roadrunner

On Monday evening November 16, the popular bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos tweeted about his upcoming role in the high-profile billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit, Kleiman v. Wright. Antonopoulos said that he will be “testifying at trial” during the month of April 2021, even though Craig Wright’s defense team tried to exclude him. It seems the ongoing high-profile lawsuit, Kleiman v. Wright will continue into 2021, and maybe even longer depending on the situation with Covid-19. However, new information has been published by the courts that show a lot of deliberation and arguments over expert testimony. On November 16, one of the individuals planning to testify, the bitcoin evangelist and technical author Andreas Antonopoulos tweeted about his upcoming appearance in the billion-dollar lawsuit. “The federal court in Kleiman v. Wright has affirmed my status as an expert witness in the case, rejecting the ‘Daubert’ motions by the defense that tried to exclude me and other experts,” Antonopoulos explained. “I will be testifying at trial (sch. for April 2021), as an expert witness,” the bitcoin evangelist added. The court filing shows that the defendant, Craig Wright, also tried to exclude the opinions of the plaintiffs’ experts; Gordon Klein, Dr. Matthew Edman, Stefan Boedeker, and Dr. Robert Leonard as well. While speaking about Antonopoulos’s expert testimony scheduled for April, the judge explained that certain testimony will be restricted from the trial. For instance, Antonopoulos was going to discuss some of the communications allegedly sent by Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The court agrees that “[c]ommunications sent by Satoshi Nakamoto are plainly relevant to this litigation.” However, the court favored the defendant’s recent motion and even though Antonopoulos can discuss historical public communications and the emails sent by Satoshi, “an actual opinion must be connected to such testimony.” “Merely reading a post or emails located on a public forum is not an ‘opinion’ nor would the jury require expert assistance in performing such a task,” the judge ruled. Additionally, Wright’s legal team challenged another part of the Antonopoulos’ report that was titled an “Analysis of Address Lists.” Wright’s attorney’s argued that they are “anonymously-sourced documents that cannot be authenticated and includes hearsay messages that attack defendant’s character.” One message, in particular, that was sent on May 4, 2019, the court agrees might be a “backdoor attempt to attack [the] defendant’s character for truthfulness.” “Although it is one thing for an expert to represent generally that a message was sent from an individual not purporting to be [the] defendant using a bitcoin address defendant claimed as his own,” Florida Judge Beth Bloom wrote. “It is entirely different to have an expert testify that, as part of forming his opinions, the message ‘Craig is a liar and a fraud’ was transacted,” she added. So the court decided to side with Wright’s argument and Antonopoulos “may not disclose the content of the May 4, 2019 message.” The billion-dollar bitcoin lawsuit is still uncertain today, and it seems it will continue to drag on for quite some time. So far, the court case has been going on 1,007 days and when the Kleiman estate first took Wright to court, they claimed the value of the assets “far exceed $5.1 [billion] USD before punitive or treble damages.” Due to the mysterious nature of the Kleiman v. Wright case involving Satoshi Nakamoto and billions of dollars in assets, the court docket is one of the most popular dockets in the U.S. and a top ten lawsuit in the state of Florida. What do you think about the ongoing Kleiman v. Wright case and the upcoming expert testimony from the popular bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos Plans to Testify in Billion-Dollar Bitcoin Lawsuit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Game of Thrones and The New Mutants actress Maisie Williams has started a poll on Twitter seeking opinions on whether she should invest in bitcoin. Among those who replied was Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk who wrote: “Toss a bitcoin to your Witcher.” Should Maisie Williams Go Long on Bitcoin? As the price of bitcoin continues to surge, the cryptocurrency has attracted the attention of not only institutional investors but also celebrities. One of the latest is Maisie Williams, a 23-year-old English actress with 29 acting credits, according to her IMDB profile page. She is famed for her role as Arya Stark in the popular TV series Game of Thrones and as Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane, in X-Men reboot The New Mutants. According to the website celebritynetworth.com, Maisie Williams’ net worth is $6 million and her salary is about $150,000 per episode. Williams tweeted on Monday: “should I go long on bitcoin?” At the time of writing, there were almost 900,000 votes, and her tweet had received more than 3.3K comments, 3.1K retweets, and 13.9K likes. With about an hour left to go, 46.4% of the votes say “yes” to her longing bitcoin. Comments on her bitcoin question vary; some advise her to become a bitcoin hodler while others warn her to stay away from the cryptocurrency. “Yes, bitcoin will go to the moon,” one commenter wrote. Another replied to Williams: “Yes — dollar cost average into it and make it an important, balanced hedge in your portfolio.” There were also bitcoin skeptics, telling Williams not to buy BTC at the current price “because soon will fall 25-30%” While some commenters recommended popular educational resources for Williams to learn how to start investing in bitcoin the right way, a few saw the Game of Thrones star’s tweet as an opportunity to pump the cryptocurrencies they support. Toss a Bitcoin to Your Witcher Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk also replied to Maisie Williams’ tweet. He wrote, “Toss a bitcoin to ur Witcher,” wrapped between musical note symbols. Musk likely referred to “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,” a song from the Netflix TV series The Witcher, starring Superman actor Henry Cavill and Freya Allan, but not starring Williams. While a few commenters reminded Musk that The Witcher was the “wrong series,” suggesting that Musk could have gotten it and Game of Thrones confused, Williams replied to Musk: “how’s blue origin going?” Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is an aerospace manufacturer seen as a competitor to Musk’s Spacex. Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor also tweeted in response to Maisie Williams’ bitcoin call. The Nasdaq-listed billion-dollar company recently bought $500 million worth of bitcoin and made it the company’s primary Treasury reserve asset. Saylor wrote: “Three things I see: Maisie Williams is wiser than most professional investors, 45.6% of her fans know the answer, & only .1% of the money has figured this out and moved onto the bitcoin monetary network. Bitcoin is a risk worth taking.” Update (Nov. 17, 2020, 20:44 EDT): Soon after publication, Maisie Williams tweeted: “thank you for the advice. I bought some anyway.” What do you think about Maisie Williams buying bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Game of Thrones Star Maisie Williams Wants to Know if She Should Buy Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With COVID-19 cases on the rise and the world’s top economies re-considering strict lockdown measures, cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has taken an interest in SENSO — a token focused on bringing high-quality entertainment into the rapidly expanding VR space. Poloniex Lists SENSO The exchange has added support for Ethereum-based SENSO tokens on November 17, 2020, giving traders access to two new trading pairs: SENSO/BTC and SENSO/USDT. SENSO is the in-platform currency of Sensorium Galaxy — a social VR platform designed to enhance digital communication through compelling virtual experiences like music concerts, dance performances, art exhibitions, and many others. Developed in collaboration with world-famous artists, producers, and media companies, Sensorium Galaxy has attracted huge interest from the investment community. The project launched in 2018 backed by Forbes-listed billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. Since then, the company has raised over $100 million making Sensorium Galaxy one of the best-funded VR projects to date. While the platform is scheduled for public release in early 2021, high-caliber artists like David Guetta, Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, and Sergei Polunin have already confirmed their participation. Performers will be virtually recreated to host exclusive shows in Sensorium Galaxy. Users willing to join these VR events would pay with SENSO tokens. Taking Entertainment To the Next Level Brian Kean, Sensorium Corporation CCO, explains that “Sensorium Galaxy is taking communications and entertainment to the next level. People from all over the world will be able to get together and join mind-blowing events prepared by their favorite artists. All done in a safe, virtual manner. We’re using SENSO to ensure transparency and flexibility when it comes to value transactions within this alternate world. From buying tickets to avatar customization, everything is paid using a reliable and widely accepted blockchain-powered SENSO.” Earlier this year, Jay Z-owned music streaming service TIDAL partnered up with Sensorium Galaxy to allow their listed artists distribute content in a VR setup. The international music service invested $7 million in SENSO tokens. “Our relationship with Sensorium provides TIDAL with the opportunity to gain exclusive rights for its stellar artist roster to have their shows and music broadcast exclusively within Sensorium’s themed virtual entertainment worlds. The Sensorium Galaxy is a next-generation platform for entertainment consumption which will elevate the connection fans have with their favorite artists, and bring the artist’s vision to life in a new and exciting way,” says Lior Tibon, Chief Operating Officer at TIDAL. But Sensorium Galaxy seems to offer a lot more than just quality entertainment. Aside from the shows, the platform allows everyone to generate jaw-dropping avatars and environments in AAA quality powered by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4. Users can also customize their avatars with a large selection of items and special effects. Of course, all transactions are processed in SENSO. Sensorium Corporation expects to capture over 1.8 million users who would use SENSO tokens to actively participate in Sensorium Galaxy and purchase VR content. The platform will be available worldwide and accessible through VR headsets (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift S and Valve Index), PCs and mobile devices. Apart from Poloniex, SENSO tokens are also featured on other leading cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bittrex, Kucoin, Bitcoin.com, and HitBTC. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Poloniex Lists SENSO As Sensorium Galaxy’s Partnership Spree With World-Class Artists Accelerates appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On November 17, the price of bitcoin touched another 2020 all-time high (ATH) when the crypto asset surpassed the $17k price zone on Tuesday. Bitcoin dominance has risen higher during the last few months and currently hovers at 65% this week. Despite the massive rise in bitcoin value during the last few months, altcoins are not performing as well as they did when bitcoin was at this price range three years ago. Back in 2017, bitcoin (BTC) touched an all-time high (ATH) on December 17, when it reached $19,600 per coin that year. Bitcoin’s dominance index was slightly different in 2017 than it is today, as numerous altcoins saw significant increases in value three years ago. Bitcoin dominance is essentially the recorded metric of BTC’s market capitalization paired against the 7,000+ other altcoin market valuations in existence today. The altcoin value increases seen three years ago, continued into the next year and on January 14, 2018, Bitcoin’s dominance index fell to an all-time low of 32%. With BTC holding a 65% dominance level today, the crypto asset’s dominance increased 103% since the second week of January 2018. On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, the price of bitcoin (BTC) tapped a 2020 all-time high (ATH) at $17,100 per unit during the early morning trading sessions (EST). On Tuesday, bitcoin’s (BTC) price is hovering just above the $17k zone and the crypto asset’s market cap is around $315 billion at the time of publication. Historical price charts show that when BTC was priced at $17k or above three years ago, altcoins were performing much better than they are today. The trend has given traders and speculators the opinion that the infamous ‘altcoin season’ has not started, and some believe it never will. For instance, history shows on December 17, 2017, ethereum (ETH) was swapping for $719 per unit. Today, even though ETH has gained 256% this year, the crypto asset is still down 34% from that price range on December 17. ETH also touched an ATH of $1,431 and the crypto asset still needs to gain over 67% to get to that position again. Another historical snapshot from the same day in December indicates that XRP was swapping for $0.72 on the 17th, and it is still down 58% from that position. In fact, XRP is down considerably from the $3.84 ATH, as it remains 92% below that point today. Another interesting change during the last three years is how tether (USDT) has grown massively since December 17. On that day, USDT the notorious stablecoin was of course swapping for a dollar, but in terms of market cap, the stablecoin sat in the 24th market cap position. Today, tether (USDT) is the third-largest blockchain in terms of market valuation with $17.9 billion under the hood. That means that tether’s market cap has increased a whopping 1,527% since the 17th of December 2017. If any market cap in 2020 is stopping bitcoin (BTC) from capturing a much higher dominance percentage it is tether’s valuation. Interestingly, back in December 2017, litecoin (LTC) was also hovering in the fifth-largest market cap position and just the other day, LTC managed to capture the position again. Still, on the 17th of December 2017, LTC was swapping for $318 per unit, and it’s still down 77% from that range. In fact, LTC needs to gain over 80% to reach the $375 ATH it touched years ago. Bitcoin cash (BCH) also held the third-largest position on the 17th of December 2017, and was trading for $1,862 per unit. The crypto asset BCH needs to climb more than 86% to capture that price range again, as the digital currency trades for $252 today. You know what??!! ALTCOIN SEASON IS HERE!! All of my alerts are going OFF!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 — Derrick Purcell Jr (@sonofdestinyxrp) November 17, 2020 The rest of the coins in 2020’s top ten rankings were not present in the top ten back in 2017, except for cardano (ADA). The three coins that were present in the top ten on the 17th of December 2017, were IOTA, dash, and monero. Today in 2020, those positions have been replaced by polkadot, chainlink, and binance coin. At that time three years ago, cardano (ADA) was trading for $0.51 per unit. On November 17, 2020, ADA is still down 78% from that point and 91% behind the $1.33 ATH. Despite the statistics, traders are still waiting for the notorious point in time referred to as ‘altcoin season’ or ‘altseason.’ On crypto-related forums and social media, the altcoin season topic is trending and a number of crypto proponents are waiting for it to arrive. The other day one individual tweeted: What comes after Spring? Summer. What comes after Bitcoin season? Altcoin season. The same day, another crypto proponent wrote about how “it looks like BTC dominance is rising, while the price is not rising so much.” “I think the money is leaving Alts —> BTC —> USDT which keeps BTC up for a while,” the individual tweeted. “Until Alts without USD pairs exit into BTC to then dump in USD.” The Twitter account dubbed ‘Altcoin Sherpa’ agreed with the analysis and said: “Money definitely seems to be leaving [altcoins] in general. The high time frame trends on those are still bearish IMO, not altseason quite yet,” he added. What do you think about bitcoin (BTC) dominance reaching 65% and people’s opinions about another altcoin season? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Touches $17K Price Zone, BTC Dominance Levels High, Altcoins Still Way Behind appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has released its 20th ranking of crypto projects. A total of 37 crypto projects are ranked this time around overall as well as in three separate categories: basic technology, applicability, and creativity. The top four positions remain unchanged overall from the previous ranking, with Dash replacing NEO in the fifth position. Bitcoin climbed from the 14th position to the 11th place while Bitcoin Cash rose slightly from the 30th to the 29th position. IOTA continues to rank the lowest. According to the center, the basic technology subindex accounts for 65% of the total score, the applicability subindex 20%, and the creativity subindex 15%. The ranking and evaluation work is carried out every two months by the CCID (Qingdao) Blockchain Research Institute, an entity established by the CCID, with the help of several organizations, including the CCID think tank and the China Software Evaluation Center. What do you think about this crypto ranking? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Ascends in New Crypto Ranking by State-Backed Chinese Institute appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A decentralized finance (defi) protocol that bragged about having flash loan attack prevention has been exploited for $6 million in DAI, in a flash loan attack. Value Defi, a yield aggregating protocol, boasted of having the “highest security” in a Nov. 13 tweet that now appears to have been deleted. The protocol claimed that its technology was capable of preventing flash loan attacks. Hardly a day later, hackers plundered Value Defi’s multi-stablecoin vault of a total of $8 million of the stablecoin DAI. The attacker returned $2 million to the protocol and pocketed $6 million — and with it left one audacious message stating, “do you really know flashloan?” Value Defi said it suffered a “complex attack that resulted in a net loss of $6 million.” The hacker took out a loan of 80,000 ether from the defi lending platform Aave and also borrowed an additional $116 million in DAI from Uniswap. According to Value Defi’s postmortem of the incident, the attacker swapped the ETH loan for stablecoins and deposited part of the flash-loaned DAI into the protocol’s vault. He then made a series of stablecoin swaps involving USDT, USDC, and DAI — a technique that eventually exploits Value Defi’s vault withdrawal method. Aave developer Emiliano Bonassi exclaimed: This is the complex exploit I’ve ever seen. It used two flashloans. Flash loans allow users to borrow money without collateral because the lender expects the funds to be returned within one transaction block, almost immediately. Hackers have used this loophole in defi to steal millions of dollars. In its postmortem, Value Defi said it was looking at ways to compensate affected users. It stated that users can claim 20% in DAI from the $2 million that was returned by the hackers. The protocol is also hiking transaction fees to generate income for compensation. “We will create a compensation fund which will be funded by a combination of the dev fund, insurance fund and a portion of the fees that are currently generated by the protocol,” it explained. The price of Value Defi’s native token, value liquidity, plunged as much as 28% on the day of the attack to $1.99 from $2.76, according to Coingecko data. At press time, the token was trading at $2.05, down 4.9% in 24 hours. This latest exploit comes just two days after another $2 million heist at defi lending protocol Akropolis. What do you think about the frequency of flash loan attacks in the defi industry? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Defi Protocol That Bragged About Having Flash Loan Attack Prevention Hacked for $6 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Saint Kitts, November 17, 2020— Bitcoin.com, the go-to web portal for everything bitcoin, announced the launch of a new Franck Muller luxury watch called “Free the Money, Free the World.” The watch is the first ever Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Franck Muller “Encrypto” brand timepiece. The new watch is a limited edition BCH wristwatch that will sell for 9,900 EUR per timepiece and only 500 will be made available. The “Free the Money, Free the World” Franck Muller luxury watch was designed by Tyler Gallagher of Regal Assets and the cofounder of Bitcoin.com Mate Tokay. During the launch event, Gallagher said that he was thrilled to collaborate with the Bitcoin.com team. “This has been an exciting project and it is beyond an honor to work with Bitcoin.com, Mate Tokay, and Roger Ver on this. Let’s free the world together,” Gallagher said. Franck Muller watches are extremely popular and well known celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Swae Lee, Kanye West, and David Beckham have been seen wearing the fine timepieces. The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Franck Muller luxury watch comes with a two-piece “Deep Cold Storage” set that allows the owner to store bitcoins within the public address etched on the dial. The 41mm black and green wristwatch is characterized by timeless arrangements and uniquely complicated watch machinery. The product’s titanium exterior is extremely durable for individuals with an active lifestyle. The stylish black DLC coating with green accents gives the watch a fashionable metropolitan look. The wristwatch is the first-ever Bitcoin Cash Franck Muller dial. The watch QR code can be customized with the buyer’s bitcoin cash (BCH) public key. During the limited edition watch release announcement, Mate Tokay said he was excited to see the response toward this clever and gorgeous design. “It has been an amazing experience to work with the Franck Muller team to design the world’s first Bitcoin Cash watch,” Mate Tokay said. “As a watch enthusiast, this challenge meant a lot to me. I truly believe that we have created a one of a kind watch, and I am flattered to say that the feedback has been great so far.” Since the limited edition launch, celebrities such as rapper Young Thug, Youtube star and gamer Faze Banks, American singer-songwriter Kaash Paige, rapper and songwriter Cardi B, American singer and rapper Swae Lee, American model and social media star Jordyn Woods, and the hip-hop star Gunna have been seen wearing the watch. Find more information about the “Free the Money, Free the World” timepiece here. Check out the new product’s Youtube video as well, which displays the timepiece’s one-of-a-kind elegance. About Bitcoin.com Founded in 2015, Bitcoin.com is working to make money better—for everyone. Whether it’s your paycheck, pension, or piggy bank savings, money matters to us all. So, rather than relying on banks—with their fees, delays, and fraud risk—we stand for money without limits. That’s why we support Bitcoin Cash, a global digital currency that only you can control. Our products make both Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin more accessible. You can buy, use, and store