VHCEx Newsflash (Feb 17)

Hey there, dear traders. Below we've compiled the most important news and developments in crypto and blockchain industry you should know about to stay tuned with the market.

OVO is finally available for deposits at VHCEx

Statistics report on mining fees and profitabilty in today's bear market

According to DIAR, Bitcoin fees dropped to 2014 level (~$1) while total Bitcoin moved on-chain and total transactions remain stable.

Ethereum daily block rewards have dropped to a new low which is 13363.78125 ETHs per block compared to 14825.5 ETHs compared in the previous low.

Two US pension funds invested $40 million in crypto

A recent tweet by the Founder of Morgan Creek Digital say that team created a new venture fund anchored two public pensions which means more and more financial institutions are taking interest in crypto.

Western Union is testing RippleNet

In a podcast with Analyse Asian, the General Manager of Asia Pacific said that:” As some examples, we’re piloting some settlement tests with Ripple for certain corridors. I think the US dollar and Mexican peso is one example”. She continues: "Another thing that we’re doing as part of our exploration is we’ve made an investment in Digital Currency Group. It’s a fund that provides industry-leading insights into the blockchain and cryptocurrency space” So, Western Union is moving into the crypto realm which means other firms may soon follow.

Bakkt will be launched “later this year”

In a warning call with Seeking Alpha, ICE’s CEO, Jeff Sprecher said that:” Bakkt has its own offices, its own management team, and et cetera. And then we've entered into agreements with it to provide
services, as I've described over that Bakkt -- over that ICE overlay.” He continues: “So we'll see how it goes. They're well along in building out an infrastructure that I think you'll see launch LATER THIS YEAR.”
To conclude, Bakkt is a “moonshot bet” according to the sentiment. Crypto enthusiasts expect Bitcoin will go back to its ATH after Bakkt launch. However, it is unknown about the effect of Bakkt on Bitcoin. Many VCs still very skeptic about joining crypto market as it is extremely volatile and unregulated.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO is working to bring LN to Square’s Cash App

Cash App, a payment app developed by Square will be integrated with Bitcoin Lightning Network according to Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO. Jack and his team are currently working with Lightning team to explore Lightning Network. He asserts that:” We would love to make it as fast and efficient and transactional as possible, and that includes looking at our seller base and our register. It’s not an ‘if’. It’s more of a ‘when’. And how do we make sure we’re getting the speed we need and the efficiency. A lot of what we’ve worked on the seller side is making transactions as fast as possible.”

About Square’s Cash App, it currently has more than 10 million users and added Bitcoin payment in Jan 20th which means there are chances that millions of users have been exposed to Bitcoin payment.
Additionally, the majority of the reviews on both Google Play and App Store are positive which means users is delighted with how the app is designed. Therefore, they may test out LN once it is implemented into the app.

Japanese IT giant, GMO will launch Yen-backed stablecoin this year

In a warning presentation, the CEO and CFO of GMO assert that they will launch Yen-backed stablecoin, GYEN this year. At the moment, they already set up a subsidiary and appointed the manager for the
Operation.

Venezuela keeps seeing higher and higher OTC volume

At the moment, Venezuela has reached 1,698,488% volume and it's going higher each day. Consequently, Venezuelans are now buying Bitcoin to preserve their value, thus causing the trading volume LocalBitcoin reaching a new ATH. A few people believe that the last pump could be due to this sudden surge of volume while others say that this is a bounce from $3400. At the moment, BTC is traded above 8k USD in Venezuela.

That's it for today, folks.
Enjoy your fee-free trading at VHCEx.
Thank you, your VHCEx team.