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During the last 12 months, large cryptocurrency exchanges have been getting into digital currency staking and creating SHA256 mining operations. Just recently, Binance announced the launch of its mining pool following exchanges like Okex, and Huobi. Alongside this, a great number of crypto exchanges are staking proof-of-stake (PoS) coins, which have caused some grievances among the crypto community. Also read: Crypto Marketplace Purse.io to Dissolve Operations After 6 Years Binance Reveals the Firm Plans to Launch a Mining Pool in Q2 2020 Since the 2017 cryptocurrency bull run, a number of crypto trading platforms have grown massive over the years. For instance, a variety of digital currency exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase have been acquiring a slew of startups and projects in order to scale themselves further. Last summer, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how the San Francisco-based digital currency exchange, Coinbase acquired Xapo and has been quietly becoming the world’s biggest bitcoin bank by reserves held. Now in order to increase revenue, a bunch of exchanges started to stake PoS coins and mine SHA256 assets like BCH, BTC, and BSV. Now Binance, one of the top crypto exchanges worldwide by trade volume, has announced the company is starting a mining pool. The exchange Binance recently announced the launch of a mining pool. Earlier last year the two Chinese exchange Huobi and Okex launched SHA256 mining pools as well. Exchanges that also have SHA256 mining pools include Okex, Huobi, and Pool.Bitcoin.com. The Binance pool aims to launch in Q2 2020. The story was first published by the newsdesk Coinlife from Russia and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) later confirmed the rumor on Twitter. The move follows the $400 million cash and stock deal at the end of March, which saw Binance acquire the popular website Coinmarketcap.com. “Yes, there is a Binance Mining Pool coming soon,” CZ tweeted. “A new addition to our suite of Binance finance products we offer including staking, earning, savings and loans,” the CEO added. The Coinlife report explained that Binance was hiring people to maintain the SHA256 mining rigs and the new pool would be open to the public during the second quarter of 2020. Do you want to maximize your Bitcoin Mining potential? Plug your own hardware into the world’s most profitable Bitcoin mining pool at Bitcoin.com. Or get started without having to own hardware through one of our competitive Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. Various Exchanges Start Mining Proof-of-Work Coins, While Exchange Staking Exposes Vulnerability In PoS Systems Binance also follows a number of other exchanges that are getting into SHA256 mining and have launched pools. Mining rigs that process the SHA256 algorithm and attempt to mine blocks can dedicate hashrate to any of the top three Bitcoin-based branches (BTC, BCH, and BSV). Last August the cryptocurrency exchange Okex started a SHA256 mining pool and the following September, Huobi announced a pool as well. Okex has a decent amount of hashrate on the BTC chain, while Huobi is mining both BTC and BCH on a regular basis. Neither of these exchanges that operate SHA256 pools mine the Bitcoinsv (BSV) network. Bitcoin.com also operates an exchange and maintains a mining pool that dedicates hashrate to both BCH and BTC. Lots of cryptocurrencies are staking proof-of-stake coins now. However, the recent Tron and Steemit fiasco did expose some issues with a variety of exchanges holding a number of PoS coins. Exchanges that offer PoS staking in 2020 include Coinbase Custody, Binance, Okex, Kucoin, Bithumb, Huobi, Idex, Poloniex, and many others. Lastly, there’s a large amount of exchanges that are staking PoS coins as well and allowing customers to stake tokens using the trading platform’s wallet. Lots of crypto proponents have enjoyed exchanges that offer staking, but the scheme doesn’t come without controversy. For instance, many people think that mega-sized crypto exchanges pose a threat to PoS systems and the Tron-Steemit fiasco had exemplified the issue. Steemit community members accused a slew of exchanges of leveraging large swathes of PoS tokens in order to sway the governance model. Some believe that the Steemit community wasn’t able to fork off initially because of this problem. However, eventually, the Steemit community who believed they were wronged, formed another project by forking Steemit and called the platform Hive. Although, the event still opened a can of worms for the firm believers of proof-of-stake consensus. What do you think about mega crypto exchanges getting into SHA256 mining operations and PoS staking? Let us know in the comments below. The post Seeking Profits: A Number of Large Crypto Exchanges Are Mining and Staking Digital Assets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On April 16, the crypto firm Purse.io announced the company is planning to dissolve after six years of operation. The marketplace provided incentives for people who wanted the lowest price points by leveraging cryptocurrency solutions. New signups on Purse have been disabled and the company’s doors will officially close in June. Also read: $2,000 a Month: US Lawmakers Propose Basic Income for Americans to Cope With Covid-19 Economy The cryptocurrency marketplace Purse.io is shutting down soon after launching the platform in 2014. The company allowed people to leverage cryptocurrencies like BTC and BCH in order to purchase a myriad of products on Amazon. Purse.io customers often saved customers up to 20% or more by using the platform. The San Francisco-based company was a very popular marketplace among bitcoiners and it was founded by Andrew Lee, Christopher Jeffrey, Kent Liu, and Steven Bower. On Thursday, Purse.io customer representative Eduardo Gómez told the public the firm would be dissolving soon. “We’ve made the very difficult decision to dissolve the company,” Gómez wrote. “We’re grateful for the opportunity afforded by our supporters to build products and infrastructure for the cryptocurrency community.” Gómez continued: To everyone who used our products, told their friends, or helped us in any way, thank you. Open-Source Projects Like Bcoin – Ipayyou.io Welcomes Purse Customers The team said that as of April 16, 2020, all new signups would be disabled and as of April 23, the “Shop” and “Earn” functionality will be disabled. “Open orders that have not been matched will be canceled, and Purse.io will cease operations on June 26, 2020,” Gómez stressed. Further, Purse.io developers also worked on open-source cryptocurrency projects like HSD and Bcoin. In fact, the Bcoin block #457010 on the BTC chain was the first block ever mined by a client that was not written in Satoshi Nakamoto’s C++ framework. Gómez added: We’re also thankful to all the developers and companies who continue to support open-source projects including Bcoin and HSD. Thank you for helping us make crypto useful. The cryptocurrency community on social media and forums were saddened by the news, as Purse.io was an early and long-lasting venture. For people looking for an alternative platform to Purse.io, the company ipayyou.io offers a similar marketplace. Ipayyou.io supports BTC and BCH and the company’s Twitter account tweeted that the company “welcomes all Purse customers, shoppers, and earners.” What do you think about Purse.io dissolving? Let us know in the comments below. The post Crypto Marketplace Purse.io to Dissolve Operations After 6 Years appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bankera, an ambitious project to build a neobank for the digital era, has started to offer payment accounts to individual and business clients as a low-cost, fast and convenient alternative to traditional bank accounts. Individual and business clients who sign up to the service can already enjoy dedicated European IBAN accounts to send and receive funds via SEPA and SWIFT transfers. All clients can send and receive funds from cryptocurrency exchanges. The entire remote account opening process takes place online and can be completed quickly from the comfort of one’s home. While the platform was designed to ensure seamless user experience, Bankera’s service features live support agents who can be contacted around the clock. Essentially, Bankera is focused on providing payment services to people and companies involved in crypto businesses and sees it as a growing but underserved niche due to its novelty and unique specifics which are not well understood by more conservative institutions. At Bankera, clients are welcome to receive funds from cryptocurrency exchanges, mining pools, affiliate programs or income from their commercial online activity. “Having started a digital business back in 2013, we have seen that payment solutions offered for new types of online business, such as cryptocurrency, affiliate or digital marketing businesses and their clients are very limited and usually offered by small niche players, who do not last long. We wanted to build a payment service provider, which we, our clients and partners could trust and be sure that it is here to stay. Hence, we see Bankera as a natural growth and a vertical integration to our digital businesses, as well as an opportunity to upsell our existing clients with fiat payment options.” Vytautas Karalevičius, the co-founder of Bankera, explained. Up next in Bankera’s plans is to roll out virtual and physical debit cards for personal and later corporate customers. Linked directly to the online banking platform, they will enable clients to pay at points-of-sale online and offline and withdraw cash at ATMs around the world, as well as track their spending. In addition to the currently available web version, Bankera is working on releasing its service in the app form as well. Payment acquiring services, multi-currency support, instant transfers are among other features in the plans. About Bankera Bankera was founded by a Lithuanian team behind SpectroCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange launched back in 2013, as a spin-off leveraging the technology and infrastructure at hand to create a traditional payments solution. Contact Email Address r.cizinauskaite@bankera.com Supporting Link https://bankera.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 Bankera Launches Bank Account Alternative Focused on Crypto Businesses appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project has undergone major changes. A number of key areas have been redesigned, including the payment system, the Libra cryptocurrency, and the addition of new single-currency stablecoins. The changes largely aim to comply with regulatory requirements. Also read: Bitcoin Revolution: Wanna Earn $1,000 a Day? Government Warns About This Scam Libra Project Redesigned, New Whitepaper The Libra Association has published an updated whitepaper for the Libra project, originally announced by social media giant Facebook in June last year. Michael Engle, a developer at the Libra Association, explained some key changes in a blog post on Thursday. Since the project was announced, “we’ve worked closely with regulators, central bankers, elected officials, and various stakeholders to shape an innovative approach to using blockchain technology to support a regulated, licensed payment system,” he shared, adding: We have made changes to our initial approach, many of which depart from the approaches taken by other blockchain projects. The Libra Association has released a new whitepaper for the Libra project with a number of significant changes. The new Libra whitepaper details that “Four key changes have been made to address regulatory concerns that deserve specific attention.” The first is “Offering single-currency stablecoins in addition to the multi-currency coin.” The second concerns “Enhancing the safety of the Libra payment system with a robust compliance framework.” The other two areas are “Forgoing the future transition to a permissionless system while maintaining its key economic properties” and “Building strong protections into the design of the Libra Reserve.” Full details of the changes to the Libra project are outlined in the new whitepaper. Single and Multi-Currency Stablecoins Many regulators are worried that the planned Libra cryptocurrency could interfere with their countries’ national currencies and monetary policies if it achieves enough scale, such as being used by Facebook’s 2.5 billion users. To alleviate this concern, Engle explained: We are augmenting the Libra network by including single-currency stablecoins (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP, etc.). Instead of using existing stablecoins, such as tether (USDT), Libra’s single-country stablecoins are self-issued, and the Libra coin (LBR) will be separate from them. Initially, Libra’s stablecoins will be the currencies that make up the proposed LBR basket, such as the Librausd (USD), Libraeur (EUR), Libragbp (GBP), and Librasgd (SGD). “We hope to work with regulators, central banks, and financial institutions around the world to expand over time the number of single-currency stablecoins