Bitcoin securely, monitor market prices and news, and even earn Bitcoin through mining. We also help businesses accept Bitcoin payments and support developers building on Bitcoin. Media Contacts: Jason Sheman Head of Marketing Operations Jason@bitcoin.com This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post Bitcoin.com Announces Partnership With Luxury Watchmaker Franck Muller appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In a filing registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the giant global investment firm Skybridge Capital explained that the fund Skybridge G II may invest in digital currencies like bitcoin. On November 13, the New York-based company with $7.7 billion assets under management (AUM) told the U.S. regulator that Skybridge investment funds “may hold long and short positions in digital assets.” Skybridge Capital, another well known wealth manager with over $7.7 billion AUM, told the SEC on Friday it may invest in digital assets like bitcoin. The SEC filing discusses the overall assessment of the firm and includes a large summary of how Covid-19 is affecting the economy. Buried deep in the pages of certain assets, derivatives, ETFs, ETNs, and other investment vehicles, Skybridge notes the G II Fund may enter the crypto economy via a myriad of angles. Not only did the fund say it “may hold long and short positions in digital assets,” but Skybridge might also invest in other types of cryptos alongside bitcoin (BTC). The filing even highlights that digital assets “could decline rapidly, including to zero.” Even so, Skybridge could invest in other areas of the cryptocurrency universe like crypto companies. “[Skybridge] and Investment Funds may also invest in securities of companies related, in whole or in part, to digital assets or digital asset technologies (including digital asset miners, payment technologies, digital security, or crypto trading exchanges), or that otherwise have direct or indirect exposure to emerging technologies,” the SEC papers note. In a similar fashion, Skybridge tells the regulator that just like the chances of crypto-asset prices dropping to zero, some of the companies the fund invests in could be “rapidly eclipsed by newer and more disruptive technological advances.” Toward the end of the filing statements about digital assets, Skybridge tells the SEC that the company fully understands that the “regulatory landscape for digital assets is undefined and rapidly developing.” “Regulation of digital assets can vary significantly among non-U.S. or U.S. federal, state, and local jurisdictions and is subject to significant uncertainty,” the Skybridge filing details. Skybridge Capital was founded in 2005 by Anthony Scaramucci, Brett S. Messing, Raymond Nolte, and Troy Gaveski. Scaramucci recently discussed digital currencies in an interview and explained that when he returned to Skybridge in 2018, “[the company did] a deep dive into the digital assets space.” “I am a fan,” Scaramucci explained. “I believe that digital assets have a future and obviously that blockchain has a future,” the managing partner said. What do you think about Skybridge possibly getting into the cryptocurrency economy in the future? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Scaramucci’s Billion-Dollar Mega Hedge Fund Skybridge ‘May Hold Positions’ in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Financial incumbents may face a harsh reality soon, as a commercial real estate crisis has threatened the profits from America’s largest banks. A number of reports show that banks with a large amount of commercial real estate in their portfolios may see a significant fallout in the next few months. Just recently PWC’s real estate practice published a report called “The 2021 Emerging Trends,” which shows city ranks have changed a great deal since the coronavirus outbreak. For instance, for a number of years, the city of Seattle was a top ten city for real-estate investment but after Covid-19, it dropped to No. 34 in terms of ratings with other American cities. One of the biggest issues major cities like Seattle, Boston, New York, L.A., Atlanta, and many more cities face, is the mounting commercial real estate (CRE) losses looming on the horizon. For instance, on November 11, 2020, columnist David J. Lynch published an article about how the current CRE market should frighten financial institutions like banks. The editorial explains how the Manhattan-based Signature Bank’s third-quarter earnings had shown “60 percent of its portfolio tied up in commercial real estate.” Lynch further explains that lending funds to businesses like hotels, landlords, and local shops used to be something banks could count on but in cities like New York, these places are now a “ghost town.” Signature Bank is suffering badly from the fallout, as Lynch further states: The bank’s bad-loan write-offs, though still modest, are creeping higher. Despite years of steady profits, investors have punished the stock, which even after a recent rebound has lost 27 percent of its value this year. Basically, commercial real estate or CRE is a type of property that is leveraged exclusively for business purposes. An extremely large portion of the world’s CRE is leased to those who generate an income but due to Covid-19 and the government’s response to the virus, some people leasing CRE cannot generate income. The CRE crisis looming in the United States is happening in nearly every state of the nation. On November 16, 2020, Jdsupra published a report that covers Delaware and the horrible effects the response to Covid-19 has had on commercial real estate tenants and landlords. “The real estate industry in Delaware experienced dramatic changes over the past eight months resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic— Without a regular income stream, many commercial tenants cannot meet their monthly rent obligations,” Jdsupra contributor John Newcomer, Jr writes. “Facing diminished monthly rental income, some landlords are left with a cash shortfall that affects their ability to make mortgage payments to their banks.” Meanwhile, the Federal eviction ban enacted by the CDC will be lifted at the end of the year and skeptics think it could trigger a wake of delinquencies. Local authorities from hard-hit CRE markets like New York and California are trying to curb the fallout by adding further regulations. For instance, California will continue to limit annual property tax increases for CRE markets. Moreover, analysts say no matter who is in office come January, no U.S. President will be able to affect returns on CRE. According to a recently published report from Cushman & Wakefield, real-estate downturns are guided by intense recessions no matter which political party is in charge of the United States. “Rather than elections,” stressed the Cushman & Wakefield report, “the real estate cycle, the economy, interest rates, COVID-19, geopolitical events, and long-term growth drivers (like demographics and technological change) are the areas to focus on in determining leasing fundamentals and property values.” Meanwhile, besides CRE and residential real estate, the investment assets gold and bitcoin have seen different price changes in recent days. For instance, after the Moderna vaccine announcement on Monday, spot gold prices dropped 0.40% and one ounce of fine gold is trading for $1,888 per unit. Gold also staggered in value when Pfizer announced a vaccine for Covid-19 as well, but crypto-asset markets have done the exact opposite. For instance, after the Moderna vaccine announcement, bitcoin (BTC) touched a high of $16,850 on the exchange Bitstamp rising 5.6%. Ethereum prices jumped 3.39% on Monday touching a high of $464 during Monday’s afternoon trading sessions. The entire crypto market economy is still nearing a half of a trillion dollars at $464 billion which is up 2.6% on Monday. What do you think about the looming commercial real estate crisis in the U.S.? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post US Banks Face a Massive Commercial Real Estate Crisis Looming on the Horizon appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is seeking the public’s help in locating Omotade Sparks Amos Sewanu, the mastermind behind the Inksnation crypto scam. According to a notice published in the local media on November 11, the EFCC wants Sewanu to respond to fraud charges relating to Inksnation’s purported crypto token- Pinkoin. The Inksnation scam, which gained popularity just before the start of lockdown restrictions, has duped many Nigerians with its promise of a lifetime income. Interested investors are asked to choose from five different investment packages. Each package promises a different monthly salary. Fraud Charges However, according to information on Inksnation website, all salary payments are in the form of the Pinkoin crypto token. Furthermore, the token is not listed on any crypto exchange in Nigeria therefore raising questions about its liquidation. Despite this, the Inksnation masterminds continue to post testimonials on social media of some Pinkoin investors who claim that they are getting the monthly salaries as promised. The use of testimonials is a common tactic used by many Ponzi schemes. They are intended to blunt scam allegations and to hoodwink fence-sitting potential investors. However, in its public notice, the EFCC specifically states that Sewanu is facing charges of “obtaining by false pretences, name dropping as well as fraud,” an amount of $84,200 (or 32 million Naira). According to the notice, Sewanu received the money in question after “floating the online digital currency.” By raising fraud charges against Sewanu, Nigerian authorities appear to be escalating the fight against the defiant Inksnation team. This follows the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission’s (NSEC) public notice that labelled Inksnation an illegal operation. Similarly, the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN) issued its own notice which labelled Pinkoin a scam. Both warnings did not stop the Inksnation team from continuing to solicit for funds from unsuspecting Nigerians. However, the EFCC notice raises the stakes as Sewanu and his accomplices face possible criminal indictment. Systems Upgrade Interestingly, some two days after the EFCC published the notice that features Sewanu’s photo, the Inksnation team issued an apology and urged calm after one of its websites went down. In a tweet, in which the organisation is eager to assuage followers, the Inksnation team says: Be informed!!! If you are experiencing difficulty logging in to your account or any other thing. Do not worry, do not panic and do not start raising alarm. Before informed that website maintenance is ongoing, keep calm. Still, in another tweet, the Inksnation ring leaders appear unfazed and continue to invite more people to register. It should be noted that claims of a computer error or systems upgrade normally precede the collapse of Ponzi scams. Just recently, the masterminds of a Spanish scam froze accounts of tens of thousands of investors after a computer error caused heavy financial losses. Smaller scams also use the excuse of a systems upgrade to keep investors at bay while they make their escape. News.Bitcoin.com is following the events at Inksnation and will provide updates on new developments as they unfold. Do you think the public notice by EFCC will stop Inksnation from continuing to solicit for money? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Nigerian Authorities Put Mastermind of the Inksnation Crypto Scam on Wanted List appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week two well known tech executives revealed they have been dabbling in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In a recent interview, Skype cofounder Jaan Tallinn detailed that he held bitcoin and ethereum in his personal finances, while the Intercom cofounder Eoghan McCabe tweeted on Sunday that he’s “jumped firmly onto the bitcoin wagon.” In 2020 a number of popular tech executives and CEOs from giant firms have revealed they hold a fascination for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. On Friday, the cofounder of the telecommunications application Skype discussed a couple of donations he made in the past leveraging ethereum and bitcoin. Skype’s cofounder Jaan Tallinn sent 350 ETH ($158k) to the London-based organization Faculty AI and in March 2020, Tallinn donated 50 BTC ($850k) to the group. Skype cofounder Jaan Tallinn. Faculty AI won $800k from the U.K. Home Office in order to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system that detects terrorism through social media. During his interview, Tallinn explained that the reason why he donated cryptocurrency to the organization is because he keeps a majority of his wealth in crypto assets. He opted to donate the crypto directly because if he cashed out the digital assets he would be liable for capital gains. According to the recent interview, Faculty AI’s annual accounts note that the company sold roughly $144k from the stash of ethereum in 2019. The chairman and cofounder of Intercom Eoghan McCabe. Following the interview with Tallinn, another well known executive told his Twitter followers on Sunday that he’s jumped into the bitcoin space. On November 15, 2020, the chairman and cofounder of Intercom, a well known American software firm, tweeted about the decentralized crypto asset bitcoin. Intercom’s Eoghan McCabe disclosed he is holding bitcoin after messing around with the digital currency for years. “I would like to announce that after years of dabbling, I’ve jumped firmly onto the Bitcoin wagon,” McCabe tweeted. In a tweet that followed, McCabe noted that he’s been listening to the Pomp Podcast and one in particular that features the Bitcoin evangelist Robert Breedlove. “Mad love for all the Bitcoin freaks,” McCabe added in another tweet. A great number of bitcoiners welcomed McCabe into the space, and a few individuals told him that he was still in the early adoption phase of bitcoin. The Tallinn and McCabe news follows a number of prominent executives getting into the cryptocurrency space and discussing the benefits of bitcoin in 2020. Executives like billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, the ‘Bond King’ Jeffrey Gundlach, the well known fund manager Bill Miller, billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones, and even the actor Kevin Hart jumped on the bitcoin wagon this year. Alongside this, the U.S. Senator, Cynthia Lummis, sees a lot of “promise” when it comes to the innovation provided by the crypto economy. Even the traditional crypto naysayers are starting to discuss bitcoin in a more positive way. Former bitcoin doubter JPMorgan’s recent analysis shows institutional interest has been moving from gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to bitcoin. The infamous BTC hater, Nouriel Roubini (‘Dr. Doom’), admitted that BTC might be a store of value in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance. With the way things are going, it’s likely a whole lot more popular tech and investor luminaries will be joining the cryptocurrency revolution. And maybe some former haters as well. What do you think about Skype cofounder Jaan Tallinn holding most of his personal wealth in crypto and the Intercom’s chairman’s recent plunge into bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Big Tech Execs and Bitcoin: Skype Cofounder Keeps Personal Wealth in Crypto, Intercom Chairman ‘Firmly Jumps on the Bitcoin Wagon’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Citibank Group’s Global head of Citifxtechnicals product, Tom Fitzpatrick expects to see the price of bitcoin peaking at $318,000 by end of 2021. Although he concedes that his prediction might seem improbable, Fitzpatrick argues that such a surge will still be the weakest rally for the digital asset when compared to other assets such as gold. He also adds that bitcoin is all about the”unthinkable rallies followed by painful corrections.” Bitcoin will see huge price swings before finally settling at the predicted price suggests Fitzpatrick. Similar Trends Writing in a report titled, Bitcoin: 21st Century Gold, Fitzpatrick makes the surge argument for bitcoin. He says the digital gold’s current trajectory appears to be similar to that of gold in the 1970s. Before structural changes were implemented in the early 1970s, gold had spent 50 years of trading in the $20-$35 range. However, after changes were instituted gold surged. It recently touched a new all-time high in August before settling at just under $1,900 per ounce. According to one report that analyzed Fitzpatrick’s paper, it is this “structural change in the modern-day monetary regime that ushered in a world of fiscal indiscipline, deficits, and inflation.” Therefore, the Citibank boss argues that bitcoin, which came to the fore at the aftermath of the “Great Financial crisis” of 2008-2009, is bound to have a similar run. With the Covid-19 pandemic still haemorrhaging economies around the world, governments will continue responding to the crisis by printing more money. This in turn will benefit safe-haven assets which perform well in inflationary periods. Bitcoin Better Than Gold Still, Fitzpatrick explains that although gold is expected to benefit from the deluge of new money entering circulation, the precious metal has unique limitations that do not seem to afflict bitcoin. In his write up, Fitzpatrick notes: Gold has restrictions such as storage, non-portable, and could possibly be even called ‘yesterday’s news’ in terms of a financial hedge. Bitcoin is the new gold. To support this view, the Citibank boss cites some of bitcoin’s key attributes which include the digital currency’s “limited supply, ease of movement across borders, and opaque ownership.” Consequently, Fitzpatrick believes more investors will choose bitcoin over gold as a result. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick predicts that bitcoin will be subjected to more regulatory constraints going forward. However, unlike other digital currencies such as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), bitcoin cannot be confiscated, therefore making it a more secure asset. What do you think of the bitcoin price prediction by the Citibank boss? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Citibank Executive Says Bitcoin Will Trade at $318,000 by End of 2021 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. The DealDefi network is a scalable heterogeneous blockchain for lending/borrowing & marketplace decentralized finance. The DealDefi Network prides itself in four major unique features; – Minimum or no gas fee on transactions, decentralization, privacy and fast/instant transactions. The DealDefi Network team is known and has a lot of experience in blockchain and cryptocurrency projects having been involved in successful and existing projects. “Our slogan is Effectiveness and Transparency in Defi” were the words of the CEO & Co-Founder Eng. Joshua Patrick during a live AMA with the DealDefi Network community. On the DealDefi Pouch Users can stake DealDefi Tokens for DealDefi Tokens or other ERC20 tokens on the DealDefi platform, lend or borrow crypto assets, swap from one token to another and wrap non ERC20 tokens to compatible versions of the tokens. The DealDefi Token is the utility token in the DealDefi Network and will grow in value over time as the network gets adopted by banks, third party app developers and as the community uses it as a store of value. DealDefi Token economics are as follows: Token Name: DealDefi Token Token Symbol: DDFI Total Supply: 42,000,000 Presale: 8,000,000 Team: 1,000,000 – Already locked for 6 months Marketing: 1,000,000 – Already locked for 4 months Staking & Rewards: 34,000,000 The DealDefi Token presale is live on bounce (https://app.bounce.finance/fixed-swap/4465) Rate of Presale: 1 ETH = 11,000 DDFI 1 DDFI = $0.0412 Uniswap Listing 1 ETH = 8,000 DDFI 1 DDFI = $0.060 Get some bags of DDFI before it runs out. Reasons why you should invest in DealDefi Token: – Team is known and experienced – Maximum supply of 42,000,000 Tokens – Staking on the DealDefi platform that gives users incentives – Adoption of Network will see the price of DDFI grow Official Website: https://dealdefi.com Telegram: @DealDefi Twitter: @DealDefi This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post DealDefi Network Presale is Now Open to the Public appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the near future, a non-fungible token collectible game is coming to the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. The project dubbed “Enter the Sphere” aims to bring its NFT collectible universe to Bitcoin Cash by leveraging the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP). Last week the team behind the project successfully raised 101 BCH ($24k) in order to kickstart the NFT experience. Last year a number of software engineers invoked the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) which allows the creation of permissionless tokens on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network. Since then, over 15,500 tokens have been created and a number of SLP tokens have amassed real-world value. Visuals from the upcoming Bitcoin Cash-based RPG “Enter the Sphere,” a card game that leverages the Simple Ledger Protocol. Now that the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) upgrade is over and behind the community, proponents and developers can get back to building innovative onchain projects. One particular project called “Enter the Sphere” or the Sphere for short, plans to introduce non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles to the BCH chain. “The Sphere is a collectible RPG card game built on SLP NFT technology, where entrants battle to ascend The Tower and sit on The Throne,” explains the team’s recently completed Flipstarter business plan. “Only one player or team wins every cycle with the prize.” The developers note that they wanted to bring the “first polished use-case for NFTs to Bitcoin Cash” and initiated the Flipstarter funding program to get started. The Flipstarter plan shows that roughly seven days ago the developers completed the funding of 101 BCH ($24k) which stemmed from a myriad of BCH enthusiasts who donated. According to the game summary, the Sphere will be a role-playing game (RPG) fighting game but also have battle royale and poker mechanics. In addition to the Flipstarter business plan the team also has a formal Telegram channel as well. Three weeks ago, the cofounder of the Spice token and a director of the SLP Foundation, Joey_B_Wong, wrote a comprehensive summary of the Sphere game and experience. The editorial written on the read.cash blogging platform discusses the Sphere’s core game and shows a video example as well. The three-minute video gives a unique visual perspective of the Sphere game built on Bitcoin Cash and things to come. According to Wong’s blog post, the game will also introduce a new token called ORB, an SLP token that will “play a big role in the ecosystem.” Wong also said that the ORB token will work “synergistically with Spice which is an already well-adopted token.” The blog post which was published three weeks ago says that the team hopes to have the pre-alpha version of the game ready by Christmas. At the moment the Sphere game developers are looking for playtesters and feedback. The Spice token cofounder also said that the game will allow gamers to deposit and withdraw tokens as well as let players buy and sell unique items and avatars. What do you think about the RPG “Enter the Sphere” and bringing NFT collectibles to Bitcoin Cash? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post BCH Collectibles: RPG Blockchain Game Built on Bitcoin Cash Completes Flipstarter Campaign appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Many Americans are in need of second stimulus checks and a new coronavirus relief package. As Congress resumes stimulus negotiations, President Trump has called for a “big and focused” stimulus bill now. Meanwhile, several analysts have predicted when lawmakers will pass the next stimulus package. Stimulus Package Status Stimulus negotiations have resumed after the presidential election but lawmakers still have not been able to come to an agreement. This has left Americans with little hope of receiving their second stimulus checks to help them cope with the coronavirus-led economic crisis. After the election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to push for her $2.2 trillion revised HEROES Act while the White House has reportedly stepped back from negotiations on a new stimulus package. Prior to the election, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed stimulus terms with Pelosi almost daily but the two could not come to an agreement. Now, it is up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to revive talks with Pelosi. President Donald Trump, who had promised “a tremendous stimulus package immediately after the election,” has been busy contesting the election results. Nonetheless, he tweeted Saturday: Congress must now do a covid relief bill. Needs Democrats support. Make it big and focused. Get it done. Prior to the election, the White House and Pelosi have already agreed that the next stimulus package will include a second round of stimulus checks for Americans. McConnell acknowledged on Thursday the need for another aid package but continued to reject the Democrat’s $2.2 trillion stimulus proposal. He has proposed a much smaller package of $500 billion which was blocked by Senate Democrats before the election. McConnell’s bill does not include the $1,200 direct payments to individuals. Referring to Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, McConnell said: “I gather she and the Democratic leader in the Senate still are looking at something dramatically larger. That’s not a place I think we’re willing to go.” He elaborated: But I do think there needs to be another package. Hopefully we can get past the impasse we’ve had now for four or five months and get serious about doing something that’s appropriate. Nonetheless, McConnell insists that the next stimulus package should resemble his $500 billion stimulus proposal, emphasizing that the bill needs to be “highly targeted at what the residual problems are.” Meanwhile, Joe Biden also discussed stimulus relief aid with Pelosi and Schumer on Thursday. The three agreed on the need for a stimulus package before the president-elect takes office on Jan. 20. According to a joint readout of the call between the three, they want to pass a bill “that provides resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, relief for working families and small businesses, support for state and local governments trying to keep frontline workers on the payroll, expanded unemployment insurance, and affordable health care for millions of families.” Analysts’ Stimulus Predictions As stimulus negotiations drag on, many people doubt that the next stimulus package will be approved before the year’s end. Many leading analysts are also divided on the matter. JPMorgan Chase’s chief U.S. economist, Michael Feroli, wrote last week that “Something in the neighborhood of $1 trillion late in the first quarter is a reasonable expectation.” Morgan Stanley’s strategists also expect a stimulus package of a similar size in early 2021. Goldman Sachs’ analysts are more optimistic, stating that even though the election results are still contested, lawmakers are likely to enact a $1 trillion stimulus package even before Biden’s inauguration in January. However, they believe that this stimulus package will have only a “small” positive impact on U.S. growth in 2021. When do you think Americans will receive second stimulus checks? Let us know in the comments section below. The post New Push for Second Stimulus Checks: Analysts Predict When Another Relief Package Will Pass appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new report reveals that more than 300 banks in Germany are now charging some customers negative interest rates. Some are big global banks, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and ING. 300 Banks Pass on the Burden of Negative Interest Rates to Customers Banks in Germany have been increasingly passing on the burden of negative interest rates to their clients after the European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a negative interest rate policy. After lowering one of its key interest rates into negative territory in June 2014, the ECB then lowered the deposit facility rate incrementally until it reached the current rate of -0.5% in September 2019. A German financial product comparison portal, Biallo, conducted a study on 1,300 banks and savings banks in Germany. It found that “More than 300 financial institutions charge some of their customers negative interest,” the portal reported last week. Out of these banks, almost 200 of them impose negative interest rates on private customers. The rates and terms vary by bank. Biallo founder Horst Biallo described: The wave of negative interest rates that is currently rolling towards savers is growing steadily. Almost 30 banks and savings banks have introduced a so-called custody fee since the beginning of October alone. He explained that “Banks and savings banks usually avoid the terms ‘negative interest’ or ‘penalty interest,'” adding that “they prefer to speak of the so-called custody fee.” While noting that more banks are charging their business and corporate customers negative interest rates than they do private customers, Biallo emphasized that “This year alone, more than 150 banks and savings banks introduced negative interest rates for private customers.” Each bank sets its own terms regarding which accounts are charged negative interest rates, with the most common type of accounts being those with balances above 100,000 euros ($118,353). Most banks also apply negative interest rates to new accounts as German law requires customers’ consent for imposing negative interest rates on existing accounts. Among global banks on the Biallo’s negative rate list are Comdirect, Commerzbank, DAB BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, DKB, Donner und Reuschel, Ethikbank, Fidor Bank, Flatex Bank, GLS Bank, ING, Norisbank, and Postbank. Most of them apply a -0.5% interest rate on accounts with balances over differing amounts. Other banks on the Biallo list include Bank 1 Saar, Berliner Sparkasse, Brandenburger Bank, Bremische Volksbank, Eckernförder Bank, Erfurter Bank, Kasseler Sparkasse, Münchner Bank, Raiffeisenbank Eifeltor, Sparkasse Aachen, Sparkasse Landshut and more. Bank 1 Saar charges -0.75% on accounts over 100,000 euros — the highest penalty rate charged by any bank. Big Banks Imposing Negative Interest Rates Some of the largest banks in Germany have also introduced negative interest rates. The latest major bank to do so is ING. According to the bank’s list of prices and services, a custody fee of 0.5% will be charged starting on Feb. 1, 2021, for current accounts opened after Nov. 4 if they have balances of over 100,000 euros. Deutsche Bank has already been charging some clients a custody fee of 0.5% on current accounts with balances above 100,000 euros. In its terms of service, Deutsche Bank wrote that it “shall agree on the application of these special conditions and the obligation to pay the custody fee separately with the customer.” Commerzbank introduced a custody fee of 0.5% for deposits of over 250,000 euros at the end of the 2019 financial year. Biallo noted that a negative interest rate applies to accounts opened after July 1 and the deposit threshold was lowered on Oct. 1 to 100,000 euros. The Association of German Banks, the main lobby group for Germany’s financial sector, recently called on the ECB to reconsider its negative interest rate policy. Hans-Walter Peters, the president of the association, warned that more banks will be forced to charge their customers negative interest rates. What do you think about banks charging negative interest rates? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 300 Banks in Germany Charge Negative Interest Rates Including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, ING appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading is quite popular these days. With the price upswings and volatility in 2020, crypto traders have made and lost a lot of money. In the last few years, a number of digital currency enthusiasts have been attracted to professional traders and analysts routinely publishing technical analysis (TA) online. Crypto asset trading has exploded this year and there’s a great number of sophisticated traders sharing secrets, alongside short and long-term market outlooks. Digital currency traders can make a lot of money by calling the tops and bottoms by leveraging insight and technical analysis (TA). For instance, if a trader played their positions correctly they could have gained big time (358%) from the dip in mid-March (Black Thursday) up until this week’s 2020 high at $16,495. This weekend the price of BTC has slid some, and the crypto asset is currently trading at prices between $15,850 to $15,950 per unit. This year, cryptocurrency fans have been following a number of crypto traders and analysts on social media platforms like Twitter and charting websites like Tradingview. The following post is a collection of today’s most popular cryptocurrency traders, in no particular order, but have amassed a massive following from their digital currency trading tips this year. Tradingview – Crypto Traders & Analysts The website Tradingview is a web portal that shows live quotes for stocks, futures, forex, and cryptocurrency markets. The website is one of the most popular chart and technical analysis sites for crypto traders, and the portal also offers a social network of traders as well. While perusing the BTC/USD market section on Tradingview one will see the top traders sharing insights during recent days and all-time statistics. On Saturday, November 14, 2020, the top BTC/USD traders on Tradingview include six individuals who share insights about bitcoin’s market movements. The top trader on Tradingview is an individual named “Botje11” who runs his own public Telegram group and writes frequent updates on BTC/USD markets. Botje11, a trader from the Netherlands who joined the website three years ago has shared 939 ideas to-date. Additionally, Botje11 has a lot of reputation points and also has 35,393 followers on Tradingview. The last BTC/USD market outlook Botje11 shared was on September 14 called “Bitcoin’s consolidation phase.” Behind the trader Botje11 is “Magicpoopcannon” an American-based cryptocurrency trader who also shares trading ideas about BTC/USD markets. Magicpoopcannon (MPC) also joined three years ago and has 73,569 followers on the Tradingview website. The trader calls himself a “Crypto Pop Legend” and “Master of Charts” and the trader also has 30,000 followers on Twitter as well. The last BTC/USD insight MPC shared was called “Here’s How & Why BTC Could Reach 80,000-90,000 By Mid 2021,” published on November 4. Goldbug1 is the third most popular trader on Tradingview today and the analyst has around 38,003 followers on the platform today. During the last three years, Goldbug1 has shared 352 insights on Tradingview to-date. The last few BTC/USD charts Goldbug1 published had shown that he is long on bitcoin and his last TA was on November 11, 