Crypto Today: Ethereum rockets higher with further gains eyed

Here’s what you need to know on Friday

Markets

BTC/USD is currently trading at $9730 (+0.30%), as the bulls have $10,000 in sight. 

ETH/USD is currently trading at $219 (+3.05%), the psychological $250 mark is within reaching distance. 

XRP/USD is currently trading at $0.2799 (+0.25%), a surge in upside pressure with the bulls hunting for $0.3000. 

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are KICK $0.000186 (+31.55%), HC $2.22 (+16.49%) BCN 0.000368 (+12.75%) The day’s losers are MOF $0.9050752 (-19.42%), HBAR $0.020705 (-9.50%),  XZC $0.7.63 (-5.92%).

Chart of the day: ETH/USD daily chart

Market

WhaleTrades, a Twitterati who tracks the large crypto transactions, alerted that a big whale on BitMEX today 7 February, sold $5 million worth of Bitcoin at $9,749.69.

Bitcoin (BTC) crossed the $10,000 mark, as per data from CME Group’s Bitcoin futures shows the implied price of Bitcoin reaching the symbolic five figures

Regulation

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) passed an anti-money laundering provision on Feb. 7. Citing additional risk, the threshold for unidentified crypto exchange transactions is lowered from 5,000 CHF to 1,000 CHF (approximately $1,020 USD).

Industry 

ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher noted that Bakkt is the main booster for ICE’s growth and that the key focus for Bakkt in 2020 is consumer adoption. Bakkt, a company that is backed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) which is also the proprietor to NYSE, will focus primarily on consumer adoption in the fiscal year 2020. This is according to ICE CEO, Jeffrey Sprecher who spoke during the Intercontinental Exchange’s Q4 earnings on Thursday.

Japanese lawmakers want the government to push for talks on central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the next G7 summit holding in the summer. Reuters reported that a parliamentary group led by Akira Amari of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wants the country’s government to consider issuing a ‘digital yen.’ The coalition of lawmakers also wants Japan to push fellow G7 members to begin consultations on CBDCs amid China’s progress of its proposed ‘digital yuan.’ 

The parent company behind the Bitcoin-based smart contract platform RSK has launched a new token bridge joining it to ethereum. Gibraltar-based developer IOV Labs announced Wednesday that the newly released interoperability bridge would allow users to cross RSK- and ethereum-based digital assets, including ether and ERC-20 tokens, across the different protocols.

Quote of the day

21,000,000 total Bitcoin available. That’s it. As demand rises, the value of each goes up. So simple, yet most people try to make it more complex than it really is. Don’t try to outsmart supply and demand economics

Anthony Pompliano