over $ 18700-nivået. Da prisen krysset forrige ATH og traff en ny ATH, var handelsvolumet på topp på børsene. November avsluttet med et smell som den tredje høyeste volummåneden noensinne. Omtrent 270 milliarder dollar så langt. Den største måneden noensinne var i januar 2018 med ~ 308 milliarder dollar. Hvis trenden fortsetter, kan desember være volumet helt for Bitcoin.

Spot exchange-volumet er konstant over $ 100 milliarder dollar de siste 4 månedene, og et tillegg på nesten $ 30 milliarder i markedsverdi tok markedsverdien til en ny ATH. En viktig utvikling som tar oss $ 530 millioner nærmere dette, er Guggenheims interesse for å investere gjennom Bitcoin Up. Institusjonelle investorer har ikke begynt å trekke seg fra børsene ennå, og til tross for økningen i likviditet genereres det tilstrekkelig etterspørsel. Gråtoner har fortsatt systematisk kjøp, de har lagt til flere andre kryptovalutaer – altcoins, basert på markedsverdi i porteføljen.

CT-påvirkere og Gemini Exchange-grunnleggerne Winklevoss tvillinger i et nylig intervju hevdet at de er positive til at gullflippingen vil skje, BTCs markedsverdi vil overstige gullpris og prisen vil slå $ 500000. Videre, når de ble spurt om hva de har gjort de siste 8 månedene, sa de at de har vært HODLing. Å kjøpe over $ 18000 er et godt kjøp ifølge @TylerWinklevoss.

Prisen har krysset $ 18 000 flere ganger og opprettholdt på det nivået, i motsetning til 80% fall i prisen innen få timer. Den krysset forrige ATH på de fleste børser og traff en ny ATH over $ 19800. Prisen er nå på vei til $ 20000, men likviditeten på spotbørser må absorberes av etterspørselen. Det ville sikre en lang og vedvarende prisoppgang.

Dette var et betydelig gjennombrudd for samfunnet, og det er mer i fortellingen foreslått av Maxis. Tallene støtter disse påstandene, og i motsetning til hva papirboken leser „P2P digital electronic cash system“, i tider med inflasjon, fiat-svekkelse og bankkrise, kan den nåværende fasen av „value store“ snart erstattes av den tidligere.

Efter det senaste steget till $ 16,1 000 har Bitcoin återhämtat sig och nästan 18 000 dollar igen efter att ha sjunkit nära 15 000 dollar och tappat närmare hela tiden på cirka 20 000 dollar. Den digitala tillgången verkar ostoppbar under de senaste veckorna och klättrar högre varje dag med bara några få perioder.

Ändå verkar detta tjurrally mycket hälsosammare än 2017/18 eftersom det är mer kontrollerat och det finns för närvarande mycket mer handelsvolym på marknaden

En av de viktigaste gnistorna i den här nya körningen var stödet av kryptovalutor från PayPal , en av de största betalningsleverantörerna i världen.

Volatiliteten på kryptovalutamarknaden är extremt hög just nu med vissa altcoins som hoppar upp och ner med mer än 20% inom några timmar. Ett av de mest framträdande exemplen är XRP som hade en vild 163% -körning under de senaste 5 dagarna för att nå en topp på 0,78 $.

Börsvärdet för Bitcoin nådde nyligen 353 miljarder dollar för första gången någonsin och översteg JPMorgans till 352 miljarder dollar. Jamie Dimon, VD för JPMorgan har varit en framstående kritiker och hatare av Bitcoin och kryptovalutor i allmänhet kallar dem ett ‚bedrägeri‘ .

Bitcoin har överträffat nästan alla andra tillgångar på marknaden som guld, S&P 500 och andra vanliga investeringsalternativ som råvaror eller amerikanska statsobligationer.

Vad är nästa för Bitcoin och kryptovalutamarknaden?

Bitcoin dominerade marknaden men har tappat en stor del av sin andel från en topp på 66% den 19 november till ett nuvarande låg på 61,8% eftersom andra altcoins som XRP, ETH och LTC också har samlats. Det totala marknadsvärdet på marknaden exklusive Bitcoin har hoppat med 57 miljarder dollar under den senaste veckan, vilket tyder på att kanske “ altsäsongen “ kommer tillbaka när BTCs dominans minskar.

Bitcoin verkar bara stå inför ett stort hinder på 19 891 dollar på Bitfinex och liknande priser på andra börser. Att knäcka hela tiden kan vara en stor gnista från nästa FOMO-våg, vilket potentiellt kan driva Bitcoins pris mot $ 25.000.

Varken MACD eller RSI är lika höga som de var tillbaka under 2017 under den senaste tjurrallyt, vilket tyder på att kanske BTC-priset har mycket mer utrymme att växa trots att vara nära rekordhöga.

Bitcoin in the starting blocks? – BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $ 7.4 trillion in assets under management. If the global giant had hardly spoken about Bitcoin and cryptos, things seem to change if we refer to the last speech of its CEO.

Bitcoin spotlighted by Larry Fink

Until recently, the rare comments from senior members of BlackRock were very cautious, if not disinterested , to say the least , regarding cryptocurrencies .

Larry Fink , the CEO of BlackRock, who was however the first to criticize the interest of cryptos (except for blockchain technology ), has just given a completely different story during the Council on Foreign Relations , reported by the CNBC channel .

The businessman began by explaining that although the crypto-asset market is still underexploited and unknown , more and more investors are interested:

“Bitcoin has caught the attention and imagination of many people. This market has not yet proven itself and remains quite small compared to other markets. “

Huge potential for Bitcoin and the crypto market

Where the statements of BlackRock’s top executive get interesting is when he admits that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could become a global market asset class :

“You see these really big movements [of money] every day. Still, it’s a tight market. Can it evolve into a global market? It’s possible. “

What even to question the omnipotence of the American dollar , since Larry Fink wonders:

“Does this change the need for the dollar as a reserve currency? Having a digital currency [like Bitcoin] has a real impact on the US dollar (…) it makes the latter less relevant [for foreign holders]. “

The CEO of BlackRock is he not, before our amazed eyes, starting to have the same opinion as the CEO of MicroStrategy , Michael Saylor , whose company is shedding US dollars to replace them with hard bitcoins and stumbling?

In addition, a few weeks ago, Rick Rieder , the investment director of BlackRock, was also very optimistic about the future of Bitcoin, believing that the king of cryptos could even go so far as to „replace gold ” .

Am Dienstag (1. Dezember) teilte der Milliardär Mike Novogratz seine neuesten Gedanken zu Bitcoin und Kryptowährung im Allgemeinen mit. Seine Kommentare kamen während eines Interviews mit Andrew Ross Sorkin in der „Squawk Box“ von CNBC.

Manager Novogratz ist Gründer und CEO von Galaxy Digital

Der ehemalige Hedge-Fonds-Manager Novogratz ist Gründer und CEO von Galaxy Digital, „einem diversifizierten Finanzdienstleistungs- und Investmentmanagement-Innovator im Bereich digitaler Vermögenswerte, Kryptowährung und Blockchain-Technologie“.

Sorkin begann, indem er Novogrtaz fragte, ob er zustimme, dass Geld aus traditionellen Vermögenswerten wie Gold in digitale Spiele wie Bitcoin transferiert werde und wie sinnvoll dies sei.

Novogratz antwortete:

„Es ist bedeutungsvoll, aber es ist nicht die wahre Geschichte. Die wahre Geschichte ist die Einführung von Bitcoin, die Einführung von Krypto auf einer Vielzahl von Konten… es ist nur eine Litanei institutioneller Anleger, die ihre Meinung ändern oder erkennen, dass es jetzt an der Zeit ist. Es gibt genug Liquidität, um Bitcoin daran teilhaben zu lassen“.

