Day: November 13, 2017

Bitcoin Gold has been a very controversial project from day one. There have been many proponents of this solution, even though everyone wants their free coins. Claiming this money is still very difficult at best, to say the very least. The launch of BTG has been very problematic, so far, as miners and users experienced a lot of issues already. It is evident things will remain pretty tense for this altcoin in the coming days and weeks.

Everyone knew from day one Bitcoin Gold would be a problem child. Not just because of the concept itself, but also the borked launch. Considering how this is not an actual fork but more of an airdrop, it doesn’t have the most appeal whatsoever. Bitcoin holders still want their free coins, though, which is perfectly understandable. Claiming those coins will not be easy by any means. Nor is connecting to the network right now, as some users still experience issues.

Bitcoin Gold Launch saw Many Problems

The launch of the mainnet took place last night. Bitcoin Gold developers released the GUI client to connect to this new blockchain. Sadly, this “official” launch was not without any issues whatsoever. In fact, the distribution of the necessary wasn’t easy either. Getting people to download the software from semi-untrusted sources wasn’t a smart decision. Then again, those who did download it noticed no issues with the client at first. That is until they tried to connect to the network for the first time.

In a lot of cases, making this connection to other nodes was erratic. Some users even received fake links to software clients. This project will be marred by misinformation and malicious software download links for some time to come. For those interested in Bitcoin Gold, the best option is to check out the project’s Slack channel. The team should be able to aid with most problems relatively quickly. At the same time, there may still be some minor bugs and issues over the coming days and weeks.

Since no exchange allows Bitcoin Gold trading, it is difficult to put a price on this altcoin. Very few platforms have expressed any interest in supporting this airdrop. The number of supported wallets is also very small, for the time being. Rest assured there will be plenty of Bitcoin Gold price volatility in the coming weeks. If the Bitcoin Cash launch is any indication, flipping BTG will become very profitable in the future. An interesting development to keep an eye on, that much is evident.

The post Bitcoin Gold Launch is Erratic and Problematic, Leaves Community Frustrated appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The little-known Bitcoin Gold fork has successfully launched, but little appears to be going right.

The intense trading spike for Bitcoin Cash appears to have popped after over 24 hours of losses.

The European Commission (EC) is launching a study aimed to assess the potential of an EU-wide blockchain infrastructure.

Things have been rather uneasy in the world of cryptocurrency this weekend. Bitcoin Cash had a good run, but things are slowly coming to an end. Most of the mining power is also coming back to Bitcoin as we speak. With BCH being more difficult and less profitable to mine, a crisis is seemingly averted. This doesn’t mean Bitcoin it out of the woods entirely, though. This tense situation will firmly remain in place for quite some time to come.

The big story this weekend how Bitcoin Cash successfully had more hashpower than Bitcoin. As a result, the Bitcoin network came to a proverbial standstill. Fees were skyrocketing and transaction delays were painful to watch. A lot of miners moved to BCH due to sheer profitability. An understandable decision, to say the least, but also a very dangerous one. So far, it seems the situation is reversing once again.

Bitcoin Cash Hashrate Drops Like a Brick

With Bitcoin successfully reclaiming the majority of hashpower, an inverted situation is created. It is now Bitcoin Cash which struggles to get transactions confirmed. Additionally, users are forced to include slightly higher transaction fees. Some transactions take several hours to successfully confirm, which is pretty problematic, to say the least. It is evident this “attack” against Bitcoin has failed in its mission. It is now the BCH crowd claiming how Core supporters are attacking their network.

None of this means the Bitcoin price will go up again by definition, though. In fact, it may continue to go down for some time to come. A lot of people have sent coins to exchange for trading days ago. Those transfers are only now getting confirmed one by one. With still over 124,000 unconfirmed transactions to go through, things will not improve all that much in the coming hours. It is a very tense situation that is well worth keeping an eye on.

