Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple Price Analysis for the week September 17 to September 23

Ripple’s XRP brings crypto sentiment to positive. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it would delay a ruling on a keenly awaited bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) as it invited additional comments. Mike Novogratz Predicts Gains in cryptocurrencies. New York Attorney General Slams Exchanges. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell unhappy with New York Attorney General report on exchanges. Coinbase denies Proprietary Trading Allegations. Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Zaif Hacked For $60 Mn. The internationally UK Got No Plans to Regulate, Launch, or Adopt Cryptocurrencies. Crypto Veterans write to SEC to update laws to accommodate cryptocurrencies.

The broader cryptocurrency market followed XRP higher. XRP came off its best week since the bull market as investors rallied behind the anticipated launch of the first xRapid product. Ripple’s Sagar Sarbhai told CNBC this week he’s “confident” that a new cryptocurrency product will be released “in the next month or so.” The rise was so exuberant that Ripple crossed Ethereum to claim the 2nd spot in the list of cryptocurrencies by market cap. Although Ethereum reclaimed the spot back it definitely still is in the threatening distance.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again postponed a decision on the application for a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by VanEck and SolidX, in what is the latest update in a protracted regulatory process that has dragged on for several months. The agency has stated that it needs more time to consider more input to help it arrive at a decision on the matter, which was originally postponed to September 29, 2018.

While the markets turned positive, Mike Novogratz, the former hedge funder turned cryptocurrency asset manager, has long been outspoken in his belief that the digital currency world is on the verge of stratospheric success. This week, Novogratz told an audience at Yahoo Finance’s “All Markets Summit” in New York that he believed that digital currencies had reached a low point and that bitcoin, in particular, was destined for gains in the future. In one of the biggest stories in the digital currency world, this week came from the New York attorney general’s office.

Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s office issued a statement indicating that “many virtual currency platforms lack the necessary policies and procedures to ensure the fairness, integrity, and security of their exchanges,” according to earlier reporting. Beyond generally casting doubt on the security of cryptocurrency exchanges on a general level, Underwood’s office highlighted three cryptocurrency exchanges it believes are operating unlawfully in New York state. Kraken, Gate.io, and Binance are the three exchanges named, and the ultimate result of this accusation remains to be seen. This report has not gone well with Kraken as Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, dint like the way the New York State cryptocurrency regulators have treated him, but he doesn’t think their research is without its merits. After calling the regulators abusive in an earlier tweet today, he followed up by tweeting that the agency’s research in a recently released report has saved his product team a lot of time by providing information on his competitors. He commends the report for its overview of issues and a suggested list of questions for customers to ask. The report also stated that almost twenty percent of trades on Coinbase was from the company itself. This claim was refuted by Coinbase as it said the report and subsequent media releases misconstrued this stat as proprietary trading when, in fact, the internal trades are to provide better liquidity to customers.  

This week saw another hack on an exchange in Japan. After having gone through a $20 Tn Bitcoin blunder, the licensed Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif has now reported another cryptocurrency theft of worth $60 Mn. The exchange was hacked between 5 PM and 7 PM on September 14. Three types of digital coins — Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Monaco in — were stolen from Zaif’s ‘hot wallets (connected to the networks at all times), according to Nikkei. The exchange is now looking to generate funds from its group partner in order to compensate for the losses of traders and investors.

Amidst global news on regulation, Economic secretary to the treasury and city minister John Glen recently clarified that the Bank of England has no official plans to make a new fiat cryptocurrency, He added that the decision has been taken after the Bank of England researched the topic, its implications, and future potential of launching a fiat cryptocurrency. Earlier also in March, Glen had averred that the UK has no plans to actually recognize cryptos as a legal tender and there are no plans to either launching a crypto or make the existing — legal tender.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Another week that saw greens across major coins on the street. Bitcoin too was in a positive territory higher nearly 3.5 %. The ETF got delayed further and the market accepted it as a non-event. The prices hit the high point of USD 6,814.56 and the lowest point of USD 6,208.34 during the week. Apart from the outliers of BitMEX and BitForex that had volumes of 14.41% and 27.54% respectively,  the exchanges that were more active, in volumes, with BTC across various pairs this week were, EXX (3.30%), Bithumb (2.61%) and DOBI Trade (2.02%),

Among prominent voices, Michael Novogratz, the CEO of cryptocurrency focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital LP (GLXY), has recently set a $10,000 price target for Bitcoin (BTC) for the end of the year. In a recent interview on CNBC’s Fast Money, Novogratz claimed that Bitcoin could very well rebind to the $8,800 to $10,000 range before the end of 2018.

Also, read: This Could have Crashed the Bitcoin Prices so Hard

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum had a mixed week, not because of volatility, but even after being in the green for over 10% it lost its 2nd position to XRP. Although it regained its spot back still XRP is at a threatening distance. Ether prices, on the top, this week were at USD 251.20 and were at lows of USD 195.31 dwindling on either side of USD 200 hurdle. The markets that were more active, in volumes, with ETH across various pairs this week were DOBI Trade (4.09%), OKEx (3.27%) and Huobi (3.13%) again BitForex being an outlier 22.62%  

For Ethereum, Clem Chambers, the CEO of private investors Web site ADVFN.com and author of Be Rich, The Game in Wall Street and Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide.contributed an article on Forbes stating why Ethereum Could Sink To $100

Ripple (XRP)

This was clearly XRP’s week as the coin jumped over 100% and also held the 2nd spot beating Ethereum for some time on cryptocurrency charts.  On the top, this week the prices of XRP were at USD 0.769380 and towards the bottom, it quoted USD 0.268184. The exchanges that were more active, in volumes, with XRP across various pairs this week were Upbit (12.47%), Binance (9.46%) and Bithumb (8.44%)  

For XRP this week, the most prominent comment came from Justin Sun would postulate that the recent surge of XRP in the markets, was due to PNC Bank recognizing Ripple’s protocol. He also added that it was a sign that financial institutions will embrace blockchain. He would go on to state a little-known fact that he was once Ripple’s Chief Representative in China a few years back.

The other movers and shakers

The Other coins that made to the top and bottom this week according to Coin Market Cap (accessed on Sept 23 at 11:30 pm IST) were

Movers

• Bob’s Repair – Showing a rise of 337.52%
• Electroneum – Showing a rise of 169.44%
• Quant – Showing a rise of 161.63%

Shakers

• Bitcoin Plus – Showing a drop of 74.86%
• BitRent – Showing a drop of 71.13%
• Octoin Coin – Showing a drop of 63.11%

What do you think would be the sentiment of the crypto markets next week? Do let us know your views on the same.