The entire cryptocurrency market is more valuable than Apple, which ranks second with USD 2.1 trillion. The market capitalization of Ethereum’s cryptocurrency Ether surpassed USD 500 billion.

In recent days, the value of the overall cryptocurrency market exceeded USD 2.5 trillion. The total value invested in cryptocurrencies now stands above this milestone. The market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) remains above USD 1 trillion, and that of Ether (ETH) is flirting with USD 500 billion.

On May 10^th, the market had momentarily reached USD 2.5 trillion. However, both ETH and BTC are now in green numbers and seem to be driving the rest of the market higher.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the total value of the market has tripled so far in 2021. In January, the total capitalization was just above USD 770 billion. The growth has been so dramatic that BTC alone has surpassed that figure to this day.

The Market Value of Bitcoin and Ether Exceeds That of Google

The current market capitalization would only allow gold to have more value than all cryptocurrencies put together among the most valuable assets. According to data from CompaniesMarketCap, Apple currently occupies second place in that ranking, with USD 2.1 trillion.

Although all cryptocurrencies have made it possible to reach the milestone, the truth is that this market has a clear protagonist. Bitcoin and Ether alone would already have more value than Google on that list, where they would occupy sixth place.

Although there are currently more than 9,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation, most of the total value is in just a handful of them. The top 10 cryptocurrencies on the market share 80% of the market capitalization.

Bitcoin Consolidates as a Store of Value Amid the Altcoin Season

Bitcoin remains above USD 1 trillion and its momentum this year has led to the arrival of this milestone for the market. For that reason, the first cryptocurrency seems to be increasingly consolidated as a store of value, not only among large investors.

There has been a sustained trend to save small fractions of BTC over time, according to data from Glassnode. That way of saving BTC is commonly known as “stacking sats” or satoshis, the smallest fraction of Bitcoin.

A recent chart from Glassnode indicates that more than 5% of the total supply of Bitcoin in circulation is at addresses with less than 1 BTC. Besides, that number has not stopped growing as a reflection of the savings that even the possession of small amounts represents.

Bitcoin continues to lead the market capitalization even amid the “altcoin season”. Most of the top 50 cryptocurrencies have outperformed BTC in percentage terms in recent months.

While the dominance of ETH is close to 20% of the market, that of BTC is above 40%. However, Willy Woo believes that investors’ capital can flow back from altcoins to BTC. Furthermore, he predicts that there may be new all-time highs in this market cycle.

By Alexander Salazar

The Fed’s policies threaten the status of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, said Druckenmiller. According to the investor, Bitcoin is more manageable than gold and has a better beta.

In recent days, well-known investor Stanley Druckenmiller spoke about Bitcoin in an interview on CNBC. He believes that the pioneering cryptocurrency will continue to lead the market thanks to its attribute as a store of value.

The former CEO of the Duquesne Family Office harshly criticized the Fed’s expansionary monetary policies. He believes that they could weaken the US dollar, causing it to lose its role as the world’s reserve currency.

Druckenmiller revealed that he owns BTC and that this cryptocurrency attracted him because he considers it a store of value.

“Bitcoin could be a very attractive asset class as a store of value. Both millennials and the wealthy on the West Coast have acquired a lot of coins,” Druckenmiller said. “It has been around for 13 years and it becomes more stable as a brand with each passing day,” he noted.

The billionaire investor admits that his investment in gold is “very many times greater” than what he has made in Bitcoin. He claims that the main cryptocurrency on the market is more manageable than gold and has a better beta. This coefficient makes it possible to measure the relationship between return and risk that investment adds to a portfolio. In November 2020, Druckenmiller highlighted those advantages of Bitcoin against the precious metal.

Druckenmiller Does Not Think that Ether Will Dethrone Bitcoin as a Store of Value

Regarding whether Ether (ETH) could dethrone Bitcoin in market value, the investor believes that it will not happen. He said that Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency has an advantage over Bitcoin as a smart contract platform. Despite this, he believes that “it will be very difficult to dethrone Bitcoin as a store-of-value asset.”

