Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies

Two class action lawsuits have been filed against major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on successive days last week. In the first lawsuit, filed on March 1, the plaintiffs accuse that the employees of the California-based exchange illegally profited by "insider trading" of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) launched in December. The complaint was filed by Coinbase user and Arizona citizen Jeffrey Berk.

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Bitcoin transaction fees is cheaper now, as three of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges have slashed their withdrawal fees rates by up to half. Binance, Bitfinex, and Kraken have enabled SegWit (Segregated Witness), a process to increase block size limit, and capacity to add more transactions. Transaction batching is another method being adopted to help them significantly reduce fees.

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New Jersey has issued a cease-and-desist order to an initial coin offering (ICO) by cryptocurrency investment company Bitcoiin. In an order issued on Wednesday, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities alleged that Bitcoiin is selling unregistered securities to investors of the US state. Bitcoiin is engaging in fraud in connection with the offer for sale of securities, the cease-and-desist order says.

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Chart Highlights Heavy Losses

Five bearish lower high/lower low candles in a row this week emphasize the current weak state of cryptocurrency heavyweight Bitcoin. Not only has BTC broken through support offered by zone one and two, it has also re-entered the downtrend from the December 17 high of just $20,000. And to add to the bearish outlook, the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $8523 was broken, although BTC currently trades back above this level. Support currently around $7,600 – the bottom of the downtrend – ahead of $6,000, the February 6 low print. On the upside, BTC will have a cluster of resistance levels between $9,300 and $11,600 to break and close above before the chart begins to look positive.

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Los Angeles-based patent management company Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (MARA) has commenced bitcoin mining business at its new facility in Quebec, Canada. Investors apparently showed interest in the move, as Marathon shares went up 32 percent after markets opened Monday. Marathon had purchased 1,400 Antminer S9 miners from Bitmain and had leased 26,700 square feet of data center space in Quebec.

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Why has Bitcoin been having a hard time staying above $9,000?

The world's largest digital currency approached $9,500 earlier today, but quickly gave up these gains, falling below the $9,000 mark several times, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Bitcoin fell to as little as $8,860.87 today, representing a roughly 6.5% decline from the day's high of $9,474.86, additional BPI figures show.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now, since there has been little guidance about resolutions to the impending regulatory actions by US agencies," said James Song, founder and CEO of blockchain startup ExsulCoin.

Charles Thorngren, CEO of Noble Alternative Investments, also weighed in on how regulatory developments are affecting digital currency markets.

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While debates on the need to bring about regulations over the flourishing cryptocurrency market continue, Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Brian Quintenz moots the idea, why not self-regulate? Delivering keynote address at the D.C. Blockchain Summit in Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission chief suggested that a cryptocurrency SRO could have an impact beyond the U.S. market.

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Bitcoin is unwinding in a similar fashion to the Nasdaq during the dotcom bubble nearly two decades ago, but the pace is 15 times faster, global investment firm Morgan Stanley said. The firm's strategist Sheena Shah said in a client note that the Nasdaq in 2000 and Bitcoin now, both rallied 250 to 280 percent during their peaks ahead of a market downturn.

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Could a bear market in stocks bolster Bitcoin and gold?

Bitcoin will likely benefit if stocks suffer a "major pullback," stated Tim Enneking, managing director of Crypto Asset Management. Many market observers are closely watching the relationship between the stock market and Bitcoin, noted Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst for social trading platform eToro. "So far we haven't seen any flows from the stocks into Bitcoin," he stated, emphasizing that many traders do not believe that the recent declines in stocks constitute a bear market.

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Big banks want to crush Ripple and Bitcoin. At least, that’s the impression one gets by listening to speeches of high profile bankers, attacking the very premise and the valuation of Bitcoin.

Last year, for instance, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. leader Jamie Dimon called the digital currency a “fraud,” and a “tulip bulb.”

There’s a good reason for that. Each cryptocurrency is in competition with banks, especially Ripple. “If big banks were to succeed in crushing one of these two currencies, Ripple would be it,” says Shidan Gouran, President and COO of Global Blockchain.

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