Markets

Today, crypto markets has recovered, and now most cryptocurrencies are in green numbers. Bitcoin has added almost 5% since yesterday, moving just below $ 6,700. Altcoins are similar, although they grow less vigorously, and so BTC dominance is rising – now at 65.3%. Interestingly, financial markets are falling by 5% or more. Oil, on the other hand, is growing – by about 7%, while gold is stagnating. According to these data, there seems to be no correlation between cryptocurrency markets and classical markets.

You can monitor the current cryptocurrency prices – here.

Cryptocurrency

$1 Billion Parked in Stablecoins now

More than $1 billion is currently parked in two major stablecoins, Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), as investors wait for a better time to invest in crypto assets. What does it mean that investors are moving out of Bitcoin and into stablecoins? Over the short term at least, this is not a bullish sign. As of March 3, there was just $400 million in USDT and USDC on exchanges. In less than four weeks, the total balance has surged by 150%.

TokenAnalyst research lead Ankit Chiplunkar wrote:

Update the USDT + USDC stablecoin balances in exchanges has crossed $1B.

It is a measure of how much money is sitting on the sidelines or placed in limit orders at exchanges, waiting for the perfect moment to buy.

data: @thetokenanalyst https://t.co/DKitg5dkt4 pic.twitter.com/8yziPFNpE3
— Ankit Chiplunkar (@ankitchiplunkar) March 30, 2020

Botnet attacks Microsoft servers and mines cryptocurrencies

Guardicore, a data center and cloud security company, issued a report today detailing an extensive campaign by a botnet to hijack Microsoft SQL Server (MS-SQL) machines around the globe and force them to mine the cryptocurrencies Monero and Vollar. Dubbed “Vollgar” by the company—a portmanteau of Vollar and vulgar—the campaign has continued on since it was first detected in May 2018, steadily infecting about 3,000 new machines daily across all sorts of industries, including healthcare and telecommunications.

According to Guardicore, the most-infected countries are China, India, the United States, South Korea, and Turkey, with the vast majority of attacking machines located in China. A peak of activity in December 2019 caught the company’s attention, eventually leading to today’s report.

ING: Europe plunges into crisis, Europeans will buy less Bitcoins

With the second quarter of 2020 starting, Dutch multinational banking institution ING has warned that the state of the eurozone economy could get worse before it gets better. The economic downturn could see fewer individuals invest in Bitcoin as they tighten their purse strings. The true economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is still to be realized. A senior economist at ING says that whilst the picture is much clearer now, we still know “surprisingly little.”

Regulations, CBDC

FATF: US digital dollar does not fully comply with cryptocurrency recommendations

Global money-laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has said that the U.S. is not fully compliant with its crypto recommendations. “Minor deficiencies” remain, said the FATF in a report published Tuesday. For instance, U.S.-registered money services businesses (MSBs) keep detailed records for transactions of $3,000 or more, as opposed to $1,000 required in the FATF recommendations.

This higher threshold is not clearly supported by low ML/TF [money laundering/ terrorist financing] risks

Further, the U.S. does not specifically identify “higher risk” virtual asset service providers (VASPs), as they are largely covered under the broader MSB regime, according to the FATF.7

Therefore, it is not entirely clear whether the current approach is sufficiently risk focused, especially since only 30% of all registered CVC [convertible virtual currencies] providers have been inspected since 2014

Cryptocurrency exchanges, Banks

Total funds on decentralized DEX exchanges in March at ATH

The total volume for non-custodial or decentralized exchanges (DEXs) hit an all-time high of $668 million in March, according to Dune Analytics. That figure is 53% higher compared to the data from February, the previous all-time high month for volumes, Dune Analytics said on Wednesday. The data provider noted that this is the first time that DEX volumes are rising on a falling ether (ETH) price.

Coinbase invested USD 1.1 million in Uniswap

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has invested 1.1 million USDC in Uniswap and PoolTogether in an effort to facilitate the two protocols’ growth. The awards were issued through Coinbase’s USDC Bootstrap Fund, which was originally launched in September of last year. According to a previous announcement post, the fund aims to support decentralized finance (DeFi) projects by investing directly into their smart protocols.

Last year, Coinbase put 1 million USDC apiece into money market protocol Compound and margin trading protocol dYdX. Any counterpart on the two platforms can borrow the USDC tokens on their crypto collateral.

Blockchain, Technology

Bitcoin Depot temporarily closes its crypto ATM to fight Covid-19

Bitcoin Depot, the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in the world, has begun powering down some of its machines in an effort to halt further spread of COVID-19. As much of the world sits in quarantine, Bitcoin Depot has chosen to temporarily shut off crypto ATMs which specifically reside in high traffic areas. The company is undertaking this push as a way to encourage social distancing.

As we monitor the ongoing situation, the number of locations temporarily taken offline will likely increase

We are continuing to monitor for locations that inhibit our users from socially distancing themselves from others. We estimate 10% of our machines will be in temporary lockdown until the end of April, or until further notice