roadrunner

TNC IT Group (TNC), an international blockchain company, will have its native currency TNC Coin listed on crypto exchanges by April 30. TNC Coin is set to progress fast in the market due to its expedited listing and user base. Since TNC revealed its merger project, interested crypto investors and traders have expressed anticipation for TNC token’s listing. The listing of TNC Coin would empower investors who have suffered from extreme price drop from initial coin offerings (ICO) and initial exchange offering (IEO) schemes. Now that TNC Coin will soon launch in the market, TNC believes this event will help the Crypto M&A journey forward. The first five companies will go through the token SWAP process to be reborn as TNC, then the rest of the first merger group will follow the initiation. The first group is around 100 crypto companies who already fulfilled the requirements of the Crypto M&A and signed a preliminary agreement with TNC. TNC is also well known for its ambitious goal to unite the cryptocurrency world. This goal will be realized through the Crypto M&A program, an initiative to merge around 500 existing cryptocurrencies in the market through the token swap process. Crypto M&A was designed to synergize the power of the community among the scattered blockchain companies around the world. It will allow cryptocurrencies that are on a standstill in the trading market to gain as the TNC Coin community grows. A united community will be the critical underlying force that will increase the TNC Coin’s future price value. Crypto M&A will utilize TNC Coin as its main currency given out to merger companies and their community. The token swap ratio is determined by a grading system to ensure blockchain companies and their users will get a corresponding fair amount of TNC tokens during the swap. Due to the mass-scale token swap process, TNC will be able to gather all existing scattered communities and unite them into one. As a result, TNC Coin will get accelerated in being listed on a number of exchanges and will advance in user adoption. TNC Coin token circulation will then be associated with the Crypto M&A program’s future success. As a network-focused company, TNC will nurture and foster built relationships with other blockchain companies. The Crypto M&A program also enables TNC to form a global network of blockchain professionals. Companies part of the network will be given new opportunities to work and collaborate with TNC for future blockchain projects. TNC also plans to act as a project development company that will cater to blockchain-related demands of government and enterprises. With a shortage of skilled and experienced blockchain developers in the employment market, the company targets to gather a pool of 10,000 developers with different specializations into its network. TNC aims to nurture specialized developers to deliver industry-focused blockchain solutions. As part of its long-term goal, TNC also wishes to introduce a novel blockchain infrastructure that will benefit the majority. With the help of blockchain developers in its court, TNC strongly believes that collective efforts and minds will result in an innovative decentralized blockchain infrastructure never before introduced by the industry. Contact Email Address media@tncitgroup.com Supporting Link https://tncitgroup.com This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post TNC IT Group’s Token to Be Listed This April appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The global economy has been feeling the hardships from the mandated lockdowns various nation states have implemented during the last month and a half. Oil prices have dropped below zero for the first time in history, and economic powerhouses like the U.S. are starting to show cracks in the system. Despite the souring economy, a number of analysts and economists predict that bitcoin and the crypto economy will rise triumphantly and bring a new class of millionaires. Industry Shutdowns, Supply Chains In Disarray, Food Shortages, and Rising Prices The global economy is not looking so good and it could get worse due to the ongoing industry lockdowns and stay-at-home orders worldwide. Despite the overly exaggerated graphs and charts showing the predicted mortality rate, the surge toward healthcare in the United States never really materialized. Medical professionals have been speaking out against the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, but government officials across the nation have been too slow. The industry shutdowns in the U.S. have threatened the American economy, as close to 27 million citizens are out of work. Some estimates say that the unemployment rate in the U.S. is between 20-45% to date. Unemployment and shut down businesses across the nation are devastating the U.S. supply chain, causing mass disruption for truckers. While Wall Street and private banks like Blackrock were given hundreds of billions from the Federal Reserve, America’s truckers were left out of the stimulus proposal. The current state of the U.S. supply chain and the number of food shortage headlines is astounding and critical to supply and demand. Zoom in for a closer look at the links. The U.S. supply chain’s grinding slowdown has caused the food industry and farmers in America to have significant shortages and dump massive waste. The lockdown and stay-at-home orders are threatening U.S. pork suppliers, packing plants are closing shop, the commercial fishing industry is in a freefall, beef and cattle farmers are seeing shortages, wheat shortages are expected, dairy farmers are dumping milk, the clean and bottled water industry is threatened, and many more stories are sweeping the nation describing the supply chain and farm industry under immense pressure. “In economics, hyperinflation is very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency,” explains Wikipedia’s definition of hyperinflation. With the supply chain feeling the economic hardships, it clearly has made it worse on the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. Prices on food and necessities are starting to rise and with the petro-dollar crushed, many Americans fear hyperinflation could take the country by storm. The U.S. beef suppliers are already dealing with inflation and a price-gouging war. Moreover, the food shortages are not just in the U.S., as a myriad of countries are experiencing supply chain closures and limited food supplies. The Emergence of New Millionaires and Rothko Research Calls Bitcoin the ‘Story of the Next Decade’ The looming economic depression has invoked a lot of macroeconomists and market strategists to predict what kinds of assets will be a hedge against hyperinflation and rising prices on goods like food. Of course, barter and trade will likely rule the roost, but many believe that the safe-haven asset gold will be far more valuable than it is today as well. A few analysts think that the crypto economy, which is valued at $225 billion today, will be another form of safe-haven assets that will benefit those trying to escape the financial storm. More recently, since the Covid-19 outbreak, observers have said that this is the time for BTC to shine and there are headlines calling Bitcoin “the story of the next decade.” Global Macro Investor CEO Raoul Pal expects bitcoin to be $1 million within the next five years. Another recent report says that after the block reward halving, “a new class of bitcoin millionaires may emerge.” Chart by Eikon Reuters and Rothko Research. The CEO of the cannabis business Juicyfields, Alan Glanse thinks the BTC economy will see “substantial market growth,” around 2-3 months after the halving. The stimulus packages have invoked a number of economists to believe that BTC will be fueled by hyperinflation and macroeconomic hardships. The CEO of the firm Coinzoom, Todd Crossland believes the stimulus from the Federal Reserve will bolster a “bull case” for the cryptocurrency. “While I applaud and support the government in taking the most aggressive measures in providing stimulus for the economy, just the magnitude of the stimulus and printing of dollars, and the accompanying debt gives me a reason to pause. The stimulus will come with inflation and subsequently pressure on the value of the dollar. In my opinion, this paints another bull case for bitcoin and digital assets,” Crossland said on April 27. Chart by Eikon Reuters and Rothko Research. Bitcoin Could Capture 3-5% of the Gold Market Glanse, Crossland, and Pal are not the only ones who see BTC experiencing a parabolic phase during the economic shift. The well known firm Rothko Research, a think tank that shares frequent analysis and updates on the current global macro themes, believes bitcoin could easily capture 3-5% of the global gold market ($9-10 trillion). During the last economic rout a decade ago, many people predicted that double-digit inflation would cause gold to skyrocket Rothko said, but that forecast never materialized. Despite the last financial fallout’s outcome, Rothko thinks “this time is different” especially with the “combination of both monetary and fiscal stimuli will be inflationary in the medium term.” Rothko Researchers state: We saw that gold has already been trending higher against all currencies, and we do expect the trend to start in the crypto market as well. In fact, we think that Bitcoin will eventually capture 3 to 5 percent of the gold market share in the medium to long term. With approximately 190K tons of gold available above ground, the total market cap of gold is USD 10.5 trillion (for a spot price of $1,730 per ounce). Hence, with the total number of mined bitcoins at 18.3 million, a 3 to 5 percent of the total gold market cap would price a unit of Bitcoin between $17,240 and $28,740. Chart by Eikon Reuters and Rothko Research. Bitcoin Is ‘The Greatest Wealth Transfer of Our Lifetime’ This bullish belief has been the case for years for those who have always believed in bitcoin’s attributes. In November of 2019, the bitcoin proponent Rhythm Trader (RT) wrote that society is witnessing the “greatest wealth transfer” of our lifetime. RT describes how Millennials don’t trust financial institutions and banks these days. He mentions a recent survey from Etoro that says Millennials trust “cryptocurrency as an asset—at least, more than they do the stock market run by traditional Wall Street.” “The survey, commissioned by the independent research firm Provoke Insights, asked 1,000 online investors in the U.S., ages 20 through 65, about stock exchanges, cryptocurrency exchanges, and 401(k)s. Forty-three percent of millennial respondents said they trusted cryptocurrency exchanges more than U.S. stock exchanges,” RT’s report disclosed. RT’s paper is very similar to Global Macro Investor Raoul Pal’s outlook. The study concludes by highlighting: When it comes down to this “Great Wealth Transfer” of Boomers to Millennials, we know one thing for sure, Bitcoin is positioned as a vehicle for the storage of newly acquired wealth. Millennials have demonstrated a strong trend of embracing the digital age with open arms while at the same time turning their backs towards the traditional financial system. Bitcoin Halving Is ‘Grossly overrated,’ Says Financial Trader Peter Brandt No one is certain that bitcoin will definitely rise to $20K, $100K, or even $1 million, but a decent number of crypto proponents are very optimistic it will happen. So far, the crypto economy has performed extremely well and has outshined gold and nearly every stock and commodity under the sun, despite the downturn on March 12. Although, not every analyst has the hopium most BTC supporters have today, as the well known financial trader Peter Brandt has told his 344,000 Twitter followers that BTC could drop below $1K per unit. Brandt has also said that the BTC halving is “grossly overrated in another tweet to his followers. “[The] Bitcoin halving = Grossly overrated,” Brandt said. “The daily trading volume of BTC = the real supply of BTC [and] the daily reduction of mined BTCs (NEW supply) equals approximately 2/100th of 1% of real supply. Reduction of new supply [because] of the halving as % of real supply = chump change,” the analyst added. What do you think about crypto investors experiencing a great wealth transfer? Let us know in the comments below. The post The Greatest Wealth Transfer: Economists Predict the Emergence of New Bitcoin Millionaires, BTC Capturing 3% of Gold Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

