After a dismal start to the year in the cryptocurrency market, this month brought a glimmer of hope.
Though many of the financial experts have recanted their original year-end price-per-share predictions of a handful of popular coins and have aimed a little lower, it appears that coins like Cardano, Ethereum, and Bitcoin are back on track to possibly meet their forecasts.
The cryptocurrency market, regardless of how popular the coin may be, is extremely volatile. There is no way to predict its movements or patterns, and it’s nearly impossible to make a correct guess about where the market will be next week, next month, or next year.
It’s important that those currently owning cryptocurrency, or those who are taking some time to think about whether or not it is the right choice for them financially, to stay updated. We have created this April round-up to do just that.
Take a look at the performance of the top 10 market cap coins over the last month, how the market predictions made at the beginning of they year match up to April’s performance, and how cryptocurrency is being handled by the governments of different countries all over the world.
April was a great month for the cryptocurrency market, coming after a few months of what seemed like a permanent downward trajectory. Coins that experienced major dips in January and February began to see the performance steady and begin to recover.
Though Bitcoin and Ethereum are the leaders in terms of market capitalization, because of their existing price per share, they didn’t see the kind of growth that many of the smaller coins saw in April.
EOS.IO began as an ICO (initial coin offering) in June 2017 and ended up earning around $170 million in their start-up phase despite criticism from members of the blockchain community. EOS has a supply limit of 1 billion and a current circulating supply of 828 million as of April 30th.
#5 in market capitalization ($14.09 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of EOS was $5.66 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of EOS was $17.58 USD EOS saw a 210.60% ($11.92) price increase between the first and the last day of April.TRON began as an ICO campaign in September 2017 and earned $70 million during the start-up phase. It has a total supply of 100 billion TRX and a current circulating supply of 65 billion as of April 30th.
#9 in market capitalization ($5.8 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of TRX was $0.03 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of TRX was $0.09 USD The coin saw a 200% ($0.06) price increase between the prices on the first and last day of AprilCardano began in September 2017 by the former co-founder of Ethereum and BitShares. It has a supply limit of 45 billion and a current circulating supply of 25 billion as of April 30th.
#6 in market capitalization ($8.8 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of ADA was $0.15 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of ADA was $0.34 USD ADA saw a 126.6% ($0.19) price increase between April 1st and April 30In August 2017, Bitcoin experienced what they call a “hard fork” where Bitcoin developers made a change to the code. From the fork came Bitcoin Cash, which created its first block on August 1, 2017. Bitcoin Cash has a supply cap of 21 million coins, and the current circulating supply is 17 million as of April 30th.
#4 in market capitalization ($21.9 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of BCH was $643.03 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of BCH was $1350.05 USD This means that there was a 109.95% ($707.02) growth for BCH in the month of AprilStellar was founded in 2014 and originally based on Ripple. The code was later revised and released in 2015. It has a total supply of 103 billion and a current circulating supply of 18 billion as of April 30th.
#8 in market capitalization ($8.1 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of XLM was $0.21 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of XLM was $0.42 USD This means that there was a 100% ($0.21) growth for XLM in the month of AprilNEO was founded in 2014 and was the first Chinese blockchain-based platform. It has a total supply of 100,000,000 NEO and a circulating supply of 65,000,000.
#10 in market capitalization ($5.5 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of NEO was $47.30 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, One share of NEO was $84.27 USD This means that there was a 78.16% ($36.97) growth for NEO in the month of AprilRipple was founded in 2004, and in the next year, the founder began to build a secure payment system called Ripplepay. In 2011, they released a cryptocurrency of their own called XRP to be compatible with their new protocol.
It was developed to eliminate Bitcoin’s reliance on centralized exchanges, perform transactions faster, and use less energy than Bitcoin.
XRP has a max supply of 100 billion coins, with 39.1 billion currently in circulation.
#3 in market capitalization ($33.5 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of XRP was $0.49 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of XRP was $0.84 USD This means that there was a 71.43% ($0.35) growth for XRP in the month of AprilEthereum began as a white paper, or a proposal for development of the Bitcoin platform, written by Vitalik Buterin. It was not an accepted proposal or critique, so Buterin decided to create his own platform using his ideas.
A number of prototypes were created under different code names, with the current version being Metropolis (Byzantium), released in October 2017.
ETH has a current circulating supply of 99 million coins, and the supply does not currently have a limit.
