Bitcoin ETF waits just gets a little longer as SEC defers VanEck Solid X ETF Decision. Bitcoin mining company Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies plans to file for an IPO. South Africa Drafts Proposal to Tax Cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Dominance rate scales 50% first time in 2018. People in Turkey dump Lira for bitcoins as economic conditions worsen
Again a week in reading as much awaited a decision on the VanEck Solid X ETF by the SEC got deferred to September 30, 2018. As SEC had previously clarified that it requires a regulated market for bitcoin and the price assurance that the price of the digital asset is not manipulated, the announcement by Intercontinental Exchange offering a federally regulated market for Bitcoin could be an answer to SEC queries. Even though the expected date of the launch of ICE’s new exchange is close to the end of the year, by September 30th SEC may have a clear idea of how things may unravel. Bitman Technologies.the cryptocurrency mining unicorn announced that it is filing for an initial public offering (IPO) potentially as high as $18 billion this September at a market capitalization of $40 to $50 billion. This would be one of the largest IPO’s ever filed, even overtaking the likes of Facebook. It will be underwritten by China International Capital Corporation and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Q4 2018 or Q1 2019. The South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) has now proposed draft regulations that deal with how cryptocurrencies would be treated in the country. In the proposed regulations, cryptocurrencies will continue to be treated as intangible assets and thus will continue to be subject to income tax. The Turkish Lira (TRY) slumped weakening the value of currency the Turkish held, thus deepening the crises in the country after President Donald Trump announced he was doubling metals tariffs. To find shelter amidst this downpour, the Turkish citizens started buying bitcoins dumping the Turkish fiat Lira.
Bitcoin [BTC]
The fall was imminent if there was a rejection of Solid X VanEck BTC ETF application. But a deferment also came out to be as ruthless as the rejection would have. The prices of BTC plummeted and so did the sentiment across crypto street nearly every coin and token taking a hit. The only positive take here was that BTC still held USD 6000 an eminent support level which many have spoken about. The prices hit the high point of USD 7,166.55 and the lowest point of USD 6,109.03 during the week. Apart from the outliers of BitMEX and BitForex that had volumes of over 25%, the exchanges that were more active, in volumes, with BTC across various pairs this week were Fcoin (2.68%), Binance (2.27%) and OKEx (2.05%).
As the prices slump, the first bear comments started appearing on the screen with Mike McGlone, an analyst at Bloomberg said Bitcoin is in dump mode, following the pump run-up on the potential for a U.S. ETF. It may not subside until revisiting good support near $4,000 — last year’s mean. TO bring in some positivity Thomas Jack Williams, Co-founder, B4U Global said Bitcoin is the future of global money payments
Ethereum [ETH]
Ethereum, all the sheen that gathered seems to be looking for the second big boy. Its congestions and blockchain issues are making it lose the battle to Stellar, Tron, and EOS. It’s not just the Technology but slowly Ehtereum is being considered not that cost efficient. Its smaller compatriots are picking up tide a slowly inching closer to Ethereum’s standards. A point of worry but still Ethereum cant be written off. Ether prices, on the top, this week were at USD 414.54 and were at lows of USD 308.49 being pretty much in this range. The markets that were more active, in volumes, with ETH across various pairs this week were DOBI Trade (5.07%), EXX (3.47%) and Binance (3.36%) again BitForex being an outlier 26.58%
In the news that surrounded Ethereum was that Olivier Alirol, CEO of Connecty chosen Stellar technology over Ehtereums as he feels it is 100k Times More Cost-Efficient than Ethereum plus doesn’t have congestion. In another loss of the battle. Everipedia, the decentralized version of Wikipedia, has abandoned the Ethereum blockchain to launch on EOS instead. Everipedia’s developers believe that building the platform on Ethereum is “infeasibly difficult” due to its existing scalability issues.