Crypto Today: Lack of momentum keeps Bitcoin and major altcoins in check

Here's what you need to know on Tuesday

Markets:

BTC/USD hit $7,975 during early Asian hours and retreated to $7,730 by press time. The first digital coin has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Tuesday. Now it is trading within the short-term bearish bias amid low volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $195.60, has stayed mostly unchanged since the beginning of Tuesday and down 1.3% in the recent 24 hours. The second-largest coin hit the recent high at $199.26, but the upside momentum faded away as the bulls are not ready to take out $200.00. Now ETH is moving within a short-term bearish trend. The volatility is low.

XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.1975. The coin has barely changed in the recent 24 hours amid the sense of uncertainty on the cryptocurrency markets.  From the short-term perspective, XRP/USD is trading within a bearish trend amid shrinking volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Steem (STEEM) $0.2199 (+16.8%), Stellar (XLM) $0.0697 (+11.2%),Synthetix Network Token (SNX) $0.7445 (+9.8%). The day's losers are Hive (HIVE) $0.5944 (-35.2%), DigiByte (DGB) $0.0107 (-18.8%), Enjin Coin (ENJ) $0.1320 (-9.7%).

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

Market

Asset management company  Grayscale Investments purchased nearly half of all ETH coins mined since the beginning of the year, according to the calculations performed by one of the Reddit users. He estimated that 1563245,875 ETH coins were mined since the start of the year until April 24. Grayscale Investments purchased 756539,77 ETH of them. Moreover, the first quarter report published by the company revealed that over $110 million were invested in  Ethereum Trust, which is more than the combined investments for the previous two years.

Industry

Bitfinex, the cryptocurrency exchange based on the British Virgin Islands launched Bitfinex Pulse, a social platform that will allow users to interact with each other, exchange ideas and become a part of a growing cryptocurrency community. According to the press release, the social platform is tailored for traders needs to provide  Bitfinex’s customers with new benefits and trading opportunities.

Bitfinex Pulse, the next generation of social trading, has finally arrived! Distinguish yourself, join the trading community of the future and never miss that life-changing market insight again.

Verified customers will get access to special channels where they can interact with each other and publish their ideas (pulses) either privately or publicly.

The blockchain payment service provider BitPay now supports Binance-backed stablecoin BUSD. Thanks to the partnership between the companies, tow million individual and merchant customers of  BitPay in 50 States will be able to use BUSD in their operations. BitPay’s wallet supports BUSD as of April 27, with merchant support will go live “in the coming days.”

Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder commented:

Partnering with BitPay will enable merchants and businesses from around the world to accept BUSD,” Zhao stated, adding, “We believe a growing number of merchants and businesses will start adopting crypto.

Regulation

Another European cryptocurrency exchange has chosen to stop operations due to new European anti-money laundering (AMLD5) regulations. Bittr, the small platform based in the Netherlands, announced that it would shut down on April 28. According to Bittr's founder, the company does not have enough capital to meet the regulatory requirements as the cost of registration with the Dutch National Bank (DNB) is about  $36 500. 

Above all, Bittr would have to appoint a dedicated compliance officer who’s responsible for compliance with the new regulations. Who can I appoint? Myself? That probably doesn’t work also being the sole shareholder and director.” Ruben wrote in his blog post on Friday.

The US regulator approved The Public-Private Execution Network (PPEX), an alternative trading system (ATS) for digital assets and private securities. The company is a subsidiary of broker-dealer North Capital Private Securities that obtained membership from FINRA in February and got a green light from the SEC on its Form ATS filing in March. According to North Capital CEO Jim Dowd, PPEX supports secondary trades for various exempt securities, including blockchain-based digital assets.  The company will have due diligence procedures, disclosure requirements, and other processes similar to those required for the public listings.

We’re going to offer a solution that's kind of in-between a fully private illiquid non created asset and a kind of a traditional public offering,” Dowd said.