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Hong Kong-based Coinflex exchange has announced plans to offer futures contracts for bitcoin core (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), and ethereum (ETH) with leverage of up to 20x. All futures bought and sold on the exchange will be physically delivered, meaning that when the contracts expire, holders will be paid the underlying cryptocurrency instead of cash. Also read: Thousands of Banned Binance Customers Remain Cut off by the Exchange ‘Crypto Derivatives Could Become Bigger Than Spot Markets’ Coinflex CEO Mark Lamb speaking on Bloomberg Coinflex, which spun off from the United Kingdom’s oldest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinfloor, will become one of a few exchanges in the world to offer cryptocurrency derivatives to retail investors. The contracts will start in February, according to a Bloomberg report published on Jan. 7. Other exchanges such as Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which owns the New York Stock Exchange, and Chicago-based Eris Exchange, recently revealed plans to introduce physically delivered futures for BTC. Coinflex chief executive officer Mark Lamb told Bloomberg that he was confident his company has the capacity to gain market share in the new area of digital currency derivatives. He stated: Crypto derivatives could become an order of magnitude larger than spot markets and the main thing that’s holding back that growth is the lack of physical delivery. Volumes are reduced because of a problem of trust when it comes to cash-settled trades. Coinflex’s contracts will trade against tether (USDT), the USD-pegged stablecoin. That means that at expiry, parties who are short will deliver bitcoin and receive tether, while the reverse is also true. “Tether is the most liquid, highest volume stablecoin that exists right now and seeing the resolution of recent issues and attestations by banks and outside firms make us confident in using it as a stable coin,” Lamb stated. Futures Daily Volume to Reach $60 Billion The exchange will face competition from Bitmex, one of the world’s largest digital asset trading platforms, which also has a sizable presence in Hong Kong and was co-founded by former Citigroup trader Arthur Hayes. Bitmex offers leverage of up to 100x on some of its contracts. Lamb asserted that futures volumes could reach close to $60 billion per day compared to the current $3 billion daily trading volume in the crypto market. The Coinflex CEO further indicated that the new exchange will be incorporated in the digital currency-friendly Seychelles, in a move that will allow it to trade across the world with less hassle. He detailed: In order to be a large, global exchange focused on traders, the best way to serve the market is to be offshore. Since crypto is a global audience and being regulated by one country would restrict who we can deal with elsewhere, we have chosen to be offshore in order to maximize our accessibility and the trust traders place in us. Coinflex is reportedly owned by a consortium that includes Trading Technologies International Inc., crypto trader Mike Komaransky, and Dragonfly Capital Partners. Market markers B2C2, Global Advisors, Alameda Research, Amber AI, Grapefruit Trading, Coinfloor and its subsidiary companies also make part of the consortium that owns Coinflex. What do you think about Coinflex futures contracts? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Coinflex Exchange to Offer Leveraged BCH and BTC Futures appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the last eight weeks, the world has watched the yellow vest protests in France as the grassroots political movement has fought for economic justice. On Sunday, the well known street artist Pascal Boyart (Pboy) revealed a mural that contains a solvable puzzle with 0.28 BTC inside. The artist explained that the puzzle cannot be solved remotely and that sleuths must visit the location to decipher the painting’s clues. Also Read: Embracing Utility in 2019: Unreliable Crypto Networks Will Lose to Hyperbitcoinization A Yellow Vest Rendition of the Painting ‘Liberty Leading the People’ Holds 0.28 BTC If you’ve been paying attention to global affairs, you might have noticed the yellow vest protests taking place in Paris, France. Similarly to other political movements like Occupy Wall Street, the yellow-vested Gilets Jaunes have been rallying against obnoxious tax rates, rising living costs, and high fuel prices. Like many of these movements, the anger is directed at the country’s bureaucrats and central banking system that many believe is the root cause of society’s economic hardships. The full HD version of Pboy’s 2019 rendition of Eugène Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People,’ which contains over $1,000 worth of BTC hidden inside the mural. In the midst of the yellow vest protests in Paris, a popular street artist called Pascal Boyart, otherwise known as Pboy, has created a mural depiction of the drama unfolding in the region. The painting is also a puzzle, which contains 0.28 BTC for whoever can solve the mystery. Pboy explained to his Twitter followers that the conundrum within the mural was funded by the well-known bitcoin enthusiast Alistair Milne. “A street art treasure hunt in Paris with a bitcoin puzzle,” Pboy announced to his Twitter followers on Jan. 7. “For the 10th birthday of the genesis block, I painted this fresco in Paris with a 0.26 BTC ($1000) puzzle in it.” In order to solve the puzzle, you must be physically in front of the mural — The bitcoin puzzle now has 0.2845 BTC inside as someone gave more to the bounty. The 2019 version of ‘Liberty Leading the People’ with a BTC puzzle. A Visual Representation of New Age Revolutionaries So far, no one has solved the puzzle yet as the address still holds the 0.28 BTC inside. According to a marketing executive at Coinhouse, Brian O’Hagan, it was cold outside in Paris when Pboy worked on the painting. “Congrats to Pascal for this great piece and resilience — Painting on a wall for a few days in the middle of winter is not that easy,” O’Hagan emphasized. Another fan of the street art wrote: “I feel like there is not enough celebration for Bitcoin’s 10 years and I am glad Pascal Boyart did this.” Pboy working on the mural in the cold. Pboy’s website, which shows a good portion of his portfolio, explains that the mural is based on the famous oil painting of Eugène Delacroix realized in 1830 on the occasion of the July revolution. The artist’s website says that because of the advent of the yellow vests in late 2018 “it was time to resume the composition of the original and make a contemporary version.” Another painting created by the Paris-based artist Pascal Boyart otherwise known as Pboy. The revised ‘Liberty Leading the People 2019’ is not Pboy’s first cryptocurrency-themed work, as news.Bitcoin.com has featured the street artist’s murals on a few occasions. The painter has done many other renditions of splattered bitcoins, burning euros, and a Dorian Nakamoto painting made of U.S. dollars. Another infamous artist who has done a lot of cryptocurrency-related street art in the U.S. is Cryptograffiti, who gave props to Pboy after the painter revealed the puzzle. What do you think about Pboy’s mural in Paris that represents a new rendition of Eugène Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’ for the yellow vest movement? What do you think about the BTC puzzle inside? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Twitter, Pboy’s website and Twitter profile. Have you seen our widget service? It allows anyone to embed informative Bitcoin.com widgets on their website. They’re pretty cool, and you can customize by size and color. The widgets include price-only, price and graph, price and news, and forum threads. There’s also a widget dedicated to our mining pool, displaying our hash power. The post Street Artist Hides $1,000 in BTC Inside a Mural Depicting Paris Protests appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has unveiled its newest cryptocurrency wallet. The Ledger Nano X is Bluetooth-enabled and can hold up to 100 different cryptocurrencies at a time. A mobile app is also being launched for both iOS and Android to pair the device to smartphones. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Newest Ledger Wallet Ledger unveiled its new cryptocurrency hardware wallet on Sunday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company then wrote on its website on Monday: The Ledger Nano X is Bluetooth enabled. Connect it to your smartphone with Ledger Live Mobile app and safely transact anywhere. All Bluetooth communications are encrypted end-to-end to protect against any security threat. The new wallet has been redesigned and can be pre-ordered starting on Monday. It is priced at $119 and is expected to start shipping in March. The company will also launch a mobile app, the Ledger Live Mobile, for both iOS and Android platforms. The Nano X joins Ledger’s two existing consumer hardware wallets: the Nano S and the Ledger Blue. The former currently retails for $59 and the latter $269.99. The company claims in its Monday’s announcement that over 1.5 million Ledger Nano S devices have been sold worldwide. The Nano X is only available in one color at present while the Nano S comes in six colors. About Ledger Nano X According to Ledger, up to 100 cryptocurrency apps can be installed on the Nano X at the same time. The device also supports over 1,100 assets with more to be added each month. In comparison, the Nano S can simultaneously run up to 18 cryptocurrency applications with support for only 40 assets in total. Ledger Nano X Unlike its predecessor which draws power through a USB cable, the Nano X has a 100mAh built-in battery to power it for wireless use. Several security improvements are listed on Ledger’s website for the latest model, and the company explained that private keys stored on the new device are isolated inside its EAL5+ certified secure storage chip. With dimensions of 72mm x 18.6mm x 11.75mm, the Nano X is shorter but slightly wider than the Nano S which measures 98mm x 18mm x 9mm. However, at 34g, it is over twice as heavy as the Nano S which weighs 16.2g, Ledger’s website details. Navigation on the new model is also improved due to its larger, round buttons on the face of the device compared to two small buttons located at the top of the Nano S. Ledger further described that the new device has “Bigger screen for an improved experience.” In addition to the wallet itself, the Nano X will come with a USB cable, a getting started leaflet and a recovery sheet. What do you think of the Ledger Nano X? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Ledger. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Ledger Unveils Bluetooth-Enabled Hardware Wallet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of The Daily we cover reports that Robinhood is working under the radar to hire staff in London for an expansion into the U.K., an auction of seized cryptocurrency in Northern Ireland, and comments from the founder of Fortnite developer Epic Games about rumored cryptocurrency partnerships. Also Read: Mckinsey: Despite Billions of Dollars, Corporate Blockchains Have Achieved Little Epic Games Founder Addresses Fortnite Crypto Rumors Tim Sweeney, the founder of Fortnite developer Epic Games, has taken to social media to address the rumors that his company might be partnering with cryptocurrency projects. “No, Epic doesn’t have any cryptocurrency partners and aren’t in any crypto partnership discussions with anyone,” he stated. “We do read lots of papers and talk to smart people to learn more in anticipation of an eventual intercept.” Further to the above, it is not out of the question that the developer will support crypto one day, as Sweeney added that: “Many of us at Epic are big fans of the decentralized computing tech underlying cryptocurrency, however a lot more work is needed on volatility and fraud-proofing before bringing it to such a broad audience that includes younger gamers.” The rumors began after the merchandise store of the popular video game, Fortnite Retail Row, recently started accepting payments in the privacy-centric coin monero (XMR). Sweeney explained that: “Actually, Fortnite’s brief foray into crypto was accidental. We worked with a partner to open a merchandise store, and somewhere along the way monero payment was enabled.” Robinhood Is Recruiting in London Robinhood Markets, the Menlo Park, California- headquartered brokerage app which has been expanding its crypto service across the U.S., is now reportedly working under the radar to hire staff in London. The stealthily recruiting is supposedly needed for a new office in the British capital ahead of a possible expansion to the United Kingdom. According to Techcrunch, sources within London’s fintech industry reveal that Robinhood is looking for people to work on recruitment, operations, marketing, customer support, compliance and product design. These functions are all needed to launch a local solution tailored to the regulatory needs of the U.K. market. Seized Cryptocurrency Auction in Northern Ireland According to reports from Northern Ireland, a local company will hold an auction of seized cryptocurrency on Monday. The sale involves 167.7 monero (XRP), which was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act by a U.K. law enforcement agency. Aidan Larkin, head of asset recovery at Wilsons Auctions, told the Belfast Telegraph that the company is working with over 40 government agencies from the U.K. and abroad. “Following huge investment into our systems and infrastructure, we are able to offer government and law enforcement agencies throughout the U.K., Ireland and internationally a secure solution so that the ever-increasing problem of seized cryptocurrencies can be managed by an auction company with significant experience dealing with seized assets.” The Northern Ireland company also reportedly won a contract with the Belgium Federal Government’s Asset Management Office to facilitate the seizure, storage and sale of seized cryptocurrencies. What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: Epic Founder Addresses Fortnite Crypto Rumors, Robinhood Recruiting in London appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s chatter report, we delve into the Bitcoin Cash community’s responses to Cheapair.com re-enabling BCH payments for their travel services. Also, Changpeng Zhao explains Binance’s decision to block users. Finally, Crypto Twitter fires back at Charlie Lee’s new term ‘Bitcoin Extremist’. Also read: Cheapair.com Considers Bitpay as Coinbase Terminates Merchant Processing Solutions Bitcoin Cash Re-enabled on Cheapair.com Bitcoin Cash was recently re-enabled as a form of payment on travel booking website Cheapair.com and the r/btc subreddit rejoiced. While BCH payments have been re-enabled, commentator u/today_in_reddit noted that the travel site appears to have currently disabled Litecoin and Dash payments. The same reddit user also pointed out that prices on Cheapair.com were about about 8% more expensive than booking.com, with about 75% of the hotel selection. Bitcoin Cash is back up on Cheapair.com!! from btc Other community members like BTC_StKN marveled at the crypto community’s ability to live on crypto through the combined use of Cheapair.com, crypto ATM’s and crypto debit cards. Changpeng Zhao Responds to District Restriction Queries Binance exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao was recently asked by crypto community member Crypto Leprechaun whether U.S. citizens would ever be able to access Binance Launchpad, the token sale arm of Binance. I feel the sadness, sadly, it's not up to us. We want to be available to everyone in the world. Many (novice/naive) people mistakenly think it's our decision to implement blocks, and blame us. They need to figure out how the world works and find the right place(s) to vent. — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) January 6, 2019 Zhao expressed deep regret, as the decision to block users from certain countries was not up to the Binance team. Ideally, Zhao would prefer to Binance’s services to be available to everyone worldwide. Charlie Lee Polls Followers on Bitcoin Extremism Recently, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee introduced the term “Bitcoin Extremists” on social media. Lee took to Twitter to distinguish Bitcoin Maximalists as people that believe Bitcoin will hold it’s place as the dominant cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin Extremists as those who believe that all altcoins are worthless scams. Lee then polled his followers to see if they were Bitcoin Extremists, Bitcoin Maximalists, Altcoin Maximalists, or Nocoiners. Some self-proclaimed Bitcoin Maximalists are actually Bitcoin Extremists. They think all other coins are scams and will go to zero. Maximalists think Bitcoin is and will remain the dominant cryptocurrency but there is room for altcoins to exist and even do well. What are you? — Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) January 6, 2019 Most of the responses to Lee were negative, with CTO of Casahodl Jameson Lopp sarcastically replying that he preferred the term “Bitcoin Supremacist” over Bitcoin Extremist. Trader Tone Vays also did not like Lee’s new term. The former accused Lee of Orwellian-like control over the narrative to demonize the Bitcoin maximalist community. AND IT BEGGINS, #shitcoin(ers) will NOW change the language narative to calling people who speak sense about #Crypto, #tech, #money & #Economics as #Bitcoin EXTREMISTS because the word #Maximalist is just NOT Visceral Enough to Demonize! https://t.co/yICRX1uCH9 — Tone Vays [@Bitcoin] (@ToneVays) January 6, 2019 What do you think of the new term Bitcoin Extremist? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Play with confidence! We guarantee that every Video Poker game you play at Bitcoin Games is completely fair. You will be dealt a completely random deck of cards every game, and we can provably demonstrate that we have in no way manipulated the shuffle. The post Chatter Report: Zhao Says Blocking Customers ‘Not up to Us’, Lee Introduces the Term ‘Bitcoin Extremist’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Last year the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community welcomed a BCH-based social media network called Memo.cash. Since then Memo has gathered a lot of traction with hundreds of profiles and thousands of onchain updates and conversations posted to the BCH chain. Also read: Crypto-Friendly Statesman Takes Over Swiss Presidency Memo’s Uncensorable Posts Continue to Grow In April last year, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the social media platform Memo.cash, a decentralized app powered by blockchain technology. The platform gives anyone the ability to create a profile, post messages, and send and receive tips as well. Nearly every action on Memo is recorded on the BCH chain using an OP_Return transaction. After the BCH blockchain split on Nov. 15, the creator of Memo decided to open the platform to users of both sides of each chain and now there is a Memo SV version of the site as well. Existing users who haven’t logged on since the fork can use the same login credentials for the SV section of the platform. Memo feed 1-6-19. Since we first reported on Memo, there was another social media platform for the BCH chain called Blockpress, but the application has been defunct for quite some time. Memo, on the other hand, has continued to grow with users and content is being shared constantly. For instance, Memo’s feeds are broken down into six sections, which comprise ranked, polls, threads, top, new, and archive posts. Similarly to Twitter, when writing a new memo users can utilize 217 characters per post. If an individual decides to create a poll, then they have to first create a question (209 characters) and then add two options (184 characters per option) for people to choose. Memo users can embed tweets. Memo users can post text, videos, pictures, and even embed tweets from Twitter on the application. Moreover, individuals can search the index of registered users by perusing a list of profiles that are also sectioned into different criteria like most followed and oldest, which shows the first Memo accounts created. The most followed Memo profile is the creator of the platform, with 777 followers, and the first account registered belongs to a user named Jason who has 142 followers. Poster.cash and Unwriter’s Bitdb Then there’s Poster.cash, a Bitdb-powered Memo extension protocol built by the software developer Petar Mitchev. The Poster application allows users to utilize most of Memo’s actions, which are performed in-browser. Poster provides infinite scrolling and the ability to track certain keywords as well. Petar Mitchev’s project Poster.cash. Similarly to the Memo protocol, Poster also gives users the choice to toggle between the BCH and SV network depending on their preference. Because Poster is powered by the developer Unwriter’s Bitdb network, it works as a serverless application. Mitchev gave props to Unwriter for creating the Bitdb and Bitsocket applications and noted, “I still can’t believe I wrote an actual serverless Memo implementation — And it works so nice.” Popular topics on Memo.cash. Overall, Memo continues to see lots of people posting uncensorable media and the extensions people have built around the protocol have made Memo’s ecosystem more robust. Of course, with the application serving both networks, there’s a fair bit of arguing between both camps when scrolling through the last few weeks of Memo posts. The Memo application also supports hashtags and many people add their favorite tags to posts. Popular hashtags at the moment are bitcoin cash, BCH, BCHPLS, roblox, and hashwar. What do you think about the Memo.cash application for the Bitcoin Cash network? Let us know what you think about this platform in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Memo.cash, Poster.cash, and Pixabay. Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com. The post With Deplatforming on the Rise, Onchain Social Media App Memo Shows Promise appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The U.S. state of Colorado has introduced the “Colorado Digital Token Act” which provides some “exemptions from the state securities laws for cryptocurrencies,” according to the text of the bill. Meanwhile, the state’s securities commissioner has already taken action against 20 initial coin offerings. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Colorado Digital Token Act Lawmakers in Colorado introduced the “Colorado Digital Token Act” on Friday which, among other proposals, exempts cryptocurrencies from certain securities laws. According to the filing: The bill provides limited exemptions from the securities registration and securities broker-dealer and salesperson licensing requirements for persons dealing in digital tokens. Colorado businesses “face regulatory uncertainty” under the state’s securities laws, the bill explains. In addition to defining digital tokens, the bill notes that “The costs and complexities of state securities registration can outweigh the benefits” for businesses with “a primarily consumptive purpose” operating in the cryptocurrency space in Colorado. According to the bill, consumptive purpose “means to provide or receive goods, services, or content, including access to goods, services, or content.” The bill further asserts that this new act will enable businesses in the state “that use cryptoeconomic systems to obtain growth capital to help [them] grow and expand.” The Colorado Sun publication elaborated, “If a token doesn’t qualify under the Colorado safe harbor” law, it will need to be “analyzed under typical securities law, or what is known as the Howey Test.” Colorado’s Crypto Regulatory Attempts In April last year, lawmakers in Colorado introduced a bill entitled the “Virtual Currency Exemption Money Transmitters Act.” It was initially passed by a single vote but, according to the news outlet, it later failed after some lawmakers changed their minds. In June, Gov. John Hickenlooper created the Council for the Advance of Blockchain Technology. The group is tasked with providing recommendations for “a comprehensive legal framework to support blockchain technology that considers potential applications and boundaries of the technology and protections for consumers,” the state announced at the time. Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees was among the blockchain industry leaders appointed for the council. Meanwhile, the Colorado Division of Securities has been taking action against initial coin offerings (ICOs) allegedly operating illegally in the state. The division announced on Nov. 20 last year that Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome had filed 20 cases against allegedly fraudulent ICOs. These orders resulted from investigations by the ICO Task Force, which is part of the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). What do you think of Colorado’s digital token bill? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the state of Colorado. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Colorado Introduces Bill With Securities Law Exemptions for Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Completing a project to build 3 million homes for its suffering population is the next big initiative Venezuela wants to finance with its digital currency, the petro. The socialist government in Caracas says there is enough money and materials to fulfill the main objective of the “Great Housing Mission.” Also read: Crypto-Friendly Statesman Takes Over Swiss Presidency Minister Urges Construction Companies to Accept Petro The Venezuelan Ministry of Housing is now joining forces with other government institutions to revive a state-sponsored program focused on the building of new apartment blocks for the masses. The leftist administration of President Maduro hopes to boost Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela (GMVV) using the oil-backed national cryptocurrency, the petro. During the first government meeting in 2019, the housing minister Ildemaro Villarroel invited both state-run and private companies to support the ambitious plan, the Prensa Latina news agency reported. The official emphasized that using the sovereign digital coin to fund the construction projects will also help consolidate the economic independence of the South American country. Villarroel insisted that GMVV has both the necessary budget and the construction materials needed to reach its target – the completion of 3 million housing units by the end of this year. The new homes will be distributed among Venezuelans from different walks of life with priority given to professionals, young people and senior citizens. The minister added that over 2.5 million new homes have already been delivered and another 1 million have been renovated as part of the “Great Housing Mission Venezuela.” The program has also allocated over 1 million plots of urban land. Mission Far From Accomplished Faced with pressing economic challenges, hyperinflation and foreign sanctions, the Venezuelan government has put great hopes on the success of its cryptocurrency. Authorities in Caracas launched the public sale of the petro in October last year, but all buyers have been able to get so far are so-called “petro certificates,” not any digital coins. At the same time, Nicolas Maduro’s administration has made a number of loud announcements about the petro. The digital currency was adopted as official unit of account along with the country’s redenominated fiat, the bolivar. Wages and pensions have been calculated in the state-issued cryptocurrency. The Venezuelan president promised special economic zones to stimulate its circulation and assured Venezuelans they’ll be able to purchase homes and property with the petro. Venezuelan officials have been trying to convince partnering countries and organizations to accept the crypto for international trade deals. The Russian Federation, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the members of the regional “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America” (ALBA) have been offered the petro, so far with little success. The large-scale housing projects may also soon grind to a halt. According to а recent report, Russian and Chinese construction businesses have already pulled out of the country. Caracas owes over $110 million to the Belarusian state-owned Belzarubezhstroy, one of the few foreign companies still building in Venezuela. Minsk, however, has been reluctant to accept the repayment of the debt in petro. Do you think Venezuela will be able to finance housing projects with its digital currency? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Belzarubezhstroy. Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com. The post Venezuela Wants to Use Petro to Finance Large Housing Program appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last 18 months, companies have claimed to be able to use blockchain technology to improve the supply of everything from vegetables to automobiles. An increasing body of evidence, however, suggests that the reality has failed to match the hype. Also Read: Phillip Frost Agrees to Settle Riot Blockchain Related Case for $5.5M Billions Wasted on Blockchain Pilots McKinsey & Company, the American management consulting firm, has released a report on the state of blockchain technology in business. It found that of the over 100 supposed use cases presented, the vast majority of pilots and proofs of concepts are still stuck in “pioneering mode” or are being shut down while many projects have failed to raise Series C funding rounds. This is despite the fact that a lot of money has been pouring in to the field. The report notes that VC funding for blockchain startups reached $1 billion in 2017. IBM has spent over $200 million on a blockchain-powered data-sharing solution, and Google has reportedly been developing blockchains since 2016. The financial industry also spends around $1.7 billion every year on experimental tech, the report adds. “A particular concern, given the amount of money and time spent, is that little of substance has been achieved,” the McKinsey team explains. “Of the many use cases, a large number are still at the idea stage, while others are in development but with no output. The bottom line is that despite billions of dollars of investment, and nearly as many headlines, evidence for a practical scalable use for blockchain is thin on the ground.” Clunky Solution in Search of a Problem The management consulting firm has found a number of reasons for the lack of progress. One is that in some cases, such as in the fiat payments industry, incumbents have disincentives for investing in real disruption that may lead to the cannibalization of their established revenue streams. Another problem is that few companies really wanted to create a public or shared utility that would benefit the entire industry including their competitors. Additionally, some companies announced they were pursuing blockchain pilots only for “reputational value” as the report calls it. This means that their purpose was simply to get some positive press rather than solve any valid problem for which blockchain is a practical solution. “McKinsey’s work with financial services leaders over the past two years suggests those at the blockchain ‘coalface’ have begun to have doubts,” the report notes. “In fact, as other industries have geared up, the mood music at some levels in financial services has been increasingly of caution (even as senior executives have made confident pronouncements to the contrary). The fact was that billions of dollars had been sunk but hardly any use cases made technological, commercial, and strategic sense or could be delivered at scale.” Is there any actual use case for private corporate blockchains? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Mckinsey: Despite Billions of Dollars, Corporate Blockchains Have Achieved Little appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since our last markets update, cryptocurrency markets consolidated within a tight range and have been less volatile over the last few days. The market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency economy has gained about $5.7 billion and a few of the top coins have seen some price jumps this week. Also Read: Embracing Utility in 2019: Unreliable Crypto Networks Will Lose to Hyperbitcoinization Crypto Markets Consolidate, But Some Coins See Gains As the first week of 2019 comes to an end, digital currency prices this Sunday are far less volatile than the last two months of 2018. At the time of publication the entire cryptocurrency market valuation of all 2000+ digital coins is roughly $131.7 billion. Since the holidays and the first annual “Proof-of-Keys” day has passed global trade volume has steadily increased. There’s about $15.8 billion worth of cryptocurrency global trade volume today across popular exchanges and ripple, litecoin, and stellar are this weekend’s top performers. Currently, the digital asset bitcoin core (BTC) is trading for $3,869 and market prices are up 0.03% over the last 24 hours. BTC captures around $4.9 billion of the world’s crypto-trades and has a market valuation of around $67.5 billion. Top ten digital assets by market capitalization on Jan. 6, 2019. The second highest valued market capitalization this Sunday is held by ethereum (ETH) which is down 2.6% today. However, over the last seven days, ETH has gained 10.3% and one ETH is trading for $153. Ripple (XRP) is up a hair today with 0.36% gained over the last 24 hours but the week shows a loss of around 2.8%. One XRP is swapping for $0.35 and holds about $424 million of the world’s digital asset trade volume. The token eos (EOS) is still holding the fifth largest capitalization, but litecoin (LTC) is not too far behind. One EOS is trading for $2.76 and markets have risen 3.8% this week. EOS markets are up today 0.79% and markets are also capturing $761 million in trades. As mentioned above LTC has spiked considerably jumping 7.8% today and 19% over the last seven days. LTC has managed to commandeer the sixth largest market valuation this week. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets had it much better last week and prices have consolidated into a pretty tight range. At the moment one BCH is trading for $160 per coin and markets are down 1.4% over the last 24 hours and down 1.2% for the week. The top cryptocurrency exchanges swapping the most bitcoin cash today includes Lbank, Hitbtc, Binance, Huobi, and Coinbase. Currency pair statistics show tether (USDT) captures 48.3% of the global trades with BCH. This is followed by BTC (18.5%), ETH (16.9%), USD (8.9%), EUR (3%), JPY (2%), and KRW (1.3%). The EUR has spiked a great deal which is traditionally a sign of bullish movements ahead. BCH holds the eighth largest trade volume today below zcash (ZEC) and just above tron (TRX) markets. BCH/USD daily chart. BCH/USD Technical Indicators Looking at the daily and 4 hour charts on Bitstamp shows some tight Bollinger Bands and signs of deep consolidation. At the moment on the 4 hour chart, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is meandering in the middle between oversold and overbought regions at -47.8. Stochastic and the MACd show similar readings and it seems as though traders are uncertain of which direction the next wave will take them. BCH/USD 4 hour chart. The two Simple Moving Averages (SMA) are still showing a decent gap between the short term 100 SMA and the long-term 200 SMA. The 100 SMA is well above the 200 SMA indicating the path toward the least resistance is still the upside. Order books on some of the most popular exchanges show BCH bulls need to surpass the $170 range in order to gain some better momentum. On the backside, there is plenty of foundational support between the current vantage point and the $140 region. BCH/USD 4 hour chart. The Verdict: While Some Analysts See Positive Signs, Others Are Not so Optimistic It is safe to say that most traders are waiting on the sidelines for some more confirmations of a bearish-to-bullish trend change, or another big drop in crypto prices. Some people believe they have noticed a positive trend change among crypto asset prices and the validation of some bullish divergence over the last few weeks. Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at Etoro gave his thoughts on the current cryptocurrency market trends on Jan. 3. “Gains across most of the popular crypto assets have been rather mild lately,” Greenspan emphasized. “While it’s good to see bitcoin holding steady, we’re actually starting to see a side of the market that is more typical during a bull run.” Digital asset and fiat money flow on Jan. 6, 2019. However, digital currency market analyst Willy Woo explained on Jan. 5 that the bears still may be holding the reigns. “The initial volume spike false signaled a faster detox and an earlier end to the bear market, but in fact, it was a volatility side effect — That move from $6k to $3k created immense trade volume, but it was in no way a signal that accumulation volume had begun,” Woo told his Twitter followers. The analyst continued by stating: That volume has since subsided. Leaving the NVT chart on the high side of its oscillation around the main move downwards — The key thing here, in my interpretation, is it’s on the high side of its band, so I think an up move is limited, bears will win the longer term trade. Where do you see the price of BCH, BTC and other coins heading from here? Let us know in the comments below. Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Coinlib.io, Bitstamp, and Satoshi Pulse. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Markets Update: Crypto Analysts Remain Uncertain After 2019’s First Week of Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) supporters were greeted on Thursday by another new full node client, library and blockchain explorer for the BCH chain called Bitcoin Verde. The creator of Verde says it is a ground-up implementation of the BCH protocol and the project has a few different aspects than the wide variety of full node clients used today. Also read: 10 Years Ago Bitcoin’s Genesis Block Changed the Course of History The Full Node Project Bitcoin Verde When Satoshi first created the Bitcoin protocol 10 years ago, the program was created with the C++ programming language. However, the original client’s binary data can conform to any programming language standard, as long as it adheres to the blockchain’s consensus rules. On the 10-year anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block, a new full node client built from the ground up was introduced to the BCH community. The node project Bitcoin Verde is a complete full node, block explorer and library, the code’s open source documentation details. According to the Verde project’s creator, he has worked on the client over the last year with thorough testing and had also asked for help from members of the XT development team. However, the programmer has explained that Bitcoin ABC, Unlimited, and XT are basically forked versions of the reference client Bitcoin Core and still may contain bugs. Verde’s founder emphasized on the Reddit forum r/btc that having a variety of different nodes makes the BCH network more robust. Some of the clients may experience incompatibilities but the developer thinks this is a good thing as time passes. “With a diverse network of nodes, bugs in the implementation of the protocol will result in incompatible blocks between the nodes, causing a temporary fork,” explained the creator of the Bitcoin Verde full node implementation. “This situation is healthy for the network in the long term, as the temporary forks will resolve over time and the intended ruleset becomes the consensus.” Bitcoin Verde has been thoroughly tested on Linux and Mac OS X but the developers explained a Windows build needs more testing. Handling Protocol Decisions in a Different Manner The Verde client will also join the other full node clients like Bitprim, Parity, Bcash, Copernicus, and BCHD, giving the Bitcoin Cash network a total of nine different clients. The client’s creator has detailed that Verde handles protocol decisions in a different manner than the traditional reference client. Rather than just the recorded UTXOs, Verde maintains the entire blockchain. The developer explained Verde assesses the situation and rules on the most proof-of-work (PoW) to be its “head” chain. Bitcoin Verde node status. At the moment, the project is in its beta stage and also doesn’t have a complete mining-pool module but the programmer plans to finish the feature in the near future after being a bit more confident with ruleset consistency. “It is my hope that during the next network stress-test, Bitcoin Verde can help to gather statistics on forks, transactions per second, and block/tx propagation time,” the client’s creator elaborated. “Bitcoin Verde has its drawbacks: it’s a resource-hog. Since the whole blockchain is indexed, the disk footprint is about 600GB,” Verde’s developer confessed. “Another drawback is that Bitcoin Verde ‘does more stuff’ – it is essentially a block explorer, and because of that, the initial block download takes about 2-4 days to index all of the chain and its addresses.” The Bitcoin Cash community welcomed the new implementation build as many believe client diversity for a blockchain makes the network more robust. Bitcoin Verde has been tested for weeks on Linux (Debian) and OS X (Mac), the developer stated, and the Windows client has been tested thoroughly. Verde’s creator is hoping Windows-savvy developers will give him feedback on the project and report any issues. What do you think about the Bitcoin Verde client? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Bitcoinverde.org. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post New Full Node Client ‘Bitcoin Verde’ Joins the BCH Ecosystem appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

BCH and BTC markets have begun the year with consolidation, with BCH bouncing between $150 and $175 and BTC trading within a $3,500 to $4,000 range on Bitstamp, and $3,700 to $4,300 on Bitfinex. In other market news, a bullish start to the year has seen ETH reclaim its position as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Also Read: Report: 70 to 80 Percent of South Korean Miners Shut Down in 2018 BCH Markets Cool After Closing 2018 on Record Volume After producing the strongest week of trading activity on record two weeks ago, the BCH/USD markets have since retraced from the local high of roughly $220 and consolidated within a range between approximately $150 and $175. As of this writing, BCH is trading for $158. BCH/USD – Kraken – 1D When measuring against BTC, BCH price action has roughly followed the same trajectory, beginning the new year with consolidation following a retracement from the local top of 0.05 BTC posted during late December. BCH is currently trading for 0.0417 BTC. BCH/BTC – Bittrex – 1D Bitcoin cash is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by capitalization with a market cap of $2.86 billion, equating to a market dominance of nearly 2.2%. BTC Consolidates Near $4,000 When looking at the daily charts, BTC has started the new year with tight consolidation in the upper $3,000 range, following a 30% rally during the second half of December 2018. As of this writing, BTC is trading for $3,800 on Bitstamp and $3,942 on Bitfinex, after establishing local support approximately $200 lower toward the end of 2018. BTC/USD – Bitstamp – 1D BTC currently has a market dominance of 51%, down from 55% as of mid-December, coinciding with a rise in the combined capitalization of all other markets from $45 billion on Dec. 16 to $64.2 billion today. BTC has a capitalization of $67.11 billion. ETH Produces Bullish Start to 2019 ETH has rallied consistently since the middle of December when measuring against both USD and BTC, having gained nearly 90% over the dollar and 55% over BTC in just three weeks. After trading for just $83 and 0.026 BTC on Dec. 15, ETH is currently testing support at roughly $160 and 0.04 BTC. ETH/USD – Bitfinex – 1D The bullish momentum has also seen ETH reclaim the distinction of being the largest altcoin by market capitalization, following seven weeks in which XRP held second spot. ETH currently boasts a market cap of $15.93 billion and a dominance of 12%. ETH/BTC – Bitfinex – 1D Ripple Grinds Sideways After a week of bullish momentum leading up to Christmas, XRP/USD has since traded within a price range between roughly $0.33 and $0.37, with current prices consolidating at the support zone of XRP’s former all-time high posted during May 2018. XRP/USDT – Poloniex – 1D When measuring against BTC, XRP is testing support near 0.0001 BTC for the third time since September after producing a multi-month ascending wedge formation. Ripple is currently the third-largest cryptocurrency market with a capitalization of $14.79 billion and a market dominance of nearly 11.3%. XRP/BTC – Bitfinex – 1D How do you expect the markets to perform during 2019? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Tradingview Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” The post Markets Update: BCH and BTC Consolidate, ETH Regains Second Spot appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cointext’s SMS bitcoin cash wallet is now available in the Philippines and we’ve got the details below. Also in The Daily on Friday, the first Mimblewimble coin has been launched by Beam and crypto exchange Binance reintroduces its platform for token sales, Launchpad, which will host the Bittorrent token generation event. Also read: New York Establishes Crypto Task Force, Novogratz Buys More of Galaxy Digital Cointext Services Now Available to Filipinos Cointext, a platform that enables users to transfer cryptocurrency offline using simple text messages, has launched its service in another new market. The SMS bitcoin cash (BCH) wallet is now available in the Philippines, a country with a population of over 100 million people and a large diaspora around the world. The Cointext wallet allows anyone with even a basic mobile device that supports text messages to send electronic cash to other phone numbers or BCH addresses. What’s more, to receive the money, the recipients don’t even need to download a wallet, install an application, set up an account or have access to the internet. These features are behind Cointext’s growing popularity in countries where modern smartphones are available to a small portion of the population and the majority of telecom subscribers still use traditional mobile phones. Cointext also appeals to residents of countries that receive a lot of remittances from abroad, from Brazil to Romania. “The ability to send value over SMS is tailormade for the Philippines,” said Cointext founder and CTO Vin Armani, as quoted by Prweb. “Remittances are a big part of the economy and Filipinos are already big adopters of cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin cash.” Armani added that the country has many cryptocurrency exchanges and that “makes using cryptocurrency for remittances a no-brainer” as it allows easy conversion to local fiat, the Philippine peso. With Cointext, Filipinos will also be able to make cross border transfers at much lower costs, in comparison with traditional services. With the addition of the Philippines, the number of markets where Cointext is currently available grows to a total of 39. New users in the country can get a Cointext wallet by texting START or SIMULAN to the access number 639221101037. Mimblewimble Coin Beam Launched On the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block, a new privacy-oriented coin based on its blockchain was launched. Beam, which is issued by an Israeli startup, uses Mimblewimble, a protocol that was originally developed in 2016 with the aim of both improving the scalability of the Bitcoin network and increasing the privacy of its users. Its developers eventually concluded they needed to create a separate Mimblewimble cryptocurrency. Another project called Grin was the first to start work on a crypto utilizing the protocol. However, Beam became the first to attract venture capital financing to issue a Mimblewimble coin. Grin is now scheduled to launch in mid-January, as news.Bitcoin.com reported last month. According to an announcement on Medium, Beam’s mainnet release contains the following components for Linux, Mac, and Windows devices: desktop wallet app that includes a CPU miner node, CLI wallet and Beam node. A standalone Opencl miner and a standalone Cuda miner are available for Linux and Windows-based systems. Binance Launchpad to Host Bittorrent Token Sale Binance, currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, is reinstating Launchpad, its platform dedicated to token sales. Launchpad was initially introduced in August of 2017 with the Bread and Gifto sales. The exchange has just announced that Binance Launchpad will be featuring new projects in 2019. According to the release, Launchpad will start with two projects: Bittorrent and Fetch.ai. “Further announcements for each upcoming project launch will be made in the coming weeks,” the exchange added. Verified Binance users will be able to buy the tokens using bitcoin core (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and binance coin (BNB). Residents of the U.S., China and South Korea won’t be able to participate due to regulatory restrictions. Bittorrent recently announced its new digital coin which will be offered through a token sale conducted on Binance Launchpad. The Bittorrent token (BTT) will be based on the protocol developed by Tron, which acquired Bittorrent last summer. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Smartmockups, Beam. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post The Daily: Cointext Offers Philippines BCH Wallet, Beam Launches Mimblewimble Coin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published a report indicating that cryptocurrencies are not a threat currently. However, the central bank says, with rapid growth and adoption of cryptocurrencies, this assessment could change, adding that constant monitoring of cryptocurrencies is needed. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations No Threat Currently The RBI published its “Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2017-18” on Dec. 28. The report cites an analysis by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body which monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. Quartz India summarized on Thursday, “A global financial body, which includes India, says cryptocurrencies aren’t a threat.” India’s central bank wrote in its report: The FSB has undertaken a review of the financial stability risks posed by the rapid growth of crypto-assets. Its initial assessment is that crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability currently. The RBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Ministry of Finance are all members of the FSB, along with 23 other countries plus international organizations such as the European Commission, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. The wording in the RBI report resembles the FSB’s own report released in October which states that “crypto-assets do not pose a material risk to global financial stability at this time.” The central bank’s latest report echoes its annual report which states that “Though cryptocurrency may not currently pose systemic risks, its increasing popularity leading to price bubbles raises serious concerns for consumer and investor protection, and market integrity.” RBI Says Constant Monitoring Needed The RBI reiterated in its latest report that it has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of cryptocurrencies about the various risks associated with these assets. Furthermore, the central bank issued a circular on April 6 prohibiting regulated entities from providing services to crypto businesses. The central bank gave them three months from the date of the circular to exit relationships with crypto companies. A number of industry participants have filed petitions against the ban. The supreme court is set to hear the case this month, after postponing it repeatedly last year. The RBI continued to describe in its latest report: The market continues to evolve rapidly, however, and this initial assessment could change if crypto-assets were to become more widely used or interconnected with the core of the regulated financial system … Cryptocurrencies need constant monitoring on overall financial stability considerations, given the rapid expansion in their usage. No Hurry for Crypto Regulation On the same day, Dec. 28, the Indian Ministry of Finance reportedly provided some clarification to Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral parliament, about the country’s cryptocurrency regulation. Despite the media reporting that the draft regulatory framework would be ready last September or by the end of last year, Shri Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, indicated no urgency for cryptocurrency regulation. He wrote, “In absence of a globally acceptable solution and the need to devise [a] technically feasible solution, the department is pursuing the matter with due caution. It is difficult to state a specific timeline to come up with clear recommendations.” Following this report, the CEO of local cryptocurrency exchange Wazirx, Nischal Shetty, told news.Bitcoin.com, “in a way it also puts out any fear of ban in India.” He elaborated: Next step is to see if [the] supreme court sees this as the basis to grant [a] stay against the RBI banking restriction as this means that government of India does not see crypto as a threat or matter of immediate concern. Do you think the Indian government sees cryptocurrencies as a threat? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Central Bank’s Report Shows Cryptocurrencies Are Not Currently a Threat appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s roundup of crypto chatter, Jonathan Silverblood responds to Amaury Sechet’s privacy concerns with Cashaccount. Erik Voorhees defends Brian Armstrong from criticism on the latter’s 10 year Bitcoin anniversary tweets. Also, Nikita Zhavoronkov congratulates Bitcoin for creating 1 billion outputs on the BTC blockchain. Also read: The Cashaccount.info Platform Tethers Names to Bitcoin Cash Addresses Amaury Sechet’s Privacy Concerns With Cashaccount Bitcoin ABC lead developer Amaury Sechet took to Twitter recently, proclaiming that the new BCH-powered alias-address system Cashaccount will be a privacy disaster. Surprisingly, Cashaccount creator Jonathan Silverblood agreed with Sechet, as the founder believes his project will lead to more BCH users reusing Bitcoin addresses. This would be bad for privacy, as reused addresses can be used to discover financial information that users may not wish to disclose. I agree – it will undoubtedly increase the number of people that will reuse addresses. Perhaps you can spend some time and help get those stealth keys that @ChrisPacia was working on more widely supported, or help progress the BIP-47 support? — Jonathan Silverblood (@monsterbitar) January 3, 2019 To resolve the potential lack of privacy, Silverblood asked Sechet to collaborate with Openbazaar developer Chris Pacia on stealth keys, or to assist with the development of BIP-47. However, other commentators like Crypto Pelé were not as concerned with a lack of privacy. Pelé pointed out that some BCH users are fine with the transparency that comes with reusing addresses. Erik Voorhees Defends Brian Armstrong From Criticism To commemorate Bitcoin’s 10th year anniversary of the Genesis Block, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a series of tweets reminiscing how he first got into bitcoin. 1/ Today is a big day for Bitcoin, as it marks 10 years since the Genesis Block. Some people think I don’t like to talk about Bitcoin (), but today I have a few words to say — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 3, 2019 In the thread, Armstrong recounts reading the Bitcoin white paper in 2010 and becoming obsessed about Bitcoin for the subsequent 6 months. He began building a bitcoin wallet for Android devices as a side project, but then pivoted to a hosted wallet and a custom Bitcoin node. After securing funding from Ycombinator, Armstrong started working on his business idea full time and settled on the company name Coinbase. He then ended the tweet-storm on a positive note, boldly proclaiming that he has “never had more conviction” on the future of cryptocurrencies. Not everyone responded positively to Armstrong’s tweets. Commentator Simon Moon called Armstrong out for being a fake libertarian, arguing that Coinbase is a government-backed monopoly. Hah… as if their business just “appeared” and had a moat of regulation around it. The regulation isn’t their fault, and they have to walk a very delicate line. Yet millions enter the ecosystem because of the tools (read: bridge) that CoinBase has built. — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) January 4, 2019 Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees quickly stepped in to defend Coinbase’s CEO. Voorhees pointed out that regulation was not Coinbase’s fault and that Coinbase has helped introduce millions of people to cryptocurrency. 1 Billion Outputs on the BTC Blockchain Blockchair lead developer Nikita Zhavoronkov also took to social media to wish Bitcoin a happy 10th birthday. While many congratulated Bitcoin on it’s Genesis Block, Zhavoronkov took the opportunity to congratulate Bitcoin for creating 1 billion outputs on the BTC blockchain. Not only it’s the 10th Bitcoin birthday today, but also a new landmark has been achieved — now there are more than 1 billion outputs created on the Bitcoin blockchain (see https://t.co/bKMI1xgYsf for stats) — what an interesting coincidence! pic.twitter.com/jeWJwLkVQ1 — Nikita Zhavoronkov (@nikzh) January 3, 2019 What do you think of privacy issues surrounding the Cashaccount’s identification system? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to know the price of bitcoin? Check this chart. The post Chatter Report: Sechet Claims Cashaccount a Potential ‘Privacy Disaster’, Voorhees Defends Coinbase appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Chinese state television has sought to document the toll taken on South Korean cryptocurrency companies by 2018’s bear market, with Financial Channel (CCTV-2) producing a report detailing the challenges faced by Korean miners. According to the report, last year’s bear trend was further exacerbated by a 97.5 percent drop in Korean cryptocurrency premiums, driving between 70 and 80 percent of miners to desist operations. Also Read: Overstock Becomes the First Major US Company to Pay Business Tax in Bitcoin 70 to 80 Percent of South Korean Miners Estimated to Have Ceased Operations During 2018 The report discusses the start of the South Korean cryptocurrency mining industry with the operator of a mine who purchased roughly 1,000 mining rigs for generating ether while prices were approaching all-time record highs during January last year. Financial Channel estimates that the cost of mining a single ether was roughly 214,000 Korean won (KRW) (approximately $190) at the start of 2018, adding that the surging altcoin markets of mid-January would see ETH trade for 2.35 million KRW each. Despite the exorbitant profits that were on offer while prices were hovering near early 2018’s record highs, the operator estimates that four out of every five South Korean mining businesses operating at the start of the year has since shut down. “To my knowledge, 70 to 80 percent of mining farms have ceased operation, and many even declared bankruptcy,” the miner stated. Korean Share of Global Cryptocurrency-to-Fiat Trade Drops by Half Year-Over-Year Financial Channel asserts that the challenges faced by Korean miners were compounded by a dramatic slump in the premium on cryptocurrency prices in Korea — the so-called “Kimchi premium” — from as high as 40 percent at the start of 2018 