roadrunner

In mid-April, news.Bitcoin.com reported John McAfee’s new privacy token called Ghost, as the former anti-virus tycoon detailed “governments will be unable to shut it down.” Ghost won’t be distributed in the usual fashion by leveraging an initial coin offering (ICO), as the project will instead utilize the airdrop process. In order to obtain the Ghost token, recipients will need to hold a specific ERC20 token called ESH. Today, Bitcoin.com’s cryptocurrency trading platform announced that ESH will now be listed, so users can obtain the token in order to participate in the Ghost airdrop or trade against it using Bitcoin.com’s powerful trading engine. The Bitcoin.com Exchange continues to improve and add new features to the overall trading experience. Just recently, the trading platform announced the listing of the BTCSHORT token produced by Amun, which allows people to gain exposure to -1x the daily price performance of BTC. On Friday, May 22, 2020, the Bitcoin.com Exchange is adding the ESH token, a coin that was recently introduced for John McAffee’s decentralized exchange (dex). Now Bitcoin.com Exchange clients can obtain ESH and use the tokens on McAfee’s dex or they can use Bitcoin.com’s trading platform to bet for or against the coin. Another option is for people to hold ESH, this is because ESH holders will be qualified to get some of the Ghost token supply during an Airdrop on May 25, 2020. 25% of the Ghost token supply will go to ESH holders based on a May 25, 2020, snapshot of the distributed ledger at 8 p.m. CST. Distribution for ESH holders will be 1:1, which means if you hold one ESH you are eligible for a single Ghost token. Ever since this airdrop was announced, the ESH token has been in high demand and the price has jumped 17,500% in a matter of days. McAfee has said that the creation of the Ghost token helps fulfill his dream to make privacy-centric crypto transactions the new norm. Ghost was created to allow anyone in the world to trade across any borders on the web “without a trace.” To McAfee, BTC is limited by the publicly available hashes on the web, alongside the transactional history of coins and addresses. “Ghost aims to bolster private transactions on the web, without sacrificing the ease of transacting,” explains the token’s creators. For people who share McAfee’s vision of privacy, they may want to look into ESH and Ghost and can easily participate in the airdrop by leveraging ESH before the May 25 distribution period. If you are interested in one of the fastest trading engines on the market and want to start trading digital assets today, then check out Bitcoin.com’s Exchange. The trading platform is easy to leverage, and people can trade a number of popular coins like bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), tron (TRX), zcash (ZEC), stellar (XLM), dash (DASH) and eos (EOS), bitcoin (BTC) and more. What do you think about Bitcoin.com Exchange listing ESH? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitcoin.com Exchange Lists ESH Token Support Prior to John McAfee’s Ghost Airdrop appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin transactions on darknet markets jumped 65% in value during the first quarter, according to research by a blockchain analytics firm. The amount of bitcoin sent from darknet entities to mixers also grew rapidly as exchanges with verification requirements became less popular among darknet users. Growing Bitcoin Use on Darknet Markets Crystal Blockchain’s analytics team published on Tuesday an analysis of the use of bitcoin on darknet markets. The researchers analyzed darknet interactions with exchanges and “other entities” throughout Q1 2020. The data obtained were then compared to historical darknet activity from the past three years. Other entities include “payment processors, gambling services, illegal services, miners, marketplaces, online wallets, ransom extortioners, scams, stolen coins, and/or others,” the team clarified. Crystal Blockchain is a crypto analytics platform developed by the Bitfury Group. The researchers wrote, “The amount of money being transferred by darknet entities is still growing, and they are continuing to use bitcoin as a medium of transport,” adding: The value of the amount of bitcoin transferred (measured in USD) grew by 65% … The mass adoption of bitcoin, as well as its ease of use and popularity, is a contributing factor. “If we consider the amounts in USD, we see that darknet entities received and sent an increased amount of money — from $384m in Q1 2019 to $411m in Q1 2020,” the team continued. “This is partly explained by the growing capitalization of bitcoin, as well as further mass adoption of bitcoin. As it becomes increasingly easier to use cryptocurrency, the popularity of this payment method is steadily increasing.” Based on this chart provided by Crystal Blockchain, the amount sent and received in Q1 2019 was $481 million compared to $795 million in Q1 2020, representing an increase of 65%. While the overall transfer value increased, the number of bitcoins transacted through darknet markets actually declined. Darknet entities sent approximately 64,000 BTC and received roughly the same amount in the first quarter of last year. In comparison, they sent 50,000 BTC and received 47,000 BTC in Q1 2020. “These drops in bitcoin received and sent could be due to the growing popularity of altcoin usage by darknet entities,” the team speculated. According to analytics data provider 1000x Group, most of the major darknet markets that are currently up and running allow only bitcoin: Silk Road 3.1, UAS Service RDP, Hydra, Wannabuy RDP, Slilpp, Sipulimarket, Uniccshop, and Tor Market. Monopoly Market and White House Market allow only monero. Cannazon allows both bitcoin and monero while Darkbay and Empire allow BTC, LTC, and XMR. Growing Use of Mixers by Darknet Entities The Crystal Blockchain analytics team also found that the amount of bitcoin sent to exchanges requiring KYC verification fell during the quarter. This suggests “a reduction in the use of cryptocurrency exchanges for criminal and darknet activities in favor of more anonymous services like mixers,” the team presumed, noting: In Q1 2020, there was a rapid growth in the amount of bitcoin sent from darknet entities to mixers. The number of bitcoins sent from one darknet entity to another also grew in the first quarter, prompting the researchers to theorize that darknet users could be trying to hide their bitcoin flow inside of the darknet to avoid detection of their activities. Meanwhile, darknet entities sent significantly more coins to mixers this year, up from 790 bitcoins in Q1 2019 to 7,946 bitcoins in Q1 2020. The research team shared: This indicates a rapid adoption of crypto mixing services by darknet entities. Moreover, the amount of bitcoin that mixing services sent to darknet entities nearly tripled, from 106 bitcoins in Q1 2019 to 288 bitcoins in Q1 2020. Crystal Blockchain’s researchers concluded, “it seems that exchanges with verification requirements are becoming less popular as a way to withdraw bitcoin from darknet entities, while mixers are becoming more popular for withdrawing from darknet entities.” What do you think about bitcoin’s growing use on darknet markets? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Use on Darknet Markets Jumps 65% in First Quarter appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Wednesday, 50 bitcoin mined on February 9, 2009, was moved from the original address to a new address. The movement of coins caused a great commotion throughout the cryptocurrency community, as some individuals assumed it may have been the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. However, skeptics believe that even though the coins stemmed from an address a touch over a month old from the time Nakamoto bootstrapped the Bitcoin network, it may have been someone else who mined alongside the creator. The Incredible Fascination With Bitcoin Block 3,654 The creator of Bitcoin and early cryptocurrency mining, has been a topical conversation on Wednesday. The reason is because 50 BTC from February 9, 2009, was moved from the original block reward address to another address. This has made people break out their notes, analyze the blockchain, and become armchair sleuths hot on the trail for whoever the person might be. Various theories have come into play, as people have thought that maybe it was Hal Finney’s wife, one of the Kleimans, Craig Wright, Marti Malmi, someone who may have mined alongside Satoshi Nakamoto, or possibly even the creator. One of the first issues at hand is how many people were mining bitcoin in 2009. Some people believe a few others had access to Satoshi’s software around that time. There are instances where Satoshi told the public that the software was given to others for peer review. A mailing list response to James A. Donald on Nov. 17, 2008, explains that Satoshi gave files to possibly a few people before the launch on January 3, 2009. A bitcointalk.org member dubbed “Cryddit” told the public he had access to early software. Prior to block 3,654, Satoshi Nakomoto also said he distributed the software to a few other people and thanked two people named “Dustin” and “Nicholas” for their feedback. Sergio Demián Lerner’s Patoshi Pattern Coin Metric’s executive, Nic Carter, also discussed the 50 BTC coins from 2009 moving on Wednesday. “Early non-Satoshi mined coins are periodically awakened, just not frequently,” Carter said. “Keep in mind it’s basically impossible to prove that Satoshi ‘didn’t’ mine these coins, but the best research we have suggests that Satoshi mined a specific set of blocks, of which this is not one.” At this point, Carter is discussing the research done by RSK Labs chief scientist Sergio Demián Lerner. “Here’s a visualization of the Patoshi pattern with the block that was just spent. The blocks believed to be Satoshi have a specific pattern in the nonce, which this block does not have,” Carter stressed on Twitter. Other bitcoin advocates came up with the same hypothesis using Sergio Demián Lerner’s “Patoshi” pattern research. Chart: Nic Carter, via Twitter That particular research shows that there is strong evidence to suggest that a single miner or very small group of miners (5 CPUs) could have mined 22,000 blocks. One person asked software developer Jameson Lopp if he “thought the ‘Patoshi Pattern’ is an exhaustive list?” “IIRC the pattern drops off after block 50,000 or so,” Lopp replied. “That’s all it is, though – a pattern. The list is exhaustive in that it’s what matches the pattern; the real Satoshi might have mined other blocks with another setup,” the developer added. The RSK Labs chief scientist wasn’t the only one who studied early patterns in Bitcoin history as another person in 2017 tried to unravel the clues. A Single Intel CPU: 1 Miner, 5 Miners, Or 20? Evidence suggests that back in the early days of bitcoin, around the same time block 3,654 was produced, there was only a small amount of hashpower pushing the chain forward. A blog post from eklitzke.org shows that between the birth of the Bitcoin network in January 2009 and the two months that followed, the hashrate was around 4-8 megahash per second (MH/s). We all know that an old Antminer S9 could blow that hashrate away, but back then Satoshi used a central processing unit. “I find it reasonable to assume that most of the hashing power in the first year or so of Bitcoin’s existence came from Satoshi Nakamoto,” the blog post details. “If real users were actually joining and leaving Bitcoin, one would expect the hash rate to have varied a lot more, particularly in the first six months.” The report also shows that the hashrate could have been kept up with a single computer. “The few months have a consistent hash rate of about 5 MH/s [and] would it have been feasible for Satoshi Nakamoto to have solo mined with 5 MH/s in 2009?” the researcher asked. The report’s author continued by adding: The answer is yes, and in fact, it’s possible to achieve this hash rate using a single Intel CPU. The linked Bitcoin wiki page gives a 5.1 MH/s hash rate for the Core i5-650 CPU, which was released in January 2010 with a 3.2 GHz clock speed. The Intel CPUs available in 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin would have been slightly earlier generation Core 2 processors. Those would have been nearly as fast as a Core i5-650. In fact, the highest-end desktop processors available when Satoshi Nakamoto started mining Bitcoin would have been much faster than that. The wiki page shows that a Core 2 Quad Q6600 (released January 2007) would have been capable of achieving 11 MH/s. The numbers for AMD CPUs in this era are similar. Bitcoin Block 3654 Malmi Denies Involvement and Links to the Kleiman v. Wright Case The early Bitcoin developer, Marti Malmi, has explained on Twitter that it probably wasn’t him either, when he was recently mentioned in a Cointelegraph article. “Nope,” Malmi tweeted. “Bitcoin was announced on the cryptography mailing list in January 2009 and many people could have tested it. I found Bitcoin around April.” Then there was also the Twitter conversation involving Craig Wright, the Australian native who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. “I followed some of the output of that transaction from the old wallet,” explained one sleuth on Twitter. “It led to this wallet, 966 pages back 100 BTC was transferred last fall (it has 4800 transactions in it). Not sure if you can tell anything from this or where that 100 came from.” Craig Wright’s friend Calvin Ayre responded by saying: I think you will find this to not be Craigs, or at least not Craig doing it…who owns this is for the courts maybe. “It traces back to block 9. This is definitely Craig’s address as he signed from it in 2015 and in 2017 on the @satoshi handle,” another person replied to the conversation with Ayre. Some speculate that one of the addresses used in the Kleiman v. Wright court case is somehow involved with the 50 BTC movement on Wednesday. Twitter is now going crazy about the speculation that the coins may have been the very creator’s bitcoins. However, many people are already dismissing the movement by simply referring to onchain blockchain analysis and data. Despite the debunkings, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have always been fascinated with Satoshi Nakamoto’s lore and alleged treasures. What do you think about the 50 bitcoin from 2009 moving? Let us know in the comments below. The post Wild Satoshi Theories: The Curious Case of Bitcoin Block 3654 from 2009 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The central banking system in the U.S. and the country’s megabanks have manipulated the economy for quite some time and these days, the coronavirus has been a great excuse to create trillions for stimulus. A recent report from the analysts at Wall Street on Parade indicates that American citizens could be responsible