roadrunner

The world-class trading platform, Bitcoin.com Exchange announced it’s participating in the Cryptopia Exchange rescue consortium in order to help redistribute coins to customers. Bitcoin.com’s trading platform will provide an exchange environment in order to bolster the Cryptopia Rescue redistribution plan. Back in January 2019, the New Zealand cryptocurrency trading platform Cryptopia Exchange suffered a major breach and it affected 2.3 million account holders from all around the world. Estimates note that roughly $860 million worth of cryptocurrency was held on the exchange before the hack. Bitcoin.com is pleased to announce that our exchange will assist a rescue program dedicated to helping Cryptopia account holders. Bitcoin.com Exchange has joined a consortium called the “Cryptopia Rescue” program, and it will produce a platform to distribute coins to Cryptopia Exchange Account Holders. The group formed in order to create a class action against the Liquidator, Grant Thornton. Victor Cattermole, a Cryptopia Rescue spokesperson said: The liquidator was proposing to write off more than 50% of the coin holdings. In our alternative plan, we have established a relationship with Bitcoin.com to provide an exchange environment to emulate the Cryptopia model so that all coins can be redistributed. Currently, the Cryptopia Rescue team is working to connect with as many account holders as possible. The plan is to do everything possible to provide the best resolution to Cryptopia’s former customers. Since launching on September 2, 2019, the premier Bitcoin.com Exchange has provided customers with a professional trading engine combined with top-of-the-line security practices. Speaking about joining the Cryptopia Rescue effort, Danish Chaudhry, CEO of Bitcoin.com Exchange explained the exchange team looks forward to helping the crypto community. “We take this role very seriously within the consortium,” Chaudhry stressed. “[Bitcoin.com Exchange] will do everything we can as a united group to provide the best-in-class platform to redistribute Cryptopia account holders their coins via our exchange,” he added. There are five limitations Cryptopia Exchange Account Holders need to take into account. The Cryptopia trustee is independent of Bitcoin.com Exchange. Claim information is stored only on the trustee’s servers, not on Bitcoin.com Exchange’s servers. Claim information is private between clients and the trustee. Bitcoin.com Exchange is not involved in approving or denying claims. Bitcoin.com Exchange does not determine when claims are distributed. When the Cryptopia Exchange trustee completes the claim approval process and selects a distribution date, a provided payout support plan for distribution may be added. Customers that have any questions or issues with the Cryptopia claim process will need to contact Cryptopia support. What do you think about the Bitcoin.com Exchange providing support to Cryptopia account holders? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin.com Exchange Reveals Role in the Cryptopia Rescue Group appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

At the beginning of the year, the trading platform FTX Exchange launched a futures market so people can bet on the U.S. election and created a futures contract token called TRUMP. On Friday, FTX revealed that the exchange is lifting the initial margin requirements to $0.50 for its TRUMP token contracts. Individuals who don’t live in the United States can participate in betting on the U.S. 2020 presidential election by leveraging the trading platform FTX. News.Bitcoin.com reported on FTX launching its TRUMP token futures contracts back in February, as our newsdesk disclosed a number of other betting portals that use digital currencies to bet on the upcoming election. At the time, gambling sites and FTX’s TRUMP futures had shown Donald Trump was expected to win the 2020 election. However, on September 30, our newsdesk’s latest report had shown Joe Biden was leading across gambling portals by at least 60%. On Friday, FTX announced some changes to the original TRUMP token futures market and the exchange is also offering a BIDEN futures market as well. FTX said: [FTX Exchange will] increase [the] initial margin requirement to $0.50, so you need $0.50 to get short 1 TRUMP or $0.36 (the current price of TRUMP) to get long 1 TRUMP. Screenshot of FTX Exchange’s TRUMP futures token on Friday, October 30, 2020. Looking at both futures markets on FTX shows that traders are expecting Joe Biden to win the U.S. election and percentages are over 60% today. BIDEN futures tokens are swapping at prices between $0.62 to $0.64 (64% chance of winning) at the time of publication. Meanwhile, TRUMP tokens are swapping at prices between $0.34 to $0.38 (38% chance of winning) a unit, which means current support for a Donald Trump win is lagging. As stated during the original FTX TRUMP futures announcement, “[TRUMP] is a futures contract on FTX, [The token] expires to $1 if Donald Trump wins the 2020 U.S. presidential general election, and $0 otherwise.” The latest announcement also notes that FTX is increasing the “maintenance margin requirement to $0.40 – $0.10” until the election as well. On Friday, October 30, a great number of polls say that Joe Biden is leading the race. However, reports also show that Trump may actually be in the lead in the United States election polls. “A handful of contrarian pollsters believe Trump’s support is underrepresented and that election analysts could be headed for another embarrassing miss on election day,” Jonathan Easley from The Hill wrote on Friday. What do you think about FTX Exchange lifting the initial margin requirements to $0.50 for TRUMP contracts? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post FTX Increases Trump Futures Margins Before the Election, Biden Futures Lead by 64% appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A few central banks have started selling tons of gold for the first time since 2010 in order to ease the financial suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic. At $1,875 per ounce, gold prices are down -9.63% since the commodity’s high of $2,075 on August 6. Even though gold has dropped significantly in value in contrast to bitcoin (BTC), gold bug Peter Schiff decided to use the opportunity to rag on bitcoin on Twitter. “If you measure the size of asset bubbles based on the level of conviction buyers have in their trade, the Bitcoin bubble is the biggest I’ve seen,” Schiff tweeted on October 28. “Bitcoin hodlers are more confident they’re right and sure they can’t lose than were dotcom or house buyers during those bubbles.” However, unlike bitcoin which has been on a tear lately, gold prices per ounce have floundered. The precious metal did reach a high of $2,075 on August 6 but dropped -9.63% to today’s current $1,875 per ounce low. According to a report from Bloomberg, a few central banks are starting to sell gold in order to offset the disastrous economy driven by central planners and bureaucrats. The World Gold Council notes that year-over-year gold demand has dropped 19%. The report notes that among some of the countries, Russia sold gold reserves for the first time in 13 years. Other countries that saw central banks selling gold in the third quarter include Turkey and Uzbekistan. Net sales totaled 12.1 tons of bullion in the third quarter with more sales expected, and 2019’s third quarter saw 149 tons purchased. In fact, last year central banks worldwide purchased the most tonnage of gold in more than 50 years. During the first week of April, a few gold investors stressed they were terrified that central banks might dump bullion during the economic crisis. Speaking on the recent central bank gold sales, a WGC senior analyst says the central banks that sold tonnage last quarter doesn’t surprise him. “It’s not surprising that in the circumstances banks might look to their gold reserves,” Louise Street, the lead analyst at the WGC explained. “Virtually all of the selling is from banks who buy from domestic sources taking advantage of the high gold price at a time when they are fiscally stretched.” The report written by WGC dubbed “Gold Demand Trends Q3 2020” further explains: Demand for gold dropped to 892.3t in Q3 – its lowest quarterly total since Q3 2009 – as consumers and investors continued to battle the effects of the global pandemic. At 2,972.1t year-to-date (y-t-d) demand is 10% below the same period of 2019. The total supply of gold fell 3% y-o-y in Q3 to 1,223.6t, despite 6% growth in gold recycling, with mine production still feeling the effects of the H1 Covid-19 restrictions. The WGC said that jewelry demand improved in Q2 but in the third quarter, thanks to government lockdowns, jewelry demand shrunk significantly. However, in contrast to jewelry sales, “bar and coin demand strengthened, gaining 49% y-o-y to 222.1t.” The report concluded by adding gold used in certain technologies also “remained weak” and only a few emerging tech markets improved. What do you think about the price of gold slumping and central banks dumping gold bullion last quarter? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Central Banks Dump Gold for the First Time Since 2010, Precious Metal Drops 9% Since August High appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. With Round 1 Fully Sold Out, Investors scramble to get on board of Securypto IEO. In a world where datahacks have become the norm rather than the exception, anonymity has become a necessity. Securypto project is making headlines across major news media for its remarkable innovative approach to encrypted messaging. As the security expert and the Lead Dev of Securypto pointing out: “It’s not just WhatsApp, almost everything connected to the internet is at risk of cyberattacks. That’s what easily can be concluded following continuation news about the messaging platforms been targeted by spywares and hacks. The unfortunate reality is that most messaging apps have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by sophisticated cyber spies, No messaging service is bulletproof” The Securypto story – Rise of the underdog Amid the hype of countless ICOs of projects without a product or even a use case in 2018, Securypto went against the grain and kept the focus on delivering a working product and released his own Android Encryption App DigiSafeGuard earlier this year without any founding. The past two years has seen the Securypto team laboring over its blockchain platform and conducting innumerable tests and even offering a 10BTC reward to anyone that could break their encryption (which to this date no one has succeeded in doing so). Consistent hard work has paid off and the securypto platform has been steadily rolling out update after update and with the listing on the exchange the next logical step is here for both the team and investors and the community. Having grown a strong following throughout its developing stages, last week, the Securypto project saw its IEO reach a level of fervour unheard of in today’s IEO narrative, as loyal supporters rallied behind the project’s token sale. Securypto’s IEO success serves as a testament to good old-fashioned persistence and hard work. As Henry Ford put it, “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Keeping community at the forefront As finally token holders will be able to start making deposits in preparation for trading. Available trading as SCU/ETH pairs are confirmed at Bilaxy and Uniswap exchange which will open for trading after IEO. In the meantime, Securypto remains committed to making listing partnerships with credible exchanges vetted to be safe for users, keeping the community always at the forefront of any listing decisions. Exchange listings “Bilaxy is a world-class digital asset trading platform and we are proud to be listed on such a reputable exchange. For the DEX supporters, we have selected UniSwap, the leading decentralized permissionless exchange.” stated earlier by Lead Dev of Securypto. Bilaxy support has quite been unprecedented , “Bilaxy has always been the home of crypto hidden gems, and we are happy to support more promising blockchain projects with our various financial services like trading, staking and more. Anonymity is a scarce commodity in this day and age and we have seen Securypto’s potential to develop a model where you take back control of your data and send and receive truly anonymous encrypted data. About SCU SCU, which stands for Securypto Token, is a utility token that enables users send and receive encrypted messages and data with it’s app DigiSafeGuard. The app itself already allows you to do that but the utility token enables a anonymity layer on top of it which makes it a perfect instrument for everyone that cares about their privacy to send and receive data. Early feedback from early adapters shows that mostly people who live in restrictive countries make use of this application like North Korea and places where censorship is very high and freedom of speech is a luxury where Securypto has given them a voice. Whistleblowers have also commended it’s ease of use and high level of encryption and how it makes it easy to use as Whatsapp but the moment you send the message it looks like your message goes into a wormhole and the receiver gets the message and no one can discover the path it has taken from sender to receiver making it impossible for anyone to track the message or decrypt it. It comes then as no surprise why both the community and investors have been excited about the development and launch of IEO and listing SCU on Bilaxy and Uniswap. As Initial Coin Offering of Securypto Tokens has been started, this golden opportunity is getting massive attention from the cryptocommunity all over the world. 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 The New Bullrun Rushes Investors Towards Securypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The latest study by the World Bank shows that it costs 4.98% on average to remit funds to South Asia which makes it the least expensive region while sub-Sahara Africa is the most expensive with an average cost of 8.47%. The quarterly study also finds that it is costlier to remit funds when using service providers such as banks that charge an average of 10.89%. Marginal decline Mobile operators are the cheapest as their sending costs averaged 3% and below during the period under review. Still, the study, which predictably excludes cryptocurrencies, shows a marginal decrease in the Global Weighted Average (GWA) from 5.03% in Q2 to 5.0% in Q3 of 2020. The World Bank’s aptly named Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) report monitors remittance costs across all regions. Data from the report shows that the Global Average remitting cost dropped from 9.67% seen Q1 of 2009 to the latest 6.75%. This represents a 2.92% decline during this period. Meanwhile, the global financial institution says that in addition to tracking the Global Average, “another average total cost is introduced to track the average price of digital remittances in RPW database.” In following this cost metric, the study finds that: In Q3 2020, the global average for digital remittances was recorded at 5.29 per cent while the global average for none- digital remittances was 7.24%.” Furthermore, the report data shows remitting costs gradually decreasing across all sending corridors since 2008. Meanwhile, despite their absence in the World Bank’s RPW, cryptocurrencies seem to be cheaper and faster-remitting methods. Cryptocurrencies a cheaper option To illustrate, on the Bitcoin Network, transacting costs for coins like bitcoin cash and dash remain insignificant when compared to the cost of sending funds via Money Transfer Organisation (MTO). For instance, during Q3 of 2020, the average fee when sending or paying $100 with bitcoin cash was less than one cent. The same was true for Dash as well as for Ripple’s XRP token. Yet, on the other hand, it may cost 10% or more to send funds between two Southern African countries. Remitting funds via bitcoin and ethereum is also faster and sometimes cheaper than traditional remitting corridors. As the data from Bitinfocharts shows, at the start of Q3 2020 on July 1, transaction fees on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks averaged $1.51 and $0.70 respectively. Since then, fees on the two networks have fluctuated wildly but still went on to average $5 or below for much of Q3. An average fee of $5 per transaction translates to 5% if the amount being sent is $100. Achieving UN SDG 10.c with cryptocurrencies With transacting costs that are a tiny fraction of a per cent, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash and XRP, which the World Bank and others refuse to recognise, appear to have achieved one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) already. Under the world body’s SDGs 10.c, the UN and others are committing to reducing to “less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and to eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent.” The UN is targeting to achieve this goal by 2030 yet more migrants are already using cryptocurrencies because they are a much cheaper and more convenient option. Do you agree that cryptocurrencies are cheaper for remitting than traditional methods? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Remittance Costs Lower in Q3 World Bank Study Shows – Only Cryptocurrencies Meeting UN Goal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will enhance the regulatory framework for derivatives use by registered investment companies after passing a vote to either change or amend existing rules. As part of the new framework–which covers mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and closed-end funds–operators must undertake to implement a written derivatives risk management program. A Modern Approach to Derivatives Regulation The rule changes, which open the doors for more leveraged ETFs, will also permit a fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, as well as ‘unfunded commitments’ to make certain loans or investments, subject to conditions tailored to these transactions. The Commission says the “new rule and rule amendments will provide a modernized, comprehensive approach to the regulation of these funds’ derivatives use that addresses investor protection concerns and reflects developments over the past decades.” Meanwhile, in his comments following the announcement of the vote passage, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton talks of the importance of derivatives to funds. He says: “Derivatives have come to play an important role for many funds in portfolio strategy and risk management, but the regulatory approach for derivatives use has been inconsistent and outdated.” Consequently, Clayton says the action taken by the SEC will not only help funds to achieve their objectives but it will also “provide both meaningful protections for investors and regulatory certainty for funds and their advisers.” The enhanced framework is expected to stop derivatives use that is inconsistent with set limits. Clayton explains: “Importantly, the new comprehensive limits on risk will prohibit derivatives use that is inconsistent with the leverage limits imposed by the Investment Company Act, but will allow virtually all funds to continue to serve their investors using the most efficient instruments. I thank the staff for their impressive work.” Investor Protection a Key Priority for the SEC According to the SEC, the Investment Company Act (in its current form) limits the ability of registered funds and business development companies to engage in transactions that involve potential future payment obligations, including obligations under derivatives such as forwards, futures, swaps and written options. The new rule permits funds to enter into these transactions if they comply with certain conditions designed to protect investors. Meanwhile, the SEC says “a streamlined set of requirements will apply for funds that use derivatives in a limited way.” The rule and related rule and form amendments will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Commission has provided for an eighteen-month transition period for funds to comply with the rule and related reporting requirements. What are your thoughts about the SEC rule change? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post The SEC Votes to Modernize Regulatory Framework for Derivatives Use appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto startup Avanti Financial Group has been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board. The license, or bank charter, means Avanti can now operate as a conventional bank – but one with a twist, capable of holding both crypto and dollars. It plans to launch in 2021. According to a statement published Oct. 28, the firm will also now be able to take custody of crypto assets like bitcoin while its plan for the creation of Avit, a tokenized US dollar, has been given the go ahead. The company’s application for a bank charter was accepted in July, reports The Block. Avanti is the second crypto firm to become a bank after Kraken Financial, a unit of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken. Avanti founder and chief executive officer, Caitlin Long, said “currently the only type of U.S. financial institution that can provide final and simultaneous settlement of trades between digital assets and the U.S. dollar is a Wyoming special purpose depository institution like Avanti.” Avanti plans to issue Avit initially on both Liquid – a sidechain of the Bitcoin blockchain – and Ethereum. The company claims its tokenized U.S. dollar is “designed to solve the legal, accounting and tax issues of stablecoins.” As a bank, Avanti will be required to fully comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and OFAC-related laws, rules and regulations. What do you think about Avanti gaining a bank charter? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto Startup Avanti Receives License To Operate as National Bank in Wyoming appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. With relaxed restrictions on lockdown measures in numerous countries around the world, Africa has opened her doors to tourists on both national and international levels yet again – albeit with strict health regulations to ensure the safety of all personnel and visitors. Africa’s largest online tour operators, MoAfrika, offers tourists from around the world the opportunity to travel the length and width of the gorgeous African continent by making use of its unique tour offering, now with an added advantage. MoAfrika now supports payment in Bitcoin so tourists, regardless from where they are or where they wish to go, have the advantage of putting their Bitcoin to use in paying for their holiday while having assurance that they will get the best service possible. MoAfrika has more than 15 years of combined experience in South African tourism and offers tourists with staff consisting of a young and ambitious team in ensuring that tourists have an unforgettable experience when booking through this tour operator. All tours are ecologically friendly and MoAfrika is accredited by the Southern African Tourism Services Association, or SATSA, which is a strict regulator in the tourism industry in ensuring that members provide the best quality of services in the industry. When considering that the world is moving more towards digitalization, the acceptance of Bitcoin is merely one of many things that MoAfrika employs to ensure that tourists have comfort and convenience at their fingertips whenever they make a booking online. The advantage of Bitcoin as a payment method Bitcoin is the most popular and valued cryptocurrency which has seen substantial widespread acceptance around the globe. With more merchants now accepting Bitcoin in South Africa, it has made transactions so much easier and faster. Bitcoin is a digital currency which is not limited in the same way that fiat currencies are, and in addition, it is free of inflation, corruption, and manipulation as it does not conform to the same monetary policies to which fiat currencies are subjected. With the various ways in which Bitcoin can be bought, sold, exchanged, and traded, tourists who are in possession of Bitcoin, who would like to transact with it in funding their next adventure, can make use of the facilities that MoAfrika offers to do so. In addition, the costs of paying with Bitcoin are much lower than conventional transaction costs when making payments and due to the encrypted nature and security features associated with crypto-wallets, tourists who pay in Bitcoin can be assured that payments are secured and that their details are protected at all times. Press Contact Email Address info@sashares.co.za Supporting Link https://moafrikatours.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 MoAfrika – Africa’s Biggest Online Tour Operator now Accepts Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A recent Coinmetrics report says on-chain fundamentals are hinting at bitcoin experiencing its biggest breakout yet. The report notes that bitcoin is already showing signs of this following its rise by about $1,000 in one day on October 21. The digital asset has subsequently set a new all-time high for the year. A New Precedent While acknowledging the difficulty in predicting bitcoin’s future value due to its notorious volatility, authors of the report insist there is a difference between previous bull runs with the current one. According to their report, “BTC has been growing in ways that we have not seen in previous bull runs.” Explaining their stance, the authors point to bitcoin’s growing correlation with gold as one of the reasons for their bullishness. In the report, the authors say bitcoin, which has had a low correlation with both gold and the U.S. dollar throughout most of its history, changed after March 12. The authors say: As panic over Covid-19 rapidly set in, equities around the world crashed. Crypto went down with the rest of the markets, with BTC and ETH price both dropping about 50%. Since then, BTC’s correlation with gold has been near all-time highs while it’s correlation with the dollar has been at all-time lows. According to the data, the bitcoin and gold correlation has been positive (above 0) for much of 2020 while the digital asset’s correlation with the US dollar has stayed negative during the same period. It is this growing relationship with gold that has some touting bitcoin as a form of digital gold. Companies like Microstrategy and Square Inc recently announced their acquisition and subsequent holding of bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. More Hodler Addresses Meanwhile, the report also points to another important signal, “the percent of supply held for at least one year (or in other words, the percent of supply that has not been moved on-chain as part of a transaction).” According to Coinmetrics, “as of October 25th, about 62.5% of the total BTC supply had been held for at least 1 year, which is close to all-time highs.” As precedent shows, “the percent of supply unmoved for at least 1 year has peaked during periods where price has been at local lows.” The report adds: BTC’s velocity is also at its lowest levels since 2011. Velocity measures the number of times an average unit of supply has been transferred in the last year. High velocity means a relatively high turnover. A decreasing velocity suggests BTC is trending towards being used as a store of value as opposed to a medium of exchange. Another metric suggesting which suggests a pending bitcoin breakout is the “number of addresses holding at least $100 worth of BTC (which) hit a new all-time high of 9.74M on October 22nd.” In conclusion, the report states that historically, “bitcoin price has hit a local peak within 1.5 years of each previous halving.” As holding activity increasing and the “halving less than six months in the rearview, all signs are signaling that BTC is poised for takeoff.” Do you agree with Coinmetrics’ assessment that bitcoin is about to breakout? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Report: Bitcoin Set for its Biggest Breakout Yet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Libertyx has added a cash-out option to its 5,000 bitcoin ATMs. The CEO says this addition triples the number of bitcoin ATMs that allow users to cash out their bitcoin. He shares his business model with news.Bitcoin.com, providing insight into the bitcoin ATM usage trends he is seeing. 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs Now With Cash-Out Option Bitcoin ATM operator Libertyx announced Monday that 5,000 ATMs in its network now allow users to cash out their bitcoin. Besides the vast network of bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) in the U.S., Libertyx allows customers to buy bitcoin at 20,000 convenient stores, including 7-Eleven, CVS, and Rite Aid. “While it’s never been easier to buy bitcoin, selling is another story,” said Libertyx CEO Chris Yim. He elaborated: There are almost 15,000 bitcoin ATMs across the U.S., but fewer than 2,000 allow consumers to sell bitcoin for cash … Our ‘cash-out’ product deployed across 5,000 ATMs triples the number of bitcoin ATMs where consumers can sell bitcoin. Yim confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that “there is no longer a waitlist” for buying bitcoin at 20,000 chain stores, including 7-Eleven, CVS, and Rite Aid. “We’re extending the 0% conversion fee promotion at chain retailers for the near future so the only fee is the $4.95 flat fee paid to the retailer,” he added. The CEO also explained why his business model is different from other bitcoin ATM businesses. “The traditional BTM ROI doesn’t justify spending $10,000+ on a machine in a town of 15,000 people, but we’ve been able to tap into that underserved market with our ATM and chain retailer integrations,” he described. “Because we leverage existing hardware and infrastructure, our costs are much less than BTM operators (who need to buy $10,000+ kiosks and place them). Our fees range from 1.5% (CVS, Rite Aid) to 8% (debit card at ATM) which is lower than the BTM average of 12-20%.” Yim further shared with news.Bitcoin.com: “With no interest earned at most banks, and a volatile stock and jobs market, there is increasing consumer appetite for an uncorrelated asset with a potential asymmetric ‘lottery ticket’ return profile. People aren’t putting their life savings in bitcoin, but rather dabbling, looking to have some exposure, and going from there.” He continued: Customers usually buy $20-50 initially and get comfortable with wallets, confirmation times, etc. Then they come back and buy more … We continue to see increasing bitcoin demand across the country, and particularly strong adoption in the rural and suburban markets. Libertyx’s bitcoin ATMs are not listed on the leading cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar, however. “They will only list kiosks that solely sell crypto and not ones that [offer] other services like traditional ATMs,” he explained. “They will only feature kiosks that accept cash. They have offered to list us under ‘Other Services’ but it’s not searchable or displayed by default in their locator.” Would you sell your bitcoin at a bitcoin ATM? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs Add Cash-Out Option: Libertyx Sees Strong Adoption appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

After JPMorgan analysts praised bitcoin, saying that the price of the cryptocurrency could triple, JPMorgan reveals that it has set up a dedicated crypto unit and its own cryptocurrency is now being used commercially by a large tech company for the first time. JPMorgan’s Crypto Now Used Commercially Global investment bank and financial services company JPMorgan Chase has set up a dedicated crypto business unit called Onyx with more than 100 staffers, CNBC reported Tuesday. JPMorgan’s announcement came after a team of analysts at the firm’s Global Markets Strategy group touted bitcoin as an alternative investment to gold among millennials, suggesting that bitcoin’s price may be “doubling or tripling” if current trends continue. Their comments followed an announcement by Paypal that the company will support cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Takis Georgakopoulos, JPMorgan’s global head of wholesale payments, explained that JPMorgan’s own cryptocurrency, the JPM Coin, is being used commercially for the first time this week by a large, unnamed technology client to send payments around the world. He added that other clients are being on-boarded. Georgakopoulos further detailed that the bank is focused on improving wholesale payments, specifically in areas where a better solution could save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. CNBC noted that as one of the largest players in this industry, JPMorgan moves more than $6 trillion a day across more than 100 countries. According to JPMorgan’s website, “The JPM Coin is based on blockchain-based technology enabling the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional clients” and “A JPM Coin always has a value equivalent to one U.S. dollar.” In addition, “The JPM Coin will be issued on Quorum Blockchain and subsequently extended to other platforms.” What do you think about JPMorgan’s crypto strategy? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JPMorgan Praises Bitcoin Then Pushes JPM Coin, Sets Up Dedicated Crypto Unit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

President Donald Trump’s campaign website was reportedly hacked Tuesday evening. Hackers claim to have “classified information” about Trump and the origin of the coronavirus. They asked crypto users to decide whether the information should be released or kept secret. Tim Murtaugh, Director of Communications for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, confirmed in a tweet: Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack. Part of the website donaldjtrump.com was made to look like it was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), displaying a “This site was seized” message over the website’s About page. The message reads: “The world has had enough of the fake news spreaded daily by President Donald J Trump. It is time to allow the world to know truth.” The hackers claim to have compromised multiple devices giving them full access to “internal and secret conversations strictly classified information.” Accusing the Trump government of being involved with the origin of the coronavirus, they further claim to have evidence to completely discredit Trump as president. The message displayed on the Trump campaign website. Source: Techcrunch. The hackers then provided two monero addresses: one for those who want the data shared and the other for those who do not. After an unspecified deadline, the total amounts of cryptocurrency sent to the two addresses will be compared and the higher total will determine the fate of the data, the message details. Techcrunch reported that the page was signed with a PGP public key corresponding to an email address at a non-existent domain (planet.gov). Within a few minutes, the web page reverted back to its original content. “There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site,” Murtaugh insisted, noting that “The website has been restored.” What do you think about this hack? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Trump’s Website Hacked, Scam Asked Crypto Owners to Decide Fate of ‘Classified Information’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This month, a new cryptocurrency project called the Axion Network will achieve a major milestone – it will see its mainnet launch and go public. The reason that’s so significant is that Axion represents a new breed of cryptocurrency. It’s not a utility token or an attempt at replacing fiat currencies. It’s an investment vehicle that’s aimed at one of the biggest untapped markets left in the crypto-world: mainstream income investors. Not Just a Cryptocurrency It aims to lure both crypto-investing veterans and traditional investors with a stable and reliable return rate that’s unheard of in all but the riskiest markets. It’s because Axion isn’t just a cryptocurrency. It’s a time-locked investment system that’s purpose-built to generate a stable inflationary curve and to fight volatility to protect investors’ principal and deliver a high ROI. If you follow the cryptocurrency market, then you should know that its volatility is one of the major factors preventing most tokens from achieving any sort of mainstream acceptance. As it stands now, the only people who dare to delve into crypto-investing are either unafraid of losses (the very wealthy and the very brave) or the true believers who invest because they’re committed to what cryptocurrency represents. For mainstream investors though, the thought of getting wiped out in a sudden sell-off is enough to keep them away. But now, Axion offers those investors an attractive new option. Think of it as the crypto-equivalent of a bank-issued certificate of deposit (CD). In exchange for a time-locked investment, owners of the Axion cryptocurrency receive a base return rate of 8%. With bank CDs hovering at an average 1% or lower return rate – that’s unheard of. And it’s just the beginning. Axion’s built to generate income well above that base rate. Mechanisms Built Specifically to Curb Volatility The high returns are a result of Axion’s innovative new approach to crypto wealth generation. It contains mechanisms built specifically to curb volatility while creating self-driven upward inflationary pressure on the price of Axion tokens. It achieves those ends by employing a high early and late unstake fee structure – much like a traditional CD’s early withdrawal penalty – to discourage unexpected token sales, and a clever daily auction system that turns the penalties collected into more value for everyone else. It’s an approach that takes advantage of some of the cryptocurrency market’s major features. One is crypto’s unique ability to use smart contracts to automate and control market-making functions. That’s what allows Axion to auction off token penalties, and then use 80% of the daily proceeds to execute a token buyback from major exchanges on a schedule fine-tuned to produce price gains without introducing instability. And, the auction system produces all of the funding required to operate, maintain, and further develop the Axion network in the form of the remaining 20% of the auction proceeds. Penalties to Discourage Flash Sales The other way that Axion works to protect investors is that it doesn’t only rely on disincentives like penalties to discourage flash sales that would harm value. It also deploys a strong system of incentives that make it worthwhile for stakeholders to remain all-in for the long haul. It does this by tapping a pool of Axion that was set aside for freeclaim by owners of a different investment called HEX limited to 10 million Axion tokens, as well as for owners of Axion’s precursor HEX2T to convert their holdings to the new coin at a rate of 1:1 with no limit. Because the freeclaim and conversion process won’t use up all of the reserved Axion, the platform will reallocate the remainder to reward investors who commit their principal for the longest periods. The first 10% of the leftover pool will be split among investors when they complete their first year of staking. Then, the distribution will increase by 5% each year up until the fifth year of Axion’s operations for those who are time-locked for the duration. For investors, it’s free money above and beyond their 8% inflationary reward, as well as a stabilizing force that should keep Axion on course as it establishes itself as a reliable income-producing investment system for the long term. And that is, after all, the endgame Axion’s aiming for. A Value Proposition That No Investor Can Afford to Ignore That’s what sets Axion apart from other crypto investments – the fact that it stands a good chance of attracting new investors who may have been hesitant to try their hand in the crypto market before. It offers everything mainstream investors have come to expect from income-producing investment vehicles, and does so at a rate of return that hasn’t been available to them in decades. Together that should make Axion a value proposition that no investor can afford to ignore. That also means it has the chance to grow even faster and stronger than most crypto projects could ever hope to match. It’s a true groundbreaker in so many ways that it’s difficult to pick a single one that makes it such a standout. And for those who get in early, it’s a chance to be a part of the future of income investing while using the staking rewards system to supercharge their returns. It isn’t often that the crypto market witnesses the birth of a project that’s a real innovation with serious staying power, but the Axion Network’s got what it takes to revolutionize its market segment. And it’s going to make plenty of new believers once it begins to prove its worth as a source of reliable, long-term income. And you can take that to the bank. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Axion’s Launch is Going to Make Crypto-Believers out of Mainstream Investors appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

An Indian bank is preparing to start providing crypto banking services at its physical bank branches. Customers can buy bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies at these branches with Indian rupees, open savings accounts with crypto wallets, make loans against their cryptocurrencies, and more. Crypto Banking at Physical Bank Branches in India Cryptocurrency users in India will soon be able to visit physical bank branches for crypto banking services as well as learn about cryptocurrency investing. This is due to a partnership, announced Monday, between crypto banking platform Cashaa and The United Multistate Credit Co. Operative Society (United), as part of Cashaa’s expansion plan in India. The United is a member of the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies Ltd. Dinesh Kukreja, Managing Director of United Multistate Credit Co. Operative Society, will be the CEO of the joint venture between the two companies. The announcement details: The joint venture, Unicas, will build the world’s first crypto-friendly financial institution with physical branches and operations. “Unicas will enable people to access traditional banking services along with crypto banking services both online and through its 22 physical branches across north India,” the announcement adds. Customers will be able to buy cryptocurrencies with cash at these physical branches, “Open saving accounts with crypto wallets … Loan against cryptocurrencies, gold, and real estate … [and] Invest in cryptocurrencies, bonds, and fixed deposits.” A spokesperson for Cashaa confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com that “Currently, there are 22 active branches and the Unicas operations will start in December … we will be ready with 22 branches.” The companies had planned to launch crypto banking services at 34 branches. However, he explained that “Due to the covid situation opening up the remaining is a bit challenging … We are seeing a slow opening from the lockdown.” Cashaa detailed: “Initially account holders will be able to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC), cashaa (CAS), ethereum (ETH), binance (BNB), bitcoin cash (BCH), EOS, litecoin (LTC) and ripple (XRP) in cash or with the account balance in Indian rupees.” Crypto Lounges at Indian Bank Branches “The United’s existing branches will be transformed and modernized as Crypto Lounges,” Cashaa described, noting that “Members can walk into any of these branches and get educated about cryptocurrencies along with other banking services.” The spokesperson further shared with news.Bitcoin.com: “We will educate them on investment opportunities, utilities of bitcoin and other cryptos, how to use and store crypto, etc.” He clarified that non-bank customers “will have access to general material, but the usage of lounges are for bank customers.” Cashaa emphasized: The immediate plan is to open these Crypto Lounges in Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan covering a population of 150 million Indians living in these states. Kukreja commented: “By increasing our exposure to emerging technologies, we are aiming to rapidly expand to over 100 physical branches by 2021, employing thousands of skilled professionals in India,” noting: Our savings bank account holders will also be able to use their cryptocurrencies as collaterals to take loans, like any other traditional loan given by banks. What do you think about crypto banking at physical bank branches in India? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 22 Indian Bank Branches to Begin Offering Crypto Banking Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says its release of $16 billion towards sub-Sahara Africa will help to cover the needs of countries badly hit by the global pandemic, Covid-19. The financial institution says despite its swift action, the region still faces a financing gap of $290 billion between now and the year 2023. Sub-Sahara Africa’s Limited Fiscal Space According to the Fund, without significant additional financial assistance, many sub-Saharan African countries will struggle to simply maintain macroeconomic stability while meeting the basic needs of their populations. Emphasizing the urgency of the matter in a blog, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concludes the region “will need access to more grants, concessional credit, and debt relief” if it is “to prevent the loss of decades-worth of development gains.” The global lender says, unlike advanced economies that have had the space to do “whatever it takes” to overcome effects of the pandemic, “in sub-Saharan Africa no such luxury exists, as countries struggle to do ‘whatever is possible’ with their scarce resources.” Unsurprisingly, the IMF is projecting a “negative 3 percent growth in sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2020, representing the worst outcome on record for the region.” The drop will be even larger for economies dependent on tourism and commodity exports. Growth in the region should rebound modestly in 2021 to 3.1 percent, but for many countries, a return to 2019 levels will not occur until 2022–24. The Region Is Still in Need of Additional Funding Meanwhile, the Fund reveals that the $16 billion it has availed will go towards the financing needs of 33 countries. It has also given “immediate debt service relief to 22 of the poorest, most vulnerable sub-Saharan African countries.” Emphasizing the importance of relaxing debt repayment terms, the Fund explains: We are working with countries to put in place governance mechanisms to help ensure that the funds benefit their people as intended. We have also worked with the G20 to suspend debt service payments to official bilateral creditors and welcome the extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative. Still, the IMF says more help is needed as “Sub-Saharan Africa faces additional financing needs of $890 billion through 2023” under what it terms an optimistic scenario. Sub-Sahara Africa countries entered the crisis with significantly less fiscal space than they had prior to the global financial crisis of 2008–09. COVID-19 related fiscal support in sub-Saharan Africa has averaged 3 percent of GDP—markedly less than what has been spent in other regions of the world. In conclusion, the IMF says the “pandemic has presented a historic opportunity to build a better future and the international community has an important role to play.” It says fostering better transparency and governance to improve trust in rule of law, strengthen business conditions, and encourage external support will be a key element for developing a better future. What are thoughts about Sub-Sahara Africa’s financing deficit? Share your views in the comments section below. The post Covid-19 Hit Sub-Sahara Africa Gets $16 Billion From IMF, Region Still Faces $290B Financing Gap appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Even though cryptocurrency traders have been exuberant over the price rise, a number of analysts are focused on the large bitcoin and ethereum options expiries set to end before Halloween. Data from Skew.com shows $750 million in Bitcoin options is set to expire and prices could get volatile. The price of bitcoin (BTC) touched an all-time 2020 high at $13,490 on Tuesday across global exchanges. The price spiked when the news leaked about Southeast Asia’s largest bank DBS launching a digital asset exchange. Despite the major price climb this month, bitcoin and ethereum markets are expected to be volatile at the end of the week, as a great number of options are set to expire on October 30. The professional data and analytics firm Skew.com discussed the situation on Twitter on October 25. “60k [in] bitcoin options are expiring this week, $750mln+ notional,” Skew tweeted. The major expiry not only coincided with the price rise but also the 12th year anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper will be celebrated the very next day. In addition to Skew’s statistics, the exchange holding the most bitcoin and ethereum options contracts, Deribit, published an article about the “trading uncertainty” tethered to the expiry on October 30. Deribit published a chart that shows the current term structure of Deribit BTC options. “Due to the time value of options, the term structure tends to be upward sloping,” the Deribit report notes. “However, the humps demonstrate an expected sharp price movement in a particular period of time. Similar to the traditional markets, the BTC market has priced in potential volatility in the election week of October 30 until November 6. The increased volatility is expected to continue at least until the end of Q4,” the crypto derivatives exchange added. According to Deribit’s crypto derivatives channel on Telegram, a recent signal on October 26, 2020, explained that there’s currently 61k BTC options set to expire on October 30 of which 40k is held at Deribit. Additionally, 190k ETH options ($76 million) will expire on the same day of which 164k is held at Deribit. Deribit’s crypto derivatives signal channel poses the question further: This month we have seen a significant flipping of the [one] month skew and Bitcoin testing yearly highs. The 30 Oct ’20 expiry comes just a few days before the eagerly watched US election. With over 7% of the expiry open interest fixated on the 13,000 strike, could any early unexpected US election news or movement in the partially correlated stock market trigger Bitcoin to cross the strike and trigger a run on volatility? On Tuesday, Skew tweeted about Deribit’s October expiry and said that dealers are likely long. “On Deribit for October expiry, 12k, 12.5k, 13k, and 14k calls are all open for 2k+ bitcoin options,” the researchers tweeted. The largest strike is the 9k put with more than 5k options open. Judging by where the October vol is marked, sub 40, it’s likely dealers are long against overwriters.” Of course, speculators have put a lot of weight into crypto futures and options markets and lots of times these secondary markets do nothing. For instance, traders and analysts often talk about CME gaps that never fill and big options expiries that are extremely boring. For instance, crypto traders expected lots of volatility after speculating on more than 87k worth of bitcoin options that expired on September 25. Similarly to the upcoming pre-Halloween bitcoin and ethereum options expiry, data from Deribit had shown the exchange held 67k worth (77%) of the 87k September 25 contracts. That day historical BTC price statistics show bitcoin opened on the 25th at $10,248 and closed at a high of $10,771 later in the afternoon. Options markets had no effect on spot market prices going forward. Bitcoin markets did not end up being turbulent at all after the large expiry and ended up rising 24.4% since then. What do you think about the $750M + bitcoin options expiry on October 30? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post The $750 Million Pre-Halloween Bitcoin Options Expiry Has Started to Spook Traders appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Nasdaq-listed Marathon Patent Group is buying 10,000 of the more efficient Antminer S19 Pro bitcoin miners from Bitmain in a deal worth millions of dollars. ▪ Marathon said the deal would boost the company’s operations to 23,560 next-generation miners, “making it the largest self-miner in North America”. ▪ When fully installed, the new machines will bring the firm’s total hashrate to 2.56 exahash per second (EH/s) – one of the world’s top 15 bitcoin miners. ▪ In August, Marathon bought another 10,500 miners of the same make for $23 million. Bitmain will deliver all the miners in batches starting in January through June. ▪ Marathon CEO Merrick Okamoto said the company’s mining operations had continued to grow “against the backdrop of recently increasing bitcoin prices.” ▪ The latest purchase comes just two weeks after Marathon, an $81.6 million-valued company, announced a joint venture agreement that reduces its electricity costs for extracting bitcoin by 38%. ▪ Shares of Marathon rose nearly 11% to $2.82 in pre-trading on Tuesday. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock touched a high of $5.25 and a low of $0.35. What do you think about Marathon’s ambitions? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Marathon Buys Additional 10,000 Antminers to Become Largest US Bitcoin Miner appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Less than two weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director called for a “new Bretton Woods moment.” Meanwhile, the IMF is not the only entity pushing for a “great reset,” as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other mainstream entities have been promoting the financial reboot propaganda. The Status Quo Preps for the ‘Great Reset’ Via Intense Propaganda 2020 has been a wild ride and during the last ten months, the world moved in lockstep in order to avoid the coronavirus outbreak. The government’s reaction to Covid-19 created a different world and the global economy has seen better days. During our last report concerning the IMF’s call for a “new Bretton Woods moment,” news.Bitcoin.com’s findings discovered some of the “great reset” doctrines. The great reset concept is very similar to George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel 1984, and some believe the subject is a borderline ‘conspiracy theory.’ Unlike the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the information age, the great reset, otherwise known as the ‘fourth industrial revolution,’ will be invoked by governments in a forceful manner without consent. For instance, a website called greatreset.com has been floating around the web catching people’s attention this year. Additionally, a Youtube video published by the Corbett Report offers a guide to the so-called reboot. The great reset conversation is also quite topical and discussions can be found on many social media avenues like Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook. Likewise, websites like the greatreset.com have sparked intense speculation about an upcoming financial reset where the global elite forcefully invoke the ‘fourth industrial revolution.’ The coronavirus measures coupled with purported climate change and statist propaganda are considered the primers of this great reset concept. In fact, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been promoting the concept for years, and back in November 2016, the WEF tweeted about eight predictions for the year 2030. The WEF predicts a world where, “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy” and the short clip says that everyone will rent everything they need. Ever since the #greatreset hashtag started trending again this week, people have also been responding to the 2016 WEF tweet. Today, the WEF website and its founder Klaus Schwab are still heavily promoting this idea. Klaus Schwab founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Schwab and the WEF have been promoting the great reset idea for quite some time. “Do we aim to get back to where we were before, or should we take the opportunity to make society fairer, smarter and greener, and get humanity off the road to climate catastrophe – a ‘great reset’?” one of the WEF’s reboot editorials states. The editorial is the subject of Klaus Schwab’s book called: “Covid-19: The Great Reset.” The book describes how the virus disrupted both economic and social infrastructure and “what changes will be needed to create a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world going forward.” Moreover, the publication Time Magazine has dedicated a lot of time to get its readers to understand the great reset as well. Time has partnered with the WEF and hosts a whole section towards the reset ideas. Similar to the book and WEF’s stance, Time’s new collection of great reset editorials discuss topics like the coronavirus, climate change, and reimagining capitalism. The cover of @TIME: the #GreatReset is coming. Swallow the pill, folks, for your own good. The #Davos aristocracy at @wef wants the best for you & is so kind to reset your lives in 2021. No need for democratic consultation, which would but slow down the process of your salvation. pic.twitter.com/U5cPH0URwY — Frédéric Leroy (@fleroy1974) October 25, 2020 The Time articles are also filled with equality boosterism and environmental destruction cues from the progressive left. Oddly enough, one editorial notes that some “segments of society” can’t “make this great leap for­ward” in regard to the great reset. However, the author says that “governments can rewrite the social con­tract to provide for as many as possible remains urgent and vital.” The Elite’s Great Reset Doctrine Is Considered an Advance Toward a New Type of Political Globalism and Fascism Not everyone is too keen on the great reset concept, and there’s a number of hit pieces against the idea trending on the web. For a case in point, an editorial published by the publication, Winter Oak, calls the new trend Schwab’s “fascist reset.” “This new fascism is today being advanced in the guise of global governance, biosecurity, the ‘New Normal,’ the ‘New Deal for Nature’ and the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution,’” explains the Winter Oak article. The author adds: The original fascist project, in Italy and Germany, was all about a merger of state and business. While communism envisages the take-over of business and industry by the government, which – theoretically – acts in the interests of the people, fascism was all about using the state to protect and advance the interests of the wealthy elite. On Twitter, one of the authors of the “HPV Vaccine On Trial,” Eileen Iorio, told her 15,000 followers that the founder of the WEF “wants to take this unprecedented opportunity to ‘Reset’ the world.” “#TheGreatReset was founded in Davos and you don’t get to vote on it. Climate Change policies will be the cover story. [Time Magazine] LOVES it,” she added. "To paraphrase (Klaus Schwab) Covid-19 gives us a small window of opportunity for The Great Reset". Economist Jonathan Davis It is not a conspiracy, we either stand or fall.pic.twitter.com/IMncVrb7Pc — Darren of Plymouth 🇬🇧 (@DarrenPlymouth) October 27, 2020 For quite some time now free-market advocates and Austrian economists have warned about the infectious political globalism spreading throughout the world. Meanwhile, central banks and politicians have been creating money out of thin air and feeding trillions to special interests. Winter Oak says that Schwab’s agenda is based on his theory dubbed ‘stakeholder capitalism,’ which has a number of extremely fascist elements. In a stakeholder capitalist-based world, the private sector is tightly tethered to the government and “the notion that a firm focuses on meeting the needs of all its stakeholders: customers, employees, partners, the community, and society as a whole.” What do you think about the great reset concept Time and WEF have been pushing? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post A Look at the Fascist Agenda Behind the ‘Great Reset’ and the WEF’s Reboot Propaganda appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While bitcoin prices touched all-time 2020 highs on Tuesday, a few analysts say they are expecting only a few more hurdles to surpass the 2017 all-time high (ATH). For instance, the market analyst from Etoro, David Derhy, says to look to $20,000 instead of back at $12,000. A few traders and popular cryptocurrency analysts think that bitcoin (BTC) simply needs to cross the $14k region and its lift-off from there. Tuesday’s 2020 ATH of $13,684 is just shy of last year’s ATH at $13,796 per bitcoin which was accomplished on June 26, 2019. Macro strategist Raoul Pal said on Tuesday that there are only two major BTC price resistances left. “There are literally only two resistances left on the bitcoin chart – $14,000 and then the old all-time high at $20,000,” Raoul Pal tweeted on Tuesday. “I fully expect new all-time highs by early next year at the latest.” Senior market analyst for Etoro, Simon Peters, explained this week in an investor’s note that “stimulus fears could stoke the fire for bitcoin. “We may also see an uptick of inflation, another important aspect of Satoshi Nakamoto’s view of modern economies that drove him/her/them to create Bitcoin,” Peters wrote. “It will also be interesting to see how this impacts the correlation between bitcoin and equity markets.” #BTC HTF targets pic.twitter.com/RgZLoDwfRJ — //Bitcoin 𝕵ack 🐐 (@BTC_JackSparrow) October 27, 2020 “Okex futures order book asks being pulled/executed at market in the last few days as BTC consolidates,” the popular crypto analyst dubbed ‘Light’ told his 25,000 Twitter followers on Tuesday. “A move above $14k in the near term is increasing in probability,” Light added. In the same investors note, market analyst from Etoro, David Derhy, detailed that people should “look to $20,000 instead of back at $12,000.” “The current run could simply push through all the way to $14,000,” Derhy wrote this week. “If that is the case, then the next level from a technical and fundamental perspective would be $20,000. With the U.S. election coming up next month, further economic stimulus from the government is going to happen even if the size of that stimulus is still up for discussion. I am of the view that we won’t see a drop back down below $12,000 for a while yet.” Just recently, the ‘Oracle’ Vinny Lingham said similar statements and doesn’t expect the price to drop below $12k during the next 30 days. Meanwhile, bitcoin’s (BTC) hashrate has seen a 45% slump during the last three days. What do you think about the price pushing past the $14k zone and do you think $20k is coming next? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post If Bitcoin Passes $14K, Analysts Say Traders ‘Should Look to $20,000’ Instead of Looking Back appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Onchain analytics from the research and analysis firm Glassnode shows that the number of bitcoin whales (addresses with at least 1,000 bitcoins) has surpassed 1,900 clusters. The number of network participants in terms of 1,000 coin whales hasn’t been this high since 2016. Seven-day trailing statistics for the number of whales (addresses with balance ≥ $1k) has increased 2% according to statistics from Glassnode. This means the number of large BTC holders (1,940 clusters ≥ $1k) has increased a great deal since the recent Paypal crypto support announcement. Addresses with Balance ≥ $1k touched a four-year high this weekend. The last time the Bitcoin Whale Index (≥ $1k) was this high was September 2016 just before the 2017 bull run started. The increase in BTC whales suggests a number of investors believe the price will jump higher in the future. On October 22, 2020, the well known bitcoin analyst Willy Woo tweeted about data that shows there are more than 23 million active holders today. “Datasource for 23.4m active [holders]: Cumulatively sum net entity growth, this takes into account [holders] coming in minus [holders] that have left completely (zero coins in their wallets),” Woo said. Onchain data and blockchain analysis from bitinfocharts.com indicate that the number of bitcoin whales with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC on a single address has increased significantly. On February 25, 2019, there were 1,709 addresses with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC and that metric increased 24.28% to 2,125 addresses. Interestingly, the number of addresses with 100 to 1,000 BTC dropped from 14,749 to today’s 13,869 addresses. Strangely enough, the addresses with 100,000 to 1,000,000 BTC dropped from five to one. The stats from bitinfocharts’s “Top 100 Richest Bitcoin Addresses” also shows there are six exchanges with cold wallets represented in the top 20 addresses. Huobi has the biggest balance with 203,502 BTC sitting in a single address. Huobi’s cold wallet address which holds the #1 position in the rich list, represents 1.10% of the bitcoins in circulation. This followed by exchange wallets from Coinbase, Binance, Bitfinex, Bittrex, and a smaller Binance cold wallet as well. Data stemming from May 1, 2020, shows there were only 2,002 addresses with 100,000 to 1,000,000 BTC, which means 123 whales joined the fray since then. While bitcoin’s (BTC) price has been appreciating this month a number of proponents have noticed the whale accumulation. Venture Coinist podcast host, Luke Martin noticed the trend during the first week of October. “A rising Bitcoin Whale Index has been a leading indicator for $BTC price & bull markets. It is climbing to new highs right now,” Martin tweeted. What do you think about the recent increase in whales this month? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Onchain Data Shows Rising Bitcoin Whale Index Surpassing 4-Year High appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

