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The Crypto for Congress initiative has launched. All members of Congress will be given bitcoin as campaign contributions to help them learn about cryptocurrency. The initiative is supported by Congressional Blockchain Caucus members, including pro-crypto Representatives Darren Soto and Tom Emmer. Each Congress Member Receiving Bitcoin Contribution The “Crypto for Congress” initiative has launched, the Chamber of Digital Commerce announced Monday. “Today, all members of the United States Congress will receive a campaign contribution in bitcoin” as part of this initiative, the announcement details. There are 535 members of Congress: 100 serve in the U.S. Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives. The Chamber of Digital Commerce Political Action Committee will provide a $50 bitcoin contribution to all 535 members of Congress. The organization also provides online public educational training, a toolkit, and various resources to Congress members across all parties “to help them engage directly in the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” the announcement explains. According to information on the initiative’s website: Crypto for Congress is an educational initiative aimed at expanding the use and adoption of digital assets among Congressional candidates, elected leaders, and engaged citizens. “Now is the moment for all members of Congress to learn about and embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, and the best way to do that is to set up a digital wallet and get started on the blockchain journey,” said Perianne Boring, the organization’s founder and president. “Many other nations like China, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland have rapidly embraced blockchain technology and created robust national plans to be global leaders in this area. The United States is falling behind in technological innovation and this is not a risk we should be willing to take.” The Crypto for Congress initiative is supported by members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, including pro-cryptocurrency Representatives Darren Soto and Tom Emmer. Sponsors of the newly launched initiative include Anchorage, Bitpay, Blockfi, CMT Digital, Circle, Civic, Etoro, Flipside Crypto, Medici Ventures, Messari, and Paxos. “Crypto for Congress brings an opportunity for our entire Congressional community to join this generational shift in finance and technology,” Rep. Tom Emmer commented. “By embracing the digital asset movement, we have an opportunity to take a significant step forward to ensure America’s leadership position in the future of the global economy.” What do you think about the Crypto for Congress initiative? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto for Congress: Bitcoin Sent to All Congress Members’ Campaigns appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The decentralized finance (defi) ecosystem has become a multi-billion dollar industry and quite a bit of the popularity is stemming from China. While a number of defi projects from the West like Uniswap, Compound, and Makerdao are popular in the country, China is also creating its own landscape of defi platforms and applications. At the time of publication, the recorded total value locked (TVL) in defi is hovering around $10.8 billion. Uniswap captures the market dominance according to the web portal defipulse.com, as the trading protocol commands over 20% of the market. On October 1, James Gillingham the founder of Finxflo explained how China is developing its own defi ecosystem. Gillingham told Forkast News that he thinks China might be allowing the creation of its own defi space, in order to ultimately curb capital controls. The defi ecosystem in China has grown exponential, after the Chinese government banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017. Another report this year that combs through the swelling defi sector in the country notes that “a large number of defi projects have gone viral in China.” Projects that have seen virality in 2020 include Loopring, Kyber Network, Uniswap, Compound, and Makerdao. However, despite these projects seeing lots of attention from China, the country is seeing a lot of its own defi development. Stats from the Conflux Network show China is also seeing all kinds of defi applications tending to patrons living in the country. Image from the Conflux Network shows China has developed defi wallets, stablecoins, payments, NFTs, derivatives, lending/borrowing applications, and defi exchanges as well. The Conflux study report notes defi wallets like Bitpie, Debank, Cobo, Mykey are now integrated with Chinese decentralized applications (dapps). Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are popular collectibles in China with NFTs such as Dappbirds, Hyperdragons, and Fishchain. “Although the Chinese defi market is still in its infancy, recent waves of adoption, dapps, and capital from the region are slowly capturing a significant market share of the defi ecosystem,” the Conflux report highlights. Stablecoins are also huge in China and while tether (USDT) dominates in the region, there’s a synthetic USD from Dforce and HUSD. There’s also Bitcny and Qcash as well representing two forms of synthetic CNY. In the borrowing and lending field, there’s platforms like Infinity, Kava Labs, Force Protocol, and Dforce. Gillingham expects China to continue making “moves with this new decentralized finance approach.” The founder of Finxflo also expects the Chinese government to get involved in the defi ecosystem. Defi has also seen significant growth since China started discussing approving licensed blockchain firms. In January 2020, over 33,000 companies registered in China with the intent of providing a blockchain service. What do you think about the growing defi space in China? Let us know in the comments section below. The post After Banning ICOs China’s Defi Ecosystem Grows Exponential This Year appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Announced earlier this week, the two companies said the deal is expected to be finalized immediately, without disclosing the financial terms. BOA Exchange is a crypto exchange that has accumulated a vast user base, offering free alt tokens in airdrops and staking coins. The deal further expands the reach of Bitcoin.com exchange into the underserved Eastern European and Southern Asia marketplaces. BOA Exchange came onto the scene in 2018 during the height of the ICO craze making a name for itself in the altcoin and airdrop marketplace, offering cheap listings and a plethora of free tokens to its members. Danish Chaudhry, Head of Bitcoin.com Exchange stated: “We are pleased to have made this acquisition at this time, as it furthers our reach into the European and Asian markets as we witness a consolidation in the crypto exchange space.” Sources close to the deal told the news source the deal will consist of a straight crypto transaction with an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). In terms of how the transition will pan out, users will soon be going to exchange.bitcoin.com to check their balances. However, users at BOA Exchange will have time to either withdraw their tokens from the old exchange and signup to exchange.bitcoin.com to easily transition to the new platform. Bitcoin.com Exchange also said that the acquisition comes at a great inflection point in the industry, with new traders across the globe adopting crypto and speculating it due to current circumstances of further trust in the market. The exchange has said that it has seen a plethora of new signups, ranging from beginner to advanced traders over the past couple of months. This could also be due to the new margin trading capabilities available within the exchange. About Bitcoin.com Exchange The mission of Bitcoin.com Exchange is to empower people from all over the world to trade cryptocurrencies with ease and confidence, from first-time traders to advanced trading professionals. With high liquidity, 24/7 multilingual support and dozens of trading pairs, complemented with a high level of security, we offer an attractive platform for trading any cryptocurrency. Within one year since launch, on average, our exchange has been visited by more than 500K active traders per month, and this number continues to grow as you read this sentence. Media Contact Info Bitcoin.com Exchange Contact Name: Antonio Bileci Contact Email: antonio@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 Exchange Acquires BOA Exchange To Reach New Markets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently issued an advisory highlighting the sanctions risk American citizens face if they help facilitate ransomware payments. In the advisory, the OFAC says it will “continue to impose sanctions on those who materially assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for these activities.” In the document, the OFAC argues that acceding to ransomware demands–which are normally settled using cryptocurrencies–not only emboldens cybercriminals but also threatens the national security and foreign policy objectives of the United States. Instead, the OFAC “encourages victims and those involved with addressing ransomware attacks to contact OFAC immediately if they believe a request for a ransomware payment may involve a sanctions nexus.” Detailing the gravity of such offences, the advisory says the OFAC “may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations based on strict liability.” This means that any person that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction “may be held civilly liable even if it did not know or have reason to know it was engaging in a transaction with a person that is prohibited under sanctions laws.” Still, the document provides links to resources that Americans can use to determine if their activities amount to a violation of laws. For instance, OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding the office’s enforcement of U.S. economic sanctions. The guidelines also “include the factors that OFAC generally considers when determining an appropriate response to an apparent violation.” Meanwhile, the OFAC says it wants “financial institutions and other companies to implement a risk-based compliance program to mitigate exposure to sanctions-related violations.” According to the US sanctions enforcement office, this “applies to companies that engage with victims of ransomware attacks.” Such companies include those involved in providing cyber insurance, digital forensics and incident response and financial services that may involve processing ransom payments, including depository institutions and money services businesses. Furthermore, companies involved in facilitating ransomware payments on behalf of victims “should also consider whether they have regulatory obligations under the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regulations.” According to the OFAC, ransomware attacks have become more focused, sophisticated, costly, and numerous. Between 2018 and 2019 “there was a 37 percent annual increase in reported ransomware cases and a 147 percent annual increase in associated losses from 2018 to 2019”, according to Internet Crime Reports produced by the FBI. The OFAC is empowered under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) to sanction US citizens who conduct business dealings with Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN). However, the OFAC says it will “consider a company’s self-initiated, timely, and complete report of a ransomware attack to law enforcement to be a significant mitigating factor in determining an appropriate enforcement outcome if the situation is later determined to have a sanctions nexus.” The US government has already designated and sanctioned entities like Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, developer of Cryptolocker and the Lazarus Group, a cybercriminal organization sponsored by North Korea. What do you think of OFAC’s latest advisory? Share your views in the comments section below. The post OFAC Warns Americans Against Facilitating Ransomware Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