for 98% of the $6.98 trillion from the Fed’s balance sheet. Five unelected people from the New York Federal Reserve and its shareholders’ JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley created trillions of dollars without permission from the American people. Report Shows the Federal Reserve Made American Taxpayers Liable for $6.9 Trillion The Federal Reserve, America’s megabanks, and financial incumbents do whatever they want these days and the Covid-19 pandemic is the perfect excuse for massive corporate and Wall Street bailouts. During the last few months, financial analysts from the publication Wall Street on Parade, Pam Martens and Russ Martens have been exposing the central bank’s schemes and ties to their corporate masters. A while back news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the Martens discovered that the economic system in America started crumbling in September, but an even newer report suggests it started as early as August 2019. On May 19, 2020, the Martens again published another scathing review of the New York Fed and shareholders putting American taxpayers “on the hook for 98% of the Fed’s $6.98 trillion balance sheet.” The five governors of the Federal Reserve Board who created $6.98 trillion without any permission or vote from the American public. These five people and the New York Fed report to megabank shareholders such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Photo credit: Pam Martens and Russ Martens. “If the Fed and it’s rapidly growing $6.98 trillion balance sheet blows up, the U.S. taxpayer will be on the hook for 98 percent of the losses.,” the report details. “The bank shareowners were responsible for just 1.8 percent of the $6.98 trillion in liabilities that the Federal Reserve has created with the flick of an electronic button. In other words, an institution controlled by five unelected people, with the insane power to create money out of thin air by pushing an electronic button, have put taxpayers (and the next generation) on the hook for $6.85 trillion,” the report adds. The ‘Good Ole’ Boys Bankers Club’ Habitually Propped up the US Economy With Cheap Money The Martens report continues to explain how the Fed created all that money out of thin air. The researchers say that the NY Fed has been pushing the button the most and way more than the other 11 regional Federal Reserve banks. “As of last Wednesday (May 13, 2020), the New York Fed’s balance sheet stood at $3.9 trillion or 56 percent of the balance sheet tally for all 12 regional Fed banks,” the Martens stressed. The Wall Street on Parade analysts say they have scoured through the share totals for each of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks. The report further explains the real masterminds behind all the money creation and the Fed’s quantitative easing schemes. The Martens state: The New York Fed is privately-owned by some of the largest, most dangerous banks in America which, since 2008, have been habitually propped up by cheap money from the New York Fed. Those megabanks include JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Creating Trillions With No Questions Asked, Is a Common Theme Among Central Banks and Financial Incumbents Since the Early 1900s The Federal Reserve and the financial incumbents have been caught red-handed so many times, that setting up the American citizenry to take the brunt of $6.98 trillion is really no surprise. The banking cartel manipulated the nation’s monetary system since the early 1900s and in 1913 when the central bank came to fruition. The ‘House of Morgan’ and the Fed ruined the economy again in the ‘20s and ‘30s and crafted the banking holiday. Throughout 2007 through 2010 the Fed and mega bankers did the same thing and created the subprime mortgage crisis. After 2010, two years later in 2012, tens of thousands of Americans and international citizens took to the streets and camped out in the financial districts for months during the Occupy Wall Street movement. At this time, bitcoin was around for three years old and was steadily gaining a lot more value in 2012. It’s now been over 11 years since the creation of bitcoin, and eight years since Occupiers took to the streets. It is blatantly obvious that the central banks and the smaller financial incumbents that are shareholders, will never be held accountable. Despite the severe vulnerabilities and looming hyperinflation, the Fed will continue to create massive amounts of dollars at any time, in a whimsical fashion. There is a reason why only five board members have been able to create 6.98 trillion dollars with no questions asked. The reason is no one is going to stop them, as the banking cartel understands the American populace and all the other citizens from countries the USD infects, have no clue what’s going on with the value of their own money. What do you think about the Martens report that shows the NY Fed is leaving taxpayers on the hook for trillions? Let us know in the comments below. The post Generations of Debt: US Taxpayers Held Liable for Federal Reserve’s $6.9 Trillion Balance appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few months, Bitcoin.com’s cryptocurrency exchange has added a number of new coins and features. Today, Bitcoin.com Exchange has added an Ethereum-based inverse token called “BTCSHORT,” a token that gives users exposure to the inverse or -1x the daily performance of Bitcoin on any given day. Bitcoin.com Exchanges Adds Amun’s BTCSHORT Inverse Token Bitcoin.com Exchange traders can now access a new Ethereum-based inverse token created by the company Amun. Our cryptocurrency trading platform has added BTCSHORT so traders can gain exposure to the inverse or -1x the daily performance of bitcoin (BTC). The new token will be accessible at 10:00 a.m. UTC and it will be paired with the stablecoin tether (USDT). A recent blog post published by Bitcoin.com explains how the BTCSHORT product from Amun works and how customers who use our exchange can leverage the token. “BTCSHORT is strictly not a security, carries many risks, and is not suitable for risk-averse token holders and traders,” the blog post explains. “This type of token is best suited for sophisticated, highly risk-tolerant token holders who understand and are comfortable with taking on the risks inherent to inverse tokens like BTCSHORT and understand the risks associated in holding tokens generally and inverse products in particular.” How BTCSHORT Works For instance, if the price of BTC is trending downward then BTCSHORT’s multi-day performance will prosper, and daily returns of the token will be compounded. In contrast, if there is low volatility and the price of BTC is headed northbound, then BTCSHORT’s performance will drop and there will be no compounded returns. “Losses made on one day will be, because of previous losses, applied to a smaller amount,” the announcement details. “This means that compounding will lead to slightly reduced losses than if there were no compounding.” Additionally, the BTCSHORT listing announcement adds: BTCSHORT offers a notional exposure to -1x the daily performance of Bitcoin. It is crucial that all token holders understand how compounding and the daily rebalancing of the token affect performance, especially in volatile markets. The tokens are designed for holding periods of equal or less than one day and holders need to consider their holdings each day. If you are interested in learning more about BTCSHORT and other digital asset token backed by industry experts then check out Amun’s website and frequently asked questions (FAQ) section. If you want to join one of the fastest cryptocurrency trading platforms on the market today, then check out Bitcoin.com’s Exchange today. Our exchange is a simple-to-use trading engine that offers a variety of different cryptocurrencies. Popular digital assets hosted on the platform include coins like litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), tron (TRX), zcash (ZEC), stellar (XLM), dash (DASH) and eos (EOS) are paired with markets denominated in base currencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH), ETH, BTC, and tether (USDT). What do you think about the token BTCSHORT? Let us know in the comments below. The post Exposure to -1x the Daily Performance: Bitcoin.com Exchange Adds Inverse Token BTCSHORT appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin (BTC) miners earned 44% more in transaction fees in the nine days since the halving than they did for the whole of April. If this continues miners will have more than doubled their income from transaction fees going forward. According to data from Coinmetrics, miners have collected the equivalent of 1,176 BTC in transaction fees since Bitcoin’s third supply cut on May 11. That compares with 818 BTC earned as fees in April and 1,251 BTC in March, the figures show. Miners reap fewer bitcoin with each halving. The latest event slashed rewards paid to miners by 50% to 6.25 BTC, leaving some operators on the brink of collapse. The bonuses are a major revenue source for mining companies. Now, as the third halving whipped up retail interest, demand for processing transactions through the Bitcoin network rose, causing fees to soar. Since May 11, the average transaction cost for BTC has climbed as much as 220% to more than $6.40, as per Bitinfocharts. On the day of the halving, fees averaged just below $2. Transaction costs had already been rising two weeks prior to the event, spiking 400%. Fees are paid each time a Bitcoin transaction is processed and confirmed by a miner, who pockets the fees, in addition to the block reward, as revenue. There’s been some suggestion that miners are using higher fees to compensate for lost revenue from the block reward cut – creating what could arguably become a future market for BTC, one based on fees. Proponents argue higher fees help keep the Bitcoin network secure. But bitcoin fundamentalists are unimpressed, citing high cost as a stumbling block to mass adoption. Miners are now hoping that the price of BTC rises above $10,000 and stays there, for them to remain profitable. What do you think about the rising transaction fees? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Miners Double Revenue: Fees Spiked Over 200% in 10 Days Since the Halving appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Thousands of mining servers and all the datacenter infrastructure needed to operate them will be auctioned off in an upcoming public sale of Hyperblock’s property. The company has announced on Thursday, May 14, 2020, that its 20MW Montana, USA datacenter went offline and that it has ceased all cryptocurrency mining operations. Hyperblock Equipment Public Sale The senior secured lenders to Hyperblock LLC, Project Spokane and Sean Walsh, will conduct a public sale of the company’s property on June 3, 2020 via conference call (see notice here for details). On auction will be all of Hyperblock’s servers with their PSUs, including: 791 Bitmain Antminer S17 servers, 359 Bitmain Antminer S17 Pro servers, 1493 Bitmain Antminer S17+ servers, 6641 Bitmain Antminer S9 servers, 726 Bitmain Antminer T17 servers, 162 Avalon921 servers and 161 GPU servers. The auction will also include all of Hyperblock’s datacenter infrastructure, including: 423 Acme Engineering 36″ fans, 30 Grainger/ACME Engineering 42″ fans, 14 ACME Engineering 60″ fans, 8 2,500kVA indoor Switchgear lineups (aka indoor substations), 55 500kVA indoor transformers, 3 750kVA indoor transformers, 3,124 misc PDUs, 339 225A breaker panels, 6 400A breaker panels, 560 (8′ wide, 9′ tall) shelving racks, 6,374 new Delta 2400W PSUs, 374 used Delta 2400W PSUs and 1,420 brand new Delta 2400W PSUs with 10, 16″ PCIe cables soldered on. Additionally included are enough electrical cabling and computer network equipment to run 13,000 servers in about 120k square feet of space. YouTube Video of Datacenter: (Note: some of the statistics shown in this video are outdated) Terms of the Auction The lenders have the first priority security interest in the property. They may bid for it and credit bid against all or a portion of its secured claim. The property will be sold free and clear of the lenders’ liens and any subordinate security interests in the property. In order to participate in the auction process, each potential bidder must deliver an executed confidentiality agreement and current financial statements or other evidence of the ability to purchase the property. A qualified bidder will be permitted to perform due diligence by contacting the counsel for the lenders (contact information below). At the Sale, the property will be sold at a public auction to the highest qualified bidder. Higher bids will continue to be entertained until the lenders have determined that they have received the best bid for the property in their sole discretion. The lenders reserve the right to reject all bids and terminate as they may deem proper. The property will be sold as is, with all faults and without any warranties whatsoever, expressed or implied. No person shall be entitled to any expense reimbursement, brokerage fee, break up fee, “topping,” termination or similar fee or payout from the proceeds of the sale. The public sale may be postponed. In such event, an announcement of the scheduled sale will be made at the currently proposed date and time of the sale. Check out the notice here for more details. Attorney Contact Information: Peter W. Ito 1550 Larimer Street, Suite 667 Denver, CO 80202 hyperblockassets@gmail.com (720) 281-5294 Click here for more details. The post Hyperblock Bitcoin Mining Servers and Datacenter Infrastructure to Be Auctioned off in Public Sale appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Positive investor sentiment about bitcoin (BTC) on Twitter has reached record levels – its highest in three years – triggered by the cryptocurrency’s supply cut earlier this month, data shows. According to crypto data company The Tie, the 30-day average daily sentiment score is at an all-time high since 2017. The “score” typically measures the difference between positive and negative BTC reviews at certain periods. The latest ranking indicates that investors on Twitter are upbeat about the future of the asset. Bitcoin’s mentions on the micro-blogging platform also peaked this year post-halving, reaching 31,111 on May 17, said The Tie. While Bitcoin’s third halving of May 11 cut miner rewards by 50% to 6.25 BTC, it also sparked huge retail interest in the coin driven by expectations of a massive price increase, as with past supply cut events. Joshua Frank, chief executive officer of The Tie, said the figures show a market that is extremely bullish about bitcoin. The data company has observed a “moderately strong and positive” correlation between mentions of BTC’s halving and the asset’s price, even before the halving. Author J.K. Rowling and tech magnate Elon Musk prominently weighed in on the bitcoin conversation on Twitter, with Musk addressing the young adult fiction writer’s question about the cryptocurrency. Other BTC conversations were computed from tweets that include the words “bitcoin,” “gold,” “trading,” and “halving.” Gold met the criterion because the discussion around BTC as digital gold is returning to dominance as investors consider assets for the looming financial crisis. A special report by Bloomberg last month notes that the correlation between the virtual currency and gold was at an all-time high and BTC was maturing from a risk-on speculative asset to a gold-like store of value. The report also forecasts a post-halving bull run for bitcoin. The Tie uses a tool commonly utilized in stocks or forex to filter out dishonest or manipulated tweets about bitcoin, it says. Known as Social Market Analytics, the technology attempts “to eliminate noise and provide clean and actionable sentiment data feeds for institutional investors.” What do you think about Bitcoin’s increasing positive sentiment on Twitter? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Sentiment on Twitter Reaches Its Highest Level in 3 Years, Says Data Firm The Tie appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of bitcoin giveaway scams has been increasing rapidly amid rising prices of cryptocurrencies and deepening economic crisis worldwide. These scams claim that famous people are giving away bitcoin, such as Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg. Bitcoin Giveaway Scams on the Rise Bitcoin giveaway scams claiming that celebrities are giving away bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are on the rise as unemployment grows during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crises. Videos featuring live interviews with Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya and a “5000 BTC Giveaway” have been regularly appearing on Youtube. The videos explain: To participate you just need to send 0.1 BTC to 20 BTC to the contribution address and we will immediately send you back 0.2 BTC to 40 BTC to the address you sent it from. The videos elaborate that the more bitcoin you send, the more bitcoin you will get back, emphasizing that “You can participate only once.” For example, the scammers claim that if you send 20 bitcoins, you will get 40 bitcoins back. A screenshot of a Youtube video featuring an interview with Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya and a 5000 BTC giveaway scam. The interview was actually a replay of the Coinsummit interview of Palihapitiya which took place several years ago. Each video displays a bitcoin address and an URL of a website containing additional information. “We believe that blockchain and bitcoin will make the world more fair and open. The current financial system is outdated,” the scam website notes, claiming: To speed up the process of cryptocurrency mass adoption, we have committed to a total of 5,000 bitcoin to give away. The website also has information on a “special bonus,” which states that “If you send 5+ BTC you will be airdropped 10+ BTC back + 50% bonus.” Youtube has banned a number of these scam videos but they still keep reappearing regularly. At the time of this writing, at least four 5000 BTC giveaway scam videos featuring Palihapitiya are listed on the Google-owned video-sharing platform. List of live streaming videos on Youtube claiming that Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya is giving away a total of 5,000 bitcoins. However, this is a scam and anyone sending any bitcoin to the addresses displayed on the videos will never receive anything in return. Other than famous billionaire investors like Chamath Palihapitiya, celebrities and politicians have also been targeted by cryptocurrency giveaway scams. Last week, there was a similar bitcoin giveaway scam that featured former U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg. The billionaire media executive and former mayor of New York City dropped out of the race to become the president of the United States on March 4. The fake Michael Bloomberg bitcoin giveaway video asked viewers to transfer between 0.1 BTC and 250 BTC to the bitcoin address displayed on the screen. Cryptocurrency exchanges and their CEOs have also been targeted, such as Coinbase and its CEO, Brian Armstrong. Scam Websites Claim Elon Musk Giving Away Bitcoin and Ethereum Another popular person often featured by bitcoin scammers is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. A website mimicking the Medium publishing platform keeps appearing under different URLs. It claims to be the official Elon Musk BTC and ETH giveaway website. Scammers promote the giveaway on various social media platforms, such as Twitter and Reddit. After a certain period of time, the same site will relocate to a different URL and the previous domain name will no longer be reachable. This website claims to be the official Elon Musk BTC and ETH giveaway website, but it is a scam as the Tesla CEO is not giving away bitcoin. “Our marketing department here at Tesla HQ came up with an idea: to hold a special giveaway event for all crypto fans out there … If you want to participate, it is really simple to do,” the scammers wrote. “If you send in 5 BTC or 100 ETH, you will get the grand prize: a brand new Tesla Model S Performance with midnight silver metallic, solid black and red multi-coat exterior, delivery included. DM me on Twitter if you did that and we will organize the delivery as soon as possible.” The website also provides two “official” links for visitors to get “free” bitcoin and ethereum. Giveaways in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies like the ones featured above are scams. Billionaire investors like Palihapitiya often say good things about bitcoin, including advising people to have 1% of their assets in the cryptocurrency. Musk recently told Harry Potter author JK Rowling that bitcoin is “solid” compared to governments’ fiat money. However, none of them are giving away any bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Be wary of anyone promising to double any bitcoin you send them as this setup is always a scam. What do you think about bitcoin giveaway scams? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 5000 BTC Giveaway Scam: Chamath Palihapitiya, Elon Musk Not Giving Away Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On May 13, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase published a report that shows digital currency investors are investing in alternative cryptocurrencies despite bitcoin’s 67% market dominance. Data from Coinbase shows that customers with at least five crypto purchases, roughly 60% of them buy bitcoin first but only 24% remain exclusively loyal to the digital asset. 75% of Coinbase Customers Eventually Buy Other Digital Assets Rather Than Bitcoin Coinbase has recently released interesting data on the purchasing of bitcoin (BTC) and alternative digital assets. The company that started in 2012 is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges and is the largest worldwide by reserves held. The recent report dubbed “Bitcoin’s dominance alongside Coinbase customer behavior” indicates that customers who leverage the exchange still enjoy purchasing altcoins other than BTC. “Among customers with at least 5 purchases, 60% start with Bitcoin but just 24% stick exclusively to Bitcoin. In total, over 75% eventually buy other assets,” the Coinbase report notes. Coinbase says that in general, BTC is a “blue-chip asset [that] has remained unchallenged.” But the company also sees a trend where alternative digital currencies are increasingly gaining traction. “This could be for a variety of reasons, but one is largely psychological. As people feel good about their initial crypto investments (into Bitcoin), they branch out to find other possible categorical winners (as evident in the 2017 bull run),” the report highlights. “The converse is also possible, as prices drop and fear grips the market (2018–2019), a flight to crypto safety drove Bitcoin back to the forefront,” the San Francisco company’s report further stressed. ‘A Retail Preference to Branch Into Other Assets’ In 2017, Coinbase said it became evident that BTC’s dominance was threatened in 2017 but regained a higher dominance in 2019. At one point in 2017, BTC’s dominance was below the 40% threshold but jumped as high as 72% in 2019. Today the average for the last few months is around 65%. “Retail volume on Coinbase shows an increased proclivity to purchase and trade alternative assets,” Coinbase detailed. The exchange added: This increasing drive is in part due to Coinbase’s continued addition of new assets, but a deeper cut shows that price volatility significantly swings consumer behavior toward non-BTC assets. This trend first appeared in 2017 and is now evident in large spikes. Notably in late 2019 (with Tezos, Chainlink, BAT, 0x, and Stellar) and again in early 2020 (driven by Ethereum, Tezos, and Chainlink). These days only 60% of first purchases on Coinbase are BTC, 40% is another coin for first-time buyers. “The retail preference to branch into other assets shows that new users come to crypto through Bitcoin, but generally begin to look for alternative assets and use-cases. In this sense, Bitcoin is also top of the funnel for broader crypto growth,” the Coinbase study highlights. What do you think about the findings from Coinbase’s recent report? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Retail Investors Branch to Altcoins: ‘60% of Coinbase Customers Start With Bitcoin, Only 24% Stick Exclusively’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Grayscale Investments bought up to 33% of all newly minted bitcoin over the last three months, as the asset manager continues to stockpile major cryptocurrencies. The investment fund added 60,762 BTC to its Bitcoin Trust Fund between February 7 and May 17, a researcher posted on Reddit. That’s the equivalent of 607 BTC acquired by Grayscale each day during the 100-day period. Grayscale became aggressive in its acquisitions after April, as Bitcoin’s third halving hype reached fever-pitch. About 34% of BTC added during the three months were bought in just 17 days amid a checkered spike in the price of BTC, targeting $10,000. As of May 17, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Fund had a total of 343,954 BTC under management, up 21% from 283,192 BTC held 100 days earlier. In value terms, the portfolio has soared to $3.37 billion from $2.77 billion, at prevailing market prices. The Redditor commented: For good measure, 60k bitcoins in last 100 days is about 33-34% of all newly minted bitcoins in that period, give or take. And Grayscale is just one of the many ETF’s that people who don’t want to fiddle with private keys etc, can use to acquire bitcoin, albeit the largest one. Grayscale operates ten cryptocurrency investment products focused on institutional investors. It currently has more than $3.7 billion worth of digital assets under management. Funds cover ethereum, bitcoin cash (BCH), zcash, XRP, and more. The digital asset manager allows institutional investors to gain exposure to assets such as BTC or ETH, but without actually owning any coins. This means each Grayscale fund has to hold large amounts of specific coins in its portfolio. Grayscale’s aggressive crypto purchases have recently been spotlighted around ethereum. At the end of April, it had bought about 50% of all newly mined ETH since the beginning of this year. It now holds the equivalent of 1.1% of ETH in circulation. What do you think about Grayscale’s purchase of major cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Grayscale Buys 33% of All Bitcoin Mined in Last Three Months appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The market research organization, The Tokenist, recently published a report called “Comparing Public Bitcoin Adoption Rates in 2020 vs 2017.” The study’s findings give a comprehensive look at the cryptocurrency ecosystem between 2017 and now. The researchers’ survey shows that since the post-Covid-19 economy is setting in, trust in bitcoin has grown 29% in the past three years. Faith In Traditional Banks and Financial Incumbents Is Waning A recently published study from the crypto think tank, The Tokenist, details that there is a growing trust in bitcoin over traditional investments like gold, stocks, and real estate. The market researchers leveraged a survey that was taken in April 2020 (5,421 participants in 24 countries) and collated several surveys from 2017 as well. The Tokenist utilized these polls to see how attitudes and perceptions have changed since the price fluctuations and the impact of Covid-19. “Faith in large financial institutions has been steadily waning for more than a decade and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this process,” the report highlights. “Bitcoin, itself developed in the years after the 2008 market crash as an alternative to traditional assets, stands to be a major beneficiary of this trend.” 47% of the Poll’s Respondents Trust Bitcoin Over Big Banks The Tokenist also leveraged surveys from the company’s mailing list and another that saw 4,852 participants in 17 countries. According to the study’s findings, The Tokenist researchers have found that there is a trend of individuals with “positive sentiment regarding BTC as a long term store of value.” The findings note that over 45% of respondents preferred Bitcoin rather than stocks, real estate, and gold, and “61% of the total respondents (and 78% of millennials) are now somewhat familiar with BTC, and 14% of millennials have owned the asset.” The report continued: 47% of respondents trust Bitcoin over big banks, an increase of 29% in the past three years. 