available on the Libra network,” the Libra Association wrote. The new plan “will allow people and businesses in the regions whose local currencies have single-currency stablecoins on the Libra network to directly access a stablecoin in their currency,” the whitepaper adds. “Each single-currency stablecoin will be fully backed by the Reserve, which will consist of cash or cash equivalents and very short-term government securities denominated in that currency.” The Libra project has added single-currency stablecoins in addition to the Libra coin. Initially, the single-currency coins will be some of the currencies in the proposed LBR basket. The Libra Association hopes to expand the list of single-currency stablecoins available on the Libra network in the future. The New Libra Coin The design of the Libra coin has also been changed. The new whitepaper explains that the new Libra coin “will not be a separate digital asset from the single-currency stablecoins,” adding: Under this change, LBR will simply be a digital composite of some of the single-currency stablecoins available on the Libra network. “It will be defined in terms of fixed nominal weights, such as the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) maintained by the International Money Fund (IMF),” the whitepaper notes, adding that this approach provides “a clear path for seamlessly integrating central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as they become available.” Moreover, the Reserve “will hold assets with very short-term maturity, low credit risk, and high liquidity. It will also maintain a capital buffer.” Licenses and New Launch Date The Libra Association also announced on Thursday that it has initiated the formal payment system licensing process with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Switzerland’s financial regulator. According to reports, the association also plans to register with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money service business. In building the Libra system, the association has incorporated feedback from regulators. Amid regulatory scrutiny, some of Libra supporters have left the project, including Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Vodafone, and Shopify. Some supporters now also back a competing project, Celo. This week, the G20 discussed setting rules for the regulation of stablecoins like Libra. The planned launch date for the Libra project was originally set for the end of June. However, Dante Disparte, Libra Association’s head of policy and communications, told the media that now the aim is to launch the project between mid-November and the end of the year. What do you think about Libra’s new plans? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Facebook Libra Redesigned: New System and Cryptocurrency to Comply With Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

At Bitcoin.com we take pride in providing the best cryptocurrency resources online so people can learn about the great benefits of bitcoin. One particular service we offer is a cryptocurrency market valuation and price data aggregator called markets.Bitcoin.com. This week our team is pleased to announce markets.Bitcoin.com now features statistics from the crypto asset intelligence company Into the Block. Also read: Bitcoin.com Exchange Now Supports Reserve’s Stablecoin RSV and the Utility Token RSR Markets.Bitcoin.com Now Offers Into the Block Crypto Asset Intelligence and Data A while back, Bitcoin.com introduced our market capitalization aggregation site markets.Bitcoin.com so our visitors can track their favorite digital assets at any time. Markets.Bitcoin.com shows the top 500 cryptocurrency values in real-time and there’s never a need to refresh the page to see current prices. In addition to the crypto market capitalizations, visitors can also view the tokens tab to get a comprehensive look at the tokens built on Omni Layer, Counterparty, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum. Further, users can also monitor the Gainers & Losers tab, which gives people a view of the top ten crypto gainers and losers during the last 24 hours. Additionally, our market’s page has Tradingview charts and stats about a coin’s algorithm, proof type, current supply, and max supply as well. This week we also partnered with the crypto asset intelligence company Into the Block (ITB) in order to provide even more comprehensive cryptocurrency data. Essentially, ITB is an intelligence company that uses machine learning and statistical modeling to deliver actionable intelligence for crypto assets. Users who leverage our markets.Bitcoin.com service will be able to access ITB data to get info in regard to their favorite coins. In order to get a glimpse at the ITB stats on our market aggregator, simply choose a crypto asset and press the “more details” tab. After that, you will see a Tradingview chart and you need to scroll down a hair, in order to see the ITB data. The ITB information gives visitors an interesting perspective of onchain metrics that provide a rapid understanding of the state of the cryptocurrency chosen. A ‘Deeper Dive’ Into the Fascinating World of Crypto Market and Network Statistics For instance, if you were to choose the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network, the ITB data shows statistics like holders making money at the current price, the concentration of large holders, price correlation with BTC, holder composition by time held, transactions greater than 100K, Telegram group stats, and BCH transaction demographics. The ITB stats are shown with clean and easy-to-understand charts that give people a greater understanding of each coin. There’s also additional statistical information on the number of large transactions, transaction size, and the number of daily active addresses. In order to access the plethora of ITB data, markets.Bitcoin.com visitors can choose any cryptocurrency they desire information about under the “more details” tab as mentioned above. If the visitor wants to look further into ITB’s crypto asset intelligence, they simply need to press the “dive deeper” tab, which will bring them directly to the ITB website. At Bitcoin.com we believe in the future of crypto assets and blockchain technology, and our markets.Bitcoin.com stats are there so people can have access to reliable data. The latest ITB integration makes the data even more extensive by offering a thorough look at each crypto coin’s activity and integral operations. So if you are into tracking and monitoring your favorite digital currencies and want more information than the average crypto cap aggregator, then check out markets.Bitcoin.com today. We promise you will find all the statistical crypto market and network data you need, and then some. What do you think about markets.Bitcoin.com Into the Block integration? Let us know in the comments below. The post Bitcoin.com’s Market Aggregator Now Features Into the Block Crypto Asset Statistics appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Grayscale Investments has announced the strongest quarter in its history. Investments into the company’s cryptocurrency products, including the flagship Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), hit a record high in the first quarter. Of the total investment, 88% comes from institutional investors. The company now has $2.2 billion in assets under management. Also read: Bitcoin Revolution: Wanna Earn $1,000 a Day? Government Warns About This Scam Strongest Quarter Yet Grayscale Investments announced its quarterly results on Thursday as the worldwide economic crisis escalates. “Despite the risk asset drawdown this quarter, Grayscale’s assets under management (‘AUM’) continues towards all-time highs, as does our share of the digital asset market,” the company wrote, tweeting: Q1 2020 marks Grayscale’s strongest quarter yet, with over $500 million raised … that’s 83% of total capital raised for all of 2019, in just one quarter. Specifically, the total investment into Grayscale crypto products in Q1 2020 amounted to $503.7 million, compared to $1.07 billion for the trailing 12 months. At the end of March, the company’s total assets under management since inception (Sept. 25, 2013) totaled approximately $2.2 billion. Grayscale’s total assets under management since inception amounted to about $2.2 billion. Q1 2020 was the company’s strongest quarter. The company explained that Q1 2020 was the “largest quarterly [investment] raise in Grayscale history,” which nearly doubled the previous quarterly high of $254.8 million in 3Q 2019. “For the first time, inflows into Grayscale products over a 12-month period crossed the $1 billion threshold ($1.07 billion) … Cumulative investment across the Grayscale family of products since inception has reached $1.68 billion,” the company revealed, noting: Majority of investment (88%) came from institutional investors, dominated by hedge funds. Besides institutional investors, accredited individuals accounted for 5% of the total investment in the first quarter, followed by retirement accounts (4%) and family offices (3%). Products Drawing the Most Investments Grayscale offers 10 cryptocurrency investment products: Bitcoin Trust (BTC), Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCH), Ethereum Trust (ETH), Ethereum Classic Trust (ETC), Horizen Trust (ZEN), Litecoin Trust (LTC), Stellar Lumens Trust (XLM), XRP Trust (XRP), Zcash Trust (ZEC), and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund. Cumulative quarterly investments into Grayscale cryptocurrency products since inception. These crypto products are private investment vehicles. Except for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, these products are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or any other regulators. However, some are publicly quoted on OTCQX under the Alternative Reporting Standards: GBTC, Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, and Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC). In addition, following the record quarter, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust now holds approximately 1.7% of the entire circulating bitcoin supply, the company noted on Thursday, elaborating: New investors accounted for $160.1 million in inflows. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Ethereum Trust both experienced record quarterly inflows of $388.9 million and $110.0 million, respectively. What do you think about the record-setting investments into Grayscale products? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Investments in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Hit Record High Amid Economic Crisis appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

U.S. real estate agents and lenders are bracing for the biggest housing crash in over a decade. Since the coronavirus spread and the American government shut down the nation’s economy, Freddie Mac’s quarterly real estate report is grim and says the U.S. housing market faces considerable challenges “amid economic uncertainty.” Further, the NHB Wells Fargo Housing Index otherwise known as the Homebuilders sentiment has seen the largest drop since 2012. Also read: $2,000 a Month: US Lawmakers Propose Basic Income for Americans to Cope With Covid-19 Economy US Housing Market Faces ‘Greatest Challenge’ in Over Ten Years, Says Freddie Mac Toward the end of March, news.Bitcoin.com reported on a number of analysts and market strategists predicting the U.S. housing market would crash to 29-year lows. The blame, of course, has been directed at the adverse effects of the coronavirus and the government’s response to the situation. At the time, American lawmakers closed down the economy by shutting down numerous ‘non-essential’ businesses. One industry that’s feeling the stress from the financial hardship is the U.S. housing market. The reason stems from people who are scared to purchase homes and real estate agents can’t do property showings either. Further, over 22 million Americans are unemployed to-date and a slew of homeowners can’t pay their mortgages. Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that a great number of landlords are struggling too because renters cant pay their rent. The FHLMC report predicts house prices will fall “0.5 percentage points over the next four quarters.” The government real-estate agency also thanked the Federal Reserve for stepping in to buy mortgage-backed securities. This week the government-sponsored enterprise, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC or Freddie Mac), explained the housing market “faces challenges and uncertainty” going forward. The entity’s research team thinks that interest rates will only drop to 3.1% by 2021 and it may take a year to recover from the “economic damage.” Property pricing will “decelerate” and U.S.-based “home sales are expected to decrease in 2020.” Freddie Mac also expects refinancing to slow, purchase originations will drop, and it “will take some time for the [American] economy to bounce back.” Furthermore, amid the covid-19 economy, both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are looking into alternative appraisal schemes. For instance, underwriters are now allowed to do exterior-only inspection appraisals and even remote-based “desktop appraisals.” While real estate agents and builders were expecting a surging housing market this spring, Freddie Mac’s Q1 2020 report indicates that probably won’t happen. “With much of the country under stay-at-home orders, we expect to see housing markets deviate from their typical spring surge,” Freddie Mac researchers wrote. As large swathes of the U.S. economy shut down to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing market faces its greatest challenge in over a decade,” Freddie Mac’s quarterly report stresses. “The depth and duration of the pandemic is unknown. We assume that most of the economic damage from the virus is contained to the first half of the year. Starting in the third quarter a recovery begins, but it takes a full year before the economy gets back on its feet.” Homebuilders Sentiment Down 58% In addition to the gloomy outlook provided by Freddie Mac’s Q1 report, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), otherwise known as the “Homebuilder sentiment,” dropped 58% this month. The HMI is considered a reliable source designed to “take the pulse” of the U.S. housing market. Homebuilder sentiment for April 2020. After the low score was given, economist Peter Schiff tweeted about the HMI’s significant dive. “Homebuilder sentiment was forecast to drop from 72 in March to 60 in April,” Schiff noted. “Instead it collapsed to 30, its biggest drop and its lowest level ever. But as worried as homebuilders are, they are still too optimistic. Homebuilding as an industry will be largely gone for a long time.” Schiff further added: CNBC’s real estate correspondent Diana Olick claims the housing market is strong and that construction will come roaring back due to a shortage of homes. That shortage is about to become a huge surplus, as homes not previously for sale hit a market with few qualified buyers. Americans would think that megabanks and Wall Street bosses like Jamie Dimon might ease up on lending restrictions for home buyers. However, even after getting trillions of dollars from the Federal Reserve, U.S. banks created tougher lending standards and made home equity credit a scarce commodity. On April 13, JPMorgan and Chase made new lending guidelines, which require buyers to have a 700 FICO score and they have to put 20% down. No matter how you look at it, reports from CNBC’s Diana Olick and many other real estate agents seem way too optimistic. What do you think about the U.S. real estate industry’s hardships in the future? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Looming US Real Estate Crisis – Freddie Mac Warns of Housing Market Uncertainty, Homebuilder sentiment Drops 58% appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the world’s current economic crisis is the worst downturn since the Great Depression, and no country is spared. The IMF estimates that the cumulative loss to global GDP from the pandemic could be around 9 trillion dollars. Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed The Great Lockdown: Worst Economic Downturn Since Great Depression The IMF’s economic counselor and director of the research department, Gita Gopinath, has analyzed the world’s economic crisis and detailed her analysis in a report published on Tuesday. “The world has been put in a Great Lockdown,” she began, citing that countries have implemented the necessary quarantines and social distancing practices to combat the coronavirus pandemic. She elaborated: The magnitude and speed of collapse in activity that has followed is unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes. Gopinath sees the Great Lockdown as “the worst recession since the Great Depression, and far worse than the global financial crisis.” Her analysis considers that the coronavirus pandemic and required containment peak in the second quarter in most countries and recede in the second half of the year. “This is a truly global crisis as no country is spared … several economies entered this crisis in a vulnerable state with sluggish growth and high debt levels,” the director opined. “For the first time since the Great Depression both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are in recession.” $9 Trillion Loss Gopinath further asserted that the possible “recovery in 2021 is only partial as the level of economic activity is projected to remain below the level we had projected for 2021, before the virus hit,” adding: The cumulative loss to global GDP over 2020 and 2021 from the pandemic crisis could be around 9 trillion dollars, greater than the economies of Japan and Germany, combined. The IMF economic counselor also described a more severe scenario. “The pandemic may not recede in the second half of this year, leading to longer durations of containment, worsening financial conditions, and further breakdowns of global supply chains,” she detailed. “At the International Monetary Fund, we are actively deploying our 1-trillion-dollar lending capacity to support vulnerable countries, including through rapid-disbursing emergency financing and debt service relief to our poorest member countries, and we are calling on official bilateral creditors to do the same.” Recently, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also spoke on the subject, declaring: “we have entered a recession – as bad as or worse than in 2009.” What do you think about the IMF’s economic view? Let us know in the comments section below. The post IMF Predicts Worst Global Crisis Since Great Depression, Costing $9 Trillion appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Sensorium strikes a landmark partnership with the creative force behind Ibiza’s hottest nightlife venues and brands which top the official ranking of World’s Best Clubs. The move demonstrates Sensorium’s commitment to creating state-of-the-art virtual reality clubbing experiences for platform users. Following Sensorium Corporation’s recent listing on two leading cryptocurrency exchanges, KuCoin and HitBTC, the company has announced a partnership with leading nightlife promoter Yann Pissenem. This move will drive the development of a virtual ‘nightclub’ realm dedicated exclusively to electronic dance music within the Sensorium Galaxy, the global social virtual reality and media platform. Forbes has already ranked the Sensorium Galaxy in its top ten promising technology projects, while a showing at the 2019 Los Angeles E3 event led to extensive plaudits. Recently Sensorium Corp also announced the actual launch of the project via a Sensorium virtual spaceship, and its crew, which was propelled into space on a nine month journey. The spaceship will deliver the first ever virtual crew into the Sensorium Galaxy star systems. The first planet they will reach, open to exploration, is the Planet of Music created in partnership with Yann Pissenem. Today’s partnership announcement underscores Sensorium’s commitment to providing users with the ultimate in virtual reality electronic music and nightlife experiences via 3D social virtual reality. Pissenem is dedicated to bringing his unique skills and expertise to ensure the best virtual reality clubbing experience possible is available on the Sensorium platform. This is further borne out by the listings on the crypto exchanges of its Senso tokens in which users and third parties will use the tokens to buy in-game items and also create new virtual environments. Brian Kean, Chief Communication Officer Sensorium Corporation, says: “Pissenem is one of the key figures to have shaped the world’s modern clubbing landscape and today over three million people a year are attracted to his projects in Ibiza. He has been instrumental in turning Ibiza into the iconic destination for night clubbers from all over the world. His Ushuaïa Ibiza and Hï Ibiza venues have also become the house residences for some of the most famous DJs on the planet, including David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Martin Garrix. Both venues have been recognized as the World’s Best Club for the last three years by the International Nightlife Association, as well as some of the world’s most recognizable club brands.” “With Sensorium Galaxy, electronic music fans who can’t always take the trip to Ibiza can now enjoy what this thriving nightclub scene has to offer and their experience will not be limited by physical boundaries thanks to Sensorium’s virtual reality. They can drop right into a pulsating electronic club scene and interact with friends as if in the real world.” As part of the partnership, Pissenem is bringing on board ten of the world’s top electronic music artists and DJs to collaborate with Sensorium Galaxy. Yann Pissenem said: “I’ve always enjoyed being deeply involved in new developments for the nightlife industry. As the Ibiza club scene, where much of my energy has been channelled over the years, is now at the global forefront of electronic music and clubbing, having the opportunity to fuse this world with Sensorium Galaxy to create a new social virtual reality is electrifying. This is a great opportunity to bring the best of the global club scene to millions of users around the world. Social virtual reality is a step-change in the evolution of communication between people and it’s incredible to be actively involved in helping to drive this radical change in how we interact with each other forward”. In addition to the partnership with Yann Pissenem, Sensorium Corporation has today also revealed that its World of Electronic Music’s visual design was conceptualized by the acclaimed London-based creative and production studio High Scream, run by visionary French creative Romain Pissenem, brother of Yann. Legendary brothers have an extensive track record of working together on high profile projects. High Scream has vast project experience in creating some of the biggest entertainment and commercial productions of the last decade with the likes of Disney, Nike, Coca-Cola, Burberry, and some of the biggest names in dance music such as David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia and Martin Garrix. High Scream is also responsible for creating the iconic stage designs and shows at Hï Ibiza and Ushuaïa Ibiza. Contact Email Address ikonnikova@vincipr.com Supporting Link https://sensoriumxr.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 Sensorium Galaxy Building the Mecca of Electronic Dance Music in Virtual Reality appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Democrats from the House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would pay eligible Americans $2,000 a month until U.S. unemployment numbers return to pre-covid-19 levels. Under the proposal, any American citizen 16-years or older making less than $130K per year would receive monthly funding from the federal government. Also read: Minting Basic Income – US Lawmaker Asks Treasury to Issue Two $1 Trillion Coins With No Debt The Emergency Money for the People Act U.S. representatives have been pushing for a universal basic income (UBI) plan for quite some time now. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, politicians worldwide have promoted UBI as a solution to deal with the financial hardships. Just recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Spain’s plans to create a UBI program. A few weeks prior, Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib proposed that the U.S. Treasury could issue two $1 trillion platinum coins with no debt. If the Treasury adopted this concept, Tlaib’s plan noted that the Treasury could then send $1-2K to every American on a monthly basis until the covid-19 hardship ends. Following Tlaib’s proposal, bipartisan members of Congress passed the largest stimulus relief bill in American history. U.S. President, Donald Trump then signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security (CARES) Act into law, which gives American residents a one-time payment of $1,200 per taxpayer. U.S. residents must be 16-years or older to receive the UBI benefits until the unemployment levels drop back to pre-covid-19 levels. Of course, the latest House of Representatives bill will need to be voted on and it would need to pass through Senate and the President of the United States, Donald Trump. After the CARES Act was signed into law, Democrats from the House of Representatives say that the funding is not enough to help the American people. This week U.S. taxpayers who use the IRS direct deposit system started getting their one-time payments from the Treasury Department. Democratic Representatives Tim Ryan (Ohio) and Ro Khanna (Calif.) have proposed a bill called the “Emergency Money for the People Act” that aims to provide citizens with $2,000 payments per month. The checks would be sent to Americans who are 16-years or older making $130,000 or less per year. The payments could last for six months or up until U.S. unemployment statistics go under pre-covid-19 levels. “As millions of Americans file for unemployment week over week, we have to work quickly to patch the dam — and that means putting cash in the hands of hard-working families,” House Democrat Tim Ryan explained to the press. While Stimulus Checks Are Deposited, Thousands of Americans Can’t Access Their Online