This Week In Cryptocurrency: Google Lifts Ad Ban, Bitcoin Cash Soars

The cryptocurrency market finished a difficult week on a low note on Friday, with most major currencies trading down 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

Bitcoin Cash was one of the few winners among the largest cryptos this week, and the rally was likely driven in large part by a stress test conducted over the weekend that demonstrated that the currency is capable of scaling on a global level and handling massive volumes of transactions. Scalability has been a top concern for many crypto skeptics, but the stress test suggested that Bitcoin Cash fees would actually decline slightly, rather than increase, on a larger scale.

On Tuesday, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG's Google said it's lifting its ban on cryptocurrency advertising and will begin allowing limited crypto ads starting next month. Alphabet said cryptocurrencies must apply for Google advertising rights for specific countries in which the ads will run.

On Tuesday, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency broker Coinbase said it will be adding additional coins to its platform, and new listings “will become more frequent.” Coinbase currently supports bitcoin, litecoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and ethereum classic.

On Wednesday, Chinese cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain filed financial public disclosures for the first time ahead of its anticipated IPO. Bitmain reported $742.7 million in profit in the first half of 2018, a nine-fold increase from a year ago.

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC traded at $7.93, down 10.2 percent for the week.

Here’s how several top crypto investments fared this week. Prices are as of 3:45 p.m. ET and reflect the previous seven days.

• Bitcoin declined 1.7 percent to $6,612;
• Ethereum declined 8.1 percent to $218;
• XRP declined 7.7 percent to 53 cents;
• Bitcoin Cash gained 8.9 percent to $535;
• EOS declined 3.8 percent to $5.73.

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

• Carebit: $2.3-million market cap, 1,636.5-percent gain.
• Gold Poker: $1.3-million market cap, 154.5-percent gain.
• Electroneum: $166.0-million market cap, 147.4-percent gain.

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

• FLO: $1.8-million market cap, 61.4-percent decline.
• LogisCoin: $2.2-million market cap, 51.3-percent decline.
• AurumCoin: $1.7-million market cap, 48.0-percent decline.

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