Are Alt Coins Beginning to Catch Up with Bitcoin’s Climb?

It’s time for another (YDB) Daily Double – what’s happening in the world of Blockchain, fintech, and cryptocurrencies today?

As we sit here on another Tuesday evening, bitcoin is holding nicely at around $10,300 with support around the $9300 range. It seems some of the major alt coins are beginning to follow bitcoin’s race upward. Take DASH for example. At the start of the year DASH was sitting around the $41 mark. Today on Feb. 11 it’s sitting at $132. That’s a nice 321% increase in just over a month with its biggest spike between January 13-15^th.

That’s the kind of price appreciation even Mr. Buffet could appreciate.

Now let’s move on to some more YDB Daily News!

US Congressman Challenges Fed Chair on Potential Threat of China’s Digital Currency.

U.S. Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) questioned Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the U.S.’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) progress at a hearing on monetary policy earlier this morning.

Foster began by asking Mr. Powell:

“Do you think that establishing a digital dollar would help ensure that the U.S. dollar continues to serve as the core of the U.S. and the world’s financial system?”

Although Mr. Powell agreed with the importance of the dollar to our U.S. financial system he further responded:

“I think having a single government currency at the heart of the financial system is something that has served it well, it’s a basic thing that hasn’t really been in question.”

His view on the role of the CBDC in particular was a little more cautious and stated:

“Whether a digital currency moves us along that path is an open question”

“Every current central bank is taking a deep look at that.” 

I think for us here at YDB, the jury is also still out on the specific role digital currencies may play within the world’s central banking arena. The fact that Powell was quoted as stating they’re all “taking a deep look at that” is enough for us right now. As more and more central banks look to potentially launch their own digital currencies, it will only act to increase the overall adoption rate of cryptos and ultimately blockchain use cases. And that is a good thing in our books.

Coinbase Crypto Exchange Now Supports USDC and Zcash for New York Residents 

In another related story , it’s being reported that Coinbase Exchange now supports USDC and Zcash for New York residents.

Coinbase, which is a leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency trading exchange has announced that its New York-based customers can now buy, sell, trade and store Circle’s USDC stable coin and privacy coin Zcash.

While we don’t always agree with New York’s stance on many things, this is certainly positive news to us. We always enjoy seeing regulatory bodies open up and allow their constituents additional freedoms to make their own choices on how and where they would like to invest their hard-earned money. Our hat’s off to both Coinbase and New York for pressing forward.

Coinbase secured New York’s BitLicense in January 2017, as reported by btcmanager. Coinbase was the first exchange in the region to secure such a license. As we’ve often said here at YDB, we fully support sensible regulation and that is exactly what will continue to drive mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and additional blockchain use cases.

That about wraps up another YDB, Daily Double for this fine Tuesday evening.

Till next time…