Bitcoin Daily: Big ICOs Avoided Ethereum Crash By Cashing Out; Bitcoin Falls For Second Consecutive Month

Big initial coin offering (ICO) projects studied by Bitmex may have avoided the crash in Ethereum prices by converting their resources in the digital currency to fiat currency, reports said. Bitmex noted that the difference between the total Ethereum raised versus the amount cashed into fiat was only $11 million. Even so, the report notes that unrealized gains for Ethereum were far higher at $93 million. The cryptocurrency hit a high of $1,400 in January and fell under $200 in September. Its price was $230.83 as of 8:19 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 1), according to CoinDesk.

The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) claimed that a new unit dedicated to research of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technology has not been formally created, CoinDesk reported. The news comes after a news outlet in India filed a Right To Information (RTI) request, following an article in The Economic Times. The report noted that the RBI had created such a unit based on information from two unidentified sources “familiar with the central bank’s plans.” According to an RTI response sent to the outlet, “There is no new unit created formally in RBI for the purpose (blockchain, crypto and AI) mentioned in RTI query.”

Bitcoin has been having a rough go, with the cryptocurrency falling for the second consecutive month. However, CoinDesk reported that “there are hints of a bullish breakout ahead in the fourth quarter.” Bitcoin did fall 10 percent in August, and the cryptocurrency started September at just over $7,000, after falling to around $6,500 as of 8:31 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 1). That was still a far cry from the $20,000-level bitcoin saw in December of last year. The outlet, however, pointed out that the cryptocurrency, in the third quarter, registered a 2 percent gain. It further argued that, had the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) not turned down a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), that gain “could have been much bigger.”