Today on Altcoins This Week we comment on McAfee’s “Lamest Vendor Response” award, we comment on BitConnect’s final days and much more.
BitConnect Finally Laid To Rest
The sorry story of BitConnect has reached its final chapter, with the announcement this week that the last exchange to still trade the BCC token has decided to delist it. BCC was one of the best performing tokens of 2017, with promises of hefty returns sending its value over $400 at one point.
However, its offer of a 1% per day interest payment on any investment made was, as it appeared to many, too good to be true, and the lending platform BitConnect had half-heartedly constructed closed in January of this year, prompting the BCC token to nosedive to less than $1. In the curious world of cryptocurrency, the coin has lived on, despite being listed on fewer and fewer exchanges. With the announcement that the last of these trading platforms will delist the coin in September, we can finally say goodbye to BitConnect, a cautionary tale of hype over substance.
McAfee Awarded “Lamest Vendor Response” Award
Speaking of hype, one man well used to the spotlight was back in the news this week. John McAfee, internet security guru and cryptocurrency evangelist, has been furiously promoting his BitFi hardware wallet, offering $250,000 to anyone who could hack the device. There is nothing hackers love more than a challenge, and within days reports surfaced of successful hacks.
But McAfee was adamant that it was all fake news. This week, BitFi was awarded a Cyber Award for “Lamest Vendor Response” over its handling of the hacking claims. Meanwhile, McAfee reiterated his claim that Johnny Depp would be playing him in an upcoming biopic entitled King of the Jungle. Given McAfee’s Trump-like social media presence, perhaps a more suitable title for the movie might be Edward Twitterhands.
Tether Releases $50 Million of New Coins
Stablecoin Tether has released $50 million worth of new coins, as competition in the stablecoin market heats up. Earlier this summer, Microsoft announced a partnership with new US dollar-pegged stablecoin Stronghold. Another coin, TrueUSD, recently entered the top 100 coins based on market cap having launched in only March of this year.
Tether continues to court controversy, with its claim to have $1 in reserve for every coin issued coming under scrutiny, although a partial audit released in June appeared to back up the claim. It has also been the subject of investigations in the US, where Tether is alleged to have been used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin during the coin’s bull run late last year.
Coinbase Resignation Leads to New Facebook Rumors
There were more signs this week that Facebook will soon make a move into the blockchain and crypto space, with the announcement that David Marcus has resigned his position on the board of Coinbase.
Marcus is Facebook’s chief blockchain developer, and although the social media giant has been tight-lipped about its intentions in this area, there have been rumours for the past few months that Facebook was considering purchasing Coinbase. Indeed, in a statement announcing the resignation, Facebook said that the reason Marcus had left Coinbase was “to avoid the appearance of conflict, rather than because of an actual conflict.”
Markets – Altcoins Still Suffering Post ETF Fallout
The fallout from the SEC’s postponement of its decision on the latest ETF application sent markets tumbling this week, although there were some signs of stability returning at the weekend.
Ether (ETH) has been hit particularly hard, trading this week at rates similar to twelve months ago. It opened Thursday at $356 but hit a 2018 low of $308 on Saturday before clawing back to $320 on Sunday. XRP opened Thursday at $0.333 but was trading for under $0.30 at the weekend, closing on Sunday at $0.297. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) crashed through the $600 mark, opening on Thursday at $590 before a low of $548 on Saturday. It closed on Sunday at $570. EOS was trading for below $5 for the first time since March. It opened at $5.61 but was at $4.91 by Saturday and just barely over $5 at closing time on Sunday. Stellar (XLM) was comparatively steady after a bruising fortnight. It opened on Thursday at $0.20 and almost made it as high as $0.23 at the weekend before closing at $0.233.
