Crypto Today: Bitcoin erases bearish sentiments; ETH jumps by 12%

Here's what you need to know on 

Markets:

BTC/USD is currently trading at $10,315 (+5.5% on a day-to-day basis). After a short-lived correction, BTC/USD hit a new 2020 high at $10,390.

The ETH/USD pair is currently trading at $246.88 (+12.18% on a day-to-day basis). The Ethereum retreated from the intraday high of $248.19; now, it is moving within a strong bullish trend amid low volatility.

XRP/USD settled at $0.2880 after a spike to $0.2917 during early Asian hours. The coin has gained 6.5% in recent 24 hours.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) $0.0463 (+145.5%), Blockstack (STX) $0.2156 (+43.57%) and Terra (LUNA) $0.3004 (+36.16%). KickToken (KICK) $0.00034 (-34%) is the only altcoin in red out of top-100.

Chart of the day:

ETH/USD, 1-hour chart

Market:

ETH/USD surpassed SMA200 weekly, which is considered as a strong bullish signal in the long run. Also, ETH/USD has been growing for eight weeks with the exception of one week at the end of January. This is the longers bullish streak since 2017. 

China's coronavirus outbreak caused delays in new equipment manufacturing and slowed down the growth of Bitcoin's mining difficulty. 

Jason Wu, the co-founder and CEO of crypto lending startup DeFiner, commented:

Many miners have been phasing out older mining machines and buying new and more powerful models as we get closer to the halving. The outbreak may have delayed the transition and contributed to the slow growth in mining difficulty.

Industry:

JP Morgan considers merging its blockchain unit Quorum with ConsenSys, blockchain startup behind the Ethereum network development. The deal may be formally announced within the next six months, Reuters reports, citing knowledgeable sources. Currently, the companies are in talks about the potential merge.  Quorum blockchain is based on Etereum network. It has been developed by JP Morgan internally by a team of around 25 people. At this stage it is unclear if they will keep their places. Notably, ConsenSys recently announced that it would reduce its staff by 14%.

Regulation:

The UK's FCA (Financail Conduct Authority) ordered ePayments Systems to halt all operations on customer accounts until the company eliminates the breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, the Finance Magnates report. ePayments Systems is an electronic money service provider focused on online payments for the affiliate marketing industry. The team behind ePayments has been engaged with a cryptocurrency exchange Digital Securities Exchange (DSX), which might have caused troubles with the regulator.

We know this will be a very frustrating time for our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and are working tirelessly with the FCA to ensure improvements are made and accounts can be reactivated as soon as possible. During this improvement process, we want to assure customers that their funds are being safeguarded as normal, the company said in the recent announcement.

Speaking in the Congress, the Chairman of the US Fed Jerome Powell admitted the privacy of the cryptocurrency transactions should be maintained. He also added that the central bank was working on the concept of a digital dollar. These comments are in line with previous announcements made by the US authorities.