It’s been a tough week for cryptocurrency investors, as the price of bitcoin and Ethereum fell below $7,000 and $400, respectively. This sell-off has dropped the cryptocurrency market valuation to below $300 billion for the first time since November.

What’s causing the drop? While this week featured a laundry list of bullish announcements by Coinbase, Bithumb, Nvidia, and Ripple, a few major breaking news stories were enough to spook investors. First, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee was forced to issue an apology following news that payment processor LitePay is going out of business, leading many to believe that LitePay was nothing more than an exit scam.

The sell-off then accelerated when Twitter confirmed their cryptocurrency advertisement ban is now being enforced and Reddit announced they no longer accept Bitcoin for Reddit Gold. Finally, to top off the bearish week, multiple Japanese exchanges chose to shut down over regulatory concerns and MailChimp made the decision to ban all cryptocurrency related content on their platform.

As we enter the second fiscal quarter, all eyes are on the key bitcoin support area of ~$6,000 to form a proper double bottom before exiting this bearish period.

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Here’s everything you missed as we head into the weekend:

Featured Projects

Qtum: Decentralized Mobile Applications Built for Business

Decred: A Hybrid PoS/PoW Cryptocurrency Reinventing Governance

0x: Permissionless Protocol for Trading ERC20 Tokens

News of the Week

Japan: 2 Bitcoin Exchanges Choose Shutdown Over Regulatory Compliance

MailChimp Bans Cryptocurrency Ads Following Twitter, Facebook and Google Curbs

Upcoming Cryptocurrency Exchanges to Watch in 2018

Nvidia Founder Claims Blockchain Will Be a “Fundamental New Form of Computing”

Longfin Stock Plummets 48% Following Questions Around Blockchain Company Acquisition

Bitfinex Considering Move to Switzerland’s ‘Crypto Valley’

Ripple Donates $29 Million of XRP to Public Schools

Cryptocurrency Now a Payment Option in 80,000 Stores in Europe

Eurasian Association of Blockchain Will File Lawsuit Against Crypto Ad Ban

Coinbase Announces Planned Support of ERC20 Technical Standard

6,000 Stores Will Now Accept Cryptocurrency in Korea, Thanks to Bithumb

Reddit No Longer Accepts Bitcoin for Reddit Gold

Litecoin Drops 11% After LitePay Announces Sudden Exit

Cboe Global Markets President Supports Crypto ETFs in Letter to SEC

Nvidia and AMD Stock Price Targets Slashed on GPU Sales Outlook

Tennessee Passes Bill Recognizing Blockchain Transactions and Smart Contracts

Yahoo Japan Plans to Create New Cryptocurrency Exchange

Verge (XVG) Stages Crowdfunding Campaign Just Days After Hacking

Top Gainers of the Week

% represents 7-day change at 5 PM on Friday. This list does not include pump-and-dumps or dead projects. Graphs show 1-month time frame or longest available time frame under a month for reference.

Matryx (130.74%)

Description: Intuitive virtual reality interfaces that enable scientists and engineers to design and simulate with nanoscale precision

Symbol: MTX

Website: matryx.ai

Target Coin (87.25%)

Description: TGTCoin is a closed-end fund built using smart contracts that uses Machine Learning, Technical Analysis and Big Data to invest and trade in the blockchain technology and gives full transparency to the investors.

Symbol: TGT

Website: tgtcoins.com

SureRemit (72.42%)

Description: An ecosystem for global non-cash remittances.

Symbol: RMT

Website: sureremit.co

DMarket (67.96%)

Description: Cross-game universe for trading virtual assets.

Symbol: DMT

Website: dmarket.com

Ontology (64.82%)

Description: A new public multi-chain project & a distributed trust collaboration platform.

Symbol: ONT

Website: ont.io

Ravencoin (54.17%)

Description: Ravencoin is a use case specific blockchain designed to carry statements of truth about who owns what asset.

Symbol: RVN

Website: ravencoin.org

XPA (52.57%)

Description: XPA ecosystem brings blockchain asset management to a higher level.

Symbol: XPA

Website: xpa.io

Eroscoin (46.28%)

Description: Transfer & trade any cryptocurrency within 30 seconds with low transaction cost, improved security.

Symbol: ERO

Website: eroscoin.org

Bytom (38.19%)

Description: Transfer assets from atomic world to byteworld.

Symbol: BTM

Website: bytom.io

QLINK (34.39%)

Description: The world’s first decentralized mobile network.

Symbol: QLC

Website: qlink.mobi

POA Network (29.16%)

Description: The platform for smart contracts and DApps.

Symbol: POA

Website: poa.network

Skycoin (24.80%)

Description: Completely secure, infinitely scalable, and ISP independent blockchain platform.

Symbol: SKY

Website: skycoin.net

Zilla (19.27%)

Description: Safely and easily participate in a token sale through ZILLA.

Symbol: ZLA

Website: zla.io

Viuly (18.11%)

Description: Viuly is a video sharing platform, where authors are paid for their content, and users are rewarded for watching free videos.

Symbol: VIU

Website: viuly.io

Cube (12.89%)

Description: Autonomous car security platform.

Symbol: AUTO

Website: cubeint.io

WePower (10.63%)

Description: WePower is a blockchain-based green energy trading platform.

Symbol: WPR

Website: wepower.network

Oyster (8.83%)

Description: The future of website monetization and distributed storage, built on IOTA Tangle and Ethereum.

Symbol: PRL

Website: oysterprotocol.com

Visit us again next Friday to check out which cryptocurrencies make the list of top gainers.

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Disclaimer: The author(s) of this article may have a position in one or more of the securities mentioned above. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.