roadrunner

Is the flippening upon us? Ethereum (ETH) advocates are citing block explorer Etherscan claim to passed 35 million unique addresses, a doubling in something like five months, averaging reportedly 100K a day. The last available figures for bitcoin core (BTC) addresses had them at roughly 25 million as of spring this year. ETH enthusiasts are insisting this is a positive step in the march to eventually snatch the number one coin by market capitalization spot. Also read: India Rejects Venezuelan Crypto Despite 30% Discount Flippening Close or Just Hopeful Hype? Hopeful hype is starting again in pockets of the crypto ecosystem, especially among Vitalik Buterin fans and ETH followers. It’s due to their long held belief the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency by market capitalization must eventually replace bitcoin core (BTC) at the top in what’s been dubbed the flippening. Hype is arguably the best word at the moment, if only because of that pesky market capitalization: as of publication, BTC has nearly three times the market cap of ETH, and 24 trading volume seems to follow a similar ratio. What is causing a restirring of such flippening just might be a relatively recent milestone. According to Etherscan, ETH has pulled out ahead of BTC in unique addresses, gaining something in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand per day. The number floating around is rather eye popping: 35 million uniques. BTC stopped marking the number earlier this year for a variety of reasons, so ETH followers’ celebrations are based mostly on supposition, inference. The last figures available for BTC had unique addresses around 24 million. Still, the leap passed BTC also includes active addresses, perhaps a more profound metric when attempting to make the ETH flippening case: ETH has over 500K, BTC about 25K less. BTC Might Have Only Itself to Blame Addresses do not equate to actual users, however. One ETH user can hold many addresses, and in the case of ETH smart contracts are also being smuggled in the numbers. Yet, wallets for the respective cryptos can be telling when placed against the above stats. Ethereum wallet address are reused as a matter of course, while bitcoin core wallet address are frequently particular to each transaction. By every rational theory, BTC should far outstrip ETH in at least this category. As explained, that’s not the case. Caveats include how the 100K per day number is actually quite a fall off from as soon as the beginning of this year when ETH was clocking 300K per day at times. The Crypto Winter sapped much of those records, and truth is only on-chain activity is being measured (to the exclusion of exchanges, for example). In terms of raw transaction numbers, ETH is crushing BTC, 800K to 200K. For BTC enthusiasts, however, who insist including the counting of ETH smart contracts to be gilding the lily, cooking the books or whatever, are probably on the weak side of that argument. After all, as bitcoin cash (BCH) is beginning to show, increasing block size would allow for such use cases to have taken place, something the bitcoin core community has stubbornly refused to concede. Add to it gaffs in transaction fees and times, mempool congestion, plaguing BTC at the height of its price and corresponding media coverage only compounded block size issues. Should the flippening happen, the BTC community would have itself to blame. Do you think anything like the flippening is happening? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Etherscan. 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 Flippening? Bitcoin (BTC) Passed by 35mil Ethereum Unique Addresses appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The co-founders of Stripe, brothers Patrick and John Collison, recently discussed the company’s decision to no longer support bitcoin payments, and expressed a willingness to reverse this decision in future. Also Read: Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty Declining Use of BTC as Means of Payment In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Stripe co-founders John and Patrick Collison shared their view of bitcoin and the cryptocurrency markets, and discussed Stripe’s decision to no longer facilitate BTC payments made earlier this year. When asked whether the company’s decision to no longer conduct bitcoin payments through its platform would leave it “on the wrong side of history”, Patrick Collison responded, “We’re absolutely open to revisiting this.” Patrick sought to emphasize that the reasons underpinning Stripe’s decision to move away from BTC are “a question for the bitcoin community, basically, and especially the architects of the software, whether they want to optimize bitcoin for being a payment method, or for being […] a form of digital gold, a store of value.” “At the time we made our decision, it was trending towards being a digital store of value – I think that’s a valuable thing to have exist in the world, […] I genuinely wish them the very best with that […] It just works less well for our use case, and this wasn’t […] a decision where we wanted to be the arbiter, we were just looking at the data, and it was declining rapidly in use as a payment method, if it starts increasing [in use] again as a payment method, then sure, great, we’ll go back and we’ll add it,” Patrick said. Stripe Founders Remain “Fascinated by Cryptocurrencies From a Technology Point of View” John Collison echoed his brother’s sentiment, emphasizing that “the speed and cost” of conducting “transactions on the bitcoin network was the main” issue. “Our determination was that bitcoin is not a good payment method, which is a very different discussion than cryptocurrencies generally,” John said. Regarding the current state of the cryptocurrency sphere broadly, John stated that he believes “there is a ton of promise that has not actually been shown in real-world applications yet, and while we are waiting for those real-world applications, I think people are getting a little distracted by some of the hype.” “I see tons of companies, and tons of people, getting distracted by almost vanity projects of ‘we’ll put this database on the blockchain or things like this’ because people are not really weathered in the technical details,” John continued. Do you think that BTC will see an increase or further decline in its adoption as a means of payment? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Stripe Founders Discuss Decision to Drop BTC Payment Services appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency conferences provide a chance to absorb seminars, panel discussions, and keynote speeches from leading industry figures, and to conduct business face-to-face. At least that’s their official purpose. Unofficially, they’re an experiential extravaganza that puts some of the world’s most famous music festivals to shame. Also read: Japan’s GMO Upgrades Margin Services, Launches Wallet and In-Game BTC Rewards Crypto Conferences in 2018: Less Studying, More Partying There were moments at the Futurama Blockchain Innovators Summit, held in Dubai on May 3-6, when you could have sworn you were at Burning Man. It wasn’t so much the appearance of Brock Pierce as star panelist, a man so enamored with Burning Man he actually got married there. Rather, it was the daily itinerary in which blockchain talks were squeezed in around networking events instead of vice-versa. “The most likely way to get me to attend your conference is to throw really good parties,” chuckles Brock Pierce midway through an Altcoin Buzz video of the event. The organizers of Futurama, which included Coinsbank, duly obliged, throwing a lavish series of parties and meetups that included a harpist playing in the middle of the desert; fireworks; dune-riding in 4x4s; and a lavish final party hosted on one of the largest yachts in Dubai. Instead of adhering to a rigid schedule, the conference would start once everyone had assembled each morning, which meant that everything ran fashionably late. No one seemed to mind. The setting for the Futurama after-party in Dubai Face-to-Face > Inbox-to-Inbox Catering aboard the yacht at the Futurama Blockchain Conference One of the reasons why conferences such as Futurama and Consensus have come to be defined by their hospitality rather than their itinerary owes less to one upmanship and more to the power of face-to-face interactions. As attendees as these and many other blockchain conferences this year will attest, the most valuable deals weren’t sealed in the meeting rooms or conference halls; they were concluded with bumped fists while sharing shiskas at the Desert Rose Party; in the hot tub aboard a yacht with the city lights glittering across the bay; in the rooftop bar 37 floors up a New York skyscraper. Tickets for cryptocurrency conferences don’t come cheap, with admission to a three-day event typically running into the thousands of dollars. Delegates are only too happy to pay up though, and to avail themselves of the open bars and sumptuous banquets, and to mingle with the “experience girls” enlisted to address the gender imbalance and make the Instagram pictures prettier. But that’s not really what it’s about. Such trappings are more a means to an end; an ice-breaker that enables strangers from opposing sides of the world to form fledgling friendships and profitable partnerships. That’s why delegates don’t calculate an event’s value by the cost of admission – they base their assessment on the value of the business generated. Music Meets Crypto Just as attending a music festival is more about cutting loose than it is about the music, blockchain conferences aren’t really about cryptocurrency. Sure, there’s a panel discussion on blockchain scaling you might squeeze in if there’s time, and a keynote on AI that looks interesting, but these things are optional. The parties are where the real action happens. No yacht party would be complete without multiple screens displaying crypto prices There’s a strong case for bemoaning the more egregious examples of excess at crypto conferences; the Aston Martins given away aboard a luxury cruise at Consensus and the celebrity rapper after-parties, which do little to enhance the industry’s perception. Eliminate the social element altogether, however, and you’d be left with a bunch of men in suits taking notes in a draughty conference hall. Due to the digital nature of cryptocurrency, whose proponents are as distributed as the bitcoin ledger itself, conferences are one of the few opportunities for interacting in the same physical space. Blockchain events are the new music festivals. Do you think cryptocurrency conferences are getting more flamboyant? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinsbank, and The Void. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Blockchain Conferences Are the New Music Festivals appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week news.Bitcoin.com spoke with the adult film star Brenna Sparks about how she’s been relentlessly promoting cryptocurrencies to her co-workers and peers throughout the sex industry. Sparks is a big believer in Bitcoin technology and thinks that someday in the future it will revolutionize the entire adult industry. Furthermore, Sparks is planning to film a few tutorials on how to use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but with a catch — Brenna plans on filming the educational videos naked. We decided to chat with Brenna about cryptocurrencies so our readers can get an in-depth view of how digital currencies like Bitcoin could transform the sex industry from someone who has a close perspective on how these business models operate. Also read: Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty Cryptocurrency Will Solve All of the Current Problems in the Adult Industry News.Bitcoin.com (BC): Can you tell our readers how you first got into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? Brenna Sparks (BS): Silkroad! I lived in a boring old town with nothing to do, and I wanted to get weed but didn’t know any dealers. I heard about Silkroad and was guided to using Bitcoin like that, spending hundreds of Bitcoins like it was nothing. Back then I bought my Bitcoins from Silkroad members, using Greendot Moneypaks. I literally gave them money and hoped that I could trust this criminal to give me the Bitcoins! Ahhh…good times. At least, I wasn’t Goxxed. BC: You recently wrote a blog post about cryptocurrencies providing workers in the adult industry censorship resistance from payment processor discrimination. What prompted you to write that post? BS: It’s something that isn’t talked about often. Most of the people in the industry don’t really discuss how we can make our industry more advanced and safer from a tech perspective. Everyone, just sort of deals with it and has an “if it ain’t totally broke, it doesn’t need fixing” perspective. Also, because of the taboo nature of the adult industry, many of