Crypto Today: Bitcoin consolidating ahead of next explosive move

Here's what you need to know on Monday

Markets

BTC/USD is currently trading at $8,900 (-0.10%) in the afternoon in U.S. hours, price action is moving within consolidation mode.

ETH/USD is currently trading at $166.95 (+0.80%), as the price cools following strong moves north last week. 

XRP/USD is currently trading at $0.2319 (-0.75%), a move south is being seen following a rejection at $0.2500 over the weekend. 

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are DGD $30.98 (+10.60%), BSV $272.81 (+6.49%) and SEELE $0.117889 (+6.27%) and The day's losers are STEEM $0.161036 (-11.90%), ETC $ (-8.05%) and BCD $293.28 (-7.30%).

Chart of the day: BTC/USD 60-minute chart (bearish pennant pattern)

Market

Charles Hoskinson, co-founder and CEO of IOHK, the blockchain firm behind Cardano (ADA), said that he expects the coin to see a hard fork in mid-February. He said: “Looks like February — at pretty high certainty —  we’re going to have the OBFT hard fork occur. We’re still talking to our exchange partners about that and we just want to make sure all the infrastructure is lined up for it, but infrastructure looks pretty good, so mid-February we anticipate an OBFT hard fork.”

The latest annual dApp Market Report by Dapp.com says that the number of daily decentralized application (dApp) users on EOS has crashed 80% since last November.

Regulation

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the nation’s financial watchdog, has given the Raiz micro-investing app, the approval to add a Bitcoin fund to its list of investment services. Raiz says it would invest 95 percent of clients’ money in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while the remaining 5 percent will be pumped into bitcoin (BTC), according to a Micky report on January 20, 2020.

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance is considering imposing a 20% tax on income from cryptocurrency transactions. According to a report published by local English-language news outlet The Korea Times on Jan. 20, the ministry had reportedly ordered its income office to review cryptocurrency taxation. The Korea Times cited an anonymous official who reportedly said that the ministry has not finalized its plan, but noted that the government may impose a 20% tax on crypto income.

Industry 

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has authorized the opening of a casino at a luxury hotel in Caracas where bets must be placed in petros, the country’s national oil-backed digital currency. Several cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies can be exchanged into petros to wager in the casino. The proceeds are expected to be used for healthcare and education.

Quote of the day:

The stock market is closed today.

The banks are closed today.

But Bitcoin never takes days off.