Forty-eight U.S. lawmakers have sent a letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler asking him to clarify whether ether is a security. “The negative repercussions of the SEC implicitly or directly classifying ETH as a digital asset security will cascade throughout the digital asset marketplace both in the short and long […]
Bitcoin News
Speculation Rises on Whether Bitcoin’s Halving Is Reflected in Current Prices
Bitcoin has witnessed new highs in its price lately, with the premier cryptocurrency experiencing an over 60% increase since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the crypto community is abuzz with debates on whether the impending halving event is already reflected in the price. There’s a prevailing suspicion that despite bitcoin’s climb against the U.S. […]
Bitcoin News
US Supreme Court to Decide Whether Coinbase Can Force Users to Settle Disputes Through Arbitration
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the Coinbase case concerning whether the crypto exchange can force users to settle disputes through private arbitration, rather than in court. The case stems from a dogecoin (DOGE) sweepstakes in which users accused Coinbase of false advertising.
Coinbase’s Case Goes to Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear Coinbase’s appeal regarding whether the crypto exchange can force users to settle disputes through private arbitration, rather than in court.
The case involved Coinbase’s sweepstakes in 2021 that offered entrants the opportunity to win prizes of up to ,200,000 in meme cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE). A number of users alleged that they were deceived into paying to participate in the sweepstakes even though there was an option to participate for free. Accusing Coinbase of false advertising in violation of California law, the users filed a class-action lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange.
The users want the disputes heard in California court. However, the crypto platform argued that when users signed up for Coinbase accounts, they agreed to resolve all disputes with the company through arbitration.
While acknowledging the arbitration clause in Coinbase’s User Agreement, a federal judge in California denied the crypto exchange’s request to move the disputes into arbitration. “The district court determined that a separate forum selection clause in the Sweepstakes ‘Official Rules’ superseded the User Agreement’s arbitration agreement, including its delegation clause,” states the document Coinbase filed with the Supreme Court.
Coinbase appealed the denial of the motion to compel arbitration. However, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed the denial of Coinbase’s motion. It is now up to the Supreme Court to decide whether the crypto exchange can force users into arbitration.
Do you think the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of or against Coinbase? Let us know in the comments section below.
SEC Isn’t Appealing Whether XRP Is a Security, Lawyer Clarifies
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not appealing District Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling that XRP is not a security, a lawyer has explained. The securities regulator is appealing “programmatic and individual sales issues,” he clarified, adding that “If the SEC wins the appeal on sales, then Ripple couldn’t use exchanges to facilitate sales.”
SEC Not Disputing Whether XRP Is a Security
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has informed District Judge Analisa Torres that it intends to appeal her ruling in the Ripple case. However, the securities regulator is not appealing the non-security status of XRP, Jeremy Hogan, partner at law firm Hogan & Hogan, explained on Twitter Wednesday.
“The SEC continues making questionable decisions, requesting an interlocutory appeal,” Hogan tweeted, emphasizing:
Note that it is NOT appealing whether XRP itself is a security — just its losses on the programmatic and individual sales issues.
In another tweet, he clarified that challenging programmatic sales and challenging the non-security status of XRP are “two separate issues.”
While reiterating Judge Torres’ ruling that “XRP is not a security,” Hogan explained: “If the SEC wins the appeal on sales, then Ripple couldn’t use exchanges to facilitate sales.” The lawyer added that the big question is whether crypto exchanges would keep XRP listed. “I think yes, as long as they can verify the sales are not being made by Ripple,” he stated.
Following Judge Torres’ ruling on the Ripple case last month, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the securities regulator is “disappointed” with what the judge said about retail investors. Nonetheless, he affirmed that the SEC will continue its enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies that fail to comply with regulations. The SEC chief believes that crypto is “a highly speculative asset class” and a field that is “rife with fraud.”
In a filing for its lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, the SEC claimed that some decisions in the Ripple court ruling on XRP were “wrongly decided.” Moreover, District Judge Jed S. Rakoff disagreed with the approach taken by Judge Torres in the SEC v. Ripple case concerning XRP.
What do you think about the SEC planning to appeal the ruling in the Ripple case over XRP? Let us know in the comments section below.
Bitcoin’s Crucial Weekly Close Will Determine Whether It Enters a Real Bull Market
After facing a series of micro-rejections at just over ,800 throughout the day yesterday, bulls were able to maintain Bitcoin’s position within the upper-,700 region prior to its daily close and were able to defend against an overnight selloff that led BTC down to lows of ,600.
Bull’s current strength appears to be on the cusp of reaching a boiling point, as the crypto is now attempting to gain a solid foothold within the ,800 region.
Importantly, tomorrow’s weekly close may be one of the most important it has ever seen, as how it responds to a few key levels could determine its fate for the rest of 2020.