It’s Halloween! Play spooktastic casino games and celebrate this hallowed festival with Bitcoin Games as they promise the most Harrowing Halloween you’d ever experience! Zombies Monsters Vampires Our very own premium casino brand, Bitcoin Games, has launched the Harrowing Halloween promotion where you can play from 12 horror-themed games and get a special bonus all throughout Halloween. The promotion features all sorts of spookalicious creatures to keep you spell-bound for the whole week leading up to Halloween. Whether it is Dracula’s Family, 100 Zombies, Haunted Hospital or Los Muertos – the spookiest of all the featured games are guaranteed to send chills down your spine with thrilling music, stunning visuals, and crazy in-game multipliers.The promotion features all sorts of spookalicious creatures to keep you spell-bound for the whole week leading up to Halloween. Bitcoin Games is an online gaming platform where you can engage in all the popular casino games without worrying about KYC or upper limits on deposits. The online casino also features provably fair exclusive games, anonymous accounts, and instant withdrawals around the clock. The Harrowing Halloween week has begun and you can play your favorite frightening games to grab 10% cashback until the night of Halloween(23:59 GMT on the 31st of October). Check out this exciting new promotion from Bitcoin Games and more on the casino’s website. The post Celebrate this Halloween with Spookalicious Casino Games and Get Rewarded appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Six years ago, a number of theories spread across the internet that claimed the famed American economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. was Satoshi Nakamoto. There’s a bunch of circumstantial evidence that has invoked some research into the possibility that Nash could have been Bitcoin’s creator. The following editorial is the ninth installment of news.Bitcoin.com’s “the many facts” series, with a comprehensive look at some of the evidence that is tied to John Nash and Bitcoin’s mysterious creator. During the last decade, there’s been a wide variety of individuals that people suspect could be Bitcoin’s inventor. In 2014 and 2015, a number of armchair sleuths published research posts that claimed the well known economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. created blockchain technology. Nash is quite popular for numerous reasons especially his contributions to economics, mathematics, and complex systems found in game theory. The mathematical genius is also well known because of the award-winning movie “A Beautiful Mind,” which was a biographical interpretation of his life. Six years ago, a few bitcoiners and armchair sleuths tried to tie John Forbes Nash Jr. to Satoshi Nakamoto and the creation of Bitcoin. Nash was also a Nobel prize winner for his work in economic sciences and he earned his Ph.D. by leveraging a 28-page dissertation on non-cooperative games. Over six years ago, Nash was considered a prime suspect in the Satoshi Nakamoto mystery and a number of bitcoiners have tried to tether the two individuals. Some people suspect that Nash possibly helped with the project and assume Bitcoin may have been created by a group of geniuses. For instance, back in mid-June 2015, the author Travis Patron wrote an editorial called “Did Mathematician John Nash Help Invent Bitcoin?” which proposes the question. Patron’s theory, like many others during that time, talks about a paper Nash wrote called the “Ideal Money” which Nash published on various occasions between 1994 through 2008. “Nash described this ideal of money as something which could provide a global savings outlet for people who would otherwise be subject to ‘bad money’, or money expected to lose value over time under conditions of inflation among other things,” Patron wrote. In 1994 and for close to a decade John Forbes Nash Jr. was infatuated with the “Ideal Money” paper he had written and a number of people believe there are similarities between Bitcoin and Nash’s ideal money concept. The Nobel Laureate’s paper about ideal money made a number of mainstream headlines in the press after he published the work. One headline, in particular, dubbed “Nobel Economist Says More Stable Currency Needed,” was published on Fordham University’s website a month and a half before Satoshi published the Bitcoin white paper on Halloween 2008. Patron’s research describes two more papers that align with the Bitcoin network including a speech about the ideal money published in the Southern Economic Journal, and another paper from 2002. The author is not the only one who believed Nash could have been involved, as a Reddit post written six years ago describes how Nash was Bitcoin’s creator. “John is an award-winning cryptographer, mathematician, and a Nobel prize-winning economist,” the Redditor wrote at the time. “This trifecta is key in understanding the genius behind Bitcoin as all three schools of thought came together.” The armchair sleuth from 2014 added: He’s been operating under several ‘schizophrenic’ false identities on the internet since the ’90s. His timezone/geographic location, access to computers within the faculty in Princeton (for early Bitcoin mining), and his raw genius are all parallel with what we already know about the real Satoshi Nakamoto, including his writing style, which also matches Nick Szabo’s. The author also cited a Youtube video that described Nash’s political ideas and goals when it comes to the ideal money. The armchair sleuth said the video gave him “goosebumps” because of the similarities it had with the open Bitcoin network. News.Bitcoin.com readers can check out the video about John Nash with Martin Edwards below. In addition to the Reddit post, an anonymous publisher from the web portal dubbed the “Financial Underground Kingdom” also released an editorial that claims John Nash could be Satoshi Nakamoto. The unknown author also says that it’s possible that Nash worked with Nick Szabo and Wei Dai during the creation period. The drawing above is called Parallel Control, drawn by John Nash in 1954. The editorial speaks about a letter Nash wrote in 1955 to the National Security Agency (NSA), which was declassified years later by the intelligence agency. Nash’s letter described an “encryption machine of his design,” one that did not interest the NSA and the project was soon forgotten. The anonymous writer says the letter pretty much sums up the fact that Nash was probably Bitcoin’s inventor. “This man (John Nash) fills every single one of Satoshi’s markers and more, he rewrote the economy already, defined the encryption race 50 years ago,” the anon said. “He has since been touring the world, talking about a new kind of money technology and how it is going to give the people ‘the power’ vs government ‘schemes’ of money printing.” The editorial continued: [John Nash] is Satoshi, nothing is hidden it’s all in plain view. It makes 100% perfect sense now, but 20 years ago when the lecture was given, it was complete gibberish. How do you explain to a world population that everything will be different because of what you are about to do? How do you break it to them slowly before they rip you apart out of fear? In the letter to the NSA, Nash said: “I am speaking about a research project that is not fully complete since I have not yet written up and submitted for publication any paper or papers describing the work. Also, the details of what axioms to use and how to select the basic set theory underlying the hierarchical extension to be constructed are not fully crystallized.” There have also been a number of other theories concerning Nash and Satoshi’s alleged ties at the end of May 2015. Nash and his wife were killed in a car crash in 2015 and after he died on May 23, bitcoiners started sleuthing again. John Forbes Nash Jr. and his wife passed away in a bad car accident on the New Jersey Turnpike on May 23, 2015. Bitcoin proponents started to discuss the theory that erupted on Bitcointalk.org a year prior in September 2014. The interesting notion tethers Nash to Satoshi’s identity with a great deal of circumstantial evidence and a lot of speculation. The Nash speculation started after the owner of Bitcointalk.org, Theymos, received an ostensible, compromised email from Satoshi’s GMX email handle during the first week of September. Many years have passed since this theory was revolving around the web and the sleuthing seemed to have stopped after Nash passed away. The internet is littered with theories that people have composed in order to tether the two geniuses together, but no one has ever provided a smoking gun. John Forbes Nash Jr. definitely had the know-how to create Bitcoin but now that he’s gone, it would be even harder to prove, similar to the mysterious Hal Finney theories. Nash is just another individual on the list of possible suspects and the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto continues to remain unknown. Nash did discuss Bitcoin during a keynote presentation at Oxford University, which was published in February 2015. News.Bitcoin.com readers can watch his lecture where he discusses “Bitcoin Honesty” in the video embedded below. What do you think about the claims that say John Nash may be Satoshi Nakamoto? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post The Many Facts Pointing to John Nash Being Satoshi Nakamoto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Popular actor Kevin Hart gave bitcoin a boost this weekend during an all-star charity event to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). He told viewers that cryptocurrency is a legitimate investment after calling it “voodoo money.” Kevin Hart Shouts Out About Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency American comedian, Hollywood actor, and producer Kevin Hart shouted out this weekend that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are legitimate investments during an online fundraiser he hosted for the benefit of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and his Help From the Hart charity. The inaugural MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon, aired on Saturday, is the first telethon in six years for the MDA. The last host was famed comic and actor Jerry Lewis who died in 2017. The event lasted over two hours and participants included many other celebrities, such as Leslie Mann, Josh Gad, Don Cheadle, DJ Khaled, Jack Black, Cindy Crawford, David Beckham, Usain Bolt, Robin Thicke, Adam Devine, Kelly Rowland, Michael B. Jordan, and Bryon Cranston. Hart himself has been in many movies and TV shows; he has 88 acting credits and 36 producer credits, according to IMDB. During the telethon, actor Jay Ellis who helped man the phones supposedly got a call from someone asking about whether donations can be made in cryptocurrency. Ellis asked Hart: “Hey Kev, I’ve got someone who wants to know if we do bitcoin, ethereum, or any cryptocurrencies.” Hart promptly responded: “I don’t take that voodoo money, we don’t take the voodoo, okay, so if you’re out there trying to give us the voodoo money…” While ranting on about bitcoin being voodoo money, he was interrupted by someone in his earpiece who set him straight. Hart then exclaimed, “What? We do take the voodoo?” adding: I’ve been told that we actually do take cryptocurrency. I’m being told that it’s a legitimate investment that’s worth almost $250 billion. While Hart’s bitcoin stunt was most likely staged and his voodoo comment a joke, the crypto community views the event as very bullish and appreciate the exposure Hart brought bitcoin when he announced to a worldwide audience that cryptocurrency is a legit investment. Currently, eight cryptocurrencies are accepted by the MDA through the Giving Block. They are bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), zcash (ZEC), Gemini dollar (GUSD), basic attention token (BAT), and chainlink (LINK). Donors can also request additional cryptocurrencies. The telethon raised $10,548,454 during the evening but donations continued to roll in after the show. The organization has not disclosed how much cryptocurrency was donated. What do you think about Kevin Hart’s bitcoin shoutout? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Kevin Hart Learns Bitcoin Is a Legit Investment in an All-Star Telethon appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The CEO of Nasdaq-listed billion-dollar company Microstrategy has made a strong bull case for bitcoin. He says there is a $250 trillion ocean of assets looking for the ideal store a value right now and bitcoin is a better store of value than gold or tech stocks, so “a lot of that monetary energy is going to flow from the asset ocean into the crypto pond.” Comparing Bitcoin to Investing Early in Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon In a webcast with Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough, aired last week, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor outlined a highly bullish case for bitcoin’s price. The Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy recently invested $425 million in bitcoin as its primary reserve asset. Saylor began by explaining that he has always been a big tech investor. “The thing about technology is figuring out the thing that’s going to eat the world. If you’re right, own it, hold it, and wait,” he advised. The CEO gave the example of Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, emphasizing repeatedly that it does not matter when you bought those tech stocks. “The truth of the matter is if you’d bought Google, Apple, Amazon, or Facebook at any point between 2010 and 2020 … I think it’s impossible to have lost money at any point for the decade … your investment mistake would be trying to time the market on those things.” The Microstrategy CEO added: “Bitcoin is the first software network in the history of the world that can pull monetary energy, so these bitcoiners have figured out something that is really a thing of beauty and extraordinary value. They are pulling pure monetary energy on a network.” He elaborated: If I take $100 million and I put it into bitcoin, it could sit there for a decade like in a battery. It won’t bleed out. You’re not losing 2% to 4% a year and I can put it in the palm of my hand and I can move it around the planet for a few dollars in a few minutes and we have never in the history of the world figured that out. Bitcoin Is Not So Volatile One classic objection investors have to investing in bitcoin is its volatility. Speaking on the subject, Saylor said he has been looking at the volatility of different assets over the last three, four, and five months. He looked at 30-year Treasuries, 10-year Treasuries, the NASDAQ, the Russell 2000, gold, silver, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and more. After comparing their volatility to bitcoin, Saylor concluded: My unscientific view is on every single day at least half of those assets are more volatile than bitcoin. And on a lot of volatile days, I’ve seen 80% to 90% of them be more volatile than bitcoin. “So I think there’s a historic narrative/belief. People think they know this is volatile but in fact, it’s not looking that volatile to me over the past three months. I don’t think over the next decade it’s going to have the same characteristics of volatility that it had over the last decade,” Saylor said. The Microstrategy CEO proceeded to discuss how investors are using Apple’s stock as their store of value. “People are literally using Apple’s stock as a store of value because it’s deflationary. Apple is buying it back and they think Apple is not going anywhere and they’re desperate to flee [from] currency.” However, he pointed out that “Apple is more volatile than bitcoin for the past three months.” Bitcoin Is a Better Store of Value than Apple’s Stock or Gold Besides Apple’s stock, gold is still investors’ favorite store of value. However, Saylor explained that neither are as good as bitcoin as a store of value. “The truth is Apple’s stock is not scarce. The executive team can and will eventually print more and if that doesn’t dilute you then they’ve got regulatory risk, competitive risk, [and] execution risk — a lot of moving parts … that’s why they’re not good over the long term,” he detailed. As for gold, he said: “if you put $100 million into gold and the gold miners print 2% to 3% more a year, let’s say 2% more, well, over 100 years you lose 88% of your purchasing power.” The CEO explained that these stores of value worked in the past because there was no alternative. However, things have changed. “In the year 2020, you have a choice, you have a digital gold,” he declared. “They cannot make any more. Bitcoin miners are the friends of bitcoin owners. They’re not the enemy of bitcoin owners.” He explained that to store $100 million for 100 years, you will lose 85% of it under the best case if you put it in gold. “Under the likely case, you lose it all because the bank will fail, the country will fail, [or] somebody will seize it,” he claimed. Saylor presented bitcoin as the best solution: “The reason that the bitcoin maximalists … are passionate and religious about this is because for the first time in human history you can take all of your wealth and your life force. You can put it into an asset. You can keep the keys. You can take custody of your million dollars, your hundred thousand dollars. No government, no bank can take it away from you. There’s nobody to tell you you can’t own your life force, and if you have hopes and aspirations for your family, for your religion, for your life, then you have the power to achieve those hopes and aspirations without asking the permission of a bank or a government or politician.” The Microstrategy CEO then spoke about the trillions of dollars currently in alternative assets that function as stores of value, including gold, technology stocks, and bonds. He proclaimed: There’s a $250 trillion ocean of assets. They are looking for the ideal store of value right now. Maintaining that bitcoin is a better store of value than other assets he previously described, he emphasized: “bitcoin is digital gold. It’s better gold than gold and it’s a better store of value than big tech.” He believes that as investors understand this, “a lot of that monetary energy is going to flow from the asset ocean into the crypto pond and everybody that makes the transition is going to benefit.” Do you agree with Michael Saylor’s vision for bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post $250 Trillion in Assets Looking for Ideal Store of Value: A Bull Case for Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Decentralized finance (defi protocol) Harvest Finance was hacked on Monday for $24 million. The attacker targeted the protocol’s liquidity pools, performing an arbitrage attack using a large flash loan – a type of uncollatarized loan – but later returned $2.5 million. In seven minutes, the hack was complete. Harvest Finance revealed that the hacker “manipulated prices on one money lego (curve y pool) to drain another money lego [farm USDT (fUSDT), farm USDC (fUSDC)], many times. The attacker then converted the funds to renBTC and exited to bitcoin.” RenBTC is a bitcoin-backed token used on the Ethereum blockchain. Farm, Harvest’s native token, fell 54% to $101.79 on the news, according to Coingecko data. Following the attack, the amount of money locked in the protocol also crashed to $575 million from $1 billion on Oct. 25, as fretful investors pulled their deposits. Harvest provided a list of 10 bitcoin addresses of the hacker, where it believes the stolen funds may have been moved. It also asked exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Huobi to block the attacker’s addresses. The three-month-old platform said that there is a “significant amount of personally identifiable information on the attacker, who is well-known in the crypto community.” Not willing to dox the cyber-thief, Harvest Finance is now offering a $100,000 bounty “for the first person or team to reach out to the attacker”. The $2.5 million returned by the hacker will be “distributed to the affected depositors pro-rata using a snapshot,” Harvest tweeted. Harvest’s hack comes just six weeks after an attacker made off with $8.1 million in bitcoin from another defi protocol, Bzx. However, Bzx managed to recover the funds. What do you think about the Harvest Finance hack? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Defi Protocol Harvest Finance Hacked for $24 Million, Attacker Returns $2.5 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article