The Bitcoin (BTC) and gold one-month correlation reached a record high of 68% as Bitcoin hit $12,000 early in August, but the correlation crashed by 20% the following week. Despite this, Bitcoin looks set to become digital gold in 2020 considering the price correlations and trends in the futures market. Both gold and Bitcoin are having a phenomenal year in terms of year-to-date returns. According to Skew Analytics, gold has a 27.93% YTD return, while Bitcoin has racked up a 71.68% YTD yield. Although Bitcoin sees much higher volatility than gold, it seems that in these uncertain, pandemic-stricken times, investors …

Crypto exchange OKCoin has continued to support Bitcoin (BTC) Core developers with a fourth grant being awarded to Bitcoin’s most active contributor since 2017, Marco Falke for an undisclosed six-figure sum. This grant brings the total amount provided as part of the company’s Independent Developer Grant to over $500,000. OKCoin believes that funding open-source development of the Bitcoin network is critical to the growth of the entire crypto ecosystem. CEO Hong Fang said, “Supporting Marco’s work on strengthening the testing framework in addition to his general responsibilities as a maintainer is important to continuing quality development.” Crucial development This grant …

Recent digital asset custody clarity from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, will likely affect institutional investors more, according to OKCoin CEO Hong Fang. "The biggest impact will potentially be on institutional investors," Fang told Cointelegraph. She added: "Retail investors have a much wider range of existing choices (and preferences). I look forward to seeing more banks becoming more open to crypto, with potentially better banking channels, more public awareness, as well as more regulatory clarity. A better user experience ultimately wins." The OCC brings clarity On July 22, the OCC clarified a former regulatory …

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a division of the United States Treasury that supervises banking in the country, on July 22, issued an interpretive letter clarifying that nationally chartered banks are allowed to provide cryptocurrency custody services to their customers extended to storing cryptographic keys associated with the currencies. In its letter, the OCC recognizes the current need for banks and other financial service providers to leverage blockchain technology and provide related services to their customers. In addition to national banks, this permission extends to state banks and to loans/savings associations, also known as “thrifts.” What will …

OKCoin fired up its own price oracle for the DeFi space with data traceable back to its origin, offering verified accuracy. "OKCoin has launched OKCoin Oracle, a signed price feed that can be used for reliable on-chain pricing in support of the burgeoning DeFi ecosystem," OKCoin director of communications, Will McCormick, told Cointelegraph. He added: "OKCoin Oracle acts as a trusted source of market data, and anyone can publish OKCoin pricing on-chain. Once on-chain, OKCoin is verifiable as the source of the data, using the OKCoin Oracle public key." DeFi booming in 2020 The DeFi space has boomed in 2020, …

Dogecoin's (DOGE) price has fallen notably after social media enthusiasts promoted the asset for days on Tik Tok in an effort to send the asset to $1. The escapade shows signs of conclusion according to OKCoin CMO Haider Rafique. "The Doge/Tik Tok effect is really down to the vitality of the Tik Tok platform, more than the crypto industry, as it thrives off of creating viral challenges - a category in which this Dogecoin challenge fits," Rafique told Cointelegraph on July 10. He added: "Tik Tok challenges tend to come and go in very short cycles, and looking at the …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Bored with Bitcoin? This price level is key for a big breakout It has been a sleepy week in the crypto markets — and there’s barely been any movement in Bitcoin. At the time of writing, BTC is down 0.75% compared with where it was seven days ago. Traders were braced for a big drop …

OKCoin and HDR Global (the company that owns BitMEX) have partnered to provide a joint grant of $150,000 to Bitcoin (BTC) Core developer Amiti Uttarwar. This is the first time two competitor exchanges have come together to co-fund Bitcoin’s open source development. The two exchanges have provided funding separately in the past with OKCoin providing grants to Fabian Jahr and BTCPay Server ($100,000) in February and May 2020, respectively. HDR has recently provided grants to the MIT DCI, Bitcoin Core maintainer Michael Ford ($150,000), and Bitcoin developer and researcher Gleb Naumenko ($100,000). Surprise collaboration This joint move is in recognition …

Bitcoin (BTC) dove more than $1,000 on some exchanges on June 2, although the event seems to be the result of simple trading activity, according to OKCoin's head of market development Matthew Ficke. "Price movement like we saw yesterday typically attracts short-term traders trying to position for a larger break higher," Ficke said of the day prior, when Bitcoin surged notably past $10,000. Bitcoin pumped and then dumped Bitcoin's price surged up past $10,400 from $9,450 on June 1, only to fall back down to $9,275 on the following day. The first asset even fell below $9,000 on some exchanges, …

Completing its second independent developer grant, crypto exchange OKCoin has donated $100,000 to open-source crypto payment processor BTCPay Server. In addition to its worldwide fiat on-ramp/off-ramp focus, the OKCoin exchange sees the importance of furthering the industry's framework, OKCoin CEO Hong Fang told Cointelegraph, explaining: "We also have a special responsibility to support free or open-source software (FOSS) development which provides the building blocks in which exchanges are built upon." OKCoin initiated its grant in 2019 OKCoin started up its Independent Developer Grant in 2019, according to a statement provided to Cointelegraph. The grant aims to give capital to open-source …

Global crypto exchange, OKCoin, has added two new members to its top bass — Haider Rafique, Blockchain.com's former head of growth, and Megan Monroe-Coleman, Coinbase's previous compliance executive. Megan Monroe-Coleman comes on board as the outfit's global chief compliance officer, while Haider Rafique takes the role of global chief marketing officer, said a statement provided to Cointelegraph. OKCoin in the midst of expansion OKCoin has shown several expansion efforts so far in 2020. The exchange brought in former Goldman Sach's staff, Hong Fang, as CEO in early March. At the same time, the entity's former CEO transitioned into a government …

For over a month, the global crypto community has been talking about the upcoming Bitcoin halving event with great gusto. However, because of the economic slump that has affected the entire planet at the moment from the spread of the novel coronavirus, it seems as though this halving may not have as big of an impact on the premier cryptocurrency’s value when compared to previous fluctuations. With that being said, despite many traditional assets, such as oil and stocks, slipping in value quite heavily since the beginning of March, Bitcoin (BTC) seems to be experiencing a strong wave of pre-halving …