Bank Accounts for More Than 24 Hours Meanwhile, U.S. citizens have been complaining about the stimulus payment system this week. For instance, some people were upset that the government made it so debt collectors can take the one-time payment, if the resident owed money to lenders. U.S. officials gave banking institutions the green light to repatriate stimulus funds to pay off an individual’s debt. Additionally, thousands of Americans have been complaining about being able to access their online banking account. Some have complained that they cannot access their bank accounts online for over 24-hours. The host of the Youtube channel Timcast, Tim Pool mentioned the issues yesterday on Twitter. “Is anyone else not able to log into their bank accounts?” Pool asked his 446,000 Twitter followers. “So far three banks I’ve checked on are unable to log in,” Pool added. Thousands of Americans have been unable to access their online banking accounts ever since the stimulus checks started rolling out. It is assumed the bank’s online infrastructure cannot handle the traffic load as people have been constantly checking their accounts for the stimulus funds. People who responded to Pool’s question were also experiencing the same banking issues. “Looks like everyone’s checking their accounts for Trump-Bux,” one person responded. A few individuals said they were unable to log into their banking account for 1-2 days so far. Not only are American residents on lockdown and cannot visit a bank branch in person, U.S. citizens also can’t even access their bank online at times. “All day I’ve had problems [trying to log into my bank account]. When I finally got in, I was not sufficiently stimulated,” another individual tweeted. There are a number of Americans who are upset and don’t want UBI or a stimulus check and they simply want their jobs back. There have been protests in Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Virginia over the lockdown mandates. Americans Don’t Want Stimulus or UBI — They Want Their Jobs Back The American economy is in shambles and citizens are starting to get restless with the lockdowns. There have been protests in states like Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Virginia as people are extremely upset about the shutdown economy. People on social media and forums have been complaining about the situation relentlessly. On freedom advocate wrote: We don’t want stimulus or universal income, we want our jobs back. For years now free market advocates and cryptocurrency proponents have known the monetary system designed by the oligarchy is immoral. The financial incumbents and politicians today are blatantly ruining the economy by shutting down businesses nationwide. U.S. lawmakers have halted specific parts of the supply chain and are causing inflation by printing massive amounts of money from thin air. Right now, more than ever before, cryptocurrency advocates and those who want more freedom are advocating the use of non-nation state issues currencies like bitcoin, precious metals, and barter and trade techniques. At the same time, the American bureaucracy’s propaganda is filled with sensationalism, socialist ideas like UBI, and the ultimate devastation of the American economy. What do you think about the new UBI plan proposed by House Democrats? Let us know in the comments below. The post $2,000 a Month: US Lawmakers Propose Basic Income for Americans to Cope With Covid-19 Economy appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin.com’s Exchange continues to grow and during the last few months, the platform has added support for a number of well known tokens. This week, the trading platform has added support for the Reserve stablecoin (RSV) and the project’s utility token (RSR). Bitcoin.com Exchange users will be able to trade RSV and RSR with trading pairs like bitcoin cash (BCH) and tether (USDT). Also read: China’s Research Institute Updates Crypto Ranking — Review Affected by Pandemic Bitcoin.com Exchange Adds Two Reserve Tokens – RSV and RSR Since launching the trading platform Bitcoin.com Exchange last September, the service has seen considerable growth. The exchange is a simple-to-use trading engine that offers a variety of different cryptocurrencies. Popular digital assets hosted on the platform include coins like litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), tron (TRX), zcash (ZEC), stellar (XLM), dash (DASH) and eos (EOS) are paired with markets denominated in base currencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH), ETH, BTC, and tether (USDT). This week, the Bitcoin.com Exchange has added two different tokens from the Reserve project. The team behind Reserve wholeheartedly believes that everyone’s money “should be secure,” but also they also stress they are “building a universal store of value.” In order to complete their goals, the Reserve team notes the project will move through three different phases that are increasingly decentralized. Reserve’s creators think that cryptocurrencies are a far better form of money, but they need to be both accessible and a store of value that can be leveraged as a unit of account. The project’s first phase will be more centralized where reserves are backed by collateral and pegged to the United States dollar. The second phase aims to utilize a “basket of assets” and still keep the USD peg. “And in the third and last phase,” the Reserve team says. “[Is] the dollar-peg, which would be abandoned to stabilize the real purchasing power of Reserve. Stablecoins Offer a Hedge Against Volatile Markets Bitcoin.com Exchange users will now have the chance to obtain or trade against Reserve tokens with BCH and USDT. The two tokens that will be added include the stablecoin (RSV) and Reserve’s utility token (RSR). When an open-finance stablecoin RSV is purchased, the team says the assets used to obtain RSV are “held in a collateral smart contract, so there is always a 1:1 collateralization.” The RSR token is a utility token that has a myriad of roles in the Reserve network. The Reserve project’s decentralized price-peg scheme is similar to the way Makerdao operates. Exchange.Bitcoin.com – The bitcoin exchange you can trust to securely buy, sell, and build your cryptocurrency portfolio. Sign up today and start trading digital assets in a matter of minutes. Stablecoins like Reserve offer a number of benefits for traders looking for arbitrage and those looking to hedge against big drops in value when the crypto economy slides. If you haven’t signed up for our trading platform, the process is quick and easy. Simply register with exchange.Bitcoin.com and you’ll be able to instantly trade, deposit, and withdraw your favorite digital assets. Bitcoin.com’s user interface is designed for ease-of-use combined with a professional-grade trading platform configured to offer seamless swaps in a secure environment. What do you think about Bitcoin.com Exchange’s continued growth? Share your thoughts in the comments below. The post Bitcoin.com Exchange Now Supports Reserve’s Stablecoin RSV and the Utility Token RSR appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The G20 is setting rules to regulate stablecoins such as Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency. Responding to a call by the G20, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has provided 10 “high-level” recommendations that establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed G20 Sets International Rules for Stablecoins The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will meet under Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency on Wednesday to “discuss and take urgent actions needed to address the global challenge presented by the covid-19 pandemic,” host country Saudi Arabia announced. The April G20 finance chiefs’ meeting is traditionally held in Washington, D.C., but due to the coronavirus outbreak worldwide, G20 meetings are currently held virtually, and more frequently. Ahead of the meeting, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published 10 “high-level” recommendations on Tuesday that “addressed to authorities at jurisdictional level to advance consistent and effective regulation and supervision” of global stablecoins. The G20 regulatory watchdog explained: The recommendations respond to a call by the G20 to examine regulatory issues raised by ‘global stablecoin’ arrangements and to advise on multilateral responses as appropriate, taking into account the perspective of emerging market and developing economies. The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting virtually on Wednesday under Saudi Arabia’s presidency. Among the topics they will discuss is the issue of regulating stablecoins like Facebook’s proposed Libra cryptocurrency. The FSB is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system; all G20 countries have members on the Board. Regulators worldwide refer to stablecoins that can quickly achieve scale as global stablecoins; an example is Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, Libra. The recommendations will be delivered to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors for their virtual meeting on Wednesday. The FSB is inviting comments on its recommendations to be submitted by July 15. 10 ‘High-Level’ Recommendations In a consultative document published on Tuesday entitled “Addressing the regulatory, supervisory and oversight challenges raised by ‘global stablecoin’ arrangements,” the FSB provided the G20 with its 10 high-level recommendations. The first is to ensure that relevant authorities have the necessary powers, tools, and resources to regulate and supervise global stablecoins, including their multi-functional activities, in order to “enforce relevant laws and regulations effectively.” Secondly, the FSB recommends: Authorities should apply regulatory requirements to GSC [global stablecoin] arrangements on a functional basis and proportionate to their risks. The G20 called on the Financial Stability Board during its meeting last year to examine the regulatory issues raised by “global stablecoins” and to advise on multilateral responses as appropriate. Next, the FSB suggests for the authorities to “ensure that there is comprehensive regulation, supervision and oversight of the GSC arrangement across borders and sectors.” They should “cooperate and coordinate with each other, both domestically and internationally,” to regulate stablecoins across borders and sectors. The fourth recommendation is for the authorities to have in place a comprehensive governance framework, with a clear allocation of accountability, for global stablecoins. The regulatory watchdog also recommends ensuring effective risk management frameworks for these coins, particularly with regard to “reserve management, operational resiliency, cyber security safeguards and AML/CFT measures, as well as ‘fit and proper’ requirements.” The FSB has provided the G20 nations with a set of 10 “high-level” recommendations for the regulation of stablecoins, including Libra, the cryptocurrency proposed by social media giant Facebook. The authorities should additionally ensure that global stablecoins have “robust systems for safeguarding, collecting, storing and managing data,” the FSB outlined in its sixth recommendation. They should further have “appropriate recovery and resolution plans,” the Board’s seventh suggestion describes. Ensuring that global stablecoins provide users and stakeholders with comprehensive and transparent information is the next recommendation. Moreover, the Board proposes that the authorities make certain stablecoins “provide legal clarity to users on the nature and enforceability of any redemption rights and the process for redemption, where applicable.” Lastly, the authorities should ensure that stablecoins “meet all applicable regulatory, supervisory and oversight requirements of a particular jurisdiction before commencing any operations in that jurisdiction, and construct systems and products that can adapt to new regulatory requirements as necessary.” What do you think about the G20’s efforts to regulating stablecoins? Let us know in the comments section below. The post G20 Considers 10 Rules for Regulation of Stablecoins Like Facebook Libra appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. Presidential candidate who remains on the run from the IRS, John McAfee, announced he’s launching a new privacy coin called Ghost. McAfee says the Ghost cryptocurrency will be a proof-of-stake (PoS) coin and it will be available on his decentralized exchange (dex). The former anti-virus software tycoon also stressed to the public on Twitter that by combining Ghost with his dex, governments won’t be able to shut the project down. Also read: Crypto Exchanges See Bitcoin Reserves Drop by 70% Since Black Thursday’s Market Rout McAfee Is Launching a New Privacy Coin Called ‘Ghost’ John McAfee recently announced that he is launching a PoS-based cryptocurrency called Ghost. The move follows McAfee’s recent ERC20 token called “Epstein Did Not Kill Himself,” a coin that made fun of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. McAfee explained on April 11, that his new coin will have a white paper that will be published on May 15. “My latest: Ghost – It’s a proof of stake privacy coin to make you a “ghost” when transacting online. Atomic swaps on McAfeeDex will let you trade against BTC/BCH/ETH and more,” McAfee tweeted. With a dex/privacy coin combo we now have full control of our finances,” he added. The project also has a website with a cartoon ghost and a few small descriptions about the new coin. McAfee’s Ghost coin website. “Ghost transactions use a state of the art escrow pool to shield and erase the history of transactions,” the website explains. “Ghost transactions are verified using zero-knowledge proofs. Ghost is a proof-of-stake network controlled by token holders and users and Ghost has no central company or owner, and is ran and maintained by the community,” the site further adds. The website also notes that the Ghost project will have a Masternode system similar to the Dash protocol. Additionally, Ghost transactions are allegedly processed onchain in less than 60 seconds and for a “fraction of a penny paid in transaction fees.” McAfee’s Ghost website also details that people can obtain Ghost tokens for free by holding a token called ESH. The Ghost website states: To claim your Ghost at launch (for free) you must be holding an ESH token on May 25th. 25% of the Ghost supply will be allocated to ESH token holders. The remaining supply of Ghost is allocated towards proof of stake rewards. McAfee’s 2020 Presidential Candidacy and a Myriad of Crypto Projects McAfee has been awfully busy even though he’s been on the run from U.S. tax authorities. Back in October, the 2020 Presidential candidate launched his dex with no restrictions. He spoke with our newsdesk in December 2019 and discussed topics like maximalism, Epstein’s death, and “the greatest gift since fire.” During the first week of January, McAfee said he was going to tokenize all 535 members of Congress. Moreover, that same week, the crypto community gave McAfee flak for backing out of his infamous price prediction bet. Lately, McAfee has been speaking out against the propaganda and hype associated with covid-19. “Covid-19 will be virtually gone from infected countries by mid-May, because it is seasonal, like the flu,” McAfee tweeted. “But, it will be back in October, and we will have to lock ourselves in from October till next May. If we unlock in mid-season it will start over again — Bummer.” Further, McAfee recently told the public he has joined forces with Adam Kokesh, another liberty-leaning candidate who is also running for U.S. president. McAfee said that both candidates have mutually endorsed each other. What do you think about McAfee’s new privacy coin Ghost? Let us know in the comments below. The post ‘Governments Will be Unable to Shut It Down’ – John McAfee to Launch Privacy Centric Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Digital currency markets have had a few lackluster days, as the entire crypto market valuation has dropped below the $200 billion mark on Monday. The following day on April 14, a number of cryptocurrencies have seen some slight gains between 2-9%. Meanwhile, global markets are reacting positively as many are starting to feel like the covid-19 pandemic is dwindling down in numbers. Also read: Crypto Exchanges See Bitcoin Reserves Drop by 70% Since Black Thursday’s Market Rout The Crypto Market’s Ups and Downs 24 hours ago, crypto markets looked bullish as BTC prices jumped above the $7K zone for a short period of time but not too long afterward, the price dumped to the $6,600 range. Since Monday’s trading sessions and into Tuesday, the crypto economy’s market valuation is hovering around $199 billion. At the time of publication, BTC is swapping for $6,950 and has a market capitalization of around $127 billion. The second-largest market cap is held by ethereum (ETH) and each coin is trading for $161. ETH is up 4% today, but weekly losses show ETH is still down over 4%. XRP holds the third position today, and each XRP is trading for $0.18 per coin. The stablecoin tether (USDT) has managed to recapture the fourth-largest market valuation since Monday’s price drop. USDT still commands a touch less than two-thirds of the entire crypto economy’s global pairs. Bitcoin Cash (BCH/USD) Market Action Bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $226 per coin on Tuesday and BCH is up 3% during the last 24 hours. However, weekly stats show that BCH is still down over 11% during the last seven days. USDT commands 50% of today’s bitcoin cash swaps and BTC has around 19.2% of BCH trades. These pairs are followed by a big jump from GBP (12.3%), USD (10.3%), and KRW (2.2%). Bitcoin cash has an overall market valuation of $4.1 billion on Tuesday and there’s $522 million in global trade volume. BCH recently halved and BCH miners now get 6.25 coins per block rather than 12.5. Coronavirus Shows Signs of Slowing There’s a number of global participants worldwide who are starting to think that the covid-19 outbreak is starting to slow down. This has caused optimism in equity markets and digital currencies have shown resilience, even after Monday’s price drop. Crypto market strategist, Simon Peters from Etoro, thinks that global markets have reacted to “positive numbers out of coronavirus centre.” “Although traditional markets have been edging up higher thanks to some positive news coming out of coronavirus-hit countries such as Italy and Spain, many commentators are talking of the risk of a global recession,” Peters wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday. “The US and the UK are still yet to hit a peak in terms of infections and deaths, while even President Trump has been taking an uncharacteristically somber tone in his recent statements,” the Etoro analyst added. Peters continued: Crypto asset markets, on the other hand, have been performing well and some major developments from last week are sure to have a positive impact in the short and medium-term. The $3,500 CME Gap On crypto forums and social media, a great number of traders are discussing a CME Bitcoin futures gap that could send BTC spot prices back to that region. A futures gap typically occurs when spot prices continue to trend upwards, while the CME derivatives market is closed. Just a few weeks ago a CME Bitcoin futures gap was blamed for an unexplainable price drop. Chart by Arshevelev (Tradingview). “Yesterday target hit of $6,900 next $7,000 n some change — Then dropped — CME gap maybe scam wick,” explained the bitcoin trader Cryptohulk this week. “Bitcoin chart below with rising wedge within the new channel… just play what you see don’t complicate things — Remember the channel is your friend until it breaks,” he added. In fact when BTC slid on Monday from the $7,100 high to $6,600 the dip was blamed on a CME price gap. “Do you know why bitcoin dumped?” asked the crypto trader Basheer Firozbahary. “It filled the CME gap. Look at this. Bitcoin closed at $6900+ on Friday so it had to be filled.” Head and Shoulders A number of digital currency market analysts have also been talking about BTC’s chart showing a bearish or inverse head and shoulders pattern. The head and shoulder (H&S) pattern is considered one of the most reliable technical analysis patterns available. However, some people don’t find the current inverse H&S indicator to be very special. Chart by Mohit Sorout (Tradingview). “What’s so special about a ‘head & shoulders’ pattern, and how it isn’t just a retest of broken support?” tweeted the Twitter account @Wealthseekr. “Moreover, these diagonal HnS…why not just completely ignore the LS/H/RS and look at shorting the retest into the swing low (e.g. the low after the LS)?” he further asked. The crypto analyst called ‘Flood’ noted: “I hate planning out multileg trades, but probably something like in the next few days. I’m bull biased here unless we dump below 6.5k — Then it would be pretty clear invalidation.” The Verdict: Uncertainty Remains Overall most traders are still uncertain and there are various different price predictions across the board. Some people think the price of BTC and many other crypto assets will remain steady and not much lower than today’s price. While others believe the upcoming BTC halving will make bitcoin prices skyrocket. Although, there are those who think the price of BTC will drop back to the $3-3.5K region, causing despair among investors. Most traders understand that the slowing coronavirus and slight rebound from global markets doesn’t mean crypto assets are out of the woods. Despite, Tuesday’s crypto market gains, uncertainty remains. What do you think about crypto asset prices today? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Market Outlook: Bitcoin’s Inverse Head and Shoulders, Covid-19 Fears Decline, CME Futures Gaps appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The European Central Bank (ECB) expects the European economy to suffer a more severe recession than the global economy. Countries across the euro area will experience “a deep recession,” which entails unprecedented funding needs of more than €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion), explained ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos. Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed Deep Recession, Shrinking Economy ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos answered some questions about the European economy in an interview published by the ECB on Sunday. Sharing his assessment of the global economic situation as the coronavirus crisis persists, he said: The global economy will enter recession and so will the European economy, albeit an even more severe one. The ultimate fall in GDP will depend on how long the lockdown lasts. He added: “International bodies have calculated that the economy will shrink by 2% to 3% for each month of lockdown. So one and a half months would be around 5%. Three months would be double that.” ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said that the European economy will suffer a more severe recession than the global economy. He believes that in the most likely scenario, the euro area will show some signs of growth beginning in the third quarter. However, “we will have to wait until 2021 to see a genuine recovery in economic activity,” he emphasized. “In any case, 2021 will not be able to make up for all of the downturn in 2020.” The ECB vice president continued: The banking sector is facing this situation from a much more robust position than ten years ago. It is true that it has profitability issues and the deep recession will affect its bottom line. “But there are no solvency problems,” he claims. “The financial markets experienced some problems during the initial days of this crisis, but they were not caused by the banking sector. The situation has to a certain extent returned to normal, although not completely, while prices have partially recovered and volatility has eased.” Impact of European Countries and ECB’s Tools De Guindos explained that the ECB has intervened on three levels. “First, we have provided liquidity to the banks … and we have launched a package of temporary collateral easing measures,” he detailed. “And finally, we have expanded our monetary policy operations.” Expecting a deeper recession in Europe than the global economy, the ECB has intervened on three levels. Funding of between €1 trillion and €1.5 trillion will be needed, which is “an amount the likes of which we’ve probably never seen before,” ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said. The ECB vice president added, “In 2020, asset purchases will reach €1.1 trillion (mainly of public debt) to avoid fragmentation of the euro area,” elaborating: Countries will experience a deep recession that will have an impact on their public finances. This will entail greater funding needs, of between €1 trillion and €1.5 trillion, an amount the likes of which we’ve probably never seen before. He further explained that the ECB currently has three main tools at its disposal. The first is the European Investment Bank guarantee, which has €25 billion available. The second is the European instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) program, which will provide lending of €100 billion to avoid job losses. The third is the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which “provides low-conditionality precautionary credit lines and already has €240 billion available, which can be increased up to €400 billion,” de Guindos described. “Following the agreement the Eurogroup reached on Thursday, governments will be able to use the ESM to access the equivalent of 2% of their GDP and thus finance healthcare spending related to the pandemic.” Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have already forecasted a severe global recession. Banks, such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank have also predicted a major recession. What do you think of the ECB’s methods in helping the European economy? Let us know in the comments section below. The post ECB Expects Worse Recession in Europe Than Global Economy appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to various reports, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor, Craig Wright has dropped his libel lawsuit against Blockstream CEO, Adam Back. Wright was forced to pay all of Back’s legal fees to the tune of £6,666 ($8,400). The news follows, Wright losing his UK court battle with Bitcoin.com’s Roger Ver after the England and Wales judge said the court wasn’t the “most appropriate place” to bring such complaints. Also read: Ross Ulbricht’s 9th Price Analysis Predicts Bitcoin Prices Below $3,000 Craig Wright Pays More Legal Fees Craig Wright has been forced by a number of courts to pay legal fees during the last 12 months. Last year, Wright filed a lawsuit against Roger Ver, but the UK judge striked the libel lawsuit down and made Wright pay all of Ver’s legal fees. In the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit, Wright was ordered to pay $165,000 in attorney fees in an order that took place on March 17. Wright also allegedly had a libel lawsuit against Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, podcast host Peter McCormack, and an anonymous Twitter user named Hodlonaut. On April 11, various reports noted that Wright had lost his case against Blockstream’s Adam Back and was forced to pay £6,666 ($8,400) in legal fees. The self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor, Craig Wright (left) and Blockstream CEO, Adam Back (right). When the community got wind of the decision, podcaster Peter McCormack tweeted “Me next” hoping he would get the same outcome. In the case against Ver, the UK judge said that Wright had “failed to demonstrate that, judged in terms of harm to reputation.” “In reality, the Defendant addressed his remarks to the global Bitcoin community, not any sector of it exclusively in the UK. It is true that the claimant has been resident in the UK since 2015, but has little to do with the issue of targeting,” the Judge in that case detailed on July 31, 2019. Other Defendants Battling Wright in Court Hope for the Same Outcome About a year ago, Craig Wright’s business partner Calvin Ayre tweeted that he and Wright were “polishing muskets” in order to fight a few legal battles against online trolls. Ayre also mentioned in the same tweet that “Craig is Satoshi” in a hashtag. At the time, software developer Jameson Lopp responded to Ayre’s tweet and said: “Craig has been pleading his case that he is Satoshi for four years but has lost every appeal. There is no judge in the world with the authority to reverse the decisions made by the Court of Public Opinion.” Wright has lost against Roger Ver and dropped the lawsuit against Back as well. Many people wonder if the trend will continue for people like podcast host Peter McCormack. It is still uncertain what will happen with the cases against people like Buterin, and McCormack, but the trend doesn’t seem to be favoring Wright’s arguments. Wright has also responded to the Kleiman case as well on April 8 in a filing that objects to the magistrate order on discovery. Wright’s lawyers Amanda McGovern and Rivero Mestre LLP, claim the judge’s recent order is “clearly erroneous and contrary to law.” “The court should reverse and vacate the order,” Wright’s law firm stressed. What do you think about Craig Wright being forced to pay Adam Back’s legal fees? Let us know in the comments below. The post Craig Wright Ends Lawsuit Against Adam Back – Pays Thousands in Legal Fees appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The founder of the Silk Road marketplace, Ross Ulbricht, has published another analysis that attempts to predict the price of bitcoin. Ulbricht started sharing his price examinations last December and he leveraged the patterns of Elliott Wave theory to bolster his forecast. Also read: Bitcoin Revolution: Wanna Earn $1,000 a Day? Government Warns About This Scam Ross Ulbricht Predicts Sub-$3K Bitcoin Prices Ross Ulbricht has been locked behind bars for a long time now and during the last few months, he’s been publishing his analysis reports concerning the price of bitcoin going forward. News.Bitcoin.com covered Ulbricht’s first research study and detailed that Ulbricht was using the Elliott Wave theory to formulate his findings. The principle was created by Ralph Nelson Elliott and the theory involves an analysis of trends like market highs and lows. In December, Ulbricht wrote that the current wave we are in today, it could take the price to regions between $93,000 to $109,000. However, the wave can take a long time to fully materialize and the wave right now may not extend until February 2021. Ulbricht’s latest examination of bitcoin’s price is called “Bitcoin by Ross #9: A Strong Signal for Lower Prices” and the report is calling for a big drop. Ulbricht believes the price could drop back down below the $3,000 range again during this current cycle. “Estimating the extent and duration of wave two is difficult and imprecise,” Ulbricht wrote on April 11. “There is no limit to how low it can go (except $0) because wave one started at $0. And there is no hard limit to how long it could take. However, corrections will often end in the price range of the previous fourth wave of one less degree. That was wave four from back in 2014. Its price range was $175–$1,240. The two previous bear markets (of primary degree) reduced prices by 86% and 94%. An equivalent reduction by wave two would take prices to $2,800 or $1,200. Wave A of two reduced prices by 84%. An equivalent reduction by wave C of two would take prices to $2,200,” Ulbricht stressed. Ulbricht continued by adding: In terms of duration, if wave C lasts as long as wave A, it will end around June or July 2020. However, waves C of two and wave C of four (not labeled in Figure 1) were considerably larger than the respective A waves. If wave C of two conforms to this pattern, it could drag on into 2021. Figure (1) from Ross Ulbricht’s bitcoin price analysis. Problems With Elliott Wave Theory Ulbricht’s report also excludes outside market factors like the coronavirus effects on the economy. Additionally, he believes the end of wave two will lead to “extreme pessimism and possibly antagonism toward bitcoin.” He remarked that it will take great “fortitude” to purchase bitcoins in this environment but he thinks “the rewards as wave III takes prices to new highs will be well worth it.” Although, not all traders agree with Ulbricht’s market outlook and some have said the Elliot Wave chart he drew was incorrect. One particular issue noted was that “C waves must have five subwaves of an impulse,” explained the data analysis organization Haejin. BTC pundit, John Carvalho tweeted: “Dread Pirate Roberts is doing bearish TA now” and many of Carvalho’s Twitter followers responded with skepticism. Figure (2) from Ross Ulbricht’s bitcoin price analysis. Elliot Wave theories have always been controversial among traders and many analysts believe that the principle is no different than tarot cards. Benoit Mandelbrot, a mathematician criticized the Elliott Wave theory and claimed the theory is a bunch of “subjective judgments.” Elliott Wave theory’s biggest issue is the fact that observers cannot identify exactly when a wave begins and ends. In fact, there are many studies that state wave theories are not quantified precisely enough and no trader should be dependent on them. Although, some of the most popular cryptocurrency traders today leverage the Elliot Wave system and a good number of traders and market strategists wholeheartedly believe in them. Ulbricht also believes in the theory and the recently published study is the ninth installment to his price prediction series. What do you think about Ross Ulbricht’s latest bitcoin price analysis? Let us know in the comments below. The post Ross Ulbricht’s 9th Price Analysis Predicts Bitcoin Prices Below $3,000 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Guarda​ has recently become the first multi-currency crypto wallet to offer support for Multisignature. Multisignature (also known as Multisig) wallets make it possible for two or more users to have access to the funds. Contrary to the usual single-key addresses, Multisig wallets need several parties to sign the transactions – the signatures are generated with the use of different private keys. Multisignature wallets are useful for those willing to co-manage cryptocurrency funds.This way, several parties can create a shared wallet and manage transactions with mutual consensus. Besides being a tool for enabling crypto transactions for groups of people, Multisig can also be an extra protection tool for those concerned with password loss or cryptocurrency theft. Making Multisignature creation possible within a lightweight multi-currency wallet is no easy task – Guarda Wallet team, joined by ​Whales Heaven​, were ready to take this challenge and make Multisig go live. The main reason for enabling Multisig was community feedback that pushed the development. Guarda is not planning to stop on having Multisig for BTC – the team is already working on getting Ethereum Classic ETC (currency chosen by a community-run poll), Ethereum ETH, Bitcoin Cash and a wide range of other coins on board for Multisignature. “We are here to offer wallet functionality yet unheard of – this is why expansion and having as many cryptocurrency management features is crucial for Guarda. Joined byWhales Heaven, we are enabling Multisignature – something that multi-currency wallets have not been offering yet. Adding Multisig is absolutely dictated by the community demand and we’re happy to offer our services!” – Paul, CEO Guarda Wallet. If you want to know more about creating and using a Multisig wallet, you can watch a video tutorial on Guarda Wallet on YouTube or check the news on social networks. Contact Email Address pr@guarda.co Supporting Link http://guarda.co ‘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 Guarda Wallet Launches Multisignature Functionality for Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development has published its latest crypto project rankings as the country continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 37 crypto projects were evaluated and ranked overall this month as well as in three separate categories. Also read: Bitcoin Revolution: Wanna Earn $1,000 a Day? Government Warns About This Scam New Rankings Unveiled During Pandemic The Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released its latest update of crypto project rankings on Friday. Before this, the rankings were last updated in February when the same 37 projects were evaluated. In addition to the overall ranking, the center assessed the crypto projects based on three additional categories: basic technology, applicability, and creativity. The CCID updates its rankings every two months; this time around is the 17th update and the second this year. This month, EOS remains top of the overall ranking, followed by Tron and then Ethereum. Bitcoin fell slightly from the 11th place to the 14th place while Bitcoin Cash rose from the 34th place to the 31st place. The CCID’s 17th crypto project rankings show EOS occupying the top spot overall, followed by Tron and Ethereum. The projects were also evaluated in three additional categories. 37 Crypto Projects Ranked in 3 Sub-Categories The 37 projects were also evaluated in three sub-categories in the same way as previous updates. In the first sub-category, basic technology, EOS tops the list, followed by Tron and IOST. The center explained: From February to March 2020, due to the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, the update of selected public chain projects slowed down, and the overall index has not changed much. The CCID’s crypto project evaluation work was affected by the covid-19 crisis. According to the center, some updates were slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic so the overall ranking has not changed much. For the second sub-category, applicability, Ethereum tops the ranking, followed by Tron, and Nebulas. For the last sub-category, creativity, BTC scored significantly higher than the other crypto projects, followed by EOS and Ethereum. The rankings are compiled by the CCID (Qingdao) Blockchain Research Institute, an entity established by the CCID. The evaluation work is carried out in collaboration with several organizations, such as the CCID think tank and the China Software Evaluation Center. “The result of this assessment will allow the CCID group to provide better technical consulting services for government agencies, business enterprises, research institutes, and technology developers,” the center previously explained. What do you think about the CCID’s crypto project rankings? Let us know in the comments section below. The post China’s Research Institute Updates Crypto Ranking — Review Affected by Pandemic appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Manhattan prosecutors from the New York Southern District Court (NYSD) have unsealed indictment charges against Onecoin cofounder Sebastian Greenwood. The documents allege that Greenwood, alongside his accomplices Ruja Ignatova the ‘Crypto Queen’ and her brother Konstantin Ignatov, committed fraud on a multi-billion dollar level. Meanwhile, as the public finds out that Greenwood has five charges against him, NYSD prosecutors have also postponed Konstantin Ignatov’s sentencing. Also