Day: December 15, 2017

This week an early bitcoin adopter announced on the forum Reddit that he had so much bitcoin he plans to donate 5,057 BTC (US$86Mn) to charitable causes. So far the anonymous donor created a website called the ‘Pineapple Fund,’ and has already donated $5M in bitcoins to some well known nonprofit organizations.

Also read: ‘Decentralized Uber’ App Delivers 1,000 Meals in Austin, Texas

$86 Million to Charity: This Early Adopter Says ‘Money Doesn’t Matter’

Cryptocurrencies are worth a lot of money these days, and this holiday season one bitcoin whale is donating quite a bit of BTC to charitable organizations. The anonymous donor says he saw the promise of bitcoin long before it broke the single-digit price range. The donor explains the “shattering returns” of bitcoin over the years has given him more money than he can spend. The early adopter has now started a website for the funds he is giving away called the Pineapple Fund, where registered nonprofit organizations can apply for donations. The owner of the website states;   

The [Pineapple Fund] is Donating $86 million of bitcoins to charity — Because once you have enough money — Money doesn’t matter.

Pineapple Fund Donates Five Million to Six Charitable Causes So Far

For people who don’t believe the Pineapple Fund is real, the owner has provided an address and digital proof of ownership utilizing the bitcoin blockchain. The Pineapple Fund has already given money to six charities including Watsi ($1Mn), The Water Project ($1Mn), the Electronic Frontier Foundation ($1Mn), the Bitgive Foundation ($500K), MAPS psychedelic studies ($1Mn), and the Open BSD Foundation ($500K).

The new fund says it supports a variety of charitable causes worldwide and it is looking to donate more money. However, the fund is not going to give bitcoins to just any random Joe who provides an address.

“The Pineapple Fund supports a diverse range of charitable causes worldwide — If you’re doing anything worthwhile, we invite you to apply,” explains the Pineapple Fund.

Your organization should be a registered nonprofit organization in your country. In exceptional circumstances, we may make exceptions — You’re welcome to apply. We will transfer the donation ‘in-kind’ via bitcoin.

Bitcoin Giving Is Growing Popular As the Price Increases In Value

The news of the Pineapple fund giving away 5,057 BTC follows the incredible gift of over $700,000 in bitcoins to the well-known evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos. Further, just a few weeks ago bitcoiners paid off the land at the homeless outreach center, Satoshi Forest. Alongside this, during the hurricane that wreaked havoc on Texas, someone gave 10 BTC to help the 30,000 residents forced out of their homes. It’s safe to say as the price of bitcoin reaches new all-time highs more people are giving funds to charitable causes.

What do you think about the Pineapple fund giving away $86Mn worth of BTC to charitable causes? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock and the Pineapple Fund.   

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

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The past few days were not overly kind to the Bitcoin price. Although no major corrections have occurred, the Bitcoin price has been remarkably flat for quite some time now. That has all come to change over the past 24 hours, as the BTC price suddenly started moving up again. Thanks to solid gains, we are now looking at a value of just over $18,000. Maintaining this momentum may not be possible for more than a few hours, though.

Bitcoin price is Finally Moving Again

On paper, it was only a matter of time until we saw some more Bitcoin price movement. While the year 2017 has been permabullish for most of the time, things suddenly came to an uncomfortable standstill a week and a half ago. We have seen very little price momentum ever since, although solidly maintaining a value of nearly $15,500 is pretty impressive, to say the very least. Then again, it was only to be expected that massive run would need some time to collect its momentum again.

Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Bitcoin price rise from $16,314 all the way to $17,997. That is a more than remarkable gain, to say the very least. After all, after such an extended period of sideways trading, this price action is not exactly what most people expected. Plenty of traders and speculators have been waiting for a Bitcoin price increase, it will be interesting to see if this momentum can be maintained moving forward.

More specifically, it seems we may see a slight Bitcoin price retrace in the coming hours. These 8% gains should not be underestimated, as it goes to show there will be plenty of profit-taking in the very near future. Although a small dip will not necessarily mean all that much, there is no reason to think this Bitcoin price will remain even remotely stable at this price level. It is unfortunate we can’t have any real stability in the cryptocurrency market, but we’ll all have to endure it, for now.

With over $15.7bn in 24-hour trading volume, Bitcoin is shattering all previous records once again. It is uncanny how this volume seems to spike out of nowhere on a  regular basis, even though most other cryptocurrencies are struggling for any decent volume right now.  A trading volume of eight digits is almost the new normal as far as Bitcoin is concerned, which a welcome change of pace compared to earlier in 2017. The world’s leading cryptocurrency also surpassed the $300bn market cap again, which is good to see.

