Crypto Recap March 15: Bitcoin Finds Buying Interest off Lows

Market Summary

The crypto market kept the downside pressure, although this time led by the Alts complex, as Bitcoin found some solid buying interest sub $8k. From the top cryptos, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Lisk, Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin managed to print some marginal gains, while the rest of Alts slid into even deeper oversold levels against BTC. The absorption off the lows in Bitcoin allows some glimpse of hope for a short-term recovery in the crypto markets.

The total market capitalization stands around $330 billion, near the lows seen on Feb 6th, while Bitcoin is still over 40% above its year-low, a reflection of how much capital has come off the Alts bandwagon. As repeatedly said, current market dynamics are dominated by a Bitcoin cycle, which implies that where Bitcoin goes, the rest of Alt coins follow, and as a result, it also means that Alts have a tendency to be more vulnerable to larger losses.

The most exciting news on Thursday came after Lightning Labs announced the first beta release of the lighting software implementation. Additionally, the absence of any negative fundamental-led headlines also helped the recent selling interest to abate. The market, especially in the Alts space, is quite oversold, and investors may perceive the opportunity to accumulate further coins ahead of a potentially more meaningful recovery in prices later this year.

There have been arguments made that the CoinDesk-sponsored Consensus conference on May 14 - the largest gathering of blockchain industry - may set the stage for a tsunami of new institutional money coming into the space. As we mentioned in yesterday's recap, the majority of smart money missed out on the latest bull runs, and they have certainly taken notice.

The News Research Group argues that the Consensus 2018 could trigger a major bull run in cryptocurrencies in a recently published article: "The Consensus event is a huge influencer to the market. Last years event resulted in 26% gain for the total marketcap and triggered the June bull-run. In 2016 the market gained with a small 2,7%. The biggest difference? In 2016 the market was very small (only 8 billion USD dollars), and there were only 1.500 attendees."

Besides, a recent survey conducted by Citigate Dewe Rogerson came to our awareness, in which they reveal that the violent volatility is not deterring retail investors and financial services professionals from owning and even increasing their exposure on cryptocurrencies. "There is also a feeling that the environment for investing in these currencies could improve as many expect new regulation to be introduced providing greater protection for investors, for example," Citigate Dewe Rogerson further stated.

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* Headlines below are listed in chronological order, as seen in CoinLive News Terminal

Top Headlines Industry / Regulations

• Nvidia to Launch a Dedicated Graphics Card for Mining Earlier than Expected - Leaked reports suggest that Nvidia's mining card Nvidia graphics Inno3D card will be released earlier than expected.
• Circle Launches Zero-Fee Trading Platform - Goldman Sachs backed Blockchain company has launched a Commission Free trading platform.
• Bitgrail Plans to Reimburse the Victims of the Hack Voluntarily - BitGrail founder Francesco Firano, plans to reimburse the victims of the hack by introducing a new token called the BitGrail Shares (BGS).
• South Korea's Regulators Seize 3 Exchanges on Suspicion of Embezzlement - South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSA) has seized three Exchanges on suspicion of embezzlement.
• Coinfloor to Launch Physically Delivered BTC Futures Contracts - Coinfloor has announced that it will launch a futures exchange in April that includes physically delivered Bitcoin Futures Contracts.
• Goldman Sachs Backed Circle on a Hiring Spree - Goldman Sachs has announced that they are going to be creating 100 new jobs at the newly acquired Poloniex.
• Bithumb Teams up with BitPay to Offer Cross-Border Payments Solution - South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has partnered with BitPay to power cross-border payments to and from South Korea.
• Euroasian Economic Union Explores Options to Launch Digital Currency - Sergey Glazyev, advisor to Vladimir Putin, said that the Euroasian Economic Union was having discussions about issuing a digital currency.
• Microsoft Warns Against Increasing Threat of Malicious Crypto Mining - Microsoft has drawn attention to the increasing number of cybercriminals who use malware to steal computing power to mine cryptos.
• Survey Shows Heightened Interest in Cryptos Among Investors in UK - A recent survey conducted by Citigate Dewe Rogerson has revealed an heightened interest for cryptos despite volatility.
• CBOE to Expand Offerings with New Crypto-Futures - The CBOE President Chris Concannon argued that cryptocurrencies were here to stay and their vision was to have a crypto complex.

Top Headlines Crypto-Asset Fundamentals

• EOS and Block.one Sever Ties With Brock Pierce - EOS, one of the largest Canadian ICOs has announced that Brock Pierce is no longer part of their team.
• Tether Freezes 5 million in Tokens - In a recent tweet by BitFinexed, it was unveiled that over 5 million in USDT tokens have been frozen.
• Ark Mobile Wallet Version 1.1 Ready for Release - Rok Cernec, the Co-founder of ARK.io has announced that the ARK Mobile Wallet version 1.1 is ready for release.
• Charlie Lee Interview: Prices Will Go Much Higher Overtime - Charlie Lee, the Creator of Litecoin, conceded an exclusive interview to Nugget's News Australia.
• Abaco Hosting Accepts ETC for Domain Registrations, Web Hosting - According to an official statement, Abaco is now accepting ETC for all domain registrations and web hosting packages.
• Andreas Antonopoulos: Airdrops "Not Free Money" - During a Q&A session, popular crypto educator Andreas Antonopoulos stated that he has never collected an airdrop offered as a result of a Bitcoin Fork.
• Dash to Collaborate with Global E-Wallet Payza - Dash announced a new integration and partnership with global e-wallet Payza.
• Swiss Crypto Exchange Lykke Lists VET - The Swiss-based cryptocurrency exchange Lykke has announced that it has listed VET token as voted by the community.
• Augur Talks About Core Audit in Weekly Development Update - The big news this past week was the disclosure of the Augur Core security audit report.
• Detailed Analysis of Plasma Cash - Buterin's Scalability Solution - Tech-writer Karl Floersch has recently published an article as the "first pass at a full specification for a Plasma Cash chain."
• French Computer Retail Chain GrosBill to Offer ETH Payment Option to Customers - GrosBill, a French computer retail chain, has announced that it would soon start accepting payments in ETH.
• First Lightning Mainnet Release Goes Live - lnd 0.4 - Lightning Labs has recently announced that the first Lightning beta release for the live bitcoin network, lnd 0.4, was now live.

Key Events on Top Cryptos for Mar 16 (Fri)

• BLOCKv (VEE) - Blockchain Unbound in Puerto Rico
• Einsteinium (EMC2) - Weeee Cash Release
• Factom (FCT) - Business Plan Presentation at Blockchain Business Camp in Tokyo
• IOTA (MIOTA) - Business Plan Presentation at Blockchain Business Camp in Tokyo
• Neblio (NEBL) - Trifid Airdrop
• NEO (NEO) - Meetup and Workshop in Seoul, Meetup in Sydney

source: www.coinmarketcal.com

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