Bitcoin Daily: Crypto Reaches $240B Market Cap, Abra CEO Says SEC Will Allow Bitcoin ETF In The ’Next Year’

The Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) added 28 new so-called fake crypto trading sites to its list of reported scams, The Next Web reported. With such scams, users visit a site wanting to buy crypto, such as bitcoin or Ethereum, will send fiat currency to a merchant that does not, in fact, send the cryptocurrency that they owe to the buyer.

Cryptocurrencies reached market cap of $240 billion, which marks the highest level for digital currencies in four weeks, said MarketWatch. At the same time, bitcoin increased by as much as 5 percent and made it past its moving averages for 50 and 100 days. The price of bitcoin was $7,352.87 as of 6:38 p.m., according to CoinDesk.

Brooklyn Law School Professor Adam Kolber said that the control given to smart contract systems can come with some risks, according to The Next Web. Those potential problems could come if smart contracts interact with the Internet of Things (IoT). “Now that people can hack things like insulin pumps, the cost of coding mistakes may be more than just financial,” Kolber wrote.

The chief executive of a bitcoin startup believes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may soon allow a so-called bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), CNBC reported. As of now, Abra CEO Bill Barhydt said that the applications, “don’t fit [the] mold of who the SEC is used to approving.”

For the SEC to approve such a product, Barhydt said it needs to fit the archetype of what the agency has in mind. That said, “It’s going to happen in the next year; I would actually make a bet on it,” Barhydt told the outlet. “There is too much demand for it.”

In other news, fans of Monero are contending that Changelly is singling them out for suspicious activity, The Next Web said. A Reddit user, in particular, said they were marked as high risk when trying to trade crypto for Monero and their money was quarantined as a result. A spokesperson for the exchange, however, said in a statement that these transactions are checked are because “Monero is the crypto that hides a sender and recipient, thus, making transactions untraceable.”

A Reddit user created an analysis that suggests funds from a Silk Road-related wallet have reached two major crypto exchanges, Cryptovest noted. The wallet, which reportedly contained more than 111,114 bitcoin and bitcoin cash, was said to have sent about $100 million worth of coins to the exchanges.