Sorkin wies Novogratz dann darauf hin, dass nicht alle institutionellen Anleger Bitcoin tatsächlich kaufen und dass es in der Tat so aussieht, als würden sie Bitcoin hauptsächlich indirekt über Aktien des Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) kaufen. (GBTC ist eher über traditionelle Maklerfirmen als über Krypto-Börsen erhältlich).

sagte Novogratz:

„Ja, hören Sie, wenn Bitcoin einfach zu kaufen gewesen wäre, wäre der Preis viel höher gewesen, und so war Grayscale Trust eine sehr interessante Möglichkeit für die Leute, eine ETF-ähnliche Exponierung zu erhalten. Es ist kein ETF, aber es ist wie ein ETF… und das ist also der einfachere Weg.

„Sie sehen jetzt mehr und mehr institutionelle Wege, aber wir haben einen Fonds. Es gibt viele andere Fonds, die auf Institutionen ausgerichtet sind, und wir sehen, dass die Aktivität in diesen Fonds ebenfalls zu wachsen beginnt…

„Die großen Hedge-Fonds werden Bitcoin am Ende selbst kaufen, und sie werden es verwahren… Und so sehen Sie die Entwicklung dieser Industrie, und sie beschleunigt sich in beschleunigter Weise.

Wie Novogratz zum ersten Mal in die Kryptotechnik eingestiegen ist

Letzten Monat sprach Novogratz in einem Interview mit Alex Saunders in Folge E734 des Krypto-Podcasts „Nugget’s News“ darüber, wie er zum ersten Mal in die Kryptotechnik eingestiegen ist und wie viel er damals für eine Bitmünze bezahlt hat:

„Ich erhielt einen Anruf von einem Freund von mir. Er fragte mich nach Bitcoin, und ich hatte noch nie davon gehört. Er war an die Westküste gezogen – alle sprachen über Bitcoin – und so recherchierte ich 15 Minuten lang und dachte: „Ah, coole Technologie, die Libertären mögen sie“…

„Das war im Jahr 2012. Wir befinden uns in der europäischen Finanzkrise. Die Chinesen kauften … daher lagen meine ersten Käufe von Bitcoin bei etwa 95 Dollar, und sie waren sehr spekulativ. Ich kaufte es, weil ich dachte, es würde steigen.

„Und als ich anfing, es mir anzuschauen und mich hineinzugraben, dachte ich, das könnte cool sein. Also rief ich einen Freund von mir – Dan Moorhead von Pantera [Capital] – an, bei dem ich investiert hatte, als er einige Jahre zuvor einen Makrofonds verwaltete. Ich half, seinen Makro-Fonds zu gründen…

Ich sagte:

„Morehead, schauen Sie sich das an; ich habe nicht genug Zeit. Und nach zwei Wochen rief er mich zurück und sagte ‚Alter, das wird die Welt verändern’… Also beschlossen wir – Pete Briger, mein anderer Partner, ich selbst und Dan -, dass wir einen Haufen Bitcoin kaufen würden, und zu Dans Gunsten kaufte er eine Menge. Wir waren damals viel reicher als Dan, und so kaufte er eine Menge Bitcoin – etwa dreißigtausend Bitcoin – für sich selbst, und so sagten wir: „Ich werde 30.001 $ haben, weil wir ihm nicht mehr geben konnten als wir hatten; also sind wir ungefähr alle ungefähr gleich“.

Spain has just approved a law that will allow companies in the FinTech and blockchain sector to develop more efficiently.

A vote to determine the future of the FinTech and blockchain sector in Spain

As reported by the Spanish FinTech and InsurTech Association (AEFI), it was for the Spanish Senators to approve a „sandbox“, that is to say a sandbox where companies in the sector can develop . FinTech and blockchain companies will therefore benefit from an environment favorable to innovation, as the association confirms:

“The Senate Committee on Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has definitively approved the law for the digital transformation of the financial sector . “

The aim is to reduce the barriers that prevent FinTech and blockchain companies from evolving in Spain, while promoting greater competition . The project dates from 2017, so it took three years for the Senate committee to approve it definitively.

