• What’s New at CoinCentral?
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This Week in Cryptocurrency – December 29th, 2017

Bitcoin Looks to Finish Strong: The crypto flagship continued to ebb and flow and is looking to somewhat stabilize at around $15,000 for the end of the year, roughly $5,000 less than its ATH from a few weeks prior. Regardless of its end-of-year price point in comparison to its ATH, let’s take a moment to appreciate how far Bitcoin has come in 2017 alone. At this time last year, Bitcoin was trying to break through to $1,000 per bitcoin with a market cap of $15.5 billion. With a current market cap of nearly $250 billion, it’s crazy to think about how far Bitcoin has come, and how far it still has to go. Bitcoin is currently up 10% for the week.

Ethereum: Ethereum is hovering around $750, a huge leap from the $8 it was just a year ago. This 92.75x multiple also came with the development and launch of countless new successful and not-so-successful ICOs. Ethereum is currently up 15% for the week.

“Wait for me, guys!”: It almost seems as if Ripple (XRP) has been saving its impressive yearlong growth for the final month of the year. The token stayed comparatively dormant from May 2017 until the start of December 2017, when it leaped from $0.25 to nearly $2.00 in just thirty days. It continues to be one of the fastest growers in December. Ripple is currently up 75% for the week.

The Alt Rollercoaster Continues: There is yet to be a dull week in December for altcoins. RaiBlocks, a Bitcoin competitor, jumped into the scene nearing the top 20 marketcap coins with an impressive 326% gain for the week. Other notable gains include Stellar (31%), BitConnect (59%), ICON (133%), Ardor (70%), OMG (36%), STRAT (61%), SiaCoin (88%), Golem (81%), PIVX (57%), BinanceCoin (114%), and many more.

“Grow Up” or Risk Losing a Founder, Ethereum: Not liking the direction Ethereum is headed in or the “immaturity” of the cryptocurrency community, Vitalik Buterin announced in a string of tweets that he would leave if things don’t shape-up. Buterin states that Ethereum is about creating positive societal change, not money; a viewpoint he believes many in the community don’t share. So, if you’ve been working on a Lambo meme or “sharting” pun, maybe hold out on sending it for a few months so we don’t lose one the wunderkind founder.

Bitcoin Millionaire Donating $86M to Charity: Known as the “Pineapple Fund”, an undisclosed philanthropist will be donating large portions of his Bitcoin investment earnings to worthy charities. According to the source, the anonymous altruist is said to have stated: “once you have enough money, money doesn’t matter”.

Move Over Bitcoin Cash… Ripples Coming Through: Ripple’s market capacity hit an ATH this week, taking the third spot away from BCH. With the recent announcement of partnerships with Japanese financial firms, the usability and practicality of XRP in the banking world seem to be making the currency a force to be reckoned with.  

Hate Your Job? Try Looking In the Cryptocurrency Field: LinkedIn job listings with “Bitcoin” and other blockchain related phrases have risen around 306% over a one year period ending mid-November. With Cryptos soaring market value, the job hunt for qualified candidates in this field is followed as corporations and other entities seek to take a piece of the crypto pie.

Is Bitcoin the New Gold?: Max Keiser, host of financial news/analysis show “The Keiser Report”  insists that “what’s driving the action at bitcoin is people who are looking to store value and escape the US dollar, which is a tulip bulb of our era… Bitcoin is the opposite of that.” According to Keiser, the stock market and the bond market are the true “tulip bulbs” of our era.

Sorry, You Can’t Register Here: Due to the recent spike of mass interest in cryptocurrency, exchanges are being forced to halt new user registration. Unable to keep up with demand and experiencing issues such as crashes, exchanges such as Bittrex & Bitfinex have blocked new registrations completely until further notice.

What’s New at CoinCentral?

pumped to keep providing you some of the best cryptocurrency guides out there. We’re working on some exciting things for 2018 and it’s been awesome having you on board as a reader.

