Crypto Today: Bitcoin a step away from smashing $9000

Here's what you need to know on Wednesday

Markets

BTC/USD is currently trading at $8,780 (+0.80%) in the afternoon in U.S. hours, as the bulls lose the upside momentum for now. 

ETH/USD is currently trading at $164.65 (+2.98%), price moves back into consolidation mode. 

XRP/USD is currently trading at $0.2350 (+0.87%), momentum to the upside with next major barrier eyed at $0.2500. 

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are BTG $15.02 (+84.60%), BSV $361.02 (+75.49%) and BCD $0.668204  (+55.97%) and The day's losers are MAID $1.72 (-13.90%), ABBC $0.401198 (-7.70%) and NRG $01.73 (-5.60%).

Chart of the day: XRP/USD 60-minute chart

Price action moving within a near-term pennant structure. 

Market

Blockchain software development firm Block.One released EOS.io 2.0, the software underlying the EOS blockchain.

Heath Tarbert, Chairman of the CFTC, has made a statement that he isn’t sure of whether XRP should be deemed a security or not. Tarbert did confirm the CFTC is working with the SEC to bring more clarity into the space.

Regulation

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked investors to be wary of investing in Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) as they may not be compliant with securities laws. IEOs that are catering to United States persons must comply with federal securities and corporate law. Exchanges offering these investments may be complicit in wrongdoing themselves, according to the regulator.6

Bitwise Asset Management has withdrawn its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Industry 

Blockchain is listed as the number one “hard skill” for 2020 in a new report compiled by jobs site LinkedIn. "Last year, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and analytical reasoning led LinkedIn’s global list of the most in-demand hard skills," LinkedIn wrote in the report. "They’re all on the list again this year, but a skill we weren’t even looking at a year ago – blockchain – tops the list of most in-demand hard skills for 2020."

Binance has taken a 500 million won ($432,000) stake in BxB, a Korean fintech firm that launched a Korean won stablecoin last year according to reports. 

The next stage, according to Deputy Governor of the PBoC Fan Yifei, is to test the digital asset in a controlled environment in selected geographical regions, starting with Shenzhen. But the project’s application is now being met with fresh skepticism from ex PBoC officials.

The United Nations has warned that attending a North Korean cryptocurrency conference in February is likely to constitute a sanctions violation, according to a report by Reuters. It follows reports last week of the indictment of Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith on charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Quote of the day

Today, someone moved $1,100,000,000 worth of #Bitcoin, and payed a ridiculous fee of $84!

With Gold this would have cost you tens of $millions!

With the FIAT system this would have taken several days to confirm!

With BTC, this transaction cleared in just a few minutes!

@themooncarl