Today In Cryptocurrency: European Regulations, Binance 'Fake News'

The tax week rally in the cryptocurrency market continued Friday, with most major currencies booking huge gains. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market today and which currencies were on the move.

Headlines

The European Parliament has voted to impose stricter regulations on cryptocurrency trading. Crypto exchanges in Europe must now verify the identity of their customers and apply for registration in order to operate. The new regulations are part of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has denied reports that it will be offering cryptocurrency-to-dollar trading. A Binance spokesperson called reports that Binance would soon be allowing users to purchase digital currency using U.S. dollars “fake news” in a statement to Bloomberg. Binance currently only allows traders to swap one cryptocurrency for another, despite reports of dollar trading that spread on social media Friday.

John Williams, the president of the San Francisco Fed and nominee for the presidency of the New York Fed, said in a speech on Friday that bitcoin “doesn’t pass the basic test of what a currency should be.” In February, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkar said investors should “leave bitcoin for the, you know, toy collectors.”

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC traded at $14.56, up 6.6 percent.

Here’s how several top crypto investments fared Friday. Prices are as of 3:30 p.m. ET and reflect the previous 24 hours.

• Bitcoin gained 3.2 percent to $8,516;
• Ethereum gained 6.3 percent to $592;
• Ripple gained 16.6 percent to 87 cents;
• Bitcoin Cash gained 16.9 percent to $1,123;
• EOS gained 21.7 percent to $11.33.

The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past 24 hours are:

• TokenPay: $127.4-million market cap, 73.5-percent gain.
• GPU Coin: $1-million market cap, 73.4-percent gain.
• CryptoCarbon: $1.1-million market cap, 50.8-percent gain.

The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past 24 hours were:

• BitConnect: $5.6-million market cap, 58.6-percent loss.
• GCN Coin: $2-million market cap, 48.6-percent loss.
• InflationCoin: $1.5-million market cap, 45.2-percent loss.

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