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3iq has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of its Ether Fund in Canada. The Canadian fund manager’s Bitcoin Fund is already trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Ether Fund has been preliminarily green-lighted by a Canadian regulator. Ether Fund’s IPO Canadian investment fund manager 3iq Corp. announced Friday that its Ether Fund has filed for an IPO with the securities regulators in all provinces and territories of Canada, except for Quebec. Furthermore, its preliminary IPO prospectus has been green-lighted by a regulator. A closed-end investment fund managed by 3iq, the Ether Fund intends to raise a minimum of $10.75 million and a maximum of $107.5 million by issuing Class A units at $10.75 and Class F units at $10.53. The Ether Fund reportedly aims to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) as does the Bitcoin Fund. The company explained that the Ether Fund’s investment objectives are to provide investors with “exposure to the digital currency ether and the daily price movements of the U.S. dollar price of ether” and “the opportunity for long-term capital appreciation.” Founded in 2012, 3iq currently manages the Bitcoin Fund and the 3iq Global Cryptoasset Fund, a private fund available to accredited investors in Canada. It holds BTC, ETH, and LTC. The company launched the Bitcoin Fund on April 9; it is currently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol QBTC.U. Its benchmark index is MVIBTC. Cidel Trust Company and Gemini Trust Company provide custody services for the product. The Bitcoin Fund completed a $48 million offering in May and a $10 million offering in June. What do you think about the Ether Fund IPO? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 3iq Files IPO for Ether Fund to Trade on Canadian Stock Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cyclebit is a crypto payment processor that allows merchants to easily accept digital assets payments anywhere, in both offline and online environments. It is a global company already established in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Southeast Asia. Cyclebit currently supports more than 20 of the most popular cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH and more. Businesses Can Accept Crypto Anywhere With Cyclebit With consumer interest for crypto growing, many more businesses would like to accept digital currencies but lack the knowledge and technological infrastructure needed. Cyclebit solves this problem as it empowers retailers to take advantage of crypto payment opportunities with simple, affordable, and robust tools for in-store, online and on-the-go purchases. Cyclebit was launched in 2019 as an independent business entity and is based on an ecosystem and technological expertise provided by ibox. This means it can share partner resources with an established provider with over one million transactions a month, $1 billion annual turnover and 200,000 POS terminals using its technology. Cyclebit is currently operational in Canada, the U.S., Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and selected parts of Europe. Crypto technology makes transactions private, transparent and direct between the merchant and the customer – with no intermediaries. Cyclebit leverages this to process cryptocurrency transactions in a way that mimics cash’s desirable features for businesses and customers. Some of the superior transaction capabilities include borderless and universal accessibility, no intermediation fees at the point of transaction, a very high level of privacy and the capacity for offline transfers. Cyclebit also charges 0% transaction fees to merchants for all cryptocurrency transactions. Online and Offline Crypto Payments Solutions As cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular around the world, accepting them is becoming a way for businesses to attract more customers and get ready for the future of payments. This is true for both e-commerce websites and brick-and-mortar stores, so Cyclebit offers solutions for all types of businesses. It supports payments in over 20 top cryptocurrencies such as BTC, BCH, LTC, and ETH, and regularly integrates more popular digital currencies. For online retailers Cyclebit offers an e-commerce payment solution with easy integration into online stores. Сycle Online lets you accept multi-cryptocurrency payments on your website from all over the world and settle in your local currency. The service includes protection from volatility, chargebacks, and ID theft, and has no hidden fees for processing payments. With this solution the exchange rate is fixed at the time of the transaction, which completely removes the risk of price volatility. And Cyclebit collects and deposits all payments processed directly to your bank account the next business day. For real-world stores Cyclebit offers a mobile point-of-sale (POS) terminal for accepting crypto payments for goods and services. The Cycle POS supports crypto QR payments and even lets you buy and sell cryptocurrency to your clients directly in the store, thus adding another revenue stream to your business. In addition to cryptos, the terminal lets you accept every cashless payment method available including bank cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. It is a ready-to-work terminal with a pre-installed app, built-in receipt printer, 2D-scanner, and Bluetooth-connected card reader/capability. It offers high security with payment data encryption in line with PCI DSS standards. The Cycle POS also helps you manage your business in the cloud from the device. It is connected to the Cycle Dashboard, which gives you a 360-degree view of your payments and business in real-time. You can use it to manage your clients, assign discounts, search by phone or loyalty card number, print out paper receipts or send digital receipts to your customers and get reports on sales and business performance. Cyclebit Lets Shoppers Pay With a Tap Thanks to Tangem Partnership Another powerful feature of the Cycle POS is that it lets customers easily pay with a tap of a card on the device via a partnership with Tangem. Contactless payments are rapidly becoming the preferred method of paying for goods and services in many markets around the world as they offer greater convenience, security and hygiene. So this feature makes sure your business is ready for the future of in-store payments. Tangem and Cycle cards can be loaded up with cryptocurrency right at your store, providing a much needed service for users and an additional revenue stream for the business. Each card is in fact a ‘cold storage’ crypto wallet with high-grade hardware protection and can serve as a cost-effective solution for storing as well as spending cryptocurrencies. To learn more about Cyclebit and how its solutions can help your business accept crypto payments go to www.cyclebit.io. This is a sponsored post. Learn more on how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Cyclebit Empowers Retailers to Accept Crypto Payments In-Store, Online and On-The-Go appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The live-streaming service Twitch is now offering a 10% subscription discount for people who register with cryptocurrency. The new offer from Twitch leverages the Bitpay payment processor, as this is the first crypto-based discount promotion from a company of this magnitude. This week, the live-streaming service Twitch revealed it is offering a 10% discount for subscribers who pay for subscriptions with a cryptocurrency. Twitch is a service that allows live streaming and it was introduced in 2011. The platform is most popular among live-streaming gamers, and in 2017 it outpaced the streaming service Youtube Gaming. Twitch has over 27,000 partner channels, 15 million daily active users, and 2.2 million broadcasters monthly. In order to allow people to leverage cryptocurrencies for a 10% discount on services, Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon, is utilizing Bitpay’s crypto processing system to accept payments. The Atlanta-based company Bitpay allows payments in bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), four USD-pegged stablecoins (GUSD, USDC, PAX, and BUSD), and ripple (XRP). Being a Twitch subscriber, users have exclusive access to emotes, badges, and the ability to follow their favorite streamers regularly. Escape COVID quarantine and live the Sims life. Purchase a Twitch subscription with BitPay and save 10%. Subscribe now: https://t.co/a6IjEBukIt #twitch #twitchtv #quarantine #games #videogames #bitpay #crypto #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/6PXw1DtHzr — BitPay (@BitPay) July 23, 2020 According to Bill Zielke, Bitpay’s chief marketing officer “Twitch is the first major merchant to jump on this trend.” Twitch is not the only gaming website and live streaming service that offers cryptocurrency support. A number of gaming firms like Take Two (Disintegration and Outer World) and Microsoft support cryptocurrency payments. In order to get the 10% discount individuals interested in registering for a Twitch subscription simply select “pay with Bitpay at checkout” in order to pay with a digital asset. Bitpay explained that it is thrilling to see a trendsetting firm like Twitch accept cryptocurrencies. The Atlanta firm believes that the gaming industry specifically goes hand and hand with crypto asset support. Just recently Bitpay published a blog post that shows “online gaming operators attract players using Bitpay for instant bitcoin deposits.” The company notes that crypto acceptance adds “potential to expand a user base, it lowers costs, eliminates chargebacks, offers speed, and is borderless,” as bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets “can be sent anywhere in the world in minutes,” the company highlights. What do you think about Twitch offering a 10% discount for people who pay with crypto? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Live-Streaming Service Twitch Gives Subscribers 10% Discount if They Pay With Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Lebanon has entered hyperinflation, the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to do so. With a 462% annual inflation rate and food prices rising by almost 200% this month, Lebanon has joined Venezuela in hyperinflating. Meanwhile, the Lebanese pound has lost 82% of its value this year. Lebanon in Hyperinflation Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in history to experience hyperinflation, explained Steve H. Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University, and a hyperinflation expert. Hanke and his colleague Nicholas Krus have traced 61 other instances of hyperinflation in world history, including Hungary in 1945 and Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1994 when hyperinflation peaked at 313 million percent per month. Hyperinflation occurs when a country’s inflation rate exceeds 50% per month for 30 consecutive days. On July 22, Lebanon entered the record books with the world’s 62nd episode of hyperinflation, Hanke confirmed. He described in the National Review publication: Now there are two ongoing hyperinflations: Lebanon’s, where the annual inflation rate is 462 percent, and Venezuela’s, where the annual rate soars at 2,219 percent. Venezuela has been in hyperinflation since April, Hanke said. He further noted that only a small number of emerging markets are currently experiencing severe inflation problems, but the number is rising. Zimbabwe, Syria, Sudan, and Iran are all facing surging inflation, but none are currently suffering hyperinflation, he clarified. “The underlying causes of inflation are always the same,” the professor was quoted by Reuters as saying. “Governments start running larger and larger fiscal deficits and call on the central bank to fund those deficits because tax and bond financing avenues are inadequate. In hyperinflations, central banks are required to virtually fund the governments entire fiscal operations.” This is Lebanon’s worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, Hanke pointed out. The situation became worse when the country defaulted on its debt in March. The official data cited by Credit Libanais shows that food and clothing costs surged 190% and 172% respectively in May from a year earlier. Other reports show similar stats early this month. The Lebanese pound has lost 82% of its value against the U.S. dollar on the black market since January. “As for the official exchange rate, the Lebanese can forget it,” Hanke remarked, adding: Their savings are frozen in Lebanon’s banks. The banks have no dollars to exchange and have imposed capital controls (strict withdrawal limits) to avoid collapse. What do you think about Lebanon hyperinflating? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Hyperinflation Hits Lebanon: Food Prices Soar 200%, Biggest Crisis Since Civil War appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last two weeks, I’ve been roaming around the virtual world Decentraland in order to get some perspective on the platform supported by the Ethereum Blockchain. The following is a review of my experience in Decentraland and observing all that has been built since it was invoked over four years ago. Four years ago, the platform Decentraland stemmed from a proof-of-concept that assigned ownership of digital real estate in an infinite 2D grid. When the creators did this, it was originally dubbed the “Stone Age of the Decentralized.” The team behind Decentraland then finished crafting a 3D virtual world divided into plots called the “Bronze Age” at the end of 2016. Fast forward to 2020, and Decentraland, the metaverse built on Ethereum is massive. Map of Decentraland. Essentially, the world is a blockchain fueled virtual reality platform and users can explore, create, play games, collect wearables, monetize creation, leverage land plots, and 3D building techniques. After the “Bronze Age,” Decentraland moved into the “Iron Age” which involves the ability to interact with the virtual world in various ways and leverage the native cryptocurrency MANA to process payments. I’ve known about Decentraland for a while now, and just recently decided to explore the metaverse during the last two weeks. I decided to write a review on the platform in order to give news.Bitcoin.com readers some perspective on this fascinating land and the best way to experience the platform. In order to leverage Decentraland, you need a wallet that interacts with ETH-based decentralized applications (dapps). I leveraged the Metamask wallet with the Chrome browser and fired up a new ETH account. Decentraland’s greetings robot in “Genesis Plaza.” In addition to writing the review and exploring Decentraland, I also involved my two sons Joshua and Franklin. I wanted to get opinions from people who are much younger than me in order to see how they liked the platform. After creating a new Metamask-based ETH address, I simply went over to the website Decentraland.org. The first thing my sons and I did was head over to the Avatar section and we created my Avatar or how I look when I am traveling the virtual world. Choosing the look is similar to a number of Avatar creators people are used to like Nintendo’s Miis and other programs. Registering my name. A custom name costs 100 MANA plus the gas fee. After customizing your look, the program asks you if you want to grab your “Passport” to manage your digital identity. Meaning, anyone can pay 100 MANA (Decentraland’s ERC20 token) in order to obtain a custom name. Now after you customize your Avatar, you do not need to pay 100 MANA or register right away or at all. You can also simply explore Decentraland as a guest. My sons decided that I should choose a name and I chose “Jamiecrypto” for my Decentraland Passport name. You can grab MANA by simply swapping ETH for Decentraland’s native currency using the Metamask wallet’s swapping feature. John Perry Barlow’s “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.” The name “Jamiecrypto” was available, and I opened up a contract in order to obtain the name. However, because gas is so expensive right now I waited two solid days to finally get fed up, and pay $4.50 in gas to push the contract settlement. Ethereum’s fees are problematic right now and the issue will make Decentraland less fluid if the chain does not scale. Understanding this issue, I didn’t care too much and moved on, but this will definitely deter users from exploring Decentraland to its fullest extent. After pressing “start exploring” at the Decentraland.org website it connected with my Metamask account and I entered the “Genesis Plaza” This area is like a introductory zone that has a number of cool buildings and a robot that gives you an explanation of Decentraland and what you can do. After listening to the welcome robot, my sons told me to start roaming around and I did but I was leveraging a Macbook Pro with the built-in trackpad. Using a trackpad is slow and not the best accessory to use while you explore Decentraland. Metazone.io’s tower. My son Joshua who is used to playing virtual world games like Roblox, told me we should hook up a mouse in order to move around. After hooking up a mouse, it was much easier to move around Decentraland and users can also press “/help” in order to learn the control mechanisms. We all decided that I should roam around the “Genesis Plaza” and my sons wanted to explore the big brown building that resembles a shoe. This building is like a history museum of Decentraland and artifacts explain how it was built, how the governance system (DAO) works, and some of the hosted activities that take place in the virtual world. The three of us stopped for a minute to observe a poster of a John Perry Barlow’s “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” and my oldest son Joshua read the paragraph which says: Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. Decentraland visitors can interact with all kinds of virtual things in the virtual world like cash registers, rides, musical instruments, levers, and NFT items. Decentraland has all kinds of artwork, buildings, and unique things, and the “Genesis Plaza” is one small aspect of this world. While exploring the plaza, we saw mountainous terrain that looked like a volcano and the “NFT Hallway,” which displays a number of non-fungible tokens (collectibles, artwork, wearables.) The Crypto Valley Art Museum. Lots of the NFT shops are all over Decentraland and some NFTs are for show, while others can be purchased by using MANA. For instance, the shop from the crew at Digitible offers a number of NFTs and Ross Ulbricht collectibles as well. The funds spent on Digitable-crafted Ross wearables go directly to the Ulbricht family. Of course, my kids wanted to buy everything in the virtual world of Decentraland. But during the entire exploration period, the only thing I spent MANA on was my custom name and the fee to settle the contract. Users can purchase wearables at the Decentraland Marketplace as well which sells hats, hoodies, shoes, shirts, and land parcels as well. Wearables at the web portal market.decentraland.org. I found that everything in the entire marketplace was extremely expensive and I just couldn’t fathom paying hundreds of dollars worth of MANA on a virtual hoodie. This is another criticism my kids and I had with Decentraland, and we all thought the game would be far more enjoyable if NFT goods were cheaper. Decentraland is massive, and in order to warp to other places in the virtual world simply press “M” on the keyboard. This loads the map and my son’s and I visited places like the Scifi Plaza, the Asian Plaza, Metazone Tower, Battle Racers, Crypto Valley, and the Crypto Valley Art Museum, the Museum District, Pixelchain, Bartertown, Decentraland University, and many more areas. The Crypto Valley Art Museum. Over the course of two weeks, my sons and I still have not explored every crevice and plot in Decentraland. Joshua and Franklin enjoyed all the things that you could ride like the Ferris Wheel, race tracks, and the many obstacles throughout the metaverse. My favorite place was the Crypto Valley Art Museum and the donut shop with two police cruisers sitting in front of the shop. My oldest son Joshua explores Decentraland on his own now too, as he downloaded Metamask on his own laptop and fires up the virtual world to explore. My son Joshua playing with me as a guest user. Yesterday, he added me as a friend by simply searching my name “Jamiecrypto” and we both explored Decentraland together on separate computers. During the last few months, Decentraland explorers hold small community events and gatherings. A few days ago, comic book illustrator Jose Delbo answered questions about his digital artwork in Decentraland during an exhibition. Joshua is ten so he enjoyed the program a lot more than his seven-year-old brother Franklin. Overall, we all thought the experience is enjoyable and it’s very cool to see a virtual world built on top of the Ethereum network. My two sons also enjoyed the fact that they used a Metamask wallet for interaction and how the ETH chain powers the entire world. The only issue I had with the entire Decentraland experience was the high ETH gas fees, which are a problem for every defi application right now and the expensive gear. I think that people marketing virtual wearables should come down on their prices, but I can see that happening if Decentraland gathers more users. What do you think about the Decentraland experience? Let us know in the comments below. The post Exploring Decentraland: A Review of the Virtual World Built on Ethereum appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The digital currency economy is steadily approaching a $300 billion market capitalization, as a great number of coins have been seeing decent gains. Bitcoin touched a high of $10,135 on July 26, during the early morning trading sessions, but ethereum is outpacing the top crypto measured by market valuation. At the time of writing, the crypto economy is a force to be reckoned with as a number of digital assets have grown more valuable this week. Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering between $9,900 and $9,950 during the course of the late afternoon (ET) trading sessions. BTC is up over 2.3% today and BTC’s overall market cap is just above the $182.6 billion mark. Despite the higher price, BTC’s dominance ratio is lower than it’s been since June 2019 at 61%. BTC did touch five figures on Sunday, a price observers had not seen since the first week of June. Ethereum has been outperforming BTC by a longshot as the coin is now trading for $307 per coin. ETH is up 3.6% today and 30% for the week compared to BTC’s 8% seven-day gain. ETH gained 35% during the last 30 days and around 58% over the course of the last 90-days. A number of speculators believe Ethereum’s defi and stablecoin boom is pushing the digital asset’s price to new 2020 levels. Bitcoin cash (BCH) jumped to the $253 range on Sunday morning but the cryptocurrency is down 0.84% at press time. Bitcoin cash is up 7% for 30 days and 1.7% during the last 90 days. However, for the 12-month time span against the USD, BCH is still down 19% this weekend. BCH has a market valuation of $4.5 billion from the 18 million BCH in circulation, which represents 1.53% of today’s overall $296 billion crypto market cap. At the time of publication, tether (USDT) captures 61% of today’s BCH trades. This is followed by BTC (17.50%), USD (5.53%), KRW (5.16%), and TWD (3.40%). BCH is getting lots of volume from the New Taiwan dollar (TWD) and ETH pairs represent 1.56%. Sunday’s top gainers include coins like elysian (ELY 61.02%), datawallet (DXT 40.79%), egretia (EGT 31.50%), elrond (ERD 25.12%), and travala (AVA 25%). The biggest losers today include starbase (STAR -29.16%), zap (ZAP -27.47%) karatgoldcoin (KBC -23.09%), boscoin (BOS -21.54%), and yearnfinance (YFI -21.31%). The top-performing Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) tokens today include flexcoin (FLEX 8.4%) and brave sound token (BRST 7.1%) The tokens spice (SPICE -1.6%) and Sideshift.ai’s SLP-token (SAI -0.12%) are both down on Sunday. Overall, most crypto traders are bullish, as crypto assets are outshining gold too, which is above the $1900 zone per Troy ounce of .999 fine gold on Sunday. ETH touched a high on Sunday not seen in well over a year. However, ETH the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, is still 78% down from the digital currency’s all-time high (ATH). That was three years ago from today, and three years for BTC as well, which is doing better considering BTC is only down 50.5% from its ATH. What do you think about this week’s cryptocurrency market action? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Market Update: Crypto Cap Nears $300 Billion, BTC Hits $10K, ETH Rallies Hard appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Visa says it is working to integrate digital currencies with its existing global network of 61 million merchants. The global payments technology giant is working with two licensed and regulated digital currency platforms, Coinbase and Fold. In a blog post, Visa says the emergence of fiat-backed digital currencies or stablecoins promises a new payment innovation that combines the benefits of digital currencies with the “stability” of existing currencies like the US dollar. Explaining the company’s focus on delivering value to people, businesses and economies regardless of currency channel, Visa says: We’re reshaping how money moves across the globe, and that means pursuing a broad array of technologies and partnerships. In that regard, digital currencies offer an exciting avenue for us to continue doing what we do best: expanding our network-of-networks to support new forms of commerce. The company asserts that the concept of stablecoins has “gained traction beyond fintechs” and now “includes financial institutions and central banks.” Consumers and businesses are also adopting digital currencies while reports suggest that stablecoin circulation is growing rapidly. Latest estimates put total supply at $12 billion. In the meantime, the payment company also reveals that already “more than 25 digital currency wallets have linked their services to Visa,” giving users an easy way to spend from their digital currency balance using a Visa debit or prepaid credential — anywhere Visa is accepted. These digital currency wallets are looking to “use the full range of Visa’s capabilities,” including Visa Direct, an option that makes it “faster and easier for consumers to convert digital currency and push those funds to their Visa credentials in real-time.” Visa explains that much of this work is happening through Visa’s FastTrack program, which helps fintechs to integrate quickly with Visa’s global network. Through these efforts, Visa has become the preferred network for digital currency wallets, which are eager to deepen their value to users by making it quicker and easier to spend digital currency worldwide. While noting ongoing regulators’ concerns regarding digital currencies, Visa says it believes “the best way to address these concerns is by working closely with leading companies and the public sector.” The payments giant points to its experience and success which it says are down to continuous investment on “building and maintaining a resilient global network.” Integrating with emerging innovations like privately issued digital currencies ensures this legacy is maintained Visa adds. In 2019, Visa invested Anchorage, a company building security infrastructure for the digital currency ecosystem while a research team explored the science of blockchain technology for several years. The research team has since had several promising innovations, including Zether and Flyclient and now their research is focused on new mechanisms to improve scalability and enable offline digital currency transactions. What do you think about Visa’s move? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Visa Moving to Integrate With Digital Currency Platforms appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Following the massive Twitter breach that saw many high-profile accounts tweet about a bitcoin giveaway, a popular Indian Youtuber now claims that his Youtube channel was hacked for the same purpose. Hackers replaced some content in Carry Minati’s videos to promote a bitcoin giveaway. Popular Indian Youtube Channel Taken Over to Promote Bitcoin Giveaway Scam Ajey Nagar, also known by his channel name Carry Minati, announced on social media Friday that his Youtube channel with 6.7 million subscribers was hacked. “My channel Carryislive has been hacked, need immediate assistance,” Minati tweeted to Youtube India. Besides the gaming channel Carryislive, Nagar also runs another channel on Youtube called “Carryminati,” which has 24.1 million subscribers. Only the Carryislive channel appeared to have been hacked. Two videos promoting a bitcoin giveaway scam were reportedly posted on the channel, one of which was entitled “Charity Stream: Bitcoin, BTC, Ethereum, ETH.” The videos had a bitcoin address and an ether address displayed over them. Moreover, about 36 minutes into the videos, the content abruptly turned into Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk giving away bitcoin and ether. News.Bitcoin.com previously reported on Youtube bitcoin giveaway scams featuring Elon Musk giving away bitcoin which has raked in millions of dollars. The videos on the Carryislive channel promotes both a bitcoin giveaway and an ether giveaway where scammers promise to double your BTC or ETH sent to them. A screenshot of a hacked video posted on the Carryislive Youtube channel that features BTC and ETH giveaways. At least two BTC addresses were posted on the Carryislive channel: one displayed on the video and another in the video description. According to the Bitcoin Abuse database, the first address has been reported as a scam address twice and has received 0.0273132 BTC at press time. The other has also been reported twice and has received 0.00017801 BTC. Bitcoin giveaway scams have been on Youtube for months, featuring well-known people supposedly giving away bitcoin, such as Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and several people in the crypto space. However, in past BTC giveaway schemes, scammers used their own accounts to promote the scams, without hacking other Youtube channels. The problem of scams being promoted on Youtube has gotten so out of hand that Wozniak and 17 others have sued the video-sharing platform and its parent company, Google, over a bitcoin giveaway scam. They allege that the two companies know about the scam but they not only allow these fraudulent videos to be posted, but they also promote and profit from them. Meanwhile, the recent Twitter attack is being investigated by the FBI. During the hack, high-profile accounts tweeted about a similar scam bitcoin giveaway, including the official accounts of Apple, former U.S. president Barack Obama, Cash App, Google, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Kanye West, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. What do you think about the Youtube channel being hacked to promote a bitcoin scam? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Popular Indian Youtube Channel Hacked to Promote Bitcoin Giveaway Scam appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

It is a mass delusion on an epic scale, beyond that of any known mental illness or fallacious belief. It is neither genetic nor viral nor bacterial, yet it has spread to each corner of the world and overtaken it. Statism, the belief in a forceful and coercive government, is an affliction that almost all people in this world fall into. **The following essay was written by J. A. McDonald and published on June 8, 2016. “The Longest Running Case of Mass Hysteria” was originally published on the website notbeinggoverned.com, and is reprinted here on Bitcoin.com for historical preservation. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any opinions, content, accuracy or quality within the historical editorial.