Cryptocurrency Market News: Bitcoin struggles to gain ground after the halving

Here's what you need to know on Tuesday

Markets:

BTC/USD is changing hands at $8,730, having recovered from the intraday low of $8,534. The coin has stayed mostly unchanged on a day-to-day basis and gained 1.8% since the beginning of Tuesday. Now Bitcoin is trading within the strong short-term bearish bias amid high volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $188.78. The price tested the low of $185.75 during early Asian hours, but reversed to the upside. The second-largest coin has barely changed in the recent 24 hours. Now ETH is moving within a short-term bearish trend. The volatility is low.

XRP/USD is hovering at $0.1960 after a sell-off to the lower boundary of the current consolidation range $0.2000-$0.1900. A sustainable move outside the range is needed for the momentum to gain traction. XRP/USD is trading within a bearish trend amid low volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, ReddCoin (RDD) $0.0021 (+39%), Augur (REP) $13.72 (+13.5%), and Unibright (UBT) $0.3010 (+13.2%)

 The day's losers are, 0x (ZRX) $0.3415 (-11.3%), Numeraire (NMR) $27.45 (-10.5%), Aave (LEND) $0.0624 (-7.2%).

Chart of the day:
BTC/USD, 30-min chart

Market

Bitcoin's hash rate decreased by 6%, from 130.47 exahashes per second to 122.64 exahashes per second in seven hours after the halving, according to the data provided by CoinWarz. Despite the decrease, the figure is still above the seven-day average of 120 exahashes per second as calculated by Blockchain.com. Notably, the hash rates of the Bitcoin forks experienced a much severe decline after the halvings.

Industry

The US-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced the expansion plans. The trading platform backed by Winklevoss twins will move forward with European expansion this year. 

The platform increased its dollar-crypto trading pairs this year by adding  Orchid Protocol (OXT), DAI, Chainlink, and BAT. As exchange co-founder Cameron Winklevoss said that it was an obvious step for the exchange. He also added that those coins may soon become available for trading against euro and pounds as well. In the next months and quarters, the company plans to expand into Europe and into Asia as well.

The number of bitcoin-addresses with less than 1 BTC nearly doubled since 2016, whole the wallets with less than 0.01 BTC increased by 235% in four years, according to the recent research published by the cryptocurrency company Glassnode. The number of so-called Bitcoin whales – large cryptocurrency holders with over 1000 BTC - also increased by 13% in the reporting period.

After the next amendment to the XRP ledger, approved by a community-consensus for Ripple last week, XRP users will be able to delete existing wallets. 80% of voters supported “ DeletableAccounts Amendment” that will allow users to remove inactive accounts and recover reserve funds. This will keep the ledger cleaner and  avoid the maintenance of inactive wallets

Regulation

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase supports the cryptocurrency regulation proposal submitted by lawmakers in California. They proposed to exempt certain digital assets from being classified as securities. 

According to Armstrong the legislation will allow building the future of finance is built on the west coast. 

This would be huge for California if it happens - ensuring the future of finance is built on the west coast. So many startups are struggling with this right now - the current securities laws are well intentioned, but stifling a lot of innovation right now, - he tweeted recently in response to Cointelegraph’s stroy devoted to the new bill.