TOP 8 cryptocurrency world news for the week of January 13-19

Summing up the results of the past week, we recall the new price maximum of Bitcoin this year, the launch of tradingBitcoin options on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange,the continuation of the confrontation between SEC and Telegram, a new hashrate record in the BTC network, as well as promises by the Russian authorities to adopt a law on cryptocurrency already in the spring session.

Bitcoin exchange rate growth

Despite a sharp drop in prices on Sunday, the first cryptocurrency completes the next week with a new price maximum of 2020 and an increase of more than 6%, trading by 17:00 UTC in the region of $ 8650.

This seven-day stretch of bitcoin began onmarks around $ 8,000, but already on the night of Tuesday, shortly after the launch of bitcoin options trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, went up, confidently breaking the level of $ 8500.

Forward motion with short periodsThe correction continued in the following days, when BTC came close to $9,000 several times, and only on Sunday night the first cryptocurrency overcame this psychological barrier, falling just short of $9,200.

Bitcoin did not last at these levels, however, for long - already at 11:00 UTC on Sunday the price went down sharply, dropping at a certain point below $ 8500.

According to datamish, nearly $110 million worth of short positions have been liquidated on the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange in recent hours.

The wider cryptocurrency market as a whole followedBitcoin movements, although several abnormal trends were noted during this week. Among these, it is worth highlighting Bitcoin SV, which continued the growth begun last week and for a certain time even climbed to 4th place in the CoinMarketCap rating.

Analysts at Arcane Research, however, are convinced that the reason for this growth was the hype caused by claims by "self-proclaimed Satoshi" Craig Wright about gaining access to 1.1 million bitcoins.

“This rumor raised the prices of all forks of Bitcoin, especially BSV, where Wright is the central figure.”— experts shared their thoughts.

The company emphasized that Bitcoin SV is illiquid due to its absence on most popular crypto exchanges. Consequently, the asset is easy to manipulate.

Be that as it may, Bitcoin SV completes the weekan increase of more than 64%. Other assets that shot this week include Dash (+ 58%), Bitcoin Gold (+ 56%), Ethereum Classic (+ 53%), Zcash (+ 45%), Bitcoin Cash and Stellar - both of these cryptocurrencies added 26% each.

Ethereum, the second most capitalized cryptocurrency, rose to $ 175 on Sunday morning, correcting for writing material to $ 166 (+ 14%).

Bitcoin options on CME

On Monday, January 13th, the Chicago MercantileThe exchange (CME Group) opened previously announced trading in Bitcoin options. The new instruments are calculated and based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) - the reference rate of Bitcoin against the US dollar, compiled according to data from spot exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit, Kraken and Gemini.

As well as for futures, 1 option contract of the European type corresponds to 5 BTC. The minimum price step is 5 index points, corresponding to $ 25.

Thus, today CME has become directa competitor to the regulated exchange Bakkt, which launched options trading in December 2019. Notably, CME's bitcoin options trading volume exceeded $2 million on the first day. Bakkt failed to achieve such success in more than a month.

Kraken Acquires Australia's Oldest Exchange and Targets Russia

Exchange Kraken announced the acquisition of2013 by the Australian crypto trading platform Bit Trade. With the acquisition, Kraken expects to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region and become the largest cryptocurrency service in Australia.

Kraken also believes that the acquisition will strengthen its position in the field of over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading.

Somewhat earlier, head of business development departmentKraken Futures Kevin Beardsley confirmed that the exchange is planning to enter the Russian market. Kraken Futures is expected to open a Russian office this year and will also focus on providing support to the Russian-speaking community on social networks and entering into partnerships with local organizations.

Digital US dollar begins to take shape

On Thursday, January 16, it was announcedlaunching The Digital Dollar Project, an initiative to digitize the US dollar using blockchain technology. It was headed by former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Christopher Giancarlo.

Digital dollar, according to the authorsThe project, which will be the third currency format, will be provided with reserves of the Federal Reserve and, having a digital form, should be as easy to carry out transactions as, for example, sending text messages.

