Month: June 2017

After reaching an all time high of $2760 on May 25th, Bitcoin’s price has been struggling to recover from the crash that followed. The price touched a low of $1850 and since has been slowly rising. The recent news of Chinese Bitcoin exchanges resuming withdrawals seems to have propelled the price upwards almost $100 in a matter of hours.

Huobi was the last exchange to finally enable withdrawals after months of deliberation with the PBOC. These news mark the last of the “Big Three” exchanges returning to business – OkCoin, Huobi, and BTCC.

Depending on the exchange, users can withdraw either 10, 20, or 50 BTC per day. That is a substantial amount even for Bitcoin whales. It seems that the PBOC has finally settled with the exchanges and ultimately green-lighted them to continue doing business as usual. One interesting fact to keep in mind, as mentioned by kris33 on reddit:

Weird withdrawal limits. You can withdraw ~$23,000 worth of BTC, and/or ~$230,000 worth of ETH, and/or ~$5000 worth of LTC.

It is still early to tell whether that was an intentional decision or whether or not it was a mistake. By allowing users to withdraw almost 10X more in Ethereum, the exchanges are further pumping the price of ETH because those that want to withdraw their coins asap will have to buy Ethereum and withdraw that way. It is almost ironic that after all the noise that the PBOC made regarding regulating exchanges, they let such uneven limits to be implemented.

As Bitcoin’s price is climbing past $2400 it is hard to tell whether the recent drop was a bull trap. The next resistance level is $2500 as it is both a technical and an emotional barrier. If Bitcoin’s price can pass the $2500 level and turn it into support, we may see further price increases absent any negative news.

Remember the SEC decision which is still pending regarding Bitcoin’s ETF petition for review? The agency still hasn’t publicly announced it’s second ruling regarding the currency. In the likely scenario that the SEC will once again deny Bitcoin’s ETF, it will be interesting to see how much if at all Bitcoin’s price will be affected. Two months ago when the SEC first ruled on Bitcoin’s ETF, the price dropped over 30% and caused quite a panic crash. This time it might be different as all the focus is on the Eastern countries furthering the crypto’s adoptions.

Dislaimer: This is not trading advice, this article is for educational purposes only. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is yet to profit from Chinese optimism spilling over from Bitcoin and altcoin markets.

Chinese bitcoin exchanges have reportedly resumed bitcoin withdrawals. Customers of BTCC and Okcoin can now withdraw their coins up to certain daily limits. Huobi is also expected to follow suit shortly.

Also read: India’s Government Divided Over Bitcoin Legalization

Bitcoin Withdrawals Resumed

Following the inspections by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), BTCC, Huobi, and Okcoin halted coin withdrawals in February. Almost four months later, on Wednesday May 31, at least two of them reportedly lifted their cryptocurrency withdrawal suspensions.

According to Twitter user Cnledger, BTCC’s customer service confirmed that they have resumed coin withdrawals on Wednesday. A Reddit user who claimed to have initiated a withdrawal request at the exchange said that the daily limit was 20 BTC for his account type and that his request was approved within 20 minutes.

Okcoin has also lifted its withdrawal suspension subject to certain limits, 8btc reported on Thursday. “The 24-hour withdrawal limit of the International site and OKEX is: 200 BTC, 500 LTC and 1,000 ETH,” the publication quoted the exchange’s website. “As for the Chinese site, the limit is 20 BTC (10 of which could be withdrawn to external addresses), 400 LTC (200 of which could be withdrawn to external addresses) and 1,000 ETH.” However, the exchange’s customer service told the publication:

The withdrawal feature is being tested at the moment.

At press time, Huobi has not yet announced that bitcoin withdrawals have resumed.

Bitcoin Prices and Trading Volumes Responded

The results of the withdrawals resuming were quickly realized at global exchanges on Wednesday. While the price of a bitcoin rose sharply worldwide, they were more bullish on BTCC and Okcoin, typically trading 10 percent higher than other exchanges.