Unsurprisingly, Bitfinex is still the leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Its lead over Bithumb is just $130m, though, which is next to nothing. Poloniex and Bittrex also contribute a lot of volume, although that is through their respective XRP/BTC trading markets. bitFlyer has slipped down all the way to the tenth position, which is mainly due to altcoin pairs and BTCC’s USD market showing some strong volume over the past 24 hours.

How all of this will play out for Bitcoin, remains to be seen. Plenty of people expect the Bitcoin price to hit $20,00 before the year is over, but that may not necessarily be feasible.There is still a  very long way to go before that price level can be reached, and there is no reason to get ahead of ourselves whatsoever. An interesting weekend lies ahead for all cryptocurrency traders, that much is rather evident.

Having successfully defended $16,000 earlier this week, bitcoin regained bid tone today and clocked a fresh record high above $17,800.

And that’s pretty much the week over in the bitcoin space, with things about to kick off for the early European session and calling for our penultimate intraday analysis. Overnight action in the bitcoin price was pretty strong, with BTC jumping to as high as 17,750 on some of the major exchanges before dipping slightly towards current levels.

It was this time last week (well, in a little while) that we saw price run towards 20,000, so we’d love to see something similar as this week draws to a close. Whether we will, is anyone’s guess.

All we can do is play the primary levels so let’s jump into action and see what we can put together.

As ever, take a quick look at the chart below before we get started so as to get an idea where thing stand and where we are looking to jump in and out of the markets as and when things move. The chart is a one-minute candlestick chart and it’s got our key range overlaid in green.

As the chart shows, then, the range we are looking at for the session this morning comes in as defined by support to the downside at 17462 and resistance to the upside at 17751. We will stick with our breakout approach for the time being, in anticipation of the sort of run that we have outlined above.

So, if we see price close above resistance, we will jump into a long trade towards an immediate upside target of 17830. A stop loss on the position at 17725 looks good from a risk management perspective.

Looking to the downside, we are going to look out for a close below support to signal a downside entry towards an immediate downside target of 17350. Stop at 17450.

Let’s see how things play out.

Charts courtesy of Trading View

The post Bitcoin Price Watch; Priming For A Spike? appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Zug, Switzerland, 15 December 2017 — Hdac Technology AG (‘Hdac’), the Zug-based multinational corporation backed by Hyundai BS&C has engaged London-quoted Coinsilium Group Limited (NEX:COIN) as advisor to its Token Generation Event (‘TGE’). Blockchain veteran and Coinsilium CEO Eddy Travia will represent Coinsilium on Hdac’s TGE Advisory Board.

Hdac aims to bring innovative blockchain technology to Internet of Things (‘IoT’) payment platforms and secure transactions amongst connected devices. Hdac’s technology, which was developed by a company named Double Chain, will protect IoT devices and their users from hacks, privacy invasion, and external threats, especially for transactions. The Hdac blockchain, based on hybrid blockchain technology, will offer a wide range of capabilities to ensure reliable connection and secured processing between devices. Hdac will work to apply this pioneering platform to hardware payment applications.

Coinsilium, a London-based investor and accelerator in the blockchain space since 2014, will utilise its specialist knowledge and its global network of contacts in the blockchain industry to support Hdac throughout its TGE and beyond.

Eddy Travia, CEO of Coinsilium commented: “We are excited to advise the talented Hdac team with their token generation event and we are impressed by Hdac’s ambitious objective to apply blockchain technology to significantly improve the reliability and the security of machine to machine payments in the fast-growing, multi-billion dollar IoT industry. We look forward to contributing to the success of Hdac’s token generation event.”

Hdac supports blockchain technology events such as the StartupToken Hackathon held in Paris in November and the d10e blockchain conference in Bucharest starting on December 14.

A joint interview with Coinsilium CEO Eddy Travia and Hdac advisor Stuart Corby for the Barbarian Investor Show can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QToSQYW0ks&t=214s

About Coinsilium

Coinsilium is a blockchain venture builder and investor that finances and manages the development of early-stage blockchain technology companies. Coinsilium also provides advisory services to companies planning token generation events.

For further information about Coinsilium please visit http://www.coinsilium.com

About Hdac Technology AG

Hdac Technology AG is a Zug-based technology company building a new blockchain to secure machine to machine payments in the fast-growing world of IoT.

