PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($5,578): -12% / -58%
- ETH ($177): -15% / -76%
- LTC ($42): -17% / -81%
- XRP ($0.52): +2% / -73%
- Crypto Market Cap ($186B): -12% / -69%
- BTC Dominance: 52%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- The price of Bitcoin dropped below $6,000 for the first time this year, pushing the cryptocurrency market cap to below $100 billion for the first time in more than a year. The altcoin market saw valuation plummet double-digit percentages across nearly all of the top 100 valued tokens. The price movement came as Bitcoin Cash underwent a hard fork that resulted in two different chains, creating uncertainty in the market. Link

- Bitcoin Cash underwent a hardfork this week, splitting the currency between Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV. Some exchanges like Poloniex and Binance distributed both BCHABC and BCHSV to users with Bitcoin Cash balances, while others like Coinbase have stopped any trading of Bitcoin Cash and have not yet split the tokens for their users. It is still unclear which chain will find the most user or miner adoption as both sides continue to attack the other in order to gain market adoption. Link

- Crypto forks are holding back institutional investors from diving into the crypto market, says one KPMG crypto analyst. Hard forks that split cryptocurrency into multiple chains require infrastructure to support the split and have complicated tax-related implications. For example, immediately before the Bitcoin hard fork last year, taxpayers owned one Bitcoin. After the fork, the taxpayer owned one Bitcoin and one Bitcoin Cash. The Bitcoin Cash has value and can be sold, but it's unclear what it's tax basis is or how the additional income should be taxed. Link

- Tinder Chief Product Officer Brian Norgard announced he was leaving Tinder to focus on investing. Norgard said he has invested in one company so far, a cryptocurrency mining startup called Coinmine which is creating an $800 hardware device that allows anyone to mine crypto easily from their home. Coinmine's mining device is similar in size and look to an Xbox and uses less energy than a PlayStation. The company has raised $2 million from investors including Coinbase Ventures, Social Leverage, Wonder VC and angel investors like Balaji Srinivasan. Link

- According to new data from Indeed.com ( http://indeed.com/ ) , searches for roles involving bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency dropped by 3 percent from October 2017 to October 2018. However, the number of job postings for such roles increased by 25 percent over the same time period indicating that though job seeker interest has declined, employers remain interested in the space. Link

- Nvidia, the GPU designer and manufacturer, saw its stock price take a double-digit hit as it reported declining demand for GPUs specializing in crypto-mining. Nvidia produced an estimated $57 million in excess inventory aimed at the mining market - Nvidia will likely have to steeply discount this inventory to liquidate it, especially as GPU tech improves rapidly making existing mining technology obsolete quickly. Link

- Sweetgreen, the fast-casual salad chain, announced a $200 million round that values the chain at more than $1 billion. Cofounder Jonathan Neman said some of the proceeds could be used to leverage blockchain technology to improve supply chain visibility and traceability. Link

- Mythical Games, a blockchain gaming startup, announced a $16 million Series A funding round led by Galaxy Digital's EOS-focused fund. Mythical Games plans to create gaming infrastructure allowing for easily creating, trading, and imbedding user-generated content within games. The gaming startup is looking to capitalize on the success of in-game virtual purchases seen by games like Fortnite, which has earned over $1 billion from selling virtual items. Link

- The SEC brought charges against two crypto startups for failing to register their ICO tokens as securities. Airfox and Paragon Coin both conducted token sales last year and raised $15 million and $12 million respectively. In addition to registering their tokens as securities, both companies will refund investors, file periodic reports to the SEC, and pay $250,000 each in penalties. Link

- The SEC is reportedly investigating Salt Lending Holdings, the fintech company which loans money to people using their crypto as collateral. The company received a subpoena from the SEC in February in relation to a $50 million token sale it held last year. Regulators are investigating whether the token sale should have been registered as a securities offering, how the token proceeds were used, and whether raising money while Erik Voorhees served on Salt's board violated a 2014 SEC settlement that banned Voorhees from such fundraising. Link

- New crypto exchange, KuCoin, raised $20 million from investors including IDG Capital and Matrix Partners - the venture arm of Chinese crypto organization Neo. The capital will be used to expand KuCoin's global reach including in areas like Vietnam, Turkey, Italy, Russia, and Spanish-speaking countries before year-end. Link

- Coinsource, the firm that operates ~200 Bitcoin ATMs in the US, became the 12th firm to receive a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services. The firm plans to expand into the remittance business, allowing individuals to use Bitcoin ATMs to transfer crypto to wallets, machines, or stores internationally for a fraction of the cost. Link