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CRYPTO MARKETS
Bitcoin gave up some of its January gains this week as it fell 10% over a period of seven days after climbing above $9,000 last weekend. On Thursday alone, the digital asset lost 3.6% in a matter of hours.
While the cryptocurrency might face additional losses in the short term, Tim Enneking, managing director of Digital Capital Management, said that in the long term, he is looking for bitcoin to bounce back.
“The downward corridor of the past six months has been pretty solidly broken to the upside,” he said.
Source: Messari. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on January 24, 2020.
EXPECT VOLATILITY FOR THE YEAR OF THE RAT
Bitcoin traders and investors have been warned to expect bitcoin volatility this weekend due to Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
"The Year of the Rat starts this weekend. Time for bitcoin volatility and volumes to nose dive," Arthur Hayes, the chief executive of the Seychelles-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Bitmex, wrote on Twitter.
Earlier this month, crypto analysts warned bitcoin trading volume is now at its lowest since April, with volume down 90% from its June 2019 high. When volume is low, markets are more likely to make sudden, volatile moves.
ENTERPRISE BLOCKCHAINS SEE DEVELOPER BOOM
According to a new study by the Singapore-based blockchain startup Chainstack, the number of engineers in the open-source enterprise blockchain space (working on platforms like Hyperledger Fabric, Quorum, Corda and others) has grown by a factor of 12 over the last three years.
The report reveals a story of how some of the larger, corporate backed protocols have fared well in the market while others (like Hyperledger Sawtooth) have declined, though it should not lead to the conclusion that a robust development community is a proxy for enterprise blockchain adoption. That still remains to be seen.
JPMORGAN SPINOFF LAUNCHES HYBRID BLOCKCHAIN
Brooklyn-based blockchain startup Kadena, founded by two JPMorgan blockchain alums, launched a hybrid blockchain last week that is designed to give the enterprise world access to the power of public blockchain while retaining the privacy that comes with a private chain.
The founders say the new blockchain solves the known scalability issues of proof-of-work (PoW) networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Read more here.
ELSEWHERE
Central banks join forces to look at future digital currencies [Reuters]
Vodafone Abandons Facebook-Led Libra Cryptocurrency Project [Bloomberg]
Bitcoin miners made an estimated $5 billion in revenue during 2019 [The Block]
Meet the Crypto Angel Investor Running for Congress in Nevada [CoinDesk]
