Summary:

  • Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder, has reportedly bought million of dollars in Bitcoin
  • Russian President Putin plans to use cryptoruble in order to evade international sanctions
  • South Korea plans to put a brake on anonymous cryptocurrency trading later this month

Trading on major cryptocurrencies was quite calm during the Asian session given volatility and a range of moves occurring there. Bitcoin (BTCUSD on xStation5) was the most volatile which could have been sparked by a Wall Street Journal’s article pointing to the big investor entering BTC board. The WSJ says that Peter Thiel known as a PayPal co-founder and an early Facebook investor has reportedly bought Bitcoins for millions of dollars, the newspaper cited sources familiar with the matter. Thiel’s Founders Fund was to buy digital coins for about $15-20 million and after a surge in the BTC price last year those holdings are currently worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Having said that the newspaper did not pin down whether the fund had sold any of its holdings. Anyway, when the report crossed wires Bitcoin moved up more than 13% to above $15,000 according to the data delivered by Coinbase. What’s interesting, quite a substantial increase forced the CBOE authorities to halt trading on Bitcoin futures.

link do file download linkA technical view seems to be in favour of Bitcoin buyers as the price was capable of breaking an upper limit of a triangle formation which could be a buying opportunity. On the flip side Bitcoin has already run into a resistance localized nearby a 50% retracement of the meaningful slide which took place in the second half of December. Source: xStation5

Moving on, an interesting story may be found in Russia as the President Vladimir Putin is reportedly maps out to use its own digital currency aka ’cryptoruble’ in order to evade international sanctions. While Putin explores ways aimed at bypassing western sanctions, the Russian central bank expressed scepticism about a creation of new cryptocurrency. The finance ministry joined the Bank of Russia as well stating that there is no a need for cryptoruble. According to Sergey Glazyev, an economic adviser to Putin, “this instrument suits very well for sensitive activity on behalf of the state. We can settle accounts with our counterparties all over the world with no regard for sanctions”.

Finally let’s mention an article of the South Korean agency Yonhap suggesting that the local government will purportedly implement new rules aimed at banning the use of anonymous cryptocurrency trading accounts from 20 January. The move is to be a response to high losses incurred by investors on the back of excessive volatility seen across cryptocurrencies. Although the Korean authorities have not banned cryptocurrency trading outright, there are some comments coming from the government that the country’s watchdog will consider the shutdown of digital currency exchanges if necessary in the future.

link do file download linkAfter a slight retreat buyers on Ripple seem to be taking control anew. The price is already above the past high at around $2.45 and once bulls are determined enough it could see the virtual currency surging even above $3,00. Do notice that an upper boundary of an ascending channel ought to act as a resistance but there is significant room left before the price reaches this level. Source: xStation5