Crypto Today: Bitcoin settles above $9,000, bullish momentum peters out

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Markets:

BTC/USD bounced from the intraday low of $9,006 to trade at $9,120 by the time of writing. The first digital asset has gained 2% on a day-to-day basis and stayed mostly unchanged since the beginning of the day. Currently. BTC/USD is moving within a short-term bullish trend, though the volatility remains low. 

ETH/USD retreated from the recent high above $234.00 to $233.74. The pair is currently trading with 2% of gains on a day-to-day basis amid short-term bullish momentum.

XRP/USD settled above $0.240 after a short-lived dip to $0.2386 during early Asian hours. The coin has broken free from the tight range.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are ABBC Coin (ABBC) $0.1335 (+25.4%), WaykiChain (WICC) $0.2576 (+15.5%) and ICON (ICX) $0.2753 (+10.3%), The day's losers are Nervos Network (CKB) $0.0072 (-8.6%), MonaCoin (MONA) $1.80 (-6.45%), iExec RLC (RLC) $0.5908 (-5.9%).

Chart of the day:

BTC/USD, 4-hour chart

Market

Johns Hopkins University professor Steve Hanke came out with another apocalyptical forecast about Bitcoin. In a recent tweet, he said that Bitcoin should be avoided at any cost because it is used by North Korean dictator to finance his nuclear ambitions. 

Another week, another #Bitcoin scam. In addition to being extremely volatile and unreliable, this highly speculative "asset" is now helping fund the nuclear initiative in #NorthKorea. Avoid like the plague.

His tweet appeared in response to the article in the Wall Street Journal, that stated that the US government had arrested two Chinese nationals that allegedly had helped North Korean hackers to launder stolen Bitcoins worth $100 million. 

Industry

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken now supports TRX trading against USD, EUR, ETH and XBT. The deposits and withdrawals was enabled on March 5. The minimum deposit and withdrawal amount is 2 TRX; however, a user shall have at least 500 TRX to initiate a trade. The exchange takes a trading commission in the amount of 0.01 TRX.

A Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has launched a subsidiary in Thailand. The company, known as Huobi Thailand, will give access to BTC, ETH, HT, and USDT trading from the start; However, more trading instruments are expected to be added in the near future. In 2019, Huobi obtained  “Digital Asset License” issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Finance, and got approval from the local  Securities and Exchange Commission. Ciara Sun, VP of Global Business at Huobi Group, commented:

Huobi’s goal is to help create an equitable world where wealth is more inclusive and attainable to anyone, anywhere. The launch of Huobi Thailand brings us one step closer to our goal and marks a new milestone in our global expansion.

Regulation

South Korea is about to legalize cryptocurrency trading. As FXStreet has previously reported, the Parliament of South Korea passed an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information to include cryptocurrency into the legal framework. The bill should be signed by the president. Once it happens, a year-long period of enactment will start. 

The cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies shall bring their operations with the new legal requirements by September 2021. Notably, the bill implies strong anti-money laundering procedures that may become a blow to the privacy-focused projects.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority published a warning about the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX. The regulator emphasized that the company had been operating on the territory of the country and attracting UK citizens without authorization. BitMEX operations are categorized as activities that shall be licensed by FCA. Notably, the regulator took down it's previous warning about the US-based Kraken exchange. 

Quote of the day

The crypto legislation passed today in South Korea legitimizes the local crypto industry. It strengthens AML policies and requires exchanges to register with local financial authorities to continue operating. It's an important one, but not as extremely big as made out to be.

Cryptocurrency analyst Joseph Young

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