Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) – The last few months of the cryptocurrency world has been ushered with sundry of turbulence from nook and cranny, creating ripples in the thought and mind of Cryto lovers and investors. It would have been nice to say that there is no sky without a silver lining or the path to success is usually not always smooth, but the case of digital currency has been different, creating a scene that looks like an engineer at a construction site without a safety helmet.
Every poke on crytocurrency, absolutely means a dent, loss in value or customers, and this has been prevailing over the last few months with no means to rectify or proffer lasting solution.
It has also been noticed that every biff on a crypto coin, especially the bigwig, makes other coins susceptible, creating a bugbear for others and investors, and they will also be held culpable, dipping their value just like resonance.
Source: Cointelegraph
For this reason, the question that arises is “must other coins be held responsible for an attack or dent of a coin or an exchange market”? I thought it is a decentralized market, therefore, the success or downfall of a coin should not affect the other. Perusing past event on cryptocurrency and its effect, brought about listing below, some certain inferences begging analysis:
The Late January Coincheck hack
One of the earliest events that saw the dipping of cryptocurrency is the Coincheck hack on January 26, 2018, where about $532.60 million was carted away by an unknown hacker. According to Coincheck in a blog post, the cyber attack “has caused immense distress to our customers, other exchanges, and people throughout the cryptocurrency industry.”
The heist ranked highest in the history of cryptocurrency because it was more than 2014, $400 million bitcoin worth stolen from Mt Gox, alerted investor and they started selling off their holdings. Subsequently, the whole event resulted in the plummeting of Bitcoin by 7%, Ethereum by 5% and ripple by 12% against dollars.
In the meantime, Coincheck has disclosed that it has begun the reimbursement of the cryptocurrency Tsunami victims.
Facebook Ban of cryptocurrency ads
Also, on January 30, 2018, Facebook, the social media giant announced the banning of ads on “binary options, initial coin offerings, and cryptocurrency.”
“We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception,” Rob Leathern, Facebook Business product director disclosed.
“That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and crypto-currencies that are not currently operating in good faith.”
Source: ABC
Following the announcement, Bitcoin plunged by 12 percent against dollar to a value close to $9,810 on CoinDesk while all other major cryptocurrency fell alike.
Cryptojacking
Another hit on the cryptocurrency industry is cryptojacking, which aroused sundry of deprecation from far and wide.
Verge(XVG), an altcoin that eulogizes itself as being “secure and anonymous cryptocurrency, built with a focus on privacy” had its Twitter account hunted, resulting to hackers demanding coins from Twitter user.
Other turbulent events
On February 1, bitcoin and other bigwigs which include Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash crashed over 24hrs on Coinmarketcap in response to a statement issued by Indian Finance minister, Arun Jaitley that the government will sabotage digital currency transaction in the country.
“The Government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate the use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system,” Arun Jaitley disclosed.
“The Government will explore the use of block chain technology proactively for ushering in digital economy.”
Source: Metro
Similarly, after a statement issued by the U.S SEC that it will increase its inspection over cryptocurrency industry, and a news from Hong Kong that some account of Binance in the country has been compromised, some analysts associated the drop in Bitcoin price early this month from above $11,000 to below $9,000 to the statement.
Lastly, the latest and recent event which saw downcast of the cryptocurrency industry is a sanction coming from tech giant Google, world widest online ads provider who emphasized that the ban aimed at regulating its financial services policy.
Google announced that it will begin crack down on all ads on cryptocurrency which includes contents on initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice by June 2018.
“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,” Scott Spencer, Google’s director for ads, told CNBC.
Google released the news in its annual “trust and safety” ads report.
In response to the statement, bitcoin and its contemporary competitors drastically lost their value with only two altcoin of the top 50 cryptocurrencies standing.
The likes of Ethereum, Bitcoin, bitcoin cash and Ripple all dipped in value by at least 7% per according to CoinMarketCap, following the news.
As if all these were not enough, the successful American tycoon, Bill Gate, who invests in various sector has found the alien technology, in a Reddit post, to do more harm than good. “The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing.”
“The government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. Right now cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way.”
In spite of all the events especially the recent sanction from the tech giant, Brian Kelly, CEO of BKCM, opined that the clampdown could be a turnover for the digital currencies.
“It’s a good thing for the industry, Facebook and Google ads were always a red flag for me,” Kelly said. “It’s not having any impact on price.”
Kelly credited the plummeting to global regulatory anxiety
“Selling is driven by fear of another China ban, supposedly coming in next 24 hours,” Kelly said. “My view is it will be a nothing burger since China has been banning bitcoin since 2013.”
After all the tales, what struck one’s mind is asking questions like “will the cryptocurrency world continue with this trend, facing turbulence from all nook with consistent surge in value”?
Source: Cointelegraph
As the market continues to plummet towards the attack and various criticisms coming from world billionaires who control the largest percentage of the world market, and clampdowns from Google and Facebook who holds about 60-70% of online ads, does this mean that the cryptocurrency will soon disappear like a smoke in the thin air, leaving no sign or traces of existence, or do we oblique toward the opinion of Brian Kelly.
Share me with your thought.
