roadrunner

The one who called himself Satoshi Nakomoto, created cryptocurrency so that anyone can keep their financial life untouchable and protected from the interference of others. However, requirements of customer disclosure put these principles at risk and ordinary users under threat of theft, extortion, and even kidnapping by bandits. Find out how you can protect yourself from this. Why Should Your Cryptocurrency Be Anonymous? To ensure the inviolability of personal financial information when creating cryptocurrency, Blockchain, which is a decentralized data storage system that can not be cracked, was taken as the basis. But the requirements of mandatory checks KYC / AML, then put forward by governments of many countries to companies operating with cryptocurrencies, do not contribute to maintaining the confidentiality of users personal info. The problem is that companies such as crypto exchanges are favorite targets for hacker attacks, when personal data of users fall into the hands of attackers. Because of this, users whose data has been stolen are not only in danger of losing their digital assets, but also run the risk of real physical harm. In the modern world, cyber crime it’s not a separate thing, criminal gangs often consist of representatives of different professions, so the data stolen by hackers is not only used to crack email and digital wallets, but also used by bandits and professional extortionists. Due to the analysis of transactions in the open cryptocurrency blockchain, attackers can easily identify the real owners of crypto addresses, and then their location. After that, getting under the pressure of various criminal gangs who can knock out information from their victims is easy. So the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions becomes not just a matter of preference, but a prerequisite for maintaining your digital assets, health, and in some cases even your life. This is especially true for those crypto holders who own significant amounts. Your data that is stored on the crypto exchange due to hacking can fall into the hands of interested parties who can use it against you. Unfortunately, there are already quite a lot of cases of robberies, abductions and even killings of crypto owners and they are happening all over the world, so you should not assume that digital currencies concern only the virtual world. Tracking transactions on the blockchain, people were tracked down, abducted, and even burst into their houses with weapons. The only reliable way to protect yourself from such incidents is to follow the elementary safety rules on the network and ensure the anonymity of your crypto transactions. How to Protect Against the Threat of Tracking? You can prevent the identification of your personality. You can do this if you mix your Bitcoin. Special Bitcoin mixing services have been developed for a relatively long time. Using algorithms for mixing coins from different wallets, they break the chain of transactions between two addresses that could be tracked. Your crypto operations can be easily monitored in an open blockchain system if you directly send coins to the address of another person or company. When using the Bitcoin mixer, your transaction is distributed in parts among many unrelated addresses and passes through different wallets several times. After that, the transaction amount comes to the address you specified from different sources, which confuses the traces of coins and therefore does not allow any to track you. That is why most professional traders and crypto investors use the BTC mixer when they withdraw earned cryptocurrency from exchanges and investment platforms, because they usually operate with large amounts that are always of interest to attackers who analyze the blockchain. However, not every Bitcoin mixer is worth using, trusting it your digital money. In addition to frankly fraudulent sites that simply steal your money, there are those that promise anonymity, but do not actually provide it. Use the Most Reliable and Fast Bitcoin Mixer This is not the first year that BitMix.Biz has been the best Bitcoin mixer and it will probably remain so in 2020. This is proved by that on the Internet there are many fakes posing as BitMix.Biz. In order not to run into one of these sites, you can check any BitMix.Biz mixer address using the key 1BitmixQRMUHYYEi11KBRhSfACa1BtcZrZ There are no other domains for BitMix.Biz – be careful! Also, the most reliable Bitcoin mixer has a bitmixbizymuphkc.onion mirror in the TOR network. Using a proven method of mixing over the years, you will never lose your crypto assets. BitMix.Biz mixing service, which has been working since 2017, does not have negative reviews, but it is highly rated in many ratings on the most respected and popular cryptocurrency info resources. Also, in some closed forums, there are guarantee deposits worth $15,000 from the BitMix.Biz, which act as insurance to compensate for losses in case of fraud. You can write to bitmixbiz@protonmail.com to get a link to such a forums. This confirms that the crypto community trusts the reliable BitMix.Biz service, because even if something goes wrong, for example, due to heavy network load or other possible failures or bugs you can always easily contact BitMix.Biz to solve the problem. Be sure to keep the letter of guarantee that you will receive when making a deposit, and also do not clear the logs until the situation parsing begins, but no later than 72 hours later, after which all data is automatically deleted to protect your privacy. For the same purpose, the site does not use any analytical tools. BitMix.Biz Features – No registration required. – In addition to mixing BTC (Bitcoin) and LTC (Litecoin) BitMix.Biz is the first crypto mixer that supports mixing Dash coins, which, despite having its own mixing system, does not give complete anonymity. – Completely prevents the possibility of transactional analysis. – The maximum level of difficulty and randomization. – Large pools of coins that are completely unrelated to each other. – Variable manual or automatic commission. – Constantly mixed coins, which provides instant withdrawal after confirmation. – Transaction delay, which does not allow to detect the sender and receiver by the time of sending. – Ability to use the public API on your website. – Simple and intuitive interface with support for 10 languages, it is possible to save settings. – The presence of an affiliate program. – Maximum performance without the use of unnecessary visual effects. More info in the FAQ To protect your privacy with the best Bitcoin Mixer BitMix.Biz just do the following: 1. On the BitMix.Biz website, specify the amount and select the mixing parameters; 2. Indicate the final wallet where you want to get clean coins; 3. Send crypto coins to the mixer; 4. Get a clean cryptocurrency in accordance with the selected mixing parameters. Watch this video https://youtu.be/JCn2QyvLQEM to see for yourself how it works. BitMix.Biz Protects Crypto Community Principles Contact Email Address bitmixbiz@protonmail.com Supporting Link https://bitmix.biz This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post The Most Reliable Bitcoin Mixer BitMix.Biz – Your Fast Crypto Security in 2020 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Federal Reserve System was created after the “Panic of 1907” and ever since its inception in 1913, the Fed is one of the most powerful modern central banks in the world. Moreover, the Fed has always been either celebrated or criticized for stepping in whenever the U.S. is stricken with some kind of fear. During the coronavirus outbreak, the central bank has unleashed a massive number of monetary easing tactics, which has prompted editors from Wikipedia to add updated information to the Fed’s Wiki page. The central bank’s page now states: “[the] COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 [has] led to the expansion of the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System.” Panic at the Knickerbocker Trust – 1907 During the last few months, Americans have witnessed the power of the Federal Reserve’s shenanigans as the central bank has created trillions of dollars out of thin air. The expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet has ballooned to upwards of $6.9 trillion and the bank slashed the benchmark interest rate to zero percent. U.S. citizens have been indoctrinated to believe that the central bank is there to protect the country’s monetary system and keep it stable. Bank runs were rampant in 1907 and it stemmed from the public’s mistrust in bankers who were using deposits for side bets and bucket shops. The Fed is also a secretive bank that works very closely with private dealers, smaller financial incumbents, and the country’s largest asset manager Blackrock. Since the very creation of the Fed in 1913, a group of America’s banking and corporate elite used a specific panic to make the public believe that the central bank would keep them safe. However, the Fed was initiated by the very people who destroyed the American economy in 1907 as a cartel of bankers used fear to get the populace on board with fraudulent schemes. The fall of Knickerbocker Trust made the Panic of 1907 worse and JP Morgan stepped in with a number of New York bankers to provide the American economy with liquidity. In mid-October, for three weeks the American economy suffered as the New York Stock Exchange dropped 50% during the first week. At the time the U.S. populace was much smaller than it is today with only around 87 million citizens. The panic that ensued caused many runs on banks, savings and loan firms, and trust companies. Depositors panicked because bankers were caught red-handed setting up ‘bucket shops’ with people’s deposits and only keeping a fraction of reserves on hand. This ultimately led to the fall of the Knickerbocker Trust and this is why some people call the panic of 1907 the ‘Knickerbocker Crisis.’ Scholarly articles show that one man, JP Morgan, and his crew of New York bankers saved the day. Even though Morgan and his cronies were responsible for the side bets, he and his crew also stepped in to offer a solution. The Money Trust’s Creation of the Fed and the Group’s Tethered Relationship With Politicians Interestingly, the heirs, descendants, and well known banks run by Morgan and his pals in the early 1900s, are still in operation today and these financial institutions still run the American monetary system. One report shows that eight families are still in charge of America’s finances which include descendants and close friends from “Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Lehmans and Kuhn Loebs of New York; the Rothschilds of Paris and London; the Warburgs of Hamburg; the Lazards of Paris; and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.” The creation of the Fed took place six years after the fall of Knickerbocker Trust and it was created out of fear that lingered from the 1907 bank runs. People often focus on the fact that President Woodrow Wilson created the Fed on December 23, 1913. This is because it’s said that it was done on Christmas Eve in order to provide a distraction. What’s not very well known among the public is that Morgan’s secret cabal called the ‘Money Trust’ was instrumental in creating the Fed. At that time five unelected men were responsible for shoving the Federal Reserve system down the population’s throat. People are aware of Woodrow Wilson pushing the Federal Reserve Act on Christmas Eve, but the general public is not fully aware of the ‘Money Trust’s’ participation. The elite banker Paul Warburg called the creation of the Federal Reserve an “Economic 4th of July.” The reason we know that Morgan and his cronies started the crisis and created the Fed is because it is well documented by the nation’s journalists and a few investigations. The five unelected men included JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jacob Schiff, Paul Warburg, and Baron Rothschild. The bankers involved were investigated in Congress during the Pujo hearings, which gives a comprehensive view of the entire situation involving the ‘House of Morgan.’ The five unelected men who flipped the American economy upside down back in the early 1900s. The family members and friends of these very same bankers still run the American monetary system today. The Pujo hearings are no secret, and even the St. Louis Fed has shared the investigation publicly. The Pujo Committee identified a massive system made up of 341 directorships, and 112 different corporate entities. At the time, the U.S. was going through the Industrial Revolution and Morgan and Rockefeller manipulated the economy from behind the scenes. After the Fed was created, the citizenry that witnessed the banking cartel mess up the economy in 1907, saw the very same members of the financial cartel ruin America’s financial system again in the ‘20s and ‘30s. At this point, the ‘Money Trust’ gang was interwoven with the U.S. bureaucracy and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) defrauded the populace with the bankers this time around. The ‘House of Morgan’ or the ‘Money Trust’ is well documented by journalists from that era and the Pujo investigations. Wall Street Bankers Fund All Three Factions During World War 2, Dollarization, and the 2008 Financial Crisis With the help of an executive order and Morgan’s crew, FDR created the bank holiday and made gold ownership illegal. FDR confiscated the American citizen’s gold while Morgan’s banking crew, specifically Warburg, Schiff, and Rothschild funded many factions of WW2. It is well documented that Morgan and his friends funded not only the allied forces, but also Stalin’s movement and the Nazi regime as well. By 1944 the Bretton Woods pact was initiated and the bankers invoked the power of the U.S. dollar by leveraging gold. Years later a few nations figured out that the Federal Reserve was printing massive amounts of money from thin air. The gold standard was removed from the USD by President Nixon after a number of countries realized that the US was printing massive amounts of funds for Vietnam. Other countries really started noticing because of the enormous Vietnam War expenditure. So President Richard Nixon removed the gold standard away from the USD and descendants of the House of Morgan continued to run the American economy. The U.S. bankers and political elite had to make a deal with Saudi Arabia and they created the petro-dollar. The petro-dollar made it so every country in the world has to purchase oil with U.S. dollars. During the rest of these years the U.S. military-industrial complex funded by the unaudited Federal Reserve continued to grow under President Reagan, Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama, and Trump as well. Because of the Fed’s manipulation with Wall Street, politicians, and weapons contractors, American generations have been at war every year for decades. By the year 2000 and the decade that followed heirs, descendants, and the same banks from 1907 still ran the U.S. financial system. Banks like Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Chase, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs all have shares in each branch of the Federal Reserve. Thanks to the Bush family, the Clintons, Obama, Trump, and many other US presidents, generations of Americans have been born and the country has been at war every day of their lives. The wars are kept going by the bureaucracy and banking cartel that has run the world for decades on end. The Federal Reserve and Wall Street incited the panic of 1987 (Black Monday) as well. Years later the same banking families and Wall Street elite created the subprime mortgage crises which saw the Federal Reserve initiate quantitative easing (QE) and massive stimulus bailouts. Bitcoin was born from the fires of the 2008 financial crisis and Satoshi Nakamoto mentioned the bailouts in the genesis block. Opting Out and the Counter Economy Libertarians, gold bugs, agorists, and bitcoiners have understood long ago that the Federal Reserve and the ‘Money Trust’ that still exists today, run the U.S. financial system just like Charles Ponzi. The Federal Reserve and Wall Street elite have popped the economic bubble once again and it started well before the coronavirus outbreak. The Fed has added over $6 trillion to the bank’s balance sheet and it creates money as if it grows from trees. Similarly to the five unelected men who destroyed the economy in the early 1900s, in 2020 five unelected Fed board members created trillions of dollars with a push of a button. Free market supporters, agorists, libertarians, and bitcoiners believe counter-economics and opting out is the best form of protest. People can avoid the Fed’s monopoly by leveraging the Federal Reserve’s promissory notes less and less. People can opt to barter and trade, leverage precious metals as a hedge, and use censorship-resistant money like cryptocurrencies. Many economists now believe the Fed has no limit and at some point, America will be faced with hyperinflation no different than Venezuelan bolivars or Zimbabwe trillion dollar notes. With the Fed and more than 37 modern central banks worldwide creating fiat like no tomorrow, a number of crypto investors think that these acts will propel bitcoin to new heights. However, the U.S. dollar and a few other fiat currencies are the most dominant measures of money worldwide, and cryptocurrency would likely be valued very differently if they fail. What do you think about the fact that the same banking cartel from the early 1900s still runs the system today? Let us know in the comments below. The post American Panic Led to the Creation and Expansion of the Corrupt Federal Reserve System appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

China has passed the country’s long-awaited civil code which expands the scope of inheritance rights to include cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin. Inherited cryptocurrencies will be protected under the new law. Meanwhile, several Chinese courts have recently ruled that bitcoin and ethereum are properties protected by law. Inherited Cryptocurrencies Protected by Law The third session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, voted on and passed the “Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China” on Thursday. In addition to general and supplementary provisions, the civil code ”includes six parts on real rights, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance, and tort liabilities,” Xinhua News Agency reported. Noting that the decision to draft a civil code was announced in October 2014 and the legislative process started in June 2016, the news outlet detailed: [The new civil code] states that the property rights of individuals are equally safeguarded to those of the State and collective, and online virtual assets are protected, too. Chinese President Xi Jinping at the third session of the 13th National People’s Congress where the country’s long-awaited civil code, which addresses crypto inheritance, was voted on and passed. Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, told the session that “The compilation of the civil code is an important component of the plans of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core for developing the rule of law,” the publication conveyed. This new civil code will enter into force on Jan. 1, 2021. The scope of inheritance has been expanded from the existing law. Under the new civil code, “virtual assets, such as bitcoins, [can] be inherited,” as are all property legally acquired by a natural person, the news outlet emphasized. Wang Liming, executive vice president of the Renmin University of China and a law professor, was quoted as saying: “The civil code is the first law to carry the title ‘code’ for the People’s Republic of China. It lays down the fundamental principles and regulations regarding civil activities and relations. It reflects the will of the people and protects their rights and interests.” Several Chinese courts have also ruled that cryptocurrencies are property that should be protected by law. For example, the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled that bitcoin is an asset protected by law while the Shenzhen Futian District People’s Court ruled that ethereum is legal property with economic value. Meanwhile, China is working on issuing its own central bank digital currency but there is currently no timetable for the launch, Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), told reporters this week. Internal pilot tests have been conducted in various cities “to check the theoretical reliability, system stability, conveniency, applicability and risk controllability of the digital currency,” the governor confirmed. What do you think about China’s new civil code protecting inherited cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. The post China Passes Law Protecting Cryptocurrency Inheritance appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Hong Kong, 30 May, 2020 – ViaBTC Group, an innovative technology company specialized in blockchain and dedicated to providing users with comprehensive digital asset management services, today announced a strategic upgrade, which included a new organizational structure, product innovations and service improvements. As part of the change, the Group has established three dedicated business units (BU): the financial services BU, consisting of ViaBTC mining pool and CoinEx exchange; the infrastructure services BU, including ViaWallet and Blockchain Explorer; and the ecological development BU, focusing on the research and development of public chain technology and the construction of the ecology. “This new streamlined structure will empower our next phase of evolution by further aligning the group’s activities with the development of customer solutions,” said Eddie Jiang, VP of the Group. “Operations of CoinEx exchange and ViaBTC mining pool will be integrated, deriving diversified product combinations to meet miners’ financial service needs.” The group has always focused on product innovations. With a wallet embedded in the mining pool account, users can store, deposit and withdraw their revenue, and transfer assets to CoinEx at any time without charge. Besides, a smart mining service that can bring more profit was launched. The Group also plans to set up a resource sharing platform, providing quality resources and cooperation opportunities. Based on the experience of serving more than 100,000 miners worldwide, ViaBTC carried out a brand-new service upgrade. It pioneers revenue distributions on an hourly basis, and provides detailed lists of income distribution, making it more transparent. In addition, daily or monthly investor-oriented income analysis reports are also available. SAAS mining pool service will also be launched soon. ViaBTC will share the technology and experience, as well as provide one-to-one consultant to help customers build their own mining pools within one week. “Last month, ViaBTC joined the Cambridge University for a research report on the global mining industry, and results show that areas with low energy costs, such as China, the US and Russia, are preferred. We will set up offices in these regions to better communicate with our users,” said Eddie. “Our fourth anniversary year is coming, and we are ready to take the next step in our journey. This strategic upgrade will make us more competitive in the industry.” About ViaBTC Group Established in 2016 with Bitmain-led investment, ViaBTC Group is an innovative technology company specialized in blockchain and dedicated to providing users with comprehensive digital asset management services. It is one of the companies in the world with the most complete global digital asset business layout with three dedicated business units: the financial services BU (ViaBTC mining pool and CoinEx exchange); the infrastructure services BU (ViaWallet and Blockchain Explorer); and the ecological development BU (R&D of public chain technology and the construction of the ecology). Website: www.viabtc.