** Rare exceptions exist. Tribal peoples from various areas of the world, certain individuals within “civilization,” the occasional liberated society or town here and there. Yet the vast majority truly and earnestly believe that the state is something that must exist. People believe that without the world would “fall into chaos” and all of society and technology would be destroyed in a deluge of horror and despair. From where do they ascertain the evidence behind these assertions? From nowhere it seems, as they have no evidence. Fear of a lack of the state is a mass delusion, a massive bout of hysteria, learned from one generation to the next. When the state first came into being, people had no such fantasies. They knew the state was merely a group of warlords who, through force of arms, came to rule them. As their rule solidified excuses and reasons were formed as to their dominance. Prevailing among them was the idea of divine right, although this varied in effectiveness depending upon the religion of the people they were conquering. The social contract soon took its place, although that was little more than a version of divine right. Instead of: “God has proclaimed me ruler, although you cannot see, hear, or know God to exist, and various people have different ideas about what God is and what he says and I have no proof that God even exists, God has proclaimed me ruler so listen to me,” it has become: “The Social Contract has proclaimed me ruler, although you cannot see, hear, or know the Social Contract to exist, and various people have different ideas about what the Social Contract is and what it says and I have no proof that the Social Contract even exists, The Social Contract has proclaimed me ruler so listen to me.” Both of these ideas are delusional as they build upon completely abstract concepts. They use the intangible to govern the tangible. There is no proof for either concept. A much more reasonable assumption is thus: “I am a Human. I govern myself and my actions. I know what I do, I know what is right and what is wrong. I should not harm others, their liberty, or their livelihood. Doing so is wrong. I should live freely by my own standards and to the best of my abilities. I should not try to govern others, as they are Humans like me, and rule and own themselves. If I wish, I can associate with them and, without coercion, cooperate with them to achieve greater goals.” This assumption is by far more reasonable. It is based upon what we can see today. We are all born as Human, with the ability to govern our own bodies and minds. It does not make sense to think that one man or woman should govern many, or that many should govern few, or that one should govern a different one. Each individual knows their own self and will. That liberty is what society should be based upon. I can already hear the many objections: “What of the roads? What of the common good? What of the safety net? What of Law and Order?” And so on, and so on. I could respond to these questions, as I have many times in debate and conversation and writing. However, men smarter than myself have already done so in ways both eloquent and thorough. Frédéric Bastiat is one such example, and his works certainly illustrate how men and women can freely associate to get things done. Murray Rothbard is another. If a reader wishes to scorn my words, and ask questions such as the ones above, then please read their works. They will explain to the reader precisely how such societies will work. But beyond practical concerns of a stateless society, what exactly is one’s argument for the state? That all of its good is worth the violence done to peaceful people? That a feeling of false safety and a collectivized and inefficient transit system is worth the wars and genocide and imprisonment that affects millions of people? That forceful taxation and the banning of certain property and the enslavement of most humans to their political master is justified? What of freedom? What of self-ownership? What of peace? The state is not peace, it is war, violence, hatred, and the desire to dominate. So the author ends this essay with a final statement and warning. Believe not in your political masters. They are not your friends. Their rule is false and they use you as a farmer does cattle. They may give you a handout here and there, sure. They stick you in your feedlot and you fill yourself to the brim. You are happy as you eat. The cage may be small, but you find security. When they take you out of the feedlot you see wild mavericks and cattle in the distance. You laugh at them, for they are thinner and their meals are not always guaranteed. Yet, as you near the slaughterhouse it dawns upon you the truth. You try to thrash and struggle, but your time has come. Do not give in to the false sense of security that the state gives you. It comes with a great burden and price. It is better to be free than to be used as a tax slave and a resource for the war games of the state. What do you think about J. A. McDonald’s essay? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post J. A. McDonald: The Longest Running Case of Mass Hysteria appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

ESPN Global has announced the launch of a blockchain-powered gaming platform, which will allow competitors to deposit and withdraw using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through Cryptopay. The platform is also integrating an online treasure hunt, Satoshi’s Treasure, with $1 million worth of bitcoin to be split among 1000 winners. In a June 23 statement, the UK-based company said it is in the pre-launch phase of a platform that will offer some of the most popular games in one mobile application for crypto prizes. Blockchain technology will decentralize verification and support for transactions inside the platform. “Cryptocurrency payment specialist ‘Cryptopay’ is being used by ESPN Global, to make the process a lot simpler, swift and secure,” the company announced. Users can choose a game or join a group of participants to compete in real-time and be awarded on the basis of highest score. The platform also offers premium membership whereby one gets priority access to slots and early access to the most popular games. The mobile e-sports unit in UK falls under ESPN Global Corporation Ltd. which is headquartered in Poland. An ESPN Global director, Mr. Chris Parker, spoke on the attraction of blockchain. “As per a research done by 3EA Limited, a global strategic management consulting group, e-sports and online gaming is a $140 billion global industry driven predominantly by digital micro-transaction economies, which we believe will benefit immensely from the integrity and resilience of the Blockchain technology,” he said. The company is also integrating the recently launched game Satoshi’s Treasure. “With this $1 million puzzle game Satoshi’s Treasure, we are promising a bounty-laden bitcoin wallet whose keys will be divided into 1,000 fragments, spawning a global hunt for the prize pieces,” said Parker. In the event of amassing a sizeable e-sport community, ESPN Global expects to launch an initial exchange offering of its Smart Gaming Token (SGT) based on the ERC-20 platform. “From the day we start our operations, we will be giving airdrops of SGTs to all registered players as a gift,” Parker said. He added that all players who lose money in any game or tournament will be compensated with SGT airdrops equivalent to the losses credited to their ERC wallets. The current valuation of SGT airdrop is $0.001, expected to increase with the growth of the gaming community. Premium members, who get double SGTs against the amount of super-contest, will also have their losses covered. What do you think about ESPN’s new bitcoin online gaming? Let us know in the comments section below. The post ESPN Announces Online Gaming That Allows Bitcoin Deposits and Withdrawals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Russian human rights campaigner and chess supremo Gary Kasparov has said that the current economic crisis, which has led to unconventional monetary policy, will drive people towards bitcoin. Bitcoin’s finite supply compares favorably to agenda-driven printing of money by governments, noted the Avast security ambassador, who also chairs the Human Rights Foundation and the Renew Democracy Initiative. Speaking to Forbes on the intersection of human rights and new technologies, Kasparov said cryptocurrencies enable the public to regain control of personal finances at a time when unilateral moves by government and institutions are on the rise. “The good thing about bitcoin is that you know exactly the number – the magic number of 21 million. And we understand the formula behind that. But when you look at the other side, the Fed for instance, you never know how many trillions of dollars will appear on the market tomorrow that will damage your savings,” he observed. Kasparov said cryptocurrencies’ potential for abuse gets overstated but it is the upside which must be harnessed to empower individuals. Crypto offers means to protect personal finances against inflation and state interference and “anything that can offer us the opportunity to take back control or some control of our privacy is always welcome,” the chess grandmaster said. “That’s why I think the steady rise in popularity of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a concept is inevitable, because it’s a response to the shift of power from individuals to states or other institutions that may act on our privacy without our consent,” he added. As chairperson of the Human Rights Foundation, Kasparov has promoted blockchain and cryptocurrency as a means to empower dissidents around the world. “For us, it was important for us to address every violation of human rights, and we were trying to help these people, most of them under severe attacks by their governments – even if they left their countries, their financial accounts were hacked, their information was stolen – so we have been providing special training courses.” He continued: “We’ve invited famous hackers to help them and to work with them – we have been using every opportunity to offer them extra protection, and of course blockchain and bitcoin were very natural choices to incorporate into this strategy.” Kasparov also criticised the discriminatory treatment of customers from one territory to the other by tech giants and encouraged internet users to practice “digital hygiene” to stay safe from governments and other third parties. What do you think about Kasprov’s toward crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Chess Grandmaster Kasparov: Bitcoin Empowers the Public and Protects Dissidents appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Republicans have proposed a new coronavirus relief package with a second round of stimulus check payments, a draft summary of the proposal confirms. According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the new package will be the “exact same proposal as last time.” New Covid-19 Relief Proposal As lawmakers debate over a new coronavirus relief aid package, Americans are eager to know if they will receive another round of direct payments. According to a draft proposal obtained by The New York Times on Thursday, there will be a second round of stimulus checks. Stimulus payments “will be included, but the amount of the payment and eligibility criteria are TBA,” the document reads, without giving further details. This new proposal is the Republican response to the Democrats’ $3 trillion HEROES Act which the House passed on May 15 but the bill has not cleared the Senate. As for how much each person will receive, multiple news outlets reported on Thursday that the new proposal will include a stimulus check in the amount of $1,200 — just as provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill President Donald Trump signed into law in March. This assumption was based on a remark by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said when referring to a second stimulus check: We’re talking about the same provision as last time, so our proposal is the exact same proposal as last time. However, Mnuchin could have erred as he did with the payroll tax cut when he said it was “in the bill,” but the GOP draft showed that it was not, Forbes noted. Due to the expected similarity to the CARES Act, the new stimulus package has been dubbed CARES Act 2. Moreover, there are some benefits for keeping the size and income eligibility of the new stimulus payments the same as they were previously. Not only would it be easier to negotiate a compromised version of the proposal with Democrats, but payment distribution would also be easier and faster. “If the parameters stayed the same, we could do it really quickly,” Senator John Thune commented. The draft proposal document also shows that “There will be some type of extension of the enhanced benefits” for unemployment, “but likely not $600 a week.” As for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), “There will be streamlined loan forgiveness for small loans under $150K” and an “Intermediate forgiveness process for loans under $1 million.” The full proposal document can be found here. People have been discussing on social media how much the new stimulus package will help Americans. Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that in his opinion: Another government stimulus package is not in the best interest of the people. As a reminder, I’m in favor of universal basic income. Many people disagreed with him, pointing out that his company Tesla Inc. was a major beneficiary of the government’s first stimulus package. While the Trump administration has requested more time to review the details of the proposal, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the press that the proposal will be released on Monday when the Senate convenes. Republicans are spending the weekend hammering out details with the White House, meaning that some parts of the current draft proposal could change. Furthermore, McConnell said Friday that reaching an agreement could take several weeks. Do you think Americans should get more stimulus checks? Let us know in the comments section below. The post New Coronavirus Relief Package Proposed With Second Round of Stimulus Checks for Americans appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

More than 1,000 Twitter employees and contractors reportedly had access to Twitter’s “God mode” earlier this year, before the recent large-scale hack that saw many high-profile accounts tweet about a bitcoin giveaway. Twitter has confirmed that 130 accounts were targeted, and hackers accessed the private messages of 36 accounts. Over 1,000 People With ‘God Mode’ Access to Twitter Following the recent hack that saw high-profile accounts tweet about a bitcoin giveaway scam, many have raised the question of how many people have access to Twitter’s “God mode,” as some call it. Reuters reported Friday that the number of people with this access level earlier this year was more than 1,000, citing two former Twitter employees familiar with the company’s security practices. The publication wrote: More than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand control to others … including some at contractors like Cognizant. Twitter declined to comment on the figure while Cognizant did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the Twitter breach. The hackers “manipulated a small number of employees and used their credentials” to access internal tools, Twitter explained on Wednesday. Overall, the hackers targeted a total of 130 accounts, sent tweets from 45 accounts, and downloaded information using the “Your Twitter Data” tool for eight accounts. The company also revealed: The hackers accessed 36 direct message inboxes, including one for an elected official in the Netherlands. Besides the politician in the Netherlands, Twitter said it did not believe that the hackers looked at direct messages for any other elected official. The former employees further explained to Reuters that Twitter had gotten better about logging the activity of its employees after previous mishaps, including searches of records by an employee accused of spying for the Saudi Arabian government. After a rogue employee deleted President Donald Trump’s account two years ago, the company limited access to national leaders’ accounts to a much smaller number of people. “That could explain why Biden’s account was hijacked but not Trump’s,” the news outlet wrote. Former Twitter security engineer John Adams said Twitter should expand the number of protected accounts, such as requiring at least two people to change key settings of accounts with more than 10,000 followers. During an earnings call with investors on Thursday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged the problems, admitting: We fell behind, both in our protections against social engineering of our employees and restrictions on our internal tools. Meanwhile, lawmakers have called on Dorsey to testify at the upcoming antitrust hearing where CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are also expected to appear. What do you think about 1000 people with Twitter’s God mode access? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 1,000 People Had Access to Twitter ‘God Mode’ — 130 Accounts Targeted by Hackers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Reports detail that 10,000 Antiminers have been allegedly stolen from a Bitmain facility in China. Sources say that the missing mining rigs concern the ongoing power struggle between Bitmain cofounders Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan. Back in mid-June news.Bitcoin.com reported on the power struggle between the Bitmain cofounders. For many years now Bitmain has been the most dominant bitcoin ASIC mining rig manufacturer. However, for quite some time now the cofounders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu have been at odds. Now regional reports detail that 10,000 Antminers worth millions have gone missing or were “illegally transferred” from a Bitmain mine in Inner Mongolia. There isn’t an exact count on every make that was taken but the 10,000 Antminers included miners like the S9 Hydro series, S15, T15, S17 Pro, S17, T17, and a prototype model. The last time, the two cofounders were allegedly quarreling, reports noted that Zhan ostensibly was prohibiting deliveries stemming from the company’s Shenzhen factory. The China-based publication 8btc highlights that last Friday an internal letter from Jihan Wu detailed that Zhan’s allies took the 10,000 miners. Estimates say that the net worth of all the miners total would be around $10 million. Despite the reports of an internal memo from Jihan Wu, Zhan accused Wu of taking the lot of ASIC miners using the official Bitmain Weibo account. Financial columnist Lylian Teng revealed that a number of trademark filings have been filed for the name Antminer. Public records indicate the filings stem from Hong Kong and mainland China. Teng notes that the filings derive from Bitmain’s Singapore unit “Bitmaintech Pte.” The feud over the massive amounts of manufacturing equipment and farms in China couldn’t come at a worse time for the company when Ebang recently filed for it’s U.S. IPO and Microbt is taking in a large market share. People thought the Bitmain cofounders may come to a settlement because a leaked negotiation deal indicated the two tried to compromise. In addition to the leadership issues at Bitmain Technologies, reports also show there are alleged issues with a number of high ranking Canaan executives as well. Additionally, four executives; Tu Songhua, Kong Jianping, Li Jiaxuan, and Sun Qifeng were deleted from the company registry. What do you think about the power struggle between Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Leadership Feud at Bitmain: 10,000 Antminers Go Missing in Inner Mongolia appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A US Federal Court said Friday that bitcoin is a form of money covered under the Washington D.C., Money Transmitters Act (MTA). The court made this conclusion as it denied a motion to dismiss criminal charges against Larry Dean Harmon, the operator of an underground bitcoin trading platform. In December 2019, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia indicted Harmon for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, in violation of state laws. However, Harmon moved to dismiss citing “failure to state an offence.” Harmon’s move forced the court to determine if bitcoin met the definition of money for purposes of the District of Columbia’s MTA. In its conclusion, the court states: “After examination of the relevant statutes, case law, and other sources, the Court concludes that bitcoin is money under the MTA and that Helix, as described in the indictment, was an `unlicensed money transmitting business´ under applicable federal law.” The court also points out that Harmon himself never disputes that “bitcoin is money as that term is ordinarily used.” Harmon’s motion to dismiss all charges against him was denied. According to court documents, Harmon’s operation, Helix—a darknet service—enabled customers, for a fee, to send bitcoins to designated recipients in a manner which was designed to conceal and obfuscate the source or owner of the bitcoins. Helix was shut down in 2017 while Harmon was arrested in February 2020. Meanwhile, the documents also reveal that before the launch of Helix, Harmon had written stating that the service “was designed to be a ‘bitcoin tumbler’ that ‘cleans’ bitcoins by providing customers with new bitcoins ‘which have never been to the darknet before.” Between 2014 and 2017, Helix was used to “exchange approximately 354,468 bitcoins — the equivalent of approximately $311 million.” What does this decision mean for bitcoin? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Us Federal Court Ruling — Bitcoin Is a Form of Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In the past week, reports emerged that some key members of the Onecoin scam were found dead in Mexico. According to reports, the two Oscar Brito Ibarra and Ignacio Ibarra may have been kidnapped and murdered but the motives behind their murder is unclear. Onecoin is one of the biggest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes that creamed off billions from victims even as reports emerged that it was a scam. News.Bitcoin.com has extensively covered the story of Onecoin. While increasing awareness about cryptocurrencies helps to reduce the chances of people falling for scams, it seems this alone may not be enough. Sophisticated criminals are still able to package scams that will deceive even the smartest investors or individuals that should “know better.” Besides Onecoin, there a few more crypto scams that took billions from victims. This article looks at some of the biggest crypto Ponzi schemes and how they lured millions without getting caught. Billion-dollar crypto scams In 2019 authorities in China apprehended individuals behind Plus Token as they took down one of the biggest crypto Ponzi schemes seen in Asia yet. Reports in the Chinese media suggest Plus Token promoters may have defrauded as much as $3 billion from unsuspecting investors. A blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis corroborates the media reports although it settles for $2 billion as the total amount stolen. Chainalysis claims it tracked a total of about 180,000 bitcoin, 6,400,000 ethereum, 111,000 tether and 53 omisego. Either figure still makes Plus Token one of the biggest crypto scam to date. Although the Ponzi outfit exit scammed, some the stolen funds are still stationed in wallets associated with the scheme, presumably waiting to be cashed out. In June, reports surfaced that funds associated with Plus Token were moving to exchanges. Another billion-dollar scam that stole funds from investors is Bitconnect. It is said that in just over a year, the scam had managed to propel itself from an obscure ICO to a crypto project valued at $2.6 billion. Despite this, Bitconnect still had content with the ignominy of being labeled a scam even at its heyday. Still, promoters undeterred went on to create a media platform to counter negative stories that were circulating. Finally, after facing relentless media scrutiny as well as growing pressure from regulators, Bitconnect abruptly shut down in January 2018. It blamed the “bad press” for its troubles. Investors lost savings. Common methods used by scammers The three billion dollar scams used methods commonly employed by typical large scale Ponzi schemes. Firstly, criminals prey on two inherent human flaws, greed, and lust for “easy” money. For example, Bitconnect managed to keep new investors coming on board because it promised a rate of return of 0.25% per day. While this promise might look surreal, it is also true that investors like “passive incomes” that reward with a high return on equity. Many did join and became affiliates of Bitconnect. Ordinarily, a potential investor must conduct a due diligence exercise and the necessary research before committing to investing. So while it may seem logical to invest in something that one understands, the reality is scammers count on people not doing any research. Scammers know that the promise of a “significant return” is enough to attract hordes of new investors. Logic is usually sacrificed. In-person meetups and crypto education campaigns Meanwhile, the Plus Token scam, which also used similar tactics to seduce millions of unsuspecting investors, went a step further. According to a report by Chainalysis, the scam’s ringleaders went the extra mile in their efforts to portray the scam as a legitimate investment business. For example, Plus Token hosted several in-person meet-ups educating attendees on the company and cryptocurrency as a whole. It also took out ads in supermarkets and other physical spaces. The Plus Token app itself was another marketing channel. Perhaps the most brazen act by one member of the Plus Token team has to be the use of photos that feature Prince Charles of England, to bolster the public perception of the scam. The use of prominent figures is indeed a growing tactic used by other scammers to woo new investors. The recent Twitter donation scam used a tactic known as trust trading to steal funds from unsuspecting individuals. Supporting the notion that scammers prey on the lure of “high returns and zero risks” is Dmytro Volkov, CTO at CEX.io. The lure of exceptionally high returns is enough to make investors ignore any negative reports about an investment opportunity they may have heard. In fact, it matters little that the organization in question has been flagged by regulators. As long as it promises big, investors will not be concerned. Volkov gives an example of Onecoin which appears to be active despite the high profile arrests and court cases that made global headlines. “Sometimes people even take risks deliberately, despite realizing that there is a danger of dealing with scammers. This is because the potential profit, as they see it, is worth it,” Volkov points out. Aggressive recruitment of new affiliates Multilevel marketing (MLM) is another strategy that is common with the three giant Ponzi schemes. Marketers will shill the business opportunity and aggressively recruit new affiliates. Lies and misrepresentations are employed to entice investors to join. Social media channels are also used to recruit new affiliates. Incoming affiliates are heavily encouraged to recruit soft targets like friends or family members. That is how Aniekan Fyneface, crypto, and blockchain blogger from Nigeria, joined an infamous Ponzi scheme. Fyneface says he lost all his investment when the MMM Ponzi scheme collapsed in Nigeria. Fyneface explains that in times of economic recessions, Ponzi schemes such as MMM and Onecoin were seen as legitimate income sources by many Nigerians. This perhaps explains the high number of people that still join Ponzi scams in that country. However, Fyneface is also convinced that greed is a factor. Associating legitimate cryptos with scams In the meantime, Fyneface reveals another tactic employed by MMM scammers to lure unsuspecting victims. “It is important to note that as bad as MMM was in Nigeria, it gave me and many Nigerians our first exposure to bitcoin. People were able to provide help with not only the Nigeria Naira but they could this with bitcoin which is denominated in US dollars,” explains Fyneface. Associating scams with financial innovations helps to mask any telltale signs that might give away the con. MMM’s association with bitcoin helped to keep the scam going much longer. Unless investors start learning these common tactics there will be no shortage of new scam victims. What other methods do scammers use to lure new victims? Tell us your views in the comments section below. The post How Billion-Dollar Crypto Scams Lure Victims appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Swiss crypto financial services provider, Bitcoin Suisse completes its first financing round of $ 48 million (CHF 45 million). The completed Series A financing round now has Bitcoin Suisse’s 2019 pro forma equity totaling around $108 million. The financing round includes 16.4% of shares of BTCS Holding AG, consisting of 6.4% treasury shares and 10% newly issued shares. The authorized capital for the fully subscribed 10% capital increase was created at the extraordinary general assembly on June 30, 2020. Based on terms of the financing deal, Bitcoin Suisse is now valued at approximately $326 million. In a statement, Niklas Nikolajsen, Chairman and Founder of Bitcoin Suisse, states: The Series A fundraising we have concluded today is a milestone in the history of Bitcoin Suisse. The strength of our business model, experience, and the attractiveness of our strategy and business plan have now been validated by the market and by the investors. Nikolajsen also expresses gratitude for the “team which executed this transaction in a very challenging economic environment.” Also weighing is Dr. Arthur Vayloyan, Chief Executive Officer of Bitcoin Suisse. He says the success of the capital raising “confirms our position as a leader.” He adds that this success provides Bitcoin Suisse with the necessary capital base, resources, and strength to “continue pioneering the digital asset sector.” In the meantime, Bitcoin Suisse reveals that Roger Studer, former Head of Investment Banking at Vontobel, joins the Board of Directors. He is also the lead investor in the Series A financing. Giles Keating, who previously served as Global Chief Economist for Investment Banking and Private Banking at Credit Suisse, also becomes a member of the Board of Directors. Founded in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse says it had assets worth one billion dollars in custody in 2019. During the same period revenues of about $ 22.5 million were generated. What do you think about Bitcoin Suisse’s successful completion of Series A financing? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Suisse Completes a $48 Million Series A Financing Round appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A number of Wall Street veterans like Bear Traps Report author, Larry McDonald, think that markets might see some “disastrous and unimaginable” impacts in the near future. Another seasoned analyst, Larry Williams, believes the S&P 500 will shudder after July 28. Despite the pending doom edging toward traditional stock and equities markets, bullish crypto researchers believe the digital currency bitcoin will see the opposite trend going forward. Wall Street Vets Predict Disastrous Market Outlook It’s safe to say that a lot of people are concerned about the global economy and the financial systems leveraged in the country they reside in. This is due to the fact that governments worldwide responded to the Covid-19 outbreak by shutting down a large portion of the economy. Despite the economic downturn, central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve has been on a money creation spree. This has bolstered traditional stock and equities markets, but veteran economists think that this current run can only last so long. At press time, the three top U.S. composite indexes; Nasdaq, Dow Jones, and NYSE, are all down on Friday, alongside big tech stocks too like Apple. People think that stock markets are still not reflective of reality just yet, and a number of analysts believe a hard economic recession is looming in the backdrop. Wall Street veteran Larry McDonald recently explained that government intervention exacerbates the economy and he called monetary interventions a “cobra effect.” “Basic economic assumptions, or structures, will turn out to be much more fluid than policymakers can anticipate. Therefore the results will be disastrous and unimaginable,” McDonald stressed. Inflation expectations chart from Bear Traps Report author Larry McDonald. The “cobra effect” McDonald is talking about refers to a time in India when there were too many venomous cobras in the streets. So back then, the Indian government paid people per cobra if they turned the snakes in to local officials. However, Indian policymakers finally figured out that citizens started breeding cobras for extra income. “We believe we are at the early stage of the biggest cobra effect in the history of economics,” the author of the Bear Traps Report wrote on July 21. “As the massive monetary and massive fiscal stimuli (over $15T globally) conjoin to save the economy from a deflationary depression, they will cause instead a hyperinflationary economic collapse.” McDonald is not the only Wall Street veteran who believes financial markets are headed for disaster. Renowned trading expert Larry Williams has actually predicted an exact date. Williams recently told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the S&P 500 will top in July but at the end of the month, specifically on July 28, the S&P 500 is in for some volatility. Wall Street trading expert Larry Williams expects the S&P500 to slide on July 28, 2020. Cramer explained the recent analysis Williams provided and said he thinks the well known trader might be onto something. “The charts, as interpreted by the legendary Larry Williams, suggest the S&P could climb another 4% or 5% over the next two weeks, but come July 28, he expects the market to start rolling over,” Cramer said on the broadcast “Mad