5th October 2020, leading Crypto service comparison site – Cryptowisser, announces its Crypto exchange graveyard. The detailed page lists and explains the many crypto exchanges (largely centralized exchanges) that have disappeared, expired or collapsed this year, giving an insight into the volatile and competitive crypto exchange industry. There was a 56% increase of dead crypto exchanges from last year with no signs of letting up. While the general crypto industry continues to see impressive growth, the crypto exchange industry is challenged with competition, saturation and forever increasing regulations. According to their report, crypto exchanges “die” due to voluntary shut down, hacking, scams, and being shut down by the government. While the scams and hacking are self- explanatory- the voluntary and government shutdowns as well as the mystery disappearances can be explained. Competition pushing out Crypto exchanges Cryptowisser explains that there are primarily three groups of competitors responsible for the demise of the centralized crypto exchanges: decentralized exchanges, derivatives exchanges and non-crypto alternatives. Decentralized Exchanges push centralized exchanges out. DEXs typically have servers spread out across the globe, making them less susceptible to hacker attacks, and they typically also offer lower fees (sometimes zero fees). They are able to handle more trading volume and are often more attractive than centralized crypto exchanges. Derivatives Exchanges see Growth Another group of exchanges that have seen impressive growth are derivatives exchanges. A derivative is an instrument priced based on the value of another asset (normally stocks, bonds, commodities etc). In the cryptocurrency world, derivatives derive its values from the prices of specific cryptocurrencies, most often Bitcoin. It is clear that derivatives exchanges are becoming stronger and stronger in the market, not unlikely to the detriment of certain centralized exchanges. Visit the world’s largest derivatives exchange list to see which derivatives exchanges you have already heard of. Non-Crypto Alternatives become more available. With cryptocurrencies becoming more and more user friendly and less exclusively for tech savvy trades, non crypto alternatives are also growing. While there is currently no conclusive data showing how many users that centralized exchanges lose to these non-crypto alternatives, it is reasonable to believe that they are – at least to some extent – a contributing factor to the mass death of centralized exchanges. Regulations make it impossible for new Exchanges to survive. As the industry grows, so does the need to regulate it. A Dutch exchange called NLexch, had to close down just a few weeks ago (1 September 2020) and gave the following well-written explanation to why: “De Nederlandsche Bank [NB: The Central Bank in the Netherlands] demanded that every cryptocurrency business should register with them. The registration is deemed to be mandatory, and businesses that fail to comply will be forced to close down operations in the country. The fees charged in the whole process are very high. The cost of providing the required level of security, support and technology is not economically feasible on our own.” NLexch will not be alone, as the bigger more established companies make it harder for new exchanges to compete. Concluding Remarks For a new centralized exchange to flourish, it will likely need to have some form of unique edge that is not already on the market today. The days of launching an exchange and hoping for a bull-run are over, and have been for some time. Cryptowisser is a cryptocurrency services comparison site with the world’s largest, most frequently updated and most trusted lists of cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, debit cards and merchants. With more than 1,000 reviews of the various exchanges, debit cards, wallets and merchants, they help you make all of your purchasing decisions and service choices in the crypto world. For more information please contact support@cryptowisser.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 Cryptowisser: 75 Crypto Exchanges Dead in 2020 – More Will Follow appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last month since the fall of Empire Market, darknet market (DNM) patrons have been migrating to alternative markets. Meanwhile, global law enforcement recently arrested 179 individuals tied to DNMs and seized over $6.5 million in cryptocurrency and cash proceeds. It hasn’t been a good month for DNM users after the fall of Empire Market, the DNM that exit scammed with over 2,638 BTC, ($30 million USD). Day in and day out, a great number of DNM patrons have been asking about joining alternative DNMs ever since Empire’s fall, and the Reddit forum r/darknet has grown to 135,000+ subscribers. Since the forum’s spike in subscriber growth, r/darknet moderators started a strict ban 28 days ago. “Due to the increasing number of sourcing posts, scammer posts, and carding and fraud posts since Empire left, I will be banning anyone who breaks these rules,” the r/darknet mod said after Empire’s fall. “No warning and no [temporary] ban…I will just remove the post and ban you,” the administrator added. Meanwhile, the top dog of all the DNMs today is Hydra, even though the market only caters to Russian speaking individuals. Behind Hydra is a slew of Western DNMs like Monopoly Market, White House Market, Dark Market, Cannazon Market, Deepsea Market, Tor Market, and Darkmarket. A number of r/darknet subscribers, members of the Envoy Forum, and Dread forum users have been discussing joining the aforementioned DNMs. Additionally, the web portal, dark.fail, shows all of the DNMs and forums mentioned are online as of Sunday, October 4, 2020. While DNM patrons have been scrambling to find alternative markets on the deep web, global law enforcement officials have recently revealed a major DNM bust. According to the announcement, the operation called “Disrup Tor” was established in May 2019 to battle DNMs and opioid traffickers. The operation is a law enforcement partnership between the U.S., JCODE, and Europol. JCODE is an FBI-led Department of Justice initiative, which works closely with the DEA. Agents detailed on September 22, that international law enforcement was able to arrest 179 DNM associates, they seized 500 kilograms of drugs, and confiscated $6.5 million in mixed funds. There are also rumors floating around of FBI agents messaging DNM dealers asking them to cooperate, according to dark.fail’s Twitter account and a Dread forum post. Furthermore, German police arrested Wall Street Market’s operators and two of the DNMs biggest vendors. A recent report published by Wired notes that Europol told the publication that global law enforcement was “able to recover the Wall Street Market backend server, providing investigators with an invaluable trove of evidence.” What do you think about the state of DNMs and global law enforcement’s recent bust called Disrup Tor? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post While Darknet Users Search for New Markets, Global Law Enforcement Reveals Mass Arrests appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Famous investor and “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran has criticized Mark Cuban’s “use it or lose it” approach to the second round of stimulus checks for Americans. She also shares her thinking on what’s more important than one-time direct payments. Second Stimulus Checks and Extended Unemployment Benefits Barbara Corcoran, the American investor famed for building a real estate empire with just a $1,000 loan, has spoken about stimulus checks to help Americans through the coronavirus-led economic crisis. She is also a star of the ABC television show “Shark Tank,” a multi-Emmy Award-winning entrepreneurial-themed reality show. Recently, her Shark Tank co-star Mark Cuban said a second stimulus package should give all U.S. households a $1,000 stimulus check every two weeks for the next two months. However, there is a catch — recipients must use that money within 10 days. Cuban believes that this requirement will promote spending and help keep businesses open. Many people, including Corcoran, disagree with Cuban’s stimulus check suggestion. Commenting on her co-star’s idea of giving people a stimulus check with an expiry date, she told CNBC Make It last week: Unlike Mark, I don’t think a ‘use it or lose it’ approach is the way to go because it promotes unwise, quick spending. People should spend money on essentials first like food, rent and monthly credit card bills vs new TVs. Corcoran emphasized that she supports a second round of stimulus checks. “I do think another stimulus package is useful to shore up folks hardest hit, especially those who have lost their jobs,” she said. However, the real estate guru believes that it is even more important for Congress to extend unemployment benefits. She explained that stimulus checks are “not nearly as important as extending unemployment benefits that give a boost to those who need it most.” According to CNBC, experts agree with Corcoran that boosting unemployment benefits will help mitigate financial hardship long-term and would help the economy recover more effectively than one-time checks. Last week, the House passed the $2.2 trillion revised Heroes Act which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced on Monday. It includes another round of $1,200 direct payments to U.S. households. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been trying to come up with a compromise on the stimulus bill. On Friday, President Donald Trump said he tested positive for coronavirus and urged Congress on Saturday to pass a much-needed stimulus package to help Americans. So far, Democrats and Republicans have not been able to come to an agreement on a relief aid package, and time is running out to get one passed before the November presidential election. What kind of stimulus payments do you think is best? Let us know in the comments section below. The post New Stimulus Checks: Barbara Corcoran Slams Mark Cuban’s Expiry Date Idea, Favors Long-Term Relief appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Former Member of the European Parliament Godfrey Bloom has bought his first bitcoin. The British politician is famed for numerous controversial views, such as calling the entire banking system a scam and the state an institution of theft. Godfrey Bloom Now Owns Bitcoin Godfrey Bloom is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2004 to 2014. He was elected for the U.K. Independence Party but later served as an Independent. Bloom has also published six books on military history and the Austrian School of Economics. The former MEP is well known for his unconventional views, including calling the state an institution of theft and saying that the debt crisis was created by politicians and central bankers. He even said that the whole banking system is a scam, as is global warming. He has been referred to by some as the “British Ron Paul.” Bloom revealed in a tweet on Thursday that he has bought his first bitcoin. “I make my first purchases of bitcoin this week. Gold & silver have I plenty,” he wrote in response to a tweet that says: “If you asked people if they’d prefer $800 or 800 bitcoin a lot of them would pick the dollars. We’re still early.” At press time, Bloom has received 257 comments for his bitcoin buy tweet, which has been liked 2.7k times and retweeted 473 times. With an overwhelming number of responses from the crypto community, the 70-year-old former MEP followed up with another tweet on Friday. “I have had a very significant response to my bitcoin tweet. So an update. I am revising bitcoin over the weekend to know enough to understand what I don’t know. It is my goal to share my experience with fellow oldies keen to diversify out of fiat currencies.” Below is a video of Bloom informing the European Parliament back in 2013 why he thinks the whole banking system is a scam. Besides telling Parliament members that they did not understand the concept of banking, he said bankers, central bankers, and politicians should be sent to prison for stealing from taxpayers. This week was not the first time Bloom talked about bitcoin. “I am not anti bitcoin. Just an old geezer more comfortable with gold,” he responded to a tweet urging him to try to get into bitcoin in May. Bloom has long been a gold investor. “I have been buying gold since Gordon Brown was selling it at around $250 per ounce in the 90s. I have accumulated it & stored it in a London safety deposit box. Every now & then I sell a bit at $1550 per ounce,” he shared in September last year. Since Bloom previously insisted that he was not comfortable with bitcoin, some people assumed that he changed his mind this week when he started purchasing BTC for the first time. However, the British politician clarified that he bought the cryptocurrency to diversity his investments. “Don’t mistake portfolio diversification with changing my mind about anything,” he affirmed. Furthermore, he indicated in response to another tweet that he will not ignore Ethereum and decentralized finance (Defi) in his research. What do you think about Godfrey Bloom buying bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Former EU Parliament Member Godfrey Bloom Who Calls Banking System a Scam Bought His First Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

2020 has been the year of stablecoins, as the token supply has doubled in the last three months. The aggregate market capitalization of 28 stablecoins captures over $20 billion on October 4, 2020. While tether still dominates the stablecoin ranks, USDC has been moving closer toward the top ten crypto coins. USDC is also the only stablecoin with market capitalization greater than $1 billion other than tether. This year quite a bit of money has flown into the stablecoin economy and just recently all the stablecoin tokens in existence captured a $20 billion market valuation. This means all the fiat-pegged tokens are worth more than 6% of the aggregate $328 billion market capitalization. The combined stablecoin dominance is much larger than most of the top virtual currency valuations and tether (USDT) captures over 4% of the cumulative total. Just recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how USDT’s market dominance has slid below 80% for the first time this year. The stablecoin supply has doubled in the last three months and the market capitalization is over $20 billion on Sunday, October 4, 2020. Tether’s market cap today is still a whopping $15.58 billion and USDT is capturing more trade volume than bitcoin (BTC). Statistics from Messari.io’s screener shows the 24-hour “real volume” for BTC is $649,647,952 today, while USDT commands $1,641,069,819 in trade volume. Despite Tether’s dominance, USDC is now the only stablecoin, besides tether (USDT), with over a billion-dollar ($2.6B) market cap. However, Makerdao’s issued DAI stablecoin has been slowly inching toward the $1 billion mark, with a current valuation of $874 million on Sunday morning (EST). Circle’s USDC stablecoin currently captures the 12th largest market cap, right below BSV and just above EOS. If the token’s market valuation continues to grow, it will be the second dollar-pegged coin to make it into the top ten list. On Sunday, October 4, 2020, USDC data shows reported volume is roughly $330 million, but Messari.io’s “real volume” stats indicate USDC trades only capture $75 million. Similarly DAI’s “real volume” is around $15 million, but reported volume is roughly $70 million. The top ten stablecoin market valuations according to Coingecko on Sunday, October 4, 2020. Coingecko’s stablecoin index shows there’s more than $25 billion in global stablecoin trade volume today, among the 28 stablecoin tokens listed on the website. Interestingly, the statistics show a fiat-pegged token that had lost it’s peg or is currently considered underwater. For instance, Nubits (USNBT) was supposed to hold value at $1 but is trading for $0.23 today. Piedao USD is also below a dollar as well, as the token diversifies USD positions among different Ethereum-based representations of USD, such as DAI, USDC, TUSD. Additionally, the 28 stablecoin list today has other international fiat currencies represented besides USD. A few examples include status euro (EURS), Bitcny (BITCNY), Binance GBP (BGBP), and Binance KRW (BKRW). U.S. dollar-based stablecoins represent 67.86% of all the fiat-pegged tokens in existence. Only one non-USD stablecoin exists within the list of top ten stablecoin tokens. Status euro (EURS) currently holds the 9th position with $505k in 24-hour trade volume and a $37 million market cap. What do you think about the $20 billion worth of stablecoins and the stablecoin supply doubling during the last three months? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Stablecoin Supply Doubles in 3 Months as Combined Market Cap Surpasses $20B appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A recent report says total Dapps transaction volumes reached $125 Billion in Q3 2020, a figure which is $113 billion higher than in Q2 2020. From these volumes, the Ethereum blockchain accounts for 96% or $119.5 billion of the total created value with the majority of this being attributed to the DeFi ecosystem. Still, the report observes that the EOS and Tron blockchain, where gambling and high-risk category account for 60% of activity, are the only competing chains to offer Ethereum a challenge, albeit a very limited one. Compiled by Dappradar, the report says the Ethereum blockchain was able to achieve this feat between ongoing concerns about the networks’ high fees. According to the report, “at peak moments transaction costs were more than 400 Gwei.” In its overview, the report notes that “the Ethereum network has experienced enormous attention recently due to an explosion within the DeFi and DEX dapps categories.” The report adds: Governance tokens together with yield farming created the hype that drove the network. By no surprise, Ethereum grew in almost all metrics. In another observation, Dappradar says ETH, which is still the second strongest cryptocurrency, remains highly volatile just like other cryptocurrencies. In the report, Dappradar explains: “We have already witnessed the price (of ETH) reaching more than $470 at the beginning of September and only to suddenly collapse to $310 and is now around $350.” Meanwhile, the number of daily active wallets on Ethereum “increased by 154% compared to Q2 2020” and as expected, the DeFi and DEX categories grew “from 12,800 daily active wallets to 50,200 in Q3 2020.” With the growth of around 1,519% year-on-year and around 300% quarter-on-quarter, “DeFi became the largest ecosystem in Ethereum holding 90% of total daily active wallets.” Turning to Tron, the same report concludes that 2020 has been a remarkable year for Justin Sun’s blockchain after “both daily active wallets and transaction volumes skyrocketed reaching all times-high values.” The blockchain’s performance is attributed to the launch of Tron 4.0 as well as the protocol’s entry into the DeFi space which evolved further in Q3 2020, according to Dappradar. Breaking down the Tron network’s performance, the Dappradar report says: “The number of DeFi ecosystem dapps exploded during Q3 2020. There were three DeFi dapps available on TRON back in Q2 2002. By the end of Q3, the total number of dapps submitted to DappRadar increased to 27.” However, highlighting the domination of the Tron network by high-risk dapps, the report notes there “were 645 dapps submitted to DappRadar in this category to date and from the total of 695, 225 are gambling dapps while 422 are high-risk dapps.” Meanwhile, with the Defi craze still ongoing, there are expectations that Q4 will likely see a continuation of this growth. However, the growing number of scams in the space is likely to slow down the growth rate going forward. What are your thoughts about Ethereum’s Defi driven growth? You can share your views in the comments section below. The post ETH Volumes Top $119.5 Billion in Q3: High-Risk Dapps Dominate Tron Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to the Kucoin exchange CEO Johnny Lyu, the trading platform has recovered $204 million in crypto assets since October 1. The exchange executive says the hacking suspects have been “found” and the “police are officially involved” in order to take action. On September 25, 2020, the crypto community found out that the Kucoin exchange was hacked for a great number of assets. Estimates say 1,008 BTC was stolen, along with 14,713 BSV, 26,733 LTC, 9,588,383 XLM, Omni and EOS based tether (USDT) worth $14 million, $153 million of ether and ERC20s, and over 18 million XRP. Following the hack, Kucoin revealed it was working with law enforcement and a number of blockchain projects to remedy the situation. After a great number of token projects revealed recovering over $130 million from the Kucoin breach, the project developers were condemned for centralization. Further, the blockchain analysis firm Elliptic published a report that said the hacker spent over $17 million on decentralized exchange (dex) platforms. Elliptic noted that all the hacker’s swaps on Tokenlon, Uniswap, and the Kyber Network can still be traced. On October 3, 2020, Kucoin exchange CEO Johnny Lyu updated the public in regard to the security incident. “A quick update since my last live stream on Sep 30,” Lyu tweeted. “After a thorough investigation, we have found the suspects of the Kucoin Security Incident with substantial proof at hand. Law enforcement officials and police are officially involved to take action. With great support from our partners in the industry, another $64 million in assets are now out of the control of the suspicious addresses, bringing the total value to $204 million since Oct 1.” The Kucoin CEO added: Kucoin is coming back to full functionality. My team and I will continue to do our best to offset the impact of the incident. As of now, a total of 31 tokens have opened [for] deposits [and] withdrawal services, and more tokens including BTC, ETH, and USDT will follow. At the time of publication it is uncertain as to who the “suspects” found are and whether or not they are in custody. The community responses on Twitter welcomed Lyu’s tweet and looked forward to the trading platform opening up deposits and withdrawals again. Lyu also thanked all the exchanges and blockchain projects for helping Kucoin resolve the security incident. “A big thank you to all the institutions [and] individuals who supported us during this critical time— Together, we will build a stronger crypto world,” the Kucoin CEO concluded. What do you think about the Kucoin CEO’s announcement? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Kucoin CEO Says Exchange Hack Suspects ‘Found,’ $204 Million Recovered appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over a half a million dollars worth of bitcoin from a May 2010 coinbase reward was transferred to Bitfinex on October 1. A parser recorded the old coins being spent and since mid-February 2020, roughly 33 so-called ‘sleeping bitcoin addresses’ from ten years ago have been spent to-date. Interestingly, 20 out of the 33, 2010-issued rewards moved this year were spent the day before ‘Black Thursday.’ Earlier this week, the software program, Btcparser, recorded an old coinbase reward from 2010 getting spent on Thursday, after the 50 bitcoins sat dormant for over a decade. Btcparser is a Telegram and browser bot that was developed in order to monitor the “activity of so-called sleeping bitcoin addresses.” Btcparser.com shows three types of parsed data obtained from the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. The first parser combs the BTC blockchain for activity related to 64,529 addresses stemming from 2009 through 2017. News.Bitcoin.com leveraged Btcparser.com to look at the 2010 block that was spent on October 1, 2020. While combing through the parsed data, an aggregate total of 33 block rewards from 2010 was moved between February 13, 2020, to now. Btcparser’s Telegram channel shows these alleged dead addresses have been recorded since February 13, 2020. A great majority of rewards spent in 2020 on Btcparser’s first list were minted in 2017, 2016, and 2015. Blocks stemming from 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 are rarely spent but have been recorded on a few occasions this year. From mid-February 2020 until today, 33 blocks with 50 BTC coinbase rewards from 2010 were moved after a whole decade. Another block reward from 2009 was also spent this year as well. That’s a total of 1,650 BTC (34 block rewards) worth over $17 million using today’s exchange rates. Roughly a half a million dollars worth of Satoshi era or sleeping bitcoins moved to a crypto exchange on October 1, 2020. The last 2010 block of coins moved was transferred on October 1, 2020, and it was allegedly sent to a Bitfinex hot wallet. The 2010 block spent last Thursday was originally minted on May 24, 2010, when bitcoin was practically worthless. For instance, the block’s creation was a week after Laszlo Hanyecz successfully traded 10,000 BTC for two pizzas. The last group of bitcoins that were moved stemming from 2010, prior to the October 1st transfer, was on September 22, and September 2, 2020. Those 100 old bitcoins (over $1M in value) were issued on September 16, and October 6, 2010. Out of the total 33, 2010-based block rewards moved this year since mid-February, a single 2009 block reward was transferred on May 20, 2020. This block moved made headlines in the media because it was mined only a month after the BTC network was first invoked. On March 11, 2020, Btcparser and blockchain explorer data shows that 20 blocks with rewards minted in 2010 were moved to another wallet. The following day, due to the Covid-19 outbreak scare and turbulent macroeconomic events, BTC’s price dropped -49% from $7,648 to $3,870 per coin. After the March 12th market rout, the following day BTC’s price was hovering between $5,300-5,600 per coin. However, one story that didn’t make headlines was the massive 20 block rewards (50 BTC) transferred on March 11, 2020, the day before ‘Black Thursday.’ March 12 or Black Thursday saw crypto markets decline significantly in value, as bitcoin BTC prices slid -49% from $7,648 to a low of $3,870. Additionally, another 2010 block reward, coincidentally mined on March 11 of that year, was also transferred on Black Thursday. It is uncertain whether or not the mined blocks from 2010 that were moved in mid-March were mined by a single entity, but it’s likely that it was the same person. Furthermore, the BTC minted in 2010 spent the day before Black Thursday also saw it’s corresponding BCH moved on the same day. The BCH spent was worth $271k using bitcoin cash exchange rates on March 11, 2020. Moreover, the corresponding bitcoinsv (BSV) coins tied to these block rewards were also spent. For some reason before the market carnage on March 12, the 1,050 BTC stemming from numerous 2010 block rewards were possibly sold at the top for $8 million. It’s quite possible that the owner of those Satoshi-era bitcoins knew the market would see a big sell-off the next day. There are a lot of Satoshi-era or so-called sleeping bitcoins that never have moved. Estimates assume there are close to 1.8 million bitcoins from old coinbase rewards left unspent that are sitting dormant in wallets. There were 67,920 BTC blocks solved in 2010 with the first block of the year mined at height 32,490. Bitcoin blocks that were mined prior to block height 79,764 were also mined into a single payout address. Blocks mined prior to block height 135,000 saw rewards sent to unencrypted wallets as well. Wallet encryption wasn’t officially added to BTC wallet software until July 2011. It’s quite interesting that the miner spent the decade-old bitcoins worth around $527k on October 1, 2020. But what’s even more intriguing is the 20 or so 2010-based BTC, BCH, and BSV blocks spent before Black Thursday. What do you think about the 2010 block spent on October 1 and the 20 blocks spent in mid-March? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post $8M Worth of ‘Sleeping’ Bitcoin Rewards from 2010 Moved the Day Before ‘Black Thursday’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Entrepreneur and popular author Jeff Booth has predicted a grim future for fiat currencies, expecting them to fail as central banks keep printing money. Foreseeing an unavoidable, severe depression and banking failure, he believes bitcoin will become the world’s reserve currency and all national currencies will be pegged to it. ‘Highly Likely’ Bitcoin Will Become the Reserve Currency The author of “The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future,” Jeff Booth, has made the case that bitcoin will become the world’s reserve currency and all national currencies will eventually be pegged to bitcoin. Booth published his book in January, detailing why we are due for a financial reset and a new economic framework. The entrepreneur also founded Canada-based technology company Builddirect, an online marketplace for home improvement products. In an interview with Cambridge House International, published last week, he discussed the current economic situation and why he is more bullish on bitcoin than any other asset class. He began by explaining the consequences of what the Federal Reserve is doing right now. “All of the printing is going directly into asset prices and it’s being robbed from the greater economy,” he described. “What’s coming next is MMT, helicopter money, and everything else. And once the Fed loses its credibility then all bets are off in inflation so the Treasury essentially will become the Fed and print money and can distribute that money to [the] population, and then you are going to lose currencies all over the world.” Moreover, Booth predicts that “interest rates are going to continue to go down until currencies fail,” emphasizing that central banks are artificially keeping interest rates low. The Federal Reserve recently pledged to keep interest rates near zero for several years, after it announced a policy shift to push up inflation. To preserve wealth in this environment, Booth diversifies and cautioned against putting all wealth in one asset class. While having both gold and bitcoin in his investment portfolio, he affirmed, “I am much more bullish on bitcoin for a variety of reasons. I think it could be the new gold … bitcoin works on a network effect.” The popular author elaborated: [Bitcoin] should keep on growing and I think one day other currencies will be pegged to bitcoin … I think it’s highly likely that bitcoin becomes the reserve currency. He noted that “Gold is valued where it is for the exact same belief that it will be pegged to currencies,” asserting that bitcoin is a much better bet than gold, and more importantly, everyone’s portfolio “must” include bitcoin. In addition, “When currencies break and safety becomes an issue, portability of gold is really difficult,” he warned, adding that “The portability alone of bitcoin for safety reasons becomes paramount.” When asked about the biggest challenge bitcoin faces, he said government bans are the number one concern. However, he