Cryptocurrency News Update: Bitcoin bulls lick wounds, Ethereum and Ripple paralyzed

Here's what you need to know on Wednesday

Markets:

BTC/USD explored the area below $11,300 during early Asian hours and touched the intraday low of $11,255 before the recovery started. At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $11,392; however, the coin is still down 2.49% on a day-to-day basis. The short-term trend remains bearish, while the volatility is low.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $388.00, mostly unchanged since the start of the day, and down nearly 4% on a day-to-day basis. ETH/USD failed to stay above the psychological $400.00, which is regarded as a negative technical signal. Now it is moving within a short-term bullish trend amid shrinking volatility.

XRP/USD has been locked in a tight range since the start of the day. At the time of writing, the coin is changing hands at $0.2745, having lost nearly 3% in the recent 24 hours. The short-term trend of XRP is bullish, while the volatility is shrinking.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies Kusama (KSM) $33.96 (+28.7%), Aragon (ANT) $8.37 (+15.9%), The Midas Touch Gold (TMTG) $0.0283 (+12.2%) are the most successful.  The day's losers are Flexacoin (FXC) $0.0076 (-13.0%), Nervos Network (CKB) $0.0068 (-9.9%), Verge (XVG) $0.0068 (-9.3%)

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

Market
The Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy came up with a new tweet, saying that he might save Bitcoin once again if the crypto lovers ask him nicely. The post triggered a heated discussion that was joined by a prominent gold bug and Bitcoin basher Peter Shiff, who still believes that crypto is a sinking ship.

#Bitcoin is beyond saving. If you encourage enough people to buy now, more people who got in early will be able to get out. But you won't prevent the collapse, just delay it a bit. But why jump on a sinking ship, or encourage others to do so? You did right by cutting your losses.

Industry

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX acquired cryptocurrency portfolio tracker Blockfolio for $150 million with the aim to launch a retail trading app. FTX is focused on cryptocurrency derivatives, which means, the platform users can participate in the cryptocurrency market movements without actually owning digital assets. Meanwhile, Blockfolio combines price feeds of the major cryptocurrencies from hundreds of cryptocurrency exchanges to provide users with a broad overview of what's going on on the market.

We believe crypto is on the cusp of mainstream adoption. So we’re thrilled by the potential of uniting one of the best product teams in our industry with what we are convinced is the best exchange in the space, said Ed Moncada, co-founder and CEO of Blockfolio.

The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck plans to launch IEO (initial exchange offering) in partnership with the blockchain startup Hashpalette. Coincheck, which is a part of the Japanese financial giant Monex Group, will sell Hashpalette's utility token Palette Token (PLT) via its cryptocurrency exchange. PLT can be used on a blockchain platform Palette for manga, anime, sports and music content.

Regulation

The crypto custody company filed an application for a Trust Charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Once approved, the company will be able to operate as an “independent, regulated qualified custodian” and offer its customers services in compliance with NYDFS regulation, including KYC/AML compliance. 

Commenting on the news, the company said: 

With this charter, BitGo will meet the strong demand by the world’s leading institutional investors based in New York, who are seeking to secure large amounts of digital assets with the highest level of security, regulatory oversight and operational efficiency.