

In bearish times like these, I believe it's important to remember that things are not all that bad. Sure, there has been uncertainties, misinformation and some undesirable turns of events, but intersting things are still happening. Technology is evolving, certain uncertainties now belong in the past and cryptocurrencies find their way into new markets. Maintaining faith these days is of utmost importance, so below I have included seven news related to cryptocurrency which cheered me up this past week.



1. Facebook bans cryptocurrency advertisements

Okay, I'll admit this doesn't look too god at first sight, but hear me out. Over the last months of 2017, cryptocurrencies was a huge topic in newspapers, everyday talks and ads. Some will say that cryptocurrencies were over-hyped. While I won't jump into that discussion, I think the important thing isn't whether they were over-hyped, but rather which features of cryptocurrencies were hyped.

News these days (except on Steemit, of course) are driven by sensationalism, so of course, the massively apprecing prices, were the media's main sell point. At the same time, Facebook was flooded with crypto ads. I'm not sure how prominent this was for non-crypto people, but for someone into crypto, it looked pretty unsustainable.

While I'm sure some of the companies advertising were legit blockchain projects, most of them seemed to mainly highlight the opportunity to make a quick buck and some simply just looked sketchy, to say the least. I'm also a firm believer that one should never take investment advice from someone who wants to sell you something.

All in all, I think the average crypto ad on Facebook caused scepticism, confusion and an unhealthy perception of cryptocurrencies. While banning crypto ads will cause some short term FUD, I'm sure that in the long run, it will improve cryptocurrencies' legitimacy, leading to more sustainable growth.

South Korea's Finance Minister confirmed that there will be no ban on cryptocurrency

On January 11, the Ministry of Justice in South Korea announced its plans to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country. It was, however, quickly discovered that these were plans not backed by the rest of the South Korean cryptocurrency regulation task force, but even though the South Korean government reaffirmed that there would be no trading ban in the short term, it caused major uncertainties in the market.

Finally, last week, on January 31, the South Korean Finance Minister stated that there is no intention to ban or suppress cryptocurrency trading.

Sberbank announced plans to launch cryptocurrency exchange in Europe

Sberbank, Russia's largest state-owned bank released plans to allow clients the ability to trade cryptocurrencies. Since cryptocurrency trading has been illegal in Russia since October last year, Sberbank plans to build their trading infrastructure in its branch in Swizerland. I'm excited to see how the return of Russian cryptocurrency investors will affect the market. After all, increased adoption should make for a healthy change.

IOTA announced their partnership with the Taipei municipality to make Taipei a leading smart city

In late 2017, IOTA's price spiket quickly after some questionable rumors of a Microsoft partnership, only to steadily decline afterwards. I have no idea what it will mean for IOTA to be involved in a smart city project, but it's good to see that they are expanding their horizon and finding real life usecases. IOTA's price didn't react considrably, but this might be because of the falling market and previous unreliable announcements.

Square, Inc's Cash App now has the option to buy and sell Bitcoin

The title pretty much says it all. While I'm personally not familiar with Cash App, apparently others are. While early adopters of Bitcoin, like Microsoft, Steam and Stripe have recently stopped accepting Bitcoin due to slow transaction times, high fees and price volatility, it's nice to see Bitcoin getting implemented elsewhere.

STEEM was added to Binance

Since the begining of February, Steem has been traded on Binance. I'm not sure how important this is for the cryptocurrency market in general, but for Steem, this is great news. Binance is a quickly growing platform, and beeing able to buy and sell STEEM on a familiar platform makes it easier for steemians to invest in their favorite platform or selltheir gains. Needless to say, increased adoption of STEEM is good for its value and general perception, and who knows? Maybe it will introduce some investors to Steemit?

Qtum became the first ever blockchain application to have a node launched into space

You have to admit it: Having a space based blockchain node is pretty cool. I'll admit that Qtum is one of those projects I know absolutely nothing about, so I might have to do some reading. What I find most pleasing about this news, is that Qtum shows a genuine confidence in its technology. Hopefully it will make people realize that these are real projects, not just get-rich-quick-schemes.

What made you stay positive throughout the past week?