For instance, while Bitflyer, Bitstamp, and Bitfinex had 5%, 7%, and 9% positive gains respectively on Wednesday evening, Okcoin and BTCC had a 19% and a 15% 24-hour growth. The price of litecoin on Chinese exchanges also experienced the same effect.

Global trading volumes also picked up substantially after the news spread, with BTCC and Okcoin showing higher volumes than elsewhere for the rest of the day.

News of the withdrawals resuming came shortly after the three exchanges announced that they were adding either ETH or ETC trading to their platforms. Huobi began ETH trading on May 30 while Okcoin is starting on June 1. BTCC CEO Bobby Lee also announced a couple of days prior that his exchange will list ETC after conducting a series of Twitter polls.

The Long Wait is Over but PBOC Denies Being Responsible

The PBOC’s inspections of Chinese bitcoin exchanges started in January. Then in February, all three major exchanges announced that they were halting bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals, but CNY withdrawals were not affected.

A post on Huobi’s blog cites the need for a system upgrade to comply with new anti-money laundering requirements as well as foreign exchange and other financial regulations.

Although the exchanges never stated whether they were ordered by the authorities to suspend withdrawals, a leaked document reported by 8btc in April suggests that the suspension was a direct order from one of the authorities.

However, 8btc reported new findings last week that “the suspension of BTC withdrawal was not a direct order from the authority,” according to a recent letter from the PBOC. This letter was supposedly in reply to an inquiry about whether the central bank was responsible for bitcoin exchanges halting withdrawals. Cnledger also tweeted about this letter last week:

PBOC reply to BTC user: we did not ask trading platforms to suspend withdrawals. It was a decision made by themselves. The inspection has not ended.

Earlier this month, Bitcoin.com reported on the Chinese regulators preparing to issue regulatory guidelines for bitcoin trading platforms in China. The document is expected to be released sometime in June.

Do you think Chinese bitcoin exchanges can return to their former popularity once the withdrawal limitations have all been removed? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitcoincharts, and PBOC

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Resume Withdrawals appeared first on Bitcoin News.

ScheduleMe, a product of A Mighty Nice Company, is a new quality service for scheduling time for individual consumers and enterprises. This innovative solution is based on real-life difficulties encountered by our founder, Krista Robinson, when she was unable to see someone’s calendar availability outside of her organization. Such scheduling problems can lead to much unnecessary stress and wasted time.

To develop a solution, Krista assembled a strong team of business and technology professionals, including close friends and others who believed in her vision of a way to avoid this all-too-common problem. All members of the team are dedicated to their individual tasks and to the success of the service overall.

The ScheduleMe Executive Team has considerable experience in the supply chain solutions market, pharma, and enterprise software. The group includes one Microsoft 10-year veteran who manages day-to-day operations as well as the company’s strategic direction.

We Weren’t Alone in Our Endeavor

The groundwork for ScheduleMe —including concept, vision, and code development—was initiated internally, but during this early stage, we engaged NIX Solutions as our developmental partner. The specialists on the NIX Solutions team of 1500 helped build a functional prototype to meet our requirements and structure plans for a beta launch. Their technical expertise and compliance with the latest market trends, plus their experience with graphic design, helped our website become popular. NIX Solutions offers a full range of Web development solutions, including Java, .NET, PHP, and C++. Their impeccable IT project management service has helped us to bring our vision of ScheduleMe service to fruition.

The ScheduleMe platform is built in the Microsoft Cloud, so it readily meets all security and compliance standards—which is what our clients expect and demand from our service. ScheduleMe needs to collect and use select users’ personal information to schedule and appoint meetings. Users’ data isn’t stored, but is immediately deleted once the user finishes scheduling an event, and the meeting details cannot be published or shared anywhere else. FREE/BUSY information is shown only to the users who have set up a profile on the system and use it on a regular basis. As a result, our clients’ personal data is completely secured, and keeping it safe is what we do best after time scheduling.

The ScheduleMe service supports such calendar systems as Google, Outlook, Exchange, and iCloud, and Yahoo will be supported very soon. And because our customers are often on the move, ScheduleMe is also compatible with Internet-supported devices and browsers. Users can download our Outlook add-in to access Outlook client directly.

