Not everything is dull and dark in the cryptocurrency market. After the ongoing stock market volatility, owing to the technology stocks, trade disputes, and interest rate hikes, the bears are said to be crashing. However, as there is a free flow of money from the conventional markets, cryptocurrencies are gaining momentum. Incidentally, the cryptocurrency market capitalization has now gone up by $9 billion.
It is to be noted that the stock markets, the Dow, and the Nasdaq, all slid by 8% in December. Experts believe that this time, it was the healthcare products rather than the technology stocks that led to the downfall of Dow. The stocks for Johnson’s and Johnson’s fell over reports of it using asbestos in the baby powder. UnitedHealth stocks fell after the Obamacare Affordable Care Act was rendered unconstitutional.
The reasons for the fall are also still much broader and point back to the threat of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve this week as trade and diplomacy issues with China strikes again. Former Congressman, Ron Paul warns of an impending collapse, speaking to a leading news channel, “Once this volatility shows that we’re not going to resume the bull market, then people are going to rush for the exits.”
Coinbase, a step ahead?
Announcing their new initiative, Coinbase said that its users could start trading directly with other cryptocurrencies. It is adding crypto-to-crypto trading for its customers. It has also added a feature that was long being used by professional cryptocurrency trading services.
Product Manager Anna Marie Clifton said, “Users on Coinbase.com, as well as the Android and iOS apps, will be able to begin trading Bitcoin pairs in the coming days through the new feature, called Coinbase Convert. She told CoinDesk that while trading pairs are “a pretty common paradigm in the crypto trading space.”
To add more to the point, she said, “The functionality is giving customers the ability to directly convert between one cryptocurrency and another, which is pretty advanced.” Clifton further noted that the trading pairs were developed based on user feedback. It is said that unlike professional trading services which use the price fluctuation to their advantage, retail users are likely to use these for utilitarian purposes.