This Week In Cryptocurrency: Goldman Blasts Cryptos, Square Reports Bitcoin Profit

The cryptocurrency market finished a difficult week on a quiet note on Friday, with most major currencies trading up less than 1 percent on the day. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market this week and which currencies were on the move.

Headlines

On Friday, Goldman Sachs analyst Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani bashed cryptocurrencies in the firm’s mid-year economic report. Rahmani predicted "further declines" in price in the future, adding that cryptocurrencies don't meet any of the three roles of a traditional currency. His comments came just one day after UBS said bitcoin is too “unstable” to be a mainstream currency.

"A massive wrong-way bet on Bitcoin left an unidentified futures trader unable to cover losses, burning counterparties and threatening to dent confidence in one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency venues," Bloomberg reported Friday.

Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase announced Tuesday it has hired former Pershing global head of compliance Jeff Horowitz to serve in the same role at Coinbase. Investors cheered the move as another positive step in legitimizing cryptocurrencies in the eyes of institutional investors.

Square Inc SQ reported just $37 million in revenue from bitcoin trading on its Cash App in the second quarter. Square stock surged when the company announced late last year it would be adding bitcoin integration to the Square Cash App, but bitcoin accounted for just $420,000 of net profits last quarter.

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC traded at $10.24, down 14.4 percent for the week.

Here’s how several top crypto investments fared this week. Prices are as of 3:30 p.m. ET and reflect the previous seven days.

• Bitcoin declined 9 percent to $7,419;
• Ethereum declined 11.3 percent to $415;
• XRP declined 3.9 percent to 43 cents;
• Bitcoin Cash declined 12.4 percent to $716;
• EOS declined 14.4 percent to $7.16.

The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past seven days are:

• BunnyCoin: $2.6-million market cap, 147.8-percent gain.
• SmileyCoin: $1-million market cap, 110.7-percent gain.
• Trittium: $2.2-million market cap, 69.4-percent gain.

The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past seven days were:

• Atmos: $1-million market cap, 62.8-percent decline.
• GameCredits: $13.5-million market cap, 51.3-percent decline.
• BuzzCoin: $1.4-million market cap, 50.5-percent decline.

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