Bitcoin Daily: 2018 — Bitcoin’s Worst Year Yet; DMM.com Steps Back From Crypto Mining

Bitcoin finished up its worst year yet, as the price of the popular cryptocurrency plummeted by over 80 percent over 2018, Coindesk reported. In addition, the digital currency’s total capitalization dropped by almost $700 billion. That news came after the cryptocurrency reached a record high of $20,000 in December after an atmospheric 2,500 percent rise from its low in 2017. But the cryptocurrency ended 2018 with a price of just under $3,750. The price of bitcoin was $3,867.21 as of 8:12 p.m. on Wednesday (Jan. 2), according to Coindesk.

But bitcoin might be in its lengthiest buying streak in half a year, according to cues from the GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator, Bloomberg reported. At the same time, market observers have taken note of the technical signals. eToro Senior Market Analyst Mati Greenspan said, according to Bloomberg, “usually the best thing to do is to buy low and sell high. So if we are going by technical analysis we can very easily see on the chart that we are much closer to the bottom than we are to the top.”

On another note, Japan’s DMM.com is said to be unwinding its digital currency mining operation, Coindesk reported. DMM.com had decided to take a step back from mining in September per a December report, and the process of unwinding could last until the first half of this year. The company, which is one of Japan’s biggest eCommerce websites, had reportedly said in September of 2017 that it wanted to become one of the world’s 10th biggest mining farms as of the close of 2018 and “eventually reach a top-three ranking,” according to the report.

In other news, digital debt investment platform Cadence has rolled out a tokenized fixed income product, the company said in an announcement. For its first issuance, the company is seeking to provide working capital to eCommerce merchants in conjunction with a marketplace lender. Cadence CEO Nelson Chu said, “We are structuring private, bespoke debt opportunities supported by diverse cash flows from alternative assets.” In the announcement, the company said it intends to grow its offerings in the months to come.