the industry issues have a hard time getting heard by the rest of the world, so problems have been slowly piling up in the background over the years. My belief is that I should alert the world of potential opportunities, because if the current people in the industry don’t want to build it further, someone else will. The crypto industry is full of visionaries, so I believe sharing these problems with the crypto community will gain attention from one of these visionaries who could actually make these changes happen, because it’s become obvious that no one in the adult industry will do it. As time goes on, I’ll grow to be more elaborate on the matter. BC: What do you think about libertarian and free market views involved with cryptocurrencies? BS: This question reminds me of a time a while back when I thought to myself, “What if I could choose where my tax money went to? What if I could see exactly where it all went and when?” A few years later, this started becoming a clear reality with cryptocurrencies. The technology that exists today can completely turn the government upside down, and that would be a good thing. Technology is the way of the future. Technology brings order, brings stability, brings growth, brings hope for a better future, not a government. I believe cryptocurrency provides many of the things a libertarian wish they could have. It’s a medium that allows us, merchants of the world, to exchange in a modern and reliable way that is free from the government, built on protocols that are open to the public to view and contribute to. Cryptocurrencies are changing the way we interact at an increasingly massive scale. We can fund whatever we wish to fund, we can raise money in ways and speeds that were never possible, and for things that we, as individuals, want or need. It provides visionaries the ability to test the most ambitious ideas that no investor would ever be able to fund, which in my opinion translates to an increase in technological growth rate. Finally, cryptocurrencies automate a giant list of tasks that we unnecessarily delegate to our government. In other words, the government is doing too many things that it doesn’t actually need to be doing. Humans may have various views on what is important to them, but we also share many as well. For example, a majority of human beings can agree that we need hospitals, we need proper health care, we need safe roadways and safe buildings. Even if some disagree, it doesn’t matter, it’ll get funded because that’s something a majority mass will agree with, we don’t need a government to “guarantee” that. Just as well, we don’t need a government to tell us what is legal tender, we can do that ourselves. We don’t need a government producing that legal tender either, computers do a far better job at producing an acceptable medium of exchange. Finally, we don’t need a government deciding what matters on our behalf. I believe a country of millions is much more capable of making decisions than a small handful of “elected” individuals. Governments of the past and present serve as a means to an end, that’s all. The future is in less governing, and eventually no governing or autonomous governing that corresponds to a successful self-governed society (or societies). This is not to say that we don’t need a government, but rather that we need a lot less of it. Working at a Crypto-Friendly Establishment Felt Futuristic BC: What are your favorite cryptocurrencies right now? BS: Besides Bitcoin, I would say – SONM (SNM), Odyssey (OCN), Spankchain (SPANK), and Ark (ARK). BC: How do you envision cryptocurrencies helping individuals in the adult industry in the future? BS: I talk about this further below, but basically cryptocurrency will solve all of the current problems in the adult industry without creating major new problems in the process. BC: You recently tweeted that you planned on giving cryptocurrency lessons naked. Do you still plan on giving these lessons? BS: Yes, I’m in the process of filming it right now. At first, I thought about filming and releasing each video at a time, but I’ve decided to film multiple videos to ensure and schedule each release. My calendar is all over the place so I figured this is the best way to approach it. BC: When you work at clubs like the Legends Room how many tips have you gotten in cryptocurrency, and can you tell our readers what it’s like working at a crypto-friendly establishment like that? BS: I was tipped pretty often in cryptocurrency, mainly because the clients had crypto and wanted to actually use it. Working at a crypto-friendly establishment felt futuristic, for lack of a better word. It really feels like you’re in a new world and it just feels right. When it came to using it, everything was straightforward and comfortable. Cryptocurrency Takes the Best Parts of Cash and Debit Cards and Removes the Other Junk BC: Do you still use the Bitcoin.com Wallet? BS: As of this moment, no. Reason being is that most of my coins are in deep cold storage. BC: Are there any other people you know that work in the adult film industry that also accept cryptocurrencies? BS: Yep! There is a growing number of talent, both male and female, like Shelby Paris, Holly Hawkes, and Kyle Mason. I also have directors approaching me for help regarding crypto on set and on my social media. It’s growing quietly, but noticeable. I believe camgirls and individual content produces will be the ones that utilize it the most though, especially in the early stages. I can only see it becoming a standard in the adult industry once a large number of people have become familiar enough with it. BC: Do you envision cryptocurrencies taking over the adult industry online in the future as far as payments are concerned for subscriptions, cam shows, pics, movies, and other services? BS: I definitely think so. For one, cam sites already use a token system so it’ll be quite easy for camgirls to pick up on it. Escorts can perform a transaction safely and discretely, especially when using a privacy-oriented coin like Monero or Bitcoin Private. Production companies can skip using checks and performers can get paid same day. Production companies won’t need to pose under different company names to get around bank etiquette. Performers don’t need to explain where their legally obtained funds came from. Individual content producers can easily set up a reliable payment method for their customers without running through a processor that will shut them down and take their money. These are just common issues and aren’t even all that creative. This whole industry can be flipped around by cryptocurrency, for the betterment of it. Bottom line is, people love cash, but it’s becoming more and more inconvenient to carry it. If a company like Brazzers had to pay everyone on set using cash, it’d be a nightmare for whoever is responsible for distributing the money. Our evolving lifestyle is pushing us to move our cash into a bank account and turn it into digital money which we can then use with a debit card, but then that has its plethora of problems and limitations attached to it too, many of which severely impact the adult industry. Cryptocurrency takes the best parts of cash and debit cards and removes the other junk. I think life has shown that humans are very flexible with what they consider is money and what isn’t. Cryptocurrency is just the natural step forward when it comes to using money in a modern society and I am convinced that that majority of us will adapt to it. BC: Since you got into bitcoin do you have a lot of cryptocurrency followers now on social media? BS: There has been a growing number of crypto followers on my twitter and it’s all been pretty gradual. One day I figured I’d start mentioning crypto in passing, which led to more and more engagement from the crypto community. Now I’m starting to think that the future of my social media will consist mostly of crypto fans, which I’m okay with! Check out our podcast series ‘Humans of Bitcoin’ featuring Brenna Sparks below. What do you think about cryptocurrencies transforming the adult industry? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comments below. Images via Brenna Sparks and the Rub PR. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Adult Film Star Brenna Sparks Discusses Transforming the Sex Industry With Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer who worked on bitcoin as early as 2010, has discussed his interaction with the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Mr. Hanyecz describes his dealings with Satoshi as having been “kind of weird.” Also Read: Moon Missions and Custom Wallets: Bitcoin Community Celebrates Pizza Day Early BTC Developer Discusses Email Exchanges with Satoshi Mr. Hanyecz, a programmer known in the bitcoin world for paying a man from Bitcointalk.org 10,000 BTC to order him two pizzas from Papa John’s in 2010, discussed his personal interactions with Satoshi Nakamoto in a recent interview. After mining bitcoins on his laptop for some time, Mr. Hanyecz reached out to Satoshi to express his desire to contribute to the development of bitcoin. “I thought bitcoin was awesome, and I wanted to be involved, but I had a regular developing job,” Hanyecz said. “Nakamoto would send me emails like ‘Hey, can you fix this bug?’ ‘Hey, can you do this?’” Mr. Hanyecz “Didn’t Want the Responsibility” Despite his enthusiasm for bitcoin, Mr. Hanyecz saw his contributions to the cryptocurrency as a side project of secondary importance to his career, and felt as though Satoshi had unrealistic expectations of his involvement. “He’d say, ‘Hey, the west side’s down,’ or ‘We have these bugs – we need to fix this.’ I’d be like, we? We’re not a team,” Mr. Hanyecz said. “I thought that it was approval from him, that maybe he accepted me as a member. But I didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t really understand all of the forces that were going on at the time.” On occasion, Mr. Hanyecz would express his dissatisfaction, recounting that he would say “Hey, you’re not my boss.” Despite the irritation, Mr. Hanyecz states that he “didn’t take it too seriously.” Interactions with Satoshi Consistently Gave Mr. Hanyecz “A Weird Feeling” Mr. Hanyecz describes the majority of his interaction with bitcoin’s creator to be “kind of weird.” Mr. Hanyecz found Satoshi to paranoid in many of their exchanges, stating “There were a few times when I got messages that seemed off-base. I brushed them off because I was like, who cares if this guy tells me to go pound sand and go away? This wasn’t my job or anything – it was a hobby. I was trying to be friends with him. He seemed very paranoid about people breaking the software. He kept calling it ‘prerelease,’ and I was helping him get it to release.” Looking back, Mr. Hanyecz can empathize with Satoshi’s apparent paranoia, stating that “If anything had happened to the code early on, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today.” Satoshi Weary of Mining Centralization According to Mr. Hanyecz, Satoshi Nakamoto was aware of the potential for mining to lead to centralization in bitcoin ownership, stating that Satoshi told him “Well, I’d rather not have you do the mining too much.” Mr. Hanyecz stated that “[Satoshi] was trying to grow the community and get more commerce use cases. He fully recognized that mining would become a thing where a few people would get wealthy.” Mr. Hanyecz also stated that Satoshi was careful to maintain anonymity, stating “He or she or whoever it was never told me anything personal. I asked a few questions, but he always dodged them. Those questions never got answered.” What’s your interpretation of the person behind the Satoshi Nakamoto enigma? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Early Bitcoin Developer Recounts “Weird” Interactions with Satoshi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