#2 in market capitalization ($67.4 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of ETH was $406.37 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of ETH was $669.92 USD This means that there was a 64.85% ($263.55) growth for ETH in the month of AprilBitcoin was released in 2009 by an anonymous group or person named Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a decentralized digital currency, meaning that it doesn’t rely on any bank or governmental body to operate.
It was not the first digital currency of this type that was created, but it has been the most successful and has lasted the longest of any of its predecessors.
BTC has a circulating supply of 17 billion coins and will cap at 21 billion.
#1 in market capitalization ($156.1 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of BTC was $6,926.02 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of BTC was $9,240 USD This means that there was a 33.40% ($2,313.98) growth for BTC in the month of AprilLitecoin was released in October 2011 by a former Google employee named Charlie Lee. It was created to improve upon Bitcoin’s code, creating the blocks faster in order to facilitate faster transactions. LTC has a supply limit of 84 million coins, with a current circulating supply of 56.3 million.
#7 in market capitalization ($8.3 billion) At market close on April 1, 2018, one share of LTC was $115.22 USD At market close on April 30, 2018, one share of LTC was $148.48 USD This means that there was a 28.87% ($33.26) growth for LTC in the month of AprilHow do the April market movements compare to the 2018 crypto market forecasts? After a discouraging start to the year, a number of financial leaders revised their predictions last month to reflect the actual state of the market.
Luckily, this month has set things back in the right direction for growth, so these predictions seem a little more within reach.
In March 2018, leaders in the financial technology (fintech) world predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) would reach $38,000 USD per share by the end of 2018.
This prediction was later revised at the beginning of April, stating that if the market continues on its current path, BTC would instead most likely achieve a 114% growth of its current price per share, which is around $27,898 USD.
At the start of 2018, the price per share of BTC stood at $13,657.20. It then began to take a turn, falling to under $10,000 by the end of that month. Perhaps the fintech leaders changed their prediction due to the nature of the BTC market in March, with the price per share falling as low as $6,890.52.
But the 33% growth of the coin throughout the month of April to a price of $9,240 per share may indicate that it is back on track to hit the year-end prediction.
Ethereum was predicted by fintech leaders to have a 234% growth by the end of 2018, which is more than twice the predicted growth percentage of Bitcoin. This prediction has not yet been revised, but considering that ETH is down 13.3% since January 1st, a change in forecast may come in the near future.
At the close of the market on the first day of 2018, the price per share of ETH was $772.64. It continued its growth to the 1.3k mark by the middle of the month, but its price began to fall as January transitioned to February.
It continued to steadily decline until April, where it fell to $370 on April 6th. It has begun to climb steadily again with a price per share of $669.92 at the market close on April 30th.
The 234% growth prediction would put Ethereum’s year-end price per share at $2,580.62.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been predicted to experience a 40% growth, putting the approximate year-end price per share at $3,405.56.
On January 1, 2018, BCH closed at $2,432.54. It fluctuated in price over the next 2 weeks but stayed over the $2k line until January 16, when the price per share fell from $2,406.86 at market open to $1,772.07 at close.
The price continued to fluctuate and fall over the next 2 and a half months, bringing it to $688.01 at market open on April 1. Throughout the month, the price began to recover and grow at a slow but steady pace, putting it at $1,350.05 at market close on April 30.
If the financial forecast is correct, Cardano (ADA) will have an 812% increase by the end of the year, putting its price per share at $6.65 USD.
During this month, we saw ADA more than double in price. At market close on April 1, the share price was $0.15 USD. The price fluctuated between $0.14 and $0.15 for about 10 days before it saw a steady incline that began with $0.21 on April 12. By market close on April 30, the price had reached $0.34 per share.
Getting to $6.65 by the end of 2018 looks impossible from where we’re standing at just over $0.35 per share. But if the steady incline in price continues, it isn’t really that far-fetched.
The cryptocurrency market is ever-maturing and changing in order to better serve those who decide to buy, sell, and trade their favorite coins. April brought a lot of stories regarding regulation and safety concerns from different countries all over the world.
Google’s web store will be banning cryptocurrency mining extensions after an analysis of certain widely-used extensions codes uncovered evidence of hackers using them for cryptojacking. Bermuda has decided to create a regulation model for the rest of the world, hoping to soon enact its Virtual Currency Act.
Another industry first was announced near the end of the month. Gemini, a leading cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, will be partnering with Nasdaq to better monitor the crypto market.
Every day is a chance for evolution and the introduction of new ideas to help the crypto market expand safely.
