According to a new "TokenData" research, ICO investment volumes in the first quarter of 2019 decreased 58 times compared to the same indicator of the first quarter of 2018.
The researchers note that in the first quarter of this year, in the course of primary placements of tokens (ICO), a total of $ 118 million collected. In the first quarter of last year, ICO projects received investments of $ 6.9 billion.
The social network VKontakte has plans to release its own cryptocurrency, but a specific decision to launch has not yet been made.
At the moment the project is supposed to create individual cryptocurrency accounts for all users of the social network. According to RNS, the news agency received a project presentation. It says that users will be able to receive cryptocurrency for time spent on the network and activity.
A cryptocurrency startup Bitrefill has added a service that allows users to pay their rent through the Airbnb service with five cryptocurrencies.
The Swedish company announced the innovations on its Twitter account, saying that customers can now pay for Airbnb gift cards at BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE and DASH. However, currently Airbnb gift cards can only be redeemed by US residents.
The new Browser Extension "Conflict of Interest", developed by Luke Childs, will allow users to identify cryptocurrency posts on the social network Twitter, as well as evaluate the bias of the content.
The tool, developed by Luke Childs, is available as an extension for Opera, Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. The purpose of Conflict of Interest is to reveal the accuracy of the information and the motives of those who write about cryptocurrency on the social network Twitter.
The independent rating agency Weiss Ratings published a report analyzing the positions of 122 digital assets. According to analysts, the most promising of them are BTC, XRP and EOS.
In the monthly report, the agency presented the results of a research of the cryptocurrency market, where all digital assets assessed in the categories "Investment Risk and Profit", as well as "Technology and Acceptance". Each cryptocurrency assigned a rating from A to F.The English blockchain company Wuabit has announced that it is developing a cryptocurrency wallet that will work through the interface of the popular messenger WhatsApp.
Reported that users will be able to manage transactions using a chat bot by simple commands, for example, "send 0.05 BTC to Vera". Wuabit representatives also said that the first phase of product development is already at the final stage.
Venture investor and famous cryptocurrency enthusiast Tim Draper advised the president of Argentina to legalize Bitcoin in order to improve the economic situation in the country.
The American venture investor reportedly met with Argentine President Mauricio Macri last week to discuss the economic outlook for a Latin American country.The head of the American retail giant Overstock Patrick Byrne emphasized the blockchain's potential in the economy and said that in the future the invention of this technology would be equated with the creation of the Internet.
According to Patrick Byrne, the blockchain revolution we are currently seeing will be more important for future generations than the invention of the first printing press or the creation of the Internet.
Investors at approximately $ 740 million estimate the cryptocurrency platform Bakkt, created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange.
During the first investment round of Series A, held in December last year, Bakkt collected $ 182.5 million to develop a platform that aims to attract institutional investors to cryptoassets. A probable valuation of $ 740 million suggests that Bakkt's owner, Intercontinental Exchange, has sold up to 25% of its shares to outside investors, including Galaxy, Pantera, Microsoft and Starbucks. Until now, the public catering giant has not made any investments in the site.
The head of the major cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX Arthur Hayes believes that the "cryptocurrency winter" is over and the course of Bitcoin this year will reach $ 10,000.
Hayes expressed the opinion that the recovery of the cryptocurrency market will start at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year. However, he believes that the market will be quite difficult to go beyond the already formed side channel.The famous "patent troll" Craig Wright has already filed 155 applications for patents in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Australian engineer and entrepreneur Craig Wright, who repeatedly presented himself as Bitcoin's anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, filed 155 patent applications in two years, according to The Next Web (TNW).
It seems that spring has begun in the cryptocurrency industry. Bitcoin trading volumes increased, reaching the level of January last year and the rate of the first cryptocurrency is at around $ 4,000.
In the past five months, Bitcoin trading showed a steady and steady growth, having increased from October 2018 by 150%. According to Kevin Rooke, a cryptocurrency commentator on Twitter, over the past year, daily Bitcoin trading volume has exceeded $ 10 billion a total of 9 times, and 5 of them this month. Most of the remaining cases recorded in February. That is, in recent months we have seen a significant increase in trading volumes.
Tom Lee, co-founder and chief financial analyst at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said in an interview with CNBC that the Bitcoin trend would change to bullish in August of this year.
Despite the fact that in December last year, Lee promised no longer to make predictions about the prospects for the cryptocurrency market. The market still could not resist and said that after 5-6 months, there should be a reversal of market trends.
The cryptocurrency skeptic and author of the book "The Rise of Money" Niall Ferguson admitted that he was wrong when he criticized Bitcoin and blockchain technology, calling them "a complete illusion."
"I was very wrong," Ferguson said. "Wrong to think there was no … use for a form of currency based on blockchain technology."
Researchers at Rutgers University have discovered a link between the excessive passion for cryptocurrency trading and gambling addiction.
According to researchers, "avid gamblers" can perceive cryptocurrency trading as an additional activity associated with high risk. The study involved 876 adults who made bets in gambling at least once a month during the last year. The researchers called them "avid players." It was found that over 50% of these players also traded a cryptocurrency during the same 12-month period.
The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, said that ETHEREUM and similar cryptocurrencies could eventually lose the status of securities.
In June 2018, the head of the SEC corporate finance division, William Hinman, stated that the decentralized structure of the Ethereum network does not allow for proper application of securities laws to this cryptocurrency. At that time, some saw in Hinman's statement an important step towards eliminating uncertainty in the regulation of digital assets, while others thought that was not enough.
Blockchain could change the financial world during the global financial crisis in 2008.
This opinion was expressed by the Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Christopher Giancarlo, speaking at the fourth annual DC Blockchain Summit in Washington. According to him, the use of the blockchain would change the response of the regulators at that time.
Cryptoanarchists dream of buying a cup of coffee for Bitcoin is getting closer to realization. Perhaps, by the end of the year, Bitcoins will be able to pay off in the world's largest network of coffee shops Starbucks.
This will be possible thanks to the cooperation with the Bakkt platform, which has not yet been launched, in the creation of which Starbucks takes an active part.
