Current Bitcoin Price: $8174 (as of 8:00 AM PST)

Prices have been bouncing up and down a few percent this weekend, with the majority of the market in red today. Altcoins are suffering significantly more than Bitcoin — which is down no more than half a percent.

Ethereum Classic is the only top-20 coin that’s risen over the last 24 hours, but by less than 2%. On the other hand, top-20 coins TRON, Stellar, and VeChain are all down more than 4%

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 30th July 2018

HitBTC exchange locking user accounts

HitBTC is a popular Chinese exchange praised for its wide selection of altcoins and their accompanying trading volumes. Things aren’t so pretty when you dig a little deeper, though.

Or so users say — continuing to complain that they have been randomly locked out of their accounts for no reason, and are faced with poor customer service in rectifying the issue.

Vitalik: “too much emphasis on ETFs”

Vitalik Buterin is the brains behind Ethereum, and holds a much-respected voice in the cryptosphere. He’s often sharing his thoughts on Twitter.

The latest of Vitalik’s tweets reads “I think there’s too much emphasis on BTC/ETH/whatever ETFs, and not enough emphasis on making it easier for people to buy $5 to $100 in cryptocurrency via cards at corner stores”, in light of a recent push towards crypto ETFs.

Australia’s largest bank uses Ethereum

Commonwealth Bank is Australia’s largest bank. Not only that, it’s a major player on the global banking scene. They’re also known for being some of the first to innovate in the industry.

That’s apparent with today’s news, as the bank has just completed a global trade experiment, whereby a shipment of almonds were shipped and tracked from Australia to Germany, using the Ethereum blockchain.