Bitcoin and altcoins are in the middle of a powerful rally today - with Bitcoin 's value jumping up by over $1000, all in less than an hour.

While a rally is always good - a rally isn't always recovery.  Here's what to look for next.

First - will it hold above $7500 for over 24hrs? This is a sign of support and stabilization investors are watching for.

Then only after market stabilization, can true market recovery begin.   If the above happens, and is then followed by Bitcoin breaking the $8500 resistance marker - we can officially consider the cryptocurrency markets in true recovery and rebound mode.

So far so good though - the market has held steady throughout the day, and we're about half way though the first of these two key steps.

China seems to still be figuring out their comfort level with the cryptocurrency world, while making an effort to not get left behind technologically while enforcing a cryptocurrency trading ban.

Blockchain technology itself has grabbed the attention of both the Chinese government and the private Chinese tech industry - they actually lead the world in blockchain related patents already - with over double America's total of 112, with a total of 284 over the last 2 years.

Now a new fund of over $1.6 billion allocated to 'innovative blockchain startups' includes $400 million of Chinese government funds, with the rest from Chinese venture capital firm Tunlan Investments.

Still, no signs of letting up on the cryptocurrency crack down.  For now, China is big on blockchain, and bad on cryptocurrency.

With The Bank of Montreal (BMO) now joining Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) in blocking cryptocurrency exchange purchases within Canada - smart Canadian's are proving their efforts to be useless.

Credit-card based purchases have been blocked in numerous countries for some time now, and that's hardly surprising. While my personal belief is that someone has the right to decide their own risks - I can also see the bankers point that using credit cards (technically loans) to buy cryptocurrency falls under a 'high risk' transaction category, so they can at least make an argument for blocking such transactions.

But these Canadian banks took things a step further - actually blocking people from using their own money - not just credit, but even debit card transactions. Which frankly - is pretty disturbing.

Not surprising - the Canadian cryptocurrency community isn't putting up with it - trade is alive and well in Canada despite these bankers best efforts to interfere.

They're using a number of alternative methods exercize their freedoms.

First, leaving these corperate banks alltogether. Local credit unions and co-operative financial services providers are easy to find and join in pretty much every city across Canada.

Then of course, there's Bitcoin ATM's.  Simply withdraw cash from your bank, deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM and have the cryptocurrency issued to your digital wallet.  Once you have paper cash in hand, the bank loses control over how you use it.

Lastly, sites that connect traders directly with each other like localbitcoins.com and there's even one specific to Canada, cancoin.co.  These sites are reporting usage up 400% in response to these recent moves by Canadian bankers.

Thanks to the strength and wits of the Canadian cryptocurrency community, they're giving the banks a hard pill to swallow - they can't, and won't be stopped.

Rumors are flying in the traditional financial world, that some of the most elite and wealthy families are preparing their entry into the cryptocurrency markets.  

Japanese online broker Monex Group is looking to take over a recently hacked Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck.

The Twitter username @Bitcoin has taken a lot of heat in the past - that's because the anonymous owner doesn't use it to actually talk Bitcoin, but is instead a heavy promoter of BCH (aka Bitcoin Cash or BCash) an alternative coin to the original Bitcoin.

Hackers in both Russia and Turkey claimed credit for the hack, but the account owner is going as far as claiming the Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was part of an inside-job conspiracy against him.

"...Jack disabled this account, gave it to someone else, only to return it in the face of public backlash with 750,000 fewer followers. #censorship" he said in a Tweet shortly after gaining back control of the account.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been an advocate of the original Bitcoin, recently stating "The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin."

Unfortunately, the truth behind the hack is likely much less interesting, and we highly doubt this was an 'inside job'.  A more likely and simple explanation such as malware or a keylogger installed on a device of the owner is probably how this and most twitter 'hacks' occur.

Centra claimed they had developed a debit card that would allow users to link their cryptocurrency wallets to it, then spend their Bitcoin or Ethereum anywhere Visa and MasterCard is accepted.  Even going so far to claim they had a partnership in place with the credit card companies to make this happen.  The ICO went on to raise $32 million.

But the US Government says - that partnership never existed, and is now the SEC is pursuing Centra for fraud.

“They claimed, for example, to offer a debit card backed by Visa and Mastercard that would allow users to instantly covert hard-to-spend cryptocurrencies into US dollars or legal tender. In reality,  Centra had no relationships with Visa or MasterCard.” reads the SEC complaint which can be read in full here

However, Centra did have two other real partnerships - with celebrity endorsers DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather.

Also cited in the SEC complaint "As we allege, the defendants relied heavily on celebrity endorsements and social media to market their scheme".

So far however Khaled and Mayweather haven't been charged with any crimes.  But that doesn't mean they're in the clear yet - they may have violated securities law by promoting the ICO without disclosing the amount of their compensation. 

At this point the SEC investigation is focused on the company founders - but the case still could expand to include Khaled and Mayweather.

*Update* - Centra's token has also now been delisted by Binance.

Coinbase is getting into the world of venture capital - looking for the next hot companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and helping to fund their projects.

"We’ll be providing financing to promising early stage companies that have the teams and ideas that can move the space forward in a positive, meaningful way. At least in the beginning, our goal is simply to help the most compelling companies in the space to flourish.

This means that we don’t have the strategic requirement of formalizing partner relationships with such companies, as some corporate venture programs do. Our focus is on building strong relationships and helping to spur on the development of the ecosystem." the company explains on their blog.

Another interesting twist - they've stated they're even open to investing in companies that 'look competitive with Coinbase'.  A move that can keep them dominate in the US cryptocurrency exchange world by owning a piece of their competition, and putting them in a strategically strong position for buy-outs.