The bitcoin price failed to perform, however, with bitcoin losing around 2% of its value since Bakkt began trading its “physically” settled bitcoin futures contracts, with some $8 billion wiped from the wider cryptocurrency market today.
Meanwhile, litecoin, the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market value, has suddenly gone into free fall, losing almost 10% of its value in a matter of minutes.
The reason for litecoin’s sudden sell-off was not immediately clear, however litecoin is down some 50% since June, thought to be a response to the gains litecoin made earlier in the year as traders cashed out of their positions.
Litecoin, which has been called the silver to bitcoin’s gold, surged in the first half of 2019 as traders bet an August so-called halvening of the cryptocurrency, where miner rewards for finding blocks are cut, putting a squeeze on supply, would spark a crypto bull market.
However, many had also expected bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market to get a boost when the Bakkt platform began operating today.
It wasn’t clear what had sparked litecoin’s sudden downturn, though bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market have disappointed traders and investors today.
Trading of Bakkt’s hyped “physical” bitcoin futures, meaning that traders and investors are not able to sell more bitcoin than they actually have, have been muted today, however.
There were just five bitcoin futures contracts traded via the platform after the first hour, rising to 28 ten hours after launch.
Traders and bitcoin industry executives were quick to play down Bakkt’s slow start.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency traders had hoped the Bakkt cryptocurrency platform would bring a fresh injection of investor cash.
Coindesk
“Bakkt will be likely first a trickle and then a flood,” Su Zhu, chief executive of Singapore-based hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, said via Twitter.
“The reality is that most regulated futures contracts get low adoption on day one simply because not all futures brokers are ready to clear it, many people want to wait and see, the tickers are not even populated on risk systems.”
I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency market has fallen sharply over the past couple of days and is currently at $241 billion market capitalization at the time of recording. While the Bithumb hacking and Japanese regulators’ strict outlook towards cryptocurrency exchanges are being cited as reasons for the sharp decline, the likely cause is that we are still stuck in a long-term bearish cycle. We have still not discovered the bottom of the market, and chances are that the market will continue to be in a state of decline for some time. EOS has taken the biggest hit after a stop-start mainnet launch and controversies surround centralization and constitution. We strongly recommend cryptocurrency investors to take a mid-to-long term approach towards investing and hodl strongly. We believe that mainstream adoption and regulation will brining institutional investors and the next set of retail investors to the market driving prices up in the ling run. References: Correction Deepens as Coin Values Approach 2018 Lows: https://hacked.com/cryptocurrency-mar… Cryptocurrency Market Drops to $241 Billion, EOS Takes a Huge Beating: https://www.ccn.com/cryptocurrency-ma… Bitcoin Price Hits 2018-Low at $5,825, Where Will it Bottom Out?: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-price-hit… Follow Crypto Dost on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCryptoDost For enquiries, write to thecryptodost@gmail.com Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I have made this channel to share my experiences in the cryptocurrency market. I am not a professional financial advisor and the information provided is solely for educational purposes. Consult your own financial advisors and do your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies. Investing in cryptocurrencies is inherently risky and you can also lose all the amount you invested. Only invest the amount you can afford to lose. The channel shall not be liable to the viewer for any damages, claims, expenses or losses of any kind (whether direct or indirect) suffered by the viewer from or in connection with the information obtained on this channel.
This is the best opportunity you will have on earth without going through scheme plans or waiting to be charged for your planning servers. All you have to do is to keep mining window open and you will receive you will be paid every minute. You will sleep and your PC will doing mining for you like a clock with no trouble. Transparency is our strength and 85% of all mining returns go towards payouts till the contracts reach a guaranteed 200%. We provide one of the most exciting compensation plans to earn as an affiliate. Join our mining traffic app on this exciting journey in earning Cryptocurrency while you are sleeping ….
At Bitcoin.com, our web portal hosts a developer section aimed at providing Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developers with the resources and tools to program killer applications using the BCH protocol. The developer.Bitcoin.com section has now added an educational resource for newcomers and veterans called Mastering Bitcoin Cash. The documentation offers a comprehensive overview of BCH basics and technical operation of the protocol. The developer section of our website has recently added some literature based on the Creative Commons licensed book mastering bitcoin written by the well-known cryptocurrency educator Andreas Antonopoulos. Bitcoin luminary Antonopoulos has been educating the masses on this technology for years and his work has changed the lives of many individuals in the crypto space…Read more….
As is visible from the chart below, Litecoin has remained relatively stable over the course of the past 2-3 days— with the currency currently trading at a price point of $31.92 (at press time). However, around a week back, the top-10 altcoin was struggling to stay in the green while trading just above the $23 mark. Lastly, as per LTCs technical indicators, the altcoin is exhibiting strong bullish momentum right now— with the crypto asset currently hovering above its EMAs. Also, as Litecoin approaches the $32 mark, it is being estimated that the currency will incur heavy resistance beyond the $34 threshold. Elaborating further on what prompted him to make this move, Lee went on to say that he wanted to work on Litecoin purely out of his passion and not as a means of gaining profits. Not only that, Lee also declared that instead of simply selling off his LTC holdings for profit, he had donated every LTC coin that he had ever owned. Read more….
Two members of the US House of Representatives have tabled a new bill before the Congress on Thursday to exclude cryptocurrencies from the standard securities laws.
This bipartisan bill called the ‘Token Taxonomy Act’ was presented by Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio and Darren Soto, D-Florida. In September, Rep. Davidson hosted a roundtable in Washington, DC, to discuss the cryptocurrency-related bill and regulatory shortcomings towards the nascent industry. More than 50 participants from the financial industry participated including experts from Fidelity, Nasdaq, State Street, Andreessen Horowitz, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The bill, if passed, will amend the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is seeking to exclude ‘digital tokens’ from being defined as securities.
Rep. Davison, in a statement, said: “In the early days of the internet, Congress passed legislation that provided certainty and resisted the temptation to over-regulate the market. Our intent is to achieve a similar win for America’s economy and for American leadership in this innovative space.”
One year after the big crypto boom, founder of Litecoin Charlie Lee is reportedly continuing to focus on increasing the usage of Litecoin. However, some in the crypto community have pointed out that Lee is still benefitting from the pay that he chose to sell all of his LTC holdings at the height of the boom.
When Lee made the decision to sell off his LTC public, he explained that the reason for divesting had to do with avoiding what referred to as a “conflict of interest.”However, critics within and without the space have alleged that Charlie planned to cash out at the height of the frenzy and make a profit all along.
However, Lee told Bloomberg that this kind of criticism is all par for the course, adding that he sold at a time when it was widely believed that Litecoin would continue to increase in value. “People lose money and they want someone to blame,” he explained. “And they think for some reason I had inside information, and that’s silly. At the time when I sold, everyone thought it would go to $1,000.”
