Current Bitcoin Price: $5076(as of 10:00 AM PST)

Since our last newsletter on Monday, the cryptocurrency market has surged by more than 25%. On the 24 hour chart, Bitcoin and XRP are up 6%, while Ethereum is up more than 10%.

Major movers today are Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Litecoin is up almost 30%, while Bitcoin Cash is up almost 40%. The 7 day changes for those two coins are reading 50% and 78% respectively.

Top Crypto News Stories for 3rd April 2019

Bitcoin surges beyond $5000

Although it might be considered yesterday’s news, Bitcoin has soared up from its previous levels, just above the $4000 mark, to $5000. Yesterday the currency briefly touched $5000, stabilizing around the $4800 mark. Since then, Bitcoin has risen a further few percent to cement itself above $5000.

After some analysis, it’s believed that the pump was kicked off by three coordinated trades of around 7000 BTC each, which caused trading algorithms to kick in and pump up the market. Simultaneously, a large amount of shorts were liquidated, exaggerating the price movement.

Coinbase: $255 million of funds are insured

There has been all-too-much talk of cryptocurrency exchanges losing users’ funds recently. In the last few months, we’ve seen hacks in several major Korean exchanges, as well as the strange, disappearing funds situation that Cryptopia recently faced.

Coinbase, one of the space’s most reputable and most regulated trading platforms, has confirmed that up to $255 million of users’ funds are insured. While this may represent a drop in the ocean, it’s believed that this is more than enough to cover the exchange’s “hot wallets.”

Elon Musk accepts role as Dogecoin CEO

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency project that was originally started as a joke, but has since built a tight-knit, enthusiastic community. With a market cap of $100 million, it’s amazing how seriously users can take the coin.

Joking around on Twitter, Elon Musk was offered the role of Dogecoin CEO by the official Dogecoin Twitter account. He briefly accepted, changing his Twitter bio to “Dogecoin CEO” and tweeting “Dogecoin rulz”, but he has since reverted his bio.