When I first got into bitcoin, I tried to imagine what could go wrong and could never really think of anything. I never thought that it would turn into a cult. In retrospect, it should have been obvious. Bitcoin is an imaginary good. Thus, it is vulnerable to mind-control. Also read: Bitcoin Developers Must Do What Investors Want, Long-Term or Short The Makings of the Cult Mentality The essence of a cult is a group of incompetent, dysfunctional people who are trying to trick you into treating them like they’re important. People in the cult have completely fallen for the trick and believe that the cult is so important that they must never stop paying attention. They believe they are important by virtue of their connection to the cult. That is what keeps them in. If they were to leave, they would become unimportant, or so they think. Before you go fighting this kind of monster, you need to protect yourself. The way to do this is to keep in mind that the way to succeed as an investor is to know the future before other people, and that people who do know the future have no particular reason to tell you what they know. It is entirely your responsibility as an investor to figure out what is important for you to know. The most important information will be hard to come by because the people who have it will prefer to keep it secret. If someone needs you to have their information, it is almost certain to be useless information. This mindset will protect you because cult dogma is no good at predicting the future on its own. It is only good for hypnotizing people. Domga and Indoctrination If you ever feel like you have information that you need to share with people, then you may want to rethink your own position. That is a weak position because the only thing someone has to do to thwart you is be stupid. Being stupid is easy, so you don’t want to be weak to stupidity. By the way, you can test whether you are in a cult by acting stupid when it is telling you something that you think might be dogma. If you are in a cult, they will react strongly and try to indoctrinate you. Otherwise, they will leave you alone or tell you to go away. Cults need people to accept their dogma, whereas non-cults do not. One of the events that made me begin to see that BTC had become a cult was when I went on Jimmy Song’s show and said I didn’t think the Lightning Network was going to work even though I didn’t understand it very well. If I genuinely lacked important information, I would simply have lost my twitter followers at that point and the other investors who did understand it would bet against me and win out. Instead, however, I got some very angry reactions from people who demanded that I learn about the Lightning Network from them. I now get much more attention from both the BTC and BCH side than I did at that time, and I would argue that a reason for this is that the information I do have concerning cults is genuinely important and therefore people cannot afford to ignore me. Fighting the Cultists Now that you have your defenses up, the first rule of fighting cults is not to fight cults. Cults thrive on attention, good or bad. The cult succeeds if you forget that you will probably have a more pleasant day if you ignore it. Opposing a cult is a way of treating it like it is important, which is exactly what it wants. You must not reward their trickery by increasing your attention. This does not mean that you should not warn other people about it, but all you need to do is reveal the trick to other people so that they don’t fall for it. Thus, your first weapon against cults is boredom. Cult members will try to get your attention by any means necessary. You must not give in to temptation when they insult or humiliate you. Treat their challenges like a shit test and react with boredom. Unimportant people should not be able to get a rise out of you, and someone who has no skills other than foolish tricks is an unimportant person. A successful engagement with a cult is one in which you consistently fail to oppose it. The Composition of the Bitcoin Cult The BTC cult comprises layers of bullies with the core developers at the center who will subject you to a know-it-all competition if you don’t accept the dogma. Do not attempt to win the know-it-all competition. That is a trick to draw you in. If you win the know-it-all contest, you go up the hierarchy, which is exactly where you don’t want to be, and you will be away from the outermost layers, which is what you want to focus on anyway. Thus, you should treat the know-it-all contest as a shit test. They want you to feel stupid if you don’t win the know-it-all contest. You must be willing to look stupid in front of a cult member. You have no reason to impress them. However, no cult member is irredeemable and your goal should be to draw people out or else there would be no point in engaging with the cult at all. Thus, you can reward the cult member with more attention if he starts to act like a human being. You may have to be patient. Cult members are completely convinced that they are important and their use of trickery makes them important, so they may try to manipulate you for a long time before they learn to stop. For an example, I will recommend a video chronicling a bizarre experience I had in which I was invited on the Briar Dispatch. Most of the show is about a journalist who is humiliating himself in shame because he had written an article about a company that turned out later to be a scam, even though he appears to have researched the company as best he could and later issued a retraction. Later, everyone starts to argue with me because they say that I’m promoting BCH without doing proper research about what a scam it is. I think they were trying to make me feel bad. You can see that the manipulation goes on for most of the show, but at the very end the cult members start to realize that it’s not working and then they don’t know what to do. At that point I begin to talk nonsense, which is a way of stimulating creative, open-ended thought. Banishing Cultists with Boredom Boredom is a reality check. Remember, the illusion of importance is what keeps people in. If the cult member starts to feel like his trickery does not command attention, then that is a reason for him to stop paying attention to the cult himself. Furthermore, cults try to make you forget that you can leave. The use of boredom with a cult member is a way of reminding him that anyone can leave, and in fact your connection to him is quite tenuous. If he doesn’t respond, go off and do something else that is more enjoyable than talking to him. You should not be mean or manipulative with your attention because that is opposition and that will push the cult member deeper in. Be just: people who are incompetent and dysfunctional do not deserve your attention, so simply treat his behavior with the level of attention it deserves. Drawing people out requires that you provide a contrast to the cult environment, which is an environment of nonstop manipulation. Don’t do anything to the cult member to make him feel like you want anything out of him at all. If you consistently fail to oppose him, he will feel like he has the free choice to step out. If you act like you want something, that is an opening that he can use to manipulate you. Boredom is the stick. The carrots are what’s missing in a cult: humor, creativity, and open-ended thought. These are your next weapons. An important step in becoming a cult member is losing your sense of humor. This is important because humor is an exercise in ambiguity and contradiction. Cult members must lose the ability to recognize either in order for them to accept dogma. Those who can be made to accept absurdities can be made to commit atrocities.[1] Socrates The Socratic Method The Socratic method is very effective with cult members because it requires them to engage with your thinking and tailor their responses to you. This could be an article in and of itself, but basically the Socratic method involves asking questions, which requires the other person to think individually and independently rather than simply repeat dogma because he has to tailor his responses to you. Responding effectively requires him to develop a theory of mind, which is also something that is lost and covered up by illusion when you are in a cult. It is the mark of an enlightened mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.[2] You can use the Socratic method to assess how well the cult member is responding to you. There is a bit of cult member in all of us. In order to draw people out, you must be someone who is a good contact, but who assesses other people for their degree of cultiness, and is indifferent to other people in proportion to their degree of cultiness. You must be preferable to the cult but reserve your friendship only for non-cult members. If you cannot afford to behave this way, then you may need to reassess your own portfolio. Proverb; bastardized Voltaire quote Proverb; bastardized Aristotle quote Do you think cryptocurrency cults are dangerous? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. The post How to Fight Cryptocurrency Cults appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The third largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Huobi, appears poised to enter the Brazilian market – with local reports indicating that the company has established an office in São Paulo, in addition to seeking to hire local talent. The interest in Brazil’s market comes at a time of peak interest in cryptocurrency among Brazilian citizens, according to reports. Also Read: India Rejects Venezuelan Crypto Despite 30% Discount Huobi Expected to Enter Brazilian Cryptocurrency Markets Local media is speculating that Huobi, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, is readying itself to discreetly enter Brazil’s virtual currency markets. The speculation appears to be informed by multiple events, including accounts that Huobi representatives were witnessed handing out business cards during the recent “Bitconf VI São Paulo” conference. The company has also been in contact with notable figures in Brazil’s cryptocurrency sector and has established an office in the major municipality and Brazilian financial hub of São Paulo, according to reports. Additionally, the company has been spotted advertising job positions specific to the Brazilian market via LinkedIn. Currently, Huobi is seeking to hire two new staff based in the Sao Paulo area – a Chief Compliance Officer, and a Digital Marketing Manager. An entrance into Brazil’s cryptocurrency industry on the part of Huobi is expected to comprise a significant event for Brazil’s virtual currency markets – with data from Cryptocompare estimating the combined 24-hour volume trading volume of Brazil’s leading exchange (approximately $3.15 million BRL, or $840,000 USD) to equate to approximately 0.68% of the roughly $122.5 million USD worth of BTC/USDT that was traded on Huobi during the same time period. Brazilian Cryptocurrency Adoption on the Rise Brazil’s cryptocurrency user base appears to have grown considerably in just a few years, with Brazilians estimated to have moved approximately $2.4 billion in bitcoin during 2017 – a 1,400% increase from the $160 million estimated to have been moved by Brazilians in 2016. Eduardo Ferreira, the head of international business development in London for the Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Foxbit, recently stated that “the guys who used to hide dollars under their mattresses, now they are hiding it in Bitcoin.” Mr. Ferreira added that Brazilians of all demographics are purchasing bitcoin, stating “It’s students buying it. It’s 60-year-old bus drivers.” Do you think that Brazil will come a major player in the cryptocurrency markets in coming years? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Huobi Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Huobi Expected to Enter Brazilian Cryptocurrency Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With the number of altcoins listed on Coinmarketcap reaching 1,640 as of this writing, the question begs – how will all of these altcoin markets perform in the long term? When looking back four years at a historic snapshot of the leading markets from June 1st, 2014, one can see that only two of the top ten altcoins have retained their position in the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization today. Additionally, only two markets have gained value over both fiat and BTC pairings, whilst four markets have lost value against both USD and BTC. Also Read: New Binance Listings Are Losing Their Luster The Cryptocurrency Markets Four Years Ago At the time of the snapshot, the altcoin sphere was early in its development – with six of the ten cryptocurrency markets by capitalization then being less than 12 months old. Whilst the majority of markets have produced gains over the U.S. dollar (USD), most markets have produced dramatic losses against BTC. BTC has maintained its position as the leading market by capitalization over the years. At the time of the snapshot, the BTC markets had a total capitalization of $8.2 billion, with bitcoin trading for approximately $640 each. Today, BTC boasts a market cap of nearly $127.2 billion, and the price of bitcoin has since risen to 1,065%, trading for approximately $7,450 as of this writing. Many Leading Altcoins Lose Value Against BTC Litecoin was the second largest crypto market on June 1st, 2014, then comprising a $320.5 million USD market, with LTC trading for $11.10 each. Litecoin has retained its position in top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap, today ranking sixth with a capitalization of roughly $6.725 billion. As of this writing, LTC is trading for $118.40 – an increase in USD-value of 966%. Despite the impressive gains, LTC has lost value against BTC – falling 9.14% from 0.0175 BTC to 0.0159 BTC. At the start of June 2014, NXT was the third largest crypto market by capitalization. NXT was then trading for $0.057 and had a total capitalization of $57 million. Today, NXT is the one-hundred-and-fourth ranked market by capitalization with a market cap of approximately $123.3 billion. NXT is trading for $0.132 each as of this writing. Despite having gained 131.5% over USD, NXT has lost nearly 80% of its value when paired against BTC – falling from 8,802 satoshis to 1,780 satoshis in four years. Dash Gains 130% Over BTC Fours years ago, Dash was the fourth largest cryptocurrency market cap with a total capitalization of nearly $50 million, despite having traded for only four and a half months. Today, Dash is still a leading market, ranking fourteenth by capitalization with a market cap of almost $2.5 billion. Dash is one of two top ten altcoin markets to have gained over both fiat and BTC pairs since four years ago – gaining 2,550% from $11.50 to $305, and nearly 130% from 0.0178 BTC to 0.0409 BTC. Peercoin Falls 92% Against BTC Since the time of the snapshot, Peercoin’s market cap ranking has slid from fifth to two-hundred-and-twelfth – growing modestly from $43.3 million to $46.3 million. The price of PPC has lost against both fiat and bitcoin pairings – falling by 7.5% from $2.02 to $1.87, and dropping by 92% from 0.0032 BTC to 0.00025 BTC. XRP Gains 15,250% Over USD in Four Years Ripple is the only top ten altcoin market from June 2014 to have since ascended in its ranking by market cap – climbing from sixth with a total capitalization of $31.7 million four years ago, to third with a market cap of over $24 billion today. The gains produced by the price of XRP over the last four years exceed those posted by all other top ten markets from the time of the snapshot – with XRP having since gained 15,250% from $0.004 to $0.614, and 1,243% from 615 satoshis to 8,260 satoshis. DOGE Gains Over USD, Drop Against BTC At the time of the snapshot, Dogecoin was the seventh-ranked cryptocurrency by capitalization with a market cap of $28 million. Today, the Dogecoin markets are ranked forty-seventh with a capitalization of nearly $390 million. The price of DOGE has increased against fiat but fallen against BTC – gaining roughly 875% from $0.000349 to $0.0034 over the dollar, whilst dropping 16.3% from 55 satoshis to 46 satoshis. Top 6-10 Ranked Altcoin Markets Lose Over 90% Since June 2014 Fours years ago, Namecoin was the eighth-ranked crypto by market cap with a capitalization of $21.1 million. Namecoin has since fallen to rank three-hundred-and-sixteenth, with its market cap currently sitting at $25.37 million. NMC has lost value against both USD and BTC – falling 27.4% from $2.37 to $1.72, and dropping 93.6% from 0.0036 BTC to 0.00023 BTC. Blackcoin was the ninth-ranked cryptocurrency by market cap with a capitalization of $19 million at the time of snapshot. Blackcoin’s market cap has since shrunk to $15.9 million – ranking it three-hundred-and-ninety-second. BLK has suffered significant losses since the snapshot – dropping 19.15% from $0.256 to $0.207, and falling roughly 93.5% from 42,000 satoshis to 2,780 satoshis. On June 1st, 2014, Omni was the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market cap with a capitalization of $13.6 million. Today, Omni is ranked four-hundred-and-twenty-seventh with a market capitalization of nearly $13.8 million. The price of OMNI has gained 11.4% from $22.6 to $24.58, however, has lost 91% against bitcoin – plummeting from 0.037 BTC to 0.0033 BTC in four years. At the time of the snapshot, Bitshares PTS was the eleventh largest crypto market with a capitalization of $7.5 million. Four years ago, PTS was trading for roughly 742,000 satoshis each. Today, the Bitshares PTS markets appear dead with the last trade recorded on Coinmarketcap having occurred on the September 7th, 2016 for 27 satoshis – a 99.99% drop against USD from $4.59 to $0.000165. What were your opinions on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in 2014? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinmarketcap Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post The Top Ten Altcoin Markets of 2014 – How Are They Faring Now? appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Airbnb is one of the most popular online property rental businesses in the world, but unfortunately they don’t accept cryptocurrencies. Now there’s a new startup called Cryptocribs that provides a peer-to-peer short-term rental system that utilizes digital assets like bitcoin cash and ethereum for payments. Also Read: Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty Cryptocribs: A Cryptocurrency-based Airbnb There’s a new web portal called Cryptocribs that allows travelers to pay in bitcoin core (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) or Ethereum (ETH) for short-term apartment and loft rentals. The startup has said it also plans to integrate monero in the future. Cryptocribs is similar to Airbnb but wants to be a home for all the crypto nomads and perpetual travelers around the world. The Cryptocribs business model was created by Erasmus Elsner, a student from UC Berkeley in California. So far Cryptocribs has been seeing some growth since its inception a few months ago, as the startup has listed over 1,500 hosts on the platform. Property rentals are available in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Asia, and more as the site offers a global map for each location. “We want to provide a peer-to-peer solution to the trust problem inherent with renting out apartments to strangers around the world — In the first stage, we plan to act as the trusted hub by hosting a listing platform Cryptocribs that accepts only crypto,” explains the startup. This platform will be commission-based and offer a trusted sorting algorithm. Participating nodes, i.e., guests and hosts, are incentivized to join and contribute to the network through activity- and review-based commission rewards. Cryptocribs has over 1,500 host listings worldwide since the company started. Marrying Airbnb and Craigslist with Decentralization At first, Cryptocribs will act as a centralized platform as Airbnb operates, and in the future the startup plans to break up the different intermediation layers in the step-by-step rental process. The firm says it’s building a network of blockchain-based nodes that keeps the project transparent and trustworthy. “To achieve this, we aim to marry the best of the openness of Craigslist, the trust system of Airbnb and the decentralization of the blockchain,” details the Cryptocribs roadmap. Cryptocribs filter and geographical locations for host listings. A Variety of Properties Around the World with Owners Renting for Crypto A few examples of property rentals offered by Cryptocribs include a brownstone master bedroom suite located in Massachusetts, an eclectic apartment called the “artist experience” in NY, a two-bedroom loft in Amsterdam, and a pad located in greater London that comes with a maid. The website’s settings can be toggled to set the desired cryptocurrency in the payment category. Additionally, there is a filter for price range, dates, the number of bedrooms and baths desired, and also the choice between a private or shared room. The team explains the company will always host listings and act as a mediator and escrow agent for rental contracts but hopes to expand by building a decentralized and open platform for other developers to “build reputation-based applications on.” What do you think about the Cryptocribs platform? Let us know what you think about this idea in the comments below. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse this product/service. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Images via Shutterstock and the Cryptocribs website. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Meet Cryptocribs a Rental Service That Aims to Decentralize Airbnb appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. Blockchain Games N.V. (Curaçao, operates Trueflip.io) has been granted a permit by the Government of Curaçao to work under License No. 8048/JAZ. 28th May 2018 – Curaçao True Flip, a blockchain fair games developer and operator, has verified its compliance with the strict standards of the international iGaming market by obtaining a Curaçao Gaming License. The advantages of the Curaçao Gaming License will be used to support the platform’s rapid growth. In addition to the ability to accept fiat payments in separate jurisdictions, the license offers the developer numerous legal permits in the field of worldwide promotion and marketing. “Though True Flip is emerging with a totally innovative approach, we bet on adequate regulation as a protective tool both for our customers and the business itself. The acquired license shows our intent toward building a sustainable and trustworthy platform, which is crucially important for our future growth.” – COO Nikita Parkhomenko Alongside RNG certification, acquiring the Curaçao Gaming License was one of the initial milestones in boosting the platform’s legal development. Further efforts will include obtaining similar documents from the market’s strategic jurisdictions. About True Flip True Flip is a blockchain fair games platform that draws from the advantages of distributed ledger technology. These include overall transparency of processes such as random number generation, ticket purchases, and prize distribution, as well as an innovative approach to the financial aspects of iGaming. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrueFlip.io/ Telegram channel: https://t.me/truefliplotto Telegram chat: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAELcwT-fgH2zG7xEng Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrueFlipLoto Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnQObazhUfIFUoREH_0qRag Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1928663.0 Steemit: https://steemit.com/@trueflip Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/trueflip/ GitHub: https://github.com/trueflip Media Contact Anastasia Solonovich asol@trueflip.io Maria Silantyeva maria@trueflip.io True Flip is the source of this content. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information within does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Contact Email Address asol@trueflip.io Supporting Link https://validator.antillephone.com/validate?domain=trueflip.io&seal_id=494ad4cb75c5057e91996ac12dfcdbfd7c5676b0769956dfeace06269190e5e00067f44945a9abade863de28b7b250e6&stamp=281411854925910129e2b26464dc01a3 This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: True Flip Strengthens Business by Obtaining the Curaçao Gaming License appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

As one of the most liquid and globally accessible exchanges, Binance wields a lot of power. Listings are a big deal to cryptocurrency teams, representing a validation of their coin, and they’re also a big deal to investors, who can profit off the price boost that invariably ensues. Lately though, those pumps have been diminishing due to trader fatigue exacerbated by an increase in frequency of new listings. Also read: Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty The Unbouncing of Binance While any new coin added to Binance can expect an immediate jump in price, the extent of the Binance bounce appears to be waning. It’s common practice for Binance to commence trading four hours after announcing a new listing. Up until recently, a coin could expect to soar in price off the news and then keep rising for hours or even days after trading commenced on the platform. Over the past month, the trajectory taken by new coins has changed, however. The price is still sure to soar, but now its appreciation is typically short-lived, and more akin to that of a classic pump and dump. Binance has no desire to pump coin prices; it’s merely an unavoidable side-effect of adding new assets. Traders, on the other hand, who have had little to crow about in a lengthy bear market, tend to be very fond of the resultant spike, which provides an opportunity to make – or lose – a lot of crypto in very little time. The reason why Binance coin listings have gone from “sustained price increase” to “flash pump” are likely to be two-fold, and mirror those which occurred at Kucoin earlier this year. More Frequency, More Predictability In April, Binance listed just four coins: Golem, Cloak, Cardano, and Groestlcoin. On April 4, Groestlcoin tripled in price, and then doubled again in the space of 10 days, eventually doing a 5x. Cardano, which already had high liquidity on other major exchanges, grew by a third after its Binance listing. Cloak rose by 25%, and Golem by 40% within five days of listing. Then, in May, Binance doubled its monthly listing ratio from four to eight. In total it added Theta, Civic, Skycoin, Zencash, Trueusd, Augur, Bytecoin, and Loom. All of these coins pumped in price – even supposed stablecoin Trueusd – but often the effects were short-lived. By the time Civic opened for trading, for instance, it had almost returned to its pre-announcement price. It is the prerogative of exchanges to decide which coins they should list and how often. In the case of platforms such as Kucoin and Binance, however, the novelty of a weekly listing has turned into the normality of an often daily listing. Even the bots seem to be getting tired of pumping the price of new Binance coins. On June 1, the exchange announced the listing of IOTX. Once again, its chart followed the same pattern as other recent additions such as Civic, with a drop-off as fast as its ascent. Binance listings are good for a lot of things, but sustaining a new price floor for digital assets is not necessarily one of them. Do you think Binance is losing its ability to inflate newly listed coins? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Satoshi Pulse, and Coincodex. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post New Binance Listings Are Losing Their Luster appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Bitcoin Cash Fund has launched a new web portal that’s focused on educating the masses about the many benefits of Bitcoin Cash. The new website Bitcoincashers.org plans to bring “everything Bitcoin Cash under one roof” showcasing the cryptocurrency as a fast and reliable payment method. Also read: Brisbane International is Now the World’s First Crypto-Friendly Airport Bitcoincashers.org Aims to Help Consumers and Businesses Learn to Use Bitcoin Cash Anytime The Bitcoin Cash Fund (BCF) wants to accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and its new website Bitcoincashers.org plans to solidify this philosophy. The BCF organization explains that the new web portal aims to educate businesses and individuals worldwide, not only on how the cryptocurrency works, but the site will explain how people can use the decentralized asset every day. Moreover, BCF details that the website will also be a general resource for things like exchanges, meetups, and bounties. Bitcoincashers.org will feature a ‘For Merchants’ page that will focus on a resource for businesses, and the site will detail the very basics of using bitcoin like buying, earning, trading, and spending. “We’re excited that Bitcoincashers.org will assist consumers and businesses to use Bitcoin Cash anytime, anywhere,” says Paul Wasensteiner, board member of Bitcoin Cash Fund. Bitcoin Cash is digital money that offers better features than traditional fiat cash. Vendors in places like Venezuela and other high-inflation environments are starting to use BCH to make payments without having to go through a third party such as a bank, government or payment service. A Closer Interaction With the Bitcoin Cash Ecosystem Bitcoincashers.org will feature a vast resource section of Bitcoin Cash wallets alongside available Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems. BCF says the organization recognizes the need for an all-in-one swiss army knife website dedicated to Bitcoin Cash, and they believe BitcoinCashers.org will be an excellent vehicle towards on-ramping mass Bitcoin Cash adoption. “Bitcoincashers.org is going to be very important for those learning to navigate through the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem,” notes BCF during the website launch. “There are a ton of different projects, exchanges, and different ways to interact with BCH which can get confusing for even the seasoned Bitcoinercashers. This website will bring all of these projects together in one place and will provide a chance to speed up the process of experiencing the community. What do you think about the Bitcoincashers.org website? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, and Bitcoincashers.org Did you know Bitcoin.com has an awesome podcast network? Check out the ‘This Week in Bitcoin’ series and ‘Humans of Bitcoin’ by listening to our very own podcast. The post Bitcoincashers.org a New Web Resource Dedicated to Bitcoin Cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Japanese giant GMO Internet has made several announcements over the last two days. The first is the addition of four cryptocurrencies to its crypto exchange margin services. The second is the launch of the GMO crypto wallet for both iOS and Android platforms. The third is the launch of Cryptochips, which enables the distribution of crypto rewards within participating game apps. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Upgrading Margin Services GMO Coin, the cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary of GMO Internet, has added four cryptocurrencies to its margin trading services. From Wednesday, May 30, customers can start trading “ETH/JPY, BCH/JPY, LTC/JPY, [and] XRP/JPY” in addition to the existing BTC/JPY offering on the exchange’s cryptocurrency FX platform used for leveraged trading. For BTC/JPY, the exchange offers 5x and 10x leverages. For the four new pairs, the exchange only offers 5x leverage. While there is no transaction fee, there is a leverage fee of 0.04% per day. The required margin for all pairs is the Japanese yen equivalent of 20%. GMO Coin Crypto Wallet GMO Coin also announced on Wednesday the launch of its “GMO Coin Virtual Currency Wallet” app for Android. Then, on Thursday, the company announced the release of its wallet iOS app. Using GMO’s wallet app, customers can buy, sell, and transfer cryptocurrencies as well as use it to deposit and withdraw Japanese yen at a bank account linked inside the app. Customers can also open an account at the exchange through the app as well as check prices of five supported cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, and XRP. Cryptochips by GMO On Thursday, May 31, GMO Internet announced that it has created “Cryptochips by GMO” that “enables the distribution of cryptocurrency as remuneration” within gaming apps. Game developers can add Cryptochips to their games, allowing “players to receive cryptocurrency as remuneration within the game – like a ‘secret pocket money’ – depending on the players’ rankings or when players have achieved missions or acquired items,” GMO described, adding: As the first initiative, Cryptochips will be mounted on [installed into] the real-time territorial battle game ‘Whimsical War,’ and we will launch the distribution of bitcoin in accordance with player rankings in the game in August 2018. Whimsical War is free to play with in-app purchases. It is available in the iOS App Store and the Google Play store. What do you think of GMO’s new offerings? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Whimsical War, and GMO Internet. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Japan’s GMO Upgrades Margin Services, Launches Wallet and In-Game BTC Rewards appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A class action lawsuit is being prepared by a group of lawyers in Japan over forked coins that cryptocurrency exchanges are not granting to their customers. Citing that these coins belong to the customers, the group seeks to change the business practices of crypto exchanges and obtain the forked coins for the plaintiffs. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Class Action Lawsuit Over Forked Coins A group of lawyers is preparing a class action lawsuit against the majority of crypto exchanges in Japan for withholding customers’ forked cryptocurrencies. They have formed a litigation counsel seeking to represent crypto holders nationwide in obtaining their forked cryptocurrencies from exchanges. The group announced on Thursday, May 31: This is to bring back the virtual currency (hard fork coins) that most exchanges do not grant to the original owners. “The virtual currency you deposit at an exchange should not belong to the exchange, but to the user,” the lawyers explained on their website created for traders to join the lawsuit, emphasizing that the exchanges currently judge for themselves whether to give these coins to customers. If they decide not to grant these coins to customers, then these “forked coins will be that of the exchanges, [and] the exchanges will be free to use them and make them profitable,” the group detailed. In addition, if they decide to grant these coins to customers after a considerable amount of time, then users cannot benefit during that period, but “the exchanges can raise their operating profits [with the coins] during that period.” Citing that there is no legal basis for handling hard forks, the lawyers stated that it is “unhealthy” how the exchanges currently judge whether to grant customers their forked coins, adding: If you deposit a virtual currency at an exchange, your contract with the exchange will be similar to a bank deposit. Therefore, [when] the deposited virtual currency is hard forked, the forked coins generated by the division are considered to belong to you, not to the exchange. In other words, it is a natural interpretation that exchanges have an obligation to grant this. According to Forkdrop.io, there have been 110 forked coins; BTC has been forked 70 times. Examples of forked coins. Participating Lawyers Five lawyers are participating in this lawsuit: Masaki Yoshida, Miki Fukuda, Kenzo Nakamura, Taiji Jonnouchi, and Koizumi Makoto. Their website also states, without further elaboration, that “Participation from overseas is also possible.” Five participating lawyers. The lawyers say that they have received requests regarding forked coins from a group of plaintiffs. After investigating the situation, they found a considerable legal problem in dealing with exchanges over obtaining forked coins. This is not the group’s first legal case concerning cryptocurrencies. Their announcement reveals that they previously filed a lawsuit against Coincheck in the Tokyo district court after it was hacked in January. For the hard fork lawsuit, the group’s fee is 20% of the forked coins if there is a winning judgment or settlement, the website detailed and quoted Yoshida saying (loosely translated): We formed this lawyer [group] to pursue changes of business practices pertaining to virtual currency trading. What do you think of this lawsuit? Do you think it will be successful? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Hard fork litigation counsel. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Lawsuit Brewing Against Crypto Exchanges in Japan Over Withheld Forked Coins appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With banks in Europe, America and Asia doing “everything to crush cryptocurrencies,” Binance CEO CZ says Africa can become a leader in their implementation. The major crypto exchange is thinking about opening an office in Uganda and we have covered the story in today’s Bitcoin in Brief. Also, online trade with cryptos spikes in Bahrain, while in Georgia, luxury real estate is being sold for bitcoin. All this has been happening in an otherwise bearish May. Binance to Open Office in Uganda Binance is considering the possibility of opening a new office in Uganda, company CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed at The Africa Blockchain Conference 2018, which took place at the end of May in Kampala, the country’s capital. The move is part of the trading platform’s plans to support the economic transformation of the African nation and increase youth employment through blockchain technology implementation. The leading cryptocurrency exchange has offices in Japan, Hong Kong, Malta, and intends to establish a global compliance center in Bermuda. With the help of companies like Binance, “Uganda will be able to join the 4th Industrial Revolution, subsequently a lot of new jobs will open and the flow of investment into the country will increase,” Zhao said. “Watching this conference I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of Africans to introduce cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. It was surprising to see that cryptocurrencies enjoy not only an increased interest from the people, but also the active support of many representatives of African banks and government officials,” he stated. In April, Binance’ CEO announced a partnership with Crypto Savannah, an African blockchain innovation hub, Msingi, an organization working to build the East African industries of the future, and the “Made in Africa” Initiative. In a post on Twitter, Changpeng Zhao promised “thousands of jobs and bringing investments to Uganda.” “Expect more news on Africa!” he added in the comments. In a statement during the conference in Kampala, Zhao noted that most banks in Europe, the US, and China criticize cryptocurrencies and do everything possible to crush them, and added: “It seems to me that Africa has real chances of becoming one of the leading regions in the implementation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.” Bearish May Brings Down Trading Volumes More than $606 billion in cryptocurrencies have been traded last month through over 1,600 different cryptocurrencies, according to Coinmarketcap. The total is less than half the $1.4 trillion in more than 1,500 