This Week in Cryptocurrency: July 19th, 2019

• Cryptocurrency Market Update
• What’s New at Coincentral?

Cryptocurrency Market Update

Ouch. But we’re used to it! 

This wasn’t the best week for cryptocurrency markets in recent weeks, but the volatility isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. If you’ve been following cryptocurrency markets for a while, a 10% change in either direction in a day isn’t much to blink over.

Anyway, let’s do a roll call of this week’s casualties:

• Bitcoin 10.56%
• Ethereum 20.35%
• XRP 7.45%
• Bitcoin Cash 13.86%
• EOS 17.23%
• Cardano 16.23%
• Monero 13.26%
• Dash 21.67%
• NEO 16.29% 

However, a few projects managed to escape the slaughter. V Systems, a newcomer to the game, saw a 22.1% uptick. 

G7 Agrees: Libra and Crypto Have Significant Concerns: In comments to CNBC’s Squawk Box, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin said, “There was a clear agreement from all G7 finance ministers and central bank governors that Libra, in particular, raises some very significant concerns, and cryptocurrencies more broadly,” adding, “before any of us let these go through, we’re going to make sure those concerns are satisfied.” While the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors reached consensus (ha!), it’s still unclear whether there will be an international decision in regards to regulation of digital assets. Mnunchin also commented, “first of all let me be clear, we very much support financial innovation and anything that lowers payment processing costs, especially cross-border.”

BitMEX Under Investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): The people planning to invade Area-51 aren’t the only ones about to be probed. The  U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is currently probing Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. Earlier this week, cryptocurrency antagonist Nouriel Roubini denounced BitMEX claiming that it “may be openly involved in systematic illegality.” According to Bloomberg, the CFTC investigation is “ongoing” and won’t necessarily lead to misconduct allegations.  

Top Cryptos Pronounced Dead: A report by CoinTelegraph noted five tokens pronounced “dead” for a variety of reasons. The list includes Emercoin, NEM, Bitconnect, Bitcoin Diamond, and Universa, for reasons running the gamut from theft, Ponzi Schemes (you know which one this is), low liquidity, and lack of liquidity.  

Jeremy Allaire Added to Power Lunch Time with Warren Buffett: The upcoming lunch between Tron CEO Justin Sun and billionaire Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett has grown to include the CEO of Circle, Jeremy Allaire. Sun seeks to help Buffett, a vocal Bitcoin skeptic, see the light for cryptocurrency’s ability to impact the world positively, as well as an asset class worth exploring. The $4.6 million lunch also includes Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and will take place at Quince, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in San Francisco. 

Hi Justin, I would be honored to join you and @WarrenBuffett next week to discuss crypto!! Count me in. Crypto is now a major global policy issue and there is a great deal for Mr Buffet to understand and for us to learn from him as well. https://t.co/PGY8bXQBcZ

— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) July 18, 2019

What’s New at Coincentral?

Facebook Libra Project Already Facing Resistance, Major Hurdles Ahead: There have been concerns that its Libra platform will be used to gather financial information about its users. Facebook has made an effort to mollify data privacy fears by publishing a communiqué which emphasizes that consumer data will not be shared with third parties.

What Is Blockstack (STX)? | The First SEC-Qualified Token Offering: Blockstack is a decentralized computing network and ecosystem for decentralized applications (dApps). The project recently made headlines as the first token sale in U.S. history to receive clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The team has been together since 2013, however.

Iran is Looking to Allow Regulated Cryptocurrency Mining: Abdol Nasser Hemmati, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran has announced that the government is working on a framework that will allow regulated cryptocurrency mining.

3Commas Sees an Automated Trading Cryptocurrency Future: As the cryptocurrency market continues to entice new and old traders, teams are building projects to facilitate the process of buying and selling digital assets. One such company, called 3Commas, is one of the largest in the space to provide trading bots and trading automation tools.