The second week of June has been exciting for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest news is that Circle announced it will soon discontinue its mobile app Circle Pay. On Thursday the fintech firm said it will start winding down the payment app and finish the closure on September 30. The news came on the same day that CENTRE, the blockchain consortium created by Circle and Coinbase, began seeking new members. The Circle Pay app was created in 2014 as a Bitcoin (BTC) and US dollar digital wallet with peer-to-peer payments. Users could fund and accept transactions for free with US debit cards and bank accounts. Circle is shuttering Circle Pay in order to focus more on its USDC stablecoin project with Coinbase and other partners.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
Nevada passed regulatory sandbox legislation aimed at continuing blockchain investments and entrepreneurial efforts in the state. The 4 new bills augment bills passed in February designed to promote blockchain adoption, in order to support the continued growth of financial technology and blockchain. The new bills create a definition for public blockchain and requires government agencies to accept electronically certified documents, including on a blockchain. They also authorize firms to store and maintain corporate records on a blockchain. Finally, they classify virtual currencies as intangible personal property and exempt from personal property taxation.
Crypterium, a fintech startup in Estonia, launched the Crypterium Card, the first global cryptocurrency card. The firm will expand services to the UK and six more European countries. The card is linked to the Crypterium App, which has over 500,000 US and UK users. As a prepaid debit card, the Crypterium Card can be used anywhere UnionPay is accepted. Customers can order the card online and receive it in just 3 days. The card allows users to buy goods with Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), but it charges a 1.5% reloading fee. Crypterium hopes to expand card service to the US, South America, and Southeast Asia, where interest in the crypto card is highest.
Crypto prices rebounded convincingly to above $181 billion, regaining the market cap lost last week. For the majors, all were green except Tether (USDT), with Litecoin, Bitcoin, and Cardano (ADA) leading the gains. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Waltonchain (WTC), down 10%, MaidSafeCoin (MAID), down 8%, and MonaCoin (MONA), down 8%. The biggest gainers were Energi (NRG), up a whopping 71%, Chainlink (LINK), up 57%, and Egretia (EGT), up 50%. Next week traders will watch to see if Bitcoin holds the key $9,000 level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.
- 1. https://blog.circle.com/2019/06/13/circle-to-sunset-payment-app-continue-advancing-vision-of-crypto-based-payment-solutions-using-fiat-tokens/
- 2. https://www.coindesk.com/us-state-of-nevada-passes-flurry-of-blockchain-bills
- 3. https://www.coindesk.com/crypterium-introduces-global-crypto-payments-card