This Week in Cryptocurrency: April 19, 2019

• Bitcoin's So Highhhhh, High Above Me
• Domestic News
• What’s New at CoinCentral?
• Cryptocurrency News from Around the World

Bitcoin’s So Highhhhh, High Above Me

We’re starting to run out of puns for this consistent market growth. But, we guess that’s a good problem to have. Growing to over $179 billion this week, the entire crypto market moved three and a half percent in the positive direction. 

Some of the top gainers this week were Binance Coin (29.61%), Tezos (42.48%), and Basic Attention Token (31.49%). Craig Wright and his clown show caused a 17.33% drop for Bitcoin SV. As for our top three:

Bitcoin moved up a healthy 3.92%.

Ethereum led the way with 4.87% growth.

XRP skimmed a nice 1.16% rise off the top.

Domestic News

Government Blockchain Spending Is Going Up, Up, Up: A report released Thursday by IDC Government Insights predicts that U.S. government blockchain spending will reach $123.5 million by 2022. This figure is substantially more than the $10.7 million that Uncle Sam spent in 2017, over 1,000 percent more if you’re curious.

Additionally, state and local government spending is expected to reach over $48 million by 2022 which would encompass a 1,000 percent increase as well.

Shawn P. McCarthy, IDC Government Insights research director, stated that they believe “asset management, identity management, and smart contracts will be the leading blockchain solutions for government.” He added, “Early spending will focus on supply chain and asset management solutions, while spending in later years will expand to include more identity management and complex financial transactions.”

Yaaang Gaaang: Presidential candidate Andrew Yang added crypto regulation to his platform this week. The democratic nominee outlined plans to bring regulatory clarity to the digital asset space to protect consumers while fostering as much innovation as possible.

Yang took shots at “onerous regulations” like New York’s BitLicense, arguing that they’ve had “a chilling effect on the US digital asset market.” Instead, he thinks we should champion progressive legislation like the Token Taxonomy Act and those of Wyoming.

New Policy #22 – Digital Asset/Cryptocurrency Regulation. Investment in cryptocurrencies and digital assets has far outpaced our regulatory frameworks. Investors need to know what their treatment will be in order to properly innovate in the U.S. https://t.co/PyzRfy1t9a

— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) April 18, 2019

Yang garnered some notoriety with his plan to implement a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and has appeared on several media outlets such as the Joe Rogan Podcast. His pro-crypto stance may give him another boost in the polls.

People Saying Things

Craig Wright’s Suing Spree: Craig Wright, self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, other-proclaimed crazy person, started making his rounds with lawsuits this week. Vitalik Buterin, podcaster Peter McCormack, and Twitter personality Hodlonaut all appear to be caught in his crossfire. Wright wants Buterin and McCormack to publicly state that he is Satoshi Nakamoto or face legal repercussions. This circus act led to the delisting of BCHSV from several platforms including Binance, ShapeShift, and Kraken.

McCormack’s response is pure gold:

My formal response to the letter issued by the lawyers of Craig Wright and @CalvinAyre. This was sent today. We look forward to resolving this quickly and efficiently. pic.twitter.com/ANSmF1kH8k

— Dr. Peter McCormack (@PeterMcCormack) April 14, 2019

What’s New at CoinCentral?

IOST: Interview with CEO Jimmy Zhong: We check back in with IOST CEO Jimmy Zhong to see how things have been going since the project’s main net launch.

Crypto Market Trader Convicted of Money Laundering Offenses: California isn’t just for movie stars and tech entrepreneurs. It’s also home to its fair share of money laundering.

Will Bitcoin Ever Replace Fiat?: Ah, Bitcoin vs. Fiat. The battle of the two monetary titans. But who will win out?

Bitcoin Mining Energy Usage: The Good, the Bad and the Future: We take a look at the energy critiques of bitcoin mining and examine why they may soon be a thing of the past.

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Cryptocurrency News from Around the World

Ethereum Has a Big Week: A couple of big announcements for Ethereum this week. First, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance teamed up with Microsoft to form the Token Taxonomy Initiative. The initiative is a technology-neutral project working to standardize tokens across all networks. Members of the initiative include Ethereum, Hyperledger, R3, EY, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and J.P. Morgan among numerous others.

Also this week, Ernst and Young (EY) announced Nightfall, a protocol to help businesses utilize the Ethereum blockchain. The professional services company will release the code in May under public domain, so anyone can use it without licensing or attribution.

Forbes Unveils the Blockchain 50: On Tuesday, Forbes published Blockchain’s Billion Dollar Babies – a list of 50 billion dollar companies utilizing blockchain technology in some way or another. The three comma club contained many companies that you probably expected like Coinbase, Ripple, and Bitfury. However, there were also some surprises.

Insurance companies State Farm, Allianz SE, and MetLife are implementing tech from Hyperledger, Corda, and Ethereum. And Nestle, as well as CVS Health, are working with IBM Blockchain for their systems.