Market Update
The cryptocurrencies market cap has hit a new all-time high at $750 billion following a 10% rally during the past 24 hours..
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is sitting at $14,650 representing a loss of 4% in the last 24 hours. More than $1.7B worth of BTC were exchanged in the BTC/USD market representing a 39% share of daily volume, followed by the BTC/JPY pair that represents a 33% share.
The Ethereum price has broken the $1,000 mark and sitting at $1,036 as of this morning. This caps a 16.29% rise over the past 24 hours, with over $840M worth of Ether exchanged on the ETH/USD pair which has a 32% market share of the daily trading volume.
The Ripple price has increased by 25.25% over the past 24 hours and is currently sitting at $3.62, with over $1.2B worth of XRP exchanged in the past 24 hours on the XRP/USD pair which has a 33% market share of the daily trading volume.
See live charts here: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ripple/
Venezuela Seeks Miners for the Petro, Maduro Claims 860,811 Already Signed Up
Venezuela is looking for miners for the country’s national cryptocurrency, the Petro. The government has opened up a registry for miners to sign up to mine and gain access to the new currency. According to Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, 860,811 young people have already registered to create the Petro mining farms.
Additionally, the Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodriguez, indicated that the registered people may have access to other digital currencies that are authorized by the government. He stated:
"Natural or legal persons registered in the Registry will be able to acquire other types of cryptocurrencies for free use and demand in Venezuela, as long as they are authorized."
Read more here
Chinese Cryptocurrency Exchanges Delay Launching in South Korea Due to Regulation
Two major Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges, Huobi and Okcoin, have delayed their launches in South Korea due to uncertainties surrounding the government’s regulation. The regulators are currently working on a real-name identification system that will end the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies in the country.
Most recent announcements concern the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. The government is creating a real-name identification system and is expected to end the practice of anonymous trading by January 20. Currently, this practice is possible through the use of “virtual accounts.” So far, all major crypto platforms in the country have complied with all regulatory measures announced and revised their terms of service accordingly. According to Ajnews, the government has decided:
“A new entry into the virtual currency trading market will be blocked until the realization of the so-called ‘virtual money real name system’ that can confirm the identity of the account owner on the 20th of this month.”
Read more here
China Central Bank Can Tell Local Governments to Regulate Bitcoin Miners' Power Use
China’s central bank told a top-level government finance group that the monetary authority can tell local governments to regulate the power usage of Bitcoin miners to gradually reduce the scale of their production. While the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) can’t directly regulate Bitcoin miners’ power usage, it can ask local authorities to do so, said the central bank to the members of the Leading Group of Beijing Internet Financial Risks Remediation at a meeting at the end of 2017, the source said. At the meeting, the PBOC said that the development of Bitcoin mining will be limited, according to the source, who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak on the matter.