Cryptocurrency News Update: Bitcoin creeps higher, Goldman explores the idea of stablecoins

Here's what you need to know on Friday

Markets:

BTC/USD tested the intraday high above $11,900 during early Asian hours and retreated to $11,750 by press time. The first digital coin has gained 1.5% in the recent 24 hours and stayed unchanged since the beginning of the day, moving within a short-term bearish trend amid shrinking volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $394.50. The price has been locked in a tight range under $400 for the best part of the week. Several attempts to clear the barrier yielded to results. ETH/USD has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Friday. Now it is moving within a short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.3035. The price got back above $0.3000 after a short-lived dip below this psychological barrier. The coin stayed unchanged since the beginning of Friday. On a day-to-day basis, it is in a green zone. Now it is moving within the short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Balancer (BAL) $13.9 (+37.7%), Decentraland (MANA) $0.0665 (+25.3%), Aave (LEND) $0.3710 (+16%) are the most successful.  The day's losers are Ampleforth (AMPL) $0.7553 (-6.8%), The Midas Touch Gold (TMTG) $0.0303 (-6.3%), Nexo (NEXO) $0.1762 (-3.6%)

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

The head of Pantera Capital believes that Bitcoin may hit $100,000 within two years. Speaking in Thinking Crypto podcast, the CEO of the cryptocurrency hedge fund Dan Morehead reiterated his uber optimistic Bitcoin forecast. He explained that in the long run, the price of the first digital coin tends to triple despite major short-term bullish and bearish movements. Morehead also added that the halving effect is not reflected in the price beforehand due to the low market efficiency.
 
Industry
 
Ethereum Classic experienced the second 51% attack in a week. According to the estimates of Bitquery analysts, the attackers stole 807 260 ETC (about $5.6 million). The hacker spent 17.5 BTC ($192 000) to get enough hash power for the attack.  The second hack was registered by the operator of mining pool Ethermine Bitfly and Binance. The reorg attack affected 4000 blocks.

Goldman Sachs is exploring the idea of creating its own stablecoin, according to Mathew McDermott, the new global head of digital assets in the bank. Speaking in the interview with CNBC, he noted that the bank is interested in promoting innovations based on digital assets and blockchain technology. He believes that in the next ten years we will see a transition to a financial system where all assets and liabilities are on the blockchain.

In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain… So what you’re doing today in the physical world, you just do digitally, creating huge efficiencies. And that can be debt issuances, securitization, loan origination; essentially you’ll have a digital financial markets ecosystem, the options are pretty vast.

 Regulation
 
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has created a so-called green list for digital tokens and coins pre-approved by the regulator. The licensees will be allowed to list and trade the pre-approved assets. The coins for the custody include Binance USD (BUSD), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ethereum (ETH), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Litecoin (LTC), Pax Gold (PAXG), Paxos Standard (PAX) and Ripple (XRP).

Meanwhile, Binance USD (BUSD), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Litecoin (LTC), Pax Gold (PAXG) and Paxos Standard (PAX) are approved for the listing.

Any licensed entity may use coins on the Greenlist for their approved purpose(s). Note that if a licensed entity decides to use a coin on the Greenlist, it must inform DFS prior to beginning its use, NYDFS said on its website.