💵 Today's Crypto Updates: February 17th 📈

Today's Crypto Updates:

1. Total Crypto Market Cap Back Over $500 Bln, Bitcoin Pushes $11K
2. Visa, Worldpay Take Blame For Duplicate Charges On Coinbase, Reverse Transactions
3. U.S. Government Offers Bounties For Tips On Crypto Pump & Dump Groups
4. Research Shows British Companies Are Diversifying Crypto Stockpiles, No Longer BTC-Focused

Summary Of Today's News:

Bitcoin is over 10k again, Litecoin is leading the market rally partially due to Litecoin Cash hard fork, Western Union partners with Ripple. Read all about it below!

1. Total Crypto Market Cap Back Over $500 Bln, Bitcoin Pushes $11K

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/total-crypto-market-cap-back-over-500-bln-bitcoin-pushes-11k

Key Highlights:

• "After a relatively low start to the month in the crypto market, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies has again broken $500 bln today, Feb. 17, according to CoinMarketCap"

• "Bitcoin (BTC) has stayed well above the $10,000 mark, currently trading at about $10,830 and up almost 7 percent over a 24-hour period by press time. Ethereum (ETH) is inching closer to passing the $1000 threshold, trading at $969, up almost 3 percent over a 24-hour period by press time."

Crypto Phil's Take:

At what point can we finally say that this isn't another bull trap? I think it may be a little too early still but it's very nice to see the market cap break $500 billion again. Bull trap or not, I think most would agree that we're likely to break $1 Trillion this year.

2. Visa, Worldpay Take Blame For Duplicate Charges On Coinbase, Reverse Transactions

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/visa-worldpay-take-blame-for-duplicate-charges-on-coinbase-reverse-transactions

Key Highlights:

• "Visa and payment processing company Worldpay issued a joint statement on the Coinbase blog today, Feb. 17, taking responsibility for charging Coinbase customers multiple times for the same transaction."

• "Before admitting fault in the statement published by Coinbase today, Visa had at first shifted the blame back to Coinbase, telling the Financial Times on Feb. 16 that it had 'not made any systems changes that would result in the duplicate transactions cardholders are reporting.' "

Crypto Phil's Take:

Thank god is all I can say. A quick and thorough end to this FUD is exactly what was needed. After the recent crash, any big FUD surrounding Coinbase would be a disaster. So it's nice to see this resolved so expediently.

3. U.S. Government Offers Bounties For Tips On Crypto Pump & Dump Groups

Source: http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@customerprotection/documents/file/customeradvisory_pumpdump0218.pdf

Key Highlights:

• "The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is advising customers to avoid pump-and-dump schemes that can occur in thinly traded or new “alternative” virtual currencies and digital coins or tokens."

• "There is no such thing as a guaranteed investment or trading strategy. If someone tells you there is no risk of losing money, do not invest."

Crypto Phil's Take:

I'm actually glad to see governments cracking down on this crap. Pump & dump groups just hurt the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies and take advantage of naive and innocent people.

4. Gaming Company Atari Announces Investment In Crypto, Share Price Spikes

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/gaming-company-atari-announces-investment-in-crypto-share-price-spikes

Key Highlights:

• "Atari SA, a French holding company that contains the former Atari, Inc., the publisher of video games such as Tetris and Pac Man, has seen its share price go up more than 60 percent after announcing that it would invest in cryptocurrency"

• "According to Atari’s press release earlier this month, Atari will be creating its own digital currency, the Atari Token"

Crypto Phil's Take:

Another example of adoption by a relatively well known company. Get ready to start seeing more and more of these as time goes. Restaurants, casinos, and gaming companies are going to make this commonplace.

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