Markets

Bitcoin broke the psychological threshold of $ 7,000 and is still growing. This means that from Sunday’s lows, BTC is now up to 5% higher, reflecting stock market gains, despite the worsening situation around the coronavirus pandemic around the world, now especially in the US. What will be decisive now is whether Bitcoin will manage to keep this threshold. Altcoins are also in green numbers.

You can monitor the current cryptocurrency prices – here.

Cryptocurrency

BTC trading volumes increased by 61% in Q1 2020

Bitcoin trading volumes across The Block 22 exchanges saw a significant uptick during the first quarter of 2020. The volumes reached over $154 billion in the quarter – a 61% increase over the previous quarter figure of $96 billion, according to research conducted by The Block’s Steven Zheng. The quarterly average price of bitcoin, however, increased only about 4% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Despite an increase in trading volumes, the value transacted on the bitcoin network saw a relatively minor rise of 11% in Q1 2020 when compared to the previous quarter. During the first quarter, users transacted over $178 billion in BTC, at an average of $1.98 billion a day.

Stellar is involved in helping victims of the coronavirus crisis

Amid the Covid-19 crisis, the Stellar Development Foundation is going to be matching donations in XLM. They will be doing so up to a maximum of 1.9 million XLM, which is close to $79,000 at current prices. At the same time, the Foundation has already donated 100,000 XLM to each of the charities that are participating in this new donation campaign.

The official site of the campaign is called lumentrhopy and it explains that a large number of individuals are losing their jobs due to the current Coronavirus crisis. Considering that the Stellar Development Foundation has been partnering over the last years with a large number of Non-profits, they decided to help them and get also experience on how to handle XLM.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, Banks

Poloniex launched a controversial platform on Tron for IEOs

Poloniex revealed its forthcoming Tron (TRX)-powered initial exchange offering (IEO) platform on April 5. Projects seeking to conduct their offerings on Poloniex’s LaunchBase platform face the stipulation of issuing tokens in exchange for TRX, and will be considered on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.

On Twitter, Tron founder, Justin Sun, described Just as building a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and governance protocol. Sun was among a consortium of Asian investors who purchased Poloniex in October 2019. Poloniex is the 15th-largest crypto exchange by volume.

(1/6)Huge congrats on launching @Poloniex #LaunchBase, a world-leading token sale platform! As Poloniex’s strategic partner, @Tronfoundation and I will fully support the LaunchBase platform and its future development. https://t.co/amRgWKjNiH
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) April 5, 2020

Regulations, CBDC

South Korea begins pilot testing of CBDC

The Bank of Korea, the country’s central bank, has launched a pilot program for testing digital won. Announcing the news on Monday, the central bank said the program was launched last month and would run until December 2021. The 22-month program is aimed at identifying technical and legal provisions required to create and issue a digital currency.

On the technical side, it would define central bank digital currency (CBDC) design, an operation method of CBDC, and whether blockchain technology would be feasible to implement. On the legal side, the program would analyze expected legal issues when introducing CBDC, and accordingly prepare a specific amendment plan for the Bank of Korea Act.

In Japan, new cryptocurrency laws enter into force on 1 May

The Payment Services Act (PSA) and Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), two of the pieces of legislation passed by the Japanese House of Representatives last year to regulate crypto, were scheduled to come into effect starting in April. However, with unexpected delays, no enforcement date had officially been set until last week. In the April 3 edition of an official government newsletter, it was announced that the revised versions of the PSA and FIEA would be enforced in Japan starting on May 1.

As there are no official laws to regulate crypto in Japan, amending existing regulations is the only way at this time for digital assets to have any kind of legal status in the Asian nation. As such, changes to the PSA range from changing basic terminology — “crypto asset” instead of “virtual currency” — to tightening restrictions on crypto custodians. In addition, crypto exchanges operating in Japan from May 1 will have to manage users’ money separately from their own cash flows. This means finding a third-party operator to keep hold of their clients’ money, and using “reliable methods” like cold wallets to do so.

Blockchain, Technology

Blockchain firms are joining to develop an anonymous coronavirus testing application

Genobank, a blockchain project seeking to offer consumers ownership and control over their DNA data, is preparing to launch an app on EOS-based blockchain platform Telos to assist people in accessing anonymous coronavirus testing. According to a recent announcement from the Telos Foundation, the app will also allow users to share that information with healthcare organizations.

The open-source app, Agerona, stores the test data on the Telos blockchain, with Genobank to introduce a token that enables information sharing. The app is expected to launch this month.

The Blockchain US Association supported the Telegram in the fight against the SEC

The Blockchain Association, a major United States-based trade association in the crypto sphere, has filed a new brief in support of Telegram amid the firm’s continuing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC). Referring to the inconsistency that issuers of digital assets must cope with when dealing with the SEC, the brief says that “No settled precedent or agency rulemaking addressed whether and when digital assets amounted to securities.”

As to Telegram’s particular conundrum, the brief reads: “the enforcement posture in this case, and the district court’s position, run the opposite direction of the Commission’s prior statements.”