Current Bitcoin Price: $3444 (as of 9:00 AM PST)

The cryptocurrency market continues to turn over, with average movement across cryptocurrencies amounting to less than 0.2% to the downside over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin and Ethereum are down a similar amount to that average, while XRP has fallen more than 1.2%.

TRON is actually trending upwards on the daily, by more than 4.4%, while Maker, after a more than 15% increase, has shot into the top-20 currencies by market cap.

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 4th February 2018

Korea looks to blockchain for voting

Blockchain technology has many applications — and cryptocurrency is just one of them. One of the clearest uses for a decentralized, trustless ledger like the blockchain is the creation of immutable records in decision making and voting processes such as elections.

South Korean political parties have just begun serious talks on making this a reality, saying that the system will improve both security and transparency. A prototype is to be developed by the National Election Commission.

Australian Royal Commission: Banking must change

Cryptocurrency is not just seen as alternative to traditional finance; in fact, some see it as a complete replacement to not only fiat currencies, but traditional finance — including banking — as a whole.

In support of an idea like this, the Australian Royal Commission has expressed its thoughts on the country’s traditional banking system… saying that “banking must change.” Perhaps cryptocurrency, with its transparency and unique ownership model, will pave the way for a new financial world.

LTC, BTC, ETH halvings approach

Proof-of-Work (PoW) based cryptocurrencies are typically minted for users who contribute to the currency’s network, and most of these currencies have a mechanism which periodically reduces the amount of cryptocurrency minted every year.

Such currencies include Litecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum — and this reduction in minting (also known as a halving) — is coming up for all of them. While the block rewards for Litecoin and Ethereum will both decrease this year, by 50% and 33% respectively, Bitcoin will halve next year.