Technology Roundup – Crypto selloff sees Bitcoin shed almost $3K after nearing record highs, Ant Group explores capital injections amid fintech crackdown
Technology Roundup – Crypto selloff sees Bitcoin shed almost $3K after nearing record highs, Ant Group explores capital injections amid fintech crackdown
Crypto selloff sees Bitcoin shed almost $3K after nearing record highs
While equity markets are closed for Thanksgiving, crypto traders are not taking the day off.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) plunged by 15% overnight, or nearly $3,000, to as low as $16,328. The move is notable, as many in the industry had been expecting a $20K milestone in the next few days after hitting highs not seen since the end of 2017.
Other cryptos are getting hammered as well: Ethereum (ETH-USD) -15%; Bitcoin Cash (BCH-USD) -19%; Ripple (XRP-USD) -22%; Litecoin (LTC-USD) -15%.
“Long term I don’t see anything derailing Bitcoin’s irrevocable rise higher,” said Antoni Trenchev, a managing partner and co-founder of Nexo, which bills itself as the world’s biggest crypto lender. “That doesn’t mean we won’t have pullbacks along the way. Look what happened in March; Bitcoin plunged 40% in one day during the coronavirus market panic. 20-30% falls can and should be expected.”
“Any healthy market needs to have pullbacks and periods of consolidation. Already in 2020 we’ve seen a gain of 160%.”
Ant Group explores capital injections amid fintech crackdown
Ant Group, a third owned by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), is in talks with regulators about injecting capital into its micro-lending units just weeks after its $35B IPO was halted in a sector-wide crackdown, Bloomberg reports.
It’s part of the quickly shifting landscape for China’s fintech players, which are bracing for more turbulence as industry watchdogs set their sights on areas spanning lending, banking partnerships and data privacy.
This month, President Xi Jinping urged financial regulators to “dare to” master their supervisory role, according to commentary penned by an official at the banking regulator, published in the People’s Daily.
“Financial stability is political in China,” said Sean Ding, a Washington DC-based analyst at Plenum, a research firm specializing in Chinese politics and economy. “The whole point of sending such a strong message is for future fintech companies to be more careful, understand that their products can bring about financial risk.”
U.K. to curb Google and Facebook’s dominance with tougher rules – Reuters
Britain is set to impose a new competition regime next year to prevent Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) using their supremacy to push out smaller firms and disadvantage consumers – Reuters.
New laws are needed to keep the tech giants in check, said competition regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising, accounting for around 80% of £14B pounds spent in 2019, said CMA.
The two U.S. companies have committed to work with the British government and regulator, including giving users greater control over their data and the ads they are served.
The newly-created Digital Markets Unit, which will begin work in April, could be given powers to suspend, block and reverse decisions made by technology firms and to impose financial penalties for non-compliance.
Companies will have to be more transparent about how they use consumer data, the government said.
Marketers for an Open Web, said Google was modifying its Chrome browser and Chromium developer tools to give it greater control over publishers and advertisers.
Whether a complaint about Google technology warranted a formal investigation is being assessed by the CMA.
Google said advertising practices needed to adapt to changing expectations around how data was collected and used.
Cordy Oilfield Services reports Q3 results
Cordy Oilfield Services (OTC:CKKFF): Q3 GAAP EPS of C$0.01.
