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at 4:23 PM on Thursday, August 1st, 2019
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mHealth Apps Market Size Worth $236.0 Billion by 2026
Global mHealth apps market size is expected to reach USD 236.0 billion by 2026
According to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of44.7% during the forecast period
The global mHealth apps market size is expected to reach USD 236.0 billion by 2026, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of44.7% during the forecast period. The market is majorly driven by increasing adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare facilities and the need to reduce long waiting periods to access healthcare facilities from specialists. Availability of mobile applications for users is witnessing a rapid growth, especially healthcare apps that assist consumers in self-management of disease, wellness, and chronic conditions. This increased role of patients coupled with the rising importance in staying updated and informed about their own healthcare decisions, contributing to the rise in adoption of mHealth apps globally.
Key suggestions from the report:
Rapid growth in chronic diseases along with the rise in the number
of app users is accountable for the mHealth apps market growth
The types of mHealth apps include fitness, lifestyle management,
nutrition and diet, women’s health, medication adherence, healthcare
providers, and disease management. Of these, the fitness category
accounted for the majority of segment share in 2018
mHealth app vendors are focusing their attention on women’s health,
diet, and medication reminders. According to Wired, a mobile advertising
and analytics platform, women are more inclined toward tracking their
health than men
Physicians are increasingly recommending the use of mHealth apps to
their patients, which is likely to increase the adoption rate of mHealth
apps
North America led the mhealth applications market in 2018
in terms of revenue share pertaining to the technological advancements
and presence of major players in the region
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:40 PM on Thursday, August 1st, 2019
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NBA is going crypto, launching blockchain souvenirs from the maker of CryptoKitties
To put this product in context: The whole value proposition of blockchain, the decentralized peer-to-peer technology that came about with bitcoin in 2009, is as a place to record transactions on a public, immutable, tamper-proof ledger.
Bitcoin runs on its own blockchain; ether, a rival cryptocurrency, runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
NBA Top Shot will run on a blockchain.
Dapper Labs and the NBA aren’t saying yet exactly which blockchain, but it’s likely to be Ethereum, the home of CryptoKitties.
The NBA is putting its biggest dunks on a blockchain.
The league, along with the NBA Players Association, announced on
Wednesday the coming launch of NBA Top Shot, a home for blockchain-based
digital collectibles.
The idea is for fans to buy and trade unique digital video clips that
commemorate “in-game moments from the NBA season, such as a Kevin
Durant 3-point shot or Joel Embiid dunk,†the NBA says in a press
release.
To put this product in context: The whole value proposition of blockchain,
the decentralized peer-to-peer technology that came about with bitcoin
in 2009, is as a place to record transactions on a public, immutable,
tamper-proof ledger. Bitcoin runs on its own blockchain; ether, a rival
cryptocurrency, runs on the Ethereum blockchain. NBA Top Shot will run
on a blockchain. Dapper Labs and the NBA aren’t saying yet exactly which
blockchain, but it’s likely to be Ethereum, the home of CryptoKitties.
Each video clip will be labeled with a number to mark it as distinct,
much like when you purchase a print or signed piece of art and it is
labeled with how many there are in supply.
Top Shot also promises a gamification element, where fans can compete
head-to-head by building a roster and pitting their digital collections
against each other, fantasy-style.
Much has been made about the uses of blockchain for sports
memorabilia, since souvenirs or autographed items must be authenticated.
As CoinDesk research director Nolan Bauerle put it at Yahoo Finance’s crypto summit last year,
blockchain-based collectibles are “the extension of that
anti-counterfeit quality of all of these coins. So this is really the
beginning of what we’re going to see—I think, anyway—for sports
memorabilia, for the authentication of game-worn jerseys, and cards, and
all kinds of other stuff.â€
But success here is hardly guaranteed—participation isn’t even guaranteed.
