Crypto Week in Review: Aug 9 – Aug 16, 2019

At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at US$10,441 – a 4 percent price increase on the day. BTC is experiencing upward momentum, peaking at US$10,500 while continuing to divert from the four-figure mark it fell to yesterday. Still, Bitcoin needs to climb by about 15 percent to retake the $12,000 barrier which it surpassed multiple times earlier this month.

Ethereum (ETH), the world’s number two crypto, has done an about face to trade slightly in the green. ETH is trading at just over US$185, showing a 0.36 percent increase on the day. Ether has largely been on the decline this week, trading over US$218 a week ago and falling by approximately 14.7 percent to hit its current price.

Earlier in the day, anticipated BTC futures platform Bakkt announced it has been approved for launch – namely by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and New York State Department of Financial Services – and plans to roll out on September 23rd.

Alongside BTC and ETH, other top-20 cryptos in the green today include EOS, Tether (USDT), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Binance Coin (BNB), Monero (XMR), Stellar (XLM), Dash (DASH), and Tezos (XTZ).

The total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies is currently over $270.9 billion, according to Einstein Exchange.


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Coinbase Acquires Xapo Custody to Become Largest Crypto Provider

Coinbase Custody – the custody arm of iconic cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase – has acquired the institutional business of custody provider Xapo. And with US$7 billion under custody, the firm says it has just become the largest crypto custodian in the world, according to their press release.

The news confirmed weeks of speculation over the exchange’s intentions with Xapo. In early August, Coinbase Custody having swallowed Xapo’s largest client – crypto-asset manager Grayscale Investments who at the time reported having $2.7 billion under management.

Fortune reported a source familiar with the deal said that Coinbase’s US$55 million offer for the acquisition was enough to outbid fellow custody giant Fidelity Digital Assets.




Crypto Criminals Hackers Stolen Over $4 Billion in First Half of 2019

According to a new study from CipherTrace – a cryptocurrency intelligence firm based in Silicon Valley – 2019 is shaping up as the year of the exit scam.

According to the company’s latest Q2 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering (AML) report – which provides an overview of the major cryptocurrency thefts, scams, and fraud worldwide – hackers and fraudsters netted approximately US$4.26 billion for the first six months of the year.

One of the most high-profile hacks in 2019 happened at Binance in May. The exchange lost 7,000 Bitcoins (or about US$40 million) in a single transaction. Next, investors lost about US$3 billion of crypto deposits from their PlusToken wallets in an alleged Ponzi Scheme. The scam saw founders simply running away with the funds of three million users. Another infamous case was that of Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX, which shut down earlier this year following the death of its founder Gerald Cotton. He was the only individual with access to the company’s cold wallet crypto assets, and was later revealed that he was trading using customer’s funds.

Another common problem in this sector is SIM swapping fraud. Such frauds are becoming increasingly common. Even telecom giant AT&T had to face a lawsuit owing to a SIM swap attack on a user.


Is Bitcoin a Financial Safe Haven?

Some cryptocurrency advocates have argued Bitcoin can be a reliable safe haven for investors when other markets get stormy. Yes? No? Maybe? Barron’s reports.