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ViaBTC Contact Phneos Peng ViaBTC PR Department Contact Email Address pengweijie@coinex.com Supporting Link www.viabtc.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 ViaBTC Group Announces Strategic Upgrade to Advance Innovation and Improve Customer Experience appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin (BTC) average transaction fees dropped by nearly 60% in the last week, as the number of transactions queuing up to be processed on the network eased. According to data from Bitinfocharts, the cost of making a transaction over the Bitcoin blockchain fell to around $2.61 on May 28, down from just over $6.28 six days earlier. As a percentage of revenue for BTC miners, fees have also declined to just under 10% from 21% on May 20. Transaction costs had soared over 220% since the May 11 scheduled bitcoin supply cut, capping off a rally that began two weeks prior to the event. The sharp fall in fees is thanks to transaction activity getting back to normal, helping to decongest the network, as represented by the Bitcoin memory pool, called mempool. The memory pool consists of all transactions waiting to be confirmed by the Bitcoin network. Data shows that the number of unconfirmed transactions in the mempool has dropped by more than 70% over the last seven days, causing fees to decline. A higher number of transactions waiting to be confirmed in the mempool causes the opposite effect on transaction costs, as was the case during and immediately after the halving. Then, demand for processing transactions on the BTC network outstripped the supply of miners, forcing fees higher as people paid more for faster settlements. Fees are also determined by other factors as such the size of the transaction, mining difficulty as well as the actual number of transactions passing through the network – all of which have continued to decline. As per the Bitinfocharts figures, the overall number of Bitcoin transactions fell by 49% during the week to May 28, down to about 151,000 from 298,000 transactions previously. What do you think about falling Bitcoin transaction fees? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Fees Fall 60% While Transaction Count Declines appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Around 18 days ago, the Bitcoin protocol experienced it’s third block reward halving and the network saw a 33% hashrate loss. Since then, however, bitcoin miners have increased in both number and hashpower, as the network has seen a 15-20 exahash per second (EH/s) increase. Moreover, on May 22, there were 17 mining pools hashing away at the Bitcoin network and now there are 32 pools. Bitcoin Hashrate Rebounds Mining bitcoin is a competitive industry. The mining competition grows stronger each and every year. After the Bitcoin (BTC) network’s third halving, a number of miners dropped off the network. During the worst of it, the overall SHA256 hashrate lost around 47 exahash per second (EH/s). Since then the hashrate has increased around 15 to 20 EH/s, depending on which monitoring tool you use. For instance, Blockchain.com’s data shows the hashrate measured on May 27, 2020, is around 92 EH/s. According to the web portal fork.lol, which gives a closer look at today’s current hashrate, data shows the BTC hashrate is above the 100 EH/s zone. Last week, news.Bitcoin.com’s post-halving mining report had shown that there were only 17 pools at that time. Today there are 32 BTC mining pools and F2pool is still the most dominant mining operation. A number of smaller farms and pools seemed to have joined the fray during the last seven days. Today there is F2pool, Btc.com, Poolin, Antpool, Viabtc, Slushpool, Huobi, Btc.top, 58coin&1thash, Bitfury, Okex, Bytepool, Novablock, Wayi.cn, Bitcoin.com, Lubian, Spiderpool, Bixen, Bitclub, Binance, 1m1x, Ukrpool, Mining City, Kanopool, Bitminter, Hummerpool, Solock, Ckpool, Eobot, Luxor, and Tiger Pool. Next-Generation Mining Rig Shipments and Whatsminer Orders Diversify Into the US and Europe Reports also noted last week that officials from Sichuan China were allegedly giving mining operations in the region a hard time. Purportedly mining operations had been dealing with electrical shortages, and some operations were allegedly forced to shut down machines. More recent reports from China say that bitcoin miners expect the BTC hashrate to rise. One report highlights the situation when the columnist, lylian Teng, discussed the subject with a few bitcoin mining industry leaders from Chengdu. According to miners from the region, the latest next-generation Antminers have been shipped to large farms. Both S19s and Microbt’s Whatsminer M30 series have allegedly been sent out to customers. Furthermore, lylian Teng talked to Whatsminer representative, Sully Yu, who told the reporter that despite deliveries and mining rig shipments, some mining operations are having difficulties. “The mining circle is suffering from big changes. It is those capitals who dare to buy (high-powered mining machines), small miners dare not,” Sully Yu told Teng. “Big capitals are eyeing on the long-term return from bitcoin mining, and the mining activity is developing into a large-scale, intensive, and refined industry. It will be unrealistic to expect a quick payback from mining like it used to.” Interestingly, Sully Yu also disclosed that Microbt has seen a lot more international orders. North America and Europe have accounted for 40% of the company’s latest orders according to Yu’s statements. What do you think about the hashrate increase and next-generation mining shipments? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitcoin Hashrate Bounces Back- 2x the Mining Pools, Farm Diversification, 100 Exahash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to Bitpay’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Zielke, onchain bitcoin payments still rule the roost as far as payments are concerned. Zielke detailed that at least in the near future, Bitpay won’t be supporting the Lightning Network or Blockstream’s Liquid project. Liquid or the Lightning Network Not on the Roadmap The top cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay says the company won’t be leveraging the Liquid project or the Lightning Network any time soon. Both projects are offchain solutions that have been touted as the answer to BTC’s scaling issues. However, both projects have seen little adoption compared to the Ethereum chain’s solutions. As far as bitcoin total value locked (TVL) within the chain, Ethereum is BTC’s most prominent sidechain. This week, Bitpay’s Chief Marketing Officer Bill Zielke told fintech and crypto columnist, Kyle Torpey, that onchain bitcoin payments are the most prevalent of payments on the Atlanta-based company’s system. “As of March, Bitcoin continues to be both the largest and most popular crypto asset representing over 95% of transactions by volume for Bitpay,” Zielke explained in the report. Zielke also noted that bitcoin cash (BCH) transactions get a fair share of use as well. “Bitcoin Cash ranks second representing nearly 2%. Bear in mind, Bitpay has been processing Bitcoin for almost 9 years and stablecoins for less than one year,” the company’s Chief Marketing Officer stressed. Bitpay’s processing supports bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), xrp (XRP), ethereum (ETH), and four different stablecoins. The stablecoins the firm supports include USDC, BUSD, PAX, and GUSD. “Bitpay launched PAX, GUSD, and USDC last year and BUSD this year,” Zielke explained further. “Since then Bitpay has seen stablecoins grow to about 2% of its overall volume in dollars and has successfully processed several thousand stablecoin transactions.” As far as the Lightning Network and Blockstream’s Liquid project the company doesn’t have plans to utilize these solutions at the moment. Zielke stated: Lightning Network and the Liquid sidechain are not in our current plans or roadmap but we are always evaluating new and innovative alternatives and collecting customer input on use cases, importance, and priority. Empirical Privacy Analysis, Criticism, and Centralization Issues Both the Lightning Network (LN) and Liquid have been getting a fair share of criticism lately, as the concepts don’t seem to be gathering a solid network effect. Just recently, the digital currency and blockchain developer, Tim Ruffing, explained that people who assume the LN payments are private should rethink the claim. Ruffing also shared a scholarly study called “An Empirical Analysis of Privacy in the Lightning Network.” Earlier this week, Bitcoin pundit John Carvalho got a few people riled up when he tweeted: “Any notable Bitcoin company without an actual plan or timeline for supporting Lightning doesn’t actually care about Bitcoin – Time is up.” The commentary was controversial, as the official Samourai Wallet Twitter account and a few others took issue with Carvalho’s tweet. Moreover, Blockstream’s Liquid project was recently disparaged for not allowing an Iranian bitcoiner Ziya Sadr’s firm to become a Liquid Functionary. With more Liquid members added in March, digital currency proponents still condemn Liquid’s tech for centralization issues. Bitpay, on the other hand, continues to believe people will utilize digital assets for payments and the firm has seen an “increase in crypto spending” since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. What do you think about Bitpay’s comments about Liquid and Lightning Network? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitpay Has ‘No Current Plans’ to Support Liquid or the Lightning Network appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South Korea will start taxing profits from bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies next year, according to local media reports. The taxation will also apply to bitcoin mining operations and income from initial coin offerings, should it be approved by Parliament. South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance proposed the amendments to the existing tax law to include the cryptocurrency industry, with backing from the Ministry of Information and Technology. In September, the Ministry will table the amendments before Parliament. Once approved, the law will enter into force in 2021, allowing authorities to tax profits generated from the sale of digital assets for cash. Trades between cryptocurrencies will remain tax-free, and similarly those sold at a loss. “We are reviewing capital gains tax or other income tax on profits gained by domestic and foreign investors in the transfer of virtual assets,” an official from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance was quoted as saying. “The proposed tax amendment will be announced in July and submitted to the regular assembly in September,” the official added. The planned changes have been prompted by the idea of applying “tax where income is located”, officials said. The Korean government has attempted to tax bitcoin in the past, most recently in January, but failed to enforce the regulations, reportedly because different government ministries could not agree whether bitcoin was an asset or not. Local crypto experts believe the proposed amendments will suffer the same fate. Seung Seung-young, a researcher with the Korea Regional Tax Institute, told local newspaper E Daily that the planned law is not watertight in its current format, opening it to exploitation by investors. He opined: “If you do business through a peer-to-peer transaction without going through an exchange, there is a possibility of avoiding taxation. Even with IP tracking, if there are a large number of targets, administrative costs will increase and it will be difficult to track each day.” Kim Yong-min, chairman of the Korea Blockchain Association, notes that it will take three to four years before the government can set up infrastructure that truly understands cryptocurrency. What do you think about South Korea’s proposed tax on Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post South Korea to Start Taxing Bitcoin Profits in 2021 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Albuquerque, NM – May 29, 2020 – Feisty underdog and first generation cryptocurrency Reddcoin (RDD) launched the PoSV v2 consensus algorithm activation process on Christmas Eve 2019 enhancing all facets of support of the native lightning-quick blockchain to a self-funding independent model. That work has culminated in recent days and will be activating shortly, marking a transition for the never-say-die Reddcoin (RDD) development team and the project as a whole. Reddcoin is a uniquely community-driven and user-focused decentralized cryptocurrency established in 2014 and running seamlessly for six years. A member of the BITA50 and ALT100 crypto-indices, and a “Top 100” project with a market cap of approximately 40MM US, Reddcoin is also an all-volunteer and self-funded organization. Unlike most in the blockchain space, having never experienced a significant security incident or hack is six years of operation, due to the nature of Reddcoin’s unique proof-of-stake-velocity (PoSV) technology, Reddcoin stands alone as a secure payment technology, with minimal hardware requirements, and an ecofriendly, less-energy-wasteful approach to socially responsible technology. With thousands of active wallets, exchanges, on- and off-ramps to fiat and other currencies, users and business can enjoy and leverage a full-featured payment gateway suite of services. Reddcoin can provide point-to-point, multi-party, or full-suite merchant, transaction and remittance services at a fraction of the cost of traditional PayPal or credit card transactions with lightning-fast completion and state-of-the-art security and cryptographic protection against counterfeiting, fraud and data manipulation. Reddcoin also offers participants in its network automatic interest-like “staking rewards” as well as zero-to-low-fee transaction costs, lowering the bar for entry for any business, webstore or individual looking to participate in the new era of fintech. The new algorithm and staking rules built into PoSV v2 will activate once supermajority of 9000/10000 blocks has been reached, estimated within the next weeks. Once that point has been reached, all remaining older Reddcoin wallets will need to be upgraded in order to spend or stake. As noted in the project’s re-released 2019 Redd Paper, available on the website at (https://www.reddcoin.com/reddpaper), the new features of the PoSV v2 algorithm powering Reddcoin include such items as: “Participation Incentivization”, which promises to multiply stake rewards up to 5x for all active users according to dynamic network staking participation variables; The “Reddcoin Restitution Fund”, aimed at replacing ReddHead community members lost or stolen funds; The “Reddcoin Charity Initiative/Food &Supply Bank”, offering more direct support to those in needs among and outside the community, and more. These new features and programs overlay one of the fastest existing cryptocurrencies, zero-to-low-fee transactions, 60s block times, and ecofriendly all-platform staking options, offering a compelling value proposition along with the uniquely supportive and transformative Reddcoin “ReddHead” community. Led by a dedicated team of open, transparent, and engaged volunteers, Reddcoin is always on the lookout for talent to help achieve the envisioned solutions and products. As one of the original cryptocurrencies, and an all-volunteer development team, Reddcoin is poised to launch through 2020 numerous tipping and content creator reward applications including the relaunch of ReddID, utilizing the unique properties of the RDD ecosystem to allow tipping and spendable rewards entirely free from restriction and censorship. Learn more at https://www.medium.com/@techadeptor the main Reddcoin website. Contact Email Address info@reddcoin.com Supporting Link https://medium.com/@techadept 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 Reddcoin (RDD) Nears PoSV v2 Activation, Clearing Way for Explosive Developments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Grayscale Investments has purchased more than 1.5 times the number of bitcoins mined since the third Bitcoin halving for its bitcoin trust. This indicates that there is a strong institutional demand for the cryptocurrency, which is expected to grow significantly post the coronavirus crisis. GBTC Buys 1.5 Times the Amount of Bitcoin Mined After Halving Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been racking up the number of BTC it has purchased since the third Bitcoin halving. Between May 12 and May 18, the week following the halving, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust acquired 12,021.15320371 bitcoins representing $112,336,936, according to Grayscale Investments’ filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The following week, from May 19 to May 26, the trust aggregated 6,889.32628892 bitcoins representing $65,231,657. During the two-week period, Grayscale Investments bought a total of 18,910.47949263 bitcoins. Analyst Kevin Rooke tweeted on Wednesday: Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust bought 18,910 bitcoins since the halving. Only 12,337 bitcoins have been mined since the halving. This means Grayscale Bitcoin Trust added more than 1.5 times the number of bitcoins mined during the two-week period after the third Bitcoin halving. This represents a major increase in its buying. For the 100-day period ending May 17, news.Bitcoin.com previously reported that Grayscale Investments purchased 33% of all bitcoin mined. “Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is on a whole new level in 2020 … Institutional money has arrived,” Rooke asserted last week. In response to his analysis showing GBTC’s average weekly investment of $29.9 million in Q1 2020, a substantial increase from the $3.2 million in the first quarter of last year, Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert hinted on Twitter: “just wait until you see Q2.” All Grayscale Investments’ cryptocurrency products as of May 28: Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, Horizen Trust, Litecoin Trust, Stellar Lumens Trust, XRP Trust, Zcash Trust, and the Digital Large Cap Fund. As of May 28, Grayscale Investments’ total assets under management (AUM) is $3.7 billion, spread over 10 cryptocurrency investment products. Among them, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has the largest AUM of $3,302.2 million, followed by Grayscale Ethereum Trust with an AUM of $292.6 million. Grayscale previously revealed that 88% of all capital inflows in the first quarter were from institutional investors, dominated by hedge funds. Both the Bitcoin Trust and the Ethereum Trust saw record capital inflows. Analysts have predicted rising institutional demand for cryptocurrency after the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis. Several billionaire investors have also recommended investing in bitcoin as they expand their portfolios’ exposure to the cryptocurrency. With the sheer amount of bitcoin Grayscale has been purchasing, Rooke noted: Wall Street wants bitcoin, and they don’t care what Goldman Sachs has to say. His tweet followed Goldman Sachs’ client call about bitcoin, during which the firm highlighted its negative outlook towards the cryptocurrency. Goldman Sachs told its clients that cryptocurrencies “are not an asset class,” ignoring a ruling by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which found cryptocurrencies to be a commodity. Meanwhile, another major investment bank, JPMorgan Chase, is warming up to bitcoin and has reportedly begun providing banking services to crypto clients. What do you think about the amount of BTC Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is buying? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Buys Over 1.5 Times Total BTC Mined Since Halving appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a crypto class-action lawsuit. Originally filed in 2018, the suit alleges that the bank overcharged customers for buying cryptocurrencies using Chase credit cards, classifying the purchases as cash advances. JPMorgan Settles a Crypto Class Action Lawsuit JPMorgan Chase allegedly overcharged its customers who bought cryptocurrencies with their Chase credit cards. The bank decided to treat the purchases as “cash advances,” which carry higher fees than normal purchases. A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2018 and was settled out of court in March this year. As part of the deal, JPMorgan Chase is not admitting to the wrongdoing. Reuters reported Thursday that according to the motion filed in Manhattan federal court this week, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the lawsuit, noting: Plaintiffs said the settlement would result in class members getting about 95% of the fees they said they were unlawfully charged. One of the plaintiffs, Brady Tucker, claims that JPMorgan violated the Truth in Lending Act since the bank did not inform customers that cryptocurrency purchases were being treated as cash advances. This classification resulted in higher fees charged to customers. In his complaint, Tucker explained that the bank charged him more than $160 in fees and interest for regularly purchasing cryptocurrencies from Coinbase with his credit card and refused to refund the charges. When the lawsuit was filed, JPMorgan was hostile towards cryptocurrency at the time. CEO Jamie Dimon called bitcoin “a fraud” but later admitted to CNBC that he regretted doing so. JPMorgan has come a long way since its initial stance on bitcoin. The bank even created its own stablecoin called JPM Coin, which is “a digital coin designed to make instantaneous payments using blockchain technology,” its website describes. “It is a digital coin representing United States dollars held in designated accounts at JPMorgan Chase N.A. In short, a JPM Coin always has a value equivalent to one U.S. dollar.” Recently, it has also been reported that the bank now provides banking services to two bitcoin exchanges, Coinbase and Gemini. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase reported a 70% decline in profits in the first quarter as the bank expects the coronavirus-led economic crisis to worsen. What do you think about JPMorgan’s $2.5 million settlement? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JPMorgan to Pay $2.5 Million to Settle Lawsuit for Overcharging Crypto Fees appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last year, news.Bitcoin.com created a series that shows the many facts that point to certain individuals who might just be Satoshi Nakamoto and it’s been a popular run so far. Our series has covered nearly everyone, but there are still a few individuals that haven’t been covered. On May 11, 2020, the popular Youtube channel “Barely Social” published a video called “Unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto,” which claims that Blockstream CEO Adam Back could be Bitcoin’s mysterious inventor. New Video Points to Adam Back Being Bitcoin’s Inventor In mid-May, the Youtube channel “Barely Social,” a popular creator of analysis videos for “odd corners of the internet,” published a new video called “Unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto.” The video creator has 391,000 subscribers and the Unmasking Satoshi video has been watched over 290,000 times to-date. The video was also posted to the top three crypto-related Reddit forums r/cryptocurrency, r/bitcoin, and r/btc. Barely Social’s film was immediately removed from the r/bitcoin forum, it was discussed in r/cryptocurrency but downvoted heavily, and it was flagged for vote-brigading on the forum r/btc. The video explains the massive disconnect between two large factions of big block supporters and small block supporters, and how they went certain bitcoin community members separate ways. It also leverages circumstantial evidence that illustrates how Adam Back, the Blockstream CEO could possibly be Satoshi Nakamoto. On May 11, 2020, the Youtube personality Barley Social published a video that claims Adam Back is Satoshi Nakamoto. It all started well before the Bitcoin white paper was published on Halloween 2008, as Adam Back described the technology on various occasions and as early as 1998. However, prior to the release of the cryptocurrency and white paper, Back seemingly removed himself from the public eye during the Satoshi’s development period between 2009 and 2010. Coincidently after Satoshi left, Back appeared on the bitcointalk.org forum acting as though he’s been around for quite some time, explains the Barely Social video. Barely Social’s film also had a number of other forms of circumstantial evidence that point to Back possibly being the creator of cryptocurrency. For years, during the early days, many people assumed that Back ignored Bitcoin for a while, and then joined the community with great fervor toward the technology. Back’s first posts and replies to other bitcoiners on the bitcointalk.org forum shows his technical understanding of the blockchain was more advanced than most. Barely Social also highlights that when Back joined the community after Satoshi left, he was bossing people around like he had always been around. There are two Satoshi emails that are undisputed and claimed as legitimate writings from Bitcoin’s creator. This email is one of them from 2015 during the height of the scaling war. Theymos, Censorship, the Scaling Debate, and Gavin Andresen Additionally, the video compares Satoshi’s writing style with Back’s style, as they both double space and spell their words in a British fashion. Barely Social also mentions the 2015 email that allegedly stemmed from Satoshi, which has also never been disputed. Further, the video’s narrator talks about how Adam Back has told people that Satoshi has written to him, but unlike Mike Hearn, Back has never shared these corresponding emails. Barley Social’s film also delves deep into the 2015-2017 manipulation and propaganda that stemmed from the block size debate. Within this section of the video, it shows how the r/bitcoin owner, “Theymos,” censored thousands of people and thousands of posts and still does to this day. Theymos operates r/bitcoin, bitcointalk.org, the bitcoin wiki page, and also he also has some control over bitcoin.org too with an anonymous individual called “Cobra Bitcoin.” Barley Social’s video shows evidence that Back and other members of the company Blockstream were complicit with Theymos and his censorship techniques. Gavin Andresen talking about Craig Wright in May 2016. The video further discusses Gavin Andresen’s role when Satoshi handed the project over to the former lead developer. Barley Social’s video details how Andresen fought against the control specific Bitcoin Core developers had over the project and Blockstream’s influence. The video showed little bias and explained that both sides of the argument sought control. Barely Social also published a debate between Andresen and core developers, and Adam Back joined in during the discussion. Other prominent members of the discussion included Rusty Russell, Greg Maxwell, Theymos, and many other Bitcoin Core developers. Gavin Andresen recently speaking about the community split on May 26, 2020. When Back appeared in the discussion, he was anti-hard fork from the beginning, and said the Bitcoin community needs “to foster collaboration and consensus to reduce the risks.” Barley Social assumes that a lot of developers know that Back is Satoshi, and that its possible a number of people have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The video also says that even though Andresen named Craig Wright as Satoshi Nakamoto in May 2016, it was done to be purposely misleading. The film shows that Back’s company Blockstream purposely stopped onchain scaling, so the company could provide relief to the community with the Liquid sidechain project. Essentially, the belief is the firm suppressed onchain scaling and hard forks, in order to claim revenue from transaction fees. This is probably why the Bitcoin Cash community and r/btc forum disliked Barely Social’s theory, because they consider Back and Blockstream enemies of Bitcoin. Back has been accused of allowing Theymos to censor thousands of people and posts on various forums and websites. Theymos continues to censor to this day and is a very controversial figure in the crypto space. Theymos also raised 6,000 BTC ($56 million at today’s exchange rates) to update Bitcointalk.org but the website never got upgraded. The r/bitcoin censorship probably stemmed from the fact that the video does expose the mass censorship that’s been plaguing that subreddit for years. Adam Back also denies being Satoshi Nakamoto and has recently rejected the theory publicly. Back told the publication Decrypt that he wasn’t Satoshi and said: “Just that people speculate, but I’m not Satoshi. To cut short Google searches and digging.” Back also spoke up on Twitter and stated: Some claim to be Satoshi, days google research blogging stories, and in court, to widespread non-belief. Seems I need the opposite: I am not Satoshi despite [the] recent video / Reddit claiming so. Some factors & timing may look suspicious in hindsight; coincidence & facts are untidy. Of course, Barely Social says during the beginning of the film that Back can always leverage plausible deniability. There was also a recent Youtube video, which has the crypto pundit, Tone Vays, doing a rebuttal against Barely Social’s video. Even though Barely Social was there in the live stream chat, he wasn’t allowed to debate Vay’s criticism, which was filled with insults, and common logical fallacies. The Blockstream CEO and Barely Social have also debated the subject on Twitter at great length. Following the video and coincidentally, there’s also been a number of spends and messages on the BTC blockchain that stem from early addresses from 2009 and 2010. One 50 BTC block from February 2009, one month after the Bitcoin network was launched, was just spent and sent to another address. What do you think about Barely Social’s video which claims Adam Back may be Satoshi Nakamoto? Let us know in the comments below. The post The Many Facts Pointing to Adam Back Being Satoshi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) pose no threat to Bitcoin’s value proposition, instead, they will spur its growth toward mass adoption. In a new report, Grayscale Investments said CBDCs will never replace BTC because unlike the top cryptocurrency, they can be inflationary and are open to manipulation by central banks CBDCs are merely digital versions of fiat currencies, which cannot escape government control, it said, adding that government-backed cryptocurrencies simply maintain the status quo. State control is anathema to bitcoin, an asset created to challenge the conventional financial system and return the ownership of money to the people, beyond the reach of the state. “CBDCs may censor non-ordained addresses, and central banks will continue to control the monetary policy,” says the report, which examined the potential impact of state-issued digital currencies on the status of bitcoin. “On the surface, it seems like a digital dollar might displace Bitcoin’s growth because they are both digital, but it actually fails to address these principal concerns,” it added. CBDCs are digital currencies issued by central banks, created, in part, to neutralize BTC. About 25% of central banks around the world are now actively exploring the possibility of issuing state-backed cryptocurrencies, but none is closer to doing so more imminently than China. Grayscale Investments, which manages over $3.8 billion in digital assets, noted that any similarities between CBDCs and bitcoin are fake. But as more people become familiar with the digital payment infrastructure due to the successful implementation of CBDCs, bitcoin will reap the benefits. “Whether or not CBDCs are successfully introduced, they already strengthen the case for non- sovereign digital currencies, like Bitcoin, by forcing institutions to consider adopting digital currency infrastructure, while also educating users on digital bearer assets and the characteristics of good money,” the report stated. “Bitcoin is unique not only because it is digital, but because it is scarce and available for anyone to use. The report explained that “moving fat currencies to digital infrastructure would highlight that bitcoin is special not because it is digital, but because bitcoin is a scarce, uncompromising, apolitical currency that is open for anyone to use.” What do you think about central bank digital currencies against bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Grayscale: Central Bank Digital Currencies Will ‘Neither Replace nor Harm Scarce, Uncompromising Bitcoin’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the month of April, the blockchain project Onfo initiated an experiment to see how fast crypto assets can gain popularity in four different countries. The team’s findings discovered that cryptocurrencies spread four times faster in developing nations as opposed to developed countries. Crypto Asset Network Effect Grows Stronger in Undeveloped Countries Last month, the blockchain team from the project Onfo, decided to run a social mining experiment in a number of different countries to see how crypto assets gain recognition and popularity. The researchers chose four different countries which include the U.S., Germany, Indonesia, and Russia. The U.S. and Germany represented the developed countries, while Russia and Indonesia are developing nations. Free crypto assets were sent to 100 individuals from each country and every person got ten coins each. Onfo conducted the experiment in Russia, Indonesia, Germany, and the U.S. The individuals would also get more coins if they attracted other users to try the crypto asset and results had shown the spread was far larger in developing countries. According to the results, the network effect spread was four times faster in Russia and Indonesia than it was in the U.S. and Germany. Onfo detailed that in the United States, 100 people attracted 1,112 people. In Germany the 100 individuals told 763 new people and the 100 Russian participants attracted 2,304 new users. Indonesia’s spread rates were monumental, as the 100 Indoneisan users attracted a whopping 4,350 people. “The spread index turned out to be almost 4 times higher than in the US, given that the two countries have similar population sizes,” explains Onfo’s report. Graph 1. Cryptocurrency spread rate. The founder of Onfo, J.R. Forsyth, believes the spread was faster in developing countries because small amounts of money are valued more in these regions. Forsyth noted that Indonesia shows an opportunity for “massive growth” and there are various factors that bolster the spread. “The absence of a national credit lending system, coupled with increasing smartphone penetration and the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, are also making Indonesia a ripe market for cryptocurrency disruption,” the report highlights. “Indonesia possesses the unique conditions that make it well-poised for Bitcoin adoption. As the world’s fourth most populous country, it’s home to a largely cash-based community, and huge swaths of the population — up to 80% — remain unbanked,” Forsyth stressed in the report. Southeast Asia and South Africa Are Ripe for Blockchain Growth and a Crypto Renaissance The U.S. and Indonesia have close to the same population, and Onfo’s findings show 14% of the American population are cryptocurrency users. In Indonesia, with around 270 million residents, the number of crypto users is around 11%. “In-depth analysis of the statistical data shows that Indonesians started getting involved in the crypto market 1-2 years ago, while Americans delved into the industry in 2008-2010. The results of the experiment conducted by Onfo demonstrate a rapidly expanding adoption level in Indonesia, meaning that the country can soon face its crypto renaissance,” the report details. Graph 2. Share of crypto users. The report’s authors also note that Southeast Asia is ripe for