The State of the Market: After completing a marathon style rally last week, Ethereum, XPR and Bitcoin cooled off over the weekend and the rest of the cryptocurrency market followed as heaps of altcoins are down 2 to 7 percent today. This is most likely a consolidation phase for Bitcoin, and as it prepares to overtake the $6,800 resistance, top 10 altcoins might latch on and follow whichever direction the king of cryptocurrencies chooses to take. While last week’s focus was on new partnerships between Ripple and U.S. and Saudi Banks, this week kicked off with news of the Dubai, Singapore, Thailand and Juventus Football Club adopting various blockchain technologies for a variety of purposes. Hopefully this news will raise investor sentiment and drive the market forward. Currently the cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $219.5 billion.

1) Kasikornbank, the largest bank in Thailand by market cap has announced that it will pilot Visa B2B Connect, Visa’s Blockchain Cross-Border Payments Platform. Kasikornbank is the first financial institution in the Southeast Asian country to test out the platform. The new system will improve speed, security, and enhance transparency. In late 2016, Kasikornbank partnered with International Business Settlement to develop a blockchain platform between China and Thailand without using USD. (Read More.)

2) Hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz has always been bullish on cryptocurrencies. In a recent interview with CNBC Fast Money, Novogratz said that Bitcoin could reach $10,000 by the end of this year. To back his claim, he pointed out that giants like Goldman Sachs and ICE are developing technologies to increase institutional investment in the industry. Novogratz added that it is extremely bullish that tools are being built for massive investments. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently priced at $6,608.24, losing 1.97% in the last 24 hours. (Read More.)

3) Late last week, it was revealed that a critical Bitcoin bug that could have crippled the entire network was discovered. John Newbery, an early Bitcoin developer, has now come forward and taken responsibility for what some have called the ‘worst Bitcoin bug since 2010.’ Newbery apologised and said he was embarrassed about the error. Van Der Laan, another Bitcoin core developer came out in support of Newbery and said it was the entire community that failed to discover the bug. However, what’s important is that they fixed it, and now the Bitcoin Core team can move forward. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently priced at $6,602.89, losing 1.99% in the last 24 hours. (Read More.)

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