China’s economy is the second-largest in the world and economists believe the country may someday bring a new global order and end the Western hemisphere’s financial rule. In 2020, various reports show that China’s central bank will soon release a cryptocurrency that represents a digital yuan. This week, regional reports show that 19 well known restaurants including Starbucks, Subway, and McDonald’s will be testing the bank’s virtual currency. China’s Digital Yuan Is Becoming a Reality Reports this week detail that the People’s Bank of China is making headway with its digital yuan testing. Rumors of China creating a digital yuan or a central bank digital currency (CBDC) have been happening since 2013. Four days ago, the PBoC confirmed the existence of a CBDC after a number of photos went viral on social media. The PBoC made a statement about the screenshots and explained that the bank was testing. “The rumored information on the internet is part of the test in our research and development process and it does not mean the digital yuan has been launched officially,” the PBoC said. Now regional reports indicate that 19 popular restaurants and retail establishments will be testing the digital yuan. The financial news columnist noted that Tencent and Ant Financial participated as well as JD Supermarkets, Starbucks, Subway, and McDonald’s. Various Chinese lawmakers are experimenting with the test and there is testing happening in Suzhou and the country’s Xiong’An new district. In Suzhou, it is rumored that Chinese government employees may soon be paid using the PBoC’s CBDC. Martin Jacques Novel ‘When China Rules the World’ Predicts the Rise of the East and the End of the West With the petro-dollar on its last leg, many economists think that China will be the world’s economic superpower with very little peers. Market strategists think Russia will be involved with China’s rise as both countries have been participating in backroom deals to trade oil for other currencies and commodities. Moreover, economists believe the digital yuan will be an integral part of China’s role in developing economic superiority. British journalist and scholar Martin Jacques believes that “China’s future economic strength will heavily alter the political and cultural landscape of the future world.” The digital yuan will be called the “DC/EP” which stands for “Digital Currency Electronic Payment.” “Today, China is the second economy in the world and the least dependent on oil prices,” explains the columnist Sergey Baloyan “While there’s no doubt that the dollar reigns supreme today, the digital yuan is China’s best chance to compete with the dollar on the global scale in the years ahead.” What do you think about China’s DC/EP? Let us know in the comments below. The post Digital Yuan to Fuel China’s Economic Reign – McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway Test PBoC’s Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Just recently, a report from Global Macro Investor (GMI) called “The Unfolding” claims that the world is experiencing the biggest economic event that hasn’t been seen in the last 150 years. GMI’s CEO Raoul Pal authored the report and he strongly believes the digital asset bitcoin will go from a $200 billion asset class to a $10 trillion asset class, within the next few years. In fact, Pal’s macro report stresses that the “Baby Boomer” generation is screwed and he expects this generation to sell away their nest eggs. ‘The Biggest Economic Event in the Last 100 Years’ as ‘Baby Boomers Will Sell Every Rally’ A 120-page Global Macro Investor report explains that the world economy is headed for disaster. The coronavirus outbreak has added a lot of fear into our everyday lives, but the economic after-effects are extremely concerning. GMI’s Raoul Pal says that during the next several years, society will experience three phases; panic, hope, and insolvency. Pal remarks that he believes the world is currently in a “panic” phase, where liquidity starts to dry up and there’s a lot of selling. The “hope” phase will be the first big correction, which will lead to the last and final phase called “insolvency.” This period will be a “brutal phase” says Pal and it will change everything, including all beliefs in the system itself. Pal’s charts and statistics show the economy is dragging downwards with great force, as his findings show China’s falling Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) has been falling like a rock. Chinese retail sales continue to plummet, the country’s industrial production is sliding, car sales are bombing, Fixed Assets Investment is dropping significantly, and consumer confidence is imploding. All of these negative factors are all relatively the same in economically powerful countries like the U.S., Japan, Australia, and various regions in Europe. Moreover, one large piece of evidence that something is horribly wrong is the “worst unemployment data imaginable and the market rallied.” Pal’s report also discusses the similarities between now and the Great Depression that took place years ago. On page 31, Pal explains that he believes the Baby Boomer generation is in for a rude awakening. “The damage this does to the U.S. pension system is incomprehensible. The Baby Boomers will sell every rally they can to protect their last, rapidly diminishing nest egg,” Pal’s report details. “The Baby Boomers are totally f**ked [and] I have been publicly warning and warning about this.” Pal added: All of this is going to destroy the velocity of money for a very long time. ‘Bitcoin Is a Call Option On It All — It Is the Future’ Pal’s research says that gold is performing well through all this and it “will continue to do so.” The report notes that a break past $1,800 an ounce, will be the initial trigger and “massively outperform equities.” Pal expects gold to rise by possibly 3-5x in the next few years. When Pal gets to the subject of Bitcoin, he stresses that the digital asset’s performance will be a “different story.” “I think [bitcoin] can get to $1 million in the same period. I think it can go from a $200 billion asset class to a $10 trillion asset class. Gold as a comparison is around $15 trillion now, including paper gold,” Pal said. “If gold goes up 5x, it becomes a $60 trillion asset, so would it be crazy for bitcoin to have a $10 trillion valuation?” Pal stated further: [Bitcoin] isn’t just a currency or even a store of value. It is an entire trusted, verified, secure, financial, and accounting system of value that can never be created outside of the cryptographic algorithm. It is nothing short of the future of our entire medium of exchange system, and of money itself and the platform on which it operates. With all the other crypto projects and blockchains being created, Pal says the entire crypto economy could easily be a $100 trillion market valuation. “Bitcoin is a call option on it all — It is the future,” Pal concluded. He also added that he wholeheartedly believes that bitcoin is the “biggest trade of our lifetimes and just at the time when we need it most.” The report from GMI and its chief executive Raoul Pal follow the recent research by Bloomberg that says: “Bitcoin will be digital gold in 2020. Additionally, Bank of America (BoA) just published a report that indicates gold may jump 50% from its current price and possibly touch a high of $3K per ounce in the near future. “Beyond traditional gold supply and demand fundamentals, financial repression is back on an extraordinary scale,” the BoA report’s author said. What do you think about BTC touching $1 million per unit? Let us know in the comments below. The post ‘Boomer Generation’ In for a Rude Awakening – Macro Economist Predicts $1M Bitcoin by 2025 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin hit $7,600 on Thursday, its highest level yet since crashing in early March. The cryptocurrency climbed more than 10% during the last 24 hours spurred by the return of leveraged money. Bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), and ripple (XRP) all rose above 4% to $239, $189, and $0.19, respectively. The digital asset litecoin (LTC) soared more than 7%. Bitcoin plunged 27% on March 12, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday, as global financial markets reeled from effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Experts have targeted a break above $8,000 as a key indicator for a bull run. But after the Thursday pump, BTC got rejected a hair, suggesting this “was not a normal bull flag.” The flash pump above $7,700 quickly lost momentum. BTC Price 7-Day Chart. Since mid-March, BTC has appeared to move in sync with riskier assets like stock markets, rising when they rise and falling when they fall. U.S. equities gained on Thursday fuelled by hopes sections of the economy may soon open. There are other factors in support of a bitcoin rally, however. Breaking a previous resistance level of $7,600 for the second time this month might be an indicator that a pre-halving surge is likely. The bitcoin block reward halving is just over two weeks away. Investors appear to be taking positions for an upswing in the price of BTC, if history is acting as a guide. In addition, the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows the cryptocurrency has yet to enter overbought territory. The RSI for BTC is around 59, far below the key threshold of 70, which signals overbought. A break lower could mean bitcoin falls to around $6,500, another major level of support, say experts. At the time of publication, the total value of all the BTC in existence exceeds $138 billion. Over the past 52 weeks, the coin has touched a high of $13,796 and a low of $4,106, according to data from coin market capitalization aggregators. Where do you think the price of bitcoin is headed? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Soars to Its Highest Level Since Crashing in March appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The number of bitcoin email scams has been growing in 2020 and the authorities in several countries have warned of new blackmail tactics used in threatening email scams asking for bitcoin. As the world scrambles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, email scams are taking advantage of people’s fear to extort bitcoin. Bitcoin Email Scams 2020 The coronavirus crisis has caused a lot of panic and scammers are taking advantage of people’s fear. Those looking to blackmail victims for bitcoin know no borders as bitcoin blackmail email scams have been reported in a growing number of countries. “Fraudsters are leveraging increased fear and uncertainty during the covid-19 pandemic to steal your money and launder it through the complex cryptocurrency ecosystem,” the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently warned. The federal agency has seen a rising number of email scams asking for bitcoin payments. Noting that these email scams attempt to blackmail victims using various alarming tactics, the FBI described: With the advent of covid-19, there is a new twist on this scam. The correspondence claims that the writer will both release your information and infect you and/or your family with coronavirus unless payment is sent to a bitcoin wallet. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned about the rising number of bitcoin blackmail email scams involving covid-19. Sextortion Email Scam Proliferating Besides the emergence of coronavirus-focused email scams, sextortion email scams asking for bitcoin have also been on the rise in 2020, even though they are not a new tactic. People have shared their stories on social media of receiving bitcoin sextortion emails, such as on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. The U.K. and Canada are among the latest countries to see a rising number of sextortion email scam complaints asking for bitcoin. With sextortion, scammers threaten to release steamy videos of the victim online. They may claim to have placed malware on a porn website visited by the victim, allowing them to record the target’s screen with a webcam. The blackmail email then requests bitcoin or the steamy videos of the victim would be posted on social media. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center recently explained: A common sextortion email claims to have proof of you visiting a pornographic site and requests a bitcoin payment within 24-48 hrs or the content will be shared with your contact list. In Canada, Halton regional police recently warned of fraudulent emails circulating in Southern Ontario attempting to extort bitcoin from residents. Investigators said that they have received more than 30 complaints about the same email, which reveals the recipients’ current or previous passwords and demands bitcoin. The email threatens to post an explicit video of the recipient online if a bitcoin payment is not made. Fraudsters use many tactics in an email scam, such as threatening to post steamy videos of the victims online. Their goal is to induce fear in the victims, enough to shell out bitcoin in order to silence them. Bitcoin Email Scams Threatening to Spill ‘Dirty’ Secrets Besides sextortion, a bitcoin blackmail email scam can also threaten to spill the victim’s dirty secrets. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) previously described this email scam tactic: “Someone says they know about an alleged affair, or something else embarrassing to you, and demands payments with bitcoin or another cryptocurrency in exchange for keeping quiet.” According to the FBI: Threatening emails or letters in which scammers claim to have access to your personal information or knowledge of your ‘dirty secrets’ and demand payment in bitcoin to prevent release of this information have been circulating for years. There are several other threatening tactics that email scammers often use to extort bitcoin from victims. Ransomware scam emails used to be more prevalent but research has shown that its popularity has dwindled lately. Some scammers attempt to blackmail victims into handing over a “bitcoin password” to give them access to the coins. Scammers will try to intimidate the victim, using threats and high-pressure tactics, to acquire immediate payment. The FTC said this action is not only a scam, but it is also a criminal extortion attempt. The agency urges anyone coming across such a scheme to report it to the authorities, such as local police, the FBI, the FTC, or their counterparts in other countries. What do you think about all the bitcoin email scams in 2020? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Email Scams 2020: Threatening Blackmail Tactics Used to Demand BTC appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. Federal Reserve has created trillions of dollars in order to keep the central bank’s private partners’ liquidity strong during the economic downturn. These moves have caused a number of sound money advocates and economists to explain that the Fed’s monetary policies will lead to hyperinflation in the U.S. Now that the petro-dollar is on its last leg, market analysts are concerned about other countries that depend on the USD. Just recently, the U.S. central bank opened 14 swap lines in order to send billions of dollars to countries that need them. The Fed Creates 14 Swap Lines for International Central Banks In Desperate Need of Dollars The U.S. economy is facing some issues that stem from the choices the government used during the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather than follow the footsteps of Sweden and Thailand, U.S. lawmakers decided to shut down the nation’s industries, and to-date, the unemployment levels in America is around 26.5 million citizens. Basically, the U.S. bureaucracy’s rash lockdown orders wiped the 22.7 million jobs created during the last decade. Meanwhile, the American people have been upset that the Fed has given its private partners trillions in liquidity and printed a measly $1,200 check for every citizen. The CARES act was loaded with Wall Street bailouts, pork funds, and the act even incentivized hospitals that were already broke to fudge Covid-19 numbers. This week, global oil prices dropped below zero to a low of negative $40 per barrel, which compromised the U.S. dollar. The destruction of the USD has a number of economists worried that it will tank the U.S. economy, but there are a number of countries that could also feel the brunt of a USD collapse as well. National Public Radio (NPR) disclosed on April 21, that the Federal Reserve was sending billions in USD to nations in need. According to the report, the U.S. central bank opened 14 swap lines, which are emergency payment processors for international institutions that are desperate for dollars. The funds are being sent to the country’s central bank on a continuous basis. The Fed is sending funds to countries like Norway, Mexico, Japan, and Australia. In addition to the dollar swap lines, the Fed now allows 170 central banks to purchase and hold U.S. Treasury bonds and they can trade them for dollars as well. News.Bitcoin.com reported on how the dollar could collapse from the world’s oil wars, but many people don’t realize that most international trade is still conducted in dollars. Despite the fact that the USD is only protected by military force now, a large number of countries very much depend on the American dollar for international swaps, so they can obtain a myriad of global commodities. “Dollars are the lynchpin of global trade. International loans, debts, and bank transactions are largely done with dollars,” NPR reporter Greg Rosalky wrote on Tuesday. The dollar isn’t just America’s money — It’s the world’s money,” Rosalky added. Many people have asked why the dollar is so strong today, since barrels of oil dropped below zero sending shockwaves to the petro-dollar system. The reason for the strong dollar is due to all the quantitative easing (QE) the Fed did during the last few weeks and most of the funds it distributed in 2009 and the following years after. After the 2008 economic catastrophe, the Fed printed roughly $3.5 trillion dollars and fed excess Treasury bonds and dollars to a number of international central banks. An economist at UC Berkeley, Barry Eichengreen calls the Fed’s recent swap line scheme an act of “responsibility.” “With privilege comes responsibility, and our responsibility is now to provide dollars that the global economy needs to stabilize the economy and eventually begin growing again,” Eichengreen said. “[The Federal Reserve] has taken a step in the direction of acknowledging its exorbitant responsibility, but it needs to do more and provide dollar swap lines to more countries in distress,” the economist added. The Fed’s New USD Swap Lines Won’t Funnel Dollars to Poor Countries What’s interesting is the fact that Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin came out in 2009 at the exact same time the world’s central banks were getting hooked on dollars like alleyway junkies. 11 years ago, Nakamoto wrote about central banks like the Fed creating massive ‘busts and booms’ to the global economy, and the U.S. central bank is one of the biggest manipulators. “The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work,” Nakamoto said. “The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve,” the cryptocurrency inventor added. While a majority of stocks and commodities have fallen in value since March 12, bitcoin and the entire crypto-economy today is only $5 billion shy of a quarter of a trillion dollars. The precious metal gold, which has been considered a safe-haven for a millennia, has also done extraordinarily well during the economic downturn. With the Fed creating trillions of dollars out of thin air and sending billions to a number of countries who need USD support, clearly shows the U.S. monetary system is not as reliable as it once was. It’s frightening for the American citizenry, but millions of other international citizens will feel the pain if the U.S. economy continues to sink. What’s worse is that the former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Blinder admitted that these swap line funds are not going to poor countries that really need help. “It would be very hard politically for the Fed to sell the idea that they should establish swap lines with a whole bunch of poor countries,” Blinder said. What do you think about the Fed’s USD support system feeding other countries? Let us know in the comments below. The post Liquidity Crisis: The Fed Is Sending Billions of Emergency Dollars to USD-Dependent Nations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency lender Dydx advanced a total of $1.14 billion in digital asset loans over the past 12 months. But about 70% of the money was borrowed in just two months, February and March, as coronavirus-linked volatility triggered a frenzy of borrowing among investors. Monthly volume remained below $100 million in the nine months to January but rose sharply between February and March to about $300 million and $400 million, respectively, the latest data from the company shows. More than $100 million worth of loans have been lent out so far this month, indicating a steep decline in investor appetite to borrow. Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply during this period as coronavirus lockdowns sent markets crashing throughout the world. Ethereum, a dominant currency of exchange on Dydx, dropped below $100 at the time but has since recovered to above $180. Dydx loan originations over the past 12 months. About 45% of the total loan portfolio, or $516.64 million, is denominated in ether while 33%, or $378.67 million, comprises dai loans. USDC loans account for the remainder of the equivalent of $128.08 million. The decentralized margin trading exchange did not detail the type of borrowers it lent to or how they utilized their funds. However, with such market volatility, investors typically try to hedge derivative investments or bet on the direction of certain cryptocurrencies. Antonio Juliano, the founder of Dydx, said traders scrambled to use his margin trading facility as coronavirus volatility reached a fever pitch, according to media reports. But that has since started to decline because volatility had slowed down, he said. Dydx is a decentralized exchange for margin trading. It operates on the Ethereum Blockchain, allowing users to trade, borrow or lend three digital assets — ether, dai and USDC — with leverage of up to 4x. Cryptocurrency loans are emerging as an increasingly viable alternative to borrowing fiat. What do you think about cryptocurrency borrowing during covid-19? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Dydx Processed $1.1 Billion Cryptocurrency Loans in 12 Months — 70% in Just 60 Days appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin will mature into a gold-like store of value this year, according to the latest projections by Bloomberg. The financial magazine’s report, “Bitcoin Maturation Leap,” notes that the cryptocurrency is poised for a bull run, after being temporarily dragged by the coronavirus-induced stock market tailspin. With its correlation to gold jumping to all-time highs, BTC is poised to transition from a risk-on speculative asset to the crypto market’s version of the metal. “This year marks a key test for bitcoin’s transition toward a quasi-currency like gold, and we expect it to pass,” the report says. The damage to world economies caused by Covid-19 is prompting governments to dole billions of dollars in stimulus. Bloomberg expects bitcoin to gain amid the circumstances, helped on by mainstream adoption. Per the report, despite BTC’s annualized volatility that’s averaged about 5x that of the S&P 500 in the past year, the crypto is down 5% in 2020 against 22% for the stock index as at April 2. Bloomberg said: For more-established assets, this would be considered a sign of divergent strength. For the nascent crypto, it’s also an indication of a transition toward gold-like adoption, maturity and performance. As digital gold, BTC appeals to the cashless internet economy largely on account of its characteristics that include round-the-clock price transparency, and the lack of limits, interruptions or third-party oversight, notes Bloomberg. The report shows BTC’s decline this year holding above its 2018 low “which was about an 80% drawdown from the peak.” The stage for a strong comeback is set. It states: “On sounder footing after its previous shakeout, bitcoin is gaining relative fuel as stocks reset, if history is a guide.” While Covid-19 will witness the enduring decline of cryptocurrencies, BTC, is considered a hedge asset, that will appreciate. “The macroeconomic effects of the coronavirus accelerate bitcoin’s process of gaining value relative to other cryptos.” In the year to April 2, BTC outperformed the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, surging 40% versus 13% decline in the index. The Bitcoin futures tamed the BTC bull market, a development Bloomberg interprets in terms of the maturation of the cryptocurrency. “Increasing futures open interest, declining volatility, and relative outperformance despite the stock-market shakeout indicates bitcoin is maturing from a speculative crypto asset toward a digital version of gold,” it added. What do you think about bitcoin becoming digital gold? Let us know in the comments section The post Bitcoin to Be Digital Gold in 2020, Says Bloomberg Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) has been extremely popular among Bitcoin Cash (BCH) advocates and the SLP token universe has grown quite large. SLP tokens have seen a myriad of applications built around them and a slew of unique tokens have gained real-world value after being listed on exchanges. Now the cryptocurrency automatic teller machine (ATM) manufacturer, General Bytes, announced the team has recently implemented two-way support for the SLP token standard on the Bitcoin Cash chain. General Bytes Crypto ATMs Now Support SLP Token Functionality Just recently, the crypto-ATM manufacturer General Bytes announced they have implemented two-way support into their ATM software for SLP tokens. The Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) has become a prevalent application within the BCH ecosystem. So far there’s been thousands of SLP tokens created to-date. SLP tokens and their transactions have metadata attached to them, which is data that describes and gives information about the token’s properties. The SLP system simply ties the metadata to OP_Return transactions on issuance, and when tokens are sent and received. Every time someone uses an SLP token BCH transactions are used, and the movement is etched into the BCH chain. While speaking with General Bytes’ marketing manager, Martijn Wismeijer, he explained the SLP token concept is similar to the color coins idea bitcoiners experimented with years ago. To-date there are 7,662 cryptocurrency ATMs according to Coinatmradar.com data. General Bytes is one of the largest crypto ATM suppliers worldwide. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with General Bytes (GB) marketing manager, Martijn Wismeijer, who told our newsdesk that as of the 16th of March 2020, the GB offices in Europe and the USA both went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak. All of the staff working in development, sales, support, and marketing have been working from home since this date. “[SLP] is a token standard very similar to the colored coin or Mastercoin mechanism that we saw back in 2014 on the BTC chain, but the SLP implementation is actually working,” Wismeijer told news.Bitcoin.com. “The Mastercoin or colored coin mechanisms failed because of ‘spam protection’ that was implemented at the time to block these types of transactions on the BTC chain. A bit disappointing because one man’s transaction apparently is another man’s spam but the larger block sizes in BCH make the Bitcoin Cash blockchain very suitable for these types of applications. It is great to see that six years later a similar mechanism is alive and kicking on the BCH blockchain,” Wismeijer added. A view of the SLP implementation on a General Bytes machine, which shows the SLP token SPICE. So the team of developers at General Bytes felt that the ATMs the company manufactures should have more functionality, by adding support for SLP-based tokens. General Bytes (GB) ATMs were one of the first crypto-ATM producers to include BCH into the GB software. “Making the SLP tokens work on the ATMs was on the top of our priority list,” Wismeijer stressed during our conversation. “[When comparing the SLP framework] to the popular ERC20 token standard used on the Ethereum blockchain there are some real advantages in using SLP tokens instead of ERC20,” Wismeijer continued. “SLP tokens are very easy to implement whilst Ethereum is notoriously hard to get right from a developer viewpoint and even the best Ethereum developers make mistakes. Mistakes in smart contracts usually turn into multi-million dollar failures,” he added. At this point, the GB marketing manager explained that with SLP tokens, GB ATMs offer two-way support, but that’s not the case with GB ATMs that support ERC20 tokens. “Because of the complexity and error-prone nature of Ethereum tokens compared to other cryptocurrencies, General Bytes currently only supports ‘buy’ (cash to crypto) for ERC20 tokens on the Bitcoin ATM platform and no ‘sell’ (crypto to cash) token support,” Wismeijer told news.Bitcoin.com. Wismeijer further stated: General Bytes was the first ATM company to support ERC20 tokens on cryptocurrency ATMs but because of the wallet issues, we found only a very slow uptick in the number of supported tokens — SLP suffers from none of these problems so if clients want to create a token, we recommend using the Simple Ledger Protocol instead. Martijn Wismeijer: ‘The Simple Ledger Protocol Really Shines’ Wismeijer said that because of the ERC20 complexity, SLP tokens are far easier to implement into the existing crypto ecosystem. “The wallet issue is solved because there are several good Bitcoin cash wallets with SLP token support readily available and see many use cases for this — For example, a company or organization that wants to issue their own coins (Disney Dollars anyone?) can now distribute these and accept them via mobile wallets for Point of Sale applications and at their ATMs,” the GB representative detailed. “With ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ support on the ATMs, there is an easy on-ramp and off-ramp for these tokens. For these types of applications, SLP really shines and the best part is that it only takes a few hours to implement, with zero-risk that there is some obscure and hidden bug that a developer left in a smart contract — Basically, the [SLP framework] is simple to implement, due to fast deployment and a robust standard,” Wismeijer concluded. Martijn Wismeijer says GB machines have added two-way functionality for SLP tokens but with Ethereum’s ERC20 tokens that’s not the case. The Bitcoin Cash community heard about the GB ATM implementation about a month ago, and many supporters were excited about the latest development. One Redditor noticed that the SPICE token was the first template added and wondered which SLP tokens would be added next. “Hopefully USDH soon, stablecoin via ATMs,” one person replied. While speaking with the GB marketing manager, Wismeijer said that was one crypto solution the GB team was looking forward to seeing grow. “Another potential killer app we see for SLP tokens on ATMs are stablecoins,” Wismeijer remarked. “Currently, a large number of stablecoins run on the Ethereum platform, and many would be far easier (and faster) to implement on the BCH chain as SLP tokens.” What do you think about General Bytes ATMs adding SLP token support? Let us know in the comments below. The post General Bytes ATM Developers Add Two-Way Support for Bitcoin Cash-Based SLP Tokens appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Facebook is buying a stake in Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator. The deal has boosted Reliance Industries’ share price and is welcomed by the Indian cryptocurrency community. Besides Facebook’s investment into Reliance Jio, Whatsapp has also entered into a partnership with Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail. Facebook Invests in Reliance Jio — Largest FDI in India’s Tech Sector Social media giant Facebook announced on Wednesday that it is buying a stake in Reliance Jio, the largest private sector company in India. Facebook signed binding agreements to invest “₹43,574 crore [$5.7 billion]” into Jio Platforms, which represents the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s technology sector. Reliance Jio independently announced on Wednesday: This investment by Facebook values Jio Platforms at ₹4.62 lakh crore pre-money enterprise value … Facebook’s investment will translate into a 9.99% equity stake in Jio Platforms. Reliance Jio’s valuation is approximately “$65.95 billion, assuming a conversion rate of ₹70 to a US dollar,” the company’s announcement adds. The deal between Reliance Jio and Facebook costs the social media giant approximately 5.7 billion dollars or 435.74 billion rupees at the current exchange rate. Following the partnership announcements by Facebook and Reliance Jio, the stock of Reliance Industries Ltd., Reliance Jio’s parent company, spiked. Source: India’s BSE Exchange. The deal with Facebook has boosted the share price of Reliance Jio’s parent company, Reliance Industries. Its stock was up 10.30% to Rs 1,363.35 on the BSE stock exchange on Wednesday following the news of Facebook’s investment. Facebook’s Deal With Reliance Jio Amid Nationwide Lockdown and Coronavirus Crisis Reliance Jio, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, currently has about 388 million subscribers. According to local media, it became the biggest telecom operator in the country by subscriber base early this year. India is the largest market for Facebook and its mobile messaging platform, Whatsapp. In India, Facebook has approximately 328 million monthly users and Whatsapp has more than 400 million users. Commenting on why Facebook decided to invest in Reliance Jio, CEO Mark Zuckerburg said: “This is especially important right now because small businesses are the core of every economy and they need our support. India has more than 60 million small businesses and millions of people rely on them for jobs.” “The partnership between Facebook and Jio is unprecedented in many ways. This is the largest investment for a minority stake by a technology company anywhere in the world and the largest FDI in the technology sector in India,” Reliance Jio described. Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries and India’s richest man, said in a statement: ln the post-corona era, I am confident of India’s economic recovery and resurgence in the shortest period of time. The partnership will surely make an important contribution to this transformation. California-based social media giant Facebook signed binding agreements to invest $5.7 billion, approximately 43,574 crore rupees, into Jio Platforms. This deal represents the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s technology sector. Another Deal: Partnership Between Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail, and Facebook’s Whatsapp Concurrent with Facebook’s investment in Reliance Jio, the two companies also struck another deal. Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail and Facebook’s Whatsapp have entered into a commercial partnership agreement “to further accelerate Reliance Retail’s new commerce business on the Jiomart platform using Whatsapp and to support small businesses on Whatsapp,” Reliance Jio explained. Ambani elaborated: In the very near future, Jiomart — Jio’s digital new commerce platform, and Whatsapp — will empower nearly 3 crore [30 million] small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighborhood. This means all of you can order and get faster delivery of day-to-day items, from nearby local shops. Facebook detailed that it will work with Reliance Jio to create new ways for people in India and businesses to work more effectively, especially in the face of the covid-19 crisis. “In the face of the coronavirus, it is important that we both combat this global pandemic now, and lay the groundwork to help people and businesses in the years to come,” the social media giant emphasized. “For instance, by bringing together Jiomart, Jio’s small business initiative, with the power of Whatsapp, we can enable people to connect with businesses, shop and ultimately purchase products in a seamless mobile experience.” Reliance Jio announced last year its plan to build India’s largest blockchain network. The cryptocurrency sector in India has viewed the deal between Reliance Jio and Facebook as positive for the industry and upcoming crypto regulation. Impact on the Indian Cryptocurrency Sector The cryptocurrency community in India is upbeat about the deal between Facebook and Reliance Jio. Last year, Reliance Jio announced its plan to build the largest blockchain network in India. Local regulatory news and analysis outlet Crypto Kanoon broke down what Facebook buying a stake in Reliance Jio means for the Indian crypto sector. Voicing concerns over privacy issues, the news outlet pointed out that the Reliance Jio and Facebook deal is not a joint venture and the two companies will continue to operate independently with their own business models. Nonetheless, the partnership between Reliance Jio and Facebook “will have a spillover effect” on cryptocurrency as more people in India will start experimenting with digital assets, Crypto Kanoon noted. “There is also going to be [a] surge in the search for terms like ‘blockchain’ and ‘bitcoin.'” Furthermore, the news platform added that having a local partner could help Facebook navigate “various regulatory issues, including those related to privacy and local storage,” asserting: You can expect FB-JIO lobbying for favorable regulation. In future, you can expect a regulation in favor of centralized digital assets regulated by RBI. “You might see groceries getting delivered from ‘Gupta General Store’ of your locality in the near future,” the news platform added, noting that 30 million “Kirana shops in India start accepting digital payments, possibly a ‘Jiocoin.'” The Indian cryptocurrency space recently got a boost when the supreme court quashed the banking ban by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Since then, the crypto sector has been growing and attracting investments from abroad despite the global coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. Meanwhile, Facebook’s Libra project has undergone a major change. Are you happy about the deal between Reliance Jio and Facebook? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Facebook Buys Stake in Reliance Jio — How the Deal Affects Cryptocurrency in India appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There’s a new plugin available that gives people the ability to launch a cryptocurrency exchange on any WordPress-based website. The project called Wpcryptoexchange is a product created by the Tim Draper-backed startup Draper Goren Holm. With the plugin, anyone can launch a digital currency trading platform that allows people to swap various cryptos and also allows website owners to collect trading fees. Now Anyone Can Host a Crypto Exchange on Their WordPress Website A developer named Goren Holm has released a new WordPress (WP) plugin that makes it so anyone can create a crypto exchange on a WP-based site. Holm’s new release leverages open source software called the Totle application programming interface (API). The API makes it so website owners can allow swaps using various cryptocurrencies including ETH, DAI, BAT, and WBTC. “Using Totle’s API, I created a way for anyone to add a decentralized crypto exchange to their WordPress website,” Holm’s webpage called wpcryptoexchange.com explains. “It’s as simple as installing the plugin and typing [wpdex] into any page or post on your WordPress site.” The step-by-step directions for installing the wpcryptoexchange plugin is fairly self-explanatory, and only takes a few minutes to get started. Essentially, all you have to do is download the zip file and unzip it with the plugins admin on any WP website. Then you need to click the “add new button” at the top and select the “Crypto-Exchange.X.X.zip” file you downloaded and finally upload it to the back end. After that, you simply activate the plugin and type: “[wpdex] into a page or post on your site, you’ll have your own cryptocurrency exchange that will route the trades across all decentralized exchanges,” the developer’s website details. Applications Like Exchange-Powered WordPress Plugins Can Further Decentralize the Crypto Trading Industry The venture capitalist Tim Draper, the well known investor who predicts that one BTC will be worth $250K by 2024, partnered with Holm last year. Moreover during the last two years, noncustodial and decentralized exchange (dex) platforms have been extremely popular. Especially since the strong arm of regulation has been cracking down on the crypto industry worldwide. With Holm’s application, it means anyone can launch a crypto trading platform on their site, with just a few instructions from the developer’s webpage. Further, the Totle API can also be installed as a small crypto exchange widget, which can allow trading as well. If anyone can simply create a dex application with ease and host it on their website, regulators will have a hard time stopping free-market crypto trades. Both Totle and the wpcryptoexchange protocol’s codebases are available for review, so people can also check the software’s code for any vulnerabilities. What do you think about the wpcryptoexchange plugin? Let us know in the comments below. The post Anyone Can Host a Crypto Exchange – Tim Draper Backed Startup Launches New WordPress Plugin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Zcash Foundation cut spending by 17% during the first three months of this year due to Covid-19 pressures. In its first-quarter report, the foundation said it spent only $2.68 million from an initial budget of $3.24 million. The report says: Our budget reduction primarily stems from cancelling Zcon2 and reduced travel expenses. Zcash is a popular coin centered on privacy. At the end of the quarter, the Zcash Foundation held about 101,000 ZEC, 42 Bitcoin (BTC), and $4 million cash in hand, according to the report. The coronavirus outbreak has left businesses around the world counting costs. Zcash Foundation members said the pandemic’s impact on its operations was less severe because it has always operated remotely. In this period, the foundation utilized its blockchain network to develop a privacy-preserving contact tracing app in partnership with TCN Coalition, a global group of collaborators working towards a similar purpose. In the review period, Zcash Foundation continued to work on Zebra – the Zcash consensus-compatible node client. The NU3 hard activation was rolled back to July from April, says the report, as work with Zecwallet for the release of the “light wallet version” is ongoing. This version of the wallet enables new Zcash users to shield their ZEC tokens immediately. The Foundation plans to “deliver a simplified threshold scheme for multi-signature spends of shielded funds” called Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold (Frost). The scheme can be integrated into the Zcash Sapling protocol for private threshold payments, it said, all towards the goal of resisting surveillance. The Q1 2020 report also provided an update on designing a Zcash-Cosmos pegzone. After reviewing the cross-chain integration concept with the members of the Cosmos ecosystem, the partners will publish a concrete roadmap during the second quarter of this year. At the time of writing, zcash (ZEC) fell 9.2% to $42.05 over the last 24 hours. The coin has tanked more than 37 percent in the last 52 weeks, with its market capitalization skidding similarly to $378 million. What do you think about the impact of Covid-19 on cryptocurrency businesses? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Zcash Foundation Cuts Q1 Spending 17% to $2.7 Million – ZEC Tanks 9% in 24 Hours appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s monthly index has plunged, suggesting that the U.S. has entered a recession. The index is designed to gauge the overall U.S. economic activity and inflationary pressure. It is a weighted average of 85 monthly indicators. Fed Index Suggests the US Already in Recession The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago released its national activity index on Monday that suggests the U.S. has entered a recession. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) plunged to –4.19 in March from +0.06 in February. The Chicago Fed detailed: All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made negative contributions in March, and three of the four categories decreased from February. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) plunged to –4.19 in March, suggesting that the U.S. entered a recession that month. Source: The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago explained that “Following a period of economic expansion, an increasing likelihood of a recession has historically been associated with a CFNAI-MA3 value below –0.70.” The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, decreased to –1.47 in March from –0.20 in February, meaning the U.S. likely entered a recession in March. Moreover, March’s index value was the lowest since early 2009, during the Great Recession. Economists have predicted that April’s index will be even more severe. Worst Recession Since 2009 The Chicago Fed National Activity Index is the flagship data product of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. It is a monthly index designed to gauge the overall economic activity and related inflationary pressure in the U.S. at any point in time. “Since economic activity tends toward trend growth rate over time, a positive index reading corresponds to growth above trend and a negative index reading corresponds to growth below trend,” the Chicago Fed noted. March’s CFNAI index value was the lowest since early 2009, during the Great Recession. Economists have predicted that April’s index will be even more severe. The CFNAI index is a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity, constructed to have an average value of zero and a standard deviation of one. The indicators are from four broad categories: production and income; employment, unemployment, and hours; personal consumption and housing; and sales, orders, and inventories. Recently, a number of major banks have also predicted a major recession in the U.S. Globally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has declared a recession, the worst one since the Great Depression that will cost at least $9 trillion. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) is expecting a worse recession in Europe than the global economy. In addition, barrels of crude oil traded below zero on Monday. Do you think the U.S. is already in a recession? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Federal Reserve Index: The US Is Already in Recession appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Unicorn startup IronSource’s general manager, Sagi Bakshi, has joined cryptocurrency exchange Coinmama as CEO, saying he believes that the future of money is Bitcoin. Since 2013, Coinmama has been at the forefront of the financial revolution, working to simplify the way the world does crypto. With Bakshi at the helm, the exchange will focus on growing its mission of making cryptocurrency accessible worldwide, with the aim of becoming the go-to on-ramp for the 500 million potential Bitcoin users the next decade will bring. Coinmama believes that the future of money is open source, borderless, and decentralized; that it’s by the people and for the people, and that economic freedom should be available to all. It provides a simple and friendly way to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies online with a debit card, credit card, or bank transfer, as well as to sell Bitcoin. “What’s most exciting to me about Bitcoin is that it’s disruptive. It’s a new financial system, unlike any system we’ve seen before,” says Bakshi. “But in order for Bitcoin to succeed in the long term, it needs to be adopted on a much wider scale. Our goal now at Coinmama is twofold: to continue to make crypto as easy as possible by automating as much of the process as we can and providing the best quality of crypto service available. And in tandem, to use our platform to educate new and potential users about the benefits of cryptocurrency in order to drive mass adoption.” Coinmama’s community of 2 million users in 188 countries is already expanding to reach territories that it was previously closed to. At the same time, Coinmama is streamlining its onboarding process, adding new payment options, and building partnerships with wallet providers in order to support its mission of simplicity and accessibility of cryptocurrency. Sagi Bakshi is a computer science engineer with over 20 years of experience in the tech industry and an extensive background in telecommunications, ad-tech, and blockchain technologies. He joins Coinmama from tech unicorn IronSource, which recently raised funds with a $1.6 billion valuation, where he was a member of the founding team and, from 2011-2018, served as General Manager of the company’s biggest division. Bakshi, a longtime crypto enthusiast who is passionate about Bitcoin and participated in the Ethereum DAO token sale, is eager to bring his expertise to Coinmama and help lead the financial revolution. Contact Email Address support@coinmama.com Supporting Link https://www.coinmama.com/ This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post Coinmama Appoints Unicorn IronSource GM Sagi Bakshi as CEO appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Global markets had a historical day on Monday, as the price of oil dropped below zero and closed the day at -$36 per barrel of crude. The oil crash below zero has never happened in anyone’s lifetime and economists worldwide are uncertain about the future of the world’s financial system going forward. The meltdown also caused global stock markets to slide significantly and traders offloaded equities and commodities with great fervor during the course of the day. History Is Made: Oil Prices Plunge 300% Dropping Below Zero to Negative $36 per Barrel of Crude Oil prices plunged on Monday and desperate crude traders raced to sell contracts as fast as they could. Financial journalists couldn’t even keep up with the price of oil, as it slid below zero to -$36 per barrel by the end of the day. At present, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil-based futures is up a hair but the prices of Western Canadian Select, Mars US, Coastal Grade, and ethanol prices are down considerably. Wall street : Cryptocurrency is a scam. No stock ever will be as volatile as bitcoin. Oil : hold my beer #OilCrash pic.twitter.com/xANK66XXu3 — DDipak (@Revolution00100) April 20, 2020 The result of the negative plunge could be catastrophic to the economy, as oil futures converge with physical deliveries fueling the world’s industries. Oil traders sold massive amounts of contracts on Monday afternoon, liquidating physical deliveries scheduled for May. Meanwhile, the price of the classic safe-haven asset gold has been riding just below the $1,700 per ounce range. While the price of oil plunged, the gold bug and economist Peter Schiff said gold would follow a similar pattern as oil, but in reverse. “What is happening now in the oil market will soon happen in reverse in the gold market,” Schiff tweeted on Monday. A few bitcoin proponents followed Schiff’s rally cries, but replaced gold with their favorite digital currency. “Oil is negative and you still think we won’t have major currency failures?” asked Messari.io founder Ryan Selkis. “Buy bitcoin,” Selkis added. Gabor Gurbacs tweeted about how barrels of crude dropped lower than bitcoin ever has. “Oil hit zero before bitcoin,” Gurbacs said. Remember when Bitcoin was a risky investment? Good times.