Crypto Today: Bitcoin is set to retest $7,000

Here's what you need to know on Thursday

Markets: 

• The BTC/USD is currently trading at $7,120 (-1% a day-to-day basis). The coin has been moving within a short-term bearish trend in Asian amid shrinking volatility.
• The ETH/USD pair is currently trading at $129.4 (-0.65% on a day-to-day basis). The Ethereum recovered from the intraday low of $128.3, though it is still below the critical $130.00.
• XRP/USD locked in a tight range marginally above $0.19 area. At the time of writing, the coin is down 1.1% of losses on a day-to-day basis.
• Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are Seele (SEELE) $0.1510 (+9.85%),Bytecoin (BCN) )$0.0002 (+8.5%) and Matic Network (MATIC) $0.0149 (+7.9%). The day's losers are EDUCare (EKT) $0.0438 (-13.8%), LUNA (LUNA) $0.2179 (-10.26%), Centrality (CENNZ) $0.0899 (-5.8%).

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

• Some Litecoin community members believe that Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, should finance the development and implementation of MimbleWimble protocol on Litecoin's blockchain. This solution will help to improve privacy and allow users to opt-in to confidential transactions. To complete the process, Litecoin Foundation needs to raise  $72,000 to hire David Burkett, the developer of Grin++ who is supposed to work on the project 15 hours per week for the next 12 months. Charlie Lee promised to match donations 1:1; however, someone within the community believes that he should bear the entirety of the expenses.
• The CEO of the ZenGo wallet, Ouriel Ohayon, started a year with a list of unlikely cryptocurrency forecasts. He tweeted that Bitcoin would go below $1,000, while TRON or XRP would become the most important cryptocurrency. Later he admitted that the predictions were intended as a joke. 

Industry: 

• MetaMask app is back on the Google Play. The team of the Ethereum's cryptocurrency wallet announced on Twitter that the hi-tech giant lifted the ban and allowed to return the app to the store. 

Happy New Year! Upon careful consideration, Google has permitted The MetaMask mobile app back on the Google Play (Android) store! Thanks to all the believers in an open web for speaking out in our support!

The app was deleted from Google Play at the end of December 2019 for the alleged policy violations.

• NEO, the 19th digital asset by the market value, is now available on SWIFT Blockchain. It means that instant swaps, payments, and sharing are now available for NEO.  Swift Blockchain is a cryptocurrency application that powers cross-chain wallets and payment services. Users can send, receive, swap and pay with over 200 coins securely and instantly.
• The Asia-Pacific [APAC] region will continue to dominate the cryptocurrency market, according to the recent research performed by  Chief Economist of Chainalysis Philip Gradwell. He says that the exchanges located in the region serve customers in China, South Korea and Japan. In the first half of 2019, these exchanges accounted for 35 percent of Bitcoin received. Moreover, in terms of cryptocurrency derivatives, such as futures and options, Asian dominance exceeds 90%. In 2020 the trend is set to continue. 

Regulation:

• China has enacted a Password Law on January 1, 2020. The new legislation is aimed to create standards for cryptographic applications and regulate the usage of private and public keys. Also, the law will pave the way for digital yuan developed by People's Bank of China. According to the new rules, all passwords are divided into three categories: systemic, standard and commercial. The government intends to control the usage of systemic and standard passwords and promote the development of commercial passwords industry.

Quote of the day: