The third week of July has been exciting for the cryptocurrency markets. Arguably the biggest news is that US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made negative remarks on cryptocurrency during his July 18 testimony to Congress. Powell stated that he believes cryptocurrencies are not real money and have no intrinsic value. He also expressed concern that retail investors are taking big risks by investing in coins. He added that the lack of investor and consumer protections is troubling. As America's top central banker, it is no surprise that Powell considers the cryptocurrency sector to represent the worst of animal spirits and speculation.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives held hearings on cryptocurrencies. Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, stated that cryptocurrency is teeming with criminal use and called for a scathing blanket ban on buying and mining cryptocurrency. Within hours, the cryptocurrency community fought back on social media. People publicized Sherman's hypocrisy, as one of his largest campaign donors is a credit card company. They also criticized the US government for wasteful spending. The #CryptoCongress hashtag quickly became trending.

India's Supreme Court has set the date of September 11 for a final cryptocurrency petition hearing. The central bank's ban on banking relationships with the cryptocurrency sector and cryptocurrency purchases through bank accounts went into effect in July. On Friday the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the central bank's prohibition. Cryptocurrency advocates created a petition to the justices for a rehearing. They argue that the central bank's directive will make India less competitive in global finance and technology.

CoinDesk reports that Chinese cryptocurrency millionaires are using their Bitcoin (BTC) to buy real estate abroad. A former beef salesman, Guo Hongcai sold 500 BTC and bought a luxury mansion with chive gardens near San Francisco. Faced with increasing capital controls from the Chinese government, Chinese investors are increasingly looking toward the US and UK as places to park their wealth. London and California's Bay Area are especially appealing. As Chinese citizens continue to ride the cryptocurrency trend, more capital will attempt to flow into foreign markets like real estate.

Cryptocurrency prices rebounded comfortably this week, with buyers squarely in control. The biggest losers are Bitcoin Private (BTCP), down 15 percent, PRIZM (PZM), down 15 percent, and WaykiChain (WICC), down 12 percent. The biggest winners are Dogecoin (DOGE), up 48 percent, WhiteCoin (XWC), up 46 percent, and Stellar (XLM), up 42 percent. Although the majors easily blasted through two short-term exponential moving averages, they still need to challenge and overcome resistance at the 100-day and 200-day exponential moving averages and make convincing moves higher before any talk of a bull run is legitimate.

The author owns a small amount of BTC.