The bigger question is what will happen to Bitcoin Cash in the future. The value per BCH is still inflated even while the network is struggling. It is evident something will need to give in this regard. It is all part of a very tense situation which still haunts the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole to this very day. This “battle’ is far from over, that much is rather evident. For now, Bitcoin still reigns supreme, whereas Bitcoin Cash remains an altcoin. Whether or not this situation can change, remains to be seen. Just make sure to have popcorn on hand when the fireworks begin again.

The post Global Network Hashrate Turns Against Bitcoin Cash Once Again appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin gold price after trading above $450 against the US Dollar corrected lower.
• There is a connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $300 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD (data feed from Bitfinex).
• The price is correcting higher from $180, but it is facing a major hurdle on the upside.

Bitcoin gold price declined sharply from $480 against the US Dollar. BTG/USD is recovering, but might struggle to break the $300 level.

Bitcoin Gold Price Resistance

During the past few sessions, there was a lot of action in bitcoin gold price (just like bitcoin cash) as it moved above the $400 level against the US Dollar. The price climbed higher and formed a new all-time high near $480. Later, it faced a lot of offers and started a downside move below $400. It broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $120 low to $480 high. The recent low was at $183 from where the price started a new upside wave.

It has moved above the $250 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Buyers also succeeded in breaking the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $480 high to $183 low. On the upside, there is a connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $300 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD. The trend line resistance is near the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $480 high to $183 low. Therefore, the $300 level is an important resistance for more gains in BTG.

On the downside, the $250 level and the 100 hourly SMA are decent supports and buy zones in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTG/USD is attempting to move back in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTG/USD is now back above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $250

Major Resistance Level – $300

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Bitfinex

The post Bitcoin Gold Price Technical Analysis – Can BTG/USD Resume Uptrend? appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Bitcoin has had three noticeable drops this year. With the third and latest one seeing 29 percent loss of growth, it was not even the biggest.

The United Nations has partnered with the World Identity Network to develop a blockchain identity pilot aimed to help curb child trafficking.

Tom Lee has made no secret of his bullishness for Bitcoin. Back in October, which admittedly seems like forever ago in the crypto space, he explained to Business Insider a technique which his company had been using to predict price changes over time. Based on Metcalfe’s law, Lee claims that he can use his equation to explain 94% of the price movement in Bitcoin:

If you build a very simple model valuing bitcoin as the square function number of users times the average transaction value. 94% of the bitcoin moves over the past four years is explained by that equation.

Metcalfe’s law was originally penned to account for the value of a telecommunications network. It states that the value of a network is proportional to its number of users squared. The theory is that a network gains value exponentially in accordance with new participants. Imagine a telephone. It’s not very useful on its own. However, add a second to the network and suddenly it’s no longer a pointless piece of hardware. Add a third network participant and the combination of interactions grows by more than double. Naturally, this increases the value of the network.

According to Lee, the same can be said about Bitcoin. This is because it’s essentially a communication network itself. However, the only information communicable is value. Fundstrat analysed the number of new wallet addresses as a rough estimate of Bitcoin users. Over time, they found that the square of the figure explained some 63% of price shifts in the period 2013-17. This was taken further by including a second variable – the transaction volume per user. By using the second value with the existing equation, they found that they could explain an additional 20% of swings. Finally, Lee and company were able to find a formula by “regressing the price of Bitcoin against both unique addresses squared and transaction volume per user.” This particular formula explained a massive 94% of the variation in the price of cryptos in the period they studied.

But, what does all this mean and why is it relevant right now? Well, according to Lee, Bitcoin’s price is currently over-extended in relation to his calculations. This helps to explain why we’re seeing a pullback today. For him there isn’t a lot of room to grow whilst the network remains at it current size. For the next boom, we’ll need to see another huge influx of users. This will provide the required value to the network and thus necessitate a higher price point. This is something that Lee and Fundstrat are confident in:

Bitcoin’s longer-term technical trend remains positive but short-term upside appears limited and the risk of a correction is growing.

For those interested, you can listen to Lee’s analysis on Business Insider’s “the bit” here. He explains his theory in greater detail as well as reaffirms his bullish outlook for the longer term.

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Three Baltic governments have struck an accord that includes a commitment to support the development of technologies like blockchain.