To prove that thesis, he compared Ether to Yahoo, which lost market share to Google. “Yahoo invented the search engine, but everyone knows what happened between Google and Yahoo,” said Druckenmiller.

The US Dollar May Lose Its Status as the World’s Reserve Currency

Druckenmiller also harshly criticized the Fed’s expansionary monetary policy as it puts at risk the role of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. “The US dollar may lose its status as the world’s reserve currency 15 years from now,” said the investor. “Monetary and fiscal policy has never been as out of step with economic circumstances as it is now,” he added.

Furthermore, he stated that he sees the cryptocurrency market as a way out amid the weakness of the US dollar. “Europe is a complete disaster and no one can trust the Chinese,” said the investor. “I said that cryptocurrencies were the solution looking for a problem that is already clearly identified. It is all about Jerome Powell [the Fed Chairman] and the other central bankers of the world,” concluded the billionaire.

By Alexander Salazar

The CNMV warned that investing in the cryptocurrency market entails “high risk” due to a speculative component. They established that collective investment institutions will be able to have exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through derivatives.

In recent days, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) of Spain authorized funds from that country to invest in Bitcoin. However, the agency warns that this is a market that involves many risks.

A document that the CNMV published on May 7^th indicates that the investments will have the approval of the agency. To this end, there must be a daily negotiation “to determine the market price from the sale and purchase operations that third parties conduct.”

As there is no underlying limitation, the Spanish regulator also made decisions on collective investment institutions (IIC). They established that the latter will be able to have exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through derivatives.

That will only be possible if “the settlement of the derivative does not mean delivering the cryptocurrency.” However, the text highlights that “it is only possible for these IICs to trade with professional investors.”

The Commission said that IICs may not invest in funds that “do not include an embedded derivative.” In that way, they refer to traded commodity exchanges (ETC), a variation of ETFs that replicate the behavior of a commodity. Likewise, they mention traded note exchanges (ETNs), which offer another form of investment similar to that of a listed fund, but assuming the additional risk of the issuer.

The CNMV Considers that Investing in Bitcoin Entails High Risk

Despite authorizing investments in cryptocurrencies, the CNMV warns that investments in that market are “highly risky.” They argue that the prices of crypto assets have a “high speculative component.”

On the one hand, they note that the key investor information (DFI) document should mention exposure to cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, they warn about the “risks that this may involve, including specific risks to their price formation.”

There is suspicion on the part of the Spanish authorities regarding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which they have repeatedly demonstrated. At the end of January, the Bank of Spain said that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies present themselves as an alternative to money. However, they warned that “[cryptocurrencies] do not have the support of a central bank or another public authority.”

The financial institution stated that price changes are not “always transparent”, so it is possible to “manipulate” them. This also happens among regulators in other countries like the United States and China, whose regulators are against decentralized cryptocurrencies.

The Commission Consults Spaniards about the Advertising of Bitcoin

The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) of Spain has announced the possible risks of investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Likewise, they have set their sights on the advertising of Bitcoin in the European country.

In April, the agency initiated a round of public consultations to regulate the advertising of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Spain. They directed the initiative at professionals in the sector, consumers, and investors.

By Alexander Salazar

The CEO is facing charges of participation in a money laundering scheme through his RenrenBit platform. According to the investigations, there is more than USD 7,000 million laundered with this method.

In May 12, 2021, the trial against Zhao Dong, CEO of the RenrenBit loan platform, began its process in the courts of the city of Hangzhou, China.  The CEO is accused of illegal activities related to the Internet by the government of that country; the penalty could be up to three years in prison and other financial fines.

Specifically, the accusations on the CEO reflect on having provided technologic services such as internet access, network storage, telecommunications, advertising, and payment methods to an individual that already knew that he was into all these illegal activities online.

