Current Bitcoin Price: $3452 (as of 8:00 AM PST)

As has been typical of late, the cryptocurrency market has made most of its daily progress in the course of just a few minutes today. For a change, the market has turned upwards — with Bitcoin and most other currencies rising by about 5%.

Certain tokens have pushed ahead — as you’d expect — such as EOS (up 11%), Litecoin (up 8%), and Bitcoin Cash (up 7%). On the other end of the spectrum, there’s only one non-stable coin that’s down today in the top-50, and that’s Aurora.

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 17th December 2018

New US Chief of Staff likes Bitcoin

This week will see White House Chief of Staff John Kelly replaced by a new figure, Mick Mulvaney. Without a doubt, he’s pro-Bitcoin and somewhat anti-system, having criticized the Federal Reserve since as early as 2016.

In and among his quotes have been many supportive references to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, saying that “blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial services industry” and praising Bitcoin as “not manipulable by any government.”

“Flappening” takes place

You may have heard of the flippening, a scenario where Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, but have you heard of the flappening?

The diminutive label refers to scenario in which Litecoin overtakes Bitcoin Cash as “Bitcoin’s little brother,” and Litecoin supporters saw exactly that happen over the weekend as Litecoin took the number 7 space.

Venezuela converts pensions into Petros

Earlier this year, the Venezuelan government created its proprietary cryptocurrency, the Petro. Unfortunately, there was a lot of doubt surrounding the currency, since little information was available online and there wasn’t really anywhere to spend it.

Venezuelan pensioners have had the nasty surprise of seeing their pensions automatically converted into Petros. Now, these retired elders who have paid their dues working for decades will have to perform yet another step (conversion of the crypto) to spend their pensions.