cryptocurrencies traded during the previous monthly period, 24/7 Wall St reports. The data shows a bearish May following a rather bullish April. With a 30-day volume of $184.31 billion, bitcoin (BTC) is the most traded cryptocurrency. The last several months have seen another negative trend – in futures trading. Since March, the contracts have dropped by a third. Nymex bitcoin futures have lost more than 51% since trading began in January. Bitcoin June futures on Cboe traded down about 1.9% at noon on Wednesday. The expiration of CME bitcoin futures on May 25 also influenced cryptocurrency prices. Crypto Trade Booming in Bahrain In some parts of the world, however, things do not look so bleak. Since the beginning of this year, more jurisdictions have begun to legally recognize cryptocurrencies, one way or another. These include the US, Canada, many members of the European Union, and several African and Asian nations. Bahrain, a country credited for building the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, has recently enjoyed a spike in online trade using cryptocurrency, according to local media. In the absence of official regulations, bitcoin transactions have been booming on Bahraini websites and social media. A shop selling crypto-priced items is set to open soon in the Riffa area, Albawaba Business reported. The island nation has also indicated it may soon emerge as a global cryptocurrency exchange hub. In March, the government in Manama set up a “regulatory sandbox” for that purpose. “As long as the business qualifies as fintech, we will welcome it,” said Khalid Saad, CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay, quoted by Business Line. At least four crypto trading platforms are already registered there. The sector, however, is still awaiting a final decision on the legal tender status of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. It is supposed to come from the Central Bank of Bahrain, which is the country’s financial regulator. Real Estate Sold for Bitcoin in Georgia A luxurious apartment has been put on sale for 25 bitcoins (~$190,000) in Georgia. According to local realtors, the owner has explicitly asked the price to be announced in cryptocurrency, Geomigrant reports. The current legislation does not mention crypto payments. Despite the lack of a regulatory framework, cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity as a means of exchange and trade among Georgians. The Caucasian country is known as a major crypto mining hub in Eurasia thanks to some tax incentives and low electricity rates. According to a recently published study by the World Bank, around 5% of Georgian households participate in cryptocurrency trading and investing. Blockchain technologies have also spread in Georgia. What are your thoughts on the topics in today’s Bitcoin in Brief? Let us know 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 lookup 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 Bitcoin in Brief Friday: Expanding Horizons in a Bearish Month appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. One year after their successfully run $4M ICO, Authorship is proud to announce their platform is ready to be launched as per their scheduled roadmap on June 1st. Authorship aims to simplify the book publishing process by giving all the authorities to the author. When an author publishes a book at the platform, he/she enjoys all the rights and does not have to comply with the complex policies of publishers, worry about the distribution or share the major chunk of royalties with the publishing company. All the transactions on the platform are done through the use of ATS tokens. The ATS, an ERC-20 token based on the Ethereum technology, is a unit of exchange on a new Blockchain based book publishing system. Authors are rewarded with ATS tokens in exchange to book sales, while readers are able to spend ATS tokens in order to purchase books. Authorship is a Bancor token relay partner, meaning users can easily buy/sell ATS tokens through the Bancor portal or directly from the Authorship website thanks to the integrated exchange widget. It can easily be said that with the aim of resolving one of the biggest challenges authors face i.e. to get their books published and distributed and to connect readers with at least 100,000 authors from all over the world, Authorship is going to drastically transform the book industry. Authorship is all about facilitating and encouraging existing and budding authors to do what they do best. This platform will be the convenience they need to grow in terms of both wealth and profession/interest/business. Once launched, Authorship might prove to be a revolutionary platform that facilitates and promotes the literary community across the globe. Press Contact Email Address contact@authorship.com Supporting Link http://authorship.com This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Publishing Platform Authorship Is Proud to Announce Their Platform Will Open on June 1st appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The government of India has formally rejected Venezuela’s state-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, despite an attempt to entice India with a 30% discount. Dependent on the Latin American country’s oil, a steady, uninterrupted supply is key to growing one of the world’s most populous nations. Venezuela is in the midst of dramatically bad economic fortune compounded by US sanctions, forcing its government to devise ever-more creative ways to stay afloat. Also read: Philippines’ Crypto Wallet Reaches 5 Million Users, Adds More Coins India to Venezuela, ‘Gracias, No Gracias’ Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj explained, “We cannot have any trade in cryptocurrency as it is banned by the Reserve Bank of India. We will see which medium we can use for trade.” She was speaking during a conference designed to highlight ties between her country, Venezuela, and Iran. Sushma Swaraj Both countries courting India are the focus of US economic ire and tightening sanctions. Iran also supplies India oil, and it too has been the subject of more bellicose attitudes from the current American administration. Rumors have long swirled regarding the Islamic Republic flirting with its own version of a state-backed crypto. So far, only Venezuela has officially rolled out a currency specifically designed to thwart sanctions, the petro. Back in late April of this year, the president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro proposed a two pronged strategy to keep oil flowing for the more than a billion persons of the subcontinent, while at the same time increasing adoption of the petro. Essentially, should India make payment in petros Mr. Maduro promised substantial price discounts of up to 30%. It wasn’t as long a shot as imagined: Iran and India agreed to forgo using US dollars in future oil trade. India’s Central Bank Clamps Down on Crypto India has its own tepid relationship with cryptocurrency, as its central bank has moved hard against adoption, employing legal measures and law enforcement to combat domestic interest. Its central bank just a month ago banned all institutions under regulatory purview from dealing in cryptocurrency, insisting they must prohibit its use and purchase. Banks too may not even settle in decentralized money. The government has used recurring themes of terrorism and crime to go so far as to remove popular lower level fiat denominations from circulation. Due to such cockeyed intervention and the resultant instability, cryptocurrency has gained in popularity in the country. On the broader strategy of shunning countries such as Iran and Venezuela due to US reprisal fears, “We don’t make our foreign policy under pressure from other countries,” Ms. Swaraj stressed. “India follows only UN sanctions, and not unilateral sanctions by any country.” Do you think India is right to steer clear of the petro? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Twitter. 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 India Rejects Venezuelan Crypto Despite 30% Discount appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There are a lot of people people who own cryptocurrencies, and then there are those who think they own these digital assets, but in actuality don’t possess the private keys because they are held with a third party. Learning how to securely archive records that hold private keys like a JSON file or exporting, importing, and sweeping can provide people with the basic steps towards really owning bitcoin. Also read: Localbitcoincash.org Revamps Website and Adds New P2P Features Private Key Ownership Provides Financial Sovereignty Every day someone new is learning about the fantastic benefits of bitcoin and cryptocurrency solutions. Many people will have acquired their first digital asset from an exchange like Coinbase or Circle Invest, but have yet to learn how to secure their private keys so they can really own those precious cryptocurrencies. The first and foremost lesson to digital currency ownership is a statement said over and over again by veteran bitcoiners. If you don’t possess your private key, you don’t own bitcoins. Private Keys and the Different Ways to Obtain Them A private key is the secret alphanumeric code that is mathematically paired with your public key — the alphanumeric address you use to receive payments. Private keys allow you to spend your cryptocurrencies and ensure you maintain ownership over them as long as the 256-bit alphanumeric code is kept a secret. If you happen to own cryptocurrencies because maybe you purchased some on an exchange, or someone loaded up a wallet for you or gave you a paper wallet, you may want to know how to obtain full ownership of your private keys. The thing about private keys is they can be stored in various ways and it’s good to gain knowledge on the differences between each method. Mnemonic Phrase If someone gave you a wallet you may have to find out the mnemonic phrase or mnemonic seed associated with the cryptocurrency. For instance, if someone gave you some bitcoin cash (BCH) using a software client like the Bitcoin.com Wallet you could set up your and find your mnemonic recovery phrase easily. An example of a phrase would be twelve random words given to you by the software client in order which you must back up by writing down the phrase in the exact same order. The twelve words (some wallets use 24) can be used to recover your bitcoin cash either using the same Bitcoin.com Wallet or another wallet that supports the mnemonic phrase backup restoration process. These words should be guarded with maximum security and you should never take a screenshot of them or type the words online. If someone else knows the twelve-word mnemonic seed tethered to your coins this means someone can have full access to your cryptocurrency holdings. An example of a private key tied to a twelve-word mnemonic phrase within an Electrum wallet. The QR code to the right is also a private key. A Backup Keyfile or JSON File There are other ways you can be given a private key like, for instance, in a keyfile or JSON file. A JSON file (JavaScript Object Notation) is simply a file with a lightweight data format that allows it to be easily read and written by humans or machines. Sometimes browser wallets will give you a backup JSON file that contains your coins’ private keys. These types of files need to be imported into a supporting wallet to gain access to the funds associated with the keys. These files need to be secured in a safe manner and users can hide them and encrypt them in folders so intruders can’t gain access to the file. Just like the mnemonic seed, someone with access to a keyfile or JSON has full access to the funds associated with those keys. The Fundamental Difference Between Importing and Sweeping Import There are also two different ways people can obtain their keys — importing and sweeping. These two distinct ways of gaining full ownership of keys are separate actions within the cryptocurrency-import process. Importing a private key means you are simply tethering the funds that belong to the private key to an existing set of keys in your software wallet. This means the coins are still tied to the private key that may be tied to a paper wallet for example. Both wallets now have access to the funds tethered to the private key until they are spent. If you are planning to import keys make sure that both areas of ownership remain 100 percent secure from other individuals, otherwise you may want to sweep the keys. Sweep Essentially sweeping private keys is a form of importing them but when you sweep them they are sent to an entirely different address and the older imported key set is no longer valid. So if you take the Bitcoin.com Wallet and sweep the paper wallet someone gave you, the paper wallet will be emptied. Anytime you sweep a source wallet the funds will be moved to an entirely different location with another public and private key pair. Lots of wallets allow users to sweep a QR code that contains a private key in order to gain access to the funds. Note that if you have a QR code tethered to a private key on a paper wallet or stored somewhere and it is exposed it can be easily swept away if it’s not kept hidden. Bitcoin: Be Your Own Bank As we mentioned above, keys can be kept in QR codes, keyfiles, JSON files, and mnemonic phrases and knowing how to access them for full ownership is a must for every cryptocurrency enthusiast. If you hold your money on an exchange you are allowing a third party to have ownership of your coins and if something happened to that exchange like a hack that resulted in a huge loss you may lose your bitcoins. Gaining access to your cryptocurrency’s keys means you own them and you maintain full ownership. The fundamental benefit of bitcoin means you get to be your own bank. Are you sure you own your private keys? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Wiki Commons. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Bitcoin Ownership: Your Private Keys to Financial Sovereignty appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With over one million units sold, the Nano S is the world’s most popular hardware wallet. A combination of first mover advantage – until recently Ledger had only really had Trezor to compete with – coupled with excellent security and usability have made the Nano S ubiquitous. This week, news.Bitcoin.com took delivery of a brand new Nano S and put it to the test. Also read: A Hands-On Review of the Keepkey Hardware Wallet The Ledger Nano S Reviewed and Rated When it comes to judging hardware wallets, there’s no such thing as “best”: everyone has their preferences, and provided the wallet they’ve chosen does the job with the minimum of fuss, it’s likely to become a favorite. Despite the fact that most hardware wallets are little more than glorified USB sticks, cryptocurrency users reserve unusual affection for them. In a digital space, they’re one of the few physical manifestations of the assets we own. After covering the new limited edition Nano S while writing about Pizza Day recently, I FOMO’d into buying one. The “Laszlo’s Pizza” edition is just a regular Nano S in a prettier box, but symbolically it serves as a reminder of how far bitcoin’s come, and of the early adopters who gave BTC the utility that led us to where we are today. Just 1,337 units of the device were released, and I took delivery of mine on Wednesday. Like all Nanos, it comes bearing Ledger’s faux wax tamper-proof seal, reminiscent of the sort of seal that once adorned the king’s letters. As skeuomorphisms go, this one’s pretty neat. What’s in the Box? Inside the fetching pizza box, the device itself comes tucked into the “sachet” of red chilli pepper oil, and is finished in a fitting pizza base red. In every other respect, this is just a regular Nano S. News.Bitcoin.com last reviewed one of the devices in 2016, and a lot has changed under the hood since then. Two years ago, BTC, ETH, and ETC were the main currencies it stored; today that list has grown to over 30 cryptos including BCH, ZEC, and ZEN. It also takes ERC20 tokens, which can be managed with the aid of Myetherwallet. Patience is something you’ll need a lot of while setting up the Nano S Initializing the device is as simple as plugging in the USB cable (to a thunderbolt port adapter in the case of my Macbook Pro) and then pressing the two buttons to begin. Despite the tiny OLED screen, the text prompts are very easy to read. Ledger’s Get Started page guides users through the setup process. There’s the option to set a PIN code of up to eight digits, but you can settle for less if you’d prefer. Next, you’ll be prompted to write down your recovery phrase. The 24 Most Precious Words in the World Most wallet recovery phrases are 12 words long; Ledger’s is 24, displayed one word at a time on the tiny screen. I jot down the miniature essay and am then prompted to confirm it, one word at a time, by selecting from the various words displayed on screen. Each word in the sequence comes with a dozen possibilities to cycle through, so the whole process takes forever to complete. From a security perspective, this is understandable. From a user perspective, it’s a little frustrating, the equivalent of web forms that prompt you to enter your email address twice because they don’t trust you to type it correctly the first time. Once done, I head over to Ledger’s Apps page and select the Chrome app titled “Bitcoin & Altcoins”. There are separate ones for ethereum and ripple. I install the Chrome app and that’s where I draw a blank. In theory I should just connect and unlock the device to open the wallet management software on my laptop. Nothing happens though, and it’s the same when I try the Ledger Ethereum Chrome app. There’s nothing in Ledger’s instructions to explain what should happen next, but after playing around for a while I work out that I need to first install the Ledger Manager app. It’d be helpful if Ledger added this step to their setup guide. Finding the web apps page in the Chrome browser is a lot harder than you’d think The Spinning Wheel of Death Via the Ledger Manager, I click to install the BCH app, but it fails to load and I’m met with the spinning wheel of death. Then the software stops even recognizing the wallet altogether. As with Keepkey, the Ledger S is proving a hassle to set up, exacerbated by the difficulty of finding apps you’ve installed in Chrome. That’s due to the poor design of Chrome, which hides apps and extensions away beneath submenus so that retrieving them takes ages. In the end, the only way I can retrieve the Ledger Manager app is by clicking back onto the Ledger site, following the link to the Chrome webstore and then searching for and clicking to launch Ledger Manager app. It shouldn’t have to be this way. The BCH setup process with the Nano S is extremely confusing When I finally succeed in launching the Ledger Manager app, it still won’t recognize my Nano S as being connected. I disconnect and reconnect it but still nothing. For the purposes of brevity, I’ll skip the next hour of my life. Suffice to say it involves switching between laptops, Chrome apps, Ledger webpages and various other pop-up windows in a quest to get the wallet working. I eventually manage to install the BCH wallet and send over $10 from my Bitcoin.com wallet. It arrives almost instantly, but then the Nano S stops connecting again and I lose interest. This happened a lot I know I’m meant to advocate that everyone should store their crypto in a wallet they hold the keys to and keep the bulk of their portfolio off centralized exchanges. And I know that the setup experience for most Ledger users was probably a lot smoother than mine. If I’m to be honest though, I intend to lob the Nano S in a drawer and never use it again. It simply wasn’t worth the hassle. At €140, my limited edition Nano S might just be the most expensive pizza box bought with BTC since Laszlo Hanyecz. What’s your favorite hardware wallet and why? 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 Review: Ledger Nano S Put to the Test appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

One of India’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, Unocoin, has announced the launch of its new trading platform, “featuring the whole set of tools for hardcore traders in the industry.” Fifteen cryptocurrencies can now be traded using its platforms. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Unocoin Launches Unodax Leading Indian cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin announced on Wednesday the official launch of its new trading platform called Unodax (Unocoin Digital Asset Exchange). The company wrote: Going forward, Unocoin moves the live order-book trading platform to their exclusive new domain Unodax which would be featuring the whole set of tools for hardcore traders in the industry. The company believes that the migration from its existing platform to Unodax “is being performed without any hiccups to Unocoin users,” noting that “users will retain their login credentials and transaction history across the sites post-Unodax launch.” In addition, the two platforms’ websites and apps will share the username and password, Unocoin explained, emphasizing, “For a user, nothing changes — except for the fact that you now get distinct websites that aim for speed and performance.” Unocoin vs Unodax – the Differences The leading Indian exchange’s website explains that Unocoin.com “is now exclusive to buy and sell bitcoin [BTC],” adding that there is “no price slippage up to 10 BTC,” execution is immediate, the transaction fee is 0.7%, and the minimum order is 1,000 rupee (~US$15). The company elaborated: Moving forward, Unocoin.com can be used to store your crypto assets, and to buy or sell bitcoin from Unocoin’s accompanying brokerage services. In contrast, Unodax.com will be used “to buy or sell other crypto assets” in addition to BTC, with the maker fee of 0.4% and taker fee is 0.6%. Furthermore, there will be “a bitcoin bonus (0.3%) on all your maker transactions,” to award those who bring “liquidity to the order book.” Recently, Unocoin introduced the trading of 15 cryptocurrencies which are now listed on Unodax. They include BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, XRP, BTG, BAT, FUN, ZRX, and OMG. Prior to the Unodax launch, the platform added an “order-based trading feature on its platform as part of a suite of updates on its iOS and Android application,” initially supporting “six major crypto assets, i.e. bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin gold (BTG), litecoin (LTC), ethereum (ETH), and ripple (XRP),” the exchange wrote at the time. Surviving RBI Order Currently, financial institutions are in the process of closing bank accounts of cryptocurrency exchanges, per the order by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Banks have until July 5 to end their relationships with crypto companies. Meanwhile, petitions have piled up in court seeking the reversal of the central bank’s order. The Indian Supreme Court will hear the case on July 20. Meanwhile, traders in India have flocked to crypto exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies ahead of the ban. Trading platform operators are also coming up with strategies to stay in business even after the central bank’s order takes effect. A number of them, including Zebpay and Koinex, have launched crypto-to-crypto trading platforms. What do you think of this new platform? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Unocoin. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Exchange Unocoin Launches New Trading Platform with 15 Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Devere Group, an international financial consultancy boasting well over 80,000 clients in more than 100 countries, has announced that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and EOS have now been added its recently released cryptocurrency exchange app Devere Crypto. Also Read: Bitcoin in Brief Thursday: Asus Creates 20-GPU Mining Motherboard Crypto Portfolio Diversification This latest addition to the app means that users of the service, which also supports fiat USD, Euro and GBP, can now buy, sell, store, and exchange the two cryptocurrencies alongside the current roster of Bitcoin Core (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Dash (DASH), Monero (XMR) and Stellar Lumens (XLM). Nigel Green, founder and CEO of the group, commented: “The addition of Bitcoin Cash and EOS to the Devere Crypto app is part of our ongoing commitment to clients. The users of the app are demanding an ever-wider, diversified crypto portfolio as the crypto sector expands and moves even further into the mainstream.” After the app released earlier this year, Green explained: “All the digital coins on Devere Crypto have different characteristics, strengths and values. As such these additions help to achieve portfolio diversification within this specific asset class and their individual traits make them useful in different ways for investors. I believe that there is no longer any doubt that cryptocurrencies in some form are the future of money.” HNWIs Shedding some light on why the group has entered the crypto market, it also released the findings of a new poll in which it is revealed that 35% of high net worth individuals are now already invested in or will make investments in cryptocurrencies before the end of 2018. According to Devere, the 600+ respondents of this poll are some of the group’s wealthy clients who currently reside in the U.S., the UK, Australia, the UAE, Qatar, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Spain, France, Germany and South Africa. CEO Green opined: “This mainstream expansion is clearly evidenced by the fact that more than a third of wealthy individuals around the world – who are already likely to be successful investors – are telling us that they already have exposure to crypto or that they will have by the end of this year. The survey’s findings demonstrate that high net worth individuals are increasingly unable to ignore the huge potential of cryptocurrencies. There’s now surging public awareness of the value, need and demand for digital, global currencies in a digitalised, globalised world. I expect that a broader awareness and understanding of the crypto sector will grow exponentially in the next year as the tech that underpins it further improves, as major corporations and financial institutions embrace it, and as regulation is further developed.” What do you think about Devere adding BCH and EOS support? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Devere Group Adds Bitcoin Cash and EOS to Crypto Exchange App appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