read: Spain’s Lawmakers Plan to Provide Basic Income to Low-Income Residents Onecoin’s Sebastian Greenwood’s Indictment Has Been Unsealed The Onecoin scam was a Ponzi scheme that involved a great number of people worldwide who believed the project was a real cryptocurrency. However, Onecoin did not have a blockchain and it was definitely not a cryptocurrency, but it was sold as one for many years. Essentially Onecoin buyers purchased packages and recruited others to do the same by being incentivized with obtaining more Onecoins. However, no one could ever use the so-called asset, withdraw it or do anything with these packages because they were not real. The project was started by Ruja Ignatova, otherwise known as the ‘Crypto Queen,’ her brother Konstantin Ignatov and Sebastian Greenwood. Both Greenwood and Ignatov have been arrested and face U.S. charges in New York, while Ruja remains at large. Recently unsealed indictments from the NYSD courthouse show that Greenwood faces a total of five charges. Onecoin’s Sebastian Greenwood indictment was recently unsealed. The NYSD indictment shows he faces five different charges. Charges include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, securities fraud and other overt acts meant to defraud. “From in or about 2014 through in or about January 2018, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, Sebastian Greenwood, the defendant, willfully and knowingly, directly and indirectly, by the use of means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, the mails and the facilities of national securities exchanges, in connection with the purchase and sale of securities, did use and employ manipulative and deceptive devices and contrivances,” the NYSD indictment reads. From left to right: Ruja Ignatova, Konstantin Ignatov and Sebastian Greenwood are the three accused creators of the Onecoin Ponzi scam. US Prosecutors Want to Seize Greenwood’s Possessions – Konstantin Ignatov Plays Cooperative Witness Because Greenwood and his associates committed fraud in the U.S. and sold Onecoin packages to Americans, the NYSD court wants Greenwood to forfeit all of his properties, possessions, and any remaining funds to the U.S. government. The prosecutors stressed that Greenwood’s charges have been placed within the Southern District of New York’s jurisdiction. Greenwood’s indictment was filed under seal per order of the U.S. Marshals on February 6, 2018. The prosecutors have Greenwood and the other two accomplices on record doing Onecoin webinars and other acts within the U.S. in order to lure more investors. Ruja Ignatova otherwise known as the ‘Crypto Queen’ and cofounder Sebastian Greenwood at a Onecoin event. Ruja has been on the run for well over a year and a half and her brother Konstantin Ignatov is cooperating as a witness. In the same week as the unsealed indictment, the NYSD prosecutors approved a motion to adjourn Konstantin Ignatov’s sentencing. The postponement happened on April 7 and the sentencing has been rescheduled to July 8, 2020. The reason Ignatov’s sentencing has likely been removed is because he has been cooperating with NYSD prosecutors as a witness. Ignatov has shared testimony about his sister Ruja and he also discussed former U.S. attorney Mark Scott’s alleged involvement with Onecoin as well. What do you think about the recently unsealed indictment? Let us know in the comments below. The post Charges of Fraudulent Pretense: US Court Unseals Onecoin Cofounder’s Indictment appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and deepening financial crisis, the number of banks charging customers negative interest rates in Germany has accelerated. At least 80 banks now reportedly charge negative interest rates, 16 of which apply this policy to even small deposits. Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed Increasing Number of Banks Charging Negative Interest Rates in Germany The Germany banking sector is facing a tough time as the number of covid-19 cases continues to surge. New data released by the European Central Bank (ECB) last week shows that banks in the eurozone were already suffering from declining profitability even before the coronavirus crisis, with German banks being the least profitable. Throughout it all, banks in Germany are increasingly charging customers negative interest rates. According to consumer product comparison portal Verivox, 80 banks have published negative interest rate policies on their websites or price lists. This represents a significant increase from the 41 banks that were charging negative interest rates in February, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. Verivox Managing Director Oliver Maier commented: In the coronavirus crisis, the trend towards negative interest rates accelerated noticeably. List of 80 banks in Germany that are charging negative interest rates, according to consumer product comparison portal Verivox. In addition, the media has reported that 22 other banks in Germany have announced that they are charging some customers negative interest rates but have not published their policies online, Verivox detailed. By examining about 800 banks in Germany, the comparison portal found that most of the 80 banks that are charging negative interest rates do so to large accounts, but 16 of them also apply the negative rate policy to deposits below 100,000 euros ($109,295). This number has doubled from February when only seven banks applied negative rates to small accounts. Different banks have different policies on what specifically they are charging, which are often shown in their account terms and conditions. ECB Negative Rate Policy and Banks Charging New Customers The ECB has held its main deposit rate at a historic low of -0.5%. The European Central Bank rolled out negative rates in 2014 for 19 countries in the eurozone to boost business and consumer lending in an effort to spur economic growth. However, the policy has dragged on, forcing some banks to pass on the burden of negative interest rates to their customers. Banks in Germany cannot charge negative interest rates to existing customers without their expressed consent due to a court ruling. However, they can charge new customers. Due to a court ruling in June 2018, banks in Germany can only apply negative interest rates to new customers, not existing ones. The court case involved Volksbank Reutlingen, a bank in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, which sought to impose a -0.5% interest on existing checking and many savings accounts exceeding €10,000, alongside normal fees. Since the bank did not provide any additional service in exchange for the penalty rate, the judge ruled that the double pricing of an identical service unreasonably disadvantages customers and is therefore inadmissible. However, the ruling only applied to existing accounts, so banks can apply negative rate policies to new accounts. What do you think about 80 banks in Germany charging negative interest rates? Let us know in the comments section below. The post 80 Banks Charge Negative Interest Rates as Crisis Deepens in Germany appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since the market carnage on March 12 otherwise known as Black Thursday, the exchange Bitmex has seen 36% of the trading platform’s bitcoin reserves withdrawn. A few other well-known crypto exchanges have seen cold wallets drained, while other trading platforms have witnessed reserve increases. Also read: Spain’s Lawmakers Plan to Provide Basic Income to Low-Income Residents Bitmex Customers Withdraw 36% of the Exchange’s Bitcoin Reserves Since March 12 At the end of January, seven exchanges held more than $25 billion worth of bitcoin, ether, and the stablecoin tether. With the current market uncertainty in the air, a few speculators would expect a massive amount of coins to be withdrawn to noncustodial solutions or sold. Most of the withdrawals and largest transfers of BTC out of exchanges started on March 12, 2020. The day before Black Thursday, Bitmex had more than 306,000 BTC held in reserves and now the exchange has 228,000. This means Bitmex customers removed 36% of the BTC holdings the firm held in its possession and transferred the funds elsewhere. Data shows that Coinbase saw a number of withdrawals between January 25 until now, but still has 1 million BTC in reserves. Of course, on January 25, the stash Coinbase held was worth $8.57 billion and today those BTC reserves are only worth $6.92 billion. Huobi has seen 9.38% of its BTC reserves removed from the exchange, after dropping from 469K BTC on January 25 to 425K on April 12. The third-largest exchange by the number of BTC reserves, Binance didn’t see much movement since that day either and the trading platform has gained 0.32% in BTC reserves since then. Bituniverse exchange reserve stats three months ago on January 25, 2020. Bitfinex joins Bitmex with a number of large withdrawals during the last three months, as it’s lost 29% of its BTC reserves since January 25. That week at the end of January, Bitmex was the fifth largest exchange by reserves in BTC but today Okex has taken the fifth position. Bitmex is now the sixth-largest with $1.58 billion worth of BTC and Kraken follows behind the exchange with $1.29 billion worth of crypto reserves. Exchange reserves according to Bituniverse (left) and Chain.info (right) on April 12, 2020. Chain.info stats are slightly different than Bituniverse’s stats. Bitstamp Clients Withdraw 72% and Kraken Customers Withdraw 24% Since January 25 Bitstamp held the sixth position back in January but since then, the exchange has dropped to the 11th position. Onchain reserve stats had shown that at the end of January Bitstamp had 242K BTC in reserves, but today there’s only 66K BTC on the exchange. That means a whopping 72% has been transferred off of the trading platform. During the last three months, Kraken has seen 24% of its BTC reserves transferred, as it once held 173K BTC and now only holds 130K BTC in reserves. Notable exchanges that have seen increases during the last three months include Bittrex (113K BTC), Bitflyer (92K BTC), and Gemini (70K BTC). BTC/USD Sunday, April 12, 2020. On Sunday, April 12, BTC prices crossed over the $7K mark again, but have been fighting resistance at the $6,975-7,100 zones. Three months ago news.Bitcoin.com reported that seven trading platforms held more than $25 billion worth of cryptocurrencies. Since then and even after proof-of-keys day, the top seven exchanges today hold $21 billion worth of digital assets. The change in value is due to people transferring funds but that’s only a small part of the equation. The $4 billion in value removed since January, has mostly to do with the price of BTC today rather than withdrawals. The withdrawals only pushed some exchanges down below the prior positions held at the end of January. Now there’s a slew of new exchanges who have more reserves than they did back then. What do you think about the number of BTC withdrawn from certain exchanges? Let us know in the comments below. The post Crypto Exchanges See Bitcoin Reserves Drop by 70% Since Black Thursday’s Market Rout appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Spain is preparing to provide universal basic income (UBI) to low-income individuals due to the wrath of the coronavirus, the country’s minister for economic affairs Nadia Calviño recently explained. There’s no set date yet for the UBI program, but Spain’s officials said they plan to “do it as soon as possible, so it can be useful, not just for this extraordinary situation, and that it remains forever.” Also read: Minting Basic Income – US Lawmaker Asks Treasury to Issue Two $1 Trillion Coins With No Debt Spain to Invoke a Permanent Basic Income System Spain’s minister for economic affairs Nadia Calviño told the Spanish broadcast, La Sexta, that universal basic income (UBI) was coming to the country “soon.” UBI has been a trending topic for years now, since central banking practices and currency inflation fueled wealth inequality. The concept has multiple names, which include “guaranteed annual income,” “universal demogrant,” “basic living stipend,” and the “citizen’s basic income.” UBI proponents wholeheartedly believe that a basic form of income should be a sovereign right and a few believers think that the income should be unconditional as well. The money, of course, would stem from the government and the concept would become a long term public program. Universal Basic Income or UBI has been a trending topic for the last few years. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, politicians have promoted UBI as a solution to deal with the financial hardships. The wake of the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus has prompted Spain’s leaders to initiate the start of a UBI program. The plan is to provide financial relief to low-income Spaniards and Calviño cited covid-19 as the primary reason, but also noted the program would be permanent. “We’re going to do it as soon as possible. So it can be useful, not just for this extraordinary situation, and that it remains forever,” the minister told the media. In addition to the minister’s statements, Spain’s Social Security minister Jose Luis Escriva remarked about the new UBI plan. “The [citizen’s basic income] would represent a permanent safety net for the most vulnerable,” Escriva stressed. Spain’s minister for economic affairs Nadia Calviño told the Spanish broadcast La Sexta that universal basic income (UBI) was coming to the country soon and that it will be a permanent program. Spain isn’t the only country with leaders proposing UBI benefits to the citizenry. The concept of basic income has been brought up by authorities in the United Kingdom, Finland, and the United States. Finland had been trialing a two-year system, but residents remained jobless and the trial was considered a “major flop.” Former 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate, Andrew Yang promised Americans UBI, but failed to make it very far in the Presidential race. Despite the slew of UBI proponents worldwide, economists believe that people should fear UBI and understand it comes with hidden costs. For one, the funds stem from the government and the bureaucracy, as there are only two ways of obtaining the funds. Governments can either use the Fed in order to print fresh new fiat or they can leverage the funds collected from taxation. “In the depths of the great depression, John Maynard Keynes suggested that “the Government should have people dig up holes and then fill them up” so as to provide payment for anything no matter how fruitless in an effort to spur on consumption,” explains Mises.org contributor Troy Vincent. “[Universal Basic Income] or UBI is then nothing more than skipping the step of digging the hole. For the average man who is not corrupted and predisposed to the Keynesian model, the great pre-Keynesian economic insight of scarcity and of the need to produce before consuming is largely self-evident. The corollary to this insight is that any policy that hopes to help those rise up and better their material wellbeing should first help individuals be more productive.” Economists Stress UBI Has Hidden Costs and Glaring Issues Mises.org researcher Arkadiusz Sieroń explains that Andrew Yang’s $1,000 per month plan would cost $250 billion per month and around $3 trillion a year. “It would amount to about 14 percent of US GDP, or 42 percent of total government spending or 73 percent of the federal outlays,” Sieroń’s findings detail. “For comparison, this is more than the total expenditure on health care, defense, and education. And yet we are talking about “just” $12,000 annually (or 19 percent of the median household salary, or 36 percent of the median personal income),” the author’s research paper adds. Sieroń’s paper continues: The second economic problem with UBI is the negative impact on the labor supply. Economic analysis clearly suggests that an increase in non-wage income shifts the budget constraint line up and increases the reservation wage, which leads to a reduction in working time. Economists have pointed out lots of glaring issues with UBI and the growth of the government’s size is one of the biggest reasons people are against the UBI concept. Other issues include the fact that redistribution methods will fail because some groups will prosper and those without benefits will certainly lose out. Since 2009, people who have fallen in love with the concept of Bitcoin, have loathed central planning techniques like UBI. It’s almost as if Satoshi predicted another round of infectious money printing would happen again. In the midst of all the people talking about stealing funds from one group to give to another, the need for non-confiscatable money is severely needed. What do you think about Spain creating a basic income system? Let us know in the comments below. The post Spain’s Lawmakers Plan to Provide Basic Income to Low-Income Residents appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

20 years ago the cypherpunks of the new internet era came up with vast ideas describing privacy, anonymity, and encryption. Some of them brought these ideas to practice. ***The following is a featured manifesto written in 2015 by Jamie Redman that first appeared on the website notbeinggoverned.com (the site is no longer under maintenance). There’s also a video below of the entire transcript.*** Today we live in a world where we have the tools to bring about a new era of living. Life without third-party intrusion and parasites meddling in our wealth and private affairs. Decentralized services are slowly making us all nodes in a mesh pattern of pure human action. The ideas of anarchy are coming to life. Things like Tor, I2P, Bitcoin, Bittorrent, the Pirate Bay, online data houses, the Silk Road, Open Bazaar, Defense Distributed, 3D printing, mesh networking, encrypted chat and messenger services, so many ideas are spontaneously rising. These are the subliminal messages of anarchy dropped into the eyes of society. The idea is the very root of Agorism to create a wonderful counter-economy and completely vacate the state. Now the information era is upon us. After the financial crash, many went to the streets to “occupy”. The idea was to occupy government and all things related. To get the voice heard and spread true direct democracy. Yet this a fallacy. Just as you cannot decimate an idea. You cannot ask a parasite to help you out. The idea of Occupy Wall Street was to simply be heard and get help from the government. More government is the last thing people need. Being heard by the government never happens. When you cry that the children and students in your country are in debt, it’s an utter absurdity to cry for more government. They are the very creators of the problem. Look what it got Occupy. They brought in the police state. They showed everyone around the globe who was boss by shutting you down with a gigantic slap on the face. People got beaten and pepper-sprayed on camera. For what? For more government, the very beast who is starving you? Today I ask you to starve them. Join the counter economy. Vacate the state. The idea is to vacate the state and it’s edicts by any means necessary. The oligarchs laugh at us. So we ignore them. If you are to occupy anything; occupy your self and become an individual node in a decentralized land. Choke the state, with counteraction and economic freedom. We can build better infrastructure. We can build a better noncoercive tomorrow. We can starve the state by using cryptocurrency. We can house vast amounts of transparent data on the Bitcoin blockchain. Start our own marketplaces, escrows, trusts, and organizations without the need for third-party validation. Reputation systems are coming which will be just as powerful as anonymous private systems. A new era of enslaving information to be instantaneous and global electronic transactions for everyone. Technology and information will replicate biology in a manner that all of it will be distributed until there cannot be a third party. No sign of authority. It will be too blurry to recognize authorities in a decentralized land. Until we’ve completed the task of vacating all elements of their system. We vacate the state. Vacate Wall Street and the central banks. We vacate the military by encouraging others to walk away and starve the industrial complex with our counter-economic actions. War feeds off of our use of the dollar and fiat currencies. We vacate the vote by not participating in their election systems, by simply walking away from the charade and opting out. We vacate taxation by avoiding it at all costs. We vacate public schools and let the young learn, rather than be subordinated. Not to fall in line, but to create a new. The tools are now here to unleash the beast of direct action and many are doing this every single day. Ensuring privacy, anonymity and reputation and trust systems on the very same tokens. We must show our intentions of a stateless society with practice and proof. For emulation to grow and gravitate towards a noncoercive and nonviolent future. It must be done in front of the people for them to see. The cry for Occupy Wall Street is dead. The idea is to vacate and to claim pride in the shadow economy. Vacate the state by any means necessary. We vacate and create anew. If you are interested in learning about the many ways to opt-out and vacate the state – Check out these essays below. No Treason by Lysander Spooner The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose The John Galt Speech by Ayn Rand Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto An Agorist Primer by Samuel Edward Konkin III The many writings hosted at Zerogov.com Vices Are Not Crimes by Lysander Spooner Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt Man Economy and State by Murray Rothbard Universally Preferable Behavior – A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics by Stefan Molyneux The Fundamentals of Voluntaryism Everything Voluntary The Jones Plantation by Larken Rose The Free Market: What it is – What it Implies by Tom Rose The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto by Tim May What do you think about the Vacate Manifesto? Let us know in the comments below. The post The Vacate Manifesto: How Today’s Technology Can Solidify Abolitionist Goals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Big banks are predicting a major recession, the deepest one in the post-war era. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said his bank cannot be immune to the resulting financial stress while Bank of America expects the U.S. economy to “collapse” and Deutsche Bank has forecasted a severe global recession. Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed JPMorgan Chase CEO: ‘We Cannot Be Immune’ In his annual letter to shareholders published this week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon outlined measures the bank has taken to prepare for the “actual new crisis.” Dimon admitted, “We do not know how this crisis will ultimately end, including how long it will last, how much economic damage it will do, or how fast or slow the recovery will be.” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said his bank expects “a bad recession combined with some kind of financial stress similar to the global financial crisis of 2008.” He added, “Our bank cannot be immune to the effects of this kind of stress.” Dimon further explained, “We stopped buying back our stock,” noting that halting buybacks was a prudent action. The JPMorgan CEO continued, “we don’t know exactly what the future will hold – but at a minimum, we assume that it will include a bad recession combined with some kind of financial stress similar to the global financial crisis of 2008,” elaborating: Knowing there will be a major recession mean that we are exposing ourselves to billions of dollars of additional credit losses … Our bank cannot be immune to the effects of this kind of stress. Bank of America Forecasts a ‘Deep Plunge’ Bank of America U.S. economist Michelle Meyer wrote in a note to clients, published in March, “We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession … and it is a deep plunge.” The economist detailed, “Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed,” emphasizing that it is only going to get worse. Moreover, Bank of America expects the economy to “collapse” in the second quarter of this year, shrinking by 12%. The economist opined, “Although the decline is severe, we believe it will be fairly short lived.” Bank of America’s economist expects the economy to “collapse” in the second quarter of this year. Savita Subramanian, Head of U.S. Equity and Quantitative Strategy for Bank of America Global Research, wrote in a report published on April 2: Our economists now forecast the deepest recession in the post-war era, and health care experts have extended the timeline for social distancing. Deutsche Bank Predicts ‘Severe Recession’ Deutsche Bank’s economists have forecasted a “severe recession” due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the company’s report published on March 18. The bank’s team of global economists, led by Peter Hooper, is predicting a severe global recession occurring in the first half of this year, with aggregate demand plunging by about 32% in China in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the economists expect aggregated demand to fall by 24% in the eurozone and 13% in the U.S. Deutsche Bank economists have forecasted a “severe recession” due to the global spread of covid-19. The economists at Deutsche Bank described: The quarterly declines in GDP growth we anticipate substantially exceed anything previously recorded going back to at least World War II. Meanwhile, intergovernmental organizations are also preparing for a severe recession. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has officially declared a global recession that is as bad as or worse than during the 2009 financial crisis. In addition, World Bank President David Malpass said last week that the bank expects a “major global recession” due to the covid-19 pandemic. What do you think about big banks predicting a major recession? Let us know in the comments section below. The post JPMorgan, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank Predict Major Recession appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article