#Oil — Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) April 20, 2020 After 11 Years of Saying Bitcoin Will Drop to Zero – Pundits Watch Liquid Gold Become Near Worthless On Tuesday morning, well before the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opening bell, futures look extremely dreary and analysts are predicting the Dow Jones to slide another 300 points. The drop in oil below zero follows the last 11 years of pundits saying that cryptocurrencies would never last and bitcoin would drop to zero. A great example of this point of view is the 380 bitcoin obituaries headlines that have been published time and time again over the years. Even Peter Schiff has said that the crypto economy and the price of bitcoin will someday trade at zero. “These currencies are going to trade to zero or pretty close to it when the bubble pops. Right now, the only reason why people are buying bitcoin is because the price is going up. When it turns around, they are not going to sell it for the same reason,” Schiff said. At the time of writing, the crypto economy is hovering between $195-200 billion, as markets did end up taking a slight hit on Monday during the oil fallout. BTC is trading for just above $6,800 per coin, ETH is swapping for $170 per unit, and bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $218 per BCH. Right now petroleum refineries and oil dealers are also running out of space to store the liquid gold and contract sales are slipping away fast. Bitcoin: "I like to move up and down 5% every day for no apparent reason" Oil: "Hold my beer" — Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) April 20, 2020 The lack of space has caused oil refineries to store oil charters out at sea and businesses like Glencore are now storing 3 million barrels of crude at sea. Glencore representatives would not comment on the move, but reports note that it costs them $37,000 a day and the vessel will be stored at sea for six months. Royal Dutch Shell is also allegedly storing oil on three supertankers at sea that hold 2 million barrels each. Sources say these oil firms are holding back since the recent OPEC deal failed and plan to wait until prices rise. What do you think about barrels of crude oil dropping below zero on Monday? Let us know in the comments below. The post After Pundits Predicted Bitcoin’s Death for 11 Years, Barrels of Crude Oil Trade Below Zero appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved a new bitcoin derivatives trading platform. Bitnomial Exchange will list margined and physically delivered bitcoin futures and options. Besides Bitnomial, the CFTC has only approved a handful of other platforms to offer bitcoin derivatives trading, such as CME, Cboe, and Bakkt. CFTC Approves New Bitcoin Derivatives Exchange The CFTC announced Monday that it has issued an order granting Chicago-based Bitnomial Exchange status as a designated contract market (DCM), effective on the same day. The U.S. top derivatives regulator explained that after reviewing Bitnomial’s application and associated exhibits: The CFTC determined that Bitnomial Exchange demonstrated its ability to comply with the requirements of the CEA [Commodity Exchange Act] and the CFTC’s regulations applicable to DCMs. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved Chicago-based Bitnomial Exchange as a designated contract market (DCM). According to the CFTC, designated contract markets “are exchanges that may list for trading futures or option contracts based on all types of commodities and that may allow access to their facilities by all types of traders, including retail customers.” With Monday’s approval, Bitnomial Exchange must comply with all provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act, the CFTC’s requirements, and representations it submitted as part of its application for designation as a contract market. Bitnomial to List Margined and Physically Delivered Bitcoin Futures and Options Bitnomial is a bitcoin derivatives exchange founded in 2014. The company filed an application with the CFTC to operate an exchange for deliverable cryptocurrency derivatives in 2016. In 2018, it raised Series A funding from investors, such as Jump Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and RRE Ventures. Bitnomial Exchange plans to list margined and physically delivered bitcoin futures and options after it was approved by the CFTC on Monday as a designated contract market. According to the Bitnomial, the CFTC has approved its exchange “for U.S. bitcoin futures and options trading with margin and physical delivery.” Three bitcoin derivatives products are listed on Bitnomial’s website: Bitcoin U.S. Dollar Futures, Deci Bitcoin U.S. Dollar Futures, and Bitcoin U.S. Dollar Options. The company added: Bitnomial will list margined and physically delivered bitcoin futures and options, the first and only startup exchange to achieve these capabilities. The CFTC has to date only approved a handful of trading platforms — CME, Cboe, Bakkt, Erisx, and Ledgerx — to offer bitcoin derivatives products. Cboe stopped offering bitcoin futures early last year. What do you think about the CFTC approving a new bitcoin derivatives exchange? Let us know in the comments section below. The post CFTC Approves New Cryptocurrency Derivatives Platform — Bitnomial to Offer Regulated Bitcoin Futures appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

For years now, bitcoiners and cryptocurrency proponents have said the antiquated banking system will not continue to survive for very long and the financial system is showing massive cracks these days. The recent stimulus check fiasco is a prime example of the issue, as customers from PNC, JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, and Capital One have been complaining about technical issues. Moreover, circumstantial evidence shows that a decent number of people who got their stimulus money have spent the funds on cryptocurrencies. The Antiquated Banking System Struggles With People’s Stimulus Payments During the last week and a half, Americans have either been talking about getting their $1,200 stimulus checks or complaining about issues with the banking system. There’s been a slew of headlines explaining how a multitude of American mega-banks are floundering trying to process stimulus money. Reports note that banks like Capital One, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC, and even Paypal customers have been dealing with problems. Four days ago, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the podcaster Tim Pool asked his 446,000 Twitter followers if they were having banking issues and many told him they were having issues for 1-2 days. Reports this week note that the technological backbone of the banking system is struggling immensely. The Washington Post (WP) reports that many financial institutions are relying on software that is decades old. Moreover, a myriad of banking institutions didn’t keep their infrastructure adequately staffed, even though they made record profits in 2019. The WP columnists stressed that if the antiquated banking system continues to have major issues, citizens won’t be “able to pay bills or buy groceries and further exacerbate the economic decline.” According to the U.S. government, over 80 million stimulus payments were sent out this week. Paypal customers have also been upset with the company, as a number of people have been locked out of the Paypal system for no apparent reason. One person on Reddit explained how during the global lockdown, Paypal decided to lock his account that held a $3,000 balance for 180 days. “In a time where the majority of the population is struggling with money, these thieves are able to lock funds just like this, potentially leaving people without anything,” noted a Paypal customer on Sunday. “The funds came in my company’s fully verified account from 1 transaction of a single client, with a regular invoice, contract and VAT ID. No fraud or any other illegal bs like they’re trying to say. I’ve been so relieved and happy to have the majority of my savings in bitcoin,” he added. Exchanges Notice $1,200 Stimulus Checks Are Being Deposited to Purchase Crypto Assets Further, people have been speculating that some Americans are spending their stimulus checks on cryptocurrencies. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted on April 16 a chart that showed a spike in $1,200 deposits on the San Francisco-based exchange. The financial columnist Paddy Baker explained that a representative from, Binance US also noted that people have been depositing $1,200 increments. “People do seem to have deposited exactly $1,200 into Binance US in the past couple of days,” the Binance spokesperson said. Statistics from Crypto Compare also show that USD pairings with top digital currencies like BTC and BCH have seen an exponential increase in daily swaps. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/uhz7Od3skX — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 16, 2020 A slew of cryptocurrency proponents continue to wonder what it would be like if a bunch of Americans used their stimulus money for purchasing digital assets. There have been a number of studies done on the “stimulus dollar value ratio” (SDVR), “pre-stimulus dollar value” (PDV), and the “Post-stimulus dollar value (ODV)” effects on the crypto economy. So far the market value of all 5,000 crypto assets in existence has been hovering around $190-210 billion during the last seven days. Even though the covid-19 economy has been rough, digital currencies have managed to fend off most of the economic downturn. What do you think about the issues with banks processing stimulus checks? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Americans Purchase $1,200 Worth of Bitcoin, While 7 Banks Fumble With Stimulus Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has published a paper showing how cryptocurrency markets are affected by crypto regulatory actions. The research also determines whether the authorities have some scope to make cryptocurrency regulation effective. Influencing Cryptocurrency Markets and Prices Last week, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas published a working paper entitled “Cryptocurrency Market Reactions to Regulatory News.” The 18-page report is an updated version of a paper by the same authors previously published by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). It is co-authored by Raphael Auer, principal economist at the BIS, and Stijn Claessens, the BIS’ Head of Financial Stability Policy and Deputy Head of the Monetary and Economic Department. The paper explores the effects of regulatory actions on cryptocurrency markets. The researchers found that the markets respond “most strongly to news events regarding the legal status of cryptocurrencies.” News of general bans on crypto use, whether cryptos are securities, whether they will not be treated as a currency, or strict AML/CFT measures have strong adverse impacts. News indicating possible legal frameworks for cryptocurrencies or initial coin offerings (ICOs) “coincides with strong market gains.” How regulatory actions affect the price of bitcoin. Some regulatory announcements, however, do not affect cryptocurrency markets. According to the study: Authorities’ unspecific general warnings have no effect, nor does news regarding the likelihood of central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance. Research Suggests Room for Effective Regulation For their paper, Auer and Claessens identified 151 regulatory news events, most of which were in China, India, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. They assessed the intraday impact of these events on the price of bitcoin as well as the prices of other cryptocurrencies and other aspects of the crypto markets. “Overall, our analysis suggests that, at the current juncture, there is scope to apply regulations,” they believe. “It also indicates that regulation need not be bad news for the markets, with price responses notably signaling a clear preference for a defined legal status, albeit a light regulatory regime.” The researchers concluded: At the current juncture, authorities around the globe do have some scope to make regulation effective. How do you think regulatory actions affect crypto markets? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Cryptocurrency Markets Moved by Regulatory Actions, Federal Reserve Bank Paper Shows appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Mainstream media has been awfully quiet about all the fraud and manipulation stemming from the global bureaucracies’ newly enacted covid-19 reaction policies. In the U.S. amid all the commotion and fear, the Federal Reserve granted special powers to the giant private equity firm Blackrock. The arrangement has been criticized a great deal because Blackrock is now allowed to buy corporate bonds and commercial mortgages, with no oversight and continuously. Moreover, Blackrock can bail itself out and give funds to the many fossil fuel suppliers who are desperately seeking stimulus from the government. The Fed Quietly Bifuricates Monetary Powers to the Special Interest Firm Blackrock Unfortunately, politicians and central bankers worldwide have used the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to print unlimited money for private financial institutions and shut down global economies. In the U.S., economists have stressed that the response to the covid-19 outbreak was the worst decision in “one-hundred years.” “We now know, with as much certainty as one can know such things, that lockdowns are very costly and confer no clear benefits,” explains Robert Wright an author from the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). “We also know that places that did not lock down and restrict basic civil liberties suffered no worse fates than those that did,” Wright added. While American politicians and the Fed gives trillions of dollars to Wall Street, corporatists, and special interest groups, citizens from Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Texas, New Hampshire, Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, and Idaho have been protesting the economic shutdowns. There are also anti-lockdown protests popping up worldwide in countries like India, Iraq, and many African nations. Meanwhile, after distributing a measly $1,200 check to American citizens, the CARES relief act has given politicians a pay raise and trillions were offloaded to Wall Street and special interest groups in the U.S. Further, the Federal Reserve has made it more difficult to place blame on the central bank, as the institution has given special powers to the equity firm Blackrock. While Americans have been busy either being forced to stay home or protesting the economic shutdown, the U.S. Federal Reserve gave Blackrock oversight over $27 trillion and the ability to bail itself out if necessary. Blackrock has been appointed by the Fed to buy corporate bonds and commercial mortgages. The firm now has more power than any financial institution in the U.S., as Blackrock will oversee $27 trillion and the Fed’s new $4.5 billion Wall Street slush fund. Despite the massive power Blackrock has obtained, financial incumbents have been silent about the appointment. “With $27 trillion under various forms of its management, Blackrock towers over the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors,” details the financial columnist Joyce Nelson. “This much consolidated financial power may be unprecedented, but with Blackrock involved in virtually every major corporation across the planet (including the media), even Blackrock’s competitors (if that word even applies) are quiet about [Blackrock’s] appointment,” she added. Many economists, analysts, and market pundits believe that giving Blackrock special powers through the Fed is immoral. Some believe that Blackrock CEO Larry Fink is now one of the most powerful men in America now with zero competition. ‘Too Big to Fail’ Can Now Simply Bail Themselves Out Without Permission What’s even worse is the ‘too big to fail’ bankers like Blackrock can work together to keep the monetary Ponzi scheme going strong. For instance, Blackrock can bail itself out and their friends at any time they want, and most of Blackrock’s buddies include fossil fuel suppliers. These fuel producers are feeling the brunt of the economic slowdown, as a barrel of crude oil dropped to $15 on April 20. Even though some hedge funds and Wall Street execs remain quiet about Blackrock’s special deal, 30 well known firms wrote a letter to the Fed’s Chair protesting the move. The Letter explained that the Fed’s decision makes Blackrock even more “systemically important to the financial system” by being able to do whatever the institution pleases. The letter against the Blackrock decision written to the Fed Chair Jerome Powell adds: Furthermore, Blackrock is the largest purveyor of ETFs (exchange-traded funds), and this deal gives it the power to buy up its own ETF products, potentially earning double. Economic Lockdowns and Money Printing Fulfils the Government’s Wildest Fantasies Freedom advocates and believers in sound money have been warning about the disastrous effects from central banking and the economic ‘busts and booms’ these banks create. A slew of people who can clearly see the fraud and manipulation are turning to monetary ideas that skip over the banking-cartel. People are finding financial freedom by leveraging barter and trade, precious metals, and cryptocurrency solutions. Despite the fact that money printing and currency devaluation has destroyed every empire for centuries, the U.S. government and Federal Reserve continue to defraud the American populace. For some reason, the U.S. bureaucracy thinks people can survive through endless stimulus handouts and corporate bailouts, while at the same time forcefully keeping industries shut down. “Economic lockdowns were the fantasies of government officials so out of touch with economic and physical reality that they thought the costs would be fairly low,” AIER’s Wright highlighted in his editorial published on Monday. “Money can be printed, bailouts paid, and inflation checked with price controls, they believed, following, it appears, the notions of debunked MMT theorists. Economic illiteracy reared its ignorant head yet again,” Wright added. The appointment of Blackrock and all the Fed’s risky schemes over the last few weeks shows that even with endless fiat printing, they cannot control the economy. Instead, the Federal Reserve and countless U.S. politicians have ruined the American economy and it will be lucky if the U.S. monetary system makes it out of this mess alive. What do you think about the Fed appointing Blackrock for special interest purchases? Let us know in the comments below. The post America’s Banks Can Simply Bail Themselves Out – Thanks to the Fed’s $27 Trillion Blackrock Deal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The new Bitcoin and cryptocurrency contracts exchange Bityard launched in early April 2020. To better spread the word, they are holding a contest for YouTube content creators to showcase their reach and earn some money at the same time. Up to 16,000 USDT in Prizes! As per the terms and conditions of their YouTube promotional contest , anyone who makes a video promoting their platform under appropriate circumstances, will be entered in to the contest. The top prize is 38,888 XRP for the YouTuber that gets the most views, comments, and feedback on the video from April 18th to May 18th 2020. In addition to the first prize winner taking the cake on the XRP prize, there will also be XRP awarded to second and third prize winners, and up to 20 winners of a consolation prize of 38 Tether. Even if you are a novice Youtuber, you will have a great chance to get their bonus. Are you up to the challenge? The scale of rewards and winners of these rewards is unprecedented in scale. The sooner you upload a video, the more opportunities you will have to accumulate views and likes! So, what are you guys waiting for? Go out and make a cool video, upload it, and submit it to Bityard today! For more information, be sure to visit www.bityard.com. Contact Email Address bd@bityard.com Supporting Link http://www.bityard.com This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned. The post Join Bityard’s YouTube Recruitment Competition – Win 38888 XRP appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The various government responses to the coronavirus caused a lot of havoc across the global economy and millions of people are now out of work. A number of nation states have not lifted the lockdowns and no one’s really sure when the slew of shutdown industries will open again. While people are out of work they might find interest in the multitude of methods available that individuals can use to earn digital currencies online. The following is a comprehensive list of how to safely earn cryptocurrencies on lockdown by invoking some initiative and a little bit of effort. 5 Ways to Earn Cryptocurrencies These days, people are trying to find side gigs and opportunities to make money online because the economy was shut down by the world’s governments in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. For years now, bitcoiners and crypto advocates have been telling people about the benefits of earning digital assets online. For instance, people can earn coins like BTC, BCH, ETH and a number of other crypto assets right now by simply completing tasks, surveys, writing, trading, mining, staking, finding airdrops and more. In this post, we’re going to cover the myriad of opportunities available to people interested in making some money on the side by leveraging cryptocurrency solutions. Trading If you are good at analyzing charts and trading, then you can make a lot of profits by swapping digital assets on a regular basis. Trading can even be a full-time job, which provides enough income for an individual to survive, but the profession can also be risky. For instance, in order for anyone to start profiting from crypto trading, individuals simply have to purchase some digital assets and play the highs and lows correctly by knowing the right times to trade. It’s probably a good idea to hone your skills before getting started and that includes relentlessly studying technical analysis methods and charts. It’s not easy learning how to trade and people should only swap what they can afford to lose. However, it is quite possible to make a living by trading on the crypto markets that operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Bitcoin.com has a sleek and easy-to-use crypto-trading exchange that offers a variety of popular digital assets and crypto trading pairs like BTC, BCH, and USDT. Mining and Staking People can also mine digital assets that leverage application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices, GPUs, and CPUs if they put up some capital to get started. With ASIC and GPU mining, an individual with access to either free or extremely cheap electricity can earn digital assets by buying some machines. With coins that can be mined by a central processing unit (CPU) people might be able to earn coins if they have enough personal computer cores to spare. ASIC and GPU mining will require an upfront cost to get started and CPU mining might make your computer slower. In addition, all the mining possibilities require running mining devices constantly, in order to rake in some profits. If someone decides to mine cryptocurrencies they most likely will want to join a pool, as individual hobby mining isn’t as profitable as it used to be. Bitcoin.com offers a profitable mining pool that allows people to mine either BTC or BCH and the service also offers cloud contracts as well. With cloud mining, people can earn digital assets even if they don’t own any hardware or they don’t have the technical know-how to start mining on their own. With staking, people can acquire some proof-of-stake (PoS) coins and make money by simply holding the assets over a period of time. Most PoS coins have a network that finds blocks deterministically and the more assets someone holds, the more they can earn. There are all types of PoS coins with a variety of different per annum staking yields. Lots of people stake coins in a noncustodial fashion by leveraging a wallet or they can opt to stake coins on an exchange as well but it’s riskier. Freelancing, Tasks, and Blogging There are various opportunities to earn cryptos via freelance jobs, accomplishing tasks, completing online surveys and editing or writing essays for coins. There are many jobs available on freelance websites like Cryptocurrencyjobs, Ethlance, Freelanceforcoins.com, and a few others. People can earn money by simply writing and blogging on a regular basis. Read.cash, a blogging platform, allows individuals to do just this and earn bitcoin cash by writing and sharing unique content. Another blogging website that rewards users in BCH and ten other digital currencies is the platform Publish 0x. If you don’t have an issue with the recent Tron-fiasco, you can also opt to write on the Steemit platform as well, in order to earn digital currencies for writing and producing content. Collecting Airdrops Just recently news.Bitcoin.com wrote about how people can obtain airdrop tokens in order to make some profits. Basically, digital currency projects distribute coins to people if they help market the coin or project in some fashion. For instance, people can obtain airdrop cryptos by downloading a protocol, registering, following or retweeting on social media, and some only require people to simply giving the airdrop creators a receiving address. Accepting Digital Currencies for Goods and Services If you own a physical shop and can’t sell things because of the lockdowns, you might want to sell goods and services online for cryptocurrencies like BCH, BTC, and ETH. Setting up e-commerce merchant services online is easy to do and Bitcoin.com offers a variety of resourceful guides to help people get started. For example, if someone wants to accept bitcoin cash for payments they can leverage a payment gateway and add it to any website. Accepting digital currencies opens a business to more types of payment methods and a loyal customer base. Essentially, a cryptocurrency payment gateway or merchant solution will allow you to accept a digital asset, but