Day: December 11, 2017

The Bitcoin Bulls dominated last week with some heavy swings in both directions but mainly upwards. Crypto’s King made all the major news channels and papers as it shot from just over $11,000 to over $18,000 in less than a week. Regulated US exchanges launching their futures contracts also added to the zeal in the crypto-sphere.

This week it is time for some of the altcoins to get some Bullish love. Two of the top traded assets, Ethereum and Litecoin both broke record levels and traded at all-time highs during the Asian trading session this morning. LTC has been having a monster run over the past four days, climbing almost 150% from $100 on Friday to over $250 today.

Data from Coinmarketcap.com shows that $4.2 billion dollars has been traded in Litecoin in the past 24 hours. Top exchange was GDAX, which is owned by Coinbase, handling over a billion dollars of that trade and almost 25% of the total. LTC is huge in South Korea so it came as no surprise that Bithumb was the second exchange in terms of transactions with almost $500,000 traded in the past 24 hours, which equated to 11.6% of the total.

Founder Charlie Lee remains cautious however and Tweeted that trading was extremely risky.

Litecoin was not alone in the crypto bullpen today. After three weeks of slumber Ethereum finally woke up and headed skywards. From trading sideways between $440 and $460 ETH broke key resistance levels and made moves towards the critical $500 level. It had previously tested this price in late November but failed to break through.

The CryptoKitties fad which drove previous prices up resulted in the network getting drowned in digital moggies. Transactions slowed to Bitcoinesque speeds and traders waited hours for their ETH to clear. The network was slow to recover but recover it did today when it reached an all-time peak of $552 before correcting back to the $525 level where it currently trades.

Big banking news is likely to have caused the some of the rotation out of Bitcoin into Ethereum. Reports that major financial institutions including UBS, Credit Suisse, Thomson Reuters, KBC, SIX, and Barclays were planning to adopt smart contracts based on Ethereum provided a long awaited boost to the blockchain.

Those with altcoin investments will be having a happy Tuesday as both Litecoin and Ethereum have come out on top today.

The post Big Bullish love for Ethereum and Litecoin appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Japanese conglomerate GMO Internet Group has introduced a payroll system to allow its 4,700+ employees to receive part of their salaries in bitcoin.

Also read: South Korea Clarifies Position After Reports of Possible Ban on All Crypto Transactions

GMO Introduces Bitcoin Salary Payment System

Japanese Internet leader GMO Group has announced that its employees can start receiving part of their salaries in bitcoin beginning in February of next year for the March pay period. This option will initially only be available to employees of GMO Internet Co. Ltd but it will gradually extend to the entire group, the company detailed in its announcement on Monday. According to the company’s website, GMO Internet has 4,710 full-time employees as of September this year.

The company also listed 42 subsidiaries on its website which are part of the GMO Group. They include GMO Coins, the company’s cryptocurrency subsidiary, and GMO Click, one of the world’s largest FX platforms.

In order to facilitate salary payments in bitcoin, the company explained:

The GMO Internet Group has decided to introduce a system that allows part of the salary payment to be received as bitcoin in order to promote ownership of our domestic employees’ virtual currency.

The minimum bitcoin payment will initially be 10,000 yen (~$88) and the upper limit will be 100,000 yen (~$881). Each salary payment in yen will be reduced by the amount of bitcoin payment paid, using the exchange rate at the GMO Coins exchange. Employees who create an account at the GMO Coins exchange “can receive bitcoin on the same day as their payday,” Nikkei described.

GMO Promoting Crypto From Within

Following the launch of its cryptocurrency trading platform in May, GMO announced in September its plans to begin a mining business. The company plans to spend 10 billion yen in the next few years to build a mining farm as well as to research and develop 7nm, 5nm, and 3.5nm mining chips. In October, GMO announced that it plans to sell mining boards equipped with 7nm chips using token sales.

In Monday’s announcement, the company stated, “The mining business is currently preparing for the start of business beginning in January 2018.”

“The GMO Internet Group will contribute to the development of virtual currencies in the world by promoting efforts related to virtual currency throughout the group,” the company noted, adding that:

In order to further strengthen these approaches to virtual currency, it is important for employees to actively use virtual currency first by improving [their] virtual currency literacy.