43% of respondents, and 59% of millennials, feel that most people will be using Bitcoin within the next decade. In 2020, 44% of millennials report that they are likely to buy BTC in the next five years. More than one in three millennials would hold onto Bitcoin they are given, while a slightly smaller number (27%) would immediately sell it. 39% of male millennials now have no problem with the intangible nature of BTC, and a quarter of millennials as a whole report the same attitude. The report finds that the attitude toward BTC, in general, is more positive and optimism has increased by 27% during the last three years. “60% of respondents felt that Bitcoin is a positive innovation in financial technology,” The Tokenist’s report concludes. “Increased familiarity with Bitcoin has convinced many that it is a positive force,” the paper’s authors added. What do you think about The Tokenist’s researchers’ surveys and findings? Let us know in the comments below. The post Covid-19 Economy Fuels Faith in Crypto: Trust In Bitcoin Over Banks Increased 3X Since 2017 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Economists have predicted that India will face its worst recession ever as the country announced another nationwide lockdown extension. India’s economy is forecasted to contract 45% in the second quarter following the Rs 20 lakh crore coronavirus relief stimulus package which some economists call “aimless” and a “lost opportunity.” Economists Predict Worst Recession Ever for India Two leading global investment management firms, Goldman Sachs and Bernstein, have predicted that “India will experience its deepest recession ever,” according to reports. The forecasts came as the Indian government extended the country’s nationwide lockdown until May 31 while easing some restrictions to boost economic activity during the coronavirus crisis. India’s lockdown was introduced on March 25 and has been extended several times. Goldman Sachs India Securities’ chief economist Prachi Mishra and chief Asia economist Andrew Tilton estimated in a report dated May 17 that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by an annualized 45% in the second quarter compared to the prior quarter. The firm previously forecasted a slump of 20% for the country with approximately 1.4 billion people. Goldman Sachs’ estimates imply that India’s real GDP will plunge by 5% in the 2021 fiscal year, deeper than any other recession the country has ever experienced. The economists explained: The deeper trough in our Q2 forecasts reflects the extremely poor economic data we have received so far for March and April, and the continued lockdown measures, which are among the most stringent across the world. Meanwhile, analysts at Bernstein have forecasted an even sharper contraction of 7% for India. As for the recovery, Goldman Sachs’ economists expect a rebound of 20%, stronger than previously predicted. Subsequent quarterly growth estimates were left unchanged at 14% and 6.5%. U.S.-based investment companies Goldman Sachs and Bernstein have predicted the worst recession ever for India amid another round of nationwide lockdown extension and an “aimless” Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package. Indian Government’s Reform Measures Criticized The predictions by Goldman Sachs and Bernstein followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s multi-day briefings on the country’s Rs 20 lakh crore ($265 billion) economic stimulus package, equivalent to about 10% of India’s GDP. The last measures of this coronavirus relief package were unveiled on Sunday. However, some people have pointed out that the stimulus package includes measures already announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), such as the liquidity measures. Bloombergquint commented, “While the headline number is huge, the actual government spending remains small with the RBI’s earlier measures forming the biggest part.” Bernstein analysts Venugopal Garre, Ankit Agrawal, and Ranjeet Jaiswal were quoted by the New Indian Express publication as saying: While the package started on important aspects but the need to announce measures that add up to this top-down number made the entire package aimless, with several generic announcements which should ideally have been a part of a normal economic agenda. While the Bernstein analysts applauded a few measures in the stimulus package, they concluded: “Overall, we see it as a lost opportunity.” The analysts elaborated: “The focus should have been on urban, corporates, consumption, infra and impacted sectors, but it was on rural and strange-end markets such as space program. Rural is in control, as farm incomes are protected (good harvest season and a good start to summer crop sowing). Yet, several measures (in the form of loans) were announced for Agri, some of which are already existing programs.” In addition, Goldman Sachs’ economists believe that the Indian government’s structural reform measures “are more medium-term in nature, and we therefore do not expect these to have an immediate impact on reviving growth.” What do you think about these predictions for India? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Economists Predict Worst Recession Ever for India Amid Lockdown Extension appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Venezuelans will now be able to use bitcoin to pay for goods and services at more than 20,000 point-of-sale (PoS) terminals throughout the struggling South American country. This follows a deal between Panamanian crypto exchange Cryptobuyer and local payments processor Mega Soft to connect some of Venezuela’s biggest retail chains for this purpose. Stores that are connected will all use Mega Soft’s Merchant Server platform to process payments in BTC, binance coin, dai, dash, ether, tether, and Cryptobuyer’s native token, XPT. Mega Soft processes around 18 million transactions per month in Venezuela. The new deal is expected to go live in June, Cryptobuyer announced in a recent statement. Once payment is made, merchants have the option to immediately convert the crypto into fiat or to retain it in their digital asset accounts held with the exchange, it said. “This … addresses the concerns of some merchants about the possibility of real exchange of cryptocurrencies in dollars and euros for their operation,” the exchange explained. Among the major businesses that have signed up to accept crypto-based payments include pharmaceutical group Farmatodo, supermarket chain Central Madeirense, EPA Hardware, Plaza´s Automercados, a movie theatre, and other large consumer goods stores. Large operations Samsung, Burger King, and Traki Stores already accept cryptocurrencies in Venezuela through Cryptobuyer. According to Traki, it handled a little over one thousand crypto payments in the two years it has been accepting them. Cryptobuyer chief executive officer Jorge Farías said that the exchange is planning to integrate up to 100,000 merchants in Venezuela, South America and Europe by year-end. Antonio Castro, CEO of Mega Soft, highlighted the importance of virtual currencies in Venezuela going forward. He said: Cryptocurrencies are a fundamental part of what will be the new forms of payment, more agile and universal, and easily accessible to all strata of the population. Venezuela is this year entering its seventh year of economic contraction, with the rate of inflation flying to just under 3,000% earlier this year, turning the local bolivar fiat currency into almost useless paper. The 2018 launch of its supposedly sanctions-busting cryptocurrency, Petro, was met with skepticism and resistance, including an executive order by the U.S prohibiting its citizens from transacting in it. Although cryptocurrencies have been highlighted as a solution to cash shortages in the Latin American country, uptake is still slow. What do you think about the expansion of point-of-sale crypto terminals in Venezuela? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Venezuelans Can Now Use Bitcoin to Pay for Goods at 20,000 PoS Terminals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The coronavirus and the government-induced lockdowns have wreaked havoc on the global economy and millions of people can’t access their own money. Reports from financial stricken areas like Venezuela, Argentina, and Lebanon show that citizens are being stopped from accessing their own hard-earned savings. The news shows the great importance of censorship-resistant money and how society should gravitate toward ideas like bitcoin as soon as possible. Covid-19 Withdrawal Restrictions Worldwide Impede Citizens from Taking Out Their Own Funds The coronavirus outbreak was rough, but not nearly as horrendous as the over-reactive measures taken by global lawmakers and today’s so-called ‘scientific experts.’ After two and a half months have gone by, it is now quite clear to many people that the response to the pandemic was uncalled for and the lockdowns were the worst mistake humanity has made in over 100 years. Despite the fact that numerous scholarly studies and papers show that the virus wasn’t that bad and had a survival rate of over 99%, governments continue to enforce draconian measures across the globe. Every day in Lebanon, people wait outside the financial institutions waiting to withdraw money, and Lebanon’s banks have restricted withdrawals to $100 per week. On any given day, a bank employee will also only allow 15 Lebanese residents in the bank per day to get $100 and everyone else waiting in line is told to leave. During the coronavirus outbreak, Lebanon’s banks have restricted withdrawals to $100 per week. In Venezuela, people are also having a hard time accessing funds from banking institutions as well. Things got worse for Venezuelans when the Decree N° 4167 published on March 23, 2020, introduced a payment suspension and noted the Socialist Party would restructure payment systems. There is a massive difference between the going street rate of the sovereign bolivar and the bank rate. Venezuelans are also limited to withdrawing very small fractions of funds from institutions like Banco Provincial. Getting access to the sovereign bolivar is harder than most think even well before Covid-19. Now, Venezuelan lawmakers and banks have made it much more difficult to access funds during the past two months. The Argentine Financial Crisis, Egypt’s Ongoing Withdrawal Limits, and the UK and Australia’s Assault on Cash In Argentina, the financial system is almost as bad as Venezuela’s economy, and it is worsening every day. On May 16, Buenos Aires resident, Manuel Araoz, described a weird financial situation in Argentina. “Something really weird happened in Argentina this week. It’s hard to explain to anyone not living here, but I’ll try,” Araoz tweeted. “Historically, Argentina had the most ridiculous prices for imported products. For example, in 2013 the iPad was $499 in the US, but $1094 in Argentina. This was due to very high import taxes (50%) and very corrupt customs which hold most products for months unless you bribe. This created a weird dynamic where anyone traveling abroad was asked by many acquaintances to smuggle stuff for them. Most argentine international travelers were technology mules,” he added. Araoz continued further by saying: However, last week, ARS/USD black market rate went crazy high (~138 ARS per USD), while the official rate is artificially very low, at less than 50% of that (~67 ARS per USD). This created a weird market condition: All imported products (cars, technology, etc) are now very cheap (in USD). This is because importers buy USD at the official rate, but sell their products in ARS. To anyone holding savings in USD cash, everything is suddenly ~50% off. This created a huge demand surge for imported products in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis. Crazy… The government is now evaluating forcing minimum prices for imported goods, to stop people from escaping the melting ARS into actual goods which hold some value over time. Argentina is another country that has had financial troubles and massive lines at banks well before Covid-19. On May 16, 2020, Buenos Aires resident Manuel Araoz described how bad the economy in Argentina truly is right now. There are a number of countries that are experiencing issues with banking institutions that are restricting withdrawal limits at either the branch or an automated teller machine (ATM). Many banking branches worldwide are close due to Covid-19. Egypt’s citizens are restricted from withdrawing over what the central bank allows them to, which is a maximum of LE50,000 from LE10,000 using current guidelines ($650 to $3,100). Residents of the U.K. are dealing with cash restrictions as well, as the “contactless limit to £45 at the start of April has made cash all but redundant for most,” explains the Guardian reporter Patrick Collinson, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Tesco Bank, Natwest, and Barclays in the U.K. all have withdrawal and contactless limit restrictions. Bank lines in Egypt were common a few months prior to the coronavirus outbreak as well. Despite the need for desperate cash, Egypt still has withdrawal restrictions ranging from $650 to $3,100 per visit, depending on the bank’s guidelines and withdrawal criteria. In Australia, residents who want access to their hard-earned cash have been dealing with overbearing government rules for quite some time now. In December, the Australian government put a $10K limit on cash withdrawals, and even storing more than that at your home is suspect to law enforcement now. Covid-19 has made things worse in Australia and people are having even more issues accessing their own money. For over 11 years now bitcoin proponents have been telling people that the world needs censorship resistant money. There is proof that there is greater demand for censorship-resistant cryptocurrencies in regions that have tyrannical governments. Unfortunately millions of global citizens are learning the hard way but the crypto economy and digital assets like BCH, ETH, XMR, BTC, LTC, and the thousands of other digital assets are there waiting to be leveraged at any time. What do you think about the millions of global citizens having issues accessing their own funds? Let us know in the comments section below. The post From Buenos Aires to Beirut – Covid-19 Excuse Restricts Millions of Citizens from Withdrawing Their Own Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few years, the Google-owned Youtube platform has been accused of massive censorship and in the last three months, the video streaming business resembles the Ministry of Propaganda, more than an online video-sharing platform. This week Bitcoin.com was also censored for sharing a video about our bitcoin mining pool. Bitcoin.com’s Youtube account was given one strike for allegedly “violating community guidelines.” Youtube Took Part in Historic Amounts of Censorship During the Covid-19 Outbreak – People Will Not Forgive and Forget the Firm’s Transgressions When the online video-sharing platform Youtube was first released in February 2005, it was a community of people sharing ideas with very little censorship and moderation. Nowadays, Youtube is under the ownership of Google, and the firm’s CEO Susan Wojcicki has been outspoken about removing videos. Weeks ago, Wojcicki told CNN that any videos that went against the WHO narrative in regards to the Covid-19 outbreak would be removed. Last year, Youtube de-platformed a myriad of ‘alt-right’ and so-called ‘conspiracy’ groups and removed these channels from the video streaming site. Youtube also started harassing cryptocurrency content creators and Youtubers who operated channels that discussed bitcoin and other digital assets. During the holiday season in 2019, Youtube officials purged a massive number of cryptocurrency video channels for very little reasoning. The company typically just tells the person that the channel had “violated community guidelines.” Prior to Bitcoin.com’s recent video removal and strike, Wojcicki’s words came to fruition as her company banned many videos that spoke out against the WHO’s narrative when it came to an oppositional narrative toward ‘official’ coronavirus data. Youtube and Wojcicki took it upon themselves to shelter the public from an opposite narrative that claims herd immunity works and the fatality rate for Covid-19 was extremely over-exaggerated. California Dr. Daniel W. Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi had their video removed after it gained 5 million views. Erickson’s statements suggested that the lockdowns were unnecessary for a virus that has a 99% survival rate and that so-called experts like Dr. Fauci were disregarding basic herd immunity science. We now know that the proof is right in front of our faces and many respected scientific think tanks and epidemiologists have told the public that the lockdowns were very irrational. Despite the proof, Youtube has banned a number of videos that go against the ongoing fear-mongering narrative. When a video was posted on Youtube that featured Dr. Daniel W. Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi from California, the video got 5 million views before it was removed. Youtube’s excuse was: We quickly remove flagged content that violate [sic] our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of local health authority recommended guidance on social distancing that may lead others to act against that guidance. Youtube also banned a video called “Plandemic,” which featured Dr. Judy Mikovits soon after it was published on the online video sharing platform. Youtube, however, does allow videos that rebut Judy Mikovits, Daniel W. Erickson, and Dr. Artin Massihi’s narratives. The company has no issues allowing rebuttals that stay on course with the fear-mongering narrative. Youtube removed a video called “Plandemic” which featured Doctor Judy Mikovits. Mainstream media slandered Mikovits and she explained this week she is willing to testify in Congress about her perspective that goes against the current MSM narrative. But any dissenting views against the lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing continued to be removed to this day. The former head of biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design at Rockefeller University, Dr. Knut M. Wittkowski, recently told the public that Youtube had banned his video that went against the lockdown, and over-reaction narrative after it gathered more than 1.3 million views. Dr. Andrew Kaufman’s videos were also removed, when he spoke out against the stay-at-home narrative and the data spread by people like the epidemiologist Neil Ferguson. Youtube has banned videos from Dr. Andrew Kaufman, and the former head of biostatistics, epidemiology, and research design at Rockefeller University, Dr. Knut M. Wittkowski. Youtube Bans a Video About Bitcoin.com’s Mining Pool Now Youtube has banned one of Bitcoin.com’s videos for sharing information about our mining pool. The video removal was based on the company’s “sale of regulated goods” policy and the video allegedly went against “community guidelines.” The Bitcoin.com account was given a single strike, which gives the account a one week probation period. Two to three strikes could lead to far worse restrictions against the Bitcoin.com account that merely shares information and resources about cryptocurrency solutions. Bitcoin.com’s CEO Mate Tokay has spoken out against the Youtube censorship in a tweet letting the company and Wojcicki know they have been immoral. This week, Youtube banned one of Bitcoin.com’s videos about bitcoin mining. Youtube’s censorship and propaganda these past few months have been irrational and illogical. “Crypto is the future and if you think censoring Bitcoin.com will do any good you are delusional,” tweeted Bitcoin.com’s CEO Mate Tokay. “Myspace used to dominate and look at what happened to them,” he added. History shows that censorship has produced some manipulated realities and it has furthered evil time and time again. Youtube is a private company and it can do whatever it wants, but the censorship still speaks volumes on the company’s tethered relationship with the status quo. There’s a reason why cryptocurrency videos are removed and it is because it goes against Youtube’s financial masters. The reason why Youtube bans certain groups is because those groups gain grass-roots attention and make people think critically. Let us know what you think about Youtube's action.😕😑 We will make sure to update all of you! Stay tuned and watch our Weekly Show: https://t.co/jOjTQqOQI9 #BitcoinCash #StayHome #cryptocurrencies #youtube pic.twitter.com/OfqjVDDYQn — Bitcoin.com ⚡️ (@BitcoinCom) May 17, 2020 Youtube Wants to Ban Videos That Promote Critical Thinkers Youtube has banned videos that go against the Covid-19 narrative as well, because people started realizing that a virus with a 99% survival rate isn’t as horrible as we all thought. Concrete evidence shows that the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders did absolutely nothing, even though Youtube continues to scream the less-powerful Covid-19 mantras. “Staying at home saves lives,” “We’re all in this together,” “Flatten the curve,” and other propaganda slogans are still aired on nearly every ad published on Youtube today. Censorship and propaganda techniques paint a clear perspective of Youtube’s true colors. Censoring Bitcoin.com’s mining video bolsters the argument that Youtube does not have the best interests of global citizens in mind. If anything, people who understand Youtube’s vile acts of censorship and misinformation, should vacate the platform in great numbers and leverage a more decentralized online video sharing application like Lbry, or Bitchute. As the economic think tank Fee.org has said: “Youtube’s censorship of dissenting doctors will backfire.” What do you think about Youtube’s censorship and propaganda techniques these last few months? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitcoin.com’s Mining Video Censored: The Tale of Youtube’s Blatant Censorship and Propaganda appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Germany has plunged into a recession with the worst quarterly contraction since the global financial and economic crisis of 2008, according to official data. Over 100 banks in the country are now charging customers negative interest rates. Germany Enters Recession The German economy is now in a recession according to data released Friday by the country’s Federal Statistical Office, Statistisches Bundesamt. The authority announced: The corona pandemic hits the German economy hard … [Q1’s contraction] was the largest decrease since the global financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009 and the second-largest decrease since German unification. “A larger quarter-on-quarter decline was recorded only for the 1st quarter of 2009 (-4.7%),” Statistisches Bundesamt confirmed. The Federal Statistical Office reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Europe’s biggest economy shrank 2.2% in the first three months of the year. The eurozone economy fell by its sharpest rate on record at 3.8% in the first quarter. The figures for the final three months of 2019 were revised to show a contraction of 0.1%, which means Germany’s GDP growth has been negative for two successive quarters, the technical definition of a recession. Economists, including those at Deutsche Bank, expect a worse slump in the second quarter as the full effects of the lockdown become apparent. Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that if the coronavirus’ transmission rate worsens, Germany could return to the lockdown measures. Over 100 Banks Charging Negative Interest Rates Throughout the recession and the covid-19 crisis, the number of banks charging negative interest rates in Germany has been climbing rapidly. In April, news.Bitcoin.com reported that 80 banks were passing on the burden of negative interest rates to some of their customers. At the time of this writing, that number has grown to more than 100 banks. Examples of banks charging negative interest rates in Germany. News.Bitcoin.com has provided an expanded list of banks charging negative rates in the country here. Source: Verivox The German consumer comparison portal Verivox has examined about 800 banks in Germany and found that well over 100 banks are now charging negative interest rates. The portal divides them into three categories. Among banks charging negative interest rates, 94 of them have published their rates online or on their account price sheets. Ten more banks are charging fees on overnight deposit accounts which are usually free, therefore creating de facto negative interest rates on these accounts. In addition, the consumer portal noted that based on media reports, 22 other banks are charging negative interest rates but they have yet to publish their rates online. Moreover, each bank has its own rules of what accounts are charged negative interest rates. What do you think about the economic situation in Germany? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Germany Enters Recession as Over 100 Banks Charge Negative Interest Rates appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In mid-April, news.Bitcoin.com researched the popular stock-to-flow (S2F), which shows the price of a single bitcoin reaching $55K and even six figures. At the time, analysts questioned measuring bitcoin’s price in this manner and more recently, a few others have been criticizing the method as well. Just recently, a research report written by the author Francis Tapon finds eight flaws in bitcoin’s S2F model. Additionally, the well known crypto proponent Eric Wall has shown criticism toward Plan B’s S2F tweets as well. Report Finds 8 Flaws With Bitcoin’s Stock-to-Flow Model For well over a year now, crypto advocates have discussed the popular editorial called “Modeling Bitcoin’s Value with Scarcity” written by the Twitter account Plan B. The report has caught the attention of the community for quite some time. This is because it predicts the price of a single BTC will be at least $55,000 or even $150,000 in the future. Certain types of crypto proponents love the research and stock-to-flow (S2F) models, but skeptics believe it’s because it may pad their bullish confirmation bias that someday BTC will be worth tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands at some point in time. #bitcoin S2FX clusters: 1 – S2F 1.3 -> Market Value $1M -> BTC $0.23 2 – S2F 3.3 -> $58M -> $6 3 – S2F 10.2 -> $5B -> $410 4 – S2F 25.1 -> $114B -> $6700 5 – S2F 56.0 -> $5.5T -> $288K Beauty is that change in S2F is proportional to change in BTC Market Value (d_MV=d_S2F^4.1)🔥 pic.twitter.com/jdM8kBFMdj — PlanB (@100trillionUSD) May 15, 2020 Basically, the S2F ratio divides abundance with demand by treating bitcoin like commodities such as gold or platinum. This means any analyst can use the model to evaluate the current number of bitcoins in circulation against the number of coins mined during a specific year. The last BTC halving plays a crucial role in the S2F model and if Plan B’s predictions are correct, BTC could be around $55K within the next two years. “Although most quants agree that gold’s stock-to-flow ratio is in the 60s, a few believe it’s much higher. For example, Philip Barton, a gold analyst, argues that gold’s stock to flow is between 400 and 800,” details the author Francis Tapon in his recent report. “Admittedly, Barton is an outlier,” Tapon continues. “The consensus is that gold’s stock-to-flow ranges between 50 and 70. Still, it’s worth noting that some believe there is far more stock out there than we realize. How could gold’s stock-to-flow ratio be 800? The main reasoning is that when humans first started collecting gold, there was a lot of low-hanging fruit. Enormous gold nuggets were easy to grab in the streams and other sources. It’s reasonable to assume that for billions of years, gold nuggets simply sat in the streams since no animal valued them. When humans began collecting gold, the global gold stock must have soared exponentially. Its curve must have looked like the first decade of bitcoin’s supply curve.” However, not everyone believes the model and news.Bitcoin.com discussed this situation during the first week of April. But now there is more evidence that the S2F model may not be as reliable as everyone believes and two critics who have explained publicly why S2F may be bunk. Just before the halving, author Francis Tapon who wrote the books “The Unseen Africa” and “The Hidden Europe,” wrote a research report on Plan B’s model. Tapon’s argument gives the reader eight reasons why the stock-to-flow model has flaws. The number one reason why S2F has problems is because it defies physics. “Some critics say that the stock-to-flow model will break in 2140, which is when we cannot mine new bitcoins. At that point, the S2F model predicts that the price of bitcoin will go to infinity,” Tapon explains. “Although that is a problem, bitcoin’s stock-to-flow model is doomed to break at least 100 years before that date.” Tapon also stresses in his report, that there are two things BTC would have to do: [One] Bitcoin’s price would have to double every year, on average, for the next 30 years. That’s 30 doublings. No asset has ever come close to such a performance. Maybe pre-IPO Microsoft or Google or Walmart had such a rise for 10 years. But doublings become extremely difficult once an asset becomes large. [And two] we would need to invent nuclear fusion reactors and become a Type 1 Civilization. Bitcoin consumes vast amounts of energy. The higher the price goes, the more it consumes. On May 4, 2020, Francis Tapon (@ftapon) was blocked for asking Plan B (@100trillionusd) for some feedback. Cointegration Invalidation? The seven other flaws Tapon has found include the fact that “not everyone agrees on what is gold’s stock-to-flow ratio, gold’s stock-to-flow isn’t fixed, gold’s stock-to-flow does not drive it’s price, some metals with extremely low stock-to-flow ratios are worth more than gold, S2F doesn’t explain the prices of other cryptocurrencies, S2F assumes that bitcoin’s demand continues to grow exponentially, and S2F underestimates the powers that be.” It is also worth noting that Plan B has blocked Francis Tapon on Twitter as well. According to Tapon, he had sent Plan B his analysis for review and Plan B responded by saying: “Blocked – Reason: pure click-bait (“flaw” “fail” “doomed”, only old and debunked arguments).” However, Tapon thinks that his arguments are valid and concluded his report by saying: The stock-to-flow model has been a novel way of looking at bitcoin’s early, meteoric years. However, it will soon break because it predicts nonstop doubling year after year. Our solar system prohibits nonstop doubling. Let’s be happy with a 14x return in the 2020s. That would result in a $100,000 BTC price in 2029. Still, I secretly hope I’m wrong and that the stock-to-flow model is right. In addition to Tapon, the digital currency proponent Eric Wall has been tweeting about Plan B’s models and his statements as well. On Saturday, Wall tweeted two photos of Plan B explaining what it would take to invalidate his S2F model. Despite the number of critiques published and contradictions, a slew of bitcoiners wholeheartedly believe in the S2F model. "Oh, so I lost that one thing I've been saying my model would become invalid without? 