After remaining range-bound for more than two weeks, the cryptocurrency entered a correction phase yesterday. Bitcoin (BTC) lost nearly 8% in a matter of hours to trade at $9,712.87. Correspondingly, the market cap declined to $174.18 billion. Likewise, Ethereum (ETH) has lost 3.7% in the past 24 hours to trade at $201.30. Interestingly, Ether still trades with a weekly gain of 1.7%. XRP, the native currency of Ripple, has lost 2.2% to trade at $0.2686. Similar to Ether, XRP is trading with a weekly gain of 2.8%. Other altcoins which have lost in the past 24 hours include EOS (EOS-$3.69, -2.4%), Bitcoin Cash ($291.29, -4.7%), Huobi (HT-$3.82, -5%), Ethereum Classic (ETC-$5.77, -3.2%), and Cosmos (ATOM-$2.54, -10.9%), Tron (TRX-$0.0159, -4.7%), LEO (LEO – $1.05, -2.0%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0464, -4.4%), Binance Coin (BNB-$19.28, -3.9%), Monero (XMR-$68.45, -4.5%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0637, -5.1%), OKB (OKB-$2.60, -3.3%), Litecoin (LTC-$66.89, -7.5%), Dash (DASH-$87.08, -2.6%). Altcoins which have appreciated in the past 24 hours include IOTA (IOTA-$0.2807, 1.1%), CainLink (LINK-$1.82, 1.20%), and Tezos (XTZ-$1.09, 3.5%).
Government level initiatives
The Malaysian Ministry of Education presents E-Skrol
E-Skrol, the blockchain technology-based software developed and deployed on the NEM blockchain to combat the challenge of educational certificate fraud, was launched by the Malaysian Ministry of Education. Degree certificates issued by local universities can now be screened using E-Skrol.
Everyone across the world can check the information of a student who graduated from a Malaysian university, including name, graduation period, degree, and other relevant details by using the app to scan the QR code, Minister of Education Dr. Maszlee Malik said.
At the event marking the official launch of the E-Skrol platform for graduates, the minister stated that the problem of fraudulent degrees had an adverse effect on the national university education model.
“There are people who latch on to the reputation of Malaysian public universities to improve their profiles by displaying fake certificates. I believe the blockchain application can change this situation,” he said in his speech which was read out by Higher Education director-general Datuk Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir.
Private sector initiatives
Marco Polo Network signs up Bank of America as a member
Marco Polo Network, which is based on R3’s enterprise-level platform Corda, has signed up Bank of America as its latest member. The partnership intends to address “trade finance challenges.”
Specifically, Marco Polo stated that the multinational financial institution has joined its network to enhance global trade incompetence and provide a better facility for its clients. Regarding the decision to join Marco Polo Network, Geoff Brady, head of global trade at Bank of America, said: “Joining the Marco Polo Network supports our strategic objective of turning technology advances into trade solutions that address client needs. We look forward to exploring how the new technology can generate greater transparency for our clients throughout the transaction lifecycle, making traditionally paper-based, opaque processes easier and more efficient.”
Daniel Cotti, managing director for the Marco Polo Network, stated that he looks forward to working with Bank of America to resolve crucial market conundrums.
Verizon receives patent to replace regular SIM cards with virtual one’s
Verizon, a leading communications and technology firm, has received a patent for utilizing virtual subscriber identity modules (vSIMs) for clients’ gadgets. A US Patent and Trademark Office filing explains a blockchain encryption technology, which facilitates replacing a traditional SIM card with a virtual software-based SIM.
The filing asserts that the virtual software-based SIM guarantees better safety as there can be only one copy of such a vSIM at any given time in a device. The document further elaborates as follows:
“The network device initiates the creation of a blockchain including a vSIM certificate for the network services, wherein the vSIM certificate includes an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). […] The vSIM can be retrieved and used by anyone of different devices associated with the user account, transferred between devices associated with the same user account, or temporarily assigned to other users.”
vSIMs are safeguarded with a distinct authentication code, which prevents any other person from gaining access if the authentication code obtained from a client’s gadget does not tally with the authentication code registered with the vSIM system.
Miscellaneous
The CME Group to launch options contracts on Bitcoin in 2020
The Chicago Mercantile (CME) Group is launching option contracts on Bitcoin (BTC) in the first quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval. In this regard, Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products, stated as follows: “Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures markets, we believe the launch of options will provide our clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk.”
McCourt further stated that the new tradable assets are aimed to assist institutions and large traders in managing their Bitcoin volatility risk in the spot market. Options contract also enables Bitcoin futures traders to hedge their positions in a regulated exchange environment.
Since the introduction of Bitcoin futures on the exchange in December 2017, there have been 20 fruitful expiration settlements, with over 3,300 individual accounts involved in buying and selling the product.
As of date, 7,000 CME Bitcoin futures contracts, equivalent to approximately 35,000 BTC, have changed hands on average every day.
For customers, who hedge or trade benchmark options or futures over a range of asset classes, CME Group points out that it has recorded an average daily volume of 4.30 million so far in 2019. In the meantime, institutional interest in CME Bitcoin futures recorded a high in early summer 2019, with the number of large open interest holders reaching 56 in July.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