What do you think of GMO offering to pay their employees in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and GMO Group.

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

The post Japanese Internet Giant GMO Offers to Pay 4700+ Employees in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Even after period of consolidation, DASH, NEM and Monero bulls are now inching higher towards their respective resistance lines. Of note today is that consolidation of IOTA.

This was expected given the gains in recent weeks but we still retain our bullish skew.

There is high expectations of LTC expansion in the coming days given the rigorous marketing plans the founder and his team has.

Let’s look at the charts:

20 PERIOD MA A STRONG SUPPORT FOR NEM BULLS

NEM bulls are in charge. Nonetheless, price action is quite tepid unlike the last two or three days. The good thing is that price is slowly inching higher.

As mentioned on December 11, every retest of the 20 period MA should be a wonderful buying opportunity now that we have a stochastic buy signal.

DASH BULLS IN CHARGE

As per yesterday’s recommendation, any close above the immediate resistance trend line meant that bulls were in charge.

Well, on December 11, did close above that resistance line. On top of this, there is a stochastic buy signal in place meaning DASH bulls are in charge.

Any retest of the trend line is another buy opportunity with immediate targets at $820.

IOTA BULLS MOVING WITHIN A WEDGE

The 20 period MA or the middle BB in this time frame remains significant. Since IOTA bulls are finding it hard to close above this resistance level, we should wait until that happens.  Alternatively, conservatives should wait until price action break out from this wedge.

Stochastic are somehow mixed. However, we retain a bullish skew since the overall trend as per the weekly chart is bullish.

If bulls lead the way and break above the upper limit of this wedge then we shall aim at December 6 highs of $5.6

MONERO BULLS EYE $300

As it is, Monero bulls are in charge. This is because price action is trending above the 20 period MA and the main resistance trend line in the chart.

There is a stochastic buy signal and strong bullish candlestick with no upper wicks to signal buy pressure.

In line with bullish momentum in the weekly chart, $300 is the next bull target.

LTC BULLS CLOSING IN ON $250

With every higher high, LTC bulls are getting closer to the all time highs of $200. On December 11, LTC broke above the very minor resistance trend line at around $160.

Because momentum is very strong, any price correction towards the middle BB is another buy opportunity. Better still,  should there be a stochastic buy signal, then it will be ideal to go long.

If price action close above $200, then the second take profit level at $250 mark is the next bull target.

All charts courtesy of Trading View

The post MONERO BULLS NOW EYE $300 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS December 12, 2017 appeared first on NEWSBTC.

A Hong Kong finance regulator has published a new circular on bitcoin futures contracts and other cryptocurrency-related investment products.

Recent clampdowns on ICOs by a number of nations, China being the most prominent, have been spurred by the need for more regulation. Currently trading in crypto-land can be a bit like going to the casino in the Wild West. There is no safety net and no regulation on ICOs; anyone can start something up. All you need is a flashy website, some smart looking business people in your team, a good concept, and of course a blockchain which is getting easier to create. Then it is just the matter of asking for funding to support it.

The issue is being tackled by blockchain platform Waves which will be setting up an independent regulatory body. The idea of governments regulating crypto currencies goes against the entire ethos of decentralized assets and data so the crypto firms have decided to do it themselves. The new association will provide reporting, legal, tax & accounting, KYC (identity verification), and business due diligence standards for the ICO and blockchain industry.

Switzerland was chosen as the base for the association, probably for its ease of doing business with transparency and minimal state interference. All crypto exchanges, blockchain platforms, market leaders, ICOs, marketing companies and crypto businesses will be welcome to participate.

Support has already been forth coming from Ethereum and industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services firm Deloitte. The ICO Governance Foundation stated that they will be working to coordinate on cross-platform ICO disclosure protocols.

