News & Sentiment for 1 January 2018 – 15 January 2018

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fb2UDFlWzQynHwDPj1R47AGu6k37nkFqwusit4_na1g/edit?usp=sharing

Joel Benavidez, CBP, Cryptocurrency Analyst

News & Sentiment for 1 January 2018 – 15 January 2018

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Introduction

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks in the crypto space. We saw a bullish tone cross the CNBC airwaves during the holidays, but relative to this time last year, it’s been tame. That doesn’t mean it’s all bad news however. There are a few standout stories and a few standout cryptos. Let’s blast through the trending headlines over the last couple of weeks and then we’ll take stock (or take crypto in this case anyway).

News Stories

Trending news stories over the last two weeks. This report marks the beginning of the 2019 calendar year

• Reports on sustained news releases highlighting cryptocurrencies death strikes defiant tone.
• Venezueals currency reports strike inflationary tone
• National Bank of Kuwait implements XRP
• Ripple’s XRP-based xRapid syst/comp. Poised at tackling global payments
• PayIOTA.me payment system reaches 2 years maturity.
• Fed Reserve Researchers “Aleksander Berentsen and Fabian Schar penned a report stating central banks have too many red flags to contend with when considering launching a central-bank backed cryptocurrency. (posb r/t excessive transparency?)
• Conflict between Kraken and ‘The XRP Army’ over vernacular
• ETH poised to retake #2 spot from XRP (has not played out since 1st reported)
• IOTA Qubic Mgr. Eric Hop joins IOTA-ISO as co-founder
• Vechain reaches 1M trx on mainnet
• Bosch Iota bridge release?
• Positive ADA/ Charles Hoskinson sentiment from cardano redditor TopsyKret5
• BTC Lightning Network Company rejects $1.25M from Roger Ver to build on BCH
• High bullish reversal sentiment.
• BTC trx @10Month high while fees at 2 year low.
• Weiss ratings mark XRP as having edge on cross border payments.
• 10 years of BTC celebrations
• Yoroi Wallet anounced
• Trezor supports ADA
• Bakkt raises $182.5M
• BTC Futures Platform Delayed
• TRX acheives 1M accounts, eyes gaming
• India stalls regulations
• Cypherpunk Jameson Lopp says blockchain could revolutionize governance.
• Tony Robbins Bitcoin explanation for his 3 million followers on https://www.tonyrobbins.com/wealth-lifestyle/need-know-bitcoin/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Editorial&utm_content=Bitcoin
• XLM founder Jed McCaleb says 90% of cryptos are BS
• XRP moves 755M in 4 seconds spending less than 1 cent in fees.
• HitBTC freezes accounts ahead of prof of keys event.
• Bloomberg says BTC TA signals BUY
• 5 more XRP base pairs added
• Major Tron expansion anounced.
• ADA ranked #1 in github activity
• TSLA AAPL GOOG FB AMZN and other Nasdaqs to become tokenized on ETH net will boost crypto in 2019
• Bankers state crypto is a non-threat in 2019
• BTC temporarily breaks 4100
• Crypto coming to wall st: DX.exchange
• XRP running cross border ops for Islamic banks
• Coinbase suspends ETC after blockchain history re-writes
• More news on ETC 51% attack
• Sentiment survey calls for 51% bullish crypto
• TRX and XLM climb the market cap chart
• Russia to use bitcoin in place of us dollar ($10B in BTC)
• TRX pump outperforms market
• 23rd richest man invests in crypto (BAKKT)
• Neo pushing new things for 2019
• France Tobacconists start selling crypto
• China censoring crypto firms
• Circle ceo: crypto will be bigger than the web
• Nick Szabo: bitcoin will be bigger than gold
• Smart grid development from IOTA
• Indian banks have customers promise not to use crypto
• Delphi Digital states selling pressure exhausted
• Most recently, market falls back to 3500 range
• Binance launches FIAT exchange
• ETH pumps

 

Conclusion

There are, as I mentioned earlier, a few standouts here. If you didn’t hang on every headline highlighted, don’t worry. I’ll give you the cliff notes now.

With respect to cryptos, it remains a top 10 game. There is virtually no news on new cryptos or ICOs but rigorous development and adoption continues amongst the “Blue Cryptos” (If I may take the liberty).

Tron, Cardano, IOTA, Ethereum & especially XRP (Ripple) have all been mentioned in a positive light for one reason or another. There were also mentions of VeChain and Stellar to name some of the less cited cryptos. ETC had of course suffered a 51% attack which crippled it and it has since been delisted on Coinbase.

Lets not forget about Bitcoin. Analysts and Think Tanks continue to state the exhausted selling pressure and Russia even stated they are ditching the US Dollar to the tune of 10 Billion in favor of our beloved BTC.

Binance and Coinbase were mentioned more than any other exchange with most of the positive light falling on Binance and their new FIAT exchange.

In addition to Russia, the US, India and China were all mentioned frequently, with censorship taking place in India and China, and corporate adoptions taking place in the West.

As I mentioned before, 2019 looks like it is going to be a top 10 game so IMHO, alt coins are a suckers bet this time around. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing A LOT of these cryptos going to zero, getting left behind in this widely anticipated bull market

Good luck and we’ll see you all later in the year.

You can follow me on twitter @joelbenavidez

None of the material presented here is to be considered trading or investment advice. Your financial decisions are your own. Please consult accredited officials before engaging in investment activities especially risk-on investments like Cryptocurrencies etc.