Major League Baseball launched a blockchain collectibles game last year with
game developer Lucid Sight called MLB Crypto Baseball. It has not, so
far, been an obvious hit. If you search Twitter for mentions of the
product, most are complaints. It is also far from easy to use, since
participants have to first buy the cryptocurrency ether.
The NBA’s product comes from Dapper Labs, maker of the mega-popular Ethereum game CryptoKitties. At its peak,
the digital kittens in CryptoKitties were so popular they were selling
for tens of thousands of dollars, and trading activity was clogging the
entire Ethereum network.
Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou acknowledges the possible pitfalls.
“We want to give basketball fans something that they’ve never seen
before, but also something that is immediately familiar and they want to
actually play with… You might want that play because you love LeBron,
you might love the team he’s currently on, or you might need that
moment to play in the Top Shot game.â€
Gharegozlou also points to the NBA’s huge social media following as
something that can boost awareness of the game. “They’re going to be
very engaged with us in helping make sure that this experience is
authentic to the fan, and not just a crypto experience.â€
Although this is the NBA’s first league-wide foray into blockchain, the Sacramento Kings last year launched an Ethereum mining operation to
donate crypto to a local community charity. “We know blockchain is
going to revolutionize the world,†Kings CTO Ryan Montoya told Yahoo
Finance last June.
Now, one year later, the league office appears to agree. Adrienne
O’Keeffe, NBA’s head of consumer products and gaming, says, “We are
always exploring new ways to engage with fans around the world. We saw
this partnership with Dapper Labs as an opportunity to expand our gaming
presence while also creating a new and innovative platform that will
allow fans to collect and own specific in-game moments.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 11:18 AM on Thursday, August 1st, 2019
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The 2019 report published by Q3 Global Digital Statshot shows
the number of viewers of esports games have breached the one billion
mark. The report comes in line with the number of people using social
media which has crossed the 3.5 billion.
‘Almost 1 billion people around the world have watched an esports
tournament in the recent months, with interest particularly high in
Asian countries,’ the report suggests.
Further, according to the conducted survey, almost 33% of the
internet users say they watch someone else play videogames, which makes
up the global audience of over 1.2 billion people.
The demographics says the story well, 32% users aged 16 to 24 say
they have watched an esports tournament compared to 31% who say they’d
like to watch conventional esports like football & cricket more.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:57 AM on Thursday, August 1st, 2019
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Sequoia adds USD 200 million to its sixth India fund in a warming market
The venture capital firm originally targeted at 1 billion for its sixth Indian fund.
By Priya Pradeep Thu Aug 01 2019
Sequoia has been one of the most active investors in India over the
past decade, with investments across a wide array of sectors, from
high-profiled hotel chain Oyo Rooms, edtech upriser Byju’s, to SaaS
service Freshworks, all of which are local unicorns.
Sequoia India, the country’s largest venture capital after raising its USD 695 million sixth fund last August, is looking to add an additional 200 million dollars to the fund, per local financial media Mint. If the financing coming through, it’ll push the fund size closer to the 1 billion Sequoia originally targeted but eventually had to slash due to the then market conditions.
The move is driven by a growing market and reignited interests from limited partners (LPs), anonymous sources told Mint. More than 80% of Sequoia’s LPs are non-profits — universities, endowments, charities, and foundations.
Sequoia manages around USD 4.5 billion assets across several funds in
India. It’s bigger than the other tier-1 venture capital funds in the
country, including the likes of Nexus Venture Partners (1.39 billion as of now) and Accel.
Sequoia has been one of the most active investors in India over the
past decade, with investments across a wide array of sectors, from
high-profiled hotel chain Oyo Rooms, edtech upriser Byju’s, to SaaS
service Freshworks, all of which are local unicorns. In the first half
of this year, it has invested in 32 local startups, making it the most
prolific Indian investors during the period.
In total Sequoia has more than 200 companies in its Indian portfolio.
