Crypto Today: Bitcoin claws back its market share

Here's what you need to know on Friday

Markets:

BTC/USD is currently trading at $8,307 (-2.5% on a day-to-day basis). The coin has been moving within a short-term bullish trend during early Asian hours.

The ETH/USD pair is currently trading at $158.7 (-3.1% on a day-to-day basis). The Ethereum retreated from the intraday high of $163.03; now, it is moving within a short-term bullish trend amid decreasing volatility. 

XRP/USD settled at $0.2216 after a plunge to $0.2174 during early Asian hours. The coin is down 3.5% in recent 24 hours.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are Centrality (CENNZ) $0.0737 (+27.5%), Nervos Network (CKB) $0.0071 (+15.3%) and Bytom (BTM) $0.0850 (+9.6%), The day's losers are, Komodo (KMD) $0.5658 (-16.62%), Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) $0.5069 (-10.42%) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) $255 (-9.5%). 

Chart of the day:
BTC/USD, 1-hour chart

The cryptocurrency market is flashing red colors again with altcoins such as Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic and Stellar among the biggest losers out of top-20. The bearish correction is set to gain traction ahead of the weekend as most of the altcoins are reversing gains of the previous days. The total market capitalization dropped below $230 billion, while Bitcoin dominance returned above 66.0%.

Industry:

Tether has announced the issuance of Tether Gold (XAU₮), a digital asset backed by physical gold (XAU). It is available as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum blockchain and as a TRC20 token on the TRON blockchain, according to the press release. Tether Gold offers zero custody fees, while all tokens are backed by physical gold that is stored in secure vaults in Switzerland. The company claims that it is the most convenient way to hold gold. One  XAU₮ represents one troy fine ounce of physical gold on a specific gold bar.

Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether. commented:

“There is growing demand for digital exposure to physical gold, making the launch of Tether Gold a timely innovation in the crypto ecosystem.  Tether Gold provides the combined benefits of both physical and digital assets, removing the drawbacks of holding gold in more traditional ways, such as high storage costs and restricted access.”

A trading platform for cryptocurrency derivatives BitMEX has announced an upcoming launch of Ripple XRPUSD swap The new instrument will become available on Friday 5. Apart from that, the exchange has announced delisting of existing BitMEX UP and BitMEX DOWN contracts as of Friday 31 January 2020 at 12:00 UTC,

Regulation:

The first framework for central banks to create CBDC (central bank-issued digital currency) has been presented at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. The framework known as CBDC Policy‑Maker Toolkit, is a set of guidelines created by a community of "over 40 central banks, international organizations, academic researchers and financial institutions have created a framework to help central banks evaluate, design and potentially deploy CBDC"

Those central banks that have already started working on CBDC development might find it helpful. The Framework will help them to make good progress, according to WEF.

Sheila Warren, Head of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology at the World Economic Forum, commented:

“Given the critical roles central banks play in the global economy, any central bank digital currency implementation, including potentially with blockchain technology, will have a profound impact domestically and internationally. It is imperative that central banks proceed cautiously, with a rigorous analysis of the opportunities and challenges posed.”

Quote of the day:

Crypto bears often argue that “Bitcoin is worthless since there’s now over 2,000 cryptocurrencies.” In reality there’s only about 20 PoW cryptocurrencies competing with Bitcoin as a monetary commodity and store of value asset, while the rest are effectively start up equity.

Partner at Aenigma.Capital. FMR Financial Markets Advisory at PwC