Create jobs

The association estimates that this step forward will create nearly 5,000 direct jobs in the FinTech ecosystem. It is also more than one billion euros of additional investment which is expected for the sector in the coming years. Notably, the sandbox thus developed will be open to FinTech and blockchain companies from across the European Union , and not just from Spain.

Rodrigo García de la Cruz, President of AEFI, welcomed what he sees as a particularly important moment:

‚ C‘ is a historic day for the sector of the End T ech , the approval of the Sandbox is definitely the biggest step that Spain will overcome in terms of financial innovation. The Sandbox is synonymous with talent retention, promotion of innovation, attraction of art investment and e progression regulations for the sector. It is a boost to position Spain as the European continental leader . „

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has once again made a link between cryptocurrencies and terrorist financing. But this time, he got tackled by Cyril Paglino, the creator of Starchain Capital.

The Minister of Finance spoke on the subject of cryptocurrencies on the set of Dimanche en politique on France 3. Asked about the financing of terrorism , Bruno Le Maire points to a ready-made culprit: cryptocurrencies.

Bruno Le Maire unfolds a scenario where a radicalized person would finance Islamist associations abroad:

“I’ll give an example: cryptocurrencies. You can go and collect 150 euros in a tobacco bar, then 150 euros in another tobacco bar, ultimately collecting a large sum […] that an Islamist association or a fighter located abroad can withdraw in cash , abroad without any trace . “

Willingly or not, the Minister of Finance does not bother with details. In his scenario, it is possible to cash out cryptocurrency anywhere in the world. In practice, this is of course not the case. In addition, companies that allow Bitcoin Era to be purchased in the form of coupons in tobacco shops … Have particularly thorough identification measures , so there is no anonymity when buying cryptocurrencies from this way.

It will also be recalled that for the moment, only BTC is accessible by this means. And it is by nature very traceable, since all transactions are recorded in a distributed ledger . In the event that a person managed to buy Bitcoin anonymously, the transaction would still be visible.

The reality is more complex

The Minister of Finance concludes, however:

“Cryptocurrencies pose a real problem in the financing of terrorism, I have been saying this for years.“

Except that the reality is much more mixed. If terrorist groups have shown an interest in cryptocurrencies, they are not really using them for the moment , because they remain difficult to convert into fiat. Most of the time, these are assumptions on the part of politicians, who believe that terrorist groups could use cryptocurrencies heavily in the future. Like a year ago, when the Secretary General of the Treasury of the United States explained at a conference :

“ Although most terrorist groups rely primarily on the traditional financial system and cash to transfer their funds, cryptocurrencies could become the new frontier .”

Cyril Paglino tackles Bruno Le Maire

This is what displeased Cyril Paglino. The former Secret Story participant made a name for himself in the French-speaking crypto sphere by founding Starchain Capital and by participating in the development of the startup incubator The Garage .

On Twitter, he explained to Bruno Le Maire the limits of his argument:

As the crypto community keeps repeating, cash is not banned, on the pretext that it is almost untraceable and that it can be traded freely. Why then want to do it with cryptocurrencies?

Paglino also recalls that the classic financial system, including large banks, has rather dirty hands when it comes to the financing of terrorism:

So yes, it is important to prevent terrorist groups from financing themselves as much as possible. But to mention cryptocurrencies as a major axis of terrorist financing is simply wrong. So is it really a desire to prevent the financing of terrorism, or a way to point the finger at an easy target? After all, cryptocurrencies are just starting to shed their bad reputation.

We can therefore doubt the effectiveness of this type of maneuver on the financing of terrorism. And regret once again the lack of openness of Bruno Le Maire and the French government in the area of ​​cryptocurrencies.