Crypto Today: BTC gets ready to string the bear's trap

Here's what you need to know on Friday

Markets:

BTC/USD is hovering around $7,050, down from the intraday high of $7,152. Despite the retreat, the coin has gained 4.5% on a day-to-day basis and retained short-term bullish bias. If the gains proved to be sustainable, we may see an extended recovery towards the next strong barrier of $7,500.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands above $169.60. The second-largest coin hit the intraday high $173.52, but failed to hold the ground. Despite the correction, it is still 6.3% higher from this time on Thursday. ETH/USD is moving in a short-term bullish trend in sync with the market. The volatility is low.

XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.1880 during early Asian hours, off the intraday high of $0.1918. The coin has gained 2.6% on a day-to-day basis and stayed unchanged since the beginning of the day.  From the short-term perspective, XRP/USD is trading within a bullish trend amid low volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, DigiByte (DGB) $0.0065 (+30.9%),Chiliz (CHZ) $0.0077 (+20.1%) and Hyperion (HYN) $0.1209 (17.4%) are in the green zone. The day's losers are ABBC Coin (ABBC) $0.1092 (+6.9%), Maker (MKR) $296.66 (-0.8%).

Chart of the day:
ETH/USD, 30-min chart

Industry

Facebook has changed its Libra concept in response to the regulators' criticism. Now the coin will support multiple versions of the digital coins rather than a basket of fiat currencies and securities. each coin will be backed by an individual fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. The move is supposed to dispel financial regulators' concerns that the project would undermine the power and control of central banks. If the new concept helps soften the regulators' stance more companies may choose to join Libra Association, the non-profit organization that was officially founded in October 2019 to govern Libra project. Now the group consists of 22 members.

A creator of the cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, Erik Voorhees, has bought an Israeli startup focused on decentralized finance (Defi) solutions. DeFi is supposed to compete with traditional financial service providers, offering anything from lending to buying cryptocurrencies and interest-bearing savings accounts.

That was a very good test of its durability. The Defi stuff, I think, is the most interesting, because of how quickly it’s moving, of how many tiny startups are emerging every day, and how each of them work together, - Voorhees said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

YouTube deleted the channel of popular cryptocurrency trader and analyst Tone Vays. He says that the video-sharing platform sent him a warning concerning one of his videos and within an hour and a half deleted his whole account with all the content without the right to restore it. The cryptocurrency community is outraged as it was not the first case of YouTube censorship towards crypto-related content.

Regulation

The Chinese manufacturer of medical equipment Hebei Huijin denied its involvement in the research related to the central bank's digital currency. According to the information, provided by the company's press-service, Hebei Huijin has never been involved in cryptocurrencies, while its income structure had never included direct business income derived from digital currencies. 

Earlier this week, it has become known that Chinese central bank allowed several state-owned lenders to run tests of a new mobile app that might be used as a digital wallet for its state-backed cryptocurrency. Also, several banks and companies have been engaged in the internal tests of the system. 

South Africa’s financial regulators look to tighten their approach towards cryptocurrency-related business.  According to the roadmap published earlier this week, cryptocurrencies “remain without legal tender status”. South Africa’s “Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group” (IFWG) published a document that implies a stricter regulation of the burgeoning national crypto-asset sector

Crypto assets and the various activities associated with this innovation can no longer remain outside of the regulatory perimeter. Clear policy stances must be formed, said the IFWG.