to just 1 percent today. The report adds that as of Dec. 31, 2018, South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, estimated that KRW pairings accounted for approximately 5.8 percent of global trade between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, a more than 50 percent drop when compared with KRW volume as of the end of 2017. Do you know any miners who had to cease operations last year due to falling cryptocurrency prices? Share your story in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Report: 70 to 80 Percent of South Korean Miners Shut Down in 2018 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The cryptocurrency-friendly company Overstock.com announced on Thursday that company will be paying part of its business taxes to the state of Ohio using bitcoin. Overstock will use the state’s Ohiocrypto.com website to pay for the corporation’s commercial activities tax this year. Also read: 10 Years Ago Bitcoin’s Genesis Block Changed the Course of History Overstock Pays the Company’s Business Tax in Bitcoin Last November, the U.S. state of Ohio launched a payment portal that allows businesses to pay taxes with bitcoin core (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) via Bitpay’s payment services. On Jan. 3, Overstock announced it was the first major U.S. company to pay a portion of its Ohio state business taxes with cryptocurrencies. Overstock CEO and founder Patrick Byrne detailed during the announcement that forward-thinking states like Ohio will help ensure the U.S. doesn’t get left behind during the digital revolution. “We have long thought that thoughtful governmental adoption of emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies is the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place at the forefront of the ever-advancing global economy,” said Byrne. The Overstock CEO also emphasized the importance of non-restrictive legislation over these types of technologies. Byrne continued by stating: “[Overstock] is proud to partner with forward-thinking governments and officials like Ohio and Treasurer Mandel to help usher in an era of trust through technology for our nation’s essential financial systems. Ohiocrypto.com was launched in November 2018. Digital Asset Payments Add ‘Convenience’ There are 23 types of taxes that can be paid using BTC and BCH in the state of Ohio and Overstock will be using the ability to pay its commercial activities tax (CAT). Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel explained that taxpayers who use credit cards have to pay a 2.5 percent charge, whereas cryptocurrency payments only incur 1 percent. However, because Overstock paid its CAT early using a digital asset, it will not incur a fee as filings before the deadline are fee exempt. Mandel has also explained that Ohio may expand the program in 2020 by adding other types of taxes and possibly more cryptocurrencies. The state’s Treasurer explained the government’s office is thrilled to see Overstock embrace Ohio’s newly launched crypto payment services. “We applaud Overstock for becoming the first national brand in America to register to pay taxes via cryptocurrency — Their embrace of blockchain technology was ahead of its time and we’re proud to have them join Ohiocrypto.com,” said Mandel. Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. Overstock’s founder Byrne has been a proponent of cryptocurrencies for some time and his company was one of the first major retailers to begin accepting bitcoin. The company is also working on its own blockchain project and announced that it was accepting a wider assortment of digital currencies in 2017. In a recent interview, Josh Mandel stated he believes the new tax collection program will add more “convenience” for businesses like Overstock and looks forward to seeing other firms pay taxes with this form of money. What do you think about Overstock paying part of its Ohio business taxes in Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, Ohiocrypto.com, Politico, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Overstock Becomes the First Major US Company to Pay Business Tax in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Stablecoins have long divided opinion in the crypto community, with some believing they’re needed to gradually convert the masses away from fiat, whereas others have grave concerns about these dollar-pegged assets. Four experts – Gabriel Cardona, Roger Ver, Miko Matsumura, and Vin Armani – recently shared very different stablecoin opinions on the Bitcoin.com podcast. Also Read: How Institutional Investors Are Changing the Cryptocurrency Market The Stablecoin Is Here to Stay Stablecoins, love them or hate them, are here to stay – for now, at least. That’s one thing the four experts who spoke on the Bitcoin.com podcast with host Matt Aaron agreed on. The digital coins, whose value is pegged to fiat currency, were a hot topic in 2018, with tether (USDT) frequently talked about and heavily traded. Despite their shortcomings, it looks like stablecoins will feature prominently in 2019’s cryptocurrency markets, just as they did in 2018. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developer Gabriel Cardona told Bitcoin.com that 2019 will be the year of the stablecoin: “I think stablecoins are completely radical and I know there are some very smart people out there who are naysayers and say it is impossible to have a stablecoin. I suspect it is possible although I’m not going to probably be the person to design it – but my intuition tells me that it will be possible to have some kind of stablecoin that works most of the time for most use cases.” Cardona also said he thinks the stablecoin is the missing piece of the BCH token ecosystem, and added that people are attracted to them because of the volatility seen with conventional cryptocurrencies. “We need merchants to be able to adopt it [cryptocurrency] and they’re unable to because volatility is so high and they can’t be exposed to it,” he explained. Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver also said that 2019 would be the year of the stablecoin. “I think we’ll see a lot more people using stablecoins,” he said. “It seems pretty clear that the market is headed in that direction at the moment.” Stablecoins are popular, not only due to their relative immunity from volatility, but also their ability to serve as a fiat surrogate that can be stored onchain. Institutional investors have been particularly attracted to stablecoins as a hedge against extreme price movements, as Vin Armani, developer and founder of Cointext, acknowledged: They [institutional investors] want something that feels familiar, and so stablecoins present that. It’s a way to bring in institutional investors. Miko Matsumura, cofounder of Evercoin and GP of Gumi Cryptos venture fund, said that stablecoins will stick around, though the way we see them will change over time. “The point I will make is stablecoins will continue to exist but we will think of them more as payment coins, we will think of them as ecommerce coins or kinds of baskets of asset-backed security-like mutual funds – we’ll think of them differently from the way we think of them today.” The Downsides to Stablecoins Stablecoins have frequently drawn criticism, which all of the experts noted in the podcast. One such fault, according to Matsumura, is that stablecoins are unimaginative and have little appeal. “If that [stability] is the only property of a coin, then it’s not interesting,” he said. Matsumura added the phrase ‘stablecoin’ is itself a “Telegram and Twitter-driven monstrosity” and the coins allow people to “move in and out of crypto” while still being in crypto. Those who criticize stablecoins do so because they want cryptocurrencies to move people away from a dependence on government regulation. Roger Ver, a prominent critic of stablecoins, said that it was “frustrating” there is so much interest in them: “I want to see the U.S. dollar, the euro and the yen replaced by cryptocurrencies directly rather than tokens pegged to the dollar, euro or yen but it seems pretty clear that the market is headed in that direction at the moment.” Vin Armani added that stablecoins would eventually “go away,” but in the meantime are a “bridge technology,” He said that one danger is “for regulators to take a chomp at them” – a frequent concern among the crypto community. Despite the concerns raised by the podcast guests, all four agreed on one thing – the stablecoin is here to stay and 2019 will likely be an even bigger year for pegged digital assets than 2018. What do you think about stablecoins and the views of the four experts as quoted above? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post The Next Big Thing or a Total Monstrosity? Four Experts Weigh in on Stablecoins appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

While governments and banks in some countries are trying to hamper the development of cryptocurrency-related businesses, other locations are cashing in on the investments and new jobs that the industry brings. The latest example of this is the establishment of bitcoin ATM manufacturer Lamassu in Switzerland. Also Read: European Exchange to Offer Investing in Stocks With Cryptocurrencies Lamassu Industries AG Lamassu, the well-known cryptocurrency ATM manufacturer, which assembles its machines in Portugal, announced on Jan. 1 that after years of searching for a home, it is now officially Lamassu Industries AG of Lucerne, Switzerland. The reason given for choosing the Alpine country is a more welcoming environment for crypto-related businesses, in contrast to other locations where the company struggled to maintain a bank account, leaving it bankless for the past year. “We must have been rejected by 15 banks just because we manufacture terminals for bitcoin. Note that as a company we only manufacture hardware and take no part in trading or storing cryptocurrencies,” explained Lamassu co-founder Zach Harvey. “Just as we arrived in Switzerland we had a nice chat with a small bank in Canton Aargau and now we have a full account at a bank that is completely aware of our business model and happy to have us on board. In fact, you should expect to see one of our cryptomats in their headquarters early this year.” Welcome to Switzerland Despite some difficulties, Switzerland’s approach in offering “a place where rules are well defined and regulators are pro-innovation,” has been quite successful so far in attracting crypto entrepreneurs. According to a report from October 2018, the top 50 cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies in the local version of Silicon Valley alone were worth $44 billion combined, and altogether cryptocurrency firms employ about 3,000 people in the country of just about 8.5 million people. “Crypto Valley is alive and kicking and we’re excited to be in an area so rich in crypto development and blockchain events,” stated Harvey. “Although hype often exceeds reality in cryptoland, exciting stuff is happening in Switzerland at every level.” As its first community project, the Lamassu team is starting a monthly meetup dedicated to ideas of privacy, free speech, free markets, decentralization and cryptoanarchy. Will major countries eventually acknowledge that they are losing business due to unwelcoming behavior by banks? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Banking Struggle Drives Bitcoin ATM Manufacturer Lamassu to Switzerland appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In addition to being Bitcoin’s 10th birthday, Jan. 3, 2019 will go down in history as being the crypto world’s inaugural Proof of Keys day. The initiative, conceived by Trace Meyer just weeks ago, has drawn broad support from cryptocurrency influencers and businesses. Over the past 24 hours, crypto companies have tweeted their encouragement for users to withdraw their funds from exchanges and other custodial wallets. Also read: European Exchange to Offer Investing in Stocks With Cryptocurrencies Proof of Keys Day Draws Strong Support From Crypto Companies If Trace Meyer’s scheme is the success he hopes it to be, onchain activity will record a significant spike in the number of bitcoin transactions for Jan. 3, 2019, and on this day in each subsequent year too. While it is too soon to assess the efficacy of the grassroots movement to return ownership of crypto assets to users, there are signs that Proof of Keys has already been successful in raising awareness of the importance of self-custody. If you don't own your keys, you don't own your crypto. [Take control of your keys] Jan/3 ] #ProofOfKeys #BlockchainWallet #bitcoin #crypto — Blockchain (@blockchain) January 2, 2019 Under the hashtag #notyourkeysnotyourbitcoin, Twitter users have been sharing their own experiences of reclaiming their crypto from third-party custodians, and encouraging others to do the same. While it was the cryptocurrency community who initiated the Proof of Keys proposal, crypto companies have now joined the chorus of support. Not surprisingly, projects whose business entails non-custodial storage solutions have been leading the choir, Blockchain and Keepkey among them. Exchange Customers Hit by Delayed Withdrawals The need for self-sovereignty of crypto assets was demonstrated this week by the reticence of Hitbtc to facilitate withdrawals. A number of customers of the controversial exchange have reported lengthy delays in accessing their funds, leaving them unable to participate in Proof of Keys on the day itself. Several Hitbtc users were greeted by a message informing them that “Withdrawals are temporarily disabled on your account.” Other exchanges have been more supportive Proof of Keys, including Swiss-based Lykke, which made the campaign the topic of its weekly discussion, as well as Ethfinex. If bitcoin is to enable millions of people to reclaim their financial sovereignty, it will require those who are already familiar with the technology to lead by example. Proof of Keys provides the perfect opportunity for bitcoiners to put their censorship-resistant money where their mouth is. That is why today, on #ProofOfKeys day I am reclaiming my monetary sovereignty. I am proud to be my own bank, with the ability to verify every transaction with a full node and further send my own transactions without permission or even the internet. Happy 2019 #Bitcoin. Onward. pic.twitter.com/fRdv69Kt8s — Eric ₿ [Jan/3➞₿ ∎] (@Provingwork) January 3, 2019 What are your thoughts on Proof of Keys day? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Twitter. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin’s Proof of Keys Day Begins With Industry-Wide Support appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the last 12 hours, cryptocurrency supporters across the globe have been celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block which was mined at approximately 18:15:05 UTC. Die-hard crypto enthusiasts believe the software released by the anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto has forever changed the way people look at money, and that the technology’s effect on the global economy will transform the course of history. Also read: 2018’s Top Cryptocurrencies Ranked by Github Activity 10 Years of Dust Sent to the Genesis Block’s Wishing Well On Halloween 2008, an anonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto announced a paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Two months later, on Jan. 3, 2009, the network officially launched when Nakamoto mined block 0, bringing the Bitcoin blockchain into life. The genesis block is special for a few reasons as it has characteristics that the thousands of subsequent mined blocks do not. For instance, the genesis block is hardcoded into a great majority of software clients that use the chain for reference and for infrastructure. Furthermore, at the time of creation, block rewards gave miners 50 BTC, but the genesis block is an unspendable sum that will forever contain those 50 coins. To this day nobody knows whether Satoshi made these coins unspendable for any specific reason. Over the years, many fans have also sent funds to the genesis address, and at the time of publication, there’s a total of 66.9 BTC sitting there. Scrolling through the list of dust transactions sent to the genesis address, one can find messages to Satoshi asking the creator for coins, as many of the senders hoped the creator would send additional funds back to them. The original cover from The Times on Jan. 3, 2009. Like the Beatles, Satoshi Left a Backward Message in Block 0 Another interesting fact about the genesis block is that many historians believe it was mined with a Windows-powered PC. Bitcoin version 0.1, the first original implementation, is written in the coding language C++ and was a Windows GUI application at first. This means the first block Satoshi mined was processed solely with a PC’s CPU. People mined BTC this way for two years after block 0 was created. Satoshi’s message located in block 0. The genesis block’s hash has two additional leading hex zeroes which are not seen in block creation today (except for the infamous 21e800 hash on June 19, 2018). The content of the ‘input’ in a generated bitcoin block contains what’s called a ‘coinbase parameter,’ which in the genesis block’s case is recognized as one of the most fascinating examples of hardcoded text stored inside the chain. The coinbase parameter for block 0 states: The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks There are many theories to why Satoshi created this text, the prevailing one being that it was a philosophical message in response to 2008’s economic crisis and the subsequent bank bailouts. In addition to the coinbase parameter, when someone decrypts the hexadecimal format, the message also shows the “Chancellor bailout” text written backward. With Satoshi mining bitcoin with his CPU, it took six days to find block 1 on January 9 after the genesis block’s creation, and some people consider this day to be Bitcoin’s birthday as well. Some bitcoiners also assume Satoshi took a break in between mining blocks 0-1, in order for the timeline to represent the Bible’s Genesis story where God’s creation of the earth took seven days. Hal Finney, Cryptographers, Internet Geeks, Anarchists, Tech Entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and Grandma Three days later, Satoshi sent the first transaction to the developer Hal Finney who decided to run the software and accepted 10 BTC from the creator. In fact, Finney was running the Bitcoin protocol on his computer the day after block 1 was mined on January 10 and tweeted about the software that day. However, even though Finney was the first known or identified bitcoin recipient, Satoshi sent coins to quite a few people on that same day. The creator also chose to send coins from block 9, as opposed to sending funds from blocks 1-8 for another unknown reason. On March 19, 2013, Finney explained how he got excited about the protocol after it was released by the anonymous inventor. “When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away — I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin,” explained Finney’s recollection of the events. “I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test — I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them,” the cryptographer added. Seven days after the creation of the Genesis block, Hal Finney tweeted that he was running the Bitcoin software. The creation of Bitcoin’s Genesis block and the beginning stages of the network slowly started to gather more supporters as time progressed. To this day, we don’t know what happened to Satoshi when the creator left the scene in 2010, by which point he is credited with having mined close to 1 million bitcoins. Since then, the establishment has scorned the technology year after year, while Bitcoin has steadily gained traction. Meanwhile, large swathes of geeks and political idealists started to believe the protocol would revolutionize the entire monetary system on a global level. For six years after block 0 was mined, the financial elites called cryptocurrencies crap before attempting to commercialize them in 2015. Bitmex sponsored a thank you message to Satoshi for The Times’ January 3rd, 2019 front page. Included on the front page is the hash of Bitcoin block 554,509 in which Bitmain’s Jihan Wu and the mining pool BTC.com added the message “Thanks Satoshi” in the coinbase parameter. Hard Money and the 21 Million Deliverable Pieces of Subjective Value Satoshi’s software is more than just a fundamental breakthrough in computer science; the technology is also a peer-to-peer, open, secure, censorship-resistant, and the most deliverable type of money ever created. Since the creation of the genesis block 10 years ago today, the technological innovation has allowed for a pure form of voluntary free market exchange. Transactions between global individuals are conducted in a permissionless manner across hundreds of invisible borders without the need for any pre-existing trust. The innovation Satoshi gave to the world in 2008 is the current monetary system’s black swan, equipped with a positive feedback loop. Its ability to survive 10 turbulent and testing years is surely an event worth celebrating. What do you think about the 10-year anniversary of the genesis block and Satoshi Nakamoto’s infamous creation? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Images via Shutterstock, The Times, Twitter, Brave the World, and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post 10 Years Ago Bitcoin’s Genesis Block Changed the Course of History appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There is a new generation of cryptocurrency-based derivatives being launched in 2019 which could significantly increase overall trading flow and attract a new breed of investors. Derivatives are not without their controversies however. Over the years, they have acquired a negative reputation in some quarters, exacerbated by movies such as “The Big Short.” Also read: Market Slump Puts Crypto Derivatives in the Spotlight Understanding the Danger of Derivatives The Big Short, 2015. Derivatives are financial securities that are based or tied in some way to another asset. The majority of derivatives are sold over-the-counter (OTC) and the primary danger associated with trading these is counterparty and liquidity risks. The movie “The Big Short,” released in 2015, is useful in understanding the hazards of derivatives. But in that particular case, the mechanism under scrutiny was credit default swaps (CDS), a type of derivative which helped upset the global economy in 2007-2008. Due to the opaque nature of derivatives, as well as other inherent risks, world leaders have been taking increased interest in the products. Currently there are a number of major players in finance offering crypto derivatives. These include NASDAQ, Cboe Global Markets, and Goldman Sachs. Lars Seier Christensen, chairman of Concordium and founder of Saxo Bank, has said that the introduction of new cryptocurrency-based derivatives in 2019 will hinge on the overall trading flow. Christensen said: “If the primary cryptocurrency exchange market continues to be in trouble there will be little appetite for launching new trading vehicles. On the other hand, if trading picks back up, it is quite likely that we will see a slew of new initiatives being launched — perhaps even some that have already been planned and gone through due diligence but where the offering party have been waiting for a better time to launch.” UK’s FCA Is Considering Banning Crypto-Based Derivatives Before the crypto market gets ahead of itself with further launches of complex products, financiers should note that regulators are cracking down in some quarters. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority has expressed concern and is considering banning some cryptocurrency-based derivatives. This move by the U.K. regulator has been noted as the first major intervention in the cryptocurrency market. Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, delivered a speech at the Regulation of Cryptocurrencies event in London, in which he said: “We’re concerned that retail consumers are being sold complex, volatile and often leveraged derivatives products based on exchange tokens with underlying market integrity issues. Given this, the FCA will also consult on a prohibition of the sale to retail consumers of derivatives referencing certain types of cryptoassets, for example, exchange tokens, including contracts-for-difference, options, futures and transferable securities.” Frank Wagner, CEO of INVAO, a blockchain asset pool leveraging automated trading for active portfolio management, explained the concern with cryptocurrency based derivatives is that retail investors may be sold unreliable derivatives products, such as contracts for difference, options and futures. Derivatives Have a Poor Reputation Wagner said: “The nature of the crypto market being fast-moving and volatile in comparison to the traditional market has led to it attracting a measure of concern. Making accurate predictions on prices in the cryptocurrency market is difficult. This is combined with the fact that derivatives themselves have a poor reputation.” On the plus side, Wagner explained, derivatives can offer some insulation from market uncertainty and therefore an opportunity for new investors to get involved. “There’s a lot of anticipation that crypto derivatives will actually make the market more reliable and legitimate by boosting investor activity, mainstream attention, and thus liquidity and trading volumes,” said Wagner. Further Regulation Will Give Investors Security According to Wagner, the concern that crypto derivatives are unregulated, and therefore unstable, can be solved through welcome government regulation of digital assets. “If an exchange is to offer crypto derivatives, it must be regulated, legitimate and secure for investors, which is one of the many reasons why regulation is needed. Crypto derivatives will help to mature and stabilise the industry,” he added. The most eagerly anticipated crypto derivative in 2019 is Bakkt’s physical bitcoin futures. The success of this product, particularly in terms of investor uptake, will help to determine the rate at which subsequent derivatives are launched. Unlike in “The Big Short,” crypto derivatives do not threaten the global economy. Nevertheless, they remain a controversial financial product whose effects upon the cryptocurrency market have yet to be fully assessed. What are your thoughts on cryptocurrency derivatives? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Paramount. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Analysis: Why Crypto Derivatives Are Considered Dangerous appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In Thursday’s edition of The Daily, we cover a new task force established by the state of New York to explore the cryptocurrency market and its regulation, a move by Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz to buy more of the business, and an interesting way to mark the anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block. Also Read: Bakkt Completes First Round of Funding With $182.5 Million State of New York Establishes Cryptocurrency Task Force New York State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, the Chair of Subcommittee on Internet and New Technologies at the legislator, has publicly announced the creation of a cryptocurrency task force. The reports produced by the task force will likely be used to update the state’s regulation of the industry, as the announcement notes that “It has been nearly four years since the implementation of the Bitlicense. In the cryptocurrency space and technology in general, a few months is equivalent to years.” According to the announcement, the members of the task force, appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Senate, and Assembly, are to study how to regulate, define and use cryptocurrency and submit their reports by Dec. 15, 2020. They will include different stakeholders such as technologists, consumers, institutional and small investors, large and small blockchain enterprises, and academics. “New York leads the country in finance. We will also lead in proper fintech regulation,” Assemblyman Vanel added. “The task force of experts will help us strike the balance between having a robust blockchain industry and cryptocurrency economic environment while at the same time protecting New York investors and consumers.” Mike Novogratz Increases Stake in Galaxy Digital Michael Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. (TSXV GLXY; Frankfurt: 7LX) reported on Wednesday that he acquired 7,500,768 more shares of the company for approximately $7.4M Canadian dollars (U.S.$5.4M) during December 2018. This amount represents about 2.7 percent of the company’s shares, bringing Novogratz’s estimated stake in the company from an already high 76.6 percent to approximately 79.3 percent. The former hedge fund manager created his cryptocurrency merchant bank in the hope it would eventually become the “Goldman Sachs of crypto.” The crypto bear market of 2018 has been hard on the company’s stock, but Novogratz claimed in November he still believes that institutional demand for cryptocurrencies will drive the start of a new bull trend in 2019. By buying more company stocks, Novogratz is signaling that he is willing to put his money where his mouth is. Bitcoin Magazine to Return to Print in 2019 Bitcoin Magazine, one of the first print publications specializing in cryptocurrencies, was created by Vitalik Buterin and Mihai Alisie in May 2012. In 2015 it was acquired by a company from Nashville, Tennessee which moved the magazine entirely online. Now, to mark the anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block, the company has announced that the first print edition of Bitcoin Magazine in seven years will come off the presses in the summer of 2019. “Back in 2012, Vitalik and Mihai were handing out Bitcoin Magazine from their backpacks to anyone with even a fleeting interest in some mysterious, magic internet money,” the team remarked. “Today, with 10 years of history behind it, Bitcoin is almost a household name, and more and more people are curious about this ‘digital gold’ that they’ve been hearing about. Our intention is to distribute tens of thousands of copies, free of charge, at hundreds of locations and events around the world.” What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post The Daily: New York Establishes Crypto Task Force, Novogratz Buys More of Galaxy Digital appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

An Indian cryptocurrency exchange, which is now live in 45 countries, reports that it is “seeing immense enthusiasm and buyer activity in Venezuela,” a spokesperson for the exchange told news.Bitcoin.com. Compared to other countries, “Venezuelans are looking more at the longer-term yield of bitcoin.” Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations Live in 45 Countries Indian cryptocurrency exchange Instashift is now live in 45 countries. After launching in India and Canada in February, the exchange began to roll out service in a slew of countries in November, offering support for 45 fiat currencies. A spokesperson for the exchange told news.Bitcoin.com on Thursday: Presently, in the 45 countries we have launched [in], we are seeing immense enthusiasm and buyer activity in Venezuela … Venezuelan users were on a buying spree. “We partnered with [a] few good local sellers,” the spokesperson said, confirming that his exchange plans to add “another 45 countries by April 2019.” Other than Venezuela, “We see demand from Panama, Thailand, Nigeria, Romania, Cameroon, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Ukraine,” he detailed. The 45 countries that Instashift is live in are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, Uganda, Ukraine, the U.K., the U.S., Venezuela, and Vietnam. Citing similarity to Localbitcoins, the spokesperson claims, “As we are [a] pure peer-to-peer exchange with an instant coin conversion feature, there is no specific licensing for it at the moment.” Strong Demand in Venezuela The spokesperson shared with news.Bitcoin.com that, compared to other countries, “Venezuelans are looking more at the longer-term yield of bitcoin.” He elaborated, “Venezuelans, in general, are of the thought that cryptocurrency is a safe haven to keep their store of value rather than keeping it in their own currency where inflation is peaking at the top.” Furthermore, he described that “awareness amongst the crypto-communities” in many of the 45 countries “is quite low” compared to Venezuela. Venezuelans can buy and sell over 120 coins on the Instashift platform. In addition to purchasing cryptocurrencies with the sovereign bolivar, the spokesperson pointed out that “it’s interesting to note they are using USD as well,” elaborating: They are buying only BTC at the moment … [we] have not yet found any user seeking altcoins … [our] volume in Venezuela has been roughly growing 5-7% daily. “We have more than 500 users there driving this volume,” he added, noting that Instashift uses the liquidity from major exchanges such as Binance to execute its “flip” orders. Flip is the exchange’s near-instant coin conversion service. “You can flip in under two seconds,” he claims. On Localbitcoins, the BTC trading volume for Venezuela has also been growing significantly. What do you think of the demand for BTC in Venezuela? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Instashift, and Coin.dance. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Crypto Exchange in 45 Countries Sees Strong Demand in Venezuela appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency holders who look for ways to diversify their portfolios into other markets are about to get a new option for doing so. A regulated European platform, DX Exchange, is set to offer investing in stocks using popular cryptocurrencies. Also Read: Bakkt Completes First Round of Funding With $182.5 Million Trade Tokenized Stocks With Crypto Estonia-based venue DX Exchange is set to launch trading on the tokenized stocks of some of the biggest public companies in the world, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, on Jan. 7, 2019. And it accepts deposits in BCH, BTC, ETH, USDT, DASH, LTC, XRP and a few other cryptocurrencies as well as traditional fiat payment options. This has been achieved through an agreement with MPS Marketplace Securities Ltd, which issues tokens that represent stocks via smart contracts and buys and holds the real world stocks according to demand on the platform. The “digital stocks” are said to be backed 1:1 with the real-world stocks traded on conventional stock exchanges, like stablecoins backed by equities rather than fiat. Unlike traditional stock exchanges, this arrangement allows the platform to offer its users the ability to trade on stocks 24/7. The regulated platform operates in full compliance with Mifid II (the latest EU financial regulations) which means it features a robust AML/KYC process. International Financial Venture DX Exchange holds operating licenses from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit and reportedly employs over 70 developers in an R&D center in Israel. It is backed by NFX, a seed and series A focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Its partner, MPS Marketplace Securities Ltd. is a Cyprus licensed financial company which provides liquidity solutions for the online trading market. The technology is built on Nasdaq’s Financial Information exchange (FIX), a vendor-neutral standard message protocol that defines an electronic message exchange for communicating securities transactions between two parties. The platform also supports trading via an API, which means it can be easily integrated with market makers, liquidity providers, algo traders, and hedge funds. Is investing in tokenized stocks likely to be a popular service with crypto holders? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post European Exchange to Offer Investing in Stocks With Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article