vision& - Cryptoweek: Back to Base

After crypto prices have followed a narrow range over the past week consolidating sideways we saw another damper beginning of the week with markets feeling increased pressure from the bears. Bitcoin hit its lowest level in more than a month as we struggled to overcome some key resistance levels that would have brought a certain relief to the market. Most Altcoins consequently were dragged along, some of them showing up deeply in red. The ongoing crypto winter over the past month has also led to a trend reversal compared to 2017 in terms of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a store of value with investors prioritizing traditional safe haven assets such as Gold as the world continues to face geopolitical issues. Despite the correlation of traditional equities and cryptocurrencies still showing up near zero, the bear-market has left some scars in the traditional world. Chip maker Nvidia had to take a hard hit this week after cutting Q4 sales guidance by $500mln. While the decline in demand for crypto miners was cited as being negative for the company, the real reason of the plunge however is attributed to a cooling customer base in the gaming industry. At a time where some of the early movers face increased headwinds, we see others grasp the opportunity and enter the space. Kudelski Security founded a Blockchain Security Centre (BSC) with the aim to make the companies cryptography experience available to the ever-increasing number of Blockchain developers around the globe. Also Fidelity, which administers over $7.2 trillion in client assets, seems to move forward with its plans to launch trade execution and custody services for digital assets for institutional investors as soon as March.

Litecoin creator Charlie Lee declared that he will focus on making the currency more fungible and private by adding the feature of confidential transactions, what would certainly be a groundbreaking change in the protocol and eventually put some pressure on big brother Bitcoin. Often discussed BitTorrent token (BTT) finally went into public sale on Monday and sold out within minutes. Despite some technical difficulties, 59.8 billion BTT worth roughly $7.2 million found a new owner.

On the regulatory landscape, the U.K. regulator has announced to tighten regulations of crypto-assets. Banks and other financial-services companies will find it harder to engage in crypto-asset related activities in the UK. What may be a challenge initially will certainly strengthen the market over the long term.