Here’s what happened this week in Bitcoin.
Coinbase’s specialized exchange for advanced traders, Coinbase Pro, unexpectedly hiked its fees significantly. Beginning Monday, Coinbase Pro introduces a new tiered system whereby anyone trading under $10,000 per month will pay half a percent fee on every trade. Small traders are understandably unhappy with the new fee structure.
Crypto custodian BitGo has added staking to its services, beginning with cryptocurrencies Dash and Algorand. Through BitGo Staking, coin holders can earn between 7 and 13 percent annual returns. The coins will earn staking rewards while remaining in cold storage.
We recently covered the refusal by French and German officials to allow Libra to operate in their respective nations. Corporations are now joining the pushback, with Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, characterizing Libra as a “power grab by a private company”. Even more damaging, PayPal withdrew from the Libra Association. Facebook’s growing difficulties show the advantage of a decentralized cryptocurrency with no identifiable controlling entity.
Various banks around the world experienced significant issues this week, highlighting the need for cryptocurrency as an alternative. Turkey’s government has frozen up to 3.9 million bank accounts and one of India’s major banks, PMC, has engaged in fraud.
And finally, despite its recent price struggles, Bitcoin is the best performing asset in 2019, outpacing gold, tech stocks, and bonds. Bitcoin has more than doubled this year, whereas the best performing US stock sector is only up 31 percent.
That’s what happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-news-summary-october-7-2019/