Bitcoin Attempts to Gain Foothold Above ,800 as Bulls Defend Against Intense Selling Pressure
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading up nominally at its current price of ,800, which marks a slight climb from daily lows of just over ,600 that were set late yesterday evening, and only a minor decline from highs of ,850.
Over the past couple of days, Bitcoin has been struggling to push past this current price level, and its bout of sideways trading here suggests that the resistance between ,800 and ,000 could prove to be insurmountable.
Crypto Birb, a prominent cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he believes Bitcoin is going to “give us dips to buy next week,” which seems to elude to the possibility that the crypto will see some intense volatility next week.
looks like bitcoin is going to give us dips to buy next week
— Crypto₿irb (@crypto_birb) February 8, 2020
BTC Approaches Critical Weekly Close; Levels to Watch For
One factor that could catalyze significant near-term volatility is the fact that Bitcoin’s weekly close tomorrow is “arguably one of the most important” it has seen.
Teddy – a prominent cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter – spoke about the importance of this weekly close in a recent tweet, explaining that a close above ,000 would mark the first higher high in nearly 200 days, which would be incredibly bullish for its mid-term trend.
“BTC: This is arguably one of the most important weekly closes, it will define the coming short/medium trend – Testing a multi month support now resistance, defining the current range – currently above it – Would mark first higher high in nearly 200 days – 10k,” he explained.
#BITCOIN | $BTC
This is arguably one of the most important weekly closes, it will define the coming short/medium trend
– Testing a multi month support now resistance, defining the current range – currently 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 it
– Would mark first higher high in nearly 200 days
– 10k pic.twitter.com/6gQ99JtW05
— TEDDY (₿) (@TeddyCleps) February 8, 2020
How Bitcoin trends in the next 48 hours will offer unparalleled insights into the long-term significance of the uptrend it has seen throughout the past five weeks.
Featured image from Shutterstock. The post appeared first on NewsBTC.
NewsBTC
This Month Will Critically Decide Whether Bitcoin Enters a Full Blown Parabolic Rally or Not
Bitcoin is technically still in a bearish trend. It is down by more than 30 percent since the 2019 yearly high when it surpassed ,000. This month will decide whether BTC enters a new extended bull market or falls back into a bear market.
It all depends on the monthly close of bitcoin on January 31, 2019
For the first time since July 2019, the bitcoin price is set to end a full month with a higher low.
For six consecutive months, the bitcoin price recorded a lower low, which indicates a steep downtrend over an extended period of time.
There are fears that the recent upsurge is merely a relief rally following half a year of downtrend. If that is the case, the bitcoin bear market can continue on throughout 2020.
The key level that will decide whether bitcoin at last breaks out of a bearish trend and and starts an extended rally is ,153.
A monthly close over that level, which is the monthly open for November 2019, would indicate that BTC is entering a new phase of growth.
A top cryptocurrency trader known as DonAlt explained:
If this is a bear market rally, it ends this month. If it’s a bull market rally you better be positioned. The monthly close is gonna be fun to observe, it’s either gonna be shattered bear or bull dreams.
The bitcoin price is up 23 percent this month, within less than 18 days. A clean break over ,153 would mean that the bitcoin price will end the month with a 27 percent gain.
Even if BTC moves to test higher levels like ,900 in the short-term, maintaining that momentum to lead a monthly close over a major resistance level is difficult.
The monthly price chart of bitcoin (Source: TradingView)
What happens if it breaks that key level?
If bitcoin begins a new extended rally, there is a strong possibility that it attempts to reach its record high.
In the long-term, cryptocurrency technical analyst Josh Rager said that the next record high is likely to be at ,000 to ,000.
He said:
“The next Bitcoin peak high will not be as high as most people think Lots of analysis out there point from 0k to 0k to M Simple rate of return will show you bottom to peak return reduces by around 20% each cycle IMO, next high hits k to k.”
That range is substantially lower than numbers often touted by investors. But, ,000 would indicate a .57 trillion market cap for bitcoin.
At that level, it would allow BTC to potentially act as a true safe haven asset and store of value, becoming an actual alternative to assets like gold. The post appeared first on NewsBTC.
NewsBTC
Lawyer Asks Whether KYC Is Worth Exposing Users to Hacking and ID Theft
n Lawyer Jake Chervinsky asks the public if identity verification is worth exposing the public to data leaksn
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CoinFlex to Offer Prediction Futures on Whether Libra Launches in 2020
n A crypto derivatives exchange is launching physically-delivered futures contracts that will be settled based on whether Facebooks Libra does or does not launch in 2020n
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MakerDAO Token Holders Vote on Whether to Lower DAI Stability Fee by 2
n MakerDAO initiated a vote about whether to decrease the so-called stability fee for its decentralized stablecoin, DAIn
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MakerDAO Token Holders Vote About Whether to Raise DAI Stability Fee by 3
n Token holders are now voting again on whether to raise the so-called stability fee for Makers ethereum-based DAI by 3n
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