The cryptocurrency market has turned bearish once again, with Bitcoin (BTC) failing to sustain above $8,300 levels. At the time of writing this article, the cryptocurrency has lost 3.7% to trade at $7,965. Likewise, Ether (ETH) has lost 3.2% to trade at $140.18. XRP, which gained over 11% two days ago, has lost 2.7% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.2068.
Other major altcoins, which have gained in the past 24 hours include Tron (TRX-$0.0139, -3.4%), Litecoin (LTC-$45.16, -5.9%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0479, -1.3%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$238.68, -2.9%), LEO (LEO-$0.8915, -0.7%), Dash (DASH-$52.73, -4.3%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.1807, -3.2%), OKB (OKB-$2.79, -4.7%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0359, -4.6%), EOS (EOS-$2.75, -5.3%), Huobi (HT-$3.03, -4.7%), ChainLink (LINK-$2.14, -1.3%), Monero (XMR-$57.56, -1.2%), Cosmos (ATOM, $4.03, -2.1%) and Binance Coin (BNB-$14.44, -4.3%). The altcoins, which have gained in the past 24 hours include Ethereum Classic (ETC-$5.08, 3.5%) and Tezos (XTZ-1.35, 1.1%).
Government level initiatives
Turkey’s CMB looking at guidelines to oversee the crypto market
Turkey’s financial market regulatory body, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB), is working on rules to follow, audit, and oversee the crypto markets. Government authorities are concerned about the safety of its citizens investing in crypto markets. The government instructed CMB to create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector. As per the government’s directive, in 2020, CMB intends to step up its efforts to audit and regulate cryptocurrency markets in Turkey.
Huobi Turkey General Manager Alphan Gogus opined that a regulatory framework would prevent the negative impact of bad practices prevalent across the cryptocurrency sector and promote cooperation with financial firms.
Private sector initiatives
Caixa now has We.trade to offer its clients
Spanish bank Caixa is now offering the blockchain-based finance platform We.trade to its customers. With this, CaixaBank has turned out to be the first bank in Europe to provide clients with access to blockchain technology. In 2017, We.trade, a finance solution powered by blockchain technology, was developed by IBM in partnership with an association of 15 financial institutions across Europe.
Some of the prominent organizations involved in the development include Societe Generale and UBS. The blockchain platform offers companies a digital, trustless platform for validating financial data. We.trade’s open API architecture allows it to monitor goods shipped by roughly 400 logistics firms, having access to the platform, across Europe.
We.trade utilizes blockchain to facilitate a transaction between buyers and sellers on a single, common platform. We.trade creates smart contracts that connect the shipping with loan or payment, thereby avoiding the risk of default by buyers.
CaixaBank became a member of the We.trade consortium in October 2018. The bank is giving the We.trade platform access to its 15.80 million customers to ensure transactions become traceable and safe.
CaixaBank detailed on the platform enabling live tracking of transactions: “Specifically, the solution provides real-time monitoring of transactions, which increases transparency throughout the process. Since it is a platform that can only be accessed by customers who are verified and authenticated by the member banks, the security and trust element of the transactions is very high.”
Bithumb launches a blockchain and crypto research facility – a first for South Korea
Bithumb, the South Korean crypto exchange, has set up its own research and development (R&D) center. The attempt makes Bithumb the first enterprise with a blockchain and cryptocurrency research facility in South Korea. Bithumb voiced huge expectations for the research center’s implications on the company’s future: “Bithumb will become a leading company in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem by strengthening its own R&D capabilities.”
The latest R&D center will hire about 30 people and will begin its operations in January. Bithumb’s research staff will explore system architecture layout to improve public transaction scrutiny and safety of cryptocurrency private keys. The architecture research group will concentrate on systems that facilitate high-efficiency transactions that can handle the large inflow of orders.
Bithumb also intends to scrutinize blockchain to segregate crypto trades and build a system for client address creation such that it permits exchange-based deposits and withdrawals.
The exchange intends to build safety improvement technologies associated with encryption, segregation of functions, and deployment of validation systems that permit the safe holding and utilization of private keys. Bithumb’s research staff will also initiate tasks related to high throughput data exchange between databases and blockchains.
Furthermore, the team has been allocated the job of developing an application programming interface (API) for its cryptocurrency trading platform and overhauling of its matching engine.
Whinstone Inc. joins forces with SBI and GMO to operate a Bitcoin mining site
Whinstone Inc., which is owned and administered by Frankfurt-based Northern Bitcoin AG, has entered into a contract with Japan’s financial service provider SBI and internet provider and infrastructure developer GMO to operate a Bitcoin mining site that is planned to be established in Rockdale, Texas. If the deal becomes a reality, then it will turn out to be the largest Bitcoin mining center in the world.
Established in 2014, Whinstone is well experienced in operating Bitcoin mining sites. It currently operates mining facilities in Sweden, Netherlands, and the US. The company merged with Northern Bitcoin in November 2019 when the latter revealed its intention to establish “the largest data center in North America and the largest Bitcoin mining facility in the world,” covering an area of more than 40 hectares. The planned site will initially operate with a capacity of 300 megawatts and steadily raise it to 1 gigawatt by the end of 2020.
The planned facility would be thrice the size of the current largest Bitcoin mining center that exists in Rockdale which is operated by China’s Bitmain Technologies Ltd. Notably, the mining center was established at the site where Alcoa’s aluminum smelting was operating decades before.
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.