crypto asset adoption, and there are also other developing nations that are seeing the beginnings of a “crypto renaissance.” For instance, the Onfo report shows that South Africa is currently experiencing the renaissance period and reports from Luno and Arcane Research highlight these findings. “South Africa has the highest percent of cryptocurrency ownership or use among internet users in Africa, standing at 13%, followed by Nigeria with 11%,” Onfo’s report concludes. “The increase in volumes of cryptocurrencies across the continent has also seen P2P volumes from Sub-Saharan Africa overtake Latin America for the first time.” What do you think about crypto asset popularity growing four times faster in undeveloped nations? Let us know in the comments below. The post Cryptocurrencies Spread 4X Faster in Undeveloped Countries: Blockchain Analysis Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Popular demand for cryptocurrency has prompted Australia’s leading micro-investing platform Raiz (formerly Acorns) to add a bitcoin investment option. Individual investors can round up their spare change and regularly invest in a bitcoin investment portfolio. Leading Australian Micro-Investing App Now Offers Bitcoin Exposure Australia’s leading micro-investing platform Raiz announced on Tuesday that it has launched a portfolio with a bitcoin allocation. The new portfolio, called Sapphire, took 18 months to develop. Its investment objective “is to provide exposure to bitcoin in a managed, risk-adjusted way,” the company described. Raiz CEO George Lucas commented: Although this latest portfolio offering from Raiz is very high risk, feedback from many customers has clearly shown that they have an appetite for an investment strategy that has an exposure to cryptocurrencies. Raiz’s investing platform and app. “Many of our investors are millennials,” Raiz noted, adding that millennials are “more inclined to put money into crypto assets,” citing a report by U.S. brokerage firm Charles Schwab published in December last year. The company was previously known as Acorns Australia but changed its name to Raiz as it became an independent Australian company, breaking away from its original U.S. Acorns brand. Raiz will trade and store bitcoin with Gemini, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian founded by the Winklevoss twins. Gemini is a New York trust company regulated by the state’s Department of Financial Services. Gemini Managing Director of Operations Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto opined: Raiz is advancing micro-investments via its new portfolio that provides customers an opportunity to invest in bitcoin in a thoughtful, regulated manner. Structure of Raiz’s investments showing nine ETFs and the Sapphire portfolio with bitcoin allocation. Ways to Invest and Portfolio Choices In addition to the Sapphire portfolio, Raiz offers nine other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with different asset allocations and risk profiles, ranging from conservative to aggressive. The ETFs are quoted on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). There are three ways investors can fund their Raiz investment account. The first is by making a lump sum deposit. The second is by using the Raiz app’s round-up feature, and the third is by setting up a recurring deposit daily, weekly, or monthly. The round-up feature allows investors to link various payment methods — such as bank account, credit card or debit card — to their Raiz accounts and then round up the change from every transaction. These round-up contributions are then transferred into their Raiz investment accounts manually or automatically for investment. Sapphire aims to have 5% of its funds invested in bitcoin, with the remaining 95% comprising ETFs of U.S., Australian, European, and Asian large-cap stocks, and Australian corporate debt and money markets. “Raiz is not a trading tool, so Sapphire is a secure way to get bitcoin exposure without the complexities of trading,” the company claims. “With a target 5% asset allocation, the Sapphire portfolio provides investors a chance to reap the potential of bitcoin while limiting their exposure in a risk-adjusted way.” Nonetheless, due to the risks associated with cryptocurrency, “The minimum suggested investment timeframe [for the Sapphire portfolio] is more than five years,” the company recommends. What do you think about Raiz adding bitcoin as an option for investors? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Leading Australian Regulated Micro-Investing App Adds Bitcoin Option for Investors appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Swiss crypto financial firm Bitcoin Suisse has added gold, silver, and platinum to its platform, allowing users to trade the precious metals against both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), as well as five other major fiat currencies. The precious metal trades are available for 24/7 trading with immediate cash settlement, the company announced on May 26. The offering is not physically settled, it said, and claims are limited only to crypto and fiat. Users can invest a minimum of 100 Swiss francs ($103) without custody fees for holdings up to $103,000. Bitcoin Suisse notes that with precious metals, the firm is adding “assets which have been part of long-term investment strategies.” The three metals can also be traded against the Swiss franc, the United States dollar, the British pound, the euro, and the Danish krone. “By offering seamless precious metals trading, we go beyond the crypto asset class for the first time,” said Stefan Lütolf, head training, and liquidity management at Bitcoin Suisse. “It’s an excellent way to move between the two assets with the click of a button,” he added, claiming the new product is in response to rising demand for “scarce, highly valuable assets such as gold and bitcoin.” Lütolf is not sold to the idea that Bitcoin may be Gold 2.0 just as yet, but the company is preparing for a time when that becomes a reality. The Zug-based firm says “all precious metals on offer are stored by a trusted banking partner. Purchases are backed 100% by the Bitcoin Suisse bank guarantee.” Bitcoin is increasingly drawing comparisons with gold, an asset so often referred to as the original “safe haven”. Bloomberg recently stated that BTC will mature into a gold-like store of value in 2020, citing coronavirus-induced trillion-dollar stimulus and mainstream adoption as key drivers. However, tradable products that connect BTC and gold or other precious metals remain few and far between. That is beginning to change, as platforms offering the asset class have started to emerge, including the announcement by peer-to-peer exchange Paxful in April, allowing trades between bitcoin and gold. What do you think about the Bitcoin Suisse BTC-gold offering? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Suisse: Users Can Now Trade Gold Against Bitcoin and Ethereum appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A row with Twitter has provoked U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten to close down social media platforms. This follows Twitter tampering with Trump’s tweets to alert people to fact check his claims. Trump is further outraged by Twitter’s use of “fake news” sources to fact check his tweets. Meanwhile, some people are happy with Twitter’s action. Trump Warns Social Media Platforms: Clean Up Your Act or Be Shut Down U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to regulate or shut down social media companies after Twitter added a warning to two of his tweets, alerting readers to fact check the president’s claims. Outraged, Trump tweeted back at Twitter that the company “is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.” He added: “They are saying my statement on mail-in ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by fake news CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.” He further exclaimed: Twitter is completely stifling free speech, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen … Republicans feel that social media platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen. “We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again,” Trump declared. “Just like we can’t let large scale mail-in ballots take root in our country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, social media. Clean up your act, now.” Trump’s Tweets Spark Twitter Storm On Tuesday, Trump tweeted several times about mail-in ballots. Two particular tweets read: “There is no way (zero) that mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The governor of California is sending ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a rigged election. No way.” However, Twitter for the first time attached a message that reads “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” to Trump’s tweets, linking to a page disputing the president’s accuracy. The page states that “Trump makes [an] unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud,” citing news sources Trump often calls “fake news.” According to the page, Trump’s “claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others. Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.” Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign manager, issued a statement on Tuesday in response to Twitter’s action. “We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters,” he wrote, adding: Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact checkers’ is only a smoke screen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility. Some People Commend Twitter for Fact-Checking Trump Comments flooded Twitter on the matter, with some criticizing Twitter’s action for editing any tweets at all while others are glad that Trump got fact-checked. One user commented: “Twitter made a huge mistake. They have now injected themselves into a U.S. election and decided to become editorialists, rather than a platform. All platform protections should be immediately revoked and Twitter should be treated as a publisher. They did this to themselves.” Another user opined: “So glad that Twitter fact checked the lies spew by Donald Trump, if they have done that early we could have avoided listening to POTUS lying about the coronavirus and saved over 100,000 American lives.” A third user expressed, “Frankly, it’s appallingly that Trump has not been banned across all platforms for his constant lies and dangerous misinformation. We all have to follow the rules,” adding: They’re a private business with terms and conditions. When you violate those terms, there are consequences. Besides Twitter, other centralized platforms, like Youtube, have been known to censor users’ posts, prompting them to look for decentralized alternatives, such as Zeronet, Mastodon, and Gab. On Wednesday evening, a White House spokesperson reportedly said that Trump will sign an executive order regarding social media shortly. What do you think about Trump’s threat and Twitter fact-checking Trump? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Trump Threatens to Close Down Social Media Platforms After Twitter Tampers With His Tweets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