expressed: “I see that as a very low probability … because of game theory. So in a competitive world where every region needs to attract wealthy people, businesses. If regions ban it, other regions accept it faster.” He outlined that if a country tries to stop bitcoin, “it creates more of an incentive for other countries to accept it and build rules around it,” pointing to Switzerland as an example. Booth also shared his view on the future of the stock market. “The stock market is teetering. You feel like it’s about to collapse and that’s all around stimulus. Without more stimulus, expect a downward spiral … if stimulus stopped that downward spiral would take stocks down 80%,” the author opined. However, he firmly believes that governments will not let this happen and will print their way out in order to prevent it. While his book highlights a more optimistic outlook since he wrote it shortly before the coronavirus crisis, Booth now sees a grimmer future, as trends have been accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic. “It accelerated the monetary easing and now there just isn’t a way out without a severe depression and banking failure,” Booth opined, adding: Bitcoin becomes a really good choice to protect wealth and what’s happening because it cannot be confiscated … I think bitcoin will go up, largely up, like a macro theme. Do you think bitcoin will become the world’s reserve currency? Let us know in the comments section below. The post All Currencies Will Be Pegged to Bitcoin, Says ‘Price of Tomorrow’ Author Jeff Booth appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A growing number of Egyptians are reportedly turning to bitcoin amid rising unemployment and the economic crisis. An Egyptian bitcoin community is seeing a huge spike in the number of members interested in bitcoin mining and trading. Egyptians Increasingly Attracted to Bitcoin Many Egyptians are drawn to bitcoin amid the coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis, and resulting unemployment, Al-Monitor news outlet reported last week. A bitcoin mining and trading expert, Muhammad Abd el-Baseer, is a leading member of the Bitcoin Egypt Community, one of Egypt’s professional online communities for people interested in cryptocurrency. He told the publication that there has been a spike in the number of community members, indicating high demand for bitcoin mining and trading in Egypt. Noting that more than 16,000 Egyptians have joined the community, he estimated: The number of miners in Egypt should be greater, since each one of the 16,000 [members] may train and guide many of their friends, family and neighborhood zones. He explained that “Online work from home, reduced working hours and curfews have been imposed since March as precautionary measures against the outbreak of Covid-19 in Egypt,” the publication conveyed. “The huge business shift to online work from home along with reduced working hours and curfews are encouraging thousands of Egyptians to invest their spare time in unusual online businesses like mining and trading of cryptocurrencies, most notably the bitcoin.” Another bitcoin miner, who is a member of several bitcoin and cryptocurrency communities like Bitcoin Egypt, told the publication that he chose this business after losing his job at a contracting company that downsized, following the coronavirus outbreak. He invested what he saved over the past years into the business. More than half a million Egyptians have lost their jobs as unemployment in the country rose from 7.7% in the first quarter to 9.6% in the second quarter, the news outlet added. According to the 2020 Geography of Cryptocurrency report compiled by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Egypt ranks 64th out of 154 countries on the firm’s global cryptocurrency adoption index. The firm ranks Ukraine first, followed by Russia, Venezuela, and China. The report further shows that most of the bitcoin trading in Egypt takes place on Okex, Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex, FTX, and Bitmex exchanges. Only small amounts of BTC are traded on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms in Egypt. Localbitcoins, for example, saw 10 BTC traded in the week ending Sept. 26, but the trading volume on the platform has also been steadily growing. Weekly bitcoin trading volumes on Localbitcoins in the Egyptian pound. Source: Coin.dance Egyptian economist and financial adviser Wael al-Nahhas told the publication: Unemployment and recession resulting from the spread of the coronavirus and the precautionary measures taken are the main reasons behind the youths’ inclination toward bitcoin trading and mining. The miner noted that bitcoin mining and trading are attracting thousands of Egyptians since they do not require much startup capital and millions of Egyptians’ savings are dwindling amid the recession. “Many young Egyptians started investing in small amounts despite the increase in the value of the bitcoin. They started mining satoshi, which is 100 millionth of a bitcoin, and on a daily basis they are making profits of 4% to 5% from the difference between buying rates during the timing of demand decline and selling rates at the time of peak demand, besides some quarterly or yearly profits from unexpected hikes in bitcoin rates,” he was quoted as saying. Mohamed Mohsen, an Egyptian bitcoin miner and lawyer, told the news outlet that Egyptian laws do not criminalize the dealing in cryptocurrencies. He added that people who have been arrested by the authorities misused cryptocurrencies in crimes, such as fraud and financing of terrorism. Ahmed Shuair, an economics lecturer at Cairo University, believes that the Central Bank of Egypt will soon legalize cryptocurrencies. He explained that the central bank was preparing to issue a law to that effect in January, but the coronavirus pandemic changed the bank’s priorities. What do you think about Egyptians’ growing interest in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Interest in Bitcoin Soars in Egypt Amid Economic Crisis and Unemployment appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Abkhazia, the self-governing but disputed territory of just 245,000 people sandwiched between Russia and Georgia, has lifted its two-year ban on cryptocurrency mining. The ban came into effect in December 2018 after a surge in mining activity left the region facing an energy crisis. Now, the government is moving to regulate the industry in an effort to flush out illegal miners as well as to control the amount of electricity utilized in the extraction of bitcoin. According to Abkhazia’s official cabinet website, the new plan will include regulation by the Ministry of Economy and a two-month moratorium on the importation of crypto mining equipment. It is interesting to note that while mining was outlawed, importing crypto-mining hardware into Abkhazia was not. A senior customs official revealed that about $600,000 worth of mining rigs were imported into the territory between January and July this year. This means mining activities continued to flourish under the ban. Over the next 60 days, the Ministry of Economy will develop a legal and regulatory framework for crypto mining, including an office to collect and analyze statistics and provide licenses. State power utility “Chernomoenergo” is to determine the amount of electricity used by miners, including prices. Electricity prices in Abkhazia are comparably cheaper than most countries. Consumers pay the equivalent of $0.05 per kilowatt hour of electricity, something that has caused a huge number of miners to flock to the region, once a hub for tourism prior to the conflicts pitting Russia, Georgia and Abkhazia itself over self-rule. Georgia claims control over the country. “This Temporary Procedure for the Regulation of Cryptocurrency Mining Activities establishes legal and organizational and technical rules for the implementation of cryptocurrency mining activities on the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia, which are generally binding,” said the government on its website. The shadow economy of bitcoin mining grew so large that, in September, the power grid once again approached a breakdown. To prevent a total energy collapse, the government of Abkhazia decided it would be better to legalize and regulate mining, according to reports. It is not clear just how much electricity is consumed by crypto mining. What do you think about Abkhazia lifting its ban on bitcoin mining? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Abkhazia Lifts Two-Year Ban on Bitcoin Mining, Moves to Regulate the Sector appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coinbase is handing over customer data to the British tax authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The measure affects customers with a U.K. address who received more than £5,000 ($6,450) worth of cryptocurrency during the 2019/20 tax year. On Oct. 2, Coinbase sent an email to its U.K. users advising them that it will share their account information with the HMRC. The exchange said the tax agency originally asked for records relating to all UK customers dating back to 2017, but it later worked out a plan that resulted in “a revised notice with reduced scope”. The revised plan requires the disclosure of user data with a British address who received over $6,450 into their Coinbase account during the 2019/20 tax period, either by way of purchases or deposit of digital assets. Coinbase says the HMRC request will affect under 3% of its U.K. customers, reports The Block. A spokesperson for the exchange explained: These requests are commonplace for financial services companies. Through a series of constructive conversations with HMRC, we agreed upon on a more limited and focused disclosure… A spokesperson for the HMRC noted that the authority regularly gathers information from various sources in order to “improve the integrity of the tax system and to identify those that have failed to declare their gains.” Requests for customer information were also reportedly sent to crypto platforms such as Etoro and Cex.io, says the report. In New Zealand, the country’s tax agency, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), is requesting that crypto companies turn over their customers’ personal details, cryptocurrency asset values as well as the type of asset held. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has also been sending warning letters to crypto investors seeking clarity about whether they had reported their transactions correctly. What do you think about Coinbase handing over customer information to tax authorities? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto Exchange Coinbase Hands Over Customer Data to UK Tax Authority appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) CEO Justin Bgoni says its recently licensed subsidiary, the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange is open to listing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, according to local media reports, any such listings are still dependent on the digital asset issuers getting “regulatory approval.” The report does not provide any details of requirements that cryptocurrency issuers must meet for their respective tokens to get listed. Furthermore, some in Zimbabwe’s small crypto community are still skeptical about the announcement especially since it is not coming from the regulators. Others say the statement attributed to the ZSE executive exposes the limited understanding of decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Also reacting to the report is Prosper Mwedzi, a financial services lawyer and blockchain enthusiast. Mwedzi, who is cautiously optimistic about the plan, explains what the latest announcement means: “I think it is positive that they are talking about it but they did say it is subject to regulatory clearance. At the moment the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is doing a fintech policy but not a crypto policy.” According to Mwedzi, exchanges are the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ), and “they have not said anything yet about how they view crypto.” He explains that Zimbabwe is yet to go the route taken by other African countries like Nigeria which recently classed cryptocurrencies as securities. In 2018, the country’s central bank issued a notice advising Zimbabweans to steer clear of risky cryptocurrencies. During the same year, the central bank forced the closure of the country’s then-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Golix. However, since late 2019, the central bank has been carefully issuing statements that appear to show a changed stance on cryptocurrencies and other emerging financial technologies. These statements however have not led to amendments or changes to the relevant regulations. Still, Mwedzi suggests that the ZSE may have “kicked the ball in the court of SECZ and it now depends on whether they (SECZ) decide to be proactive or not.” It remains to be seen if statements by the ZSE executive will nudge regulators into recognizing cryptocurrencies. What do you think of reports that ZSE plans to list cryptocurrencies? You can share your views in the comments section below. The post Zimbabwe’s Stock Exchange Open to Crypto Listing Subject to ‘Regulatory Approval’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Decentralized finance (defi) is allegedly coming to Venezuela after a recent decree from Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The government recently introduced a defi platform called BDVE that purportedly provides Venezuelan citizens with the means to swap ERC20 tokens in a noncustodial manner. For quite some time now Venezuela has had to deal with strict economic sanctions. President Nicolás Maduro spoke about these sanctions in a new mandate called the “Anti-blockade Law for National Development and the Guarantee of Human Rights.” On October 1, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how Maduro’s mandate described how cryptocurrencies would be leveraged in both domestic and global trade, in order to bypass the financial rules enforced by the U.S. government. Shortly after Maduro’s mandate speech, the Venezuelan government released a new ‘defi exchange’ called BDVE. The exchange is ostensibly built using the Ethereum network and registered users will be able to purchase ERC20s and tokenized traditional assets as well. BDVE website translation provided by Google Translate. The new exchange application is available now via the Google Play app store for Android devices. The BDVE.io web portal welcomes visitors to the “Decentralized Stock Exchange of Venezuela.” It also claims to be the “easiest place to buy and sell financial assets in Venezuela.” A loosely translated description of BDVE says: BDVE is an exchange connected to the decentralized system of encrypted markets. Its power lies in the ability to negotiate financial assets in a distributed way, saving intermediation and custody costs. Now not just anyone can download the Venezuelan government’s defi app and think they can start swapping coins. The BDVE registration process involves the use of a SIDEME-related digital identification service, and you have to be a Venezuelan citizen. The BDVE defi exchange says there are zero commissions for buying and selling in fiat. Although there’s a 0.1% commission for alternative digital asset purchases. BDVE is “Defi Tested” and Maduro approved. BDVE website translation provided by Google Translate. In order to consider the BDVE application ‘decentralized’ the app promises “access from anywhere in the world, without restrictions.” Moreover, BDVE users can “keep custody of their assets,” allegedly in a noncustodial fashion. It’s hard to say if BDVE is really noncustodial and operates in a permissionless manner, as it’s entirely state-controlled. However, the creators of the BDVE app and website do advertise the phrases “defi” and “decentralized” many times throughout the web portal’s pages. BDVE’s operations manual not only explains the SIDEME registration process, but it also notes users allegedly hold their own private keys. Maduro’s “Anti-blockade Law for National Development and the Guarantee of Human Rights” mandate definitely highlights the use of various crypto assets, and the BDVE cushions the idea. The state-run defi exchange was also discussed on social media and crypto-related forums after the BDVE app was launched. A few crypto enthusiasts thought the launch was a “big deal,” while others believe that a state-controlled defi exchange is a joke. “This is a big deal – with a decentralized exchange there will be trust, and hence volume, for [the] trading of equities and digital tokens representing other assets,” one crypto proponent said on Twitter. “Could be a game-changer for a distressed economy like Venezuela,” he added. Meanwhile, others made fun of the BDVE’s use of the word decentralized. “Venezuela launches [a] ‘decentralized’ exchange…. come on man,” another individual sarcastically tweeted about the state-run defi exchange launch. “The exchange, the petro and the mining, it’s all controlled by the government… it does NOT get more centralized than that.” What do you think about Venezuela’s so-called defi exchange? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Venezuela’s State-Run ‘Defi’ Crypto Exchange Goes Live After Maduro’s Anti-Blockade Speech appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As decentralized finance (defi) has become more popular, digital currency proponents are making money off of more than 140 yield-bearing cryptocurrencies. While most of the defi ecosystem revolves around the Ethereum network, a number of people leverage these defi applications in order to earn more bitcoin. The following list is a few defi platforms that allow individuals to stack satoshis by utilizing liquidity pools and lending apps. A great number of people hold bitcoin (BTC) for a long period of time whether in a noncustodial wallet or with a custodian like an exchange. However, these days a lot of individuals are earning interest on their cryptocurrencies via defi apps rather than letting the assets sit dormant in a wallet or exchange. As mentioned above decentralized finance (defi) has been very prominent within the Ethereum ecosystem, but there are ways people can stack satoshis by yield-producing applications. Bitcoiners can leverage both centralized finance (cefi) platforms and decentralized finance (defi) applications with a great number of yield-bearing cryptocurrencies. However, in order to specifically use a defi application to gain more BTC, the user will have to utilize a tokenized version of the asset. Or they can trade and use another token that uses the ERC20 token standard. Tokenized bitcoin projects include WBTC, renBTC, hBTC, sBTC, imBTC, tBTC, and pBTC. BTC investors can earn a yield without using tokenized BTC assets, but the platforms that offer direct interest for BTC are centralized exchanges (cex) and are custodial. For instance, data shows that BTC holders can deposit coins on Coinlist, Cred, Blockfi, Bitfinex, Crypto.com, and Poloniex and earn a 30-day average yield rate of 0.8% to 8.5% depending on the platform chosen. In mid-August, news.Bitcoin.com published a comprehensive, deep dive into crypto earning, staking, and interest-bearing accounts. Centralized finance (cefi) platforms that allow people to earn interest with bitcoin (BTC) directly, however, the funds are held in custodial fashion, unlike defi. Now if the person wants to leverage a defi application, one that allows for lending and earning yields by providing liquidity, they can transfer the funds they want to use into ethereum (ETH) or an ERC20. If the individual wants to gather yield off of 10 BTC ($105k) they can swap the coins for a touch over 30 ETH (using today’s exchange rates) and again swap for something like WBTC, renBTC, or hBTC. Now most of the tokenized bitcoin assets today can be used on nearly any defi liquidity or lending provider built on Ethereum. With most of the tokenized bitcoin assets, users can leverage defi applications like Uniswap, Aave, Compound, Balancer, and more. Both lending providers and liquidity pools will offer different interest rates depending on the deposited amount. Decentralized finance (defi) platforms that allow people to earn interest on over 140 yield-bearing cryptocurrencies. Defi data above was recorded on October 2, 2020, leveraging stakingrewards.com. Unlike using a cex platform, to earn interest, the defi applications can be done in a noncustodial fashion via a wallet like Metamask. However, cex platforms are the only services that will pay earnings directly in BTC. If you happen to transfer funds into Ethereum and your ultimate goal is to end up selling the earnings for BTC, then leveraging these schemes with an ERC20 based stablecoin will produce a better APY. For instance, defirate.com shows the best lending rates stem from DAI and USDC and they are the most profitable yield-bearing cryptocurrencies on defi platforms. The web portal stakingrewards.com offers insight into over 666 yield-producing providers as well. Data stemming from stakingrewards.com also shows stablecoin assets provide a better yield. Even cex applications like Crypto.com will offer a much higher APY for stablecoin balances, as opposed to cryptos like BTC, BCH, or ETH. Ultimately there are ways bitcoiners can earn satoshis by leveraging defi, but they have to either transfer funds into alternative blockchain assets, tokenize their BTC, or leverage a centralized custodian in order to yield directly from BTC deposits. What do you think about the list of defi applications that let users produce yields? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Stacking Satoshis: Leveraging Defi Applications to Earn More Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

