The market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market continues to hover around $400 billion for the past week. While there were minor price corrections in some well-known crypto tokens, the market as a whole remains steady. There were also interesting developments in the field of blockchain technology.
According to information revealed by USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office), Mastercard has filed a patent application for a system, which speeds up the activation of new nodes in a blockchain. Furthermore, the patent application also describes a custom-built software that can improve the efficiency of a blockchain by performing functions such as hashing, querying, and other signatory operations.
To protect consumers from falling into traps laid down by scammers in the cryptocurrency market, the US FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is planning to hold a free workshop titled “Decrypting cryptocurrency scams.” The workshop will educate the public about the risks involved in the cryptocurrency sector. The participants include consumer groups, research organizations, law enforcement bodies, private sector enterprises, and research organizations. The public will be clearly taught how scammers take advantage of unsuspicious investors.
Following Venezuela’s launch of the state-backed cryptocurrency Petro, Iran is going forward to create an experimental domestic cryptocurrency. The country’s national currency rial has lost more than 50% of its value in the past nine months. Iran is concerned about the possible restoration of sanctions by US President Donald Trump by May 12. This would derail the 2015 pact signed between the US and six global powers.
Representatives of 25 countries who met in Tokyo last year to discuss the creation of International Standards for blockchain had a rude shock when they came to know that the Russian delegation is led by Grigory Marshalko, a former intelligence agency (FSB) officer. When the other dignitaries who had assembled for the meeting at the International Standard Organization asked the reason for the FSB agents to devout their time for blockchain technology, the Russian agents stated “Look, the internet belongs to the Americans — but blockchain will belong to us.”
Bitcoin (BTC)
According to a report on money laundering and terrorism financing, released by the Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is not linked to financial crimes. In the US, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has mentioned that Bitcoin shares three main qualities of fiat currencies: zero intrinsic value, limited supply, and no middlemen.
The report clearly explains how the qualities of Bitcoin are astonishingly similar to the US dollar. Likewise, Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, opined that Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies have features of three asset classes. According to him, Bitcoin is a part currency, part digital coin, and part security.
Ethereum (ETH)
Hong Kong-based third-largest cryptocurrency exchange OKEx suspended deposits after it found out that hackers have exploited a bug on the Ethereum platform, which supports numerous cryptocurrencies based on the ERC 20 standard. The hackers exploited the “batchOverflow” mechanism in the smart contract to generate a pile of tokens and direct it to their own wallets.
OKEx suspended trading, deposits, and withdrawals. The incident once again reminds the fact that blockchain is still a nascent technology. However, optimists believe that cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum have a great future. The consultancy firm deVere has recently forecast a price of $2,500 for Ether.
Our Forex Trading Plan
Bitcoin. After gaining about 35% in the past two weeks, Bitcoin (BTC) seems to be facing selling pressure. The cryptocurrency is struggling to stay above $9,000. Furthermore, the stochastic oscillator is making lower highs. Therefore, we are expecting Bitcoin to lose value in the near future.
Using one of our trading accounts with a Forex broker, we are planning to open a short position in Bitcoin at around 9,100 levels. To minimize risk, we would place a stop-loss order above 9,700. On the downside, we will place a buy order near 8,000 where the next major support exists.
Our Binary Options Trading Plan
Ripple. Ripple (XRP) faces considerable resistance at 0.80 levels. Therefore, it is our choice of cryptocurrency to trade in the binary market. The bearishness is indicated by the asset trading below the 50-day moving average. Additionally, the negative reading of the oscillator of the moving average confirms the weakness in the cryptocurrency.
In order to gain from the weakness, we may acquire a put option contract. However, before blocking our surplus funds to buy the contract from a suitable binary trading platform, we will make sure that Ripple trades near $0.80. Furthermore, we will proceed only if the binary broker offers an expiry date around May 10 for the option contract.
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.
