Go with it

Your daily newsletter for June 18, 2019

Flow

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."

- Lao Tzu

Happy Tuesday, CMC fam! It seems that things are gearing up to be an exciting week. Let's dive right into today's newsletter! 😬

Today in history (2003), Google launched AdSense, a program that enables website publishers to serve ads targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages. 👀

In today's newsletter, we will be covering XRP buying $30 million worth of MoneyGram shares, Facebook releasing its stablecoin Libra whitepaper and Russia’s central bank possibly launching its own digital currency. Also, in our 'Tutorial Tuesday' section, we have another well put together educational video by crypto educational content provider, Goodbit! Today, we are also proud to announce that our DATA alliance is now live! Read more about how it came to be here!

Please don't forget to answer the polls down below too! It's a great way for us to interact with you all and hear what you have to say. 💭 Happy reading! 📚

All's good 😬

Over the last 24 hours, total market capitalization slipped slightly from ~$286.7 billion to ~$285.2 billion, with most coins seeing losses in the ~1-2% range.

BTC is still holding above the $9,000 mark, and is currently trading at ~$9,200 and down ~0.4% for the day.

Over the last few days, we saw total market capitalization going from ~$264.2 billion to ~$286.7 billion, with 24-hour volumes hitting ~$70 billion. Over the last 24 hours, BTC also hit $9,412, a new yearly high for 2019! Woohoo! 🚀 On the daily chart, RSI level is at ~67. The 21-day EMA line also seems to be providing BTC with some nice support, evidenced by BTC bouncing off of it several times in the past week. 👍

Dawn of a new era 😉

According to the Wall Street Journal and Fortune, XRP (XRP) has struck a deal to buy $30 million worth of shares (at a price of $4.10 apiece) in money transfer firm MoneyGram. Over the next 2 years, MoneyGram also has the option to sell an additional $20 million worth of shares to XRP at the same price. 💰

MoneyGram shares were trading at about $1.45 apiece at the close of day, which means that XRP paid 3 times the current market value. The deal will also see MoneyGram utilizing the XRP token as part of its day-to-day operations by way of Ripple’s xRapid transaction product. 🙌

MoneyGram currently services 200 countries, with ~$600 billion processed in the global remittance market. Ripple and MoneyGram anticipate settlement fees dropping from $30 per transaction to “fractions of a penny,” while settlement times are expected to drop from 15-60 minutes to just a few seconds. 🤯

Libra 👀

Facebook has released the white paper for its stablecoin cryptocurrency “Libra” under the “Libra” blockchain today, stating the coin will be backed by a reserve of assets “designed to give it intrinsic value” and that the blockchain is open source in order to create an open and interoperable ecosystem of financial services. 😲

The coin will integrate payments across Facebook’s various platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, giving the new coin the potential to reach billions of users globally.

The social media platform has reportedly received support from many firms like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, as well as ride-sharing service Uber.

Within the realm of possibility 🤔

Russia’s central bank could one day launch its own digital currency. It's Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina recently said at a student conference that the key to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is that the technology must ensure “reliability and continuity” and that “technologies must be mature, including technologies of distributed registries.”

She added that while some nations have become almost cashless, others are still fond of physical money - not so much for illicit reasons, but because they value privacy and anonymity. Therefore, citizens must be ready to leave cash behind as well. 👋

Russian authorities have traditionally adopted a skeptical approach towards cryptocurrencies, but have softened their stance in recent times. Last month, Nabiullina said that the central bank would consider the use of a gold-backed cryptocurrency to facilitate international settlements. 🤔

Blockchain term of the day 🤓 - Confirmations

A transaction is only confirmed when it is included in a block on the blockchain, at which point it has one confirmation. Each additional block is another confirmation. Different exchanges require a different number of confirmations to consider a cryptocurrency transaction final.

Tutorial Tuesday 🤓 - What is an ICO?

In this week's Tutorial Tuesday, our friends over at Goodbit have created an educational video on 'What is an ICO?' Class is in session. Check it out here!

