Market Analysis Report

MVIS-CryptoCompare Index

The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index has closed at 9,205.58 with a loss of 13.34% for the day.

See the live index here

Market Update

Last month the price of Bitcoin reacted strongly to the news that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) were planning to launch Bitcoin futures - which eventually led to a massive bull run. Both mainstream exchanges successfully launched their new offerings and in both instances, the price of Bitcoin reacted favourably, although the CME launch a week after CBOE had far less of an effect on the price of Bitcoin.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is sitting at $14,217, representing a gain of 13.1% in the last 24 hours. More than $1.6B worth of BTC were exchanged in the BTC/USD market representing a 39% share of daily volume, followed by the BTC/JPY pair that represents a 31% share.

The Ethereum price has risen by 20% over the past 24 hours and is currently sitting at $740, with over $360M worth of Ether exchanged in the past 24 hours on the ETH/USD pair which has a 27% market share of the daily trading volume.

The Bitcoin Cash price has risen 12% over the last 24 hours and is currently sitting at $2842. More than $230M worth of BCH were exchanged in the BTC/USD market, which has a 24% share of daily volume.

See live charts here, here and here

Israel Government Considering National Cryptocurrency

Following in the footsteps of Russia and Dubai, Israel is considering offering a national cryptocurrency - a digital shekel - which would correspond in value to physical shekels.

Colu, an Israel-based Blockchain wallet application, has been part of the conversation with the Israeli government in pursuing a digital currency. Mark Smargon, VP Blockchain Colu stated:

"The Israeli regulators have been looking into digital currencies for a while, we were even part of this conversation. If this initiative becomes a reality, Colu will be happy to collaborate as we believe digital currencies are the future of money."

Read more here

Samsung SDS Successfully Pilots Blockchain Tech for Korea’s Shipping Industry

Samsung SDS commenced the pilot alongside the launch of a blockchain consortium comprising of Korea’s shipping logistics companies, state-run research centers, government authorities like Korea’s Customs Service and the Ministry and Oceans and Fisheries as well as shipping operators. The goal? To implement a blockchain application to power all logistics processes for “all exports and imports by the end of the year.” Kim Hyung-tae, vice president of logistics at Samsung SDS stated:

"Through this pilot project, we have confirmed that the blockchain technology can raise the level of shipping logistics information network to a new level."

Read more here

BitPay Stops Processing Payments Less Than $100, Backpedals Two Days Later

Bitcoin payment service provider BitPay has announced last Friday, that it is updating the minimum payment amount on its platform from $5 to $100, only to retract the change two days later, as reported in a blog post on Sunday.

The company cited unprecedented Bitcoin transaction volume and the resulting record-high network congestion and miner fees as the reason for this change. The blog post states:

“Bitcoin miner fees are now more than $30 per transaction on average. Bitcoin payments under $100 are quickly becoming impractical for users to send and for BitPay to process.”

Read more here