2nd October 2020, London, United Kingdom: The lack of coordination, and major issues with bureaucracy are taking a heavy toll on the medical trials industry. Costing anywhere from $600,000 to upto $8 million USD per day, every single day a medicine is delayed not only leads to huge financial losses, but also affects millions of people as they are deprived of crucial, life saving drugs. And ClinTex’s solution comes at the perfect time – With the disruption of the $350bn/year medical trials market firmly in their sights via a novel solution to bring down costs, reduce friction and increase efficiency and information transfer, ClinTex has successfully completed its first round of token distribution, selling out $1m USD of tokens. Tier 2 CTi Presale Following the success of the first sale round, ClinTex have opened up the sale to participants wishing to join the action by acquiring CTi tokens. A total of 26,666,667 CTi are available in this round. ClinTex eventually plans for an IEO, but participants of Tier 2 can take advantage to back the platform’s CTi with a 40% bonus, getting their hands on each token at $0.075 per CTi. Half of all the tokens purchased in this round will be vested for a period of 2 months. Proceeds from this event will be used to develop the platform and bring a change to how the current medical trial and healthcare industry is working. About ClinTex Leveraging blockchain technology, ClinTex is on a path to eliminate barriers and friction in the current medical industry that waste millions of dollars per day. ClinTex brings changes such as: Time Saving: Normally, it takes up to 15 years for a drug to pass all trials and into the hands of patients, a time that many might not have. ClinTex’s well coordinated platform will reduce the friction that causes time delays. Research Silos: Currently, the medical research industry is in disarray when it comes to communicating with each other. Two or even more firms may be spending time looking into the same medicine, leading to waste of time and resources. ClinTex’s transparency will bring in close coordination, letting one team work on an issue while the other takes up something else. Cheaper Medicine: With the close coordination within the research community, development and supply chain, the patients eventually get a medicine that is cheaper, essentially saving lives. The importance of a close-knit healthcare industry has never been more important. The current pandemic has exposed how weak the medical industry is when faced with a crisis that does not care for borders and race. Join the presale today and take advantage of a 40% discount. Visit ClinTex Website: https://www.clintex.io/ Join the ClinTex Telegram Community: https://t.me/ClinTexCTi Follow ClinTex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClinTexCTi Check out ClinTex Medium: https://medium.com/@clintexcti Media Contact Details Contact Name: Sean Flanagan Contact Email: info@clintex.io About Bitcoin PR Buzz: Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the crypto press release distribution needs of blockchain start-ups for over 8 years. Get your Bitcoin Press Release Distribution today. ClinTex is the source of this content. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. The ClinTex token sale is closed to US participants and participants of all countries in which ICO/IEOs are illegal. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high risk tolerance. Only participate in a token event with what you can afford to lose. The post With Round 1 Fully Sold Out, ClinTex Launches Round 2 of the CTi Token Sale appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform Bitmex has been charged with illegally operating in the U.S. Concurrently, its executives, including CEO Arthur Hayes, have been charged with violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and are facing prison sentences. One of the Bitmex founders has already been arrested. Bitmex and Owners Charged in US Federal prosecutors and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) independently announced parallel actions against the cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform Bitmex and its owners on Thursday. The CFTC has charged five entities and three individuals that own and operate Bitmex with “operating an unregistered trading platform and violating multiple CFTC regulations, including failing to implement required anti-money laundering [AML] procedures.” The three Bitmex owners indicted are Arthur Hayes, 34, of Buffalo, New York, and Hong Kong; Ben Delo, 36, of the United Kingdom; and Samuel Reed, 31, of Massachusetts. The entities are HDR Global Trading Ltd., 100x Holding Ltd., ABS Global Trading Ltd., Shine Effort Inc. Ltd., and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Ltd. (Bitmex). The CFTC announcement details: The CFTC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, restitution for the benefit of customers, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction from future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The CFTC complaint alleges that between at least November 2014 and the present, “Bitmex has illegally offered leveraged retail commodity transactions, futures, options, and swaps on cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, and litecoin, allowing traders to use leverage of up to 100 to 1 when entering into transactions on its platform.” During that time, the CFTC says that Bitmex facilitated cryptocurrency derivatives transactions worth trillions of dollars, earning more than $1 billion in fees. “Yet, as alleged in the complaint, Bitmex has failed to implement the most basic compliance procedures required of financial institutions that impact U.S. markets,” the agency claims. Violations of the Bank Secrecy Act In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that the U.S. Attorney for the District of New York has indicted Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Gregory Dwyer (37, of Australia and Bermuda) for “violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.” Dwyer was Bitmex’s first employee and later its head of business development. Reed was arrested in Massachusetts Thursday morning while the other three remain at large. The Justice Department alleges that the four knew they needed to implement AML and KYC (know-your-customers) measures since their crypto platform served U.S. customers. However, the company’s policies “were toothless or easily overridden to serve Bitmex’s bottom line goal of obtaining revenue through the U.S. market without regard to U.S. regulation,” the DOJ wrote. “Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Dwyer took affirmative steps purportedly designed to exempt BitMEX from the application of U.S. laws such as AML and KYC requirements,” the DOJ continued, adding: [The defendants] are each charged with one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and one count of conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The Justice Department notes that the maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and individual sentencings will be determined by the judge. Bitmex’s Response Responding to the announcements by the CFTC and the DOJ, Bitmex issued a statement clarifying its position. Besides assuring its users that the platform is operating as normal, including withdrawals, and all funds are safe, the company affirmed: We strongly disagree with the U.S. government’s heavy-handed decision to bring these charges, and intend to defend the allegations vigorously. “From our early days as a start-up, we have always sought to comply with applicable U.S. laws, as those laws were understood at the time and based on available guidance,” Bitmex concluded. What do you think about the charges against Bitmex and its owners? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitmex Charged With US Rules Violations — Owners Face Criminal Charges, Prison appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

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Elliptic says the Kucoin hacker has sold $17.1 million worth of tokens via decentralized exchanges (dex) platforms like Uniswap, Kyber Network, Tokenlon. The shift to dex applications comes after centralized projects came to the aid of the beleaguered exchange by blocking any cashing out of the hack related funds. For the past few days, the blockchain analysis firm says it has been seeing stolen tokens being swapped with censorship-resistant cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Despite this change in tactics, Elliptic insists it has the technology that can still trace the movement of such funds. In a blog post on September 29, Elliptic cofounder and chief scientist, Tom Robinson revealed that of the stolen assets, “approximately US $152 million was made up of Ethereum-based tokens (ERC20s), including Tether (USDT), Chainlink (LINK), and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN).” Robinson explains that these tokens are issued on blockchains such as Ethereum by “organizations that have the power to freeze accounts and recover the tokens.” Indeed, on September 30, Kucoin said it had managed to recover about $140 million after ten projects cooperated with it by either swapping or replacing the stolen tokens. On realizing that this avenue had been blocked, the hacker(s) “tried to sell some of the tokens at two regular exchanges.” However, according to Robinson, this laundering route was soon blocked as exchanges soon deployed blockchain analysis tools. Blockchain monitoring tools such as Elliptic’s can “identify whether deposited crypto assets originated from the Kucoin hack, and freeze any accounts receiving such funds.” At the moment, dex applications provide the criminals with a means of exchanging the stolen tokens for Ether or other ERC20s. With their huge volumes and lack of KYC checks, dex platforms are now an obvious choice for crypto money launderers. Still, Robinson makes the argument that Elliptic’s current monitoring tools can trace the flow of the stolen funds: “Unlike centralized exchanges, which are dead-ends when it comes to tracing the flow of funds, with DEXs everything is recorded and visible on the blockchain.” With $140 million now recovered while $17.1 million is already lost, it remains to be seen if the remaining $124 million, which is dominated in censorship-resistant cryptocurrencies, can be recovered. What are your thoughts about the use of dex platforms by criminals when laundering crypto? Share your views in the comments section below. The post Kucoin Hack: $17M Laundered Via Decentralized Exchanges, Blockchain Analysis Firm Claims This Can Still be Traced appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last year, Ethereum has dominated the decentralized finance (defi) ecosystem but a number of other blockchain projects plan to join the fray. The second layer, smart contract protocol RSK aims to bring the defi demand to the Bitcoin blockchain and there’s already a few RSK-based defi projects in the wild. In the world of defi, users leverage applications that delegate traditional finance concepts like issuing assets, lending, borrowing, trading, and earning interest in a noncustodial manner. Crypto proponents have certainly noticed the creative and sometimes highly experimental defi projects hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. 