One of the largest ASIC mining manufacturers worldwide, Bitmain, has allegedly ousted cofounder Micree Zhan. Regional reports note that he’s been threatened with litigation if he interferes with company operations. According to two local announcements written in Chinese, Bitmain has warned Zhan two times not to intervene with employees. Last October, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Chinese mining rig manufacturer Bitmain and how the company purportedly filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a confidential fashion. Nothing ever transpired with the IPO, at least publicly, but during that same month there were rumors that said Micree Zhan was removed from his position. Now two alleged directives from Bitmain confirm that the cofounder was exiled from the company’s operatives. The two statements were posted to Bitmain’s Weibo page on Wednesday and a rough translation describes the events. One document explains that the company’s board of shareholders removed Zhan from all business operations and corporate roles. The statement also notes that if Zhan attempts to interfere with company business and employees they will take him to court. The statement shows that the removal of Zhan was based entirely on all the shareholders’ decisions. The statements also detail that Zhan should not talk to Bitmain employees and try to sway them. Bitmain employees have been told to ignore Zhan or they could be faced with legal actions. The financial news outlet Bloomberg has disclosed that Zhan has filed two lawsuits against the Chinese ASIC manufacturer. The report also alleges that Zhan had a large majority of Bitmain shares and claims to have more than 2X the shares Jihan Wu holds. The report also noted that Zhan posted a letter in November to his Wechat profile page and explained that he would “restore order” to Bitmain. The cofounder also wrote: “If someone wants war, we’ll give them war.” At the time, Bloomberg wrote that it was “unclear whether that balance has shifted since.” Even though statements were published on Bitmain’s Weibo page on May 27, it is still uncertain whether or not Zhan has been fully removed from control. What do you think about the stories about Micree Zhan and Bitmain? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitmain Cofounder Allegedly Expelled – Could Face Litigation for Operation Interference appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency payroll service Bitwage has announced the launch of a Bitcoin 401 (k) plan, allowing companies to give their employees a BTC-based retirement plan. In a press statement, Bitwage, which claims to have tested the product on its own employees for 10 months, said workers now have the ability to invest their pre-tax and post-tax dollars in BTC, through their employer. A 401(k) is a retirement plan that allows employees of a company to save and invest for retirement on a tax deferred basis. Under the plan, companies can match employee contributions in part, or in whole. The pre-tax plan, also known as traditional 401k, allows investment deferrals on income tax until withdrawal while the post-tax plan or Roth 401k allows investments that are tax-free on qualifying withdrawals. Based out of San Francisco, Bitwage is collaborating with crypto exchange Gemini, pension service provider Leading Retirement Solutions, and custodian service owner Kingdom Trust on the plan. “All funds will be converted on Gemini automatically for each pay period. Employees will be able to choose to buy and sell between USD and bitcoin as they want,” said the company. Bitwage stated that it is also looking to integrate Gemini’s trade facility directly into the Bitcoin 401(k) plan so that “institutional as well as retail investors have access to the same Gemini trading tools inside of tax-incentivized retirement accounts.” The company claims that it’s 401k plan helps small businesses meet requirements for the U.S’ Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a government loan scheme for incentivizing worker retention during the Covid-19 crisis. As a means of keeping more workers employed, the PPP, managed by federal authority Small Business Administration (SBA), offers 100% loan forgiveness to businesses that commit 75% of the funds to the payroll. Bitwage’s BTC plan gives employers the option to provide retirement benefits that qualify as part of the 75% expenses, it said. “It turns out that retirement benefits are included in the expenses that can be counted towards the 75% payroll expenses and they are not included in the $100,000 yearly salary cap per employee,” Bitwage explained. “This gives companies an opportunity to provide matching or profit-sharing contributions to employee 401k accounts in order to help close the gap to receive full loan forgiveness,” the company adds, stressing that its 401k plan allows employers to get more out of PPP loans, while providing employees “innovative investment options.” Bitwage, which operates in the U.S, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, has over 30,000 users and has processed over $100 million in transactions. What do you think about the Bitwage Bitcoin 401k plan? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitwage and Gemini Partner to Launch Bitcoin-Based Retirement Plan for Employees appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to the creator of the analytical bitcoin data web portal, Look Into Bitcoin, a chart often referred to as ‘Hodl Waves’ shows a bull run could be imminent. The web portal’s analyst Phillip Swift recently tweeted that 60% of all the bitcoin in circulation hasn’t moved in twelve months. The last time this trend took place was in 2016, months before the start of the 2017 crypto bull run. 60% of Bitcoin’s Supply Hasn’t Moved in Over a Year Last March, news.Bitcoin.com reported on a research report authored by Coin Metrics analyst Jacob Franek, which said as of March 1, 2020, roughly 42% of all BTC has not moved onchain in more than two years. However, since then on March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ the price per BTC dropped to $3,600 per coin. Using today’s exchange rates, BTC has risen 154% since Black Thursday and is currently trading above $9,100 per unit. The study from Coin Metrics highlighted that “Hodl Waves” have grown larger during the last few months. Essentially, Hodl Waves data analyzes the Bitcoin network’s UTXOs over the course of a few years and people like to measure distinct holding periods. Phillip Swift, the founder of the BTC monitoring web portal Look Into Bitcoin has noted that 60% of the bitcoin supply in circulation has not moved in over a year. Swift tweeted that this typically signals a trend toward the beginning of a bull run, as it did in late 2016 and into 2017. Swift stated: 60% of all bitcoin has not moved on the blockchain for at least 1 year. This is an indication of significant hodl’ing. The last time this happened was in early 2016, at the start of the bull run. Glassnode: ‘Realized Cap Age Bands Help Navigate Bitcoin Cycles’ Swift’s findings and the Hodl Waves chart he shared, shows that the 60 percentile has held steady for close to six months. Some traders have said that Goldman Sachs and Hedge fund manager and investor, Paul Tudor Jones’s statements have made crypto investors more bullish. “It is the likes of Tudor and Goldman that can help drive the next big wave of inflows into crypto,” explained one individual on Twitter. “Not the unicellular bitcoin Twiteratti with their stack sats and hodl mantras — Hence why it is important to pay attention to what they say,” he added. On May 26, news.Bitcoin.com also reported on the data firm Glassnode’s outlook, which noted that BTC was seeing some declining market health. 17 hours ago after Phillip Swift’s Hodl Waves tweet, Glassnode tweeted about a chart that shows BTC’s “realized cap Hodl Waves.” “Instead of using Bitcoin supply by age, UTXOs in each band are weighted by their creation price,” Glassnode tweeted. “The resulting realized cap age bands help navigate BTC cycles, gauge market tops, and the start of bull markets.” What do you think about the Hodl Waves charts and theories? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Bull Run Imminent? Hodl Waves Chart Shows 60% of Bitcoin Hasn’t Moved in a Year appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin (BTC) risks sliding back into bearish territory should onchain activity and overall market health continue to decline, warns analytics firm Glassnode. The latest market update from Glassnode shows that the GNI index, which measures the overall state of the Bitcoin network, dropped 18% or 13 points week-on-week, to a value of 60 points. Simultaneously, the price of BTC was falling below the psychological $9,000 level, to around $8,700. The index considers metrics such as network health, sentiment, and liquidity to determine the strength of bitcoin’s fundamentals. According to the report, all three measurements fell by between 8 points to 20 points, driving the GNI lower. The long-term health of the BTC network remains “relatively high,” it said, but declines in the overall network activity, exchange in-flows, and onchain transaction volumes is contributing to the decrease in the price of bitcoin. “This has been driven by an overall decrease in economic activity in relation to the price of BTC, as well as a slowing down of hodlers’ accumulation behavior; while hodlers are still accumulating, the rate at which they are doing so is declining,” Glassnode stated. Bitcoin is trading at prices between $8,700 to $8925 at press time, down 1.7% over the last 24 hours, and close to 10% in the past seven days, according to data from markets.bitcoin.com. The top cryptocurrency has fallen from just over $10,000 reached at the peak of the halving hype two weeks ago, as retail interest started to slow down. While the third Bitcoin halving seems to have slashed revenues for mining companies by a significant margin, resulting in high transaction fees, it will likely take several months before bitcoin turns bullish and possibly “over a year for the price to increase by an order of magnitude,” said Glassnode. What do you think about Bitcoin’s declining market fundamentals? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Risks Turning Bearish Due to Declining Market Health, Says Glassnode appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since November 28, 2019, the Cashfusion protocol has helped facilitate 4,583 fusions to-date with roughly 40,564 bitcoin cash ($9.1M). Cashfusion is an extension of the Cashshuffle platform and the protocol has been deemed “far more practical than other coinjoin protocols.” Bitcoin Cash proponents are now waiting for the completion of the codebase audit, as the protocol will undergo a security audit from the well known firm Kudelski Security. Cashfusion Protocol Facilitates Over 4,500 Fusions Cashfusion is a popular privacy-enhancing platform that is used for obfuscating bitcoin cash (BCH) transactions. The protocol has become very popular after many BCH supporter leveraged the previous platform called Cashshuffle. Cashfusion is an extension of Cashshuffle and makes transaction privacy even more enhanced. The protocol has been reviewed by a number of people including the data analyst James Waugh. The analyst tested thousands of BCH transactions and combed through a number of inputs and outputs. Waugh realized that it’s “not possible to establish a concrete link” between fused transactions and he explained that Cashfusion is “far more practical than other coinjoin protocols.” Since then a great number of BCH supporters have been utilizing the privacy-enhancing software. Since the end of November last year, BCH supporters have fused $9.1M worth of BCH or 40,564 BCH total. The 40,000 BCH was fused in 4,583 fusions with 266,752 inputs and 260,385 outputs. Users can see Cashfusion stats by leveraging Acidsploit’s stats.devzero.be/#/fusion website but also the web portal stats.cash is recording fusions as well. The previous platform Cashshuffle still gets a lot of use and traction and since March 27, 2019 there’s been 52,123 shuffles. Approximately 247,387 bitcoin cash has been shuffled since then as well or $55.8 million at today’s exchange rates. On Friday’s BCH fans celebrate “Fusion Friday,” as they gather together that day to produce a number of fusions. This trend was taken from “Shuffle Saturdays,” which sees participants shuffle more BCH every weekend. Bitcoin Cash Supporters Await the Kudelski Security Audit and Look Forward to High Levels of Privacy Right now, BCH proponents are waiting for the security audit from Kudelski Security who will review the Cashfusion codebase and operations. Bitcoin.com and the grassroots BCH community raised $50,000 for the Kudelski audit and $50,000 for Cashfusion developer expenses. After the Kudelski review of Cashshuffle, the developers launched the official version