Other news 📰

Algorand, a permission-less, proof-of-stake blockchain and technology company, has announced that they have gone open source. 🎉
Brazilian financial authorities plan to create a regulatory sandbox for emerging technologies, which include blockchain. 👍
Notable economist and cryptocurrency skeptic Nouriel Roubini has said Facebook’s soon-to-be unveiled cryptocurrency has nothing to do with blockchain or cryptocurrency. 😲

Crypto calendar 📅

16 May - U.S. SEC's decision on the NYSE Arca and Bitwise Asset Management's Bitcoin ETF application (decision has been delayed)

19 Aug - U.S. SEC's initial decision on the VanEck, SolidX and the Cboe BZX Exchange Bitcoin ETF application

TBA - ICE's Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Futures Contract updated launch timeline

Catch the CoinMarketCap team at these community events! 🤝

8-11 Jul - RISE Conference 2019 (Hong Kong)
10-11 Jul - Barcelona Trading Conference (Barcelona, Spain)

Poll of the Day

How much do you agree with this statement: "I am impressed by the Facebook Libra whitepaper."💭

Why or why not? Share with me in the polls! 😆

What you said

"How much do you agree with this statement: "I believe that JP Morgan has been quietly buying up Bitcoin (BTC) throughout the bear market.""

The average vote was a 8.5. 50% of y'all voted a 10.

"Why or why not?"

why not ... ? - Definitely within the realm of possibility. 😊

That's how JPM works. Frontrunning their clients then pump and dump - The classic pump n dump 101. 😂

Don’t feel like it would hurt, I’d buy if I was them - If I were them, I'd buy it too just to be safe. 😬

i have no doubt JPM & likes have been accumulating bitcoins.. bitcoin / crypto is now a asset class one cannot ignore. coming time will be very exciting. - I agree.

Noooooooo - You'd best believe it! 😋

Because they do the reverse of what they say! - Deception at its finest. 😈

So they can position themselves to sell it their financial products - Possible. 🤔

I suspect that they have been buying since the middle of last year. If not before then. - Plot twist: JPM created BTC. 😂

all the big banks have! they have been trashing it as they buy it. they have also been buying exchanges so they can resell it. when they (investment banks) begin to sell crypto the fuse is lit and we r going to the moon and then some!!!!! - See u there 😉

They would buy it to package it in deals with clients. - It'll be easy to create these products when they have a stash of the underlying asset. Def opens up a lot of possibilities and doors to make more monehhh. 🤔

They have done the same with silver and are trying with cryptos. - People have short attention spans and poor memories though. 🙄

J.P. Morgan has not been around this long not knowing, what is happening in the market and when to use it to their advantage. They are a major player, knowledge is POWER, and they have both. - True.

There clever enough - They def know what's up.

ALL CROOKS - Support decentralization! 👍

"Like bees to the honey are bankers after money" (I just thought of that rhyme !) Of course JPMorgan is not just going to sit there sucking his thumbs while there are billions on table and all this excitement going on ! - They want in on that action too! 🤑

JP Morgan is to large and influential on financial circles to make large buys without creating a stampede. Which would not be beneficial for JP Morgan and an inappropriate buy signal for the market overall. However, their interest comes with analysis and research their MO. It is not by chance. - Well they def wouldn't be executed market buys. They could also be buying them OTC so as to not move markets.

It's a Big name. Frankly we all know whales control the crypts market. They buy loads of volumes and prices goes up and when They dump, we gullible investors cry. Jp margin I believe also is a crypto whale. I don't know weather they brought btc at bear market, they provably brought a lot of btc now so to inflate it's price. Not that i say that's the only reason btc is up but part of the reason. FOMO stuff causes ripples... And it's always a reason why people rush to buy btc without thinking and sell in panic. I experienced it myself so I can imagine for other amateur and naive investors the FOMO stuff kicking in. - Yeah, we are all but the small shrimp tryna catch the waves. That's why I believe it's best to just stick and commit to a long term strategy! 👌🏻

Of course they have. As well as many other players. Anyone with money to buy should have been. Once prices stay above their personal high, they will show full support and make a lot of money in doing so. - Shill the bags lmao. 🙃

Not just JPM but all those noisy BTC detractors from the world of Finance over the last couple of years have been filling their boots and then some - I believe so too.

Their previous negative sentiments towards crypto was a way to keep the price low in order to buy as many bitcoin for as little as they possibly can - Very possible indeed.

Their public comments were made to drive down the value of Bitcoin so they could by it a discount and wait for the inevitable rise as Bitcoin continues to attract more interest as a desirable asset - Like a bait and switch. 😜

They would have been idiots not to. consider the price difference from January to this morning alone. - True!

Professional investors always say the opposite! - They never follow and adopt the herd mentality. 🤓

Because that’s what snakes in the grass do - Ssss 🐍

Even a Blind Man can see if he is willing too listen - Hahaha good one! 😂

From some true sources - Insider! 👀

It's headed to 50K - No doubt! 📈

Thank you all for reading! Catch you back here again tomorrow for your daily dose of crypto news! 💙