2020 has also undoubtedly highlighted the defi trend’s successes and interesting blunders. With all the money flowing into these projects, there’s no doubt that other blockchains want a piece of the defi pie and RSK is attempting to grab the reins. RSK is an open source platform that allows for smart contracts secured by the Bitcoin (BTC) network. The process is achieved by merge-mining as the RSK network is mined by BTC miners representing 52 exahash (EH/s) of hashrate. While visiting RSK’s developers page, the website advertises “defi for bitcoin” and highlights a number of developing projects. For instance, RSK allows for stablecoins, and the projects Money on Chain and RIF both allow for collateralized tokens. Lending, borrowing, and liquidity concepts from the RSK network are leveraged by trading platforms like Huobi, Liquid, and Coinswitch. RSK introduced its token bridge on February 6, 2020, and the protocol allows for cross-chain interoperability between RSK and Ethereum. Just recently a fork of the Uniswap protocol launched called Rskswap which allows people to swap coins and provide liquidity. Similar to Uniswap, the RSK developers recently announced the decentralized exchange (dex) Rskswap. Essentially, Rskswap users can leverage the automated market maker (AMM) to swap ERC20 tokens and provide liquidity. “Any ERC20 token can be listed on Rskswap,” the platform’s creators state. “No permission is required. Each token has its own smart contract and liquidity pool. If there is none, it can be created easily. Once a token has its own exchange smart contract and liquidity pool, anyone can trade the token or contribute to the liquidity pool while earning a liquidity provider fee of 0.3%,” the Rskswap announcement detailed. The platform Rskswap is clearly a fork of the Uniswap protocol, and the website explains this on the Rskswap home page. RSK also has tokenized bitcoin (BTC) called RBTC and the RSK explorer notes there are 338 RBTC ($3.6 million) locked into the system to-date. RBTC can be leveraged on defi apps like the Rskswap platform and serve as collateral for loans and pegging schemes like the RIF Dollar. A number of bitcoiners are excited to see what RSK will bring to the bitcoin-fuelled defi space and the sophisticated use cases RSK smart contracts will offer. RSK smart contracts are also being leveraged by the California Energy Commission used in a carbon-credit trading pilot. What do you think about RSK’s attempt to bring defi to the Bitcoin network? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Smart Contract Protocol RSK Attempts to Bring Defi to the Bitcoin Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

TitanSwap is using the renBTC protocol to implement cross-chain operations. Compared with the currently more common custodial cross-chain solutions wBTC and tBTC, the renBTC smart contract is a non-custodial access mechanism. Its core is the RenVM virtual machine, a decentralized network mainly composed of thousands of “dark nodes” Run on. Therefore, TITAN’s solution is more decentralized and practical. In addition, under the AMM model, price discovery and the risk of liquidity providers are largely determined by the Bonding Curve. TitanSwap proposes the TITAN Adaptive Bonding Curve, which automatically adapts to different bond curves for different asset types, which will bring greater liquidity and a perfect combination of better price discovery mechanisms to ensure that users can obtain Smaller slippage, lower costs, and more systematically provide greater liquidity. TITAN believes that the main reason for impermanent losses is price fluctuations, especially violent fluctuations. TitanSwap’s solution is to dynamically adjust the curvature of the Bonding Curve to make the curve steeper when the price fluctuates sharply, thereby reducing the profit margin for arbitrageurs and making the price return to the normal price more quickly and at a lower cost. TitanSwap will determine whether it needs to dynamically adjust the curvature based on Realized Variant and the way of VPIN. This scheme is similar to the implementation mechanism of Bancor V2, but Bancor V2 requires price oracle recognition, and there may be cases where the oracle fails. A previous report by Huobi Research Institute showed that regardless of the sharp rise or fall in the price of digital assets, VPIN’s predictions will often increase substantially. It has a certain predictive effect and can be regarded as a leading indicator of volatility. Options trading, market makers’ provision of liquidity, and exchange risk control management are of guiding significance. When discussing how to deal with extreme challenges such as network congestion, the Layer 2 support solution proposed by TitanSwap is also very interesting. When considering the use of Layer 2 technology, TITAN hopes to achieve exponential improvements, and TITAN considers using state channels or unmanaged side chains. TITAN believes that its Layer 2 support solution is more suitable for using Optimistic Rollup. TITAN will gradually realize the support of this solution on the Ethereum official network in the process of cooperation with Optimistic Rollup. From the perspective of transaction fees and transaction delays, Layer’s solution exploration will greatly enhance the user experience. Odaily Planet Daily believes that the sooner players who land on the application will be the first to get a considerable first-mover bonus in the DEX market. TITAN wants to provide participants with new opportunities for liquidity mining. In addition to the trading function, another major aspect of the current DEX is the liquidity mining. No matter CEX or DEX, all exchange relies on market makers to provide liquidity and depth to the platform. However, the market makers of traditional centralized exchanges need to play a professional role, and it is not possible for all ordinary users to participate in the work of market makers. The reason why the AMM-based DEX can emerge is also because it removes the professional threshold requirements for market makers, and anyone can inject liquidity into the pool and obtain benefits. TITAN hopes to provide liquidity providers with a feast of profit. The current income composition of liquidity providers on TITAN includes AMM fee income, liquidity distribution under the corresponding weights of different trading pools TITAN, stable currency Compound Pool lending rates, and stable currency Y Pool loan interest rate, Synthetix Pool reward, Ren Pool reward, etc. However, more often, the hidden rule of liquid mining is that only big players can become the final winners, and small money holders are almost unprofitable. How to balance the relationship between large liquidity providers and ordinary liquidity providers, so that ordinary participants can participate fairly has become a big problem. Under the AMM mechanism, liquidity depends on the amount of funds. If the purpose of DEX is to provide users with better depth, it must not exclude larger liquidity providers. The larger the funds enter the pool, the better user trading experience can be achieved. TitanSwap hopes to provide users with better depth and achieve a balance between liquidity providers of different sizes. TitanSwap revealed that TITAN will hold some special events that emphasize the balance of revenue and profitable for small and casual users. In the short term, it will encourage more people to participate in DEX, hoping that more people can experience the operation process of liquid mining. DEX is not just a train to casinos, DEX itself also has a strong wealth effect. On September 17, Uniswap announced the launch of the governance token UNI, and then airdropped 150 million UNI to nearly 50,000 addresses that had invoked Uniswap V1 or V2 contracts. We joked that “an iPhone 12 was allocated to everyone.” TitanSwap also designed the governance token TITAN, with a total amount of 1 billion. At present, the main way for users to obtain TITAN is trading and liquidity mining. Holders have the right to propose and vote, and can jointly determine part of TITAN’s future governance rights. In terms of distribution, TITAN promised to release 90% of TITAN tokens through liquid mining. The team has no pre-mining and no reservation. 10% of the tokens are sold to investors as start-up capital, after which the TITAN project becomes a true decentralized community project. This ratio is already much higher than most DEX projects. However, DeFi and liquid mining have indeed pushed DEX into the mainstream ahead of time. When DeFi is no long popular, how much market space will remain for DEX? The official TitanSwap team stated that the distribution of TITAN will be consistent with the growth process of the entire network. As the network transaction volume increases, the liquidity of TITAN token distribution will increase, so that when TITAN is used more, there will be more users holding TITAN tokens. This design is actually to keep the tokens from being concentrated in the hands of early large liquidity providers as much as possible. “In this way, the annualized rate of return may be relatively low, but TITAN pays more attention to the long-term incentives rather than short-term. We don’t want to leave the market with a mess.” Ghughur said. At 8pm on September 24, Huobi launched TITAN together with a “new coin mining” event for TITAN. This event will provide 4 million TITAN tokens as a reward for participating in the new coin mining activity for the lock-up users, with the total lock-up limit of 8 million HT. The birth of TitanSwap brought a more interesting arbitrage tool to this game of DEX. We believe that DEX and CEX would coexist for a long time in the future, but the future DEX will definitely move towards integrating more CEX functions. TITAN is likely to use its first-mover advantage to become a breaker in the future DEX ecosystem. Whether it will break through the current dominance of Uniswap or bring new wealth to the market, TitanSwap is worth looking forward to. Press Contact Email Address elainewang@ysmedia.net Supporting Link https://titanswap.org/#/ 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 A Model for the Next Generation DEX, TitanSwap Will Be a Dex With Better User Experience appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article