The articles this week include:

• What is TRON: Learn more about this decentralized platform and distributed storage technology that aims to allow digital content creators to cut out middlemen such as the Apple Store and Google Play store.
• Key Details of the DeepBrain Chain ICO: This ambitious project has its sights set on some pretty lofty goals; can it pull it off?
• What is the Waves Platform?: Learn more about this platform that allows people to create their own tokens to do things such as crowdfund a project, build out a loyalty rewards program, or create an in-app currency.
• What is Komodo? Cool name, even cooler concept. Check out what makes Komodo unique.
• What is RaiBlocks?: This Bitcoin competitor had quite the week in growth. Learn more about what’s attracting a ton of attention and investment capital.
• What is EOS?: EOS brings together the best features and promises of the various smart contract technologies  (e.g. security of Bitcoin, computing support of Ethereum) in one simple to use, massively scalable dapplication platform.
• Proof-of-Stake: A Solution to Bitcoin’s Problems?: Miners use up an estimated 29.05TWh of electricity annually.  That’s 0.13% of the world’s annual energy consumption, which is more than 159 countries including nearly all of Africa.
• WAX Token Analysis: This hyped up token recently hit exchanges. Learn more about what to expect.
• EtherDelta Exchange Review: The recently hacked exchange initially showed some promise.
• How to Cancel an Unconfirmed Bitcoin Transaction: Another tip to help navigate the wild world of Bitcoin.

Check out some of the brightest minds in the cryptocurrency such as Tim Draper, Brad Garlinhhouse (CEO of Ripple), and Charlie Lee (Founder of Litecoin) speak at Blockchain Connect in San Francisco on January 26th, 2018. Our readers get 30% off with the code “coincentral” 🙂

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More Cryptocurrency News From Around the World

Ripple (XRP) Partners with Japanese Credit Card Giants: The Asian branch of Ripple Labs revealed its establishment of a “consortium” with Tokyo based SBI Holdings. It’s creation calls to implement Ripples blockchain technology into several Japanese credit card organizations, driving prices of Ripple to new ATHs.  

Tron Pedals into Partnership With oBike: On December 23, CEO of TRON Justin Sun announced via Twitter that oBike’s ten million users will soon be entering the cryptocurrency world from the convenience of their bikes. Using the TRON platform, oBike will release oCoins in the first quarter of 2018, allowing users to earn while they ride.

Your Future Salary May Be Paid in Bitcoin: GMO Group, a Japanese based computer network firm, unveiled its plan to offer its roughly 4,000 employees to receive a fraction of their earnings in Bitcoin. However, the volatility of the market at its current stage carries risks many employees may not be willing to engage in until further stabilization.

South Korea Gov. Bans Exchanges From Activating New Trading Accounts: Bitcoin took a hit and dropped roughly 10% this Thursday after the South Korean Financial Services Commission enacted new regulation banning new cryptocurrency traders from creating accounts. Exchanges that do not comply risk having their company shut down or barred from trading.   

5 Billion Barrels of Oil to Back Petro, Venezuela’s National Cryptocurrency: President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro announced the support of 1 barrel of crude per Petro coin in a National TV statement Wednesday. With ongoing Venezuelan economic crisis, the national cryptocurrency was announced earlier this month in hopes to bring stability back into the country.

Curaçao Legalizes First Decentralized Casino: Rendering numerous reports, the company Edgeless is the first in the gambling business to open a legal decentralized casino and follows Ethereum protocol. With its new license, the newly-formed company aims to initially strengthen their legal base and then focus on large-scale growth.

CEO of UK-based Cryptocurrency Exchange EXMO Kidnapped in Ukraine: According to witnesses, Pavel Lerner was pulled inside a black Mercedes as he left his office in Kiev Tuesday. Shortly after, the exchange experienced a cyber attack. While the search for Lerner continues, a spokesperson for the company announced that the business will remain unaffected.  

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