#IPOs Up Five-Fold Since Post-Crisis Lows and Chinese Regulator Warns Against ‘Mythologizing’ Blockchain
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Market Loses $20 Billion in 24 Hours, Study Argues that Crypto Could Go Mainstream in the Next Decade, IPOs Up Five-Fold Since Post-Crisis Lows and Chinese Regulator Warns Against ‘Mythologizing’ Blockchain
Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that the crypto market lost roughly $20 billion USD in the last 24 hours, sinking from a $274 billion USD total market cap to $254 billion USD at press time. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading six percent less than this time yesterday with a current price of just under $6400 USD. Most of the top 100 altcoins have followed Bitcoin’s loss with Ethereum (ETH) losing around 10 percent.
A report from CCN by Joseph Young attributed the loss to low volumes of bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
“Last week, the volume of bitcoin slightly recovered to around $5 billion, after dipping below the $3.5 billion mark. This week, the volume of bitcoin dropped back down to $3.9 billion, while the volume of Tether rose from $1.6 billion to $3 billion.
Often, a spike in the volume of Tether (USDT), a stablecoin whose value is hedged to that of the US dollar, signifies extreme volatility in the crypto market and the movement of traders from major digital assets to fiat currencies out of concerns that the market will continue to fall in the short-term.”
A PR Newswire press release from crypto exchange eToro yesterday reports the findings of a study from eToro and Imperial College London which indicates that cryptocurrencies have potential to become mainstream forms of payment in the next decade. Professor William Knottenbelt from Imperial College London and Dr Zeynep Gurguc from Imperial College Business School outline the three criteria a currency must fulfill to become viable as being able to be used as a store of value, a medium of exchange and a unit of account. The professors argue that cryptocurrencies already act as a store of value and that it will take scalability, design and regulation to fulfill the other two criteria.
Iqbal V. Gandham, UK Managing Director of eToro, who commissioned the research, said:
“Perhaps the thing that will ultimately tip cryptocurrencies into mainstream is the issue of cross-border payments. These remain difficult and expensive in many cases. Cryptos are cross-border by design, enabling wealth to be transferred far more easily. The potential for this to be a leading use case looks very strong.”
Deals Intelligence team at Thomson Reuters that indicates that the number of global IPOs is up five-fold compared to post-financial crisis lows. Data shows that, bolstered by Xiaomi’s $4.7 billion offering, global IPO proceeds are up 18% year-over-year, reaching $100.7 billion so far during 2018. Xiaomi, the Beijing-based electronics company, in March released CryptoBunnies, a knock-off of the popular blockchain gaming app CryptoKitties.
The South China Morning Post reports that Fan Wenzhong, head of the international department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has warned against “mythologizing” blockchain, while acknowledging its value. In a quote taken from his speech at a fintech summit in Shanghai, Fan said:
“We all think blockchain is an innovation with significant meaning – correct. But we shouldn’t mythologise blockchain.”
In particular he cautioned against cryptocurrencies:
“Blockchain is a useful innovation but that doesn’t mean cryptocurrencies, which blockchain has given rise to, are necessarily useful.”
Read more at: Investorideas
