Major coins pull back following another exchange hack

Summary:

• Major coins give back some of the recent gains as Bithumb gets hacked

• Group of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges prepared a regulation draft

• Dash (DASH on xStation5) pulled back to the support zone

Declines were observed on the cryptocurrency market in the past hours as news of another exchange being hacked dragged down valuations of the major coins. What one may find interesting is the fact that despite broad sell-off the Ethereum price actually managed to hold firm. In Japan self-regulatory body formed by domestic cryptocurrency exchanges will vote on the new set of rules next week while in Cambodia national authorities took another measure to limit the cryptocurrency trading.

Despite the broad sell-off resulting from the Bithumb hack ETHEREUM experienced just a minor pullback. After a failure to break above the 23.6% Fibo level the price retreated towards $510 mark. The latest price action suggests that a retest of the earlier mentioned retracement level may be on cards. Source: xStation5

In a statement released on Wednesday Bithumb, the second largest South Korean cryptocurrency exchange and the sixth largest in the world, said that it has been targeted by hackers. Cryptocurrencies worth around $30 millions were stolen in an attack. The company assured its customers that any losses resulting from heist will be covered by Bithumb funds and all the digital asset holdings have been transferred to the offline wallet shortly after the attack was noticed. Bithumb decided to suspend deposits and withdrawals from customers’ accounts for the unspecified amount of time in order to conduct investigation. It is worth to note that it is the second South Korean exchange that has reported a theft of coins in June. Earlier this month Coinrail reported that over $37 millions in cryptocurrencies were missing due to the hackers activity.

The world’s most popular coin has been experiencing quite a stable downtrend since local high a notch below the $10000 mark was reached at the beginning of May. A continuous inability to overcome the $6700 handle resulted in BITCOIN price pulling back to the 33-period moving average. A price reaction to this technical hurdle may be crucial in terms of future movement. Source: xStation5

Staying in the crime theme let us recall the Coincheck heist that happened in January. Over $500 millions in NEM coins were stolen back then. The incident resulted in founding of the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association, a group of sixteen Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges, with an aim to self-regulate domestic cryptocurrency market and restore faith in the industry. The group reportedly prepared an over 100 page regulation draft that seeks to prohibit activities like insider trading. Apart from that, in a document one can find rules that are aimed at limiting trading with the so-called privacy coins in order to prevent money-laundering abuses. Privacy coins are cryptocurrencies that characterize with a high degree of anonymity and in turn it is almost impossible to detect who was their previous owner. Dash and Monero can be named such coins. The group is set to vote on the new regulations during its next meeting on June 27.

DASH was underperforming against other notable cryptocurrencies as of late. The price pulled back to the support zone ranging from $247 to $254. In case we observe another bounce from this area investors should watch the $268 handle carefully as it may be an upper limit of the potential consolidation range. Keep in mind that in case Japanese exchanges agree to ban privacy coins trading DASH may witness a downward pressure. Source: xStation5

When it comes to cryptocurrencies new day usually brings new remarks from one of the world’s central banks. Today is no different as the National Bank of Cambodia reinforced its bold approach towards digital assets. After Cambodian monetary authorities prohibited domestic banks from offering services to cryptocurrency investors in December 2017 it has now targeted the digital asset trading itself. In a statement published yesterday NBC explained that it is now illegal to buy, sell or trade cryptocurrencies without a proper license. The statement was backed by the Cambodian watchdog as well as General-Commissariat of National Police.