Crypto Today: Rallies continue to be sold

Here's what you need to know on Thursday

Markets: 

• BTC/USD is currently trading at $7,150.00 (-1.90%) in the afternoon in U.S. hours, the bears regain control. 
• ETH/USD is currently trading at $127.40 (-4.25%), sellers came back into play following a rejection at the $135 price mark. It was the high print of the prior session. 
• XRP/USD is currently trading at $0.1890 (-3.70%), another rejection was seen at the $0.2000, following the surge of momentum in the session on Wednesday. 
• Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are TOMO $0.607661 (+19.15%), RLC $0.425086 (+12.10%) and ZEN $0.36274 (+11.93%). The day's losers are KNC $0.209574 (-6.70%), LEO $0.841970 (-4.50%) and ZRX $0.186074 (-3.50%).

Chart of the day:

XRP/USD Daily Chart

Market:

• DappRader reports that Ethereum (ETH) remains the leading platform for distributed apps, with growth in both the user base and different categories of products. The rerport reveals the Ethereum network saw a growth of 118% in its user base, with a growth in daily value transferred at 116%.
• The US-based cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex will allow users to earn TRX staking rewards. They have promised to add TRX staking support in December. Tweeting: staking is coming to Poloniex on December 25th! To jumpstart your $TRX earnings, we're launching a Christmas campaign where you can earn an annual yield of up to 50% on your TRX balance at Poloniex.

Regulation:

• The Amended Directive to the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive will go into force in Germany on January 1, 2020. Some of the key changes affect how the German Banking Act and Payment Supervision Services Act relate to crypto. The law detailed: digital representation of a value that is not issued or guaranteed by a Central Bank or a public authority and that does not have the legal status of a currency or money, but that based on agreement or practice is accepted by natural or legal persons as means of payment or exchange or is used for investment purposes and that is transferred, stored and traded electronically.
• The French financial markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has made its first initial coin offering (ICO) approval. While token sales remain legal as a fundraising option in France, only those that have been approved by the AMF may be marketed directly to the public.

Industry:

• Thailand is set to apply blockchain to its Electronic Visa On Arrival (eVOA). Thailand’s new blockchain-powered eVOA system intends to speed up and protect the digital visa application process and will soon be available for five million visitors from 20 countries.
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been granted a U.S. patent for an invention that makes sending Bitcoin as easy as email. The patent, granted on Tuesday and filed in March 2015, details a system for users to make cryptocurrency payments with email addresses linked to corresponding wallet addresses.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) studied the viability of anonymous transactions by implementing such a feature on its DLT based CBDC, which is strictly for research purposes at the moment. This experiment offered more clarity on the direction CBDCs could take and how issuance can be conducted on these ledgers, December 17, 2019.

Quote of the day:

If you run a technical analysis, it looks like it’ll be something like six months after the halving that we will cross $250,000 per Bitcoin.

Tim Draper