About Double Chain

Double Chain is a Korean company which specializes in developing IoT contract platform based on Blockchain technology. Double Chain has been active in the blockchain space for four years and has entered into an MOU agreement with Hyundai BS&C as of December 2016 which has been providing the core technology for Hdac.

For further information about Double Chain, please visit http://www.doublechain.co.kr/en/index.php

Please visit https://hdac.io/ or join the Telegram channel https://t.me/Hdac_TGE

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A Long Island woman has been charged with sending tens of thousands of dollars to ISIS fighters in Syria. As has been widely reported, the woman allegedly used bitcoin to transfer the funds overseas. Headlines have glossed over the way the money was obtained in the first place though: by good old-fashioned credit card fraud.

Also read: Putin Aide Says Bitcoin Can Help Russia Bypass Financial Sanctions

From the Eastside to the Middle East

The suspect at the center of the case, Zoobi Shahnaz, supposedly stole tens of thousands of dollars from American Express Bank, Chase Bank, Discover Bank and TD Bank before forwarding her ill-gotten gains to Syria using bitcoin. Her lawyer has insisted that the 27-year-old was only trying to aid Syrian refugees, but U.S. prosecutors aren’t buying it. Shahnaz supposedly gave fake information to a series of banks in order to obtain over $85,000. As evidence of the woman’s ideological leanings, it’s been reported that her internet searches included “top female jihadis” and “one-way tickets to Istanbul”. In the event, she went on to purchase a return flight – something ISIS recommends as it’s less suspicious.

The woman, who was born in Pakistan, worked in a Manhattan hospital as a lab technician until quitting in June in readiness to flee the country. The case has only come to light now after a grand jury indictment was unsealed, revealing charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and supporting a foreign terrorist organization. Her defence lawyer, Steve Zissou, has claimed that the money was for humanitarian purposes, citing a journey she took to Jordan in early 2016 to volunteer with the Syrian American Medical Society.

Follow the Money

The scam unfolded between March and July of this year, and culminated in Zissou purchasing over $62,000 of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to prosecutors. The Pakistani national successfully purchased bitcoin with the stolen credit cards but her plan came undone after she tried to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 31. Agents swooped, ensuring that the woman was unable to reach her final destination of Istanbul via Pakistan.

The case, if proven, demonstrates the difficulty of sending funds overseas by any means for illicit purposes. While there are ways of buying cryptocurrency anonymously without leaving a paper trail, it is very difficult to do so in large amounts. The bulk of the crimes Shahnaz stands accused of were conducted using fiat currency, before the 27-year-old switched to cryptocurrency for the final leg of the journey. Despite this, expect to see the mainstream media zeroing in on bitcoin as a conduit for terrorism. Shahnaz has been held without bail and the case will call again on January 5th.

What do you think deserves the brunt of the blame here: fiat currency, bitcoin, or the accused herself? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Keep track of the bitcoin exchange rate in real-time.

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The emerging African markets present unique opportunities for property investors. One of the reports from Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate research company, has included five African markets to the list of top 10 emerging and most transparent economies. The reasons behind Africa’s dominance in the list of most lucrative emerging markets include an increasing number of office establishments in Africa (15 million sq. meter in South Africa and 2 million sq. meter in Sub-Saharan Africa), growing population reaching to $830 million, the current GDP of $961.5 billion, technological improvements, better infrastructure and higher expected GDP growth rate (as high as 5.7% per annum). In the midst of conventionally lucrative real estate markets of US and UK, Africa surely exhibits remarkable growth potential.

How to Make the Most of African & Growing Real Estate Markets?

It is obvious that real estate market is going to be the next boom in emerging economies, especially in Africa.  A huge percentage of investors have long been waiting to witness and exploit the sustaining economy of these regions, especially after Africa came out of recession. A lot of investors are all ready to be a part of this profitable market, make secure investments and gain handsome ROIs. Zabercoin, in this scenario, comes into play.

Zabercoin, an asset-backed cryptocurrency having an underlying real estate fund, exclusively focuses on African and other emerging real estate markets and investors. Zabercoin combines the blockchain technology with physical asset investments such as real estate. The company has launched its ICO, offering Zabercoin (ZAB), a real estate digital token that unlike a lot of existing tokens in the market, bears an intrinsic value right from its launch. Each token presents a share in the physical asset like real estate, making itself unique as well as sustainable with impressive recurring income re-invested to ensure potential growth, research and development.

The Lowering Cost to Invest in Africa’s Real Estate Markets & Emerging Economies

A high percentage of the real estate transaction costs previously went to the pockets of middlemen or agents. Zabercoin’s blockchain based, trustless platform cuts the middlemen, making itself scalable and ascendible and above all, highly cost-effective. The company aims to further enhance its structure to use blockchain technology more effectively and investigate the feasibility to form a ledger for property transfers and ownership all around the world.

The Potential Upsides of the Real Estate Investments

Dive into a growth-oriented emerging African and growing real estate market with Zabercoin:

• Buy lucrative property in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Use Zabercoin on different cryptocurrency exchanges (Zabercoin is already approved by hitBTC.com and will soon be launched at GCEX).
• Use ZAB tokens as a payment method for all real estate transactions, without any intermediary’s involvement.
• Access to emerging real estate markets globally.

Zabercoin’s ICO is going-on and will end by January 16, 2018. To know more about the platform and participate in its ICO to embrace the potential upside of African and other emerging real estate economies, please visit https://www.zabercoin.io/

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Ripple hit giant price highs, just as it became one of three altcoins to list on Bloomberg Terminals.

The head of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has warned that people stand to lose their funds if they invest in bitcoin.

Interesting things are bound to happen in South Korea. It is a major region for cryptocurrencies, but some things are coming to change. Rather than await government regulation, all exchanges have imposed strict rules upon themselves. Around 70% of all coins will be kept in cold storage at all times. There will be a ban on insider trading and no marketing to promote trading. Last but not least, there will be no additional coin listings until further notice.

It is evident South Korea needs some cryptocurrency regulation. As we all know, governments are not the best help in this regard. They often stifle innovation and make things unnecessarily complicated.Things have evolved in such a direction South Korea has become the new major Bitcoin hub. That in itself so pretty impressive, as they took over from China in quick succession. However, the lack of official regulation has always been somewhat of a burden.

Self-regulation by the Korean Exchange Association

To put this into perspective, the Korean exchange association has taken it upon themselves to introduce regulation. They have all done so voluntarily, which is rather unusual. As a result, all companies will adhere to these new rules without hindrances. Putting 70% of all money into cold storage makes a lot of sense. It is something most exchanges should have adhered to from day one. Still, it is a welcome change and one that will make cryptocurrency more legitimate.

Moreover, the exchanges will ban insider trading by exchange employees. That is always a big worry for any cryptocurrency exchange. These markets are susceptible to massive manipulation by both external and internal sources. It is a smart decision by the Korean exchange association. We can only hope other countries the world will embrace a similar model. Only time will tell if that is the case, though. No marketing to promote trading is already an interesting development, yet it shouldn’t have much of an impact whatsoever.

Perhaps the biggest changes imposed by the Korean exchange association is the refusal to list new coins. We have seen select altcoins being added to most exchanges and paired with Korean Won. This has been quite a positive decision, even though some of these additions raise questions. For the time being, no exchange will add new currencies to its platform until further notice. It is unclear how long it will take before new coins will be added. We do know the Korean exchange association wants this self-regulation to go into effect by Q1 2018.

The post Korean Exchange Association Will not List New Cryptocurrencies Until Further Notice appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Waves CEO Alexander Ivanov has claimed that the new incarnation of the Blockchain platform appeals to entry-level users.

WeRaise started operation on Nov 1st 2017.

WeRaise is a specialized agency offering marketing services for ICO projects including banner advertising, professional video production, PR services, social media marketing, and other powerful tools to successfully boost an ICO launch.

Each ICO project is unique. WeRaise offers the best selection of marketing services which are expertly tailored to each project. Every campaign is tracked and fine-tuned for optimal performance.

WeRaise is new, but the team behind it is not. The core team comes from a background in traditional digital advertising, with 20 years of experience in banner advertising, SEM, SEO, and SMM, working with global brands like Samsung, Asus, Bayer, Kraft, Budweiser, and Motorola. This advertising experience is combined with the expertise of numerous crypto-currency professionals with a background in ICO marketing.

Our team has conducted research into the crypto blockchain ecosystem, collected detailed information about important sites and potentially effective traffic sources and conducted test campaigns to study the effectiveness of various approaches.

Our ICO marketing specialists bring years of experience of successful and unsuccessful strategies to the table and allow us to work according to industry best practices. Our approaches, marketing mix, messages and key advantages are tried and tested, and ready to use.

Our banner advertising