Day: August 10, 2017

Fujitsu has announced that it is advancing its two-fold plan to commercialize its enterprise-focused distributed ledger platform or Blockchain technology.

The exploration of niche digital currencies continues as now a digital currency aimed at the Jewish community is in the pipeline.

Singapore’s central bank has issued a new warning to investors on the risks of initial coin offerings, or token sales.

The debate on the Bitcoin Bubble has resurfaced with the latest growth spurt as the two side stick to their guns.

Making Bitcoin more appealing to mainstream consumers can be difficult. Firas Zahabi is trying to do just that with his Pure Victory Championship. This new combat tournament will pay its winner in Bitcoin only. Whether or not ventures like these will help Bitcoin gain adoption remains to be seen.

The Pure Victory Championship May Put Bitcoin on the Map

There are a lot of negative associations with Bitcoin. Most people think of it as a tool and currency for criminal activity on the internet. It is certainly true that the darknet has helped Bitcoin gain more traction, even though it is anything but an exclusive payment method for illicit activity. There are hundreds of normal retailers and sites accepting Bitcoin payments as well, and they are seeing more traction every single month. That does not make cryptocurrency mainstream just yet, though.

Bringing Bitcoin to the sports industry has not proven particularly successful either so far. A while ago, a Bitcoin payment processor sponsored a football event, eventually rebranding it to the Bitcoin Bowl among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. However, that was a one-off deal and did not exactly help Bitcoin gain mainstream awareness. Even the sponsored commercials that aired during the event failed to get more people on board.

Most MMA (mixed martial arts) enthusiasts will have heard the name Firas Zahabi before. He is one of the many legends who has helped elevate the sport to new heights. Zahabi is best known for training a litany of skilled fighters, some of whom went on to become champions in diverse fighting promotions. He recently launched a new promotion called the Pure Victory Championship.

What makes this particular promotion so interesting is how its fights have no time limit. The winner can only be determined by submission, rather than by knockouts or judges’ score cards. It represents a very technical form of fighting. However, the even better part is that the winner of Pure Victory Championship will be paid in Bitcoin exclusively. That is rather uncommon and a very nice change to how things are normally done in this industry.

So far, the promotion’s YouTube channel has three videos posted. One can watch Pure Victory Championship matches free of charge to keep tabs on how things are progressing. The videos are compelling viewing, as they demonstrate how technically proficient one must be to pull off a victory. Some fighters will realize success a lot quicker than others, but the real winner will not be determined for quite some time.

The choice to pay out fighters in Bitcoin is pretty interesting. Most promotions use cash prizes or wire transfers to settle payments. Bitcoin is a cheaper option that works on an international basis without any third parties required. By the looks of things, it is a currency that will continue to gain in value for quite some time to come. One could argue that paying prize money in Bitcoin is illegal in Canada, the site of the tournament. Since the country does not recognize it as a currency, however, this does not appear to be an illegal venture.

Cryptocurrency exchanges provide all markets with plenty of liquidity. Having more platforms trading a specific currency can have a positive effect on the price over time. Ethereum is traded across dozens of global exchanges, except Bitstamp. That situation will change very soon, as the company announced ETH trading will launch on August 17th. A major … Continue reading Bitstamp Announces the Launch of Ethereum Trading Next Week

The post Bitstamp Announces the Launch of Ethereum Trading Next Week appeared first on NEWSBTC.

A consortium of enterprises led by Microsoft has unveiled a framework designed to boost the speed and scalability of open-source blockchain tech.

Bitcoin investor claims that he lost $50,000 worth of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin when the SSD where he stored his Bitcoin wallet caught fire and damaged beyond recovery.

Another day of trading is in the history books and things are still looking rather positive for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. More specifically, Bitcoin keeps recording small gains every day, as does Ethereum. Other currencies such as Bitcoin Cash are still taking a beating, unfortunately. All things considered, cryptocurrency continues to gain momentum as we speak. If this trend keeps up, a total market cap of US$150bn could be reached before the end of the month. Especially if NEO continues this bullish trend.

NEO Price is Gaining Quickly

It is always interesting to see the Bitcoin price move up even though the increments are pretty small for the time being. With a daily gain of 2.5%, Bitcoin hasn’t moved all that much. However, it seems yesterday’s downturn has been taken care of successfully, mainly thanks to a growing 24-hour trading volume. Speaking of which, Bitcoin has just over US$1.3bn in trading volume, which is quite significant. That doesn’t make it the most-traded cryptocurrency of the moment, though.

Instead, that crown belongs to none other than Ethereum. We have seen the popular altcoin surpass Bitcoin’s trading volume on multiple occasions in the past. It doesn’t mean all that much, though, considering how the Ethereum price only gained 2.79% in the process. Most trading volume leads to higher prices in nearly every case, but there’s no reason to get overly excited about ETH right now either. The Ethereum price is trying to stabilize around the US$300 mark, but that is much easier said than done right now.

Other top cryptocurrencies showing positive signs of life include NEM, Dash, and NEO. Especially this latter currency is quite remarkable, as it is the third time NEO notes a 30% gain in a 24-hour period. The currency is now valued at US$25 per coin, which is a pretty solid value. Less than a year ago, that currency was worth under 20 cents, mind you. A 125-fold value increase for NEO is quite spectacular, to say the least. Very few currencies can claim similar gains over the past 24 hours, that much is evident.

Speaking of NEO, it is worth mentioning the majority of its trading volume originates from the Bittrex exchange. It is one of those valuable altcoins which isn’t even listed on Poloniex right now. Instead, it seems some heavy trading volume in Chinese Yuan markets on Yunbi and Jubi. It will be interesting to see how things will evolve as far as NEO is concerned. Do keep in mind there are a total of 100 million coins available, but only half of those are in circulation right now. There is still plenty of room for speculation regarding the “Ethereum of China“, to say the least.

Back to the Bitcoin price, it is evident reaching the US$3, 500 value and surpassing it is a bigger challenge than originally anticipated. Many experts expected that value to be reached days ago, yet it has still not happened. No one is in  a rush to see Bitcoin hit US$3,500 either, though, as the year 2017 is one major uptrend for Bitcoin so far. Moreover, setting another all-time high in quick succession could lead to more negative pressure on the markets as well. A lot of people want access to cheap bitcoins, that much is evident.

It isn’t entirely surprising to see the NEO/BTC market on Bittrex generate most of Bitcoin’s trading volume right now. The Bitcoin price benefits from altcoin trading volume as of late, that much is evident.  Fiat currency markets are  a bit behind the curve right now, with Bitfinex’s USD pair leading the charge. Other fiat currencies in the top 10 include KRW, CNY, and USD. There is no sign of the Euro trading pair in the top 10, which is a bit disappointing. Then again, the Euro market has never been too big on Bitcoin through traditional exchanges for some reason.

A medical society in Delaware dating back to the 1700s hopes to bring efficiencies to healthcare using blockchain tech.

A large-scale digital currency scam in China involved over 47,000 people and 4.6 bln RMB.