According to an official report in February, the case would also include the laundering of USD 7,000 million related to online gambling and telecommunications fraud since 2019. In a period of this process, the cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) served as a tool to optimize the operation of the scheme.

The Xihu district court points its accusations at Zhao and his associates because of its participation in a money laundering scheme called Day Day Up, the main perpetrators were arrested in May 2020, according to TheBlock. The crime happened on a platform “borrowing” the AliPay or WeChat accounts of its users to make little transactions in fiat money, activity that helped laundering the money.

Zhao Dong had been arrested in July 2020, and remained deprived of his liberty until now. At that time, users of social networks assured that the Chinese Justice was behind the activities of OTC traders with a systematic method to intensify their operations.

Zhao Dong, a Guideline for Cryptocurrencies on Chinese Territory

This case has been awakening the interest of the cryptocurrency community because Zhao has been one of the most famous OTC traders in the Chinese region for several years. RenrenBit, the company he founded and currently chairs, is one of the biggest OTC cryptocurrency exchange and lending platforms in China. Also, Zhao was a shareholder of the Bitfinex exchange, although it is unclear if he will continue to lead the company after these legal struggles.

OTC markets are those parallel to the traditional stocks or debt securities, in which the parties involved, establish “tailor-made” agreements. OTC is the acronym for Over the Counter.  Due to the regulations that China has imposed on cryptocurrencies in recent years, these platforms became a good alternative method to access the crypto-asset market.

Back In 2019, Two official announcements in Shanghai and Beijing reflected a new rise of regulatory pressures on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in China.

This Friday, November 22, the office of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) in Shanghai, posted a statement to create an update on its regulations to restrict cryptocurrencies in that area, but in Beijing, just few days ago, local financial authorities highlighted the illegality of cryptocurrency exchange operations.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The company’s goal is to prevent its movies from being played on unauthorized websites. The system will record the journey made by the cinematographic content on a chain of blocks.

Disney wants to fight its most feared enemy, the piracy on its films, which, during the coronavirus quarantine, have increased by 40%. So, to combat it, one of its research teams gave birth to a system based on a blockchain for the distribution of its film productions with the idea of   eradicating this struggle more effectively.

A Disney development team has just presented a blockchain application patent that consists of a mechanism for managing its supply chain. The blockbuster empire, which features a wide catalog of millionaire films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Avengers: End Game, and Infinity War, seeks to take advantage of the transparency of blockchains to map and verify the distribution of its contents.

The anti-piracy system will record on a chain of blocks the path a film production takes from the moment it leaves the production company until it reaches the movie theaters. The main goal is to verify that the content arrives at the agreed place before authorizing the reproduction at its destination.

Disney plans to add several anti-piracy devices to its films. One of them consists of placing a tamper-proof counter that verifies that the content is only reproduced the number of times it has been authorized, as reported by the TorrentFreak medium.

The date Disney will implement this new system remains unknown. The company files many patents each year without all of them translating into concrete achievements. There are no further details about the anti-piracy system on Dragonchain, the hybrid public / private blockchain platform for which it launched its Initial Coin Offering four years ago.

Disney Streaming Content

The document presented by the Disney team describes a blockchain-based anti-piracy system that shows many vulnerabilities because it does not stop hackers from making copies during or after deliveries in theaters.

Furthermore, it only seems applicable to the traceability of films that will be screened in cinemas. However, today it would be valid to ask whether the public is willing to return to the projection rooms in the post-pandemic world.

Movie theaters around the world have been closed since the coronavirus alert was issued last March. The movies that the public has seen in the last 14 months, it is very likely that they were on your television, tablet, or phone.

Some industry observers seem to be worried about people getting so used to streaming that it will remain in their lives and will never return to theaters again.

From what it shows in its blockchain application patent, it seems that, for now, the company does not have a solution to combat the piracy of movies, series, and other content that is transmitted on the Internet.

By: Jenson Nuñez