Since its inception in India in 2006, Sequoia followed a two-pronged
strategy in the market: invest in early-stage start-ups and those that
are into technology or are technology-enabled. In addition to local
investments, the firm also sets eye on neighboring and other regions. It
intends to disburse 20-30% of its corpus in Southeast Asia.
The Silicon Valley venture capital’s Indian arm also has stakes in
Australia’s online healthcare services provider HealthEngine,
Bangladesh’s online merchant marketplace ShopUp, and the
Stockholm-headquartered caller identity app Truecaller.
Sequoia India is making decent proceeds from selling or exiting some
of its investees, one of the reasons for the renewed interests from LPs.
In December 2018, Sequoia India sold a part of its stake in Byju’s
for USD 190 million, after investing USD 50 million across rounds since
2015. It still holds a minority stake in the company. Additionally, it
stands to make USD 500 million from investing USD 25 million across
rounds in Oyo Rooms, where its founder Ritesh Agarwal announced a USD
1.5 billion share buyback.
Sequoia has recently launched Surge, an accelerator programme
dedicated to invest exclusively at the seed stage for start-ups in India
and Southeast Asia.
The program, headed by Rajan Anandan, former VP, India and Southeast
Asia, Google, aims to invest in 30-40 start-ups annually for four months
and invest USD 1-2 million in each company. The launch of Surge
signifies that Sequoia, which typically invests more in growth and later
stage companies, is moving upstream into the early stage in a changing
market.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 5:38 PM on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
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at 4:19 PM on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
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Nickel spot prices were up sharply in July, and the LME inventory was lower and remains near a 7 year low.
Nickel market news – Forecasters are generally bullish on the outlook for nickel.
Nickel company news – Anglo American to return up to $1 billion to shareholders.
Matt Bohlsen
Investment advisor, portfolio strategy, growth at reasonable price
Welcome to the nickel miners news for July. The past month saw nickel
prices rise sharply and LME inventories fall again and remain near a ~7
year low. Most other base and EV metals declined but nickel is rising,
most likely due to the very low inventory levels and strong demand
boosted by the EV sector.
Nickel price news
As of July 25, the nickel spot price was US$6.35/lb, up sharply (13%) from US$5.62 last month.
The following charts show that the excess nickel inventories since
2013 have been worked off now and nickel prices are finally starting to
respond higher. It may still take a few months to play out, but 2020
should be a good year for nickel (assuming China does ok).
2016 was lithium’s year, 2017 was cobalt’s year, and 2018-2020 are
likely to be nickel’s years as nickel inventories decline and nickel
prices finally start to rise. Strong Chinese and global stainless steel
demand and ever increasing demand from electric vehicles [EVs] using
higher nickel content batteries NMC (8:1:1).
Note: The US-China trade war has subdued China’s growth and reduced sentiment, which has not helped nickel prices the past year.
Note: Some others such as BMI have been forecasting a nickel surplus by 2020 due to increased Indonesian production and reduced Asian demand.
As a reminder the November 2017 McKinsey report
stated: “If annual electric vehicle [EV] production reaches 31 million
vehicles by 2025 as expected then demand for high-purity class 1 nickel
is likely to increase significantly from 33 Kt in 2017 to 570 Kt in
2025.” That is a 17 fold increase in just 8 years, albeit only on Class 1
nickel.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:27 PM on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
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———————–
Gary Vaynerchuk on Investing in Esports, the Opportunity Ahead
Vaynerchuk is a brand unto himself, and a very public face of his companies.
He may be new to esports, but given his reach, reputation, and vibrant personality, it’s no surprise that he is likely to also be a public face for Minnesota’s Call of Duty organization.
“I’ve been really paying attention in
the back row for four to five years,†he told The Esports Observer. “I
literally remember when Justin.tv became Twitch, and so it’s been on my mental radar for a little while.â€
As the chairman of media holding
company VaynerX and CEO of digital agency VaynerMedia, Vaynerchuk is one
of the most visible investors to enter esports to date. The 43-year-old
transformed his family’s wine shop into an online success story
beginning in the late ’90s, and has gradually parlayed that momentum
into a large social media presence (with several million followers
across platforms), five New York Times bestselling books, angel
investments in tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and Uber, and many
other opportunities.
