Cryptocurrency This Week: Bitcoin Surge Brings New Investors, As Exchanges Eye Indian Market

This week, the steady increase of Bitcoin (BTC) prices has caught the attention of a lot of new investors and many have already begun investing in this disruptive asset. Since the beginning of April 2020, Bitcoin has climbed 33%, and it has been performing better than any other asset over the past twelve months.

The price of Bitcoin at the time of writing was $9690.72, with a market cap of $178 Bn, compared to last week (May 12, 2020) which stood at $8,822.93, with a market cap of $162 Bn.

 

Ethereum (ETH), was priced at $210, with a market cap of $23 Bn at the time of writing, compared to last week (May 12, 2020), where the price of the cryptocurrency was $189, with a market cap of $21 Bn.

Cryptocurrency News Of The Week: 

CoinDCX Partners With BitGo To Secure Indian Crypto Trader Funds

Mumbai-based cryptocurrency exchange aggregator CoinDCX recently announced that it has partnered with BitGo, a digital asset financial services provider as its custodian. With this, BitGo will provide secure storage and custodianship of cryptocurrencies held on CoinDCX, which is fully insured and protected by BitGo’s $100 Mn insurance policy.

Sumit Gupta, CEO and cofounder of CoinDCX told in a press statement that this initiative (#TryCrypto) will promote widespread crypto adoption in the country, thereby ensuring users that their funds are in safe hands. “With BitGo as custodian, we want to make cryptocurrency utilisation in India, safe and secure,” he added.

Ripple Gets Approval From The US For Money Transfer 

America’s consumer financial protection bureau has given Ripple, the third most worldly used crypto asset, after Bitcoin and Ethereum, approval for its use in cross-border money transfers. Currently, the crypto asset is trading at $0,2043, with a market cap of $9 Bn, at the time of writing. The financial bureau has been researching new developments in the trading market, including trends related to digital currencies.

Elon Musk Explains Cryptocurrency To Harry Potter Author JK Rowling 

British author JK Rowling, known for her popular Harry Potter book series, last week tweeted: “I don’t understand bitcoin. Please explain it to me.”

Replying to her tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said “Massive currency issuance by govt central banks is making Bitcoin internet money look solid by comparison,” Further, Musk said that he owns 0.25 Bitcoins.

Rowling later admitted that she tried to grasp the very detailed information sent by a lot of people, but said that Bitcoin is a total blind spot for her.

Facebook’s Libra Association Adds Singapore Investor Temasek 

Facebook’s Libra Association announced this week that it has added Temasek, the Singapore investor with a $313 Bn portfolio of investments, as its newest partner member. Besides Temasek, other members joining the Libra Association include Slow Ventures, the private equity firm, and Paradigm, which is a cryptocurrency investment firm. The company said in a press statement that the addition of new members adds diversification given its focus on investments in Asia.

Chia Song Hwee, the CEO of Temasek said that it is already working with regulators and companies to push new use cases for blockchain technologies. With this partnership, Hwee said that it will have a hand in creating a global network for retail payments that is regulated.

Lawsuit Filed Against Hong-Kong-Based BitMEX

Cryptocurrency exchange platform BitMEX’s parent company HDR Global Trading limited was alleged to have been involved in illegal activities such as market manipulation, money laundering and racketeering by plaintiff BMA LLC in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit has also been filed against ABS Global trading and its cofounders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. The suit alleges that the defendants have generated billions ($3 Bn) of dollars in illicit profits.

HDR Global Trading stated that the company has reviewed the draft version of their complaint that has been culled from the internet. The firm added that it would be defending itself vigorously against the allegations.