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Derivatives trading is one way of generating huge profits in a very short time. This raises the question: How can you learn it at no cost? CoinDeal will allow you to test derivatives for free. This is a unique opportunity to try your hand at margin trading. At first, CoinDeal will launch a DEMO version and after a month of learning the official CoinDeal Derivatives, the platform will be available for every CoinDeal user. This is just the beginning… So let’s move to the point! In order to appreciate the efforts and willingness to learn, the exchange guarantees prizes worth over 2500 euros for the best traders. Among the prizes are: iPhone SE, iPad mini, Apple Watch, JBL Flip 4, and many others. The whole action will be split into two parts. The first part of the competition will take place before the start of the DEMO version will last from now to 7 July 2020. At this stage, you will only need your email address and sign up with this email for the waiting list. Then to raise your chances of winning prizes you need to recommend signing up to your friends. This way, in addition to inviting them to the whole action, for each invited person you get points, which are counted in the ranking and give you a better chance to win prizes. The more points you have, the more likely it is that the prizes will go to you. You will have a direct opportunity to check the ranking here. Every person on the waiting list will receive an instruction to register for the DEMO CoinDeal Derivatives platform and a reminder of the start of the next stage. The second part of the competition starts at the start of the DEMO version after the first stage and will last until 8 August 2020. Here the profit generated from trading in derivatives will count. Each user of the DEMO version will receive a pool of free cryptocurrencies for the start, with which he will be able to start trading. More information about the second part of the competition will be visible in time on CoinDeal social media channels. Each participant has exactly the same chances to win prizes. The prizes for the first and second parts of the competition are separate. The number of invited people in the first part does not affect your chances in the second part of the game. You can read all the regulations on the Derivatives page. Contact Email Address zuzanna.bocian@coindeal.com Supporting Link https://bit.ly/3hmysSs 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 2 in 1 – Learn How to Trade on Derivatives for Free and Win Apple Prizes From CoinDeal Derivatives appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There has been some confusion over whether India will ban cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, following recent reports of a note being circulated by the government. News.Bitcoin.com interviewed executives of five cryptocurrency exchange platforms in India to find out the truth about the news. Indian Crypto Ban: What’s Likely? Talks of the Indian government banning cryptocurrency have resurfaced following a report by the Economic Times of a note being circulated by the finance ministry regarding a crypto ban. However, the report is unverified and the news outlet only cited an unnamed government official as the source of the news. Nonetheless, it has many people associate the note with the draft bill submitted to the ministry last year by an interministerial committee that proposes a ban on cryptocurrency. Unocoin CEO Sathvik Vishwanath explained to news.Bitcoin.com on Tuesday that “The movement of the note is the procedural next step after the committee has submitted the report mid last year.” Emphasizing that “This is also the needed step towards regulation for crypto in India,” he said: A blanket ban is unlikely … Given that the supreme court did hear all aspects of crypto within India and abroad and have taken a stance to support the industry, the old report may be considered outdated. From the information that we have, the industry players will be invited to intervene while forming the regulation for crypto. Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty strongly believes that the Indian government will not ban cryptocurrency. He told news.Bitcoin.com Tuesday: “I’m positive that India will not take a regressive stance on crypto by putting a blanket ban. When it comes to regulation, I’m sure that India will follow the footsteps of developed countries like Japan, USA, UK, Australia, and more which have embraced crypto.” Pointing out that “the news which is based on a note does not clarify whether the finance ministry intends to work upon the old draconian crypto bill or whether they plan to work on bringing a new bill,” he affirmed: “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about the note as of now.” Another Indian crypto exchange’s CEO, Shivam Thakral of Buyucoin, also does not think the Indian government will take the approach of banning cryptocurrency. “I personally think that the Indian government would come out with certain crypto pro regulations very soon, they won’t ban cryptocurrency since India … is a part of G-20 [which] recommended its members to adopt FATF rules to regulate cryptocurrencies,” he told our newsdesk. Giottus cofounder Arjun Vijay also shared with news.Bitcoin.com: India generally looks for a precedent when it comes to creating complex laws. With none of the developed economies having banned cryptocurrencies, it is going to be very difficult for Indian government to roll out a feasible plan for banning cryptocurrencies completely. Discussing the likelihood of a crypto ban in India, Vijay stated that the government is faced with two major issues. Firstly, “If India bans crypto, they need to be able to enforce the ban,” he remarked. “Because of the nature of the product, it would be very difficult for our government to track cryptocurrency holders and implement the ban. On the other hand, a regulation will grant them access to data with which they can efficiently govern/track/tax the cryptocurrency usage.” Secondly, he noted that “If India bans crypto, but crypto becomes mainstream, [India will be] missing out on millions of dollars of revenue and job creation opportunities.” Coinswitch Chief Business Officer Sharan Nair reiterated to news.Bitcoin.com that “The news of a possible crypto ban in India is not a new development. This bill was proposed a year and a half back.” He opined: “What needs to be considered is that a lot of positive developments have happened in the Indian crypto space since then, namely the supreme court lifting the banking ban on crypto and multiple Indian crypto companies raising funds and ever-growing customer enthusiasm. We are hopeful that the authorised bodies would consult all stakeholders in this matter before coming to a decision.” In March, the Indian supreme court quashed the banking ban by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), after many hearings. The RBI subsequently confirmed in a response to a Right to Information (RTI) application by Unocoin cofounder B.V. Harish that there is no ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, businesses, or traders in India. The Indian government and the central bank have independently indicated that cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is legal in India. How Are Indians Reacting to the Crypto Ban Rumor? The five exchange executives also shared with news.Bitcoin.com how Indians are reacting to reports of the possible ban on cryptocurrency and whether they are seeing any change in trading behavior on their platforms. “There have been speculations about crypto ban in the past as well. There are more than 5 million crypto users in India, and I’m confident that our prime minister won’t let us down,” Wazirx’s CEO stressed, elaborating: The day the news broke out created a mild panic among the community. However, we have not seen any difference in the trading behaviour on Wazirx since then. Unocoin also has not seen any changes in trading activities on its platform. “We have not seen any change in the trading behavior but our customer care has received numerous calls asking our comments about the article. We continue to monitor the user activity on the platform since the news broke and now it is already a few days, it is unlikely to cause any noticeable change henceforth,” the CEO told news.Bitcoin.com. The impact is also minimal at Coinswitch and Buyucoin. “We haven’t seen any changes in the trading behavior as such but there has been a lot of queries. Users want to know what will be the future course of action for them and for us as an exchange,” Coinswitch’s executive revealed. “We didn’t see any impact of that news in the trading behavior and people on our platform are trading as usual also it was unverified news as the source was not identified and hence people didn’t take it seriously as similar news were out in the past,” Buyucoin’s CEO detailed. Giottus’ cofounder expressed: Similar news has come multiple times in the last four years, but nothing concrete has followed. “So old hands are unfazed with this news and it has been business as usual for them,” the Giottus executive clarified. “For the new users, they are having some doubts regarding this proposal and we had to educate them on how the concept is still in its early stage and there is a long way ahead for this internal cabinet note to be converted into a bill. And in these tough times, the customers also understand that the government has other priorities.” Effects a Crypto Ban Will Have on India The exchange executives further shared their thoughts with news.Bitcoin.com on how a ban on cryptocurrency would affect India. Wazirx’s CEO asserted: We’re in the middle of an economic meltdown, and millions of people have lost their jobs due to covid-19. Crypto is one of the very few sectors that is hiring today. It’s in India’s best interest to encourage such a fast growing sector. A ban would lead to projects and talent to move out of India, and affect the economy adversely. He additionally described: “It will also discourage venture capitalists to invest in Indian startups. We don’t want that. Wazirx and Binance have a $50M fund exclusively to invest in Indian blockchain and crypto ecosystem. There will be many more funds that will be launched for crypto ecosystem in India. I’m sure our government wouldn’t want to lose out on such large capital investments in the country.” Buyucoin’s CEO concurred, noting that “crypto adoption in India is increasing at a rapid pace, so banning it would be a complete loss of control over cryptocurrency-related activities and other monetary benefits Indian government could get.” Unocoin’s CEO chimed in: “I would consider it to be very inefficient. Presently the significant crypto activity is happening through exchanges and every exchange is doing their KYC and AML checks which are forming anchor points on the blockchain. Crypto ban would push all activities underground. It would be like punishing the legitimate business and industry for being afraid of the bad actors.” Coinswitch’s executive foresees a “drastic” effect. In his opinion, “Many companies will either shut shop or move to other countries with crypto-friendly laws. The whole innovation around public blockchain infra in India will come to a standstill. It will also have a futuristic impact on the global crypto/blockchain industry as India is an important market.” Giottus’ cofounder outlined the effects of a crypto ban in some detail. “We see India losing out on multiple fronts if a ban is ultimately enforced in India,” he began. Firstly, he expects that “Some of the users will leave crypto forever, while some will continue trading in cash and become untraceable. This will lead to a parallel economy being created that is unregulated. Because of the very nature of crypto, it would be a big headache for law enforcement authorities to track and trade these activities.” Secondly, he emphasized that “Indians will miss out on the biggest investment opportunity of this century, if bitcoin continues to do what it has been doing so far.” Moreover, he pointed out that “India is one of the major exporters of software services and this forms one of the biggest contributors of foreign exchange and tax revenue for the country. If crypto/dapps were to become mainstream, Indians will be missing out on a huge opportunity in terms of job creation and revenue.” What do you think the Indian government will do about crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Will India Ban Crypto? 5 Exchange Executives Shed Light on the Truth appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last three months, the U.S. Federal Reserve has created a system of monetary avarice, as the central bank can literally do whatever it wants with zero oversight. The American public recently witnessed the Fed’s announcement on Monday, which explained the central bank will be buying individual corporate bonds on a regular basis. Moreover, the Fed’s insidious stimulus and monetary easing will not be ending any time soon. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that America’s economic recovery requires the virus “being under control.” The Fed Announces Individual Corporate Bond Purchases Via the Corporate Credit Facility Using the coronavirus as an excuse to cunningly hide the fact that the Federal Reserve’s monetary schemes were imploding months before the first U.S. Covid-19 death, has worked out well for the central bank. After the creation of trillions of dollars that went into the hands of today’s top financial incumbents, and only a small fraction of that money distributed to American citizens and small businesses, the Fed continues its schemes. On June 15, 2020, the U.S. central bank told the public that it would start buying individual corporate bonds. This was after the Fed had already started purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It doesn’t matter if the products being purchased are considered “junk bonds” or “junk indexes” or if the corporation made severe mistakes. The Fed has the ability to bail out any failing corporatist or any corporation on a whim. The announcement is part of an effort that allows the Fed to make massive purchases via the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. Under the new provisions, the Fed can purchase roughly $250 billion in corporate debt from eligible issuers. Additionally, the Fed has been granted the ability to siphon around $25 billion from the Treasury, funds that were issued in the recent CARES Act. The senior macroeconomist at the firm MacKay Shields, Steven Friedman, called the move a far less “passive approach” on the Fed’s behalf. “The decision to buy a broad portfolio of corporate bonds represents a shift to a more active strategy for the secondary market corporate credit facility, rather than the passive approach originally envisioned,” said Friedman. “[An aggressive individual bond-buying scheme] may also reflect the Committee’s view that the economic recovery from the ongoing Covid-19 crisis will be an extended and challenging one, with credit markets requiring extensive support,” Friedman conceded. Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says a ‘Full Economic US Recovery’ Won’t be in the Cards Until Covid-19 Subsides Additionally, the Fed also launched the “Mainstreet Lending Program” on Monday as well. This scheme was created so financial incumbents can offer loans to “small and medium-sized companies” that meet the lender registration criteria. The Boston branch of the Fed will be the main purchaser of these types of loans, and it will allow purchases of up to 95% of the Mainstreet Lending Program’s debts. Of course, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is blaming all the Fed’s current schemes on Covid-19. “Until the public is confident that the disease is contained, a full recovery is unlikely,” Powell recently explained in a testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. “The longer the downturn lasts, the greater the potential for longer-term damage from permanent job loss and business closures,” Powell further stressed. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. 10 Out of 11 Financial Bailout Programs Feed Wall Street Most of the mainstream media outlets have been brushing the Fed’s moves under the rug or simply leveraging Covid-19 as an excuse for the massive bailouts. However, Pam Martens and Russ Martens from the publication, “Wall Street on Parade,” have been diligently exposing the Fed’s manipulation and fraud for years. Source: Fed and Pam Martens and Russ Martens. On June 10, the duo revealed how the “Federal Reserve had authorized 11 financial bailout programs thus far.” Continuing the Martens added: “Despite Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reassurances at his press conferences that these programs are to help American families, a full 10 of these programs are actually bailouts of Wall Street banks or their trading units.” Report Shows Fed Repo Loans Skyrocket by 230% Week Over Week Moreover, the massive quantitive easing (QE) tactics have been limitless as the Martens have reported to the nation’s public that the “Fed’s repo loans to Wall Street skyrocketed by 230% week over week.” Source: Fed and Pam Martens and Russ Martens. None of these dollars are funneling or ‘trickling down’ to the common American, and 95% of the funds are given to private banks and corporate friends. “Between Monday and Friday of last week, the Fed made $304.20 billion in repo loans to Wall Street’s trading houses,” the Martens revealed. “That was 230 percent of what it made the week before and 700 percent of what it loaned the week before that.” The Wall Street on Parade duo added: This would suggest that the liquidity crisis is heating up and/or that it’s taking ever larger amounts to levitate the stock market as sellers come back in. The Fed’s Limitless Monetary Easing Program Strengthens the Gravitational Pull Toward Unmanipulated Crypto-Assets Like Bitcoin The Fed’s moves have invoked a new spirit toward precious metals like gold and digital assets like bitcoin. Simon Peters, a market analyst from Etoro believes that the Fed’s recent moves during the last few weeks have primed bitcoin as “an inflationary hedge.” “The fundamental case for bitcoin continues to improve,” Peters said in a note to investors on June 15, 2020. “In its meeting last week, the Fed indicated continued stimulus and gave a dreary outlook for the U.S., and, by extension, the global economy. All of this is against a backdrop of what was a rapidly rising market that seemed to be defying logic,” Peters said. “Much of the growth we’ve seen recently has been driven by a small number of firms, such as the FAANG stocks, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google, which make up massive percentages of the U.S. indices. However, this rally seems to have run out of steam, as investors realise that the worst of the pandemic isn’t over yet and consumers aren’t returning to spending in droves.” Peters continued by adding: Combine the overvalued stock markets with central bankers’ persistence in quantitative easing and fiscal stimulus and the potential for the developed markets to enter an inflationary environment is very much on the cards. Bitcoin was designed as an inflationary hedge and if we’re moving towards this new normal of high inflation, this could be the spark we are looking for. What do you think about the Fed’s moves to purchase individual corporate bonds? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Limitless Bailouts: US Federal Reserve Announces Billion-Dollar Corporate Bond Purchase Program appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The CEO of Panda Group and the founder of Colombia’s Panda Exchange and physical Panda BTM terminals, Arley Lozano, recently revealed a new product called app.pandabtm.io. The new service is a virtual automated teller machine that dispenses four types of cryptocurrencies; bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin (BTC), DAI, and dash (DASH). The latest effort from Panda Group is virtual Panda BTM, a “low-cost service for Colombians” looking to purchase four different cryptocurrencies. The platform accepts various Colombian payment methods like Baloto, Efecty, and PSE. Alongside this, users can pay the invoice with another cryptocurrency. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with the CEO of Panda Group, Arley Lozano, who told our newsdesk about the new virtual Panda BTM. The company Panda Group is a well known Colombian-based crypto firm with a variety of services like Panda Exchange and the physical Panda BTM terminals. app.pandabtm.io Lozano and his team’s Panda BTM machines are located in numerous areas throughout Colombia and Venezuela. The devices allow merchants to accept digital currencies for every point-of-sale and the machines also act as a BTM. The latest virtual offering offers sales in bitcoin cash (BCH), dash (DASH), bitcoin (BTC), and the stablecoin DAI. Lozano explained that there’s also a Telegram and Whatsapp bot for the Panda BTM as well. The step-by-step virtual Panda BTM process. Essentially, the service allows Colombians to purchase these crypto-assets in less than a few minutes. The application does ask for basic identification information during checkout. Prior to purchase users will need to provide a public cryptocurrency address for receiving as well. The step-by-step virtual Panda BTM process. Panda BTM also has a Whatsapp and Telegram bot. Just like Venezuela, crypto-asset demand in Colombia has been feverish during the last three months. The economy has been dealing with the response to the Covid-19 outbreak and Colombia’s central bank recently cut rates to a historic 2.75% low. Economists believe Colombia’s central bank will cut the benchmark rate even lower going forward. Two weeks ago the national government, Colombia’s central bank, and the finance ministry’s treasury department swapped 2 trillion pesos ($510 million). The Colombian government and central bank have been playing ping pong with trillions worth of swaps. So far the government and central bank have gathered 7 trillion pesos to-date in swap transactions. Just like most of the citizenry from countries around the world, Colombians are looking to escape the monetary schemes created by the central bank. Cryptocurrencies are widely known in South America for helping individuals remove themselves from hyperinflation. Statistics from Coin Dance and other trade volume data sites show that peer-to-peer bitcoin trade volumes in Colombia have been through the roof. Panda Group’s latest Panda BTM will add even more crypto-accessibility for Colombia’s residents, Lozano stressed. What do you think about the virtual Panda BTM? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Virtual Panda BTM Launched for Colombian Residents: Dispenses BTC, BCH, DAI, and Dash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A possible Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Criminal mastermind Paul Le Roux told the judge that upon his release he plans to “start a business selling and hosting bitcoin miners,” claiming that his ASIC chip design will “have an order of magnitude faster at bitcoin mining than any current design.” Satoshi Candidate to Start Bitcoin Business Paul Le Roux, a criminal mastermind whose biography made him a possible candidate for Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the Bitcoin creator, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by Manhattan Federal Judge Ronnie Abrams. Having been in U.S. custody for almost eight years, he pleaded “guilty to crimes ranging from methamphetamine trafficking to selling weapons technology to Iran,” Wired described, adding that he “will be credited with his seven-plus years in custody.” “The scope and severity of Mr. Le Roux’s criminal conduct is nothing short of breathtaking. I have before me a man who has engaged in conduct in keeping with the villain in a James Bond movie,” Judge Abrahms said. In a letter sent to the judge prior to his sentencing, Le Roux revealed his future plans. “If I am released by this court, and by the court in the Philippines,” he informed the judge: I plan to start a business selling and hosting bitcoin miners. Paul Le Roux and his first known passport. Image courtesy of The Australian. He added: “I have a custom design for an ASIC chip that utilizes special opitimizations in the underlying computer code or algorithm known as (‘SHA’). I obtained this knowledge about the mathematical properties of SHA, while working as a contract programmer at GCHQ in London in the early 2000’s.” Le Roux continued: These optimizations have allowed me to create an ASIC chip design, and therefore ASIC miners, that have an order of magnitude faster at bitcoin mining than any current design, to this end I plan to pub my knowledge and skills to a better and legal use. The criminal mastermind was born on Dec. 24, 1972, in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, but was raised in South Africa. With minimal formal education, he dedicated himself to studying computer programming and electronic integrated circuit design (chip design), his letter to the judge explains. He added that as a contract programmer for GCHQ, the U.K. equivalent of the NSA, he assisted law enforcement in creating tools and disk encryption products to help the police and field agents secure their files and computers. He designed disk encryption software called Encryption for the Masses (E4M); its code formed the foundation for Truecrypt, one of the most secure and widely used encryption programs until it was abandoned by it anonymous creators it in 2014. The book entitled “The Mastermind” details that “Le Roux’s career was marked by technical brilliance and almost surreal levels of criminality,” author Evan Ratliff commented. “In approximately 2004, I started a criminal U.S. online pharmacy business Rx Limited, and that is what brought me to the attention of federal agents,” Le Roux wrote. He was arrested in a sting operation orchestrated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2012. His online pharmacy was “a global criminal empire, trafficking in drugs, arms, and violence,” Wired described. “As part of his cooperation agreement, Le Roux admitted to ordering at least seven murders in the Philippines, including the kidnap and execution of a real estate agent named Catherine Lee,” the publication noted. Upon his release, he is expected to be deported to the Philippines, where he faces charges related to an arms shipment intercepted by the government in 2009. Would you buy bitcoin mining rigs from this ‘Satoshi’? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Satoshi Nakamoto Candidate Paul Le Roux to Start Bitcoin Mining Business After Prison Time appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Ethermine will now proceed to distribute its $2.6 million bonanza from a series of bizarre ethereum transactions last week after the fund’s owner failed to make a valid claim. On June 11, the miner, a unit of Bitfly, received the record fee in a transaction involving just 350 ether (ETH), or $86,000. It was the second such fee paid by the same person to transfer a small amount of ETH in as many days. After freezing payment for some days, Ethermine has exhausted its patience. The mining pool will now share the $2.6 million among the different miners under its wing as a reward for processing the transaction. “As the sender of the transaction … has not contacted us after four days [we] have made the final decision to distribute the tx fee to the miners of our pool,” Bitfly tweeted on June 15. “Given the amount involved we believe four days is sufficient time for the sender to get in touch with us,” it added. Several pretenders have come forward to claim ownership of the transaction, but none fit the bill. They all failed “to produce a valid signature of the sending account,” said the company. According to Bitfly, the money will be distributed as per a miner’s hashrate “snapshot we took at the time block 10241999 was mined by our Ethermine pool.” Miners can expect to receive up to five days of fees from just this one $2.6 million transaction. On Twitter, some people protested that four days was too short a period to wait, encouraging a longer timeframe, perhaps a month, to give the owner sufficient time to make a claim. But the ethereum miner dug its heels in, declaring never to repeat such favors in future. Bitfly thundered: We are a mining pool and not an arbiter of the ETH network. In order to avoid such discussions in the future, we will be immediately distributing any block reward independent of its size. Sparkpool received the first $2.6 million on a $134 transfer. The mining pool stated at the time of the transaction that it was investigating the matter, promising “a solution in the end.” It is not yet clear if a “solution” has been found, or that, like Ethermine, Sparkpool will also pocket the fees. The Chinese miner has, however, previously repaid a user half of the 2,100 ETH accidentally paid as fees in a 0.1 ether transfer. Information emerged late last week that the two record-fee transactions may have been the work of hackers blackmailing an exchange. What do you think about Ethermine’s decision to pocket the high ETH fees? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Ethermine Mining Pool Cashes in Its $2.6 Million Ethereum Fee Windfall appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few months in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak and faltering global economy, many individuals have shown an interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, oftentimes people can find the process a bit daunting because they are not used to using crypto assets and have never experienced the process. The following article is a quick guide on how to get a cryptocurrency address, receive digital assets, and send them as well. Creating a Bitcoin Cash Wallet and Obtaining a Receiving Address Amid the crazy economy, a lot of people have noticed a number of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and bitcoin cash (BCH) have done far better performance-wise than a majority of stocks, bonds, and commodity assets worldwide. For instance, the crypto asset bitcoin cash (BCH) dropped to a low of $150 per unit on March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday.’ The price of bitcoin cash has gained 60.66% since then at today’s BCH price of roughly $241 per BCH. At a price of $9,453 per unit, Bitcoin (BTC) has gained 162% since March 12, when it traded for $3,600 for a brief period that day. In order to get started with cryptocurrencies like BCH, BTC, and SLP tokens, download the Bitcoin.com Wallet today. Besides the price rises, many people are beginning to understand the importance of a censorship-resistant and permissionless, electronic peer-to-peer cash. However, many people get frustrated when they try and learn the process of obtaining a crypto address, receiving digital currencies, and sending them to people after learning to store them in a wallet. In this article, you will learn the basics of all three of those tasks by leveraging a noncustodial Bitcoin.com Wallet and some practice. Want to store BCH, BTC, and SLP tokens, as well as sending and receiving them, download the Bitcoin.com Wallet today. In order to get a cryptocurrency address, you need a wallet. Basically crypto wallets are software applications that allow you to send, receive, and store digital currencies on a mobile phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop computer. The Bitcoin.com Wallet allows people to use bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin (BTC), and crypto tokens built using the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP). For today’s testing, we are only focusing on the cryptocurrency bitcoin cash with the ticker symbol BCH. The Bitcoin.com Wallet is noncustodial, which means the company has zero access to the funds and you are 100% in control of the storage. This means when you create a wallet, you need to back it up immediately using the twelve-word mnemonic phrase. Generating an Alphanumeric Address and Receiving Crypto Assets: QR Code or Copy & Paste Once you have created a Bitcoin.com Wallet on one of your devices, the process of storing, sending, and receiving is very simple. All you need to do to obtain a bitcoin cash (BCH) address via the Bitcoin.com Wallet is by simply pressing “receive.” You need to choose what wallet you will be receiving to and in this example, it would be bitcoin cash (BCH). After selecting BCH, the wallet will generate an alphanumeric address that allows you to accept BCH to that specific address. Receiving bitcoin cash is easy with the Bitcoin.com Wallet, by either sending a QR code or copying a bitcoin cash (BCH) address and sending it to another individual. With a crypto wallet, most applications allow you to change the address after every transaction. Leveraging a different address for every transaction improves privacy. There are two ways to copy the address. One way is giving someone a copy or picture of the QR code, and a person with a QR code reader tied to their bitcoin cash wallet will be able to scan the code. The second way is by copying and pasting the BCH address by copying it to your device’s clipboard and sending it to another person. With this address, any person from anywhere around the world can send you bitcoin cash. Sending Bitcoin Cash by Scanning a QR Code or Copying an Address to a Device Clipboard and Pasting It Into the Wallet’s Sending Screen Once someone has sent you some bitcoin cash, you then have the ability to send it all to another address or send it in fractions to various individual addresses. To send someone some BCH, simply launch the Bitcoin.com Wallet and select the “send” button. This will direct you to a screen that allows you two options; either copy and paste the recipient’s wallet address into the address box or you can select “scan QR code.” Sending BCH is just as simple. Just scan a QR code that’s tethered to a public BCH address or copy and paste an address that someone sent you in alphanumeric form. After one of those two options has been completed, you need to choose a wallet that holds your unspent bitcoin cash (BCH) and enter the amount you wish to send to the individual. After selecting the number of funds you want to send, simply press the “next” button. There will be a confirmation screen that shows you all the details of your transaction and if you are happy with the details, simply “slide to send” to deliver the transaction. Alternatively, you can also send money from one wallet to another wallet within your device’s application. Scanning a QR code. Practice Makes Perfect Obtaining a cryptocurrency address is very easy once you download a wallet, and most wallets follow the same standards when it comes to getting an address and the sending and receiving processes. There are many wallets that allow people to store cryptocurrencies in a noncustodial fashion. The difference between an Ethereum (ETH – Top gray box) address and a Bitcoin Cash (BCH – Bottom white box) address. The sending and receiving process is relatively the same. Also if it is a different cryptocurrency, obtaining an address and sending and receiving an address is pretty much the same process. The biggest difference is, each cryptocurrency has an alphanumeric string, but they look different in the beginning of the address. For instance, bitcoin cash (BCH) addresses look different than ethereum (ETH) addresses, but the process of sending and receiving is the same. After doing these steps a few times, you should easily get the hang of obtaining a crypto address, and using a wallet to send and receive digital currencies. When practicing, try sending small fractions of a cryptocurrency like bitcoin cash (BCH) in order to feel more comfortable with the processes. A great number of crypto assets have a network fee associated with sending a cryptocurrency, and bitcoin cash (BCH) fees are always less than a U.S. penny per transaction. On the BTC and ETH networks, fees could be higher than you realize, and you may have to adjust a transaction accordingly. Besides fees, doing this step-by-step process regularly with even just a few dollars in bitcoin cash, will turn you into a well-seasoned machine in no time. Also, check out the video below to get a visual presentation of these processes as well. What do you think about the step-by-step process of obtaining an address and sending and receiving cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments below. The post Crypto 101: How to Send and Receive Bitcoin Cash Via the Bitcoin.com Wallet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Following reports that Chinese authorities are freezing bank accounts of cryptocurrency traders, five banks have reportedly clarified their policies. They confirmed that accounts with legal crypto transactions will not be frozen. However, some people claim that their accounts have been frozen without involvement in illegal activities. Crypto Traders’ Bank Accounts Frozen Chinese police have been freezing the bank accounts and bank cards of over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency traders as they crack down on illicit activities involving cryptocurrencies. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported that about 4,000 bank accounts had been frozen in China’s Guangdong province. A few days later, local media reported that the police in Sichuan similarly froze the bank accounts of crypto traders and miners. A China Times reporter asked five banks regarding their policies in freezing the bank accounts of customers with crypto transactions. China Merchants Bank, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China responded the same way. The news outlet conveyed on Saturday: As long as the operation is legal, the channel is legal, the virtual currency source is legal, the page supports bank card service, bank card users’ funds will not be intentionally frozen unless it involves illegally related cases, such as money laundering and fraud. Nonetheless, there are reports of people saying that they are not involved in any illegal activities but their bank accounts have been frozen. A woman told China Times that she used her bank card to purchase cryptocurrency on a large crypto exchange and her account was frozen a week later. “I was a little shocked at the time,” she said, insisting that she “did not participate in any illegal activities.” As she tried to get her account restored, her bank said, “the card was frozen by the police, so wait for the notification.” A bitcoin miner whose bank account was also recently frozen shared his story with the publication, stating: “I have been notified that I can unfreeze with my ID card and related information.” China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has been increasing its anti-money-laundering efforts. According to local media, Chinese police have cracked down several large-scale money laundering cases involving cryptocurrency. While Chinese regulators closed down local crypto exchanges in September 2017, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain legal in the country, as ruled by several Chinese courts. Although banks claim that accounts showing legal transactions and operations will not be frozen, industry insiders recommend using a separate account to buy cryptocurrencies. “It is best not to use bank cards with important purposes to purchase cryptocurrencies, such as debit cards linked to mortgage loans [and] wages.” What do you think about Chinese authorities freezing the bank accounts of crypto traders? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 5 Chinese Banks Say Legal Crypto Traders’ Accounts Will Not Be Frozen as Police Widen Crackdown appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto debit cards are a great way to get instant purchasing power from your Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, or other cryptocurrency. They act as the efficient bridge between the crypto world and existing financial systems because they are accepted almost everywhere traditional credit cards are accepted. However, all crypto debit cards are not created equal. The Best Crypto Debit Card – BlockCard The BlockCard by Ternio has gained popularity amongst cryptocurrency enthusiasts due to its ease of use, unmatched features, and accessibility to the US market. It’s now the only card many traders, miners, and long term holders use for everyday purchases. If you have been listening to the new Bitcoin.com Podcast with Dustin Plantholt, then probably know about BlockCard from their audio ads. As a partner, we have negotiated a special offer exclusively for our users. Bitcoin.com EXCLUSIVE: $10 Bonus with your first $100 Deposit on BlockCard Learn more about BlockCard below BlockCard has quickly positioned itself in the crypto market as more than just a debit card, but rather a swiss army knife encompassing a suite of features, enabling consumers to easily move from cash to crypto or crypto to cash. Here are just some of the great features: Users get two cards (plastic and virtual) with two unique card numbers 13 cryptocurrencies are supported – including BCH and BTC Optional FDIC insured bank account. Deposit USD and move into or out of crypto. Apple + Samsung + Google Pay supported for watch or phone Deposit crypto on the card or take your card to Walmart or 7-11 and add cash directly at the register Unlimited 6.38% Crypto Back Rewards on all purchases Getting A BlockCard Is Seamless Signing up for a BlockCard could not be easier. Account Creation and KYC approval is nearly instant, which is a good onboarding experience for customers. Plus, with availability of a virtual card you can be spending in minutes. It has a Clean UI and easy to navigate which works well on desktop and mobile devices without needing to download any apps. Visit the BlockCard website and create an account Deposit crypto funds to the deposit address in your account Enter your KYC information and get an immediate response Upon passing KYC your virtual card is immediately available and your physical card is shipped to your home. You can also sync your virtual or physical card with Apple, Google, or Samsung pay. This feature is not available currently with other crypto debit cards. BlockCard Crypto Bank Account Those with BlockCard accounts are also able to get an FDIC Insured bank account. It requires KYC just like the card, but gives you an easy way to move in or out of crypto. You can send money from your personal checking or savings account to your BlockCard Bank Account and then easily move into cryptocurrency. You can also move from crypto to US dollars with the same ease. The Bank Account operates like a traditional account, sending funds across ACH or Wire. Unrivaled Crypto Back Rewards Rewards programs on credit cards are not new, but most limit the rewards a card holder can earn or restrict the total dollar amounts or certain categories. BlockCard’s crypto back rewards are unmatched! You can earn up to 6.38% crypto back on any store purchases! Using BlockCard is a rewarding experience, literally. By participating in the TERN staking program you can earn up to 6.38% crypto back on all of your merchant purchases. That includes gas, groceries, phone bills, streaming subscriptions, travel, and more. There is no cap on the amount of earnings you can receive and is the most generous crypto back rewards program available today. BlockCard is US First and Growing Globally The company behind BlockCard (Ternio) is US Based and there is a degree of confidence and trust that comes with that. With BlockCard customers in all 50 states, Ternio has been focused on delivering for their customers in a compliant and regulated environment. However, global expansion is already underway ensuring an inclusive product for users across the globe. Enabling customers to convert cryptocurrency into real world utility and have more control over their money than ever before. BlockCard will be opened for residents of 31 European countries next quarter, followed by APAC, LATAM, and EMEA. Bitcoin.com Exclusive Offer Bitcoin.com readers are entitled to an exclusive offer due to our relationship with Ternio. For a limited time, you can get $10 added to your first $100 deposit. BlockCard is a great product from its ease of use to it’s crypto back rewards. Try it now. Bitcoin.com EXCLUSIVE: $10 Bonus with your first $100 Deposit on BlockCard The post The Best Crypto Debit Card – BlockCard appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Just recently, the official Bitcoin.com Youtube channel was suspended and removed from the popular video platform. During the last 12 months, Youtube has censored information and banned cryptocurrency video coverage with no remorse. As the censorship continues to wreak havoc on innocent content creators, a number of people are migrating to decentralized platforms. On Monday, Youtube decided to reinstate the official Bitcoin.com channel and 40,000+ subscribers can once again watch our educational and informative content. Youtube’s Blatant Censorship and Manipulation A few days ago, Youtube had banned Bitcoin.com’s official video and streaming channel giving no reasons except a vague “violation of Youtube’s Terms of Service” accusation. The Google-owned video-sharing platform has been censoring and banning a number of content creators during the last year. On May 18, 2020, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how Bitcoin.com’s official channel was warned for sharing a video about mining bitcoin. Prior to Bitcoin.com’s warning, Youtube was already censoring cryptocurrency news outlets and content creators and banning them in mass numbers. Youtube has also censored massive amounts of information in regards to the recent riots in America, and the Covid-19 outbreak as well. Not only that, but even though they claim to be protecting viewers, Youtube has allowed a myriad of scams to run rampant on the video-sharing platform to this day. The letter from Youtube that explains the alleged violation. On June 13, 2020, Bitcoin.com was notified that the official Youtube account was banned. The Youtube channel offered resources and information, alongside cryptocurrency news coverage on a weekly basis. There is no given reason to why Youtube decided to shut the account down with over 40 thousand subscribers, besides the standard “a violation of Youtube’s Terms of Service” excuse. 12 hours ago, Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver uploaded a video post to the r/btc subreddit called “Youtube is becoming a tool for social media manipulation and censorship.” In the video, Ver said he suspected that a number of “maximalists falsely reported” the channel. Decentralized Video Sharing Alternatives, and an ‘Active Political Voice Within the Cryptocurrency Community’ Essentially, Youtube administrators had “basically no reason” to ban the official Bitcoin.com account, Ver stressed. After discussing the blatant censorship and bans, Ver discussed certain decentralized video and streaming services like Bitchute, Lbry.tv, and Dtube. He noted that these platforms still need to obtain a network effect, and that he was still discovering the benefits of each platform. The censorship did not stop Bitcoin.com and our official channel has migrated to Lbry.tv, as our team has been uploading cryptocurrency video coverage on specific news stories. Bitcoin.com had also written an appeal letter to the Google-owned video-sharing operation and the letter details the company’s official account did no wrong. “Bitcoin.com operates a long-standing Youtube channel delivering all-original education, news, and marketing content related to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and cryptocurrency in general,” explains a shortened version of Bitcoin.com’s appeal letter to Youtube. “We never violate Youtube’s copyright policies and we are always fully compliant with the Youtube Community Guidelines. We are a frequent contributor of cryptocurrency content and an active member of the cryptocurrency community as a whole. We are also a full-service cryptocurrency business, offering numerous licensed and regulatory-compliant services to our users.” The letter further states: Bitcoin.com is also an active political voice within the cryptocurrency community. Our content often features our unique perspectives and opinions on the state of the cryptocurrency market. Unfortunately, we believe that due to our political activism we have been unfairly “brigaded” by political opponents who have abused the YouTube reporting mechanism to bring down our channel. We are seeking an immediate appeal of this issue. There are a number of decentralized Youtube alternatives that people can test and leverage today. Youtube has been manipulating narratives and censoring free speech for a long time now, and many observers are starting to realize this trend. The firm is a private company and it is allowed to do as it pleases, however, those who dislike censorship, centralization issues, and the banning of channels that haven’t violated anything, will most definitely migrate to better platforms in time. The methods of censorship Youtube is leveraging will only ruin the firm’s reputation going forward, until it becomes “the Myspace of video-sharing platforms.” Right now, people can start using Lbry, Dtube, and Bitchute and the myriad of other platforms that decentralize social media and video sharing applications. The tools are here, the world must be informed of the choices. Youtube Reinstates Bitcoin.com’s Official Channel and Notes the Account Is Not in Violation of the Platform’s Terms of Service On June 15, 2020, Youtube has reinstated the official Bitcoin.com account and explained that our channel is “not in violation of our Terms of Service.” “As such, we have unsuspended your account. This means your account is once again active and operational,” the Youtube account notification letter reads. It’s great news that Youtube has found an error when they had banned our account, but it unfortunate that many content creators have to deal with such hassles. The letter from Youtube that reinstates Bitcoin.com’s official channel. Financial censorship and monetary manipulation are exactly why cryptocurrencies have thrived and in time decentralized solutions will eclipse many traditional platforms we all use today. Social media, video sharing, news reports, gaming, agriculture, healthcare, accounting, and literally every concept under the sun will be slowly transformed by Satoshi’s wonderful invention. Unfortunately, censorship tactics like Youtube’s methods are all too common, but provide people with a spark of energy to gravitate toward decentralized and honest platforms and mediums. What do you think about Youtube banning the official Bitcoin.com channel? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Youtube Reinstates Bitcoin.com’s Official Channel After Suspension appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Wilshire Phoenix has filed to launch a publicly-traded trust called Bitcoin Commodity Trust (BCT) – putting the firm in direct competition with Grayscale Investments’ $3.4 billion bitcoin trust (GBTC). According to the June 12 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York-based investment company will offer up to 80,000 shares at a maximum $25 per share. Wilshire Phoenix, which has had an exchange-traded fund (ETF) application rejected by SEC in the past, aims to raise $2 million from the sale, which “will be used to purchase bitcoin (BTC).” An unnamed company spokesperson is, however, quoted elsewhere suggesting the actual number of shares to be sold is yet to be finalized. “The shares will provide investors with exposure to bitcoin in a manner that is accessible and cost-efficient without the uncertain and often complex requirements relating to acquiring or holding bitcoin,” said the firm. The filing notes that the trust “will have no assets other than bitcoin”, although it “may hold U.S. dollars for short periods of time” for buying and selling of BTC, fees and payment of redemptions. Bitcoin custody will be with Fidelity Digital Asset Securities and dollars will be held by Umb Bank. As per the filing, bitcoin held will only be insured against theft above $100 million, while cash is covered under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. If approved, Wilshire Phoenix’s BCT could place it in competition with Grayscale Investments Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which has 365,000 BTC worth $3.35 billion, at current market prices, under management. The Bitcoin Commodity Trust proposes management fees of only 0.9% per year compared to GBTC’s 2%. And while Wilshire’s shares are redeemable, this option is not available for investors of Grayscale, which states on its website that it “does not currently operate a redemption program and may halt creations from time to time.” Wilshire Phoenix has previously sought approval for a bitcoin ETF that was rejected by the SEC in March. The exchange-traded fund proposed to hedge BTC against U.S. Treasury Bills. The idea was that an ETF would help retail investors gain bitcoin exposure at low-cost. The SEC has turned down several applications for a bitcoin ETF, including Bitwise and Gemini proposals, leaving no local option for U.S. based investors. However, Sweden’s Bitcoin One Tracker, an exchange-traded note, provides U.S. investors with a chance to trade BTC-based instruments. The security has been trading on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange since 2015 and offers quotes in U.S. dollars. In the Wilshire Phoenix filing, the company says each BCT share represents bitcoin ownership. The shares will be “quoted on Otc Markets Group, Inc.’s Otcox Best Marketplace.” What do you think about the Wilshire Phoenix publicly traded bitcoin fund? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Wilshire Phoenix Files Publicly-Traded Bitcoin Trust to Challenge Grayscale’s $3.4 Billion Dominance appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Sweden, June 15 – In a decisive move to adapt to the new normal concept of everyday living caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Wallex is taking its custodian role to unprecedented new heights to accompany its clients in safeguarding their traditional and digital assets from uncertainties and at the same time providing new opportunities to the underserved and underbanked communities. Impact of the coronavirus. “COVID-19’s unforeseen ability to disrupt normal lives has relegated underserved communities of nations to far worse situations owing to the sudden unemployment of millions and the eventual residential displacement of peoples,” says Simone Mazzuca, Wallex Director, in a recent interview. “The bulk of them who were used to dwelling in cities with close proximity to various support systems may now find themselves moving to the countryside with little or no access to hospitals, schools, shops, banks, financial institutions, and other funding or loan agencies,” added Mazzuca. Forbes reported that the rate of unemployment in the United States alone climbed to 14.7% this April, with almost 21 million jobs being wiped out, while the UK continues its attempt at dampening the impact of the pandemic and avoid falling into a deeper recession. Wallex to the rescue. Mazzuca says Wallex has thus, strengthened its core custodian role to mitigate the pandemic’s impact especially among individuals who live from paycheck to paycheck, big and small business owners needing to stabilize, and the unbanked who thought banks were punitive and not necessary, which can run to 3 billion people worldwide. Mazzuca observed that during lockdowns, smartphones had become the individual’s lifeline connection between families, friends, and businesses. Financial technology has streamed into a vital cog linking people to financial institutions to transact business at any given time across borders without actually going there. Mazzuca explained that during these times of social distancing and lockdowns, Wallex Custody has become crucial to individuals and entities in managing their assets due to limited movement. This is where the imperative need for assets of any kind to be managed and protected by Wallex Custody. What can Wallex Custody do? As an asset management, Wallex Custody is giving prominence to the use of custody accounts where the customer has the option to open multiple accounts per currency, or have multiple currencies in one account. Personal accounts can earn a monthly interest rate starting of 0.5% as opposed to a yearly 1% in a traditional safe keep. Wallex Custody can also deal with any type of asset, be it fiat or digital or real estate without the need for bank licenses. With regards to a cyptocurrency exchange, Mazzuca explained that having a Wallex Custody account, allows you to move your digital currencies from your cryptocurrency account, and exchange any digital currency to the fiat currency of your liking. It also provides international IBAN. There is no doubt that the new normal has ushered in a new era for financial transactions. And Wallex Custody has committedly become the new age custodian, Mazzuca concluded. Start with Wallex Custody, and we will help you reach your financial goals. Supporting Link: www.wallexcustody.com Contact Email Address: social@wallexcustody.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 Introducing Wallex Custody, The Custodian Of The New Digital Era appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Digital currency markets are down on Sunday evening roughly 2.14% as global trade volume has slid by 31% this weekend. Coins like ethereum, bitcoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash are all down between 1-2% in the last 24 hours. Crypto Assets Shed $16 Billion in Two Days At the time of publication, the cryptocurrency market capitalization is around $261 billion and it has lost around $16 billion in the last two days. In addition to the market cap losses stemming from all 5,000+ coins, global trade volumes have been lower than usual. At the moment, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $9,279 per coin. The crypto asset has a market cap of around $170 billion and the currency is down 2.1% in the last 24 hours Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading for $230 per unit and the crypto asset has lost 3.67% in fiat value today. After hovering at $0.20 per coin, XRP is down 2.3% today and trading for $0.188 per XRP. Tether (USDT) of course, is doing quite well with markets losing value as the stablecoin captures two-thirds of the market share of trading pairs. Right now at a U.S. dollar per unit price, the stablecoin has a $5.76 billion market cap. Bitcoin cash (BCH) is down 2.2% today as it’s trading for $234 per unit during the evening trading sessions. BCH is the fifth-largest market cap by value below USDT and above BSV. At the time of writing, BCH has a market valuation of $4.3 billion. ‘Monster Move’ Coming Soon for Bitcoin While bitcoin (BTC) and many other crypto assets have been consolidating and following a triangular pattern, many traders think a big move is in the works for a variety of digital currencies. On June 13, 2020, the popular trader Crypto Birb tweeted out to his 83,000 followers that a “monster move” is expected for BTC. ”Consolidating for 1.5 months already. This is going to be a monster move for BTC soon,” Crypto Birb tweeted. “70% of my BTC holdings are long term spot long that I take profits from on a regular basis as we grow. Short is only a hedge,” the trader added. Bitcoin Could be a World Reserve Currency Says Financial Author and Tech Visionary Jeff Booth On June 11, 2020, the entrepreneur and best-selling author, Jeff Booth, spoke with Max Keiser of Keiser Report about bitcoin (BTC). Booth seems to think that BTC has a good chance of being a “world reserve currency.” The author tells Keiser that the central banks’ massive creation of money has been a force that is driving bitcoin’s trend toward being a world reserve. Entrepreneur and best-selling author, Jeff Booth. “Those forces, competing against each other, are driving essential asset prices up… People are trying to work harder to keep up with rising asset prices that are created in the first place by the central governments’ trend to stop deflation,” Booth said. The CEO of e-commerce company Builddirect also added: I see bitcoin as a likely, a very likely candidate for a world reserve currency. So, I see it has a really good chance of winning over time as it works on a network effect. Placeholder VC Partner Chris Burniske Expects Ethereum to Touch $7,500 if Bitcoin Reaches $50K On June 14, 2020, the former lead researcher at Ark Invest and Placeholder VC partner, Chris Burniske, discussed ETH price predictions on Twitter. Former lead researcher at Ark Invest and Placeholder VC partner, Chris Burniske. On Sunday, Burniske tweeted: If BTC goes [to] $50,000 in the next cycle, and ETH/BTC returns to its former ATH, then expect to see ETH [to] $7,500.” The Placeholder VC partner and analyst further said: Why bitcoin to $50,000? As discussed in May 2019, if BTC is half as volatile in this cycle as it was in the last, we would still expect it to cross $50K and $1 trillion in network value. $1 trillion has been a long time coming for this macro-asset. Meanwhile, to the mainstream, ETH will be the new kid on the block — expect a frenzy to go with that realization. What do you think about crypto-asset markets this Sunday? Let us know in the comments below. The post Market Update: Bitcoin World Reserve Theories, Market Cap Loses $16B, Analyst Predicts $7,500 ETH appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The new top banking regulator for the Trump administration sees “huge and great promise” in cryptocurrency. Focusing on decentralized networks, bitcoin, and rewriting existing regulations, he shares his views on cryptocurrency and the creation of the digital dollar. Top US Banking Regulator Is Pro-Crypto Brian Brooks recently became the new acting Comptroller of the Currency, the top banking regulator for the Trump administration. The 51-year-old has experience in crypto, having previously served as general counsel to bitcoin exchange Coinbase. Discussing his views on cryptocurrency, regulation, and technology, Brooks told Forbes: There is huge and great promise in blockchain and crypto. He elaborated: “Blockchain has potential to connect up, in a decentralized network, all kinds of data … It has the ability to create large, friction-free, decentralized networks of people.” Brooks believes that “blockchain is the solution to our problems,” Forbes conveyed. “I’m very bullish on technology … Things like AI, things like blockchain have a better ability to leverage the wisdom of crowds,” he was quoted as saying. Brian Brooks has become the new acting Comptroller, the top U.S. banking regulator for the Trump administration. He previously served as general counsel to Coinbase. As acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brooks is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC supervises nearly 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that conduct approximately 70% of all banking business in the U.S. The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). A lawyer by trade, Brooks joined the OCC in March as chief operating officer, appointed by Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. The former banker was previously executive vice president and general counsel at Fannie Mae. He, Mnuchin, and former Comptroller Joseph Otting worked together at Onewest Bank in Pasadena, California, which was heavily criticized for its foreclosure practices in the years after the financial crisis. New Top Banking Regulator Shares His Views and Policies on Cryptocurrency Discussing his views on cryptocurrencies, Brooks told the publication that he is “looking for decentralized networks in general — he cited bitcoin, ether and XRP in particular — to solve many of the problems hindering more than one-thousand financial institutions under his purview,” Forbes contributor Cory Johnson detailed. The new acting comptroller also revealed that he is focusing on rewriting existing regulation on “bank digital activities.” Citing banks’ antiquated money transfer methods, he said that it takes three days to transfer money from the U.S. to Europe on the SWIFT network. Not only is people’s money at risk during that time, but they also incur foreign exchange fees, he noted, adding that these problems can be eliminated using digital assets. Brian Brooks, the new acting Comptroller of the Currency for the Trump administration, wants to revamp the U.S. payment system. He criticizes antiquated regulation, seeing the U.S. lagging behind other countries in modernizing payment systems as a threat. Moreover, Brooks sees a threat in other countries modernizing their payment systems, leaving the U.S. lagging behind. Criticizing the Fed’s version of faster payments, he revealed: “There are certain O.C.C. regulations that require that certain things be transmitted by fax and require banks maintain a fax number. Those were written at a time when faxes were a cool technology. Now they’re mandates.” Regarding the digital dollar, Brooks is skeptical about the federal government issuing one. He opined: I’m not in favor of a government-created token … I just don’t think that’s the role of government, quite honestly. But I think that the Fed and the SEC need to be putting up frameworks of what that digital currency needs to be. Meanwhile, the most crypto-friendly commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to serve another term. Commissioner Hester Peirce, often known in the crypto community as “crypto-mom,” has been nominated for another term as an SEC commissioner. Her existing term expires this month but commissioners may serve up to 18 months beyond the expiration of their terms. Peirce’s nomination needs to be confirmed by the Senate. A strong advocate of the SEC approving bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), she introduced the “Token Safe Harbor Proposal” in February to “fill the gap between regulation and decentralization,” proposing a grace period of three years for tokens. The commissioner recently said that there is an increasing demand for cryptocurrency, particularly from institutional investors. What do you think about the U.S. having a crypto-friendly top banking regulator? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin-Friendly Top US Banking Regulator Aims to Solve Banks’ Problems With Decentralization appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On June 12, 2020, the former CEO of Mt Gox, Mark Karpeles, tweeted about the notorious Craig Wright, the man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Karpeles and a number of crypto community members, assert that Wright’s legal team from London has been sending documents to certain individuals. The documents ostensibly stem from the law firm, SCA Ontier, acting on behalf of the “Tulip Trust.” The assertion notes that Wright claims to be the owner of a bitcoin address with stolen Mt Gox funds. Craig Wright and the “1Feex” Bitcoin Address The cryptocurrency community has been once again focused on Craig Wright the Australian native who claims he invented bitcoin. So far and to-date, Wright has never convinced or proven this to the greater bitcoin community. This week a few individuals from Blockstream and the former Mt Gox CEO, Mark Karpeles, have been discussing a letter allegedly sent by Wright’s attorneys. An alleged legal filing indicates that Craig Wright and the Tulip Trust own a bitcoin address that holds 79,900 BTC ($755 million). The filing or letter ostensibly is being sent by the law firm based in London SCA Ontier. The letter highlights: “We act for Tulip Trading Limited (“Tulip”); we also act for Dr. Craig Wright, the individual behind the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ the creator of bitcoin.” The document also says that Tulip owns two unsplit bitcoin (BTC) addresses and one of them is dubbed the “1Feex” address. Now according to Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of Mt Gox, Wright’s claimed “1Feex” address “contains ~80K BTC stolen from MtGox in March 2011.” “Craig Wright is claiming to have been in control of this address until recently, admitting legal liability for damages and interest?” Karpeles asked on Twitter. In addition to Karpeles, Blockstream’s Samson Mow and Adam Back tweeted about the “1Feex” address as well. Monero proponent Ricardo Spagni also took part in the discussion about the address with 79,900 BTC. “Just so we’re clear, Craig Wright has just openly admitted (via his lawyers) to be the guy that stole 80K BTC from Mt Gox,” Spagni wrote. “The screenshots below show the court documents indicating the ‘1Feex’ address is where the stolen Mtgox funds were sent. What do you have to say, Calvin Ayre?” Wild Accusations and the So-Called ‘Tulip Trust’ Moreover, Karpele’s shared a screenshot of Wright allegedly discussing the subject in a private Slack channel. In the screenshot, Wright purportedly said “No it was not stolen. Nor did Mr. Karpeles ever report it or do anything of the sort until he came to find I was the owner.” At the moment the accusations are pretty wild and the legitimacy of the SCA Ontier filing is still unconfirmed. Additionally, Wright was suspended from Twitter, so the only direct public communications he leverages these days is his blog and a private Slack channel. The public is also following his court case with the Kleimans, the family suing Wright for David Kleiman’s half of the so-called 1 million BTC “Tulip Trust.” The existence of the “Tulip Trust” is still unproven, just as Wright has yet to prove to he is Satoshi to the greater crypto community. So far there is a mountain of evidence that doesn’t flow very well with Wright’s Satoshi theory. What do you think about the latest discussion involving Craig Wright and Karpeles’s claims? Let us know in the comments below. The post Documents Show Craig Wright Claims to Own a Bitcoin Address With 80,000 BTC Stolen From Mt Gox appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Spacex bitcoin scam has frequently appeared on Youtube, claiming to give away BTC. Its promo video features the recent Spacex launch with two NASA astronauts and an interview with Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The scammers claim that anyone sending bitcoin to them will be “airdropped” twice the amount sent. Spacex Bitcoin Scam: Elon Musk’s BTC Giveaway A bitcoin scam claiming that Spacex and its CEO, Elon Musk, are giving away bitcoin has been growing more common. Videos advertising that Spacex and Musk are giving away 5,000 BTC have repeatedly appeared on Youtube, featuring Spacex’s May 30 launch in collaboration with NASA and other projects. The historic launch marked the first human space mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. The Spacex Youtube bitcoin scam video shows a live interview with CEO Elon Musk about the recent Spacex launch. An URL and a bitcoin address are displayed on the video for people to send their coins to participate or learn more about the BTC giveaway. A scam featuring Spacex and CEO Elon Musk giving away 5,000 BTC asks people to send them bitcoin first and they claim twice the amount sent will be returned immediately. But, if in doubt, the scammers say send them more BTC — just in case. The URL on the video redirects to a webpage, entitled “Spacex Foundation 5,000 Bitcoin Giveaway Airdrop.” The site states: “At a time of such global crisis, Spacex is here to offer all the help that we can. We understand the financial uncertainty that some people may be facing right now, and have decided to giveaway 5,000 bitcoin, in our best attempts to help out.” To participate, you need to send any amount of bitcoin between 0.1 BTC and 20 BTC to the bitcoin address provided, which the scammers call the “official contribution address for this event.” The fake Spacex bitcoin website continues, “once we have received your transaction, we will immediately send back (2x) to the address that you sent the bitcoin from.” That means “if you send 5 BTC, you will be airdropped 10 BTC + 25% bonus,” the scammers wrote. Scam videos on Youtube as of June 13, claiming that Spacex and CEO Elon Musk are giving away BTC. After a while, Youtube will remove these videos and ban the accounts that uploaded them. However, similar videos will just reappear soon afterward. The Spacex bitcoin scam website even has a “terms and conditions” section that reads: “This promotion is available worldwide. Anyone can participate. You can only participate once. If you try to participate more than once, your BTC will be automatically refunded. You can send bitcoin using any wallet or exchange – it does not matter.” Continuing to display red flags, the site further states: If the transaction does not process properly, please try by sending the same amount to the BTC address again, and it should go through. Your original transaction will be refunded as you can only participate once. BTC giveaway scams often feature famous people or events that are hot at the time. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on a 5000 BTC giveaway scam leveraging the name of Virgin Galactic chairman Chamath Palihapitiya. Besides Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, other well-known people whose names have been used to promote bitcoin scams include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and a number of executives in the crypto space. Some people claim to have fallen for the scam and have complained to Google Inc., owner of Youtube, but the scam videos keep reappearing on the video-sharing platform. Anyone coming across bitcoin giveaways must take caution as there are many of them. Spacex and CEO Elon Musk do not give away free BTC, but many scammers falsely use their names in an effort to make fake cryptocurrency giveaways appear legitimate. What do you think about this Spacex bitcoin scam? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Spacex Bitcoin Scam Features BTC Giveaway, Elon Musk, and NASA Launch appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.” **The following speech, as spoken by the fictional character Francisco d’Anconia, and was written by the popular novelist Ayn Rand. It was published on October 10, 1957. A republished, shortened version first appeared on the web portal “faculty.citadel.edu/sobel.” “Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money” is reprinted here on Bitcoin.com for historical preservation. “Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money” is important to those who believe in bitcoin and the crypto-economy. 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.** “Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor— your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil? Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions— and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth. But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made— before it can be looted or mooched— made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’ To trade by means of money is the code of the men of goodwill. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss— the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery— that you must offer them values, not wounds— that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade— with reason, not force, as their final arbiter— it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability— and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?” But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind. “Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil? “Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth— the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil? Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money? Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money? “Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money— and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it. Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.” Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun. “But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich— will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt— and of his life, as he deserves. Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard— the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money— the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals- by-right and looters-by-law—men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims— then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them.” But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter. “Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion— when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing— when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors— when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you— when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice— you may know that your society is doomed.” Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half- property, half-loot. “Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’ When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are. You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its lifeblood— money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves— Slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers— As industrialists. To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money— and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being— the self-made man— the American industrialist. If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose— because it contains all the others— the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity— to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide— as, I think, he will.” Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips, and guns— or dollars. Take your choice— there is no other— and your time is running out. What do you think about Francisco d’Anconia’s “Speech on Money?” Let us know in the comments section below. The post Ayn Rand: Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

JPMorgan’s strategists have reportedly found bitcoin’s market structure to be more resilient than those of currencies, equities, Treasuries, and gold. In a new report on bitcoin’s stress test, JPMorgan wrote that cryptocurrencies have “longevity as an asset class.” In a new report entitled “Cryptocurrency takes its first stress test: Digital gold, pyrite, or something in between?” JPMorgan’s strategists say bitcoin is looking “mostly positive,” Bloomberg reported Friday. The report, led by head of U.S. interest rate derivatives strategy Joshua Younger and cross-asset research analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, shows that cryptocurrencies have “longevity as an asset class.” The report examines bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and other financial assets as they plunged in March when the coronavirus pandemic exploded in the U.S., causing shutdowns that crippled the economy. While bitcoin crashed to under $4,000, it bounced back faster than most other assets and recouped most of its value by the end of April. Moreover, bitcoin’s valuations did not diverge much from intrinsic levels during the March panic. “Though the bubble collapsed as dramatically as it inflated,” the strategists wrote: Bitcoin has rarely traded below the cost of production, including the very disorderly conditions that prevailed in March. The JPMorgan strategists also found that the cryptocurrency’s “price action points to their continued use more as a vehicle for speculation than medium of exchange or store of value,” noting that bitcoin appears to have been correlated to riskier assets like equities. Furthermore, the report describes that there were few signs of a flight to liquidity within the asset class, as most cryptocurrencies collectively fell in March. Concluding that bitcoin weathered its stress test well, the strategists wrote: “there is little evidence of run dynamics, or even material quality tiering among cryptocurrencies, even during the throws of the crisis in March.” The report also explores “liquidity, or the bid-offer spread of the order book, which is directly related to volatility. When the order book thins, a given transaction could result in a larger price change, and vice versa,” the news outlet conveyed. “Though bitcoin saw among the most severe drops in liquidity around the peak of the crisis, that disruption unwound itself much faster than other asset classes.” According to the publication, the strategists wrote: The coin’s market structure turned out to be more resilient than those of currencies, equities, Treasuries and gold. JPMorgan has come a long way in its recognition of bitcoin. In September 2017, CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a “fraud,” only to regret saying it a few months later. Now JPMorgan Chase is even providing banking services to bitcoin exchanges: Coinbase and Gemini. Last month, the company agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit for overcharging fees for crypto transactions. What do you think about JPMorgan changing its views on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JPMorgan: Bitcoin’s Market Structure More Resilient Than Currencies, Equities, Treasuries and Gold appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Estonia has canceled 500 cryptocurrency firms’ licenses, about 30% of the total, as part of a crackdown on illicit financial flows following a $220 billion money-laundering scandal involving Danske Bank. Regulators are concerned that bitcoin exchanges and other crypto companies might be liable to using their platforms to facilitate illegal transfers, Bloomberg reported. Madis Reimand, who heads the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), indicated that the clampdown was a pre-emptive strike aimed at cleaning up the crypto industry. He notes that the idea is not to cripple the sector, but rather tighten regulations to prevent risks associated with money laundering. To date, the FIU has shut down companies that failed to start operations in the Baltic state within six months of getting a license. “This is a first step in tidying up the market, allowing us to take care of the most urgent issues by permitting operations only for companies that can be subjected to Estonian supervision and coercive measures,” Reimand said. The moves come after Danske Bank, Denmark’s biggest lender, was accused of facilitating $223 billion of laundered money through a small Estonian branch. Europe’s biggest money-laundering scandal has left egg on the face of Estonian authorities, forcing them to turn attention to crypto firms, a sector considered high risk. Until now, Estonia has been a haven for virtual currency companies. The north-eastern European country was among the first on the continent to liberalize crypto in 2017, licensing more than 1,400 entities in a space of three years. But regulators have become stricter, in an effort to curtail international risks related to money laundering. The Estonian parliament recently passed a law that makes it difficult to obtain a crypto license. According to the new regulations, permits will now be issued after three months at a cost of €3,300 ($3,715). Previously, it took 30 days to obtain the same license for €300. Cryptocurrency outfits registered in Estonia will also need to incorporate in the country or open an Estonian branch of a foreign firm. Reimand warned that over 50% of the remaining 900 digital asset companies may lose their licenses “as they have no operations in Estonia and their managers are outside the country.” What do you think about Estonia’s clampdown on crypto companies? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Estonia Revokes 500 Crypto Firms’ Licenses After $220 Billion Money Laundering Scandal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A recent study published by Amun researcher, Eliézer Ndinga, shows that USD-pegged stablecoins are being leveraged in Hong Kong as “vehicles for capital control flight.” The report shows how individuals from mainland China, Singapore, and Hong Kong are moving their capital out of control by using these dollar-pegged blockchain tokens. Last week on June 9, 2020, it marked the one year anniversary of the Hong Kong protests that were invoked by China’s extradition law. Almost immediately after the law was introduced, Hong Kong’s citizenry took to the streets in an attempt to claim the country’s true sovereignty. For over 12-months there has been civil unrest and demonstrations in the streets. The blockchain ecosystem that emerged in China has helped Hong Kong residents flee the grasp of China’s totalitarian controls. Not only has blockchain helped individuals from Hong Kong, but also residents in Singapore and those who live within the borders of mainland China as well. “Although as an inherently digital, censorship-resistant, and neutral asset, Bitcoin has not been the first cryptoasset of choice to flee renminbi-denominated assets due to market volatility,” explain’s Eliézer Ndinga’s report. “USD-pegged stablecoins have ended up being just as attractive assets for those seeking to avoid losing large portions of their wealth due to price fluctuations over the short and medium terms. As a matter of fact, QCP Capital a Singapore-based crypto-asset trading firm has witnessed Hong-Kong-based investors fleeing to Singapore and trading stablecoins, predominantly Tether, in an attempt to preserve their wealth.” Amun’s report adds: According to QCP, 80% of capital has poured into stablecoins while the remaining 20% has gone into Bitcoin. Eliézer Ndinga stresses that data and information about the use of stablecoins is not “publicly available as much of crypto adoption in Asia.” This is because most transactions take place “underground especially following the crackdown on crypto exchanges by the Chinese government starting in 2017.” “For example, in Hong Kong, QCP Capital reported that investors trade Tether physically. This method is mainstream so that they are able to move money away cheaply and quickly compared to setting up an offshore account which might take almost a month due to stringent know-your-customer and anti-money laundering procedures,” Eliézer Ndinga’s research highlights. The researcher further states: To mitigate counterparty risk, due to ongoing issues with identity fraud, QCP Capital follows KYC procedures and asks for collateral denominated in stablecoins. The Amun report further notes that the “demonstrations are here to stay in the foreseeable future.” A study from 21shares research also indicates that citizens in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and other Asian regions are gravitating toward the crypto economy in an exponential fashion. “It is safe to say that stablecoins are becoming a pain-killer product for many investors in such situations,” Eliézer Ndinga’s essay concludes. “This capital outflow from renminbi-denominated assets to USD-pegged stablecoins will strengthen the US Dollar hegemony as the world’s reserve currency. Nonetheless, with interest-bearing accounts like the one launched by Blockchain.com, there could eventually be capital flowing from stablecoins to Bitcoin by Chinese institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, especially among tech-savvy cohorts,” the researcher conceded. What do you think about Hong Kong, Singapore, and residents from China fleeing to stablecoins? Let us know in the comments below. The post China’s Government Fuels Stablecoin Economy: Hong Kong Protesters, Singapore and Mainland Residents Flee Capital Controls appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Hackers are holding an unnamed crypto exchange to ransom after an alleged cyber-attack forced the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate two separate transactions at a cost of $5.2 million in fees, new information suggests. The hackers may have gained access to the exchange’s funds but failed to transfer the money into their own wallets because of a security setting that demands multiple passwords to process a transaction. Now they have turned to blackmail, trying to arm-twist the concerned platform into paying a ransom, according to Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Explaining the suspicious transactions, Buterin tweeted on June 12 that: “Hackers captured partial access to exchange key; they can’t withdraw but can send no-effect txs with any gas price. So they threaten to ‘burn’ all funds via tx fees unless compensated.” In the last few days, three ETH transactions took place: a customer paid $2.6 million to send $134 worth of ether. Few hours later, the same individual transferred $86,000 of ETH for precisely the same fee. A third transaction by a different user paid $500,000 in fees, but it’s unrelated to the blackmail attack. Until now, the deals have been explained away as either a bug, money laundering or tax evasion. Others suspect human error. A new report, however, turns the scales. Focusing on the two $5.2 million transactions, Chinese crypto analytics firm Peckshield concludes that the extraordinary ethereum transfer ‘blunders’ are the result of “gas price ransomware attacks.” Researchers explain how the hackers gained access to the exchange’s funds and servers through phishing, granting them permission to send money to trusted wallet addresses under the platform’s database, just not their own. The multi-signature security setting on the platform prevented the thieves from making transfers to their own accounts, but there was a loophole that allowed them to transact to addresses that require single authorization. So, they have weaponized their stolen authority, sending very small amounts at ridiculously high transaction fees, to force payment. According to the report, the hackers still have access to 21,000 ETH ($5 million) that “if the exchange does not give a certain ransom through other means, the hackers will further spend the money.” In another tweet, Vitalik Buterin offered a different explanation. “Similar situations could happen in ‘scorched earth’ games, including scorched-earth vaults aka ‘Moeser-Eyal-Sirer’ vaults as well as scenarios where hackers can slash but not steal staked funds,” he said. What do you think about this ongoing ethereum fees debacle? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Ethereum’s $5.2 Million Fee Scandal Explained: Exchange Held to Ransom by Hackers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Japanese high court upheld the Tokyo-based lower court’s decision to reject the former Mt Gox CEO’s appeal. Mark Karpeles was arrested in 2015 and accused of “manipulating electronic data” and managed to duck embezzlement charges. The former boss of Mt Gox, Mark Karpeles, now has to face the music for his prior “manipulating electronic data” charges that stem from the Mt Gox investigation. Karpeles was arrested in August 2015 and he claims he didn’t take any money when 850,000 BTC was stolen from the platform. Last year, the Japanese court decided that Karpeles would not face embezzlement charges, but the manipulation charges held a sentence of two years and six months in prison. The sentencing was suspended for over four years, but as of Thursday, Karpeles must try again to clear his name. The Tokyo court accused Karpeles of fudging the numbers in order to hide issues from Mt Gox clientele. Former Mt Gox CEO, Mark Karpeles. On Thursday, the Japanese court upheld the former Mt Gox CEO’s conviction for manipulating data. Karpeles has spoken to the public about the recent court decision. “Today’s verdict was unfortunate, and I am reviewing its contents alongside my lawyers and will decide how to proceed from there in the coming days,” Karpeles said Thursday evening. Prosecutors originally demanded 10 years served in a Japanese prison. Karpeles was accused and charged with three counts, but only one stuck. Out of the 850,000 BTC ($7.9 billion using today’s exchange rates) stolen from Mt Gox, 200,000 BTC or 15% was recovered. For the last three years, Mt Gox customers who lost money on the exchange have been battling to get their share of the 15% ($1.8 billion) of BTC left behind. Not too long ago, organizations like Brock Peirce’s Gox Rising have offered Mt Gox clients a percentage of the bitcoin’s owed. Gox Rising, for instance, is offering $800 per BTC for each claim, while the New York-based private equity firm Fortress is offering Mt Gox creditor claims at roughly the same rate per coin. Karpeles found the 200,000 BTC in cold storage after the exchange went under and after the firm applied for bankruptcy. What do you think about the Tokyo high court’s decision to uphold Karpeles manipulation of electronic data charges? Let us know in the comments below. The post Japanese Court Upheld Former Mt Gox CEO’s Conviction for Manipulating Data appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On June 11, 2020, the United States Congress Financial Services Committee held a remote hearing about the creation of a “digital dollar.” A number of well known individuals participated including the former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Christopher Giancarlo, and members from the Electronic Transactions Association. The Covid-19 outbreak and following panic, invoked members of Congress to initiate massive stimulus for businesses and individuals. While incumbent financial institutions and large corporations got a massive share of the stimulus funds, all eligible Americans got a $1,200 check or more, depending on spouse and child dependencies. The funds were distributed after Congress and U.S. President Donald Trump approved the CARES Act. Since then, the need for widespread economic relief continues because lots of Americans still haven’t gotten their money, and many are waiting for the inefficient postal service to deliver. A number of Americans got EID cards with the funds loaded on the card, but most people still haven’t received a stimulus check and others report that they experience extreme difficulties obtaining the funds. The issues of delivery and contact have spurred politicians to start talking about a “digital dollar.” At 12 p.m. EDT on June 11, the United States Congress Financial Services Committee listened to testimony from a myriad of witnesses and members of the ‘Digital Dollar’ foundation. The Digital Dollar foundation has been heralded on various occasions during the last two months from people like Christopher Giancarlo and Daniel Gorfine. The project is a partnership between Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and advisors include members like Adrienne Harris, Alan Lane, Chris Brummer, Cuy Sheffield, Don Wilson, Elizabeth Gray, Jim Harper, Jesse McWaters, and Tom Jessop. The DDF website states: The Digital Dollar Foundation [was created] to advance the exploration of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The purpose of the Project is to encourage research and public discussion on the potential advantages of a digital dollar, convene private sector thought leaders and actors, and propose possible models to support the public sector. The Project will develop a framework for potential, practical steps that can be taken to establish a dollar CBDC. At the virtual hearing with members of the DDF, Congress, and leaders from the Electronic Transactions Association, the group listened to a number of speakers. Speaking with the financial columnist, Rachel McIntosh, Christopher Giancarlo told the publication “the purpose of the hearing,” which includes “ [discussion concerning] Inclusive Banking During a Pandemic: Using FedAccounts and Digital Tools to Improve Delivery of Stimulus Payments,’ [but it wasn’t] only to discuss the ‘digital dollar,’ but to spark a conversation around better digital solutions for financial inclusion.” Giancarlo further stated: A tokenized CBDC is one of these solutions that we’re advocating that the Fed explore further. Shouting into the void of academic research…about how our banking system leaves out some of our most vulnerable communities. Of course, after watching the virtual hearing and the following statements told to the press, the DDF and the creation of the digital dollar is still likely 1-2 years out. However, Giancarlo said he is excited to see the ball start rolling. “We are thrilled that everyone, public and private, share a common desire to look more deeply into new digital solutions for faster delivery of payments,” the former CFTC Chair told McIntosh. “The best-case scenario for us that we are heard and a series of pilot programs of a tokenized CBDC can be explored next,” Giancarlo concluded. News.Bitcoin.com readers can also watch the recorded hearing via the Youtube video below, published by the U.S. Financial Services Committee. What do you think about the Digital Dollar hearing on June 11, 2020? Let us know in the comments below. The post US Financial Services Committee Hearing Discussed the Creation of a ‘Digital Dollar’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has completed its investigation of what happened to the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Quadrigacx which owes over 76,000 clients a combined $215 million in assets. Supposedly deceased, its founder Gerald Cotten was found to have committed a series of fraud, the regulator details. Quadrigacx Fraud: Exchange Owes 76,000+ Clients $215 Million The Ontario Securities Commission has spent 10 months investigating what happened to the Quadrigacx cryptocurrency exchange. The regulator published a 33-page report of its findings on Thursday. The Canadian crypto exchange announced on Jan. 14, 2019, that CEO Gerald Cotten had died while on honeymoon in India with his wife, Jennifer Robertson. Noting that “Over 76,000 clients were owed a combined $215 million in assets … Ernst & Young, the bankruptcy trustee, was able to recover or identify just $46 million in assets to pay out to clients,” the OSC staff detailed: The downfall of crypto asset trading platform Quadrigacx (Quadriga) resulted from a fraud committed by Quadriga’s co-founder and CEO Gerald Cotten. The Canadian securities regulator, the OSC, has published a report outlining what happened with crypto exchange Quadrigacx which collapsed after the death of its CEO. The platform owes over 76,000 customers millions of dollars. The OSC staff found that Cotten “spent, traded and used” at will the assets clients deposited with Quadrigacx. “Cotten was able to misuse client assets for years, unchecked and undetected, ultimately bringing down the entire platform,” the staff’s report details. The Quadriga exchange was cofounded by Cotten and Michael Patryn in 2013; it was incorporated in British Columbia with Cotten as the sole director. Patryn was convicted in the U.S. in a money-laundering case in 2015 under his prior name, Omar Dhanani. He left Quadrigacx in 2016, leaving Cotten with complete control of the platform. Quadrigacx Is a Ponzi Scheme The OSC staff found most of the $169 million asset shortfall — approximately $115 million — “resulted from Cotten’s fraudulent conduct, which took several forms.” Cotten “opened Quadriga accounts under aliases and credited himself with fictitious currency and crypto asset balances which he traded with unsuspecting Quadriga clients,” the OSC staff described. “He sustained real losses when the price of crypto assets changed, thereby creating a shortfall in assets to satisfy client withdrawals. Cotten covered this shortfall with other clients’ deposits.” The staff continued, “In effect, this meant that Quadriga operated like a Ponzi scheme.” Cotten also lost an additional $28 million while trading client assets on three external cryptocurrency trading platforms “without authorization from, or disclosure to, clients,” the OSC staff further added, elaborating: He also misappropriated millions in client assets to fund his lifestyle. In its final months, Quadriga had almost no assets left and was operating like a revolving door — new client deposits were immediately re-routed to fund other clients’ withdrawals. However, many believe that Cotten is still alive and faked his death as an exit scam. Some have called for an exhumation and autopsy of his body. The platform ceased operations by Feb. 5 and filed for creditor protection. The complete OSC report on Quadrigacx can be found here. What do you think about Quadrigacx and Cotten’s action? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Canadian Regulator Unveils the Truth Behind Collapsed Crypto Exchange Quadrigacx appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Indian government is reportedly reconsidering a plan to ban cryptocurrency and the finance ministry has initiated related inter-ministerial consultations. The move is supposedly spurred by the supreme court quashing the banking ban imposed by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). India’s Plan to Ban Crypto Reportedly Rekindled The plan to ban cryptocurrency in India is reportedly back on the table. The Economic Times (ET) reported on Friday that “India is looking to introduce a law to ban cryptocurrencies, as the government sees a legal framework as being more effective than a circular from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this regard.” The publication detailed that “A note has been moved (by the finance ministry) for inter-ministerial consultation,” citing a senior government official. The draft cabinet note was spurred from the Indian supreme court’s ruling on March 4 which quashed the RBI’s circular issued in April 2018 that banned financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses, including exchanges, the news outlet described, adding: The note will be sent to the cabinet after consultations and, subsequently, to parliament. This note may resemble the bill to ban cryptocurrencies proposed by the interministerial committee (IMC) headed by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. The Indian government is reportedly resuming its plan to ban cryptocurrency. A note is being moved for inter-ministerial consultation. Experts have weighed in. The document entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019” was submitted to the finance ministry in February last year and published in July. It proposes jail sentences for violators. The bill was supposed to be introduced in parliament in the winter session last year but it was not. The Indian crypto industry had hoped that with the supreme court ruling, the government would reevaluate the proposal to ban cryptocurrency. What the Indian Government Will Do The Indian cryptocurrency community is divided on the merit of this news. Nischal Shetty, CEO of local cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx who is behind the #Indiawantscrypto social media campaign, quickly tweeted in response to the report. He pointed out that there is no evidence that the note referenced by ET is the same as the IMC report submitted by the Garg committee, elaborating: Yet another FUD is here … I’m confident our PM will not stop a booming sector. Shetty noted some important points to be considered. Firstly, the plan cited by ET is in fact “just a note,” he said. Secondly, a committee will need to be formed to proceed and a draft bill would be needed, he continued, adding that there would be industry consultations before it can move onto parliamentary approval. “Innovative technology will always be seen negatively by those who do not understand it … How would anyone think/talk of banning a technology that cannot technically be banned?” Policy 4.0 CEO Tanvi Ratna explained: “The consultative process is a long one. If there is agreement to push this, a parliamentary process will begin. This was the expected course after the Feb 2019 report was issued, but it was stalled due to the supreme court case and other priorities.” She opined: “the [supreme court] verdict left every ground open for a legislative ban to cryptocurrencies. If the bill does pass parliament then the verdict would not hold. It’s now time for the industry to fully understand the process and engage constructively.” Do you think India will ban or regulate crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Indian Government Reconsiders Banning Cryptocurrency: Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article