Given his status as a prominent
investor, Vaynerchuk said that he’s seen “tens of thousands†of queries
about esports-related opportunities pass across his desk over the years,
but that only about 15 of them led to serious conversations and
meetings. One potential opportunity came from an undisclosed Overwatch League ownership group early in the league’s genesis, said Vaynerchuk, but he didn’t pursue it.
Part of what made Vaynerchuk’s investment in WISE Ventures’Call of Duty League franchise appealing was a close connection with the group’s Wilf family, which also owns the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
“One thing that I’m realizing about
myself is that I’m really about people, comfort, happiness, and control,
and all of these things. I’ve known the Wilf family for almost 15 years
because they actually live in the area where my wine business is,†said
Vaynerchuk, who was introduced to the family by a senior executive in
the Wilfs’ real estate organization in New Jersey. “We’ve really had
these nice human vibes towards each other for years, and then as my
professional career started to evolve from wine into many other things, I
started building even more of a relationship here and there, subtly.â€
Vaynerchuk said that he was thrilled
to see the Wilf family purchase the Minnesota Vikings in 2005,
“especially when my career ambitions are to buy the New York Jets,†he
added. He has also met with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and
watched the evolution of the Overwatch League from an idea to a 20-team league on the verge of hosting matches in every home market, plus he feels that Call of Duty has the versatility and track record to thrive.
“I’m completely convinced that Minnesota and the five or six
surrounding states right now have the best 11-year-old at some game in
the world.â€
“Call of Duty
has proven to me over the last half-decade and more that it’s a
franchise that can evolve,†said Vaynerchuk. “I think that a lot of
these leagues are predicated on: How long is the franchise? Are you Zelda and Super Mario, or are you Kid Icarus, right? That’s how I think about everything. Call of Duty intuitively feels like it has the potential to be more Mario than Kid Icarus, which then gives the league longevity. Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of the IP.â€
Gary Vee-sports?
Minnesota isn’t considered one of the
esports capitals of the United States at present, but Vaynerchuk sees
that as an opportunity more than a challenge. He believes that there’s
enough demand for live esports events “in most parts of the country,â€
and said that establishing a geolocated esports franchise in the region
could also give the team leverage in mining homegrown talent from
Minnesota and surrounding states.
“I’m completely convinced that
Minnesota and the five or six surrounding states right now have the best
11-year-old at some game in the world,†he said, “so I see it as an
opportunity.â€
Vaynerchuk is a brand unto himself,
and a very public face of his companies. He may be new to esports, but
given his reach, reputation, and vibrant personality, it’s no surprise
that he is likely to also be a public face for Minnesota’s Call of Duty
organization. He anticipates being heavily involved with the team and
believes that he will be able to help with recruiting talent.
“We spoke about that quite a bit, as
you can imagine,†he said of his role on the team. “I’m in it for the
learnings, because I want to be close to culture and youth, and
innovation. Probably more than most things, in a lot of ways.
“Listen, I mean, this is a recruiting
game,†he continued. “This is ludicrous for me to say, but as my level
of awareness grows and a lot of esports players have a lot of
entrepreneurial ambitions—I’m not remotely close to Jay-Z’s sphere, but
when you think about Jay-Z and Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s impact on the
Brooklyn Nets is real. Not that I carry that weight, but ironically to
this set of entrepreneur-laden players, I do believe we will sign a free
agent that really fucking matters on the back of me.â€
“I think esports is a top-four sport in America when I’m 62 years old, and I want to be a part of that.â€
Given his status as a survivor of the
dot-com bust, Vaynerchuk said that the rush for some investors to throw
money at esports in search of success reminds him a lot of that
formative time period in internet history. “I think it’s similar to 1999
internet,†he said. “There’s a lot of places to lose money, but I think
that just like 1999 internet, that in 20 years, the people that have
navigated it thoughtfully and carefully have a whole lot to gain.â€
Vaynerchuk sees “macro acceptanceâ€
ahead for esports in mainstream culture, he said, as more people come to
acknowledge and appreciate competitive gaming and its impact on
entertainment and society. In fact, he believes that more parents will
encourage their kids to play games at a high level to secure
scholarships, “which is obviously the complete reverse of what parents
did when I was growing up playing videogames,†he added.
