Cryptocurrencies Have A Busy Week In The Headlines From Good To Bad

It was a busy week in the cryptocurrency industry. Not only did the prices of the leading digital currencies such as Bitcoin roller-coaster up and down, but the industry was also very much in the mainstream news.

In the United States this week, President Donald Trump — who is no stranger to bashing things he does not like on Twitter — turned his venom toward two digital currencies in a set of tweets. Interestingly, one of the currencies he bashed does not even exist yet.

The president not only bashed Bitcoin, which is the world's leading digital currency, but he also bashed Libra, which is a cryptocurrency that Facebook hopes to launch next year. However, the cryptocurrency market seemed unfazed by Trump's remarks, unlike other markets that the president has involved himself with. Some in the industry even believe that the president's diatribe against cryptocurrencies was something positive, as it demonstrated how important digital currencies had become. It was also free publicity.

Brian Armstrong, who is the CEO of Coinbase, commented on the tweets and on the fact that it did not hurt the markets by saying that it shows that digital currencies were so resilient that not even powerful people can bring it down.

In other industry news this week, Jerome Powell — who is the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve — testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. During his testimony, he indicated that, while digital currencies were created to eventually replace fiat currencies, this has not happened yet. He further compared Bitcoin to gold, saying that it was a "store of value."

Libra made news this week even outside the president's tweets. Mark Carney, who is the governor of the Bank of England, said that Libra was trying to address important shortcomings in the world's financial system, but he added that he expected that the digital currency would face significant problems.

Famed U.S. billionaire Mark Cuban also commented on Libra, but he was far more blunt. He said that Libra was a "big mistake."