Vladislav Martynov, Ethereum’s Advisory Board member, had this to say about the association:

“Joint and voluntary initiatives such as this self-regulatory body for token sales are a critical element in the professionalization of the blockchain industry. As custodians of some of the most remarkable and disruptive technology ever created, we must be seen to be fostering its responsible use as well as building functionality and maintaining the security of the ecosystem,”

Waves Platform CEO and founder, Alexander Ivanov, added:

“Regulation is clearly an emerging phenomenon and concern in the crypto space. If certain jurisdictions have not yet announced their intentions, then it’s only a matter of time. Waves has always been clear that regulation – the right kind of regulation – is a good thing for the crypto space. We have also been clear that we want to be a part of that emerging dialogue. We want a seat at the table to be able to shape the future of regulation in the ICO and blockchain space,”

Swiss based association will be registered by Waves over the next couple of months. The crypto asset is currently trading at an all-time high of over $11.

The post Ethereum and Waves to setup self-regulation appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Key Highlights

• ETH price spikes higher and breaks the $500 and $515 resistance levels against the US Dollar.
• There was a break above a major contracting triangle with resistance at $470 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair is currently unstoppable and it might soon blast towards the $550 level.

Ethereum price is rocketing higher against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD is surging higher towards the next major resistance at $550.

Ethereum Price Upside Surge

There were solid gains in ETH price recently from the $420-430 swing low against the US Dollar. The price gained heavy bids and was able to move above the last swing high at $497 and even broke the $500 level. A new all-time high was formed above $525 and it seems like the price is unstoppable at the moment. It has breached the 1.236 extension of the last wave from the $497 high to $421 low.

During the upside move, there was a break above a major contracting triangle with resistance at $470 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair is now placed well above the $500 level and is eyeing more gains. The next major upside target could be the $550 level. An intermediate resistance is around the 1.618 extension of the last wave from the $497 high to $421 low near $544. It seems like ETH buyers are now in full action and it could even rally just like bitcoin.

We can see continuing gains towards $600 in the near term. On the downside, the broken resistance at $497-500 may act as a support. However, the most important support is now at $450 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is gaining heavy momentum in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI has reached the extreme overbought conditions with no sign of a pullbacks.

Major Support Level – $500

Major Resistance Level – $550

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Technical Analysis – ETH/USD Surges to New All-time High appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Sanity? You weren’t going to find it in the crypto world in 2017 according to author David Gerard. Insanity, though, there’s plenty to go around…

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price has recovered from its drop after reading new highs a few days back.
• Price is now at the 76.4% extension level on the latest pullback and could have enough momentum to make it to the full extension.
• However, technical indicators are showing weakening energy among buyers.

Bitcoin price has completed its pullback from the rally earlier in the month and could be ready to take on new highs.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA, so the path of least resistance is to the upside. This means that bitcoin price is more likely to sustain the rally than to reverse from the uptrend.

Price is also inside a long-term ascending channel but is closing in on the resistance, which means that profit-taking is imminent. In that case, another dip to the support is still possible. This floor is right in between the moving averages, which might also hold as dynamic support.

Stochastic is heading lower to indicate that selling pressure is in play. RSI is also making its way down from the overbought region to signal a pickup in bearish momentum.

Market Factors

The dollar has been able to hold its ground so far this week as traders might be positioning ahead of the top-tier events. The FOMC decision is coming up and a 0.25% hike is widely expected while US President Trump is due to give his closing arguments on tax reform on Wednesday. This is expected to urge members of the Senate and House to come up with a unified version of the tax bill ready for signing and implementation as soon as possible.

Apart from that, US CPI and retail sales figures are also on this week’s lineup and a strong showing could reinforce tightening expectations for next year, which might buoy the currency higher against bitcoin price.

As for bitcoin itself, the CBOE futures launch has been mostly positive, barring the outage that occurred due to unexpectedly high volumes. CME and Nasdaq will launch their bitcoin futures soon.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 12/12/2017 – Correction Completed! appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The first day of trading for CBOE’s bitcoin futures contracts is over and the day largely went according to plan, according to its CEO.

A new Blockchain gaming ecosystem motivates game developers, players, traders and streamers to promote the platform, turning gamers into investors.

Bitcoin is famous for its volatile price swings, but one expert predicts the situation will only get worse with the arrival of Wall Street-style futures trading.