Joining WISE Ventures’ Call of Duty
League ownership group is Vaynerchuk’s first esports investment after a
long period of consideration, but it won’t be his last. He’s not sure
where his next investment in the space will come from, but he sees big
things in the future.
“I don’t know what,†he said about
potential next investments, “but I think esports is a top-four sport in
America when I’m 62 years old, and I want to be a part of that.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 11:41 AM on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
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EKG: TSX-V ———————-
Market Report on Global Smart Healthcare Market is to Witness Highest Growth in near future Forecast
Smart healthcare market is poised to grow at an exponential rate owing to the rapid technological advancements in the healthcare IT, such as development of EHR, mhealth, and telemedicine
Here we have an in-depth study of the Global “Smart Healthcare Marketâ€, which analyzes past as well as recent Smart Healthcare Market values along with detailed market information to capture many factors such as market trends, anticipated future market conditions, challenges, risk and various opportunities during the forecast period from 2018 to the upcoming year 2023. It is precisely stated that data about the Smart Healthcare market will certainly help stakeholders and other business vendors to get a significant understanding of the handling of the Smart Healthcare market globally. All over the world. The report provides a detailed overview of the Smart Healthcare Industry and is then segmented on the basis of product type, key manufacturers, applications and regions.
The global smart healthcare market is projected to grow at a CAGR
of 9.2% over the forecast period (2018 – 2023). This report provides
information about the leading players in the market and a corresponding
detailed analysis of the top vendors in the smart healthcare market. In
addition, the report discusses the major drivers that influence the
growth of the market. It also outlines the challenges faced by the
vendors and the market at large, as well as the key trends that are
emerging in the market.
The smart healthcare market is poised to grow at an exponential rate
owing to the rapid technological advancements in the healthcare IT, such
as development of EHR, mhealth, and telemedicine. Also, wearable
healthcare devices that are used in tracking and monitoring of health
conditions, body temperature, remote cardiac, calories burnt, and sleep
statistics are witnessing huge growth. Introduction of technologies such
as big data analytics within this sector will drive the prospects for
the growth of the healthcare market.
Rapid Technological Advancements are Driving Market Growth
The key factors driving the global smart healthcare market are the
rapid technological advancements in the healthcare industry. The
development of smart healthcare devices such as smart syringes, smart
pills, and smart bandages that are capable of monitoring patient’s
healing procedure remotely and minimize the risks involved during the
usage of syringes are expected to drive the market growth over the
forecast period. However, lack of awareness and constraints related to
budget are the factors restraining the growth of the market.
mHealth is Expected to Grow Exponentially over the Forecast Period
The mHealth segment is expected to witness a high growth rate owing
to key elements that are leading to its fast development, such as its
ability to provide information about the factors that are leading to a
disease and reduce overall health risks, rising frequencies of unending
infections, for example, tumor, heart diseases, and diabetes. Also,
swift advancement and expanding buying power of consumers has brought
about proliferation of PDAs, alongside 3G and 4G systems, which is
expected to be an essential achievement factor for the development of
the worldwide mHealth market.
North America is the Major Contributor for the Market.