also calculate how much money the items or services are in any fiat denomination. You will also be giving customers a privacy-centric solution to shopping online because clients won’t have to enter credit or debit card information over the web. With a Little Initiative, Anyone Can Earn Digital Currencies Online Today The list mentioned above only scratches the surface when it comes to earning cryptocurrencies online, as there are many other ways to make money with digital currencies. Some of the jobs can make people a few bucks as a side hustle by completing effortless tasks online or people can opt to make a full-time career by leveraging the crypto economy. There are plenty of video streamers, content creators, writers, bloggers, traders, consultants, and miners working a full-time job in those fields. The coronavirus lockdowns continue to be rough on the economy and cryptocurrency solutions have always offered people a different way to earn funds online. It may take some research but with a bit of effort, it is not impossible to regain some or even all of those lost wages from the shutdown, by simply earning and learning to use cryptocurrencies. What do you think about our list of ways to earn cryptocurrencies during the lockdown? Let us know in the comments below. The post Making Money on Lockdown: 5 Effortless Ways to Earn Cryptocurrencies Online appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Real estate price reports from March in northern countries like Denmark and Sweden now show negative developments for the first time in over 10 years. If furloughed workers continue into unemployment, the effects on the housing markets will be even more significant, says Claudia Wörmann at SBAB Bank. Spring Real Estate Price Increase, Trend Broken Inhabitants of the northern countries of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have gotten used to very low interest rates and constantly increasing real estate prices. In Sweden, interest rates were dipping into negative territories and in Denmark, famously some homeowners have been offered payments for taking out a mortgage (negative interest rates). Normally, homeowners in these regions see price increases each spring but this year the trend is broken and prices of apartments, houses and land plots have instead decreased a few percentage points. The change is large compared to the regular price increases. The development is worrying many citizens and has slowed the pace of sales to a virtual halt in April. In Denmark, prices have decreased in seven out of 10 regions, including in Copenhagen where prices fell around 1.5% in March, according to Birgit Daetz, communications officer at housing watch outlet Boligsiden. She continued: The real estate season normally starts in March and that means increasing prices. This year that hasn’t happened and due to the health crisis we expect prices in Copenhagen to continue to fall in the coming months. Swedish Real Estate Statistics Agency Mäklarstatistik concurred with the Danes’ outlook and reported a drop in the number of sales in Sweden. During the last two weeks of March, the number of sales dropped more than 15% and continued on a downward trend into April. Norway’s stats look almost the same and in Finland, prices fell slightly in most regions. Real Estate Norway reported single-digit decreases in prices last month, with an average decrease of 1.4%. Early morning on April 19 in Stockholm city, where real estate prices started to slide in March due to the effects from actions taken to combat the coronavirus. Cafés and restaurants are still open but every second table stays unoccupied for social distancing reasons. Banks Must Continue to Provide Financing Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the Swedish government and central bank have been starting up the printing presses and made over 100 billion Swedish kronor available to the banks. Government parties are now suggesting printing more than 100 billion kronor ($12 billion) per month. Even with falling prices, the question is if this unprecedented money printing will later result in increased inflation, and possibly a Cantillon effect on housing prices — again leading to higher nominal real estate values while at the same time devaluing currencies like the dollar or the Danish krone due to the increase in money supply. “What is important now is that banks continue to provide intermediate financing,” Real Estate Norway CEO Henning Lauridsen said. He continued: Experience from the financial crisis shows that a change in the dynamics of buying first and selling afterwards is counterproductive and destructive to the housing market. Although a more restrictive credit policy may seem rational to the individual bank, this collective is irrational. The capital city of Stockholm saw the biggest price falls by an average of minus 1.7%. Real estate in cities in the Nordic regions lost more on average than in the countryside. To counteract the slowdown in sales and the falling prices, governments in the region abruptly changed many rules and regulations pertaining to mortgages. From last week, citizens in Sweden can skip their mortgage payments until further notice. Similar actions are either underway or being discussed in neighboring Nordic countries, where politicians hope to boost the price of their real estate holdings. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Corona Money Printing Worries – Housing Prices Slide Downwards First Time in 10 Years in Northern Europe appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The creators of the noncustodial funding application, Flipstarter have recently announced there are now five fundraiser campaigns live on the platform for a number of Bitcoin Cash full node projects. The projects full node fundraisers currently hosted on Flipstarter include the Bitcoin Cash Node, Bitcoin Verde, BCHD, Knuth, and Bitcoin ABC. Also Read: Voluntary Financing: Bitcoin Cash Devs Reveal Noncustodial Funding App Flipstarter Five Bitcoin Cash Full Node Projects Are Raising Funds Using the Noncustodial Flipstarter Protocol On April 16, the developers who built the fundraising platform Flipstarter announced the launch of five new fundraisers that are hosted on the platform. At the end of February, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how programmers behind Bitcoin Cash full node projects can leverage the Flipstarter application in order to raise funds for infrastructure. Additionally, Flipstarter’s creators also detailed that the nonprofit food charity powered by BCH donations, Eatbch will also have a fundraiser held on the noncustodial platform. The Lighthouse-like concept Flipstarter’s protocol leverages bitcoin cash assurance contracts via the Anyone-can-pay Sighash. The project stemmed from the Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP) debate after a number of BCH community members asked for a different kind of fundraising idea. On the read.cash blogging platform, Flipstarter’s creators revealed five new campaigns that are leveraging the noncustodial, assurance contract system. The projects hosted on Flipstarter are full node Bitcoin Cash implementations which include codebases like Knuth, Bitcoin Verde, BCHD, Bitcoin Cash Node, and Bitcoin ABC. Each fundraiser explains the full node project’s description, and how long the fundraiser will be running. For instance, the Knuth is a full-node implementation “focused on extra performance and flexibility.” The fundraiser’s goal for the Knuth project is 460 BCH and the fundraiser will last 20 days. At the time of writing, the Knuth project has raised over 6 BCH out of the 460 BCH goal. Bitcoiners Have Been Waiting for a Powerful Blockchain-Powered Fundraiser App Since 2014 The full node project fundraisers include an introduction to the project, customer segments, value proposition and technical accomplishments, development plans, schedules, budgets, backup plans, accountability, and information about the members of the team. The creators of Flipstarter include a group of well known cryptocurrency and blockchain engineers including Imaginary Username, Emergent Reasons, Sploit, Leandro DiMarco, Jonathan Silverblood, and Dagur. The Bitcoin Cash community has welcomed the Flipstarter project on social media and Reddit forums like r/btc. The Flipstarter team has also produced a video so people can learn how to leverage the fundraising protocol. For quite some time now, bitcoiners have been looking for a noncustodial fundraising platform that leverages assurance contracts ever since Mike Hearn came up with the Lighthouse project concept. However, during the scaling debate, he predicted BTC’s skyrocketing network fees and clogged mempool, so Hearn left the BTC project in frustration. With Flipstarter built on a Bitcoin branch that has low fees and a mempool that’s not congested, BCH proponents believe a trustless fundraising platform is perfect for the Bitcoin Cash network. The five Bitcoin Cash full node projects Flipstarter-based fundraisers are trying to raise around $726K (3,039 BCH total) at today’s bitcoin cash exchange rate. What do you think about the Flipstarter platform? Let us know in the comments below. The post 5 Bitcoin Cash Full Node Teams to Raise Funds With the Noncustodial Flipstarter App appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Competition is heating up in the world of bitcoin mining rig manufacturing. Just recently, the Chinese producer Microbt has announced the launch of the M30S++ miner that processes speeds up to 112 terahash per second (TH/s). The news from Microbt follows Bitmain’s announcement at the end of February, which saw the manufacturer reveal two miners with speeds between 95TH/s to 110TH/s. Also read: Bitmain Unveils 2 Bitcoin Miners With Max Speeds Up to 110TH/s Per Unit Microbt’s New Whatsminer Models Claim to Boast Highly Competitive Hashrates Ever since the coronavirus swept the globe, there have been a lot fewer announcements within the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. This week the China-based mining rig manufacturer Microbt has unveiled a new Whatsminer series machine that claims to process speeds up to 112TH/s. Microbt was founded in 2017 and the company has steadily become one of the leading mining rig producers worldwide. The company was launched by the current CEO Yang Zuoxing, a former employee of Bitmain. Ostensibly, Zuoxing was the lead director behind developing the Bitmain’s Antminer series, including the popular S7 and S9 models. Zhang Wencheng, Microbt’s deputy general manager of Shenma Mining Machinery. Microbt revealed the launch of two machines this week that claim to process hashrates up to 112TH/s. In 2017 the company introduced it’s flagship mining rigs the M1 and M3 and sold close to 400,000 units. At the time, it was estimated that Microbt Whatsminer series machines powered around 10% of the overall BTC network hashrate. Since then, the team has launched a number of miners and in 2020 the Microbt team is keeping up with the competition with an onslaught of next-generation ASIC devices. This week, the Chinese mining rig manufacturer announced the launch of the M30S++, a machine that claims to boast 112TH/s. Specifications note that the new Whatsminer models have a power efficiency of around 31 joules per terahash (J/TH). The M30S++ device is in direct competition with Bitmain’s S19 Pro, which claims to deliver 110TH/s and power efficiency of around 29.5J/TH. The specifications for the Whatsminer M30S++ model manufactured by Microbt. The China-based Microbt is a direct competitor with Bitmain and the company’s CEO Yang Zuoxing was a former Bitmain employee. The 100TH/s Whatsminer Model and Mining Rig Shipment Uncertainty Further, Microbt has introduced a second model dubbed the M30S+, which produces around 100TH/s and has around 34J/TH of efficiency as well. In addition to the second model, Microbt’s Chen Jianbing, the company’s COO explained that the company would extend warranty coverage for a whole year, as opposed to the prior 180-day coverage. The lower end model (M30S+) will allegedly sell for $2,800 and the higher end (M30S++) machine will sell for $3,900 per unit. Microbt’s Chen Jianbing, the company’s COO discussing the launch of the new M30S++ and the M30S+ Whatsminer models, alongside the company’s growing sales since 2017. Even though Microbt’s future shipping dates say June 1 through the 30th, mining operations have complained about mining rig shipping delays due to the coronavirus. Just recently the mining operations Riot Blockchain and Hut8 have been upset about lengthy shipping delays hurting their business model. The coronavirus has made it so mining rigs from the top Chinese ASIC manufacturers like Microbt, Bitmain, and Canaan are considerably delayed and arrival times are uncertain. What do you think about the latest Microbt miners? Let us know in the comments below. The post Microbt Reveals Two Next-Generation Mining Rigs With Speeds Up to 112 Terahash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article