Crypto Today: Bitcoin still locked under $5,500; Steem skyrockets

Here’s what you need to know on 

Markets:

BTC/USD has been hovering close to $5,400, down 1.0% since the beginning of the day. BTC hit the intraday high at $5,475 but failed to hold the ground. Now it is moving within a short-term bearish trend amid expanding volatility.

ETH/USD has settled at $117.60, off the Asian high of $120.50. The coin is down 1.0% from the levels registered at the beginning of Thursday and gained 1% on a day-to-day basis.

XRP/USD is still locked below $0.1500. The coins settled at $0.1468, trading within a bearish trend, off the intraday high of $0.1492.  XRP/USD is down 1.4% since the beginning of the day and mostly unchanged on a day-to-day basis.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Steem (STEEM) $0.3648 (+182.7%), Numeraire (NMR) $0.1080 (+113.6%) and Status (SNT) $0.0131 (+46.5%) are in the green zone. The day’s losers are WAX (WAXP) $0.0328 (-22.4%), Synthetix Network Token (SNX) $0.4217 (-11.5%), Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) $0.0344 (-7.4%).

Chart of the day:

BTC/USD, 30-min chart

Market

A legendary trader Peter Brandt says that the halving effect is grossly overstated. He noted that the number of Bitcoins mined daily is about 2/100th of 1% of the real supply, provided that the real supply is equivalent to daily trading volume. Thus the expert believes that the supply reduction due to halving pales in comparison as a percentage of the real Bitcoin supply. 

The daily trading volume of BTC = the REAL supply of BTC. The daily reduction of mined $BTCs (NEW supply) equals approx 2/100th of 1% of REAL supply. Reduction of NEW supply b/c of halving as % of REAL supply = chump change

Industry

The participants of Maker Foundation approved usage of USD Coin (USDC) as collateral on DeFi platform MakerDAO.

USDC can now be used to open Maker Vaults in order to generate Dai. It’s the third collateral approved by Maker governance, along with ETH and BAT.

According to the statement, the community chose USDC to stabilize Dai exchange rate and mitigate liquidity issues that came up amid the recent crypto crash. The annual stability fee for USDC-denominated collateral is set at 20%. Collateralization ratio is 125%, debt ceiling is 20 million and liquidation penalty is 13%.

A US-based regulated cryptocurrency exchange CoinZoom with FinCEN (Financial Crime Enforcement Network) launches accounts for institutional and retail investors along with CoinZoom Visa card that will allow users to buy, sell and spend a wide variety of cryptocurrencies on the exchange. CoinZoom Visa card supports payments through Chip, Contactless and PIN, also it can be used in ATMs to withdraw cash. The platform’s engine instantly converts coins to USD, which is used to complete the purchase.

Todd Crosland, founder, and CEO of CoinZoom commented: 

We are extremely pleased to work with Visa as we launch CoinZoom. Visa’s dominance as a global leader in digital payments, is a tremendous asset as CoinZoom begins to reshape the global cryptocurrency marketplace. Our goal is to provide cryptocurrency traders with the best platform for buying, selling, and spending digital assets.

Scammers impersonate WHO to steal Bitcoins, a security researcher Chester Wisnievski warns. The criminals run a website that invites people to make donations to support WHO’s effort to fight Covid-19.

Spammers and scammers are now impersonating the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Don’t donate Bitcoin to crooks.

Regulation

The South Korean regulator, Financial Services Commission, cooperates with local cryptocurrency businesses to activate a new legislation that will bring the cryptocurrency sector to the legal field. The new law will come into force in March. However, before that, the companies will have to to register with local financial authorities and bring their operations in compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines.

“The Special Financial Information Law prevents money laundering and criminal activities using digital assets, and it complies with international standards for digital asset regulation. The FIU will work closely with other financial agencies to active the legislation swiftly.”