Day: August 3, 2017

Confusion and chaos have been prevalent in the wake of the Bitcoin Cash fork, and it feels like some trickery is afoot. The Bitfinex exchange has taken some very strange steps over the past few hours. A lot of its users did not receive the correct distribution of BCH tokens. In fact, the exchange issued BCH at a coefficient of only 0.8539. Something does not add up here.

Bitfinex and Bitcoin Cash Are Not a Good Mix

Cryptocurrency exchanges have found themselves in a very strange position when it comes to “chain splits.” Every time such an event occurs — which is not all that often, thankfully — there is some sort of tricky, shenanigans, or weird decision that upsets people. The split between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is no different, and it appears there are a lot of things going wrong for the Bitfinex exchange. The coefficient used by the company to issue BCH tokens to its users has raised a lot of questions.

Under normal circumstances, an exchange would award 1 BCH token to users that own 1 Bitcoin. Bitfinex customers that hold 50 Bitcoin should have received 50 Bitcoin Cash accordingly. That was not exactly the case for all users, and it seems there is a bit of a discrepancy. First of all, the company held 101,798 BCH to distribute despite having 131,237 BTC in settled wallet balances. This represented -29.438 BTC in unsettled margin positions. How that is even possible remains unclear. Disabling margin trading prior to and during the fork would have been the better option.

It seems that Bitfinex wanted to punish the people who still had an open margin position at the time of the hard fork. Any lenders locked into loans would be protected, and Bitfinex did not want to distribute negative balances to short positions. That made a lot of sense to a certain degree. Any Bitfinex user who held a margin long position during the fork has not received his or her proper value of BCH. Though controversial, that decision made sense somewhat.

According to Bitfinex, multiple accounts engaged in large-scale manipulation in order to obtain BCH tokens at the expense of lenders and exchange longs on the platform. This method would have sunk the BCH distribution coefficient. This degree of manipulation was, according to a company blog post, in violation of Bitfinex’s ToS. Anyone who tried to take advantage in that way has been “punished” accordingly.

The end result is as follows: hedged Bitcoin account balances in exchange of the balance that existed on July 27th have not received any Bitcoin Cash tokens. It is unclear what will happen to these non-issued tokens since it is possible they are still in the custody of Bitfinex. The company plans to post another update a few days from now, which will hopefully include an explanation of what it will be doing with these tokens. For now, there is no plan to create a BCH trading market.

As all of this shows, Bitfinex did not issue Bitcoin Cash tokens as the community expected them to. While it is understandable that margin traders brought this upon themselves, it is up to exchanges to prevent this from happening in the first place. There will be plenty of backlash over this decision, especially until we know how the company will handle the remaining BCH tokens in its custody.

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Smart contracts and their uses, are finding broader appeal while BlockCAT looks to open a marketplace for both developers and users.

• BITS DIGIT Token is offering 50% profit-sharing in Bits Digit malty functional platform.
• The first Exchange platform to provide 100% insurance on investors’ money with maximum safety features enabled.
• On call immediate fund transfer
• No limit on fund transfer for verified accounts
• Account verifications in 1hr.
• Merchant account for every user no extra verification.
• Merchants can take payments in all coins listed in exchange and convert them in to USD/BTC automatically.
• Merchant market for globe exposure.
• Profit sharing every month.
• ICO market for new startups.
• Crypto to fiat conversion payment hubs for fiat to crypto, bank transaction, credit/debit card transactions.  
• Decentralized Governance for Voting.

This all and much more beta testing is launching on Aug 10, 2017    

More info:

BITS DIGIT is a platform that can be thought of as a one Solution for all needs and shapes the foundation for the root of the economy: companies, startups, traders, customers, entrepreneurs and merchants into a viable market, combining all the elements into an ecosystem that can boost the mass adoption of blockchain technology.

This platform gathers all the financial properties into one place where users have control over their finances. They can manage transactions, integrate merchants’ payments, deposit funds and so much more.

-Bits digit will work with payment hubs by creating a network of payment partners across the globe. Which will help us in solving the liquidity issue.

-SME crowd funding. Which will help all those brilliant minds who cannot start their projects or business because banks financial organizations ask tons of documents, collaterals and interests.

So the brilliant idea which can change millions of the lives is dying every moment. People are killing their dreams.

Bits Digit have decided to help all those brilliant minds by SME crowdfunding which will help all kinds of projects like small factory or any small business.