The North American market is the highest contributor to smart
healthcare owing to the presence of developed IT and healthcare
infrastructure and high expenditure on healthcare. The US is the major
contributor to the North American market, because of early adoption and
huge investment. The Asia-Pacific market is the fastest growing smart
healthcare market and is expected to grow at a faster pace during the
forecast period as compared to other regions.
Key Developments in the Market
• November 2017 – Cisco and INTERPOL agreed to share threat
intelligence as a first step in fighting cybercrimes jointly. This
alliance is expected to witness two organizations develop a coordinated
and focused approach towards sharing data. • November 2017 – IBM
acquired Vivant Digital Business to address the growing needs of clients
seeking transformation though Digital Reinvention.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:48 AM on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
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BTRU: TSX-V
Chasing students: Naspers Ventures into online education
Chasing students: Naspers Ventures into online education
Online education is the next big thing for technology giant Naspers, judging from its recent investments.
The company has announced a $30m investment into Brainly, an online learning community for students, parents and teachers, along with two other funders.
It’s no secret Naspers trades at discount to the value of its Tencent stake. So much so that this discount was deemed part of the reason the technology giant pushed for its offshore listing on the Euronext in Amsterdam.
Naspers is also at odds to defy this one-trick pony tag, with
investments across sectors from online classifieds to food delivery.
Education is another such topic, online in particular, which has seen
investments range from $30m to $383m, from the United States to India.
But not enough is made of these investments. In the Business Maverick article below, Sasha Planting maps out the group’s investments into online education. – Stuart Lowman
Naspers rides the education wave
By Sasha Planting
Online education is the next big thing for technology giant Naspers,
judging from its recent investments. The company has announced a $30m
investment into Brainly, an online learning community for students,
parents and teachers, along with two other funders.
This is its second investment into the company, which has
headquarters in Krakow and New York. The first was a $15m investment in
2016.
Brainly’s “crowd learning†model combines online education, social
media and machine learning, and is disrupting the education market on a
global level. From 2018 to 2019 it has grown from 100 million to 150
million active monthly users.
In December 2018 Naspers invested $383m in Indian online tutorial
start-up Byju’s, which develops online learning materials. It is the
world’s most prized EdTech company, having recently been valued at
$5.7bn.
Online learning is booming thanks to exploding internet usage around
the world, largely because of the ubiquity of cheap smartphones and
decreasing internet costs.
While this trend is catching on in both developing and developed markets, Naspers is particularly excited about opportunities in India.
It notes in its recently released annual report that India is the
world’s fastest-growing large economy, with more than 1.3 billion people
and some of the planet’s most talented entrepreneurs.
“We’ve been investing in India for more than a decade – over $2bn, or
around 20% of our worldwide investment in the last decade,†says CEO
Bob van Dijk in the report.
Prior to this, in September, Naspers invested in SoloLearn, a social
platform that helps individuals become better coders as they consume,
create and share bits of code-related content with peers around the
world.
Naspers’ first investment in the EdTech space was in June 2016 when
it invested $60m in Udemy, an online learning marketplace for adults.
The growth in the platform has been nothing short of extraordinary with
40 million students making the most of the 130,000 courses offered in
more than 60 languages.
The investments are housed in Naspers Ventures,
which is dedicated to seeking out, investing in and nurturing companies
that will generate the next wave of growth for the tech company. This
is the type of thinking that saw Naspers transform itself from a South
African print media business in 1915 to today’s global consumer internet
group.
“Naspers Ventures’ remit is to find investment opportunities for
Naspers beyond our traditional market segments, but that are a strategic
fit for the company,†Naspers Ventures CEO Larry Illg said at the time
of its investment in Udemy.
“We are looking for companies and leaders with high potential and the
ambition to have significant global impact. Education is a sizeable
market that has not yet seen the technology impacts we have seen in
other sectors, but we are now seeing dramatic innovations appearing.
