News

BTC Price Falls Below $6k While India Celebrates, Mexico Struggles, and Kraken Launches Fiat-Only FX Pairs

In this edition:

  • India’s Crypto Liberation
  • Inflation in Mexico Accelerates; Crypto to Rescue?
  • What’s With the BTC Price?!
  • Kraken Embraces Traditional Forex Trading

Let me start off this Weekly Crypto Roundup by wishing our lady Anchorians a happy International Women’s Day! ???? Of course, a special thanks also goes to every woman from the industry that helped bring crypto to another level! You are da best, gals.

Now, let’s talk about the latest news. Mercury may not be retrograde any longer, but that sure didn’t help the BTC price. (We’ll get back to that shortly.) India celebrates the victory of justice in the case of RBI’s crypto ban while, far away, fellow Mexicans are struggling with accelerating inflation.  Crypto news can really give you an eclectic viewpoint, right?

What I mean is – you eventually get used to both good and bad parts of the journey. Sometimes we talk about innovation and progress, sometimes it’s all about negative stuff. What’s your opinion about what the future holds for cryptocurrencies? Let’s discuss it in our Telegram community >>

In the meantime let’s embrace this March, the month of awakening, and for a moment forget about the world going crazy!

India’s Crypto Liberation

By murtaza_ali, Pixabay

‘’Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’’ – Martin Luther King

It echoed through the industry at lightning speed – India’s Supreme Court annulled the notorious ban on cryptocurrencies set by the Reserve Bank of India in 2018! All of us, of course, felt thrilled to hear this news. Yet, what does this mean exactly for India’s crypto future?  Let’s break it down together.

On March 4th, the court’s bench of three judges decided that the RBI’s decision from April 2018 to ban banks’ dealings with crypto businesses was unconstitutional. Of course, the Reserve Bank of India later filed an appeal to this verdict, as is their right, but crypto platforms can now officially operate placidly. 

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, many crypto-related enterprises were happy to announce they are once again open for business! Though enthusiasm in India reached its peak in the last few days, we must not forget other potential threats to the industry in this Asian country. 

At the moment, a bill called ’’Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies’’ is sitting on someone’s desk waiting to be passed in the parliament. Indian government chose to postpone potential voting on this bill, most likely concerned with the current public opinion on the matter. As you can notice from the bill’s name, its purpose is not only to ban crypto-related activities in the country, but to start off the CBDC narrative. 

In that case, the defeated party in the recent Supreme Court’s ruling would be responsible for the establishment of a national digital currency dubbed ‘’Digital Rupee’’. 

Clearly, turbulences are far from over in Mother India but, as always, we will make sure you’re kept up to date regarding this engrossing topic!

Inflation in Mexico Accelerates; Crypto to Rescue?

By stevepb, Pixabay

Unfortunately, today we also share some bad news coming from ‘’south of the border’’. Mexico is currently struggling with acceleration of inflation rate, and its people and state officials are in fear of what happens next.

Namely, consumer price in this Latin American country has risen3.56% percent since last year. February’s been a tough month for Mexicans since the inflation rate reached its peak from the past six months. Banco de México (their central bank) has already taken safety measures to slow down this unfortunate trend, but everyone in the country fears the Venezuela and Argentina scenario.

Important, yes, but you’re probably wondering where is crypto in this equation? 

Some of you know that Mexico is ranked very high on a global scale when it comes to cryptocurrency hodling. Therefore, it’s only natural to assume that crypto and blockchain aren’t total strangers to Mexican people. Logically, the government officials are also aware of this phenomenon. But assuming that crypto will solve Mexico’s problems overnight is a wee bit naive. 

However, digitization could be the next logical step for the Mexican central bank and perhaps a digital peso could come to the rescue. Remember, Venezuela’s response to extreme inflation was the creation of its own national cryptocurrency – Petro, which is pegged to national reserves of crude oil. 

Oil is one of the main reasons why Mexican peso lost its value in such a short period of time since the coronavirus continues to threaten not only people but entire industries as well, including the crude oil market.

