Table of Contents
- Top Stories from the Crypto World
- 1. Segwit2x will return on Dec 28, says founder
- 2. MUFG prepares to secure Bitcoin adopters
- 3. Bitcoin policies shouldn’t feed the frenzy, says former FDIC chair
Bitcoin price recovery didn’t last too long. The prices fell from $16,300 to as low as $13,135 on GDAX. However, at the time of writing, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap has slightly recovered and is trading at $14,163 – a 15% decline in the past 24 hours, posting a market cap of $239 billion.
Alternate cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s footsteps. Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and IOTA declined 9%, 13%, 13% and 21% respectively in the last 24 hours. Ripple was the only cryptocurrency that managed to hold onto the upward momentum – gaining 5.5% and is now trading at $1.33 – close to its all-time high.
Due to the sluggish performance from the majority of the cryptocurrencies, the crypto market cap slid from $620 billion to $550 billion.
The reason behind this market tumble is still unclear. It could possibly be because of the Segwit2x announcement. Notably, SegWit2x futures surged in response to the announcement and reached the peak at $1,100 – their highest point since Nov. 8.
Reports suggesting South Korea is looking to curb Bitcoin trading also weighed heavily on the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin has already demonstrated a strong support at $13,000 twice – last week and today. There is a good chance Bitcoin will bounce back to $16,000 levels once again in the coming days.
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Segwit2x will return on Dec 28, says founder
The Segwit2x project, that caused months of debate and infighting among the Bitcoin community prior to its last-minute cancellation in November, now says it will fork off at block 501451, tomorrow!
The project’s founder and lead developer, Jaap Terlouw, stated on their site that the fork aims to address issues of “commission and transaction speed within the Bitcoin network,” adding that currently, Bitcoin is “almost impossible to use as a means of payment.”
Confirmation that the hard fork will, in fact, take place is indicated both in the roadmap on the project’s site, as well as in a direct quote from Terlouw, “Our team will carry out the Bitcoin hard fork, which was planned for mid-November.”
Why it matters: This incarnation of Segwit2x makes little sense to the Bitcoin community. The fork will apparently solve the commission and transaction speed by increasing the blocksize to 2MB. Isn’t Bitcoin Cash already doing that? It seems like the team behind Segwit2x is taking the advantage of the fork season. There are other forks like Bitcoin God (GOD) that are scheduled to join the ecosystem in the coming weeks. For people who are holding Bitcoins, usually support these forks, because of the duplication of their BTC holdings — aka free money!
2. MUFG prepares to secure Bitcoin adopters
The Mitsubishi UFJ Trust is preparing to offer Bitcoin holders a service wherein their Bitcoins are placed in a trust, separate from their cryptocurrency exchange’s assets. The idea is to secure Bitcoin adopters’ holdings against any failure or losses suffered by the cryptocurrency exchanges they use.
In the event of any failure, mishandling or wrongdoing by the exchange’s operator, the security of holders’ Bitcoins will be guaranteed by the trust bank. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, a member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has already applied for the relevant patent protection.
However, Bitcoin traders will need to opt-in for the service while trading at exchanges, allowing Mitsubishi UFJ Trust to monitor their accounts. The trust bank will reportedly flag suspicious activity and examine pending transactions.
3. Bitcoin policies shouldn’t feed the frenzy, says former FDIC chair
Sheila Bair, the former chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), argues that Bitcoin policies should be in place to protect investors. She further elaborated saying, that currency itself was once just like bitcoin – an idea assigned value by societies because people needed a medium to trade and that depended on “more on psychology than physical attributes.”
“Instead of making its own value judgments about bitcoin, what government should do is first make sure our policies don’t feed the frenzy,” Bair added.
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