Markets Continue Sideways 

Are We Contemplating Dropping Below 200 Billion Again?

Today the markets saw a brief run-up in the late hours of Sunday before coming back down today to settle around 210 Billion.

As expected, we’re seeing Bitcoin weather the storm better than most.

What’s interesting is that Tether, the controversial stablecoin pegged against USD, has “printed” 415 Million USDT this month, with the latest 20 Million coming out on Saturday.

This has brought Tether up to a 2.7 Billion market cap and is currently the 8th highest cryptocurrency out there.

It is also number two in total trading volume, behind Bitcoin.

While we’ve certainly seen Bitcoin and Tether absorb more trading volume than other coins in this bear market, it is worth mentioning that we still don’t know if Tether’s USD reserves have 2.7 Billion parked in there.

What’s worth pointing out is that Tether printing events predicated large run ups in price during the later months of 2017, but in 2018 we’ve seen almost the opposite effect. Bitcoin, for example, is down 14 on the 30 day chart, so even with over 400 Million entering the scene it hasn’t been enough to stem the bearish tide.

Meanwhile the largest US exchange was recently revealed to have lost 83% of their trading volume since January, a trend shared by many of largest crypto exchanges. Despite this, last week CEO Brian Armstrong claimed they are still signing up 50,000 users per day.

In contrast, however, Binance actually grew 21% in trading volume between June and July of this year, indicating that their business model has helped them to stay relevant even during a crushing bear market. That being said, June was still their yearly low for volume, and July’s numbers weren’t able to beat May, so they still are suffering from the down market.

In other exchange news, the WinkleVoss twins have clearly taken their ETF denial to heart and are teaming up their exchange, Gemini, with Bittrex, Bitflyer, and Bitstamp, to discuss forming a self-regulatory organization (SRO) to oversee the U.S. crypto trading market.

“This is the first of many steps in policing the digital asset markets and answering the call of regulators,” said Yusuf Hussain, head of risk at Gemini.

“We believe in the value of self-regulation, which we pursued in Europe almost from our inception, and look forward to following a similar path in the U.S. Those that can’t or won’t comply with regulations put consumers – and their own operations – at risk,” added Bitstamp CEO Nejc Kodrič

Meanwhile Gemini added that “a thoughtful SRO framework that provides a virtual commodity regulatory program for the virtual commodity industry is the next logical step in the maturation of this market.”

By forming an SRO, exchanges likely aim to show that the industry is mature enough to handle exchange-traded products (ETPs). The SEC specially cited the lack of industry maturity in their denial of the WinkleVoss ETF, something that we’ll likely see them claim again this Thursday when they deliver their verdict on the ProShares ETF.

What’s interesting is that the newly announced platform, Bakkt, is showing industry maturity in other ways.

Bakkt will not support margin trading for its Bitcoin (BTC) contract, according to an official Medium post published August 20.

By refraining from allowing for margin, leverage and cash settlement –– and offering secure and regulated warehousing –– Bakkt claims that the platform will be better able to support market integrity and enable the “trusted price formation” that is key to “advancing the promise of digital currencies.”

“To achieve that, we’re starting with a proven framework that underpins exchanges, including:

* a consistent regulatory construct

* an institutional quality pre- and post-trade infrastructure”

What this means is that Bakkt is planning to differentiate itself from existing Bitcoin Futures contracts which are settled for in fiat currency. Instead it plans to offer a one-day “physical bitcoin futures contract,” meaning Bitcoin will be delivered on a specified date.

This shows a great leap into finding outlets for usage and underpinning a need for digital currencies outside of being pegged against fiat.

It’s continually evident that the gears in motion here are far more significant than they appear.

While the industry struggles with issues such as a loss in trading volume and a continued reliance on opaque assets like Tether, it is making real strides in maturity through the efforts we’ve seen today.

Mark your calendars for this Thursday evening! We’re going to hold a special one-hour session on “Top Ten Ways to Create Passive Income With Crypto.” This session will be held Thursday at 8pm EDT (New York) and of course, we will provide a link to a replay session if you cannot attend. Sign up here to get the live session where we answer your questions!

We’ve started to produce episodes for The ReadySetCrypto Podcast; all of our episodes are posted on our blog (and on iTunes) and Episode Ten is now available. Episode Ten speaks to this whole notion of “Buy The Dip” and whether or not that is sage advice for today’s market. Look for more episodes shortly as we comb the crypto space for valuable interviews, and create valuable content to keep you in the loop!

See you tomorrow!

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Defensive Actions for the next trading day: 

• None.