This article provides an overview of how Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Chainlink (LINK) have been doing over the past 24-hour period, and covers recent news that might have affected their prices (or might do so in the future).
To give you a rough idea of how well the crypto markets are doing today, 16 out of the top 20 cryptoassets (by market cap) are currently in the red (against the dollar).
All market data used in this article was taken around 11:00 UTC on 4 March 2020 from CryptoCompare, which also provided the price charts shown in this article.
Bitcoin
BTC-USD is currently trading at $8,752. This means that the Bitcoin price has been under the $10K level for two weeks (i.e. since February 19 when the Bitcoin price reached the intraday high of $10,225).
Although the past two-week period has not been kind to Bitcoin with a loss of 14.40% against USD, Bitcoin has still managed to gain 21.74% against USD in the year-to-date (YTD) period.
Yesterday, famous gold bug and Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff took advantage of the drop in the price of Bitcoin to point out that the price of Bitcoin had not responded positively to the 0.5% emergency rate cutby the Fed (in an effort to fight the threat posed by the COVID-19 virus to the U.S. economy):
If @Bitcoin can't rally with an emergency 50 basis point rate cut, plus all of the recent stock, bond, currency and gold market volatility, under what circumstances will it rally? If Bitcoin won't go up, why own it? The answer to that question is "sell." Look out below!
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 3, 2020
What Schiff is neglecting to mention is that while the Bitcoin price fell approximately 1.3% yesterday, U.S. stocks fared even worse, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing 785.91 points lower, or nearly 3%, to 25,917.41, and the S&P 500 falling 2.8% to 3,003.37.
Also, although the gold price went up 2.9% yesterday to close at $1,644.40 per ounce, if we compare the performance of gold and Bitcoin against USD in the YTD period, we find that Bitcoin has vastly outperformed gold (roughly 21.74% to 8.22%).
Earlier today, one important piece of news cheered up cryptoasset investors all over the world, especially those in India: the Supreme Court of India made a ruling that lifted the ban by the central bank (the Reserve Bank of India) on provision of banking services to crypto businesses (such as crypto exchanges).
Nischal Shetty, the founder and CEO of crypto exchange WazirX, which BINANCE acquired last November, told crypto news outlet The Block that this is a "historic" day for India's crypto community:
"The ruling will help create jobs as more crypto and blockchain startups open up. We will also see venture firms starting to invest in India now, who previously stayed away due to the banking ban.
"More traders and investors will also involve in the space... thousands of dormant accounts are getting activated at our exchange today."
Despite Bitcoin's failure to rise on the back of yesterday's rate cut by the Fed, most Bitcoiners seem unfazed. For example, here is prominent crypto analyst/trader Josh Rager saying that he will use any dips in the price of Bitcoin to accumulate more Bitcoin:
In uncertain times like these, I trust #Bitcoin over fiat monetary systems
Regardless, if BTC price continues to pullback along with other markets, I'll continue to trade in order to stack more sats
Take it day by day
— Josh Rager ?? (@Josh_Rager) March 4, 2020
Bitcoin developer, educator, and influencer Jimmy Song was also confident about Bitcoin's future:
The world is fragile. #Bitcoin is not. Any systemic disruption is going to show this.
It feels like #Bitcoin is going to prove its anti-fragility again soon.
— Jimmy Song (???) (@jimmysong) March 4, 2020
Litecoin
At the moment, LTC-USD is trading at $60.29.
Since the Litecoin price set a six-month high ($83.22) on February 14, it has dropped 27.55%.
However, the YTD performance is a whole different story, with a gain of 44.92% against USD.
Last Friday (February 28), Litecoin Foundation announced that it had "partnered with MeconCash to integrate Litecoin into its M.Pay platform," which will make it possible for "Litecoin (LTC) to be withdrawn to Korean Won (KRW) at over 13,000 ATMs in South Korea."
Jo Jae Do, Chairman of MeconCash, stated:
"Through our partnership with Litecoin Foundation, we will grow the presence of Litecoin throughout the Korean market starting with the ATM withdrawal services. And with Litecoin Foundation as our partner, we are expecting to grow globally and see positive synergies in the upcoming future not only in the Korean market but also in the global market."
And Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin and the Managing Director of Litecoin Foundation, had this to say:
"Litecoin’s integration into M.Pay’s platform and large network of ATM’s is a big step toward expanding Litecoin’s footprint in the South Korean market, and we are excited to partner with MeconCash as they continue to grow their platform and offer additional services through which Litecoin can be used."
Chainlink
At the time of writing, LINK-USD is trading at $4.713.
In the past seven-day, 30-day, and YTD periods, LINK-USD has gone up 31.38%, 69.10%, and 159.25% respectively.
And yesterday, we got the news of yet another partnership with Chainlink (which no doubt must be at least partly responsible for today's highly impressive performance of LINK):
.@NexusMutual is using Chainlink’s DAI/ETH Price Reference Contract for rebalancing its minimum capital requirement. This brings transparent & accurate on-chain valuations to its capital pool, backed by market data that's reflective of true price discovery https://t.co/Qai3x9HC3g
— Chainlink - Official Channel (@chainlink) March 3, 2020
Featured Image by "AhmadArdity" via Pixabay.com