“We are launching the Digital Dollar Project forpromoting the digital tokenized US currency, which will exist in parallel with other obligations of the Federal Reserve and will serve as a means of payment, responding to the need to create a new digital world and a cheaper, faster and more comprehensive global financial system, ”- Giancarlo said in a statement.

Among the main goals of the initiative are calledstimulating research and public debate on the potential benefits of the digital dollar; and developing a framework for practical steps that can be taken to implement such an idea.

For more effective implementation of the setThe objectives of the project include the non-profit organization Digital Dollar Foundation. Accenture was named as its main technology partner, which in December became a partner of the Central Bank of Sweden on a pilot project for a digital crown platform.

The court ordered Telegram to disclose financial information about ICO TON

This week the Southern District CourtNew York ordered Telegram to disclose banking records regarding the Telegram Open Network (TON) project by February 26 at the request of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The resolution emphasizes that the set date is final. Previously, the SEC called the requested documents “very important” for the proceedings.

At the same time, the court allowed Telegram to hide partinformation in documents in accordance with foreign privacy laws, however, the company must explain the reason for each individual case.

Remarkably, just a few days later the SECpresented new evidence in the case against Telegram. The regulator claims that company employees themselves considered the Gram tokens of the TON platform as securities. These facts can be considered one of the key facts in the SEC case against Telegram, since it was the question of whether the tokens of the TON blockchain platform are securities that became the main reason for the litigation.

Telegram representatives previously insisted thatGram tokens are not a security, and SEC claims are based on a “fundamentally distorted theory” that Gram is subject to relevant US laws.

Set a new hashrate record in the Bitcoin network

According to the BitinfoCharts service, in the pastOver the weekend, the Bitcoin network hashrate rose to 126 exahash per second (EH/s), which became a new record. For comparison, in mid-January last year this figure was only 38 EH/s.

2020 started off with a banghash rate growth, which has attracted the attention of many BTC supporters. For example, only in the first days of the new year, the amount of computing power used to mine Bitcoin reached 110 EH/s.

BTC network security strengthens at times of hashrate growth. Since the beginning of 2020, mining complexity has jumped by about 13%, and since the beginning of 2019 by more than 300%.

Steering committee formed for Facebook's Libra project

The Libra Association, which oversees the development of the stablecoin of the same name, has formed a new committee that will deal with technical issues.

According to the announcement of January 16, the Libra Associationvoted to create a technical steering committee of five people - leading experts from various companies, as well as representatives of the fintech and blockchain industry.

Committee members include Libra Product ManagerCore George Cabrera III, co-founder of Anchorage, Diogo Monica, Union Square Ventures partner Nick Grossman, CEO and founder of Bison Trails, Joe Lallows, and R&D director for humanitarian aid at Mercy Corps, Rick Shreves.

The committee will manage the drafting of the technicalthe Libra roadmap, will form a working group to identify priority research areas, will guide the development of the code base, general development issues and interact with the Libra developer community.

The Libra Association claims that the creation of the committee is consistent with the key objectives of the project to ensure decentralization and self-government, "beyond the control of any organization."

Russia will adopt a law on cryptocurrency in the spring session

The State Duma of the Russian Federation may pass a law oncalled digital assets until the end of the spring session. This was told to reporters by Anatoly Aksakov, who heads the Committee on Financial Markets in the lower house of parliament.

He noted that 99.9% can be surethat the bill will be passed. According to the deputy, businessmen in our country need a document that will ensure transparency and protection of activities related to the use of digital currency.

“I can say with a confidence of 99.9% that we will adopt this law in the spring session”- said Aksakov.

Companies, in addition to tokens, will be able to use blockchain technologies in their work in the supply and sale of raw materials and food products, as well as medicines and household products.

Note that Anatoly Aksakov in October lastyears, he told reporters that parliamentarians were unable to quickly pass the bill on digital assets. According to him, the State Duma needs more time for a detailed analysis of the consequences of introducing such legislation.

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