Growing by the Hour!

Our client database is constantly growing! Companies across all business segments have turned to us for reducing their business process time and have given ScheduleMe positive feedback. For instance, a big technology consulting firm that works with many technology vendors and suppliers was able to improve their working process by using our platform.

Our service eliminates the need for endless emails and messages between co-workers and staff members trying to agree on a time or waiting for someone to respond. With ScheduleMe, it takes only a few minutes to confirm a meeting time that is convenient for everyone. And ScheduleMe is very inexpensive. Subscription for our cloud-based service is only $3.99 per user per month. Business users can also have a free trial period of 15 days with up to five accounts to experience our service’s features. For individual customers, the service is free. And the above-mentioned Outlook add-in is free of charge for all customers.

Our sole purpose for ScheduleMe is to further develop our product and give the best quality service to our clients. We anticipate that NIX Solutions will continue to be our trusted partner, and we will continue to improve our product based on our clients’ feedback and support.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

Although cryptocurrency continues to battle the minds of everyday people, its success cannot be ignored. Despite taking a massive dip in the overall market cap, things are rebounding. Over the past five days, cryptocurrency trading has picked up in volume again. As a result, the market cap has recovered US$25bn in losses without any problem. … Continue reading Cryptocurrency Market Cap Recovers US$25bn in Losses over the Course of Five Days

The post Cryptocurrency Market Cap Recovers US$25bn in Losses over the Course of Five Days appeared first on NEWSBTC.

A new solution to the bitcoin scaling debate known as ‘Segwitx2’ has garnered notable support, but what do bitcoin’s developers think of the proposal?

Source

Current trends in the digital assets market suggest good times to come for those holding onto cryptos as digital wealth. However, the question still persists: how can traders increase income and profits? Traditional markets may look to a hedge fund or similar service. Few may know that the Crypto market has something similar.

What is The Token Fund?

The Token Fund is akin to a traditional market mutual, index, or hedge fund. What this means is that by having a stake in the Fund, the trader has access to many different investment types and can pad their portfolio conveniently. This portfolio could be conservative, aggressive, or somewhere in between, but the managers of the fund always look to compile the assets in a portfolio in an easy and profitable way.

So this is a digital fund management group that is aiming to bring non-crypto savvy traders and investors into the digital market, while also providing a service to the veterans users and traders of crypto. It wants to help people not miss out on digital asset opportunities because of any knowledge limitations. Their Whitepaper is informative and outlines their goals and methods well.

How does it work?

When a user signs up with The Token Fund, they invest some Bitcoin or Ethereum and put it into the fund. This works the same way that one would invest USD or any other fiat into a mutual fund.

The user then receives shares of the fund itself, in the form of their own tokens (TKN). These tokens represent the user’s stake in the Fund itself. But what does that mean exactly?

The Token Fund distributes the collective investments made by its users into a collective portfolio that its users all have a stake in, via their TKNs. It is very open about their current distribution of their portfolio, and share it on their homepage. This means that the investments are spread out in a way that aims to maximize gains by leveraging various digital and fiat assets one another. As the value of the portfolio goes up, so too does the worth of their tokens, meaning the investors shares would also appreciate in value. The same is true for if the value of portfolio goes down, however. There will always be risks in investing.

Since the contracts are signed via the Ethereum blockchain technology, investors can also rest easy that their investment and contract of said investment is secure. All funds within the Fund itself are also managed with Multisigs on exchanges and wallets.

The parallels that can be drawn to traditional Mutual Fund investment are vast, and this is by design I would imagine. Since the Token Fund is looking to bring investors who may not be terribly comfortable with the Blockchain as it is, it would make sense to create a digital asset version of a well known traditional investment service so that investors could try to increase income from their assets in a similar way to how they invest in non-digital assets.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post and does not necessarily reflect the views of any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment or trading advice. The only advice I will give is never invest more than you are able/willing to lose.