Warren Buffet, investment heavyweight and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, was interviewed by Yahoo Finance on April 28. In that interview, Buffet claims that buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies isn’t investing; it’s gambling.
The first type, he says, is a purchase of a property or in a share of a business. To him, that is investing because it itself delivers your return on investment (ROI). Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, however, are the other type.
“…if you buy something like bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don’t really have anything that has produced anything. You’re just hoping the next guy pays more.”
He doesn’t believe that buying cryptocurrencies is a bad practice, but it is not an investment because there is no ultimate product or expansion of a business at the other end.
When you purchase Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, you’re waiting for it to grow so that you can sell it for a profit. There is no tangible or visible product that comes from these transactions, just your personal financial gain or loss.
It should be noted that Bitcoin, the first successful cryptocurrency to hit the market, was not created to serve this purpose.
It was created to give its users a way to make peer-to-peer transactions more efficient using the blockchain technology to make all transactions public and transparent.
After it gained traction and popularity, users began to sell and trade the coin more often than they were actually using it in exchange for goods or services.
While we have no idea what the future holds for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, we can guess that Warren Buffet probably won’t be jumping on board any time soon.
Laws, regulations, and policy are three things that governmental bodies have not yet been able to stick to cryptocurrency activities, other than implementing an outright ban. But Bermuda is looking to change that and create a global model for crypto regulation with their Virtual Currency Business Act.
The bill was created and introduced by a think tank of experts and Bermuda’s Monetary Authority, and they’re hoping to blaze a trail for the rest of the world. Loretta Joseph, one of the experts involved, believes that in order for crypto regulations to be successful, the government officials in every country need to be on the same page.
Joseph believes that we should start by looking at how the world dealt with internet regulation and fix the mistakes that were made.
On April 2, Google announced that it would be banning all cryptocurrency mining extensions from its web store, citing that “90%” of extensions of this type do not comply with the web store’s rules.
James Wagner, product manager of the Google extensions platform, said in a blog post that this ban is in response to a rise in the presence of “cryptojacking” in a large number of extensions.
Cryptojacking is a term that, in this context, refers to the practice of hacking into the code of popular extensions or websites to mine cryptocurrency without their knowledge or permission.
By doing this, the hackers can use the energy and computing power of unwitting users of the extensions or sites to mine cryptocurrencies at a lesser cost to them. The presence of cryptojacking in these extensions is worrisome for Google, but it is not the first site that has dealt with attempts of this nature.
At the beginning of this year, YouTube had a cryptojacking crisis of their own. Ads playing before and during videos were laced with this cryptojacking code, turning viewers into crypto miners without their consent or knowledge using the CoinHive extension from the Google webstore.
Google is now rejecting all of the new crypto extension candidates, and the currently-existing extensions are set to be wiped from the webstore by June.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, made an announcement on April 25 that the exchange will be partnering with Nasdaq to monitor the cryptocurrency markets.
Gemini is the first crypto exchange to make a move like this, and the CEO of Nasdaq, Adena Friedman, has said that the company is open to becoming a crypto exchange if the market matures to a point where they’d feel comfortable doing so.
Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance Technology will be utilized to detect, investigate, and analyze any disorderly trading. Tyler Winklevoss had this to say.
This move will hopefully be successful in creating a model for the other major exchange platforms to use in order to provide a more secure service for users.
Chiu Tai-san, Justice Minister of Taiwan, announced plans to have cryptocurrency regulated by November 2018 to combat money-laundering practices within the country. The statement was made at an anti-money-laundering conference held by the Taiwan Financial Services Coalition (FSC).
In order to better understand how cryptocurrency regulation would work, the conference brought in two executives from different cryptocurrency exchanges to speak more on how the exchanges operate. The regulations will more than likely deal with what seems to be Taiwan’s biggest concern with the industry – money laundering.
After China began their crackdown on cryptocurrency, many businesses and exchanges moved operations to Taiwan.
Banks are required to label all Bitcoin accounts as “high-risk,” other financial institutions were asked to warn their customers about the dangers of investing or getting involved in cryptocurrency in any way, and Taiwan’s bank leader has publicly expressed his “uncertainty” in digital money and how it operates as a legitimate payment method.
Taiwan will not be banning cryptocurrencies outright, hoping to work with the new technologies instead of against them.
They hope their approach to regulation will benefit both the government of Taiwan’s anti-money-laundering safety standards as well as those interested in utilizing the digital currencies.
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