Top 5 Cryptocurrencies sorted by 24 hour Volume

On Mobile/Tablet scroll to the right

Top 5 Cryptocurrencies sorted by 24 hour Price Percent Change

On Mobile/Tablet scroll to the right

Crypto Market Recap

• Cryptocurrencies turned slightly positive, although spots of red still prevail in major coins, as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is up 0.83% in the last 24 hours to USD$3,859.30. Among major cryptocurrencies, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is posting the largest gains, up 13.13% in the last 24 hours to USD$5.31. Privacy coins Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) are lagging major coins today, down 2.76% and 1.58% in the last 24 hours to USD$49.28 and USD$60.79, respectively.

Crypto Developments in Financial Services

• A governmental committee in India is reportedly set to suggest that cryptocurrencies be legalized in the country, although with, “strong,” rules, according to news outlet New Indian Express. An anonymous senior official who allegedly sat in on the committee meetings told the newspaper that, “We have already had two meetings. There is a general consensus that cryptocurrency cannot be dismissed as completely illegal. It needs to be legalized with strong riders. Deliberations are on.”

Crypto Regulatory Environment

• Mizuho Financial Group, a Japanese based bank holding company, is planning to introduce a digital currency for use in remittances and payments in March, according to local news outlet Nikkei. The digital currency will reportedly offer fees to retail shops that are significantly lower than those charged for credit card usage. The report details that Muzuho has already brought, “about 60 regional banks on board,” to promote the new digital currency. Eventually, regional banks will be able to provide services for this digital currency under a single, common name, although the infrastructure has yet to be set up yet. 
• Bithumb, a notable South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, has won a lawsuit involving an investor’s USD$355,000 loss in an alleged hack, according to local newspaper The Korea Economic Daily. Within hours of making a deposit, South Korean civil servant Ahn Park alleged that an unidentified hacker compromised his account and exchanged its fiat for Ethereum (ETH). In explaining his ruling in favor of Bithumb, the South Korean judge presiding over the case said that, “In general, virtual currencies cannot be used to buy goods and it is difficult to guarantee their exchange for cash because their value is very volatile. Cryptocurrencies are mainly used for speculative means, and it is not reasonable to apply South Korea’s Economic Financial Transactions Act to a defendant who brokers virtual currency transactions without the permission of the Financial Services Commission.”

General Crypto News

• The 2018 McAfee Labs Threat Report released in December finds that cryptocurrency mining malware activity increased roughly 4,000% over the last 12 months. According to the report, crypto malware activity spiked from 4Q2017 through 1Q2018 before cooling in 2Q2018 and jumping again in 3Q2018. The report details further that criminals leveraging crypto malware have targeted those who use, “routers or IoT devices such as IP cameras or video recorders as crypto miners,” because of their lack of security.  
• Anthony Pompliano, Founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, told CNBC today that Bitcoin (BTC) has, “lower to go,” despite its price rebound above USD$4,000 last week. “Short-term, I actually think we have lower to go,” Pompliano told CNBC after accurately predicting a plunge of BTC to USD$3,000 in November. Additionally, Pompliano denied in the interview assertions that the price movement of BTC is correlated with traditional and/or FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) stocks.

*Data in Price Return and Updated Real-Time (with a delay), Source: StockDio

Sources:

https://coinmarketcap.com/ 
https://coin360.io/ 
https://www.coindesk.com/india-may-legalize-cryptos-but-under-strong-rules-report 
http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2018/dec/26/bitcoin-on-highway-to-being-legit-1916541.amp 
https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-indian-governmental-committee-favors-legalizing-cryptocurrencies-media-reports 
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-price-will-go-below-3-000-anthony-pompliano-tells-mainstream-media 
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-is-worlds-best-performing-asset-class-over-past-10-years-says-pompliano 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpw9r4H4XI 
https://cointelegraph.com/news/korean-court-acquits-crypto-exchange-bithumb-after-investor-filed-lawsuit-over-355k-hack 
http://news.hankyung.com/article/2018122485621 
https://www.coindesk.com/court-win-for-bithumb-exchange-in-case-of-crypto-investors-355k-hack 
https://cointelegraph.com/news/japanese-giant-mizuho-financial-group-to-introduce-digital-currency-for-cashless-payments 
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Trends/Mizuho-to-launch-digital-currency-to-promote-cashless-payments-in-March 
https://www.ccn.com/mcafee-says-crypto-mining-malware-increased-4000-in-2018/ 
https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/other-blogs/mcafee-labs/mcafee-labs-threats-report-examines-cybercriminal-underground-iot-malware-other-threats/