Current Bitcoin Price: $8650 (as of 8:00 AM PST)

The charts aren’t looking great today for any cryptocurrency investors. All of the top 20 coins are down by at least 7%, except for Tether which is hovering at an unsurprising $1.00 to the coin. The market has taken a hit across the board; only one other token in the top 100 is in the green — the lesser known “Augur”.

Numbers aside, the news is looking mostly positive today, with supportive words from both NASDAQ chief Adena Friedman and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, as well as Coinbase competitor Robinhood raising huge investment — perhaps we spoke too soon yesterday!

Also of note: 5 years ago today, Wired magazine called Bitcoin an “abstraction”, and tossed out the keys to their wallet — which would now be worth $120K! Look who’s laughing now…

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 11th May 2018

NASDAQ Chief Adena Friedman speaks out for cryptos

Earlier this week, NASDAQ Chief Adena Friedman said that the $9 trillion stock exchange NASDAQ will “certainly consider” becoming a cryptocurrency exchange, among other positive words about blockchain technology.

Her bullish opinion included this statement: “I would definitely say that – I believe that digital currencies will continue to persist.”

However, the jury is “still out” on which of the many cryptocurrencies will ultimately prevail, and in general how the space will continue to mature.

Robinhood app raises hundreds of millions in funding for their trading platform

In light of yesterday’s newsletter, it’s interesting to see a Coinbase competitor experiencing successes just as impressive. This time, stock trading app Robinhood has raised a massive $336 million to expand its Robinhood Crypto trading platform, at a $5.6 billion valuation.

In an interview with Forbes, Robinhood CEO Baaiju Bhatt also said that they plan on offering 16 different cryptocurrencies with a more favorable, 0 commission cost structure.

Since February, the crypto trading platform has served over 4 million users in only the 10 states it has opened to. It’s also the only SEC-registered platform for trading cryptocurrencies and blockchain-derived securities.

Self-proclaimed Buffet disciple says “he’s wrong” about Bitcoin

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, former Facebook executive and CEO of Social Capital, has spoken out against business magnate Warren Buffett, who has previously condemned Bitcoin as both an investment and a technology.

Just this Saturday, Buffett called Bitcoin “rat poison” at the annual shareholder meeting for his holding company Berkshire Hathaway.

Palihapitiya has said in a recent CNBC interview that Buffett is “wrong”, adding that “it’s really unfair to not understand something and then disparage it.”