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The digital currency market has not seen much activity in the past day or so, choosing to move largely sideways instead of in any meaningful direction. Nevertheless, some cryptocurrencies managed to rise in value quite spectacularly, clearly breaking away from the ones that struggled.
The market leaders, Bitcoin and Ethereum, both moved very little since yesterday, and are still holding their ground at approximately $6750 and $380 respectively. While in absolute terms, this represents a decline of one or two percent for the both of them, it does not necessarily predict a rise or fall in the next day or two.
Litecoin and EOS were the only cryptocurrencies in the top 10 in the green, even though the former’s increase was as little as 0.45%. On the other hand though, EOS managed to rise by a respectable 5% to just surpass the $6 mark.
Tron, continuing its trend of volatility, managed to reverse most of its losses over the past week within the past day. The highest recorded price it attained today was $0.05, before finally settling at $0.04. Nevertheless, the upwards movement from around $0.03 represents a net gain of around 30%, a significant delta even for the cryptocurrency market. Tron’s recent surge in valuation was largely been to the currency’s successful test net launch on March 31st.
The founder of the currency, Justin Sun, also recently announced that Tron’s main net may actually launch towards the 31st May instead of July. Given that this is an important milestone for TRX, it is possible that supporters of the currency may generate enough hype to push its price way beyond current levels. It remains to be seen, however, whether this rapid price growth causes a correction soon.
Considering the largely pitiful performance of the market currently, a sideways movement almost makes the old adage “no news is good news” relevant once again.
Top news stories from the crypto world
1. 51% network attack on Verge forces developers to fork the currency
According to a post on the popular forum Bitcointalk, Verge, the heavily criticized altcoin, underwent a massive network attack that originated due to a timestamp bug in the currency’s code.
The exploit allowed the individual to mine multiple blocks one second apart for three hours without any repercussion. By the time the extent of the attack was uncovered, he had confirmed hundreds of blocks, forcing the lead developer to post an emergency commit as a temporary fix.
The alleged attacker, however, went on to taunt the developers and said that he is in possession of at least 2 other exploits that haven’t been patched yet.
2. First mainnet Lightning Network Bitcoin wallet app lands on the Google Play Store
The much anticipated Lightning Network is finally making its way to the mainstream with the launch Android’s first Lightning wallet, Eclair Wallet. While similar solutions have been available for all major desktop platforms, including Windows, Linux and macOS, this is the first real implementation of the Lightning Network on mobile.
Eclair Wallet is based upon the technology startup ACINQ’s other project, eclair. However, at this time, only outbound Lightning channels are functional, with no support for receiving or forwarding payments.
The Lightning Network has always been heralded as the bearer of good news for Bitcoin, especially at times when the currency was bogged down by high transaction fees or long processing times for a transaction to be included in a block
3. Indian central bank to ban banks from working with cryptocurrency businesses
According to a statement released by the Indian central bank, Reserve Bank of India, regulated financial institutions in India will no longer be able to do business with any individual or company involved in cryptocurrencies. Interestingly though, the press release revealed that the Indian central bank is looking into releasing its own state-backed digital currency.
Prices of cryptocurrencies in the country have declined significantly following this press release, with Bitcoin falling below $5000 in the local currency equivalent and Ethereum seeing a similar drop below $300.
The release read, “In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time.”