Bits Digit wants to involve business at every level that’s why we have created merchant point of sale which will help many entrepreneurs to grow their business across the globe with minimal transaction charges and with all the liquidity options. We will create merchant market for global business exposure and payment gateway options with all the assets listed in the exchange so that all the transactions can be steeled in no time, it will help many small business to get globalized.

Crypto portfolio investment tool which will help those traditional investors who cannot trade in the exchange or don’t have time to do it so for them we are making prebuilt portfolios according to investors risk capacity anyone can buy or sell any portfolio by one click.

Late by the end on the year we will implement more features like

• Peer-to-peer funding marketplaces
• Insurance/Project voting, etc.
• Multisignature Address Safety
• Commodities / Retail assets
• Biometrics Registration
• ICO Market & Token Creation

The Bits Digit crowdsale is ending on Aug 31st, 2017. In order to take part, users will have to send minimum 1 ETH to BITSD Smart Contract.

For early adopters Bits Digit is offering Bonuses:

First week days -10%

Second Week days -5%

Learn more and invest at – http://bitsdigit.com
Read the Prospectus at – https://bitsdigit.com/Whitepaper_bitsdigit.pdf

Follow Bitsdigit on Facebook at – https://www.facebook.com/bitsdigit

Follow Bitsdigit on Twitter at – https://twitter.com/bitsdigit
Follow Bitsdigit on Medium at – https://medium.com/@bitsdigit
Join Bitsdigit Telegram group – https://t.me/joinchat/F2RbIA1A0-eiJu5iNy888g

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any The Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

A respected finance professor from NYU says Bitcoin still has to prove that it can be a working currency.

A startup incubator based in California is launching an initial coin offering aimed to raise up to $100 million to support a new blockchain program.

At the DEF CON hacking convention in Las Vegas, one of the three co-founders of Tor, Roger Dingledine, corrected a few misconceptions regarding what the Tor Project is really being used for and slammed journalists for the negative way it has been covered in the media. According to Dingledine, a mere 3% of Tor users employ the browser to access .onion websites.

‘There Is Basically No Dark Web’

According to The Register, Roger Dingledine decided to use part of his speaking time at DEF CON to criticize journalists for the way they have painted the Tor Project in the media — as a tool for drug dealers and pedophiles to hide from law enforcement and get away with criminal activity.

He added that only 3% of Tor users connect to hidden (.onion) websites, meaning the other 97% use the browser to anonymously browse clearnet sites such as Reddit, Wikipedia, Yahoo, and The Merkle. In Dingledine’s mind, most Tor users are just people wishing to hide their identities from website owners, not new-age criminals.

Dingledine even dismissed the concept of the “dark web”, implying that what people call the dark web is so insignificant that it should not even get its own term. He notably stated:

“There is basically no dark web. It doesn’t exist. It’s only a very few webpages.”

During his talk, he also addressed the fear of law enforcement agencies infiltrating the network and running a large number of nodes. The concern is that this would allow them to reveal the true identity of Tor’s users.

Edward Snowden had previously revealed that nodes were being run by intelligence agencies. According to Dingledine, however, there were only a few such infiltrators and these could not compromise the network. He added that he himself knew two-thirds of the people running Tor relays, and that agencies do not need to set up nodes of their own. If they really wanted to compromise the network, they could merely monitor those who do run them.

The Most Popular Website Among Tor Users Is… Facebook

The Tor Project’s co-founder revealed that the most visited website by Tor users is Facebook, which opened its doors to Tor back in 2014 when it launched an .onion address. At the time, Facebook’s senior engineer, Alec Muffet, stated:

“The idea is that the Facebook onion address connects you to Facebook’s Core WWW Infrastructure – check the URL again, you’ll see what we did there – and it reflects one benefit of accessing Facebook this way: that it provides end-to-end communication, from your browser directly into a Facebook datacentre.”

Facebook had barred Tor users from accessing its website in the past, citing security concerns. At the time, it claimed that the network could be used to attack its servers. Now, according to reports, as many as one million people use Facebook via the Tor browser. This may be an insignificant amount for Facebook, but it is a major figure for Tor.

The BetKing ICO pre-sale came to an end on the 30th of July and raised over $1.2 million! Participants were rewarded a 25% discount on BetKing Bankroll tokens purchased during the sale. The pre-sale raised a total of 372 Bitcoin and 716 Ethereum.

What is BetKing?

BetKing opened in April 2013 and by the end of 2014 quickly became the most popular crowdfunded Bitcoin casino. From 2015 BetKing had the most wagered volume of all crowdfunded gambling sites, 400,000 Bitcoin, almost more than all competitors combined!