That makes EdTech a perfect fit for Naspers Ventures.â€
Certainly, it seems that the online learning market has limitless potential. According to an article in Forbes magazine, it was predicted that “e-learning†would reach $107bn in 2015 – and it did. Now, Research and Markets forecasts show that this figure will triple in the coming years – in other words, it will grow to $325bn by 2025.
“The brilliant aspect about marrying learning with technology is that
it enables all kinds of innovative ways for more and more people to add
to their skills and knowledge: often more quickly, effectively and
enjoyably than before. This is an opportunity that can make a real
difference to people’s lives around the world and there is still much
more to be done. So for us, it ticks all the right boxes,†says Illg in
the annual report.
In the 2018-19 financial year, Naspers’ food-delivery businesses (Swiggy,
Delivery Hero, Mr D Food and iFood) reached a size and level of
profitability that saw it graduate from Ventures to become a core
standalone Naspers segment alongside Classifieds and Payments &
Fintech. While not yet a profitable business, online food delivery is
growing at 30% a year and is already a $75bn plus global market.
As a result, Naspers has dramatically upped the level of investment
in this space. During the year, it committed, along with Innova, to
invest an additional $400m in iFood to enable the business to accelerate
growth. It also invested $716m in Indian food-delivery leader Swiggy
during the year.
It is a matter of time before its online education business reaches a similar scale. BM
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Crypto Markets See Second Day of Green, Bitcoin Above $9,700
crypto markets are seeing widespread green, with Bitcoin (BTC) breaking back above $9,700 and many large market cap altcoins seeing solid gains of between 3 and 9% on the day.
Wednesday, July 31 — crypto markets are seeing widespread green, with Bitcoin (BTC) breaking back above $9,700 and many large market cap altcoins seeing solid gains of between 3 and 9% on the day.
Despite trading in a lower price range since dropping back to a four-figure price point in a recent corrections, BTC is today up a solid 2.4%, bringing it to $9,717 by press time.
This mild uptick nonetheless stops short of bringing the coin back
into the green on its 7-day chart, where Bitcoin is still reporting a
fractional 0.7% loss. On the month, losses are starker, topping 8%.
Yesterday, Peter Tchir — a former Executive Director at German multinational investment bank Deutsche Bank — argued
that Bitcoin is an indicator of hidden geopolitical tensions, pointing
to the coin’s momentous performance this May at a time of fraught trade
talks between the United States and China.
Also this week, erstwhile Bitcoin bear and CNBC host Joe Kernen predicted that the top coin could hit $55,000 — a 500%+ price surge — by the time of its next halving in May 2020.
Top altcoin Ether (ETH) — which celebrated its fourth birthday
yesterday — has posted a 1.9% to trade around $212 by press time. In
corrections earlier this week, the coin had circled perilously close to
the round $200 mark, but has since recovered ground and is just slightly
in the red, at 2.2%, on its 7-day chart. On the month, however, Ether
is down over 18%.
XRP is
reporting a 2.7% gain on the day, while among the remaining top ten
coins several alts are seeing stronger upward momentum: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is posting a 7.5% gain on the day, Litecoin (LTC) is up 3.6% and Binance Coin (BNB) is up 4.1%.
In the context of top twenty coins, Tezos (XTZ) is outstripping all
other assets, seeing a 24% gain on the day following news of the token’s
listing on major United States crypto exchange Coinbase. At press time, XTZ is trading at $1.24
Still among the top twenty, strong gains are being reported by Chainlink (LINK) — up over 9% — as well as by NEO (NEO), IOTA (MIOTA) and Cosmos (ATOM), all of which are up by 4-5%.
Total market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies is at $261,434,827,781 at press time, according to Coin360 data.
Dominating the crypto headlines this week is the hearing devoted to
examining regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies and blockchain held
at the United States Senate Banking Committee. Cointelegraph reported live on the most important developments during the hearing as it unfolded.
Yesterday’s Committee hearing notably follows upon earlier hearings in mid-July that had examined the regulatory hurdles surrounding Facebook’s Libra.