Inflation is probably the arch-enemy of fiat currencies since the unlimited supply and endless printing inevitably give birth to loss of purchasing power and currency devaluation. We hope that the citizens of Mexico will avoid the worst-case scenario and save the value of their assets. Of course, stay tuned for updates!

What’s With the BTC Price?!

By Alisusha, Shutterstock

Brace yourselves, it’s a crash! Red days, red days all over. Confused? That’s fine, you’re not the only one. BTC price has taken another dip, even below $6k! Let’s try to figure out why.

Is it because of the ‘’whales’’? Is it coronavirus? Aliens? My money goes on the #1 assumption. Could be aliens, too. All jokes aside, this Thursday was an insane roller coaster ride when it comes to the bitcoin price! Huh! $7.5, then $6.5, then $5.8, and back and forth, back and forth… Just in a few minutes! Of course, major altcoins followed. ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC… Everything is drastically red; even USDT’s price went down ($0.97 per coin).

Here’s a potential scenario – ‘’whales’’ exited in fiat, the price went down; people saw the drastic dip, decided to buy BTC when the price was very low, then pushed back the price slightly over $6k. Do correct me if I’m wrong! Who’s responsible is yet to be seen.

Naturally, this could be another consequence of coronavirus since WHO officially declared a pandemic on Wednesday 11th. Yet, while definitely influential, these corona-crypto correlations still remain somewhat vague. Nevertheless, the global panic over COVID-19 could actually be the reason behind this dip, more precisely, new safety measures established by the US. One thing is certain though, Peter Schiff is over the moon now!

Kraken Embraces Traditional Forex Trading

By geralt, Pixabay

An interesting move comes from the States! On March 12th, US-based crypto exchange Kraken launched nine forex trading pairs for fiat only. That’s a first!

In this manner, Kraken became the first cryptocurrency exchange that entered the world of ‘’traditional’’ forex trading. Nine available FX pairs on the platform are EUR/CAD, USD/CAD, USD/JPY, EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/USD. What a lovely day to trade between i.e. euro and Swiss francs, guys! Or are you more of a dollar kind of person?

Anyway, since this is a precedent for the entire crypto industry, we can’t help but wonder if this is going to become a trend or an isolated case. Kraken claims that this move was made to enable agility to its users, and to offer them diversity in trading. Oh also, remember India?  Well, now that the ban is lifted, Kraken has plans for expansion onto the Indian market, too!

Personally, I think that crypto and fiat are two respective worlds that will, in a way,  be conjoined in the near future. Why is that? Recently, even Libra announced that they are ditching the idea of becoming a global currency. Instead, Libra will serve as a payment network of sorts, enabling transactions in fiat and crypto, too. Additionally,  many non-crypto industries and even sovereign countries are wondering how to implement digitization and blockchain to grow disruptively. 

Let’s be realistic here – banks, governments, and traditional enterprises need to evolve, period. Nonetheless, crypto needs institutional support in order to achieve mass adoption. A will to succeed indeed makes strange bedfellows. It doesn’t mean it won’t work, though!

Final Thoughts

‘’Madness and stupidity’’ can indeed rule over the world sometimes, but every once in a while, the danger certain events pose is more than real! Coronavirus is officially a pandemic now and it’s no joke. You shouldn’t panic, of course, but take precautionary measures to protect yourselves and your loved ones!

Crypto still prevails somehow, though consequences to the industry are definitely visible. Let’s focus on positive things at the moment, especially in our everyday lives. Disasters often bring people closer and make us more empathetic, I find. 

I certainly hope that next week’s news will be brighter and more optimistic, but if not, we’re still going to break it down for you. No matter what, I always wish you fair winds and following seas, my fellow Anchorians!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not legal, accounting, or financial advice. I am not a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor. I am not registered as an investment adviser with any federal or state regulatory agency. The Information should not be construed as investment or trading advice and is not meant to be a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any cryptocurrencies.