2020. The post called “BTC – Can You Fold a Winning Hand? Managing Risk” explains that bitcoin has been consolidating but to Goldbug1, he believes “this is an area to take a little profit from lower levels, not to add more risk.” Following the top three traders on Tradingview (TV) according to all-time stats, the traders Alanmasters, Excavo, and Tradingshot follow. Alanmasters has 89,657 TV followers and has published 3,784 public ideas. The trader Excavo has 98,891 TV followers and has publicly shared 1,647 ideas on the platform. During the last two years, the sixth most popular BTC/USD analyst on TV is Tradingshot, a trader that has published 1,051 ideas to his 19,469 TV followers. Twitter – Crypto Traders & Analysts The trader list news.Bitcoin.com collected from Twitter is a more randomized list and a tabulated count of social media followers as well. Unlike the aforementioned traders from Tradingview, the Twitter traders and analysts are listed in no particular order. Cryptoyoda (@Cryptoyoda1338) is a crypto enthusiast, technical analyst, and writer who doesn’t take the easy road. Digital currency proponents can follow Cryptoyoda on Twitter but also on yoda.substack.com and cryptoyoda1338.com. Cryptoyoda’s profile says he’s from Dagobah and he joined in 2017. The account shares digital currency charts and trading insights regularly and has over 207,000 Twitter followers. Nick Core (@Crypto_core) is another popular bitcoin trader who shares trading ideas on Twitter regularly to his 35,500 Twitter followers. Core’s analysis can be routinely seen on the website thetradingwizard.com and his market watch is for members only. The trader is also featured on Youtube, Twitch, and Tradingview as well. From top to bottom and left to right: Cryptoyoda, Nick Core, Peter Brandt, Mr. Jozza, ฿TF%$D!, and The Crypto Dog. The veteran and seasoned trader Peter Brandt (@Peterlbrandt) has been trading futures and has been an FX trader since 1975. Brandt is very popular on social media and has amassed a whopping 379,800 followers on Twitter to-date. The veteran trader shares insights on a number of assets including his BTC/USD thoughts. Brandt is an author and publisher of the Factor Report and the analyst joined Twitter in 2011. The last crypto tweet Brandt sent out was on November 6, when he tweeted about BTC paired with XRP. Another popular trader on Twitter is Mr. Jozza (@Mrjozza) who often tweets about BTC/USD and a few other coin markets to his 15,900 Twitter followers. Mr. Jozza joined Twitter in 2015 but has been flipping bitcoin since 2013. The trader tweeted about the BTC/USD action on October 24 when he said that the “bitcoin breakout is on fairly tame volume so far.” There’s also the crypto proponent known as ฿TF%$D! (@Cryptohustle), who considers himself a “semi-retired crypto trader.” The trader runs the website cryptohustle.com has a Youtube channel, and discusses BTC/USD markets regularly. On Twitter he also has 114,400 followers and the trader talked about “altcoin season” after “BTC is done stealing the show” on November 5. The Crypto Dog (@Thecryptodog) calls himself a PhD dropout, a “crypto-trading dog,” and bitcoin miner since 2011. The trader discusses bitcoin and digital currency markets routinely and since joining Twitter in 2017 he’s amassed 235,300 followers on social media. Most of the K9’s outlooks on bitcoin markets can be found on Twitter, but the Crypto Dog also writes regularly on Medium as well. From top to bottom and left to right: Crypto Bitlord, Willy Woo, Parabolictrav, and Donalt. Another crypto trading expert on Twitter is Crypto Bitlord (@Crypto_Bitlord) an Australian-based individual who often shares ideas about bitcoin markets. Crypto Bitlord joined Twitter back in 2012 and has 130,600 social media followers on the platform. On November 14, 2020, Crypto Bitlord started a poll asking which bitcoin price would be next from the two choices $13k or $18k. At the time of publication, the tweet had 2,350 votes and 48.6% chose $18k while 36.7% chose the lower price. Willy Woo (@Woonomic) is a popular crypto analyst with 157,600 Twitter followers to-date. Woo considers himself a pioneer of onchain analysis and the “art of extracting investment signals from the Bitcoin blockchain.” Woo’s charts can be seen at charts.woobull.com and his forecasts can be viewed at willywoo.substack.com. The crypto analyst joined Twitter in 2008 and often tweets about BTC/USD markets and onchain data. A well known trader in the crypto Twitter universe is the trader Parabolictrav (@Parabolictrav). The individual is another person who regularly discusses crypto markets and calls himself a “slave to bitcoin.” Parabolictrav has roughly 65,800 followers on the social media platform and he is always tweeting about BTC. The last time Parabolictrav shared his BTC/USD market insights was on November 11. The individual who goes by the name Donalt (@Cryptodonalt) is a digital currency trader and analyst who is often quoted in a number of crypto publications. Donalt joined Twitter in 2017 and has amassed 160,800 followers on the platform since then. The trader discusses BTC/USD market insights routinely and his last insight was on November 13, 2020. Technical Analysis or Pulling Numbers from Thin Air There are many other traders and analysts who discuss bitcoin regularly and have shared their cryptocurrency market prognosis to tens and hundreds of thousands of followers. A few of the aforementioned bitcoin traders speak about the long term game, but most of them speak about the short term cycles and swings more regularly. The projections many of these traders throw out are based on sophisticated technical analysis, charts, signals, indicators, and theories as well. Lots of times people take seasoned crypto traders, researchers, and analysts more seriously than Wall Street executives, venture capitalists, and traditional financiers pulling numbers out of thin air. Although, there are plenty of skeptics who believe technical analysis (TA) is no different than pulling numbers from thin air or leveraging tarot cards. What do you think about the most popular cryptocurrency traders in 2020? Are there any traders you like that you think we left out? Let us know what you think about these crypto traders and analysts in the comments section below. The post Calling Tops and Bottoms: 2020’s Most Popular Bitcoin Traders and Analysts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Bitcoin Cash community has been patiently waiting for weeks for the November 15, 2020 upgrade and the day is finally here. Every six months the Bitcoin Cash network upgrades, but this time around, a conflict sparked over Bitcoin ABC’s Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP). During the course of the day, the following editorial will be monitoring the Bitcoin Cash upgrade in real-time so our readers can be kept up to date. **Last update 11/15/20 @ 2:19 p.m. EST** Shortly after 12:00 p.m., UTC on November 15, 2020, Bitcoin Cash experienced a scheduled upgrade. Bitcoin Cash developers from various full node projects changed the Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm (DAA) to a new DAA called ‘aserti3-2d‘ (or ‘ASERT’ for short). The aserti3-2d Github description details that people can get a “high-level description of the motivation and background” for ASERT by reading the programmer Jonathan Toomim’s read.cash article. Specifications for ASERT can be read here on the Bitcoin Cash upgrade specifications web portal. As usual, Bitcoin Cash supporters watched the upgrade in real-time by leveraging the web portal Coin Dance. The website has maintained a countdown clock for the upgrade, information, and it displays three full node software clients in three separate sections. Additionally, the fork monitor operated by the derivatives exchange Bitmex has also been monitoring the fork. The data shown on Coin Dance includes the full node clients’ Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN), and Bitcoin ABC. Coin Dance stats say BCH Unlimited 1.9.0.1 will follow the longest chain. Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) 22.1.0 will follow the longest chain, unless the 10-block re-org protection is violated. Bitcoin ABC 0.22.4 will follow the chain that complies with the Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP). Because Bitcoin ABC stuck with implementing the IFP, it is expected to produce two incompatible networks. Every full node client, except for ABC’s IFP version, will be agreeing on the same rules. Bitcoin cash (BCH) users should see a smooth transition, but they may see an airdropped coin if miners decide to mine the ABC software that introduces the controversial IFP mechanism. At 9:12 a.m. EST, the last common block prior to the fork was mined at block height 661,647 by the mining pool Binance. At approximately 6:55 a.m. EST, at Bitcoin Cash (BCH) block height 661,641 the upgrade was initiated. Following block 661,641, six more blocks needed to be mined for the upgrade to go live on the network. The last Bitcoin Cash common block was at block height 661,647 and was mined by Binance. At 9:20 a.m. EST, Block 661,648 was mined by the mining pool Antpool. The live stream crypto show hosted by Collin Enstad will be broadcasting live today on November 15 with Mike Komaransky and the show will be covering the airdrop all day on Youtube with a number of special guests. A visual of the split at block height 661,648 via the Bitmex fork monitor. News.Bitcoin.com readers can check out prior articles on this subject here, here, here, and this article here. Those editorials not only explain the situation at hand, but also wallet and exchange contingency plans. A number of wallets and exchanges plan to support both tokens in the event of a split, while other third-party services have revealed only supporting one side. During the morning hours before fork activation, the crypto trading exchange Coinex changed the futures market from BCHN and BCHA to BCH and BCHA to represent the split. At the time of publication, spot prices for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on Coinex are $243 per unit while ABC’s airdrop token is $15.82 per unit. On Poloniex the ABC airdrop is swapping for $14 against USDT pairs, and on Coinflex ABC is trading for $11 per unit. Software developer Christ Troutner announced the launch of a website that hosts a splitting tool and the alpha web-based tool at splitbch.com will be available after the upgrade is settled. Troutner also published a demo of the splitbch splitting tool on Youtube. However, as of right now, at 10:37 a.m. EST, the ABC side of the fork has not seen a single mined block. As of 10:28 a.m. EST, ten blocks have been mined under the new Bitcoin Cash consensus rules. There have been zero Bitcoin ABC blocks mined so far since the fork initiated after the last common block. As of right now, there doesn’t seem to be a coin-split token for the ABC-IFP side with the chain showing zero functionality. (10:37 a.m. EST). Twelve BCH blocks under the new consensus rules have been mined at this time. With no split, it means that BCH simply upgraded and a node fell out of consensus. A valid block has to be mined for the ABC-IFP side to continue as a viable chain. At approximately 12:33 p.m. EST, the ABC-IFP side has two mined blocks while the BCH chain is 20 blocks ahead. According to stats, an unknown miner has mined block 661,648 and 661,649 on the ABC-IFP side. This means there was a split, but people will have to continue monitoring the airdrop (ABC-IFP side) to see if the chain remains functional over time. ** 2:19 p.m. EST Update ** So far there are approximately three ABC-IFP blocks mined, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is 27 blocks ahead. According to the Redditor u/grmpfpff, an unknown mining pool dubbed “very good mining pool” is mining the ABC-IFP side of the fork. “The miner needed almost 2 hours to find block 661,668, then one hour to find block 661,669,” the post details. “Difficulty on that side of the fork is slowly decreasing as a logical result, from 226446058610.77 at block 661,667 to 220458728602.59 at block 661,669,” the Redditor added. The Reddit post concludes by noting the BCH community will have to wait and see if: “the unknown pool continues mining alone, if more pools will switch over or if the miner stops and the chain freezes as a result.” Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Cash community has been celebrating the upgrade and smooth transition in a number of other posts on r/btc. The top post on Reddit this afternoon is called “A Historic Moment for Bitcoin Cash and Crypto” and many BCH fans believe they are victorious. “Today all participants of the BCH ecosystem should be extremely proud,” writes the Redditor u/BU-BCH on Sunday’s top r/btc post. “Bitcoin Cash has done something no other cryptocurrency ecosystem has achieved. We have managed to not only successfully reject a corruption of the protocol, but also removed power from a centralized development team and rejected a centralized ‘official’ (not official) website. Bitcoin Cash is now stronger, more unified and more decentralised than ever before.” What do you think about the completion of the Bitcoin Cash upgrade and the split? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Hash Watch: The Highly Anticipated Bitcoin Cash Fork Is Now Complete appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has published a paper discussing cryptocurrency regulation in the country. Meanwhile, the central bank has reportedly confirmed that there is no cryptocurrency ban. Pakistan’s Crypto Regulation in the Works The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has published a position paper on the regulation of cryptocurrency trading platforms. Besides discussing definitions and concepts of cryptocurrencies, the paper outlines different regulatory approaches adopted globally, including the recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and regulations in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the U.S. It also details how cryptocurrency could be recognized in Pakistan and regulatory proposals. “This consultation paper focuses exclusively on non-government or non-central bank issued crypto assets and not on central bank digital currencies [CBDCs],” the paper notes. The paper discusses two approaches available for regulating cryptocurrencies. Firstly, cryptocurrency can be regulated and restricted according to existing regulations “and may in some instances even entail outright banning,” the SECP wrote. Secondly, cryptocurrency can be regulated “based on the conjecture of ‘let-things-happen’ approach, described by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the ‘do-not-harm’ approach … where the financial sector is considered as dynamic and the associated need to innovate is strongly emphasized.” The SECP says its position paper “is mainly prepared based on [the] second approach,” adding that it “intends to hold multiple discussion session and welcomes any input/comments.” The position paper can be found here. No Crypto Ban Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan has reportedly clarified that cryptocurrency is not banned. The central bank’s lawyer recently told the Sindh High Court that the bank issued a warning about dealing in cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, but did not ban them. Pakistan’s central bank issued a circular dated April 6, 2018, advising financial institutions, including banks and payment service providers, “to refrain from processing, using, trading, holding, transferring value, promoting and investing in virtual currencies/tokens.” It further states that financial institutions “will not facilitate their customers/account holders to transact in VCs/ICO tokens. Any transaction in this regard shall immediately be reported to [the] Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) as a suspicious transaction.” This circular is similar to the one issued by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which imposed a banking ban on the crypto industry. The RBI circular was quashed by India’s supreme court in March and the banking ban was lifted in India. Waqar Zaka, a television presenter who has been actively petitioning to lift the ban imposed by Pakistan’s central bank, said that the country’s crypto ban has been misreported by the media and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has falsely been arresting people for possessing bitcoin. Emphasizing that the arrests must stop, Zaka explained that “Parliament has not passed any law to ban” bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in Pakistan. What do you think about Pakistan regulating cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Pakistan’s SEC Discusses Cryptocurrency Regulation, Central Bank Confirms No Crypto Ban appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Ripple Labs Inc., issuers of the XRP cryptocurrency, has filed for a new trademark called “Paystring” with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The trademark was filed on Nov. 6 and accepted on Friday, according to the USPTO website. Although Ripple did not specify which sort of business will fall under the new product, it is notable that the trademark’s registration description matches that of PayID, a trademark it registered on June 17, word for word. Both the official description for Paystring and PayID read: “[The]…trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of electronic financial services, namely, monetary services for receiving and disbursing remittances and monetary gifts in fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network and for exchanging fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network.” Even the Paystring logo looks identical to that of PayID. It consists of a stylized circle design with four lines of various colors radiating from it. Based on these findings, we can hazard to speculate that Paystring is a payment service, one directly designed to replace controversy-ridden PayID, and to help avoid the Australian court fight. San Francisco-based Ripple will indeed be keen to dispense with PayID. In August, the firm was sued in an Australian court for allegedly infringing a trademark belonging to several local banks. The lawsuit filed by the New Payments Platform Australia (NPPA), a joint venture between the Reserve Bank of Australia and 13 domestic banks, claims that Ripple copied its PayID brand. NPPA’s service has been in existence for more than two years, helping to facilitate instant payments across 68 million Australian bank accounts. Ripple launched its cross-border payments service, also called PayID, in June, in partnership with 40 businesses. What do you think about the Ripple PayID rebranding? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Ripple Forced To Rebrand PayID Trademark After Copyright Infringement Lawsuit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin prices have been volatile during the last few weeks, but have managed to climb higher in value at the same time. This week bitcoin derivatives markets, specifically futures and options, show that crypto asset traders should expect more swings going forward. Some traders believe that the digital currency’s price could fill two unfilled gaps on CME Group’s Bitcoin Futures chart with an upward trajectory toward $18,000. During the last few days, bitcoin (BTC) spiked over the $16k handle, as numerous cryptocurrency markets have seen some significant gains this week. On Sunday morning, November 14, 2020, BTC’s price slid under the $16k zone to a low of $15,750 during the early morning trading sessions (EST). The asset has regained some of the lost value and continues to fight the psychological $16k region at the time of publication. Meanwhile, bitcoin derivatives markets have been seeing some intense action, as both futures and options markets show signs of things to come. On November 6, 2020, Skew.com tweeted about how bitcoin options open interest has been “breaking out big.” Needless to say #bitcoin options open interest is breaking out big pic.twitter.com/kg084toK6u — skew (@skewdotcom) November 6, 2020 Essentially, open interest is the measurement of contracts that have been initiated within futures markets held on exchanges like Deribit and CME Group. From Skew’s chart, it shows that BTC options open interest is at an all-time high (ATH), with Deribit capturing the lion share of open interest. CME Group, Okex, and Ledgerx follow Deribit’s lead, and CME’s open interest has been growing massively. In crypto derivatives markets that tend to bitcoin futures and perpetuals, open interest has also reached an ATH this month. With Bitmex’s open interest lower since the recent U.S. investigation, most of the derivatives exchange interest is distributed almost evenly except for Bakkt, which is the third-lowest exchange in terms of open interest. Deribit’s also does not lead when it comes to bitcoin futures markets, and Okex commands the leading position in this arena. In addition to the open interest and trade volumes across bitcoin futures and options markets, BTC traders are eying two specific price gaps from CME Group’s Bitcoin Futures chart. The price gaps which were left unfilled show targets at $17,700 and $18,500 and they stem from BTC’s parabolic rise three years ago. Gaps can be left unfilled both ways and there are a few lower regions that have been left unfilled on CME Group’s Bitcoin Futures chart. For instance, on May 16, 2019, BTC prices slid to $6,600 in a matter of no time, thanks to an unfilled CME gap at the same level. Financial markets show that the “filling the gap” process can also happen on the move back toward higher BTC prices. Bitcoin could rise to these positions ($17,700 – $18,500) in order to fill the CME chart’s void and either consolidate, rise higher, or be pushed back to lower price ranges. Speculative assets, specifically seen on certain CME futures markets, commonly have different variations of price gaps and BTC is no different. On November 6, 2020, BTC filled the gap represented on charts that were recorded on December 21, 2017, at $16,455 to $16,560. There are also two gaps on the downside to keep in mind; one at $11,095 and another at $11,505 as well, which could be just as likely to hit before the $17,700 gap. What do you think about the recent surge in futures and options open interest and the CME bitcoin futures gaps that could fill in the $18k price range? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post BTC Options Open Interest Surges, Traders Look to an Unfilled Bitcoin Futures Gap at $18K appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The akoin cryptocurrency, created by famous singer and philanthropist Akon, has started trading on a global crypto exchange. It is also being launched as a means of payment in a tech city in Kenya as a pilot for Akon City, the $6 billion futuristic city that is being built in Senegal. Akoin Crypto Starts Trading and Is Being Used for Payments in Kenya The much-anticipated cryptocurrency created by Senegalese-American star and philanthropist Akon that will be used as the primary currency in his $6 billion Akon City in Senegal has launched. The akoin cryptocurrency (AKN) began trading against BTC and USDT on the Bittrex Global crypto exchange on Nov. 11. The akoin cryptocurrency has also launched in Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) as a pilot for Akon City. The MMTC is a $2 billion metropolis centered around a 5,000-bed medical and technology complex located in Kenya’s Kakamega county, its website describes. Julius Mwale, the principal investor of Mwale Medical and Technology City, said in a podcast interview on Blockdown 3.0 that the complex is expected to be fully completed by the end of this year, adding: We’re going to use exclusively akoin by the end of 2021. He explained that there are currently 35,000 residents and over 2,000 merchants, and the akoin cryptocurrency system will be implemented for them all. He is confident that by the end of next year, there will be more than 20,000 workers whom will be paid in the akoin cryptocurrency. 