'Tis but a scratch!" pic.twitter.com/Uwlvju9ku7 — Eric Wall (@ercwl) May 16, 2020 On May 12, the secretary and vice-chairman of the Digibyte Foundation Rudy Bouwman tweeted: “Preparing for the next bull run? How long can miners that haven’t switched off, continue mining with a loss? [The] S2F model has proven highly accurate in charting price performance. BTC to +$100K in the next 2 years?” Two days prior, Quantmario published a report leveraging the S2F model called “The LGS-S2F Bitcoin price formula” It is safe to say that the stock-to-flow model isn’t going anywhere for quite some time, but the S2F theory does have its critics. What do you think about the stock-to-flow model and the criticism? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post S2F Hopium: Report and Twitter Critics Find Flaws With Bitcoin’s Stock-to-Flow Ratio appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On May 11, the Bitcoin network experienced its third block reward halving, which had chopped the 12.5 BTC reward to 6.25 coins following the event. It’s been close to a week later, and data stemming from mining rig profitability websites show that more than 45 older generation devices are not profitable right now at today’s bitcoin exchange rates. After May 11, Many Older-Generation Bitcoin Mining Rigs Bit the Dust Recent research analysis by 8btc columnist Vincent He and the cryptocurrency mining operation F2pool, indicates that roughly 45 older mining devices have been shut down overnight since the reward halving. Statistics from the web portal Asicminervalue.com, also indicate that the estimate of 45 miners is based on the electrical price of 0.35 Chinese yuan per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or $0.049 USD. In this article, we leveraged data from Asicminervalue.com, and F2pool and 8Btc’s mining rig reports. Using Asicminervalue.com we referenced machines at today’s exchange rate and two different electricity costs ($0.02 and $0.05 per kWh). The best mining device out of the entire slew of ‘unprofitable’ mining rigs would be Bitmain’s Antminer S11 (20.5 TH/s), which still loses $0.09 per day at $0.049 per kWh. Other machines that are not making profits at this rate, include the Bitfury Tardis, Antminer S9 SE, GMO Miner B2, Innosilicon T2 Turbo, Bitfily Snow Panther B1, Canaan Avalonminer 921, and the popular Antminer S9. Data shows that at $0.049 per kWh, Bitfury’s B8 released in 2017 with 49 TH/s, suffers a deep loss of more than $3 a day. Blockchain.com stats show on May 15, 2020, the overall BTC hashrate was around 110 exahash per second (EH/s). According to Vincent He, “with the electric charge of 0.3 Chinese yuan per kWh, the electric charge of an S9 can account for 140% of the whole cost.” The Chinese mining operation F2pool states: Now, only when the price of the bitcoin rises to $15,000, can Antminer S9 cover the cost. In the past, even if there were a mining disaster and the price dump of the mining machine, someone would still buy S9. Most of the recipients are the owners of large mining farms. When the bitcoin price recovers, they can mine it by themselves or sell it to others to earn the difference. Older-generation mining rigs that are not profitable at today’s exchange rate and $0.05 per kWh. Asicminervalue.com stats show that there are 45 machines that fall into the unprofitable category with BTC prices at $9,700 per coin. After the Popular Mining Rig Once Powered 70% of the Bitcoin Hashrate, Antminer S9 Series Becomes a Hard Sell Two days ago, the crypto community finally could observe the loss of SHA256 hashrate that followed the reward halving on May 11. On May 11, the overall BTC hashrate was 121 exahash per second (EH/s) and on May 15, 2020, the overall hashrate is around 110 EH/s. However, statistics from Fork.lol’s 12-hour intervals show the hashpower could be even lower than that today. These statistics would indicate that a number of operations that leverage older-generation mining rigs, likely fell off the map. Stats from the website Fork.lol shows that the BTC hashrate is probably lower than the Blockchain.com recording on May 15, 2020. Now everyone knows that in places like China, Central Asia, and Iran, some miners can get free electricity or pay as little as $0.02 per kWh. So taking metrics from Asicminervalue.com and changing the electrical cost to $0.02 per kWh, indicates that only eight mining rigs are unprofitable at that energy rate. Mining rigs that cannot profit at 2 cents per kWh include the Whatsminer M3X, Avalonminer 741, Whatsminer M3, Antminer S7-LN, Antminer S3, Antminer V9, Antminer S7, and the Antminer S5. These eight machines are losing anywhere between $0.09 to $0.19 per day respectively at current BTC exchange rates. Years ago the Bitmain made Antminer S9 series was one of the most popular mining rigs on the market and estimates say at one time, the S9 miner (13 TH/s) powered around 70% of the BTC hashrate. Today, Bitmain’s S9 series and lower seem to be a hard sell according to secondary markets in China. Vincent He’s report also notes that the well known Antminer S9 had also dropped in value on secondary markets almost overnight. The Chinese reporter claims that $100 has been removed from most people’s listings and an older generation Antminer S9 will sell for 100 Chinese yuan (about $14). Years ago, the S9s with 13 TH/s or above accounted for more than 70% of the SHA256 hashrate. The report also highlights that a mining operation owner from the Sichuan province sold his small farm with 8,000 mining rigs and six transformers roughly seven days prior to the halving event. The 8,000 mining rig farm owner, Zhou Wenbo, told the columnist that the buyer was not willing to take his older generation Antminer S9s, Avalonminers, and Innosilicon Terminator 2 machines. The top 13 next-generation miners are profiting today if they have proper efficiency ratings and between 53-110 TH/s. These miners at today’s exchange rate, plus $0.05 per kWh profit by 6-$15 per day depending on the machine’s terahash per second output. If the data is changed back to $0.05 per kWh again, there’s a great number of next-generation miners that are still very profitable at today’s exchange rates. This includes the Antminer S19 Pro (110 TH/s), Antminer S19 (95 TH/s), Whatsminer M30S (86 TH/s), Antminer S17 (73 TH/s), and the Whatsminer M31S (70 TH/s). All of these mining devices make between $6-15 per day at $0.05 per kWh. What do you think about the large number of unprofitable older generation miners? Let us know in the comments below. The post 45 Older-Generation Bitcoin Miners Are Unprofitable After the Reward Halving appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has become inundated with bitcoin insight and cryptocurrency explanations when she tweeted asking someone to explain to her what bitcoin was. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was among those trying to explain bitcoin to Rowling. He believes that bitcoin is “solid” compared to governments’ fiat money. JK Rowling Wants to Understand Bitcoin British author J.K. Rowling, famed for writing the Harry Potter book series, tweeted on Friday: “I don’t understand bitcoin. Please explain it to me.” Her query, which had been retweeted about 2,400 times and liked about 9,400 times at the time of this writing, has drawn tons of responses from the crypto industry. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has sold more than 500 million copies and was adapted into a film franchise. Comments immediately flooded the Twitter thread after Rowling tweeted as crypto enthusiasts seized this unique opportunity to explain bitcoin and cryptocurrency to the famous author and her 14.6 million followers. Some people provided their own explanations while others linked to well-known work, books, or articles online. Several people even custom-made videos to explain bitcoin and its benefits to her. Among responders to Rowling’s request was Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. He described: “It’s a digital currency. There’s ~18m units of it. It’s not backed by anything, it’s just valuable because it is, like collectibles … There’s a network of computers (which anyone can join) that maintains a decentralized global excel spreadsheet of how many coins each person has.” Noting that “People find it interesting because there is no central authority that controls this network, so there’s no single group of people that can just go and issue more units to their friends or manipulate its rules for political reasons,” Buterin elaborated: Basically global digital payments, plus the store of value properties of gold, all with 21st century cryptographic tech to keep the whole thing running safely. The author of the famous Harry Potter children’s book series, JK Rowling, asked about bitcoin on Twitter and was showered with information and insight about cryptocurrency. The Twitter account for Gemini, the New York-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, tweeted: “Contrary to popular belief bitcoin is not ‘magic’ money.” There was also a discussion of what bitcoin fixes and Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song briefly asserted: Money is broken. Bitcoin is the fix. Song included a link to “The Little Bitcoin Book: Why Bitcoin Matters for Your Freedom, Finances, and Future” on Amazon. Some people saw Rowling’s request as an opportunity to promote their work, such as The Bitcoin Standard’s author, Saifedean Ammous, who told Rowling that he would be “Happy to mail you a copy of my book JK.” Tron founder Justin Sun quickly offered 1 BTC to Rowling: “I can send you 1 bitcoin. Seeing is believing … Just imagine a magic coin (bitcoin) Dumbledore don’t understand (like Warren Buffett) but Harry Potter is fascinated about it.” Sun and a small group of people in the crypto industry recently had lunch with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO after winning it at a charity for $4.57 million. The Tron founder also gifted Buffett 1 BTC but the billionaire passed it onto a charity. Sun was also recently rumored to have received a $2 million grant from the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which is part of the coronavirus stimulus package that President Donald Trump signed into law in March. Some other examples of the responses Rowling received include “Bitcoin is like fire insurance you’d buy for your home but instead of your home on fire, it’s economic & government systems around the world” and “Imagine that something exists which doesn’t actually exist. That’s Bitcoin.” Some explained bitcoin as “Digital money that cannot be tampered with. Doesn’t require Banks to send it. Bitcoin has a finite supply, therefore is not subject to inflation like $/£” and “Imagine money is like alcohol. Everyday more and more is being printed so it constantly dilutes the alcohol. Bitcoin is like the purest form of alcohol that cannot ever be diluted. You can enjoy the same taste 5, 10, or 100 years down the line.” One Twitter user wrote: Bitcoin is designed so that it eliminates the need for trust. It’s backed by advanced math, you won’t understand. JK Rowling Still Confused About Bitcoin, Elon Musk Explained Bitcoin Is ‘Solid’ After many people attempted to explain bitcoin to Rowling, she was still confused. “God bless every single one of you now earnestly explaining bitcoin to me as though I’ll grasp it if you break it down properly. Things like this are white noise to me,” Rowling admitted. “I cannot and will not ever understand Bitcoin, but I love you for thinking that I can or will.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk also explained what bitcoin is to JK Rowling before confirming that he still only owns 0.25 BTC. Musk also said that bitcoin looks solid when compared to central banks’ fiat money. Among those who tried to explain the concept of bitcoin and cryptocurrency to Rowling was Elon Musk. The Tesla and Spacex CEO wrote, “Massive currency issuance by govt central banks is making Bitcoin Internet money look solid by comparison.” He added, “I still only own 0.25 bitcoins btw.” Musk recently criticized the U.S. government’s stimulus relief plans and also came under fire himself when he said the Tesla stock price was “too high,” which immediately sent the price downward. Paxful CEO Ray Youssef chimed in. He wrote: “It is true Ms. Rowling bitcoin doesn’t add value to your life. It may however add value to those around you who help you with services. So many of them send money back home and bitcoin used for p2p can save them so much time and money.” Some people believe that Rowling was just upset that she did not get into bitcoin while its price was lower. Ivan on Tech speculated: “Maybe JK Rowling is just jealous that she didn’t buy bitcoin early enough and missed out on massive gains … Now she is trying to spread FUD to bring back the price.” Rowling later admitted: “This started as a joke, but now I’m afraid I’ll never be able to log in to Twitter again without someone getting angry I don’t own bitcoin. One day you’ll see a wizened old woman in the street, trying to trade a Harry Potter book for a potato. Be kind. She did try to understand.” She noted that she is “just about able to grasp a barter system. Talk of collectibles, tokenomics and blockchains and my brain just takes a walk.” The famous author opined: I’m sure cryptocurrencies are fascinating. I’ve genuinely tried to grasp the very detailed information I’ve been sent tonight (people close to me understand it & have tried to explain it when I’m stone cold sober), but I’m afraid this is a total blind spot to me. Does JK Rowling Own Any Bitcoin Right Now? After several hours of tweetstorm in response to the Harry Potter author’s quest to understand bitcoin, fake JK Rowling Twitter accounts started to actively participate in the discussion. One tweet from an account impersonating Rowling reads, “Ok Ok Ok. You guys win. I just bought my first bitcoin.” This tweet has since been deleted but not before it was seen by many people, including Rowling herself who acknowledged, “a fake JK Rowling account has made a purchase of bitcoin.” While most people just ignored the fake account, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong replied to it seriously. “Welcome to crypto,” Armstrong wrote. “Grab a Coinbase account when you’re ready to use that bitcoin (not just hold it), and get into any of the many other cryptos out there.” Rowling confirmed on Saturday morning: In case I haven’t effectively demonstrated my ignorance between last night & this morning, I don’t own bitcoin. Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Luno, pointed out that “this is a good reminder for us all on how much work there is still to do to educate on bitcoin … People can criticize JK Rowling all they like but 1. she is making a genuine effort to understand and 2. is a good proxy for the general population.” A number of people in the crypto space have created bitcoin explainer videos for Rowling. Girl Gone Crypto, for example, made a Harry Potter-themed video specifically for Rowling called “Muggle’s Guide to Bitcoin.” Ethereum co-founder and creator of Cardano Charles Hoskinson made a Youtube video entitled “What is Bitcoin for JK Rowling” and urged others to make a similar effort to explain the concept of cryptocurrency for those who may be interested in learning more. Bitcoin.com also has a wide range of educational resources for anyone looking to learn about bitcoin and bitcoin cash. Whether JK Rowling decides to buy bitcoin or not, the crypto community has viewed her quest to understand bitcoin as a great awareness drive for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the very least, she has tweeted multiple times about bitcoin to her 14.6 million Twitter followers. What do you think about JK Rowling’s attempt to understand bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JK Rowling Bitcoin Quest: Elon Musk Joins Community to Explain Cryptocurrency to Harry Potter Author appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last two months since the March 12 crypto market rout, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ demand for cryptocurrencies seems to be on the rise in certain regions in Latin America. Various reports published this week have noted that countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes. However, other reports show that even though the volumes are high in these specific countries, they are hard to measure due to inflation or hyperinflation. Trade Volumes Spike in Countries Like Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, But the Region’s Fiat Currencies Are Also Stricken by High Inflation A lot of bitcoin trade volume has been taking place in a variety of Latin American countries. Peer-to-peer marketplaces that sell cryptocurrencies are seeing strong volumes in these regions. According to Coin Dance volume statistics, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile have seen significant bitcoin trade volumes on Localbitcoins week after week. Venezuela and Argentina bitcoin trade volumes indicate new all-time highs and the trend can be seen on Paxful, Mycrypto, Local.Bitcoin.com, and other platforms as well. Because of this vast crypto trade volume in Latin America, it had prompted a number of financial news outlets to report that there is significant demand stemming from these areas. For instance, Nikkei Asian Review staff writer Naoyuki Toyama recently wrote that “bitcoin shines in emerging markets plagued by falling currencies,” and “from Bueno Aires to Beirut, investors embrace cryptocurrency as a safe haven.” Despite the reports, a few media outlets like Decrypt, Crypto Globe, and a few others showed a different side of the story. For instance, it seems people are not taking into account that the fiat currencies in these countries are becoming less valuable every day. Yes, the volumes are at an all-time high in Argentina, but inflation is worse than it has ever been for Argentines in three decades. Well before the coronavirus, Argentina’s inflation rate hit 53.8% at the end of 2019. Venezuela is the same way, as the inflation rate for Venezuelans is massive. In February 2020 the inflation rate was 2,910%, but it did fall to 2,430% in March. However, the significantly larger inflation rate in Venezuela makes it the worst inflation rate in the world by a long shot. Despite the fact that Localbitcoins trade volumes in the country are touching an all-time high, it doesn’t compare to the trade volumes in 2017 when the bolivar was worth more. Residents from any country can leverage Bitcoin.com’s private, peer-to-peer bitcoin cash marketplace today. There are buyers and sellers from Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and every nation-state on the planet. Issues With the Iranian Rial and the Fall of the US Dollar The Covid-19 pandemic has made things worse in these countries as the economies in Chile, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico, and all the other regions with high BTC trade volumes have worsened. The troubles have gotten so bad in Venezuela, this week President Nicolas Maduro enacted a rent and wage freeze across the whole country. On many occasions, Localbitcoins data has had some discrepancies, particularly when it used to serve Iran. Not too long ago, many individuals and publications said that Iranians were paying $24,000 per BTC. The problem with that price estimate was a common misconception about the exchange rate in Iran and how it works. At the time, people observed that one BTC was around a billion Iranian rials, but the exchange rate math is entirely different. An Iranian national named Mehran Jalali explained when these $24K per BTC headlines came out, how people can get the market rate using USD, and the Iranian rial. “The going market rate for the U.S. dollar to the Iranian rial is one dollar to 136,500 rials,” Jalali said this past January. Making things even more confusing, news.Bitcoin.com’s Kevin Helms reported on how Iranian lawmakers recently discussed slashing four zeros from the rial. Localbitcoins, however, banned Iranian traders from swapping digital currencies on the platform and residents now have to leverage other options. It’s hard to measure how much demand is stemming from any country based on Localbitcoins volumes alone. Especially when there are huge discrepancies and massive inflation ruining these fiat currencies from various Latin American countries. The same could be said for the U.S. dollar someday, and economists have predicted the end of the USD after the petro-dollar collapse. Analysts forecast that BTC could reach 1 million dollars, at some point in time, and it very well could happen in the midst of hyperinflation in the U.S. if it was to occur. A number of economists think that the demise of USD very well could happen especially amid the Federal Reserve creating trillions of dollars out of thin air. So if you think about it logically and envision BTC touching a million USD per coin — Would it be very meaningful if the USD was near worthless? What do you think about the trade volumes in Latin America taking inflation into consideration? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments below. The post P2P Bitcoin Trade Volumes and Inflation in Latin America Are on the Rise appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

BigONE is a global cryptocurrency trading and custody platform founded in 2017, clad in four principles – Integrity, Security, Professionalism, and Win-Win. The exchange has developed comprehensive digital assets trading services. The ecosystem runs the gamut, including both spot and margin trading, contract trading, B2C loans, centralized mining pool BigProxy, decentralized exchange BigDEX, digital assets crowdfunding platform AngelONE (IEO), wealth management products, providing users an one-stop solution for their digital assets. At BigONE, security is not a choice. Everyday, the exchange deploys top-notch technologies and security measures to safeguard the safety of its users’ digital assets. In fact, since founded in 2017, BigONE has never lost even a single token of our users’ assets, which is actually a world record when writing this article. BigONE’s core team has five years experience in managing cryptocurrency trading platforms and is equipped with seasoned expertise in sourcing digital assets. BigONE fully upholds the spirit of blockchain, cultivates token ONE Ecosystem, and advocates for the sharing of the exchange’s profit and benefits with all BigONE users. BigOEN firmly believes that blockchain can change the future for the better, and strives to become the gateway to blockchain across the globe. BigONE has inherited great resources from Yunbi.com, the precursor of BigONE. The team was the first ever in the world to have discovered premium blockchain projects such as ETH, NEO, QTUM, SC, and EOS, the last of which launched its first ever IEO on Yunbi. Ever since EOS came into existence, BigONE has been facilitating the development and prosperity of the EOS ecosystem. BigONE not only supports almost all of the EOS Candy airdrops, but also opens relevant trading pairs in a quick manner. While growing with its users, BigONE has cultivated its own features. Safe and Stable: The platform deploys 100% reserve fund, and received the highest security audit verification from the world leading blockchain ecosystem security company SlowMist. For instance, BigONE has enabled the slider verification code for human-machine identification, and has an anti-phishing reminder to prevent users from being phished, not to mention the security team’s manual checkup when something suspicious happens during the login process. Depositing and Withdrawing Security: The security was integrated with the SlowMist AML system, and when something unusual happens, BigONE’s real human security team will manually check it up. Permission Security: The GCP platform account is bound to the G Suite account, and all permissions can be rescinded by disabling the company mailbox. Without this security measure, millions of tokens were stolen by former employees of some other well-known exchanges not long ago. Server Security: All services are managed and maintained on k8s. Private Key Security Service and Management: All private keys and passwords are managed through the secret mechanism of k8s, and injected into the runtime environment of the program in the form of environment variables. The update of the secret is the responsibility of a dedicated person, and the engineer can only quote it, not the plaintext. Private Key Security: Both Hot Wallet and Cold Wallet deploy secure random number methods to generate private key and master key, and use a high-strength algorithm to encrypt storage. All sensitive information is in the memory and erased immediately after use. Do Nothing despicable: Ever since BigONE was founded, the company upholds the moral principle of “do nothing despicable”, and sticks to it through everyday’s operation. What sets BigONE apart is that it never ever manipulates the market or sets up a secretive system to take advantage of its users. BigONE users trade fair and square, as does BigONE. High performance. The underlying transaction architecture uses PXN professional matching engine, supporting high concurrent access. Thanks to years of technology accumulation, BigONE has substantially brought its interface and trading experience to a next level, and catered to global users with more stable technology and localization. By and large, BigONE is designed to solve traders’ imperative needs in response to the security hackings that were undermining other bitcoin trading platforms. Its unprecedented security, world-class products, and uncommonly business ethics are things that very few exchanges have, but everyone covets. BigONE Website: big.one Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigONEexchange Telegram: https://t.me/B1_EN LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bigone-exchange/ New User Registration: https://bigone.com/users/new?code=S149L39D Contact Email Address dillonsong@big.one Supporting Link https://big.one/ 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 0 Security Breach. 0 Token Loss. appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A bitcoin investment scheme claiming to help people make over $13,000 within 24 hours has recently gained more attention. Bitcoin Loophole claims to be an algorithmic crypto trading app that enables its members to make daily profits and become millionaires within 61 days. However, it is a scam associated with a different kind of investment. Bitcoin Loophole: Crypto Trading App Scam The record-high unemployment in many countries, led by the coronavirus crisis, has forced many people to look for jobs or ways to make money online. Investment schemes preying on the desperation to make fast cash have multiplied, many of which advertise investments in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies since they have recently outperformed most asset classes. One bitcoin investment scheme that has recently garnered attention worldwide is called Bitcoin Loophole. Its simple website resembles other known bitcoin investment scams that news.Bitcoin.com has already exposed, such as Bitcoin Trader, Bitcoin Superstar, Bitcoin Era, Bitcoin Revolution, and Bitcoin Evolution. Bitcoin Loophole claims to be an algorithmic trading software for cryptocurrency markets that can be automated so “There is no investor intervention required,” its website details. You can “make money using the official crypto trading software,” which is AI integrated and uses “advanced technology,” it adds. The Bitcoin Loophole investment scheme claims to help people make lots of money fast, such as $13,000 within 24 hours. Its website claims that users have made regular income and some became millionaires in two months. However, this site is a scam. Besides BTC, the Bitcoin Loophole website advertises that members can also trade in a number of other cryptocurrencies — including ethereum, litecoin, ripple, monero, bitcoin cash, and dash — as well as fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar and the euro. The self-proclaimed crypto trading app also states that its members “generally make a minimum of $13,000 every single day,” adding that “Little actual work is required” and “some members become millionaires within their first 61-days.” It additionally claims: It is practically impossible to lose money when trading with Bitcoin Loophole. In addition, the Bitcoin Loophole website also displays a number of testimonials supposedly from members who have successfully made money using this trading app. These testimonials are fake and the photos of members are merely stock photos publicly available online. The Bitcoin Loophole app is also available in the Google Play store. The Bitcoin Loophole website displays a bunch of testimonials supposedly from people in the U.S. despite the scheme declaring (after signing up and logging in) that it does not accept U.S. customers. What’s the Catch? While the idea of making $13,000 a day with little effort is attention-grabbing, there are many red flags about Bitcoin Loophole. News.Bitcoin.com created an account at Bitcoin Loophole for this review. Once we completed signing up, the following message displayed in the middle of the screen: “You’ve successfully completed the registration and connected to your broker.” Another message then asked us to deposit funds of at least $250 into the account to begin trading. All deposits must be done via credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Maestro, and American Express. There was a world of difference in the information and tone that the website displays before and after signing into the site. Once logged in, there are no longer any promises of easy profits from bitcoin. Instead, there is a disclaimer that reads: Bitcoin Loophole does not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this website. Another red flag is that before logging in, the website expressly states that it is not a scam and its app is “an award-winning software.” Furthermore, the so-called trading app claims that it “has been acknowledged by major institutions such as the US Trading Association as the best trading tool for cryptocurrency investors.” This is, of course, not true as the company is not registered with any regulators and its app is not recognized by any authorities. After signing in, the website also displays a notice specifically about U.S. customers. It states: “USA Regulation Notice: Option trading is not regulated within the United States. Bitcoin Loophole is not supervised or regulated by any financial agencies nor US agencies. Any unregulated trading activity by U.S. residents is considered unlawful. Bitcoin Loophole does not accept customers located within the United States or holding an American citizenship.” This disclosure is false as options trading is regulated in the U.S. by the Commodity and Exchange Commission (CFTC). Bitcoin Loophole is a scam with several red flags. Once you sign up, you will no longer see any information about how easy and risk-free it is to use the system to trade bitcoin. You will, however, see messages about contract for difference trading and how risky this type of investment is. Bait-and-Switch: CFD Trading Not Bitcoin Trading After logging into the Bitcoin Loophole website, there is no longer any mention of bitcoin but there are plenty of mentions of contract for difference (CFD) trading. Trading contracts for difference is a way of speculating on financial markets that does not require the buying and selling of any underlying assets. Based on information displayed on the website after logging in, Bitcoin Loophole looks more like a CFD scam with no element of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies other than its name. It may also be a shady affiliate or referral website for an offshore CFD broker, in the same way Bitcoin Evolution does for a Cyprus-registered investment company. CFDs are high-risk investments and companies often pay huge commissions for client referrals for CFD trading. The Bitcoin Loophole website (after logging in) even has a disclaimer that states: “You may lose some or all of your invested capital, therefore you should not speculate with capital that you cannot afford to lose.” Many scams have been known to target CFD trading specifically and many authorities have advised how to recognize one. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) warns: If you are solicited by a company that claims to trade in CFDs and asks you to invest funds, you should be very careful … Get rich schemes, including those involving CFDs, tend to be scams. The association advised that these scams are “heavily promoted” as an “exciting opportunity” to make money, promising high returns and guaranteeing “little or no risk and high investment returns.” As Bitcoin Loophole did, these scammers would “encourage you to wire your money offshore,” the NASAA detailed. “Be aware that once you transfer funds to a foreign firm, it may be difficult or impossible to get your money back.” Since scams using the words bitcoin and cryptocurrency have become more rampant, anyone searching for an investment opportunity online should take extreme caution. If you are looking for a legit way to start investing in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin.com has many useful guides to get you started, including how to buy and sell bitcoin. What do you think about Bitcoin Loophole? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Loophole: Wanna Make $13K in 24 Hours? This Crypto Trading App Is a Scam appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few years, blockchain surveillance has increased a great deal and in the early days around 2013-14, there were only a handful of firms. Now there are more than 20 blockchain analysis companies that monitor addresses, transactions, and making sure addresses are AML/CFT compliant as well. The Rise of Blockchain Analysis Ventures In the early days before 2013-14, bitcoiners and cryptocurrency users didn’t really hear about blockchain surveillance. Nowadays, there’s a large slew of companies offering services like analytics, monitoring, and identifying blockchain codebase vulnerabilities. A number of firms have worked with law enforcement in the U.S. and also have contracts with groups like Europol as well. At the time of publication, there are more than 20 different blockchain intelligence businesses that work within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Some of them are well known firms like Cyphertrace, Chainalysis, and Elliptic. Other platforms are offered by Alethio, Bison Trails, Blockpit, Blockmonitor, Bloxy, Postchain, Scoreshain, Sixgill, Tibco, Credits, Crystal Blockchain, Dune analytics, Madana, Bitrank, and Ocyan are lesser-known operations. There are now over 20 different firms that specialize in blockchain surveillance and some of them work for governments, law enforcement, and financial incumbents. A few of these startups have dedicated their business models to blockchain surveillance and monitoring a great number of different networks. In October 2019, Chainalysis detailed it was monitoring 21 different tokens that stem from Ethereum. That same month, the firm Ciphertrace revealed it is tracking 700 cryptocurrencies providing “visibility into 87% of the global trading volume.” Many of these companies put out research reports on the data they discover during exchange hack investigations and other types of crypto scams. Elliptic became well known A slew of blockchain surveillance firms published data after the massive Plus Token scam last year. Elliptic’s Big Bang model published six years ago. Elliptic is an older blockchain analysis company that was founded on October 1, 2013, by Adam Joyce, James Smith, and Tom Robinson. How Accurate Are These Distributed Ledger Monitoring Platforms? But skeptics often wonder how good these monitoring applications are, and how they deal with coins that have been mixed using the coinjoin process. News.Bitcoin.com recently discovered a platform called Bitrank, a project that allows people to simply copy and paste a BTC or ETH address, in order to check to see if the address follows AML/CFT compliance. Bitrank’s website says it is simple to use and “easy to understand” if people are interested in “Bitcoin address reports for AML/CFT compliance.” The company also says if you run a crypto business you should leverage the platform’s Risk Scoring. However, news.Bitcoin.com tested Bitrank’s platform and found a few discrepancies. The address associated with the Plus Token scam. Blockchain Intelligence Group is older than Elliptic and it offers real-time search and data analytics for companies. It was founded on May 16, 2010, by Anthony Zelen, Lance Morginn, and Shone Anstey according to Crunchbase data. The firm is located in Vancouver, BC, Canada it has seen post-IPO equity status. For instance, on May 15 our newsdesk pasted a well known legacy BTC address that is allegedly tethered to the Plus Token scam. On February 11, the Plus Token Ponzi scammers moved 12,000 BTC from one wallet to another. The address and some of the other addresses are flagged on a variety of blockchain explorers as well. That address using the Bitrank application gave a Risk Score of 52 or “acceptable.” Other addresses tied to the same address also came up with the same score and it were deemed “acceptable,” according to Bitrank’s service. After that our newsdesk found another discrepancy, we then pasted an address used by a known mining pool. 1KFHE7w8B… had seen a total of 4,968,400 BTC deposited into the address to-date. This particular address Bitrank flagged as “high risk” with a Risk Score of 18. A random address associated with a mining pool that was used today. This address has seen close to 5 million BTC in the wallet. As Digital Assets Become Popularized, Platforms That Monitor Crypto Transactions Will Likely Increase It’s likely considered risky because the address has seen close to 5 million BTC since it was created. According to Bitrank, it explains that the addresses Risk Assessment shows it is involved with an exchange, input over 10K, exchange client, darknet deposit, Binance client withdrawal, Bittrex client withdrawal, seen on Paste Bin, seen on a darknet forum, and seen on a darknet listing. The address associated with the 12,000 BTC used by the Plus Token scammers shows no Risk Assessment data from Bitrank. The creators of the platform may know about the discrepancies, and the website says scoring results will be improved soon. “In the coming weeks, Blockchain Intelligence Group will be implementing some significant enhancements to Bitrank with a number of refinements to both Bitcoin and Ethereum scoring results,” the website details. Chainalysis provides compliance solutions and cryptocurrency investigation services. The firm was founded by Jan Moller, Jonathan Levin, and Michael Gronager on October 1, 2014. Chainalysis is well known for working with law enforcement on various cryptocurrency cases including the Mt Gox breach. In fact, when U.S. officials and blockchain company representatives held a subcommittee hearing on the implications of virtual currencies and illicit financing on June 8, 2016, cofounder Jonathan Levin told the committee Chainalysis knows the destination of the missing 650,000 BTC from Mt Gox. “Chainalysis was the official investigator in the Mt Gox bankruptcy case and the destination of those coins is definitely known,” Levin said. With more than 20 blockchain analysis firms monitoring blockchains and even reporting to law enforcement, it shows the practice is popular. However, if certain businesses are using blockchain analysis tools regularly, they may find some irregular reporting and inaccurate information. Many of these services offer APIs and platforms for paid clients and interested customers might want to research these platforms for any known issues. Blockchain surveillance has become very lucrative for a number of these companies, as governments across the globe have hired these firms for investigations and intelligence reports. It’s likely that as the crypto economy continues to see relentless growth, these distributed ledger investigators will continue to increase. What do you think about the fact there are over 20 blockchain surveillance firms in 2020? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. The post 20 Blockchain Surveillance Firms Monitor Crypto Networks, But Some Apps Show Inaccuracies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin (BTC) is a compelling investment case “for patient, long-term investors” willing to spend the time to understand the top cryptocurrency, a new paper by Paradigm co-founder managing partner Matt Huang notes. The crypto entrepreneur places BTC besides gold, as a go-to store of value, amid unprecedented stimulus spending by governments during the Covid-19 crisis. “Bitcoin is likely to earn a place alongside gold as a sensible part of many investment portfolios,” Huang says in a paper aimed at reaching out to conventional investors, “Bitcoin for the open-minded skeptic.” “It combines the scarce, money-like nature of gold with the digital transferability of modern currency,” he added. At the peak of the virtual currency’s adoption curve, “central banks may come to view bitcoin as a complement to their existing gold holdings.” Huang’s paper is not so much premised on novel insights as it is about mapping a future out of BTC’s intrinsic features. Beyond comparing favorably to some cryptocurrencies for its classic money features such as scarcity (at 21 million coins), portability, and broad accessibility, bitcoin intrinsically improves on traditional assets. Its digital format, programmability, universality, and decentralization are a source of alternative appeal. Decentralization and immunity to censorship afford BTC holders “a special kind of confidence: that bitcoin cannot be devalued by arbitrary monetary policy decisions, and that they will always be able to hold and transfer their bitcoin freely,” Huang writes. This becomes especially important at a time when the markets are unusually exposed to politics, not just benign government interventions but also crisis-related protectionism and bilateral hostilities. A recurring objection to BTC as an asset class is that it is a bubble but Huang turns the same criticism around in favor of the crypto. Citing Nobel laureate Robert Shiller, he notes that BTC is in good company as gold is also a bubble, being an asset class of no immediate utility but rather valuable for popular conviction about a future value that occasionally pushes the prices up. Bitcoin bubbles of note, 2011, 2013, 2013-15, and 2017 began with high-conviction investors buying when things were quiet on the front, followed by media attention, speculation, further attention, and investor interest. “Although painful for those involved, each bubble leads to broader awareness and motivates bitcoin’s underlying adoption, gradually expanding the base of long-term holders who believe in bitcoin’s potential as a future store of value,” Huang explains. “Through successive bubbles, bitcoin reaches greater levels of scale in users, transaction volumes, network security, and other fundamental metrics,” he argues. Bitcoin’s relative ease of access through in-built financial inclusion mechanisms will be useful in growing its market size as people with eroding currencies are more likely to get the digital asset than they are to get gold or other valuables like art or property. Political considerations may also work in the cryptocurrency’s favor. “If foreign governments (some of whom already bristle at their dependence on US dollar forex reserves) begin to adopt bitcoin as a complement to existing gold holdings, the market size for bitcoin could expand significantly,” Huang adds without committing to a precise estimate. Huang contrasts the general optimism of his paper with BTC risks such as volatility and regulation. Volatility, however, aids adoption and may terminate when broad acceptance lead to stability, while regulation can be mitigated by bitcoin’s decentralized nature. What do you think about Bitcoin’s comparisons to gold? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post How Investors Are Presented With Bitcoin: ‘A New Decentralized Monetary Asset, Akin to Gold’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article