Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Plunges Under $9,000, Bitfinex and OKEx DDOS Attacks, Warren Buffett Bashes Cryptocurrency Again

Another week, another round of Crypto Tidbits. Wow, what a past seven days for Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and global markets overall.

Bitcoin saw a blood-red week, to say the least, falling from $10,000 on Sunday to a low of ~$8,480 within a few days’ time as buyers failed to keep the asset above the key $9,500 support. Altcoins saw an even worst performance, with Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, amongst countless other top cryptocurrencies plunging 15% as they followed BTC lower.

The crypto market carnage seen over the past week came as global markets, from stocks and commodities, started to crash across the board. The Dow Jones posted its worst point performance in history on Thursday, falling by over 1,000 points as American stocks came under a coronavirus crunch. Gold also fell under $1,600, plunging after reaching $1,700 as investors tried to leverage the asset as a safe haven.

The fact that effectively all assets fell this week was a sign to some investors that Bitcoin and crypto’s weakness may be only temporary.

Indeed, due to the potentially flagging U.S. economy caused by a decrease in consumption and industrial activity because of coronavirus fears, the Federal Reserve has hinted that it may cut interest rates in the near future, adding to Bitcoin’s bull case. 

Aside from the tumultuous market, the underlying cryptocurrency industry saw an equally as tumultuous week, with there being a number of news stories showing the growth and adoption of these technologies, though others casting light on issues within this space.

Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Plunges to $9,500, $45m BCH SIM Swap, IRS Focused on Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin & Crypto Tidbits

• Top Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex Hit With DDoS Attack Just a Day After OKEx: On Friday morning, leading crypto platform Bitfinex began “investigating what seems like a distributed denial-of-service” attack (DDoS) attack on its exchange. Data from the site showed that the site response time and data throughput started to vary dramatically at 6:40 am GMT, eventually reaching a point where the site crashed around 8:00 am GMT, spurring the exchange to respond. About an hour after it began investigating the attack, services for the exchange came back online. This came a day after OKEx, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in Asia, reported a DDoS attack that didn’t affect any users. OKEx’s CEO accused a “competitor” of launching the attack.

Services on the Bitfinex platform have resumed. We implemented a stricter protection level as a result of our platform coming under a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. All issues relating to the DDoS attack have now been resolved.

— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) February 28, 2020

• Warren Buffett Bashes Bitcoin & Crypto Yet Again, Even After Tron CEO’s Dinner: In an interview with CNBC, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said that he will never own cryptocurrency, adding that digital assets, Bitcoin included, has no inherent value: “Cryptocurrencies basically have no value and they don’t produce anything. In terms of value: zero.” This comment from Buffett regarding Bitcoin is reminiscent of his previous statements on the matter, such as when he called the cryptocurrency “rat poison squared” and saying that the asset has not much more value than a suit button. While Buffett’s words hold weight in public circles, not everyone in the crypto space is convinced that what he has to say about Bitcoin is relevant, despite him being a legendary investor. Industry investor Anthony Pompliano explained that “I really don’t take technology advice from somebody who uses a flip phone or doesn’t use email.”
• Simpsons Talked About Crypto in Sunday’s Episode: On Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons — dubbed “Frinkcoin” because the episode’s A-plot centered around a cryptocurrency built by character Professor Frink — the show makers included a two-minute segment of a Simpsonified Jim Parsons, the actor behind The Big Bang Theory‘s Sheldon Cooper, discussing cryptocurrency. During Parsons’ explainer, a few key topics were mentioned: how blockchain underpins Bitcoin (and other crypto assets) and how the ledger works, including the distribution of nodes/ledgers and how blocks are added to the chain). This writer noticed some, say, shortcomings in the script, but he can give it a pass.
• G20 Advises Crypto Crackdown: According to an official G20 communique published this week, the finance ministers and central bankers of the group want member countries to implement the “recently adopted FATF standards on virtual assets and related providers.” The guideline suggests that all entities dealing with cryptocurrency should be actively collecting the customer information of those involved in transactions. The FATF advises the collection of data including the name of the transactor, their location, and the name of the beneficiary of the transaction.
• Ripple Secures Partnership: Announced in a blog post published Wednesday, Ripple’s partnership with Azimo will see the latter company use On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) as a “part of its remittance capabilities into The Philippines,” with plans to expand the use of the solution in the future.

Featured Image from Shutterstock