Money.” “Given that the expanded unemployment insurance benefits from Washington expire at the end of the month, well, I wouldn’t be surprised” if he’s right,” Cramer added. Bitcoin Analysts Believe ‘It’s Hard Not to be Bullish Here’ Even though market analysts observing traditional stocks and equities expect an incoming dump, digital currency proponents expect crypto markets to move northbound. An “independent research boutique” that provides institutional investors with insight for today’s markets, Nautilus Research, thinks bitcoin (BTC) looks bullish right now. On July 23, Nautilus Research tweeted a BTC/USD chart that indicates a possible “bullish pattern.” Bullish pattern on Bitcoin chart by Nautilus Research. The same day, the popular Twitter account @thecryptocactus explained to his 14,000 followers that right now it’s difficult to not be bullish. “Hard not to be bullish here, as long as buyers defend this $9,500 level for the rest of the week ahead, I think we will be seeing a retest towards the local highs,” Cactus tweeted. No possible way to see this as bearish right now,” the individual added. A number of other bitcoin proponents are very bullish about bitcoin’s (BTC) price moving northbound in the near future. Investment strategist Lyn Alden recently published a research analysis of bitcoin, in order to explain why she is “currently bullish from a macro/generalist investor perspective, as part of a portfolio.” Although, not everyone is so optimistic and some people believe we might be seeing a bull trap or fakeout. Bitcoin21.org analyst Eran Gadot explained on July 24, that BTC may see some trouble ahead. “Bitcoin broke out of a bullish pennant, but a significant supply barrier ahead of it may present trouble for its uptrend,” Gadot wrote on Friday. What do you think about the bullish optimism bitcoiners have right now as traditional markets may see disaster? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Despite Stock Market Disaster Predictions, Bitcoin Markets Permeate Bullish Signals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Veteran trader Peter Brandt knocked the digital currency XRP on Thursday and compared the crypto token company Ripple to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Brandt said he believes the company behind the coin will double the token supply, and he doesn’t understand why “otherwise smart people” have drank the “XRP-Kool-aide.” A number of digital currency investors believe in XRP, the fourth largest crypto asset by market capitalization, is going to be the bridge between banks and cryptocurrency. A number of other crypto enthusiasts despise XRP and think that the distributed ledger is extremely centralized. Despite the technicals, XRP has a circulating supply of 44 billion tokens each worth $0.20. The token’s value is much higher than the first five years of its existence, when it traded for less than a U.S. penny during much of that period. On July 23, the veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed XRP with a number of digital currency enthusiasts. Brandt is a well known trader who shares financial analysis and charts on Twitter regularly. He’s made a number of predictions and the analyst has over 364,000 Twitter followers today. Many crypto enthusiasts follow Brandt because he’s bullish about ethereum (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC) and on July 8, the veteran trader said there was a “significant breakout in ETH-BTC.” Brandt further noted that “most alts should gain on bitcoin in [the] near future.” Even the founder of Adamant Capital, Tuur Demeester seemed to agree with Brandt’s assessment. The discussion that took place Thursday on Twitter was in regard to the crypto asset XRP, as a person was conversing about the “XRP Army shills” and certain trading techniques. Brandt joined the conversation and his commentary about XRP likened the crypto-asset with the U.S. dollar, and compared the firm Ripple to the U.S. Federal Reserve. “XRP can be compared to the USD,” Brandt tweeted. “The Fed is the USD’s bag holder — they can double the supply if they want.” The financial analyst further wrote: Ripple is XRP’s bag holder — and it WILL double the supply. I cannot believe the number of otherwise smart ppl who have drank XRP Kool-aide. Of course, members of the XRP Army didn’t care for Brandt’s commentary after he knocked the crypto asset and the company Ripple. One person claimed that Brandt’s lack of coding knowledge meant that his opinion should be dismissed. “Do you know anything about code?” asked a Twitter account clearly upset about Brandt’s XRP commentary. “It’s simply not possible. Such a shame that a clueless person has so many followers.” After being harassed by the XRP Army about his recent statements, Brandt further criticized the crypto coin’s followers. “Some things never change — I remember the wrath I received when I said beanie babies, hula hoops, and pet rocks would not become a global asset class. Some neighbors did not speak to me for years,” Brandt responded. The financial analyst continued by tweeting: They get so riled up because deep down inside they know I am right. They are the most rabbis of all cultists. At the time of writing, XRP is swapping for $0.203 per coin and it’s down 1.3% during the last 24 hours of trading. The last 30 days show XRP is up 11.42%, 90 days the token is up 8.6%, but for the year the coin is down 34%. Not too long ago XRP was a strong crypto contender, but ever since tether (USDT) started to shine brightly, the token has lost significant momentum. Tether has surpassed XRP by the size of its market cap and it USDT sees a hell of a lot more settlement these days. What do you think about Peter Brandt comparing XRP to the U.S. dollar and the Fed? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Veteran Analyst Peter Brandt Scorns ‘XRP’s Bag Holder,’ Compares Ripple to the Fed appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While many institutions struggled to recover from the market downturn experienced in March, publicly traded, blockchain focused firm BTCS Inc. (OTCQB: BTCS) has increased its portfolio by 285% in Q2 2020, through well timed investments in both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and crossed the $1 million mark for cryptocurrency asset under management (AUM). Following the positive growth performance seen in Q2 2020, BTCS is reportedly eyeing further growth and systemic diversification of its cryptocurrency holdings. However, BTCS says its investment strategy will only focus on cryptocurrencies which it believes are not securities. Timely Crypto Purchasing Catapults BTCS Portfolio Valuation At the end of June 2020, the BTCS crypto portfolio stood at a total value of $1.02 million with sizeable positions in BTC and ETH. Having elected not to add further investments to its portfolio, BTCS navigated the massive decline in cryptocurrency prices seen in mid-March. With the World Health Organization (WHO) classifying the coronavirus as a pandemic on March 11, panic spread through both the crypto and broader financial space. By the following day, both markets were seeing a cascade of forced selloffs as traders sought liquid cash in preparation for the inevitable lockdowns. By holding off from adding to its crypto investments during the first quarter of 2020, BTCS safeguarded its balance sheet from the decline seen on Black Thursday. Bitcoin fell to $3,867 in a matter of hours as token selloffs triggered forced liquidations across several derivatives exchanges including BitMEX. The entire crypto market capitalization even shrank by about 50%. During Q2 2020, BTCS added 33.7 BTC and 1,319.6 ETH to its crypto holdings. In total, the company’s cryptocurrency exposure rose to 54.3 BTC and 2,304.6 ETH. Since March 12, Bitcoin is up almost 150% with its Q2 performance standing at 50%. In U.S. Dollar (USD) terms, BTCS’ crypto holdings grew, primarily from accumulation, from less than $300 thousand at the end of the first quarter of 2020 to over $1 million by the end of Q2 2020, representing a 285% increase. Portfolio Diversification and other Future Plans Having successfully navigated the pitfalls in the crypto market during the first half of 2020, BTCS is reportedly looking towards expanding its cryptocurrency portfolio. However, given the mixed fortunes of other institutions since the onset of COVID-19, BTCS says it will adopt a carefully measured approach to its portfolio diversification plans. BTCS is also looking to acquire controlling interests in businesses in the blockchain industry. Recent reports by Deloitte and LeadBlock point to increasing enterprise adoption of the novel with over a third of organizations across the world utilizing the emerging technology in their operations. Contact Email Address alexandra@epicmegacorp.com Supporting Link http://btcs.com/index.php 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 BTCS Crypto Portfolio Expands Over 280% in Q2 2020 Amid COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coinbase processed $500,000 in bitcoin payments that aided the dramatic escape of former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn from Japan, according to Bloomberg. In December, two Americans used a box to smuggle Ghosn out of the Asian country, where he was facing criminal charges for embezzlement and financial manipulation. The former executive, who denies any wrongdoing, now lives in Lebanon, which does not have extradition relations with Japan. According to a court filing, the money was allegedly sent via the U.S. crypto exchange over a four-month period by Ghosn’s son, Anthony, to an accomplice named Peter Taylor. In total, Taylor pocketed $1.36 million. He had earlier received $862,500 in a separate transfer, wired by Carlos himself, the July 22 filing states. Taylor worked with his father, Michael, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, to help Ghosn escape in what is thought to be a musical instrument box, and into private jet, to avoid facing financial charges. The Taylors’ are now seeking to be released on bail following their arrest in May, at Japan’s request. U.S. prosecutors opposed bail, saying the duo was a security flight risk, especially now that they “have access to Ghosn’s vast resources with which to flee.” Ghosn has promised to assist the people that helped him during his trying times in Japan, according to a recent TV interview, Reuters reported. Coinbase, which is eyeing a U.S. stock market listing this year, courted controversy recently with its cosing up to law enforcement – something that bitcoin fundamentalists may consider a betrayal of the top crypto’s foundational principles. The exchange has revealed that it is selling a blockchain tool that provides law enforcement agencies – the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – with superior analytical capabilities. What do you think about Coinbase processing the Ghosn transfers? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Coinbase Processed $500,000 in Bitcoin Payments That Helped Ex-Nissan Chairman Flee Japan appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency related scams have taken a total of $381 million from victims so far this year. This figure makes crypto scams the largest category of cryptocurrency-related crimes so far in 2020. Chainalysis data still shows current figures are well below those seen in 2019. In 2019, scams accounted for 74% of crypto-related crimes. The current 2020 drop in value of crypto scams is attributed to the absence of a major scam like the Plustoken Ponzi scheme. Crucially, Chainaylsis’ data also shows that the share of cryptocurrency-related crimes to overall crypto activity remains well below 1%.Still, the blockchain analytics firm cautions that current figures are only preliminary. The final figure might grow as more previously unreported scams are uncovered. Meanwhile, in its comments on the 15 July Twitter hack, Chainalysis notes that the “scam perpetrated by the hackers isn’t new either.” The impersonation of a notable person or company on social media and the imploring of users to send them cryptocurrency in return for more later has been going on for years. Pointing to data compiled by Cryptoscamdb—an open-source database—Chainalysis shows that this type of scam (or trust trading as it is called) accounts for about 71% of all crypto scams reported since June 2018. Chainalysis also reveals that Twitter hackers “took in 13.14 BTC worth approximately $120,000 over the course of the afternoon.” The analytics firm has identified three main addresses used by scammers but it notes “most of the stolen funds were (subsequently) consolidated in the bitcoin wallet address” which it terms the scam cash-out address. Of the approximately 21 BTC deposited to the scam cash-out address over the lifetime of that wallet, “as of 4:30 PM ET July 22, 2020, roughly 9 BTC is sitting in 23 wallets, 8 BTC has been sent to mixing services like Wasabi Wallet, and 4 BTC has been sent to other entities.” Nevertheless, Chainalysis refuses to divulge more details fearing this might jeopardize ongoing investigations. Meanwhile, a whale alert post on Twitter 23 July reports “a payment of 1.8526 BTC (17589 USD) was made to a confirmed fake giveaway scam!” In the same blog post, Chainalysis also asserts the importance of blockchain analysis. It argues that the visibility into fund movement enabled by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin makes them a safer, more transparent asset than cash and other traditional forms of value transfer. Can law enforcement agencies catch crypto criminals using blockchain analysis tools? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Crypto Scammers Steal $381 Million in 2020, While Twitter Hackers Direct Funds to Mixers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The pNetwork, the decentralised ecosystem backing the cross-chain pTokens solution, has announced the launch of its yield farming programme, Steroids. The programme will run for a period of one month and will award Uniswap liquidity providers with up to 10% monthly interest, distributed in pNetwork Token (PNT). Designed to onboard new users, increase liquidity and boost adoption of the entire pNetwork ecosystem, Steroids will go live later this month to coincide with the launch of the pNetwork DAO. The pTokens solution enables the free movement of crypto assets across a variety of blockchain networks. As the project works towards its progressive decentralisation roadmap, the pNetwork DAO will be introduced as a way to start decentralising the system’s infrastructure, and to encourage community participation. As an initial incentive for boosting engagement, a 42% APR reward is granted to DAO members who actively contribute to its governance. This new Steroids yield farming initiative will be introduced to bring even further benefits to the entire ecosystem. Yield farming could be defined as any kind of effort which puts crypto assets to work to generate returns on those assets. This strategy has resulted in Ampleforth’s Geyser achieving the biggest pool on Uniswap (ETH<>AMPL), which today holds more than $25 million in liquidity. Similarly, the Steroids programme incentivises users to add liquidity to Uniswap’s pool for PNT, the first token to go on Steroids, as well as multiple pTokenised assets in future. Up to 200,000 PNT tokens are dedicated to the interest rewards. The more liquidity users provide, and the longer it is staked for, the higher the reward is. All PNT token holders can receive rewards by adding liquidity to the Uniswap V2 PNT/USDT liquidity pool. By providing this liquidity, token holders will receive “UniV2” pool tokens in return, which act as a receipt for one’s contribution and represents their share within the liquidity pool. Holders will receive up to 10% monthly interest as a reward. Users can increase their earning potential based on how much, and for how long they supply liquidity for. The more contributed, the greater the share of the PNT pool received. Additionally, Steroids functions as an app within the pNetwork DAO. This component enables the UniV2 PNT/USDT pool tokens to be staked directly within the DAO. This makes it possible to combine both Steroids rewards with pNetwork DAO voting rights, which unlocks 42% APR rewards. The Steroids programme provides scalable infrastructure for managing a variety of yield farming initiatives hosted within the pNetwork ecosystem. PNT on Steroids is the first attempt to boost adoption and encourage healthy growth for the project, an experiment that forms the basis for other well-balanced initiatives in the future. The project is familiar with such approaches, having launched limited, one-off staking programmes in the past. Thanks to these initiatives, the project was able to design an effective staking programme for the pNetwork DAO, which is much larger in scope. The DAO will kick off next week with 29 Million PNT tokens already at stake within the system, accounting for approximately 50% of the total supply. Contact Email Address hello@p.network Supporting Link https://p.network/ 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 pNetwork Launches Yield Farming Programme, Steroids appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

NBA player Spencer Dinwiddie has finished the token sale of his contract that is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. The sale of Dinwiddie’s tokenized contract raised $1.3 million which was only a tenth of what the project hoped to sell ($13.5 million). Even though the Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie put a lot of energy into getting his NBA contract tokenized, the basketball player only got 10% of what they hoped to raise. Essentially, Dinwiddie’s NBA contract was tokenized by leveraging Dream Fan Shares (DFS), a system built on Ethereum that claims to “empower athletes, artists, and influencers to take control of their financial destiny by structuring debt securities.” Regulatory filings show the team hoped to sell Spencer Dinwiddie’s contract for $13.5 million worth of 90 available tokenized contract shares. However, the token sale only sold eight token SD26 shares worth $150,000 which created the $1.3 million raise. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s token contract called SD26 on Etherscan. Dinwiddie is a fairly popular player and told the public he would tokenize his contract in 2019 but the NBA threatened to end his contract. The Brooklyn Nets point guard continued to forward the project and DFS invoked the token sale this year. The 27-year old Dinwiddie is also well known for recently testing positive for Covid-19 and at the beginning of the year he changed his jersey number. The NBA approved the player’s request to change his jersey number from 8 to 26 in order to honor the now deceased Kobe Bryant. Despite the basketball player’s notoriety, Dinwiddie’s SD26 shares had an extremely lackluster sale compared to other initial coin offerings (ICO). Dinwiddie’s token sale pales in comparison to the $42 million the Avalanche team raised in 4.5 hours just a few days ago. The DFS website notes that “[token] Investments on Dream Fan Shares are illiquid and loss of invested capital is possible.” The startup has three types of offerings and Dinwiddie’s SD26 represents the “athlete” type of shares. DFS has other tokens coming soon the website highlights which includes the “artist” and the “influencer.” “Conceptualized by professional athlete Spencer Dinwiddie in coordination, with some of the world’s leading blockchain advisors and firms, DFS leverages highly secure contracts and the potential for performance-based bonuses and other contingent bonuses to structure debt securities,” the DFS website notes. What do you think about athletes, artists, and influencers tokenizing themselves like the NBA point guard Spencer Dinwiddie? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post NBA Point Guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s Tokenized Contract Raises $1.3 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Russian lawmakers have passed a bill that gives legal status to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin – but bans them from being used to pay for goods and services. Legislators approved the Digital Financial Assets (DFA) bill on July 22 after its third and final reading. It had already won backing from senior lawmakers like Anatoly Aksakov, who heads parliament’s financial markets committee. The new law recognizes digital assets “as an aggregate of electronic data capable of being accepted as the payment means… [but] cannot be used at the same time to pay for any goods and services,” according to a report by news agency Tass. Russians retain the legal right to buy and hold bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets as an investment, but there’s a catch. “Possession of digital currency, its acquisition and transfer by legal means are allowed only if declared,” the law demands. Per the Tass report, Russia’s central bank will assume an important role in the regulation of virtual currencies. “The central bank will have the right to determine features of digital assets accessible by qualified investors only,” the news agency reported. Furthermore, virtual currencies “can be issued, purchased and sold and registered within the framework of special information systems” and “systems and their operators shall conform to Russian laws and stand filed in a relevant register kept by the Bank of Russia.” In a country where BTC is held with so much skepticism, the approved bill on digital assets represents a significantly watered down version of the original. An earlier version of the law proposed to levy fines of up to $7,000 or seven years in jail for individuals buying bitcoin with cash. It also planned to punish companies that issue or operate virtual currencies without approval from the Russian central bank, with fines of up to two million rubles or about $28,000. What do you think about the new Russian cryptocurrency law? Let us know in the comments section below. The post New Russian Law Bans Bitcoin Payments for Goods and Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article