By December 2016 the crowdfunded bankroll had grown to 6000 Bitcoin, making BetKing the most trusted dice site with the highest betting limits. Previous investors made a total of 7400 Bitcoin profit in a little over 2 years. This time BetKing is launching an ICO to fund the bankroll and also development and marketing of brand new software.

The new version will launch with updated provably fair dice, roulette and blackjack games and allow players to bet with Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other currencies. On the roadmap for the end of the year and early next are more casino games, sports betting and new poker software.

Join the ICO on August 7

The main sale starts on August the 7th at 0:00 UTC and will run until September 4th, the same day BetKing relaunches. There is no cap on the amount of funds that can be raised and 70,000,000 of 100,000,000 tokens will be sold.

Every quarter BetKing will buy back up to 10% of all tokens from holders, if they wish to sell. The buyback price that BetKing offers is calculated as follows and is independent of 3rd party exchange rates:

(Initial token price + current bankroll profit)

For example, if the ICO raised $2 million in the sale for 70% of tokens, then that would give the initial token price the value of $0.0284.
If the bankroll profit after 6 months was $2 million, then each token would now be worth $0.0484,
($2 million / 70 million) + ($2 million / 100 million).

The current profit is always the total Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto-currency profit since launch converted to dollars at time of buy back.

There will also be discounts for buyers during the main sale.

Week 1: 15%
Week 2: 10%
Week 3: 5%

Learn more about the BetKing ICO here – http://betking.io/

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any The Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

One of the ICO sector’s most active advisory firms speaks out on its view of the SEC’s recent guidance – and it’s mostly in agreement with the agency.

Cryptocurrency exchanges will not keep your personal information hidden from law enforcement agencies. They have no intention to do so when a court order arrives. However, turning over customer data without a court order is quite unusual. Germany’s largest exchange did exactly that, although it is unclear why. A voluntary cooperation with the authorities is … Continue reading Germany’s Biggest Exchange Bitcoin AG Turned Over Customer Data to the Police

The post Germany’s Biggest Exchange Bitcoin AG Turned Over Customer Data to the Police appeared first on NEWSBTC.

I am always happy to see more exchanges popping up in the cryptocurrency sphere. In my mind, more exchanges means less opportunity for large entities to continue consolidating power. This is, after all, supposed to be all about decentralization, not centralization. One new exchange which was the spawn of a very successful ICO earlier this summer is Binance, headed by Changpeng Zhao. The Binance ICO raised just about US$15 million, and the company seems to be putting all that cash to good work.

Successful ICOs Can Set Up Successful Companies

This is one of the ICOs that did it correctly. The company was not just looking to raise a substantial amount of cash in dumb money and then take a long time (if ever) to put out its product. Zhao even published an eloquent blog post on LinkedIn in which he described the importance of being passionate about whatever your ICO project is. That alone puts Binance in a better position than many other projects and platforms. Sure, it wants to make money, but its team also is passionate and calculated about the platform.

Binance Is Pretty Good

I will be the first to admit, I can be very weary of exchanges. Some of the bigger ones have left me burned in the past and constant rumors of insolvency or bank runs make me nervous. However, Binance does not strike the same chords for me that others have done. Here’s why.

Firstly, its liquidity is very high, which is incredibly important for any exchange. Liquidity ensures that orders are filled quickly and lock in the prices for which traders had hoped to buy or sell. The exchange also claim to have outpaced the industry standard for processing speeds. Though still a smaller exchange, this one boasts numbers that are impressive. Binance is responsible for about US$10 million in trading volume a day.

The exchange itself provides a whole host of tools that help traders make decisions, and the user experience (UX) is pretty fluid. One of the most appealing things about this exchange — for me, at least — is its knowledgeable and strong leadership and team. CEO Zhao and his team are obviously committed to providing a quality product to their customers, and I really appreciate that. The level of experience that Zhao and his team brings to the table really sets Binance apart from its competition.

Every exchange is going to take a cut to make a profit. I am not really bothered by this, as I know it is providing a service. However, it is important that investors and traders alike do not get taken advantage of with fees. Binance’s trading fee is 0.1%, which is not too shabby. Binance is also transparent about its fee structure, which is more than fair. With cryptocurrencies, it is also important to remember that on top of exchange fees, the user is responsible for miners’ fees as well. Again, Binance provides upfront and honest information about how much traders can expect to pay up when they withdraw.

Overall, I rate this platform as a pretty good exchange. It may not have the same volumes or number of supported currencies as some of the larger ones, but it makes up for that in honest devotion to its project and customers.

Check out Binance here: https://www.binance.com/

This is not trading or investment advice. Always conduct your own independent research.