This Week in Cryptocurrency: December 14, 2018

“But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward” – Boxing Movie Man

The total cryptocurrency market cap fell from $104B to $102.1B, a drop of 1.82% for the week, which isn’t so bad compared to the beating markets have been taking over the past few weeks. 

Bitcoin slipped down 4.58% to $3,241. 

Ripple and Ethereum are down 4.87% and 4.61% respectively. 

However, the market was not without its green. EOS is up 6.28%, and a few other alts saw some massive gains reminiscent of 2017, a time where seeing double-digit green in the cryptocurrency market was a daily occurrence *lights and finishes a cigarette in one drag, stares wistfully at a wall for a few moments*. Waves went up a cool 63.04%, TenX up 48.29%, Dentacoin up 33.45%, and Swarm up 85.89%. A far cry from these project’s all-time-highs, but a pleasant note in an otherwise dreary few weeks. 

Cryptocurrency markets 12/14/2018

Congressmen Introduce Bills Opposing Crypto Price Manipulation: Republican Ted Budd and Democrat Darren Soto have joined hands across the aisle to put an end to cryptocurrency price manipulation. The two men have introduced a couple of bills that “direct the CFTC and other financial regulators to make critical recommendations for how to improve the regulatory environment for both the consumer and business development side.”

The first bill, The Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act, asks the CFTC to analyze current price manipulation and propose regulatory changes to prevent it in the future. The second, The U.S. Virtual Currency Market and Regulatory Competitiveness Act, wants the organization to conduct a study of the regulations of other countries to find “alternatives for current burdensome regulations that may inhibit innovation.” The new bill seems like a win for all parties involved.

CFTC Looking for Ethereum Know-How: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is now looking for your Ethereum expertise. On Tuesday, the organization released a Request for Information (RFI) to learn more about the smart contract supernetwork.

Please participate in our call for Public Comments on Crypto-asset Mechanics and Markets | U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION https://t.co/DJUSIyx8XE

— Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloCFTC) December 12, 2018

The RFI includes surprisingly relevant questions such as: “Does the Ethereum Network face scalability challenges? If so, please describe such challenges and any potential solutions.” and “Has a proof of stake consensus mechanism been tested or validated at scale?” Maybe these government officials know a little bit about blockchain after all…

People Saying Things

Mike Surfin’ Bird Novogratz: In a recent interview with Bloomberg, legendary crypto advocate Mike Novogratz spread some holiday cheer regarding the industry’s future. He stated that, although we’re in a lull now, there’s a huge wave coming. And when it does, his firm “better be the Laird Hamilton of crypto.”

“What is Bitcoin?” -Everyone: Google released their 2018 Year in Search results this week, and a few crypto-related topics took the top spots. “What is Bitcoin?” took first place in the What is…? category while “How to buy Ripple” came in fourth in the How to category.

How to Mine IOTA Without Installing a Full Node: Want to mine IOTA? It’s easier than you think.

Top Supply Chain Blockchain Projects for 2019: Corporate to Scrappy Startups: Supply chains are no stranger to blockchain. Here are some of the top projects giving logistics a boost.

Blockchain Industry Downturn Causing Chinese Investor Jitters: With the crypto market down, some Chinese investors are getting cold feet.

What Is Identity Management? Security in the Age of Anonymity: Your identity is probably your most personal possession. Shouldn’t you have control over who views it?

Eight Things You Need to Know About Crypto Taxes: “Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman.”

How to Pay Taxes on Cryptocurrencies: Only two things in life are certain: death and…well, you know.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Decline Favors Persistent Miners: You ever hear the story about the two little mice?

Blockchain Identity Management | Data Security 2.0?: A: Equifax, Yahoo, Uber. Q: Name three companies that recently compromised your data.

Hackers Are Spreading Crypto Mining Malware via Routers: Hide your browsers, hide your routers, cause they hackin’ everybody out here.

Blockchain Internet: Unchaining the Web: There are only a handful of organizations that control the supposedly ‘decentralized’ internet. With blockchain, the web could actually reach that goal.

How to Find the Best Crypto Accountant: A Guide to Find Your Guide Through Tax Season: Yo dawg, we heard you needed tax guide. So, we made a guide on how to find a guide.

CoolWallet S Review | What You Should Know About the Mobile Hardware Wallet: Cause you’re hot and your cold, store digital gold. Price up, and it’s down, We smile, and we frown.

Venezuelan KFC Chick Out, Church’s Chick In: A bunch of news for Dash and Venezuelan chicken franchises this week. Early in the week, Dash Venezuela announced that the country’s KFC locations would soon be accepting Dash cryptocurrency. However, they apparently jumped the gun on the announcement. Shortly after, KFC Venezuela put out a correction, stating they were just discussing the possibility.

Before we could set down our drumstick, Dash and Church’s Chicken followed up with an additional press release outlining their new partnership. The fast-food chain will begin accepting the cryptocurrency at 13 of their locations in Venezuela.