Today In Cryptocurrency: A New Type Of ICO, Bitcoin Volatility On The Decline?

The cryptocurrency market came back to life on Friday, with most major currencies jumping at least 1 percent on the day. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market today and which currencies were on the move.

Headlines

Reuters reported that volatility in the bitcoin market may soon die down permanently. Experts say that as large institutional investors enter the bitcoin market, liquidity will improve and the extreme volatility that has become synonymous with cryptocurrency markets will be reduced.

According to a report from Le Monde, the French Council of State has reclassified cryptocurrency trading profits as capital gains of “movable property,” effectively reducing the tax rate traders pay on profits from as high as 45 percent to as low as 19 percent, excluding the generalized social contribution rate. French traders had reportedly challenged the previous tax rates in French courts.

After a flood of negative press related to initial coin offerings, Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK CEO Patrick Byrne said Friday that the company will be raising cash via a new form of offering called a “security token offering.” Companies have raised more than $9.8 billion via ICOs since 2016, but the Security and Exchange Commission has warned ICO investors of widespread fraud and even issued a number of subpoenas related to ICOs. While ICOs are offerings of cryptocurrencies that aren't backed by tangible assets, STOs must be backed by assets, profits or company revenue.

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC traded at $15.59, up 1.5 percent.

Here’s how several top crypto investments fared Wednesday. Prices are as of 3:45 p.m. ET and reflect the previous 24 hours.

• Bitcoin gained 2.5 percent to $9,190;
• Ethereum gained 4.6 percent to $666;
• Ripple gained 1.4 percent to 84 cents;
• Bitcoin Cash gained 3.0 percent to $1,382;
• EOS gained 16.5 percent to $17.30.

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

• FlappyCoin: $4.3-million market cap, 437.1-percent gain.
• Octoin Coin: $1.6-million market cap, 69.0-percent gain.
• Hexx: $10.4-million market cap, 59.3-percent gain.

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

• BunnyCoin: $1.7-million market cap, 72.0-percent decline.
• DNotes: $1.9-million market cap, 69.3-percent decline.
• GCN Coin: $2.7-million market cap, 48.5-percent decline.

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