of the protocol. The Cashshuffle Kudelski review was positive and many BCH supporters look forward to the outcome of Cashfusion’s audit. The conclusion of the Cashshuffle audit explained that the protocol showed no significant deviations. “We further believe that the Cashshuffle codebase that we reviewed is implementing the Coinshuffle protocol with no significant deviations, and we did not find any evidence of malicious intent, flawed logic, or potential backdoor in the codebase,” the security researchers at Kudelski said. As governments and law enforcement officials worldwide continue to wreak havoc on financial privacy, Cashfusion is anticipated immensely for that reason. Further, blockchain analysis and surveillance have grown very large since the early days, and a better privacy option for bitcoin cash transactions that surpasses traditional coinjoin techniques, would be welcomed by the community. Lately, a number of BCH fans using the Reddit forum r/btc have been showing off their successful fusions and inputs and outputs. What do you think about the $9.1 million worth of bitcoin cash fused so far? Let us know in the comments below. The post $9M and Over 4,500 Fusions – Bitcoin Cash Supporters Anticipate the Cashfusion Audit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that banks will struggle to generate profits at least five years after the global economy recovers from the coronavirus-led economic crisis. The IMF explained that banks were struggling even before the covid-19 pandemic so their troubles “will extend to at least 2025, well beyond the immediate effects of the current situation.” Banks to Face at Least 5 More Years of Hardship The IMF expects that banks will continue to struggle to generate earnings after the global economy recovers from the economic crisis. In its most recent “Global Financial Stability Report,” the IMF examined banks across nine advanced economies and found that they will struggle to generate profits over the next five years as the coronavirus pandemic causes a sustained period of low interest rates. The IMF described: Banks’ earnings challenges emerged prior to the recent covid-19 episode and will extend to at least 2025, well beyond the immediate effects of the current situation. “The covid-19 outbreak is an additional test to banks’ resilience,” the IMF elaborated. “Underlying profitability pressures are likely to persist over the medium- and longer-term even once the global economy begins to recover from the current shock.” Banks’ earnings have already been severely hit by the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, with several of the largest U.S. banks reporting massive losses in Q1 2020. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index, a benchmark stock index of the U.S. banking sector, has fallen 39% year to date. Wells Fargo’s first-quarter earnings fell 90% while JPMorgan Chase’s profit dropped 70%. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley also saw their profits plunge. However, Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski pointed out that banks have not taken substantial credit losses so their large provisions for loan losses in the first quarter lack “economic substance.” Significant loan losses are expected in the second quarter. IMF financial counselor Tobias Adrian pointed out that “Banks go into this crisis with a lot of capital and liquidity.” Nonetheless, he added: This is a very, very severe economic crisis. The European Banking Authority (EBA), however, said Monday that it expects banks in Europe to be able to withstand the potential credit risk losses from the economic crisis. The EBA noted that “the extent to which banks will be affected by the crisis is expected to differ widely, depending on how the crisis evolves, the starting capital level of each bank and the magnitude of their exposures to the most affected sectors.” Meanwhile, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs last month that more than 100 countries have asked for emergency assistance so far. The IMF has declared a global recession, predicting the worst global crisis since the Great Depression with a cumulative loss estimate to global GDP of around $9 trillion. What do you think about the IMF’s prediction? Let us know in the comments section below. The post IMF Predicts Banks Will Struggle at Least 5 More Years After Global Economy Recovers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Switzerland’s government has rejected a 100 million franc ($103 million) bailout for local cryptocurrency companies battered by the coronavirus economy, local media reported. Zug finance director Heinz Taennler requested the special funding package in April. He planned to issue out loans to startups, which could be converted into shares. The central government had already unveiled a $158.6 million credit facility for all fintech startups, but Taennler felt that won’t be enough for the cryptocurrency sector’s ambitious financing needs. Zug is the heartbeat of Switzerland’s famed crypto industry, commonly known as the “Crypto Valley.” Now, members of the Zug local government last week turned down Taennler’s funding request, the only such request to be rejected from over 24 different applications for coronavirus emergency funding, according to a report by local newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. The majority of the government officials were reportedly not too enthused about the future of the crypto industry. However, the Zug finance director announced a loan facility of about $15.4 million on May 25, which is now expected to provide temporary relief to emerging businesses in Crypto Valley. The report said more than 66% of cryptocurrency and blockchain companies that applied for broader central government loan guarantees failed to get them. “Taennler wanted to help blockchain start-ups shaken by the corona crisis with a sovereign wealth fund. But his government colleagues reject this,” said the newspaper report. The once-flourishing Swiss cryptocurrency industry is struggling to survive following the withdrawal of private equity investors. About 80% of 203 firms surveyed by the Swiss Blockchain Federation recently warned of imminent bankruptcy. Only half of the 50 biggest companies in Crypto Valley expect to last a year in business. While startups are generally threatened by the Covid-19 impact on the economy, Cypto Valley’s loss of venture capital constitutes an underlying condition. A mid-2019 analysis of the 50 top companies valued them at $40 billion, which was two times their value at the beginning of the year. The report also listed six unicorns. As a whole, the “Crypto Valley” had more than 800 companies with over 4,000 employees. What do you think of the Swiss government turning down Crypto Valley’s funding request? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Swiss Government Rejects $103 Million Bailout for Crypto Companies Battered by Coronavirus appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Ethereum network now has more bitcoin held in reserves than the Lightning Network, according to onchain statistics. At the time of publication, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) has close to 4,000 BTC ($34.7M) held in reserves, while the Lightning Network has only 925 BTC ($8.3M). Wrapped Bitcoin Project’s Total Value Locked Climbs to 3.9k Bitcoin Just recently a number of people on Twitter congratulated the Ethereum network for becoming Bitcoin’s (BTC) largest second layer or unofficial side-chain. This is because the Total Value Locked (TVL) for BTC-pegged ETH tokens has surpassed both Lightning Network and Blockstream’s Liquid platform combined. According to statistics on the web portal Defi Pulse, the Lightning Network (LN) has a TVL of around 925 BTC today. This means the LN reserves hold around 0.01% of all BTC in circulation. The TVL on the LN platform has held around $8 to $9 million since May 7, 2020. Prior to that, the LN had about a million dollars less than the current TVL on April 28, 2020. Lightning Network stats on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. The BTC-pegged ETH tokens called Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) have seen massive demand lately, and at the moment there is 3.9k BTC held in the WBTC reserves. Using today’s exchange rates there is around $34.7 million worth of BTC held and the demand spiked significantly during the last week and a half. For instance, on May 11, 2020, WBTC’s TVL only held $11 million worth of BTC. After that date, the TVL for the BTC-pegged ETH token jumped significantly and now captures 4X more than the LN platform. Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) stats on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Just recently, Vitalik Buterin discussed certain trust models for BTC-pegged ETH tokens and detailed that he was concerned about some of the trust models. Despite Sidechain Trust Models, Ethereum Is the Largest Bitcoin Sidechain by TVL In addition to WBTC, the Ethereum network also has a number of other BTC-pegged ETH tokens and the protocol also has more tether (USDT) than the Omni Layer network. Besides tether, a great majority of the crypto economy’s stablecoins like TUSD, USDC, DAI, and PAX all leverage the ETH network as well. Despite, the massive interest in people using ETH for stablecoins and BTC-pegged ETH tokens using the ERC20 standard, Ethereum cofounder has some concerns. On Twitter, someone commented on how there is 2.5X more BTC on Ethereum than Blockstream’s Liquid project. In response, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin said: I’m worried about the trust models of some of these tokens. It would be sad if there ends up being $5B of BTC on ethereum and the keys are held by a single institution. Blockstream’s Liquid stats for May 2020. Blockstream’s Liquid trust model has been criticized often because of the 15 Federation members. The official Twitter account for the website Coinatmradar.com tweeted about the issues with Liquid two days ago. “On liquid network 1/3 of functionaries can block any funds,” Coinatmradar tweeted. “If a U.S. court order to stop a particular transfer and sends to 15 companies (of current 45 members) within U.S. jurisdiction, does that mean one person (judge) can theoretically block any funds movement on the Liquid network?” Buterin did not disclose which project he was talking about, but many assume he may have been referring to WBTC. The project WBTC does have a custodian, and reserves are kept secure by the company Bitgo. The company offers a transparent web portal that allows people to verify custodied bitcoin addresses against the TVL within WBTC’s coffers. Besides the LN platform taking a fair share of criticism over the years, Blockstream’s Liquid has been criticized by the community as well. The founder of Blockchair, Nikita Zhavoronkov, recently took issue with Blockstream’s Liquid project on May 24 in a tweet. “Ziya Sadr asks if an Iranian company may become a Liquid Functionary,” Zhavoronkov tweeted. “[Blockstream CEO Adam Back] tries to dodge the question. While the Terms of Service on their website gives a clear answer: NO.” The discussion concerning Ethereum holding more BTC than the LN and Liquid combined, has been a trending conversation on social media and cryptocurrency forums. Lots of people debating on the custodial reserves held by Bitgo, but people also dislike the 15 company model that holds custodial powers within the Liquid federation. The community may still have to wait for Paul Sztorc’s drivechain, for a more decentralized BTC sidechain or second layer. Despite the custodial controversy, the Ethereum network, as far as Total Value Locked concerned is currently BTC’s largest sidechain and the ETH chain moves an enormous amount of value every day. What do you think about the TVL held on Ethereum? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Despite Trust Model Debates, Ethereum Is Bitcoin’s Largest Sidechain by Total Value Locked appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article