1.5 Million Monthly Transactions Expected “We are expecting to do an initial 30,000 transactions starting next month,” Mwale continued. Residents will be able to swap between the akoin crypto and large mobile minutes, m-pasa, and the U.S. dollar, he detailed. After the initial 30,000 transactions in 30 days, a credit card will also be launched so that merchants that accept Visa or Mastercard will be able to accept akoin. The system will then be scaled up to facilitate 1.5 million transactions a month. He elaborated: That’s 5,000 workers for 1.5 million transactions a month after the initial 30,000 [transactions]. Mwale claimed that “People are very very excited” about the project because the city currently uses m-pesa which charges transaction fees. He explained that most people in the area do not make a lot of money, so the transaction fees are “very expensive for them.” In contrast, there will not be any charges or transaction fees within the akoin ecosystem, Mwale emphasized. “The only charges will come if you are getting out of the network so people are very excited, they’re going to save a lot of money.” Pilot for $6 Billion Akon City in Senegal Akon, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, is building a futuristic $6 billion Akon City in Senegal, which he calls a “real-life Wakanda,” referring to Marvel’s hit movie Black Panther. In September, the Grammy-nominated artist unveiled details of what will be in Akon City, particularly in seven major districts. Mwale explained that “akoin is going to be the exclusive cryptocurrency for Akon city,” adding: This is the test ground for akoin before it moves into the Akon city as we start building there next year to literally turn Africa into a cryptocurrency ecosystem within the next decade. Mwale explained that the Kenyan government “literally outlawed cash transactions and any other transactions other than digital so everything since the Covid-19 pandemic began has been digital transaction.” He believes that the akoin crypto launch has “the best timing … because everybody now has to basically operate in digital transactions.” He concluded: “it’s been very easy for us to transition to akoin from other digital transactions, the m-pesa and other transactions that we already have.” What do you think about the akoin crypto being used as a means of payment? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Akoin Cryptocurrency Launches in Kenya as Pilot for $6 Billion Akon City appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The leading cryptocurrency web portal Bitcoin.com has partnered with the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, Franck Muller, in order to create elegant crypto themed timepieces. The titanium, limited edition functional bitcoin cash watch is called “Free the Money, Free the World” and will be sold for crypto on Bitcoin.com. In the summer of 2019, the luxury watchmaker Franck Muller released a fully functional bitcoin watch called the “Encrypto,” a timepiece that allows the user to store their digital assets in cold storage. This year the Geneva-based watch manufacturer has partnered with Bitcoin.com, in order to produce another extravagant digital currency wristwatch. The beautiful watch is called “Free the Money, Free the World,” and was designed by Bitcoin.com’s cofounder Mate Tokay and Tyler Gallagher of Regal Assets. The titanium, limited edition bitcoin cash (BCH) wristwatch will sell for 9,900 EUR per unit and there will only be 500 individually numbered timepieces sold. The product’s titanium exterior is extremely durable for individuals with an active lifestyle. The stylish black DLC coating with green accents gives the watch a fashionable metropolitan look. The wristwatch is the first-ever Bitcoin Cash Franck Muller dial. The watch QR code can be customized with the buyer’s bitcoin cash (BCH) public key. Check out the official Bitcoin.com Free the Money, Free the World web page here. Franck Muller is well known for making the finest and most complicated timepieces in the world and the gorgeous watches are worn by a myriad of celebrities. The firm says “‘Free The Money, Free The World’ is an exciting chapter in Franck Muller’s story of modern and innovative watches.” Cofounder of Bitcoin.com, Mate Tokay, helped design the new Franck Muller wristwatch and believes that exquisitely complicated watches combined with innovative technology like Bitcoin Cash (BCH) go hand in hand. “It has been an amazing experience to work with the Franck Muller team to design the world’s first Bitcoin Cash watch,” said Bitcoin.com’s Mate Tokay. “As a watch enthusiast, this challenge meant a lot to me. I truly believe that we have created a one of a kind watch, and I am flattered to say that the feedback has been great so far.” Every watch comes with a two-piece “Deep Cold Storage” set that allows the owner to store the crypto within the public address etched on the dial. A sealed USB that contains the private key keeps the wallet secure, while the address balance can be checked by leveraging the dial. Just like all Franck Muller timepieces, the “Free the Money, Free the World” limited edition set is characterized by elegant arrangements and elaborate watch machinery. “This has been an exciting project and it is beyond an honor to work with Bitcoin.com, Mate Tokay, and Roger Ver on this. Let’s free the world together,” Tyler Gallagher of Regal Assets said during the announcement. Every 41mm piece comes with a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective sapphire crystal and a black leather strap with green stitching. A myriad of Franck Muller watches has been worn by a number of celebrities including Kanye West, Elton John, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Lil Wayne, Floyd Mayweather, David Beckham, and more. The crypto-infused timepiece, “Free the Money, Free the World” is already making huge success in Hollywood, with various celebrities, and well-known hip-hop artists. This includes the likes of celebrities such as rapper Young Thug, Youtube star and gamer Faze Banks, American singer-songwriter Kaash Paige, rapper and songwriter Cardi B, American singer and rapper Swae Lee, American model and social media star Jordyn Woods, and the hip-hop star Gunna. Find out more details about the wristwatch here and check out the video below. What do you think about the Franck Muller “Free the Money, Free the World” timepiece? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Bitcoin.com Reveals Limited Edition Bitcoin Cash Wristwatch Crafted by Luxury Watchmaker Franck Muller appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin Bull Michael Novogratz’s company, Galaxy Digital, has acquired two cryptocurrency firms in preparation to meet a “bigger wave of institutional demand” for bitcoin. Big Wave of Institutional Demand for Bitcoin Incoming Galaxy Digital Holdings announced Friday that it has acquired two cryptocurrency trading firms: Drawbridge Lending and Blue Fire Capital. New York City-headquartered crypto financial services and investment management company Galaxy Digital provides trading, asset management, and investment banking services. “Institutional investors and corporates are becoming more knowledgeable and comfortable with digital assets and they are increasingly grasping the purpose and importance of cryptocurrency in their investment strategies,” commented Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital. During his company’s Q3 2020 earnings call on Friday, Novogratz said that the Covid-19 pandemic was “really an accelerant for the cryptocurrency business for bitcoin, for blockchain, for everything that we do … I see an unbelievable opportunity for our company and for the space.” Bitcoin is trading at $16,250 at the time of writing. Novogratz explained that the cryptocurrency is trading at this price “not because there’s a speculative mania going on,” elaborating: It’s trading like that because institutions, hedge funds, high net worth individuals, family offices are all moving into bitcoin. They’re moving in as a store of wealth, they’re moving in as an inflation hedge, they’re moving in because it’s become an institutional asset. Recently, renowned billionaire investor Bill Miller said that he thinks “every major bank, every major investment bank, every major high net worth firm is going to eventually have some exposure to bitcoin or what’s like it.” JPMorgan’s analysts also said, “some investors that previously invested in gold ETFs, such as family offices, may be looking at bitcoin as an alternative to gold.” Chicago-based Drawbridge Lending is a CFTC-regulated company that provides commercial and individual loans on secured bitcoin held at a qualified custodian. Blue Fire Capital, also based in Chicago, provides investment brokerage and trading services with a focus on crypto assets. Novogratz continued: We are looking forward to seamlessly integrating Drawbridge and Blue Fire into Galaxy Digital Trading … to help further meet what we believe will be an even bigger wave of institutional demand. What do you think about Galaxy Digital’s acquisitions of two crypto firms? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Galaxy Digital Acquires 2 Crypto Firms, Sees Big Wave of Institutional Demand for Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The largest bank in Belarus, Belarusbank, has reportedly begun providing a cryptocurrency exchange service, allowing customers to buy bitcoin using Visa cards. Belarusbank’s new cryptocurrency exchange service is in collaboration with bitcoin exchange service provider Whitebird, several local news outlets reported Thursday. The bank revealed its plans to create a cryptocurrency exchange platform early last year. Founded in 1991, Belarusbank merged with Sberbank of Belarus in 1995. The government of Belarus owns 99.95% of the bank’s capital. In 2018, the bank entered into a strategic partnership with Whitebird, a resident of Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park, which is also known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe. Whitebird operates under Belarus’ legal framework and in accordance with Decree No. 8 of the President of the Republic of Belarus “On the development of the digital economy” and related decisions of the supervisory board of the Hi-Tech Park. “This is a service that allows you to quickly buy or sell bitcoin (BTC) for USD [U.S. dollars], RUB [Russian rubles], BYN [Belarusian rubles] at the optimal rate at the time of the transaction,” Whitebird’s website details, adding that “The service works online” and “the purchase and sale procedure takes place using Visa payment cards.” Belarusbank plans to add buying bitcoin with euros in the future. Initially, the bank’s new cryptocurrency service is available to citizens of Belarus and Russia, local media conveyed, citing the press service of the bank. In the future, Belarusbank plans to extend the crypto service to customers in other countries. The bank also plans to collaborate further with Whitebird to support more cryptocurrencies and provide additional related services. What do you think about Belarusbank offering a crypto exchange service? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Belarus’ Largest Bank Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange Service appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article