The cryptocurrency market is already reaching the stage of maturity, although some “teenage problems” still remain. Nevertheless, one can already look to the future with confidence and believe in the growth of the capitalization of the entire segment and the influx of investors, especially in the light of news about the success of Ethereum and the possible entry of Facebook into the digital currency market.
We will understand how the news of this week influenced the quotes of Bitcoin and top altcoins .
Fork of Constantinople and SEC open up new opportunities for Ethereum cryptocurrency
February 28 was the long-awaited hardfork Constantinople, which increased the speed of extraction of blocks in the Ethereum network to an average of 12.5 seconds, and also reduced the miner's reward to 2 ETH units.
In addition, there were a number of large-scale changes that ultimately should lead to the introduction of the PoS protocol . So, this week a large-scale conference was held with the participation of leading Ethereum developers, where the main issue will be the introduction of the new upgrade of the Istanbul network, within which the activation of the EIP1057 protocol is planned.
This protocol will first of all bring the network transition to the PoS-algorithm by reducing the mining capabilities on ASIC devices . If two independent audits do not reveal critical errors that would have to postpone updating indefinitely, as was the case with Constantinople, then you can expect to launch an upgrade of the Ethereum network in mid-May.
This week also came news from the main financial regulator of the United States, which is one of the main "peace officers on the crypto market". The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made another important decision for the digital currency industry.
The regulator acknowledged that the broadcast in the current conditions cannot be regarded as a security, as evidenced by the results of the traditional Howey test for resolving this issue. Moreover, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, who previously acknowledged that Bitcoin cannot be classified as securities, said in an official letter to congressman and crypto-supporter Ted Badd that the broadcast now also does not meet the criteria of the investment contract.
This decision opens up new opportunities for Ethereum to operate in the United States and interact with international companies without mutual fear of being fined and other sanctions imposed by the SEC.
Facebook is preparing to enter the cryptocurrency market
A few weeks earlier, financial media reported that Facebook is considering options for implementing a payment system in the WhatsApp messenger. And on February 28 in The New York Times there was news about the possible launch of a steablokoin within the framework of a well-known social network with the provision of several major fiat currencies at once.
This week, the media picked up at least interesting news about the launch of a new cryptocurrency. Thus, according to analyst Ross Sandler, in 2021 Facebook will be able to attract about $ 19 billion in additional revenue if steakcoin is successfully integrated into Facebook’s work – in particular, in the content distribution segment.
The main obstacle for Facebook is the lack of a clear understanding of the prospects for using digital currency as a micropayment and in everyday use – the role that plastic cards and mobile applications of banks play today.
The New York Times launches its blockchain experiment
One of the largest US publications, The New York Times (NYT), has gradually become interested in the possibilities of the cryptocurrency world.
To study this issue, NYT opened a vacancy for a specialist in the field of blockchain technologies. The duties of the new employee include a blockchain experiment lasting a year. But this will not be some kind of internal workout, which they are not ready to share with others. On the contrary, NYT is already inviting publishing houses, the media, social media and researchers to join the new consortium.
All the details of the plans for the work of this consortium and the tasks for the new employee are not yet known, but we can already assume that the goal will be to find opportunities to publish content in the blockchain and search for new opportunities to interest the audience, which ultimately will lead to profit in the field competitors are just beginning to master.
Blockchain-ETF on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)
March 11 started trading blockchain-ETF on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The new financial instrument is called Invesco Elwood Global Blockchain ETF , the cost of which can be monitored on the Bloomberg portal.
The new asset was named after the two investment companies that created it. In particular, Invesco contributes to the entry of this product into the market, and Elwood Asset Management will develop a scoring system for 48 companies operating in the blockchain industry, and calculate the share of investment in their portfolio.
It is worth noting that this list also includes the securities of the Taiwanese company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), which is the leader in the field of mining kritovalyut .
Creating a tokenized economy in Germany
Deutsche Börse, one of the largest German stock exchanges, announced the start of work on creating an ecosystem of a tokenized economy based on distributed registry technology. Her new partners from Switzerland, the telecommunications company Swisscom, which is owned by the Government of the Alpine country, and the financial startup Sygnum will help in this.
Their mission is to create a regulated and transparent environment for digital assets with the prospect of transforming global financial markets. One of the first users of an innovative product will have to be institutional investors, for which a license has been obtained from the Swiss Financial Market Supervision Authority (FINMA).
In the light of this news, we can safely say that big business is no longer just interested in the field of digital currencies and decisions related to them, but has long invested in them, expecting to get billions of dollars in profit and win leadership positions in their industries through the integration of innovative products.
Technical analysis leading cryptocurrency
At the end of the week, the cryptocurrency market shows a smooth growth, led by Bitcoin, which finally overcame the $ 4000 mark.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Achievement of important resistance areas at quotes of $ 3,900– $ 4,000 and $ 4,150 again makes bears furious, so they throw their last strength to press the price even lower, but their attempts are becoming weaker and weaker each time.
After the recent and quite expected strategic retreat to the $ 3,600 area, quotes continue to look for opportunities for growth. In the coming weeks, short-term kickbacks to this value and $ 3,800 are also possible again, but the most likely growth is with the achievement of $ 4,100 and $ 4,300 in the coming months.
With the breakthrough of $ 4300-4400, it will be possible to put an end and declare the victory of the bulls. In the future, we should expect a new move up to the levels of $ 4,500 and the area of $ 5,000– $ 5,041, as well as $ 5,280– $ 6,000.
Ethereum and Altcoins
Since the beginning of March, Ether continues to develop movement without initiative between the levels of $ 120 and $ 130 on the one hand and $ 140 on the other. In the future, we can expect a breakthrough to one of the sides.
Potentially, it is worth waiting for the growth wave with the first goals at $ 150 and $ 160, where the important 200-day moving average now passes. An attempt to exit higher will be met on the resistances of $ 170 and $ 180, as well as on the mark of the trend change of $ 200, which may occur in the framework of the coming months.
Lightcoin , like many low-cap digital assets, has shown strong growth. The goal was successfully achieved in the form of the area of $ 48.50− $ 50, and the quotes approached the levels of $ 60 and $ 65, which can be overcome in the coming days. Further growth will be consistently met at $ 70 and $ 74.
Publication date 17.03.2019
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