If there’s a sacred line the crypto community insists shouldn’t be crossed, it’s Thou Shalt Never Cooperate with Government Prohibitions. Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, appears to have ventured into such territory, according to Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov. He claims the maker of iPhone, iPad, and other iconic hardware, is purposefully restricting Telegram’s program updates on Apple’s latest operating system rollout in an effort to appease Russian authorities. Also read: Philippines’ Crypto Wallet Reaches 5 Million Users, Adds More Coins Apple Inc. Sides with Russia Against Telegram “Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store,” Telegram’s Pavel Durov wrote on his quarter million member Durov’s Channel. “Russia banned Telegram on its territory in April because we refused to provide decryption keys for all our users’ communications to Russia’s security agencies. We believe we did the only possible thing, preserving the right of our users to privacy in a troubled country.” As reported in these pages two month ago, “Supreme Court Judge Alla Nazarova […] rejected an appeal filed by Telegram, objecting to Russia’s Federal Security Services (FSB) obtaining the encryption keys to its platform. As a result, Telegram will be legally obligated to grant security forces access to the private messages and other data of its users, unless it can convince an appellate court to reverse the decision.” Weeks after, a kangaroo Moscow court upheld that decision, ordering Telegram to comply. Then, as like now, Mr. Durov took to his personal channel, explaining defiantly, “The power that local governments have over IT corporations is based on money. At any given moment, a government can crash their stocks by threatening to block revenue streams from its markets and thus force these companies to do strange things (remember how last year Apple moved Icloud servers to China). At Telegram, we have the luxury of not caring about revenue streams or ad sales. Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed.” Apple Also Hounded by Russian Authorities By late Spring of this year, Telegram had gone full protest mode. “For us, this was an easy decision. We promised our users 100% privacy and would rather cease to exist than violate this promise,” Mr. Durov stressed. “To support internet freedoms in Russia and elsewhere I started giving out bitcoin grants to individuals and companies who run socks5 proxies and VPN. I am happy to donate millions of dollars this year to this cause, and hope that other people will follow. I called this Digital Resistance – a decentralized movement standing for digital freedoms and progress globally.” Supporters even responded to Telegram’s call for a paper airplane mass fly, providing a profound and somewhat beautiful symbol of cryptography’s ultimate power. For its part, Apple has been hectored by the Russian government’s telecommunications minder, which recently stressed, “In order to anticipate Roskomnadzor’s likely response to the violations regarding the operation of the aforesaid Apple, Inc. services we are asking you to notify us within the tightest deadlines of the company’s further actions regarding the solution of these issues,” Tass reported. The order was directed at both Apple and its App Store along with Google and its Google Play store to effectively drop Telegram. Mr. Durov lamented, “Unfortunately, Apple didn’t side with us. While Russia makes up only 7% of Telegram’s user base, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April. As a result, we’ve also been unable to fully comply with GDPR for our EU-users by the deadline of May 25, 2018. We are continuing our efforts to resolve the situation and will keep you updated.” Do you think Apple should fight the Russian government ? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Twitter. 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 Apple Sides with Russian Govt, Restricts Telegram, Claims Pavel Durov appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bittrex has finally introduced fiat currency support. The US exchange, which was established in 2013, subsisted with tether as its USD surrogate until recently, before adding another stablecoin, TrueUSD, a couple of months ago. Around the same time, its CEO Bill Shihara revealed that the platform would be adding USD pairs and today they went live for corporate clients. Also read: Weiss Ratings Publishes Complete List of 93 Cryptocurrency Ratings More Fiat, Less Tether Bittrex, along with exchanges such as Binance and Upbit, has been gradually weaning itself away from tether, which for a long time was the only dollar-based hedge available. It has been speculated that the desire to list other stablecoins, and to eventually pivot to USD, was partially born out of a desire to be less reliant on the notoriously opaque tether. Whatever the reasoning, Bittrex has now secured the banking facilities necessary to enable fiat-crypto trading, and in Malta Binance is believed to be following suit. Initially, the Seattle-based exchange will offer the USD paired against BTC, tether (USDT), and TrueUSD. This means that traders can swap between dollar-pegged tokens, which could be useful in the event of needing to send dollars to another exchange, or in the event of a stablecoin slipping from its dollar peg, as previously happened to TrueUSD upon news of its Binance listing. Bittrex Signs with Signature Bloomberg reports that Bittrex has inked a deal with New York’s Signature Bank. This will allow corporate clients in certain US states to make fiat deposits. While retail investors will be unable to benefit from this facility initially, Bittrex hopes to eventually roll the service out to all users who reside in states where it is licensed. As of today, May 31, corporate traders in Washington, California, New York, and Montana can make fiat deposits. Due to the restrictions in place, which will prevent the majority of Bittrex’ three million users from being able to participate, USD trading volume is likely to be low to begin with. “It’s been a long path [towards securing a banking agreement],” Bittrex Chief Executive Officer Bill Shihara told Bloomberg. “It’s not just about banks being able to trust Bittrex. It’s about banks being able to trust crypto in general. And I think it’s really showing that crypto is turning the corner in terms of mainstream acceptance.” “They really do look and pore through the entire business,” Shihara said. “They want to make sure that we’ve got robust AML/KYC processes, that we’ve got the right controls on our finances. They do background checks and everything. They really look at our business soup to nuts.” Will you use Bittrex’ banking facilities to deposit fiat currency once they’re available to retail investors? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Bittrex. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bittrex Launches USD Fiat Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. Following the announcement that Circle, a fintech startup backed by Goldman Sachs, plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, the blockchain-based ecosystem MoneyToken has confirmed the listing of the stablecoin, Circle USDC, on its lending platform and decentralized exchange. “USD-C is compliant and easy-to-cash-in alternative to Tether, and we expect a lot of requests from traditional and crypto business to add it as an option to our platform, I think that need was just in the air” Alex Rass, co-founder of MoneyToken MoneyToken is a worldwide blockchain-based financial services ecosystem, which provides opportunities for leveraging, borrowing and lending cryptocurrency assets. In early 2018 MoneyToken has announced strategic partnerships with several TOP-10 cryptocurrencies and was supported by founder of Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, who has joined the MoneyToken’s advisory board. USD-C is ERC-20 token based on the Ethereum network. Circle plans to offer USDC through Poloniex. It will also incorporate USDC in its social payments app and over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk. Circle is a peer-to-peer payments technology company, which was founded in 2013 by internet entrepreneurs Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville. Circle has bought Poloniex exchange and was backed by $250,000,000 from Goldman Sachs, Bitmain, IDG Capital, Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, Accel, Digital Currency Group and Pantera, along with new investors Blockchain Capital and Tusk Ventures. There is no direct connection between MoneyToken’s founder Alex Rass and Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire, but so quick reaction probably means some connections in between or with Goldman Sachs, that is interested to integrate their USDC coin into existing crypto ecosystem. Contact Email Address james.hendersonmt@gmail.com Supporting Link https://moneytoken.com/ This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: MoneyToken to Give out Loans in Stablecoin from Goldman Sachs-Backed Circle appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Last January news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Brisbane Airport in Australia preparing to accept cryptocurrencies. Now today all the merchants and airport terminals accept various digital assets such as bitcoin core, dash, ethereum, and steem making it one of the friendliest cryptocurrency airports in the world. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Merchants at Brisbane International Airport Now Accept Various Cryptocurrencies Individuals traveling to Brisbane or the South East Queensland area in Australia can now spend various cryptocurrencies at the Brisbane International Airport. The airport is the third busiest airstrip in the country and every merchant there now accepts digital currencies. The cryptocurrency acceptance is due to Brisbane Airport Corporations’ (BAC) partnership with the Australian payment provider Travelbybit. On May 29, the Youtube channel, Nugget’s News Australia, visited the Brisbane airport when the new system was implemented. The host of the video Alex talked detailed that Brisbane is the first international airport that’s entirely “crypto-friendly.” The Youtube channel Nugget’s News Australia visits Brisbane International Airport the day cryptocurrencies were implemented. Caleb Yeoh, CEO of Travelbybit explains that people can visit the company’s website to see live transactions. “We’ve got travelers from all over the world testing it out and I think the merchants are really excited — They have been telling us they have been getting a lot of interaction from all the different visitors and that’s created a bit of a buzz,” Yeoh explained during the video. Blockchain technology has the ability to make transactions and global commerce a lot more efficient and a lot more transparent. Caleb Yeoh, CEO of Travelbybit. Helping Retailers Maintain Relevance and Resilience The representative from BAC explained that it is important for the company to give passengers choice when traveling to the airport. The BAC executive detailed that the partnership with Travelbybit helps their retailers maintain “relevance and resilience against the threat of online shopping.” Additionally, he stated that BAC would learn about cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions so it could possibly help further operations within the international airport. “We’re happy to partner with Caleb and help our retailers explore this brave new world of cryptocurrency,” the BAC executive further noted. What do you think about Brisbane International Airport accepting cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments below. Images: Shutterstock, Youtube, and Nugget’s News Australia. Want to get a few bits of BCH to test out this awesome technology check out our Bitcoin Cash Faucet today! The post Brisbane International is Now the World’s First Crypto-Friendly Airport appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article