Today In Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin Miners Lose Money, 2018 ICOs Set Record

After a slow start to the week, most major cryptocurrencies had a strong day of trading Thursday. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market today and which currencies were on the move.

Headlines

Initial coin offerings raised more money, $6.3 billion, in the first three months of 2018 than in all of 2017, according to CoinDesk. It seems warnings and headlines about ICO scams have not deterred investors from pouring money into more than 200 ICOs in 2018.

A day after the New York attorney general’s office requested information from 13 cryptocurrency exchanges as part of an effort to understand investor risks, popular exchange Kraken said Thursday that it will not be cooperating.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said the company is committed to helping the government understand cryptocurrency, but said “this is not the way to do it.” Complying with the detailed information request would “completely blow up our roadmap," Powell said, accusing the state of New York of being “hostile to crypto.”

Morgan Stanley said Thursday that bitcoin miners’ break-even price is $8,600 per coin based on electricity costs of 3 cents per kW/h. New application-specific integrated circuit hardware could turn a profit on bitcoin mining as long as the currency stays above $5,000 per coin, according to Morgan Stanley. Bitmain is expected to launch its new ASIC in July.

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC traded at $13.79, up 5.5 percent.

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

• Bitcoin gained 1.5 percent to $8,253;
• Ethereum gained 7.7 percent to $556;
• Ripple gained 7.4 percent to $0.747;
• Bitcoin Cash gained 8.6 percent to $957;
• Litecoin gained 5.3 percent to $145.

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

• Renos: $1.4-million market cap, 77.8-percent gain.
• Electra: $46.9-million market cap, 63.2-percent gain.
• Rise: $14.8-million market cap, 50.3-percent gain.

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

• High Voltage: $1.4-million market cap, 25.7-percent loss.
• Tao: $12.9-million market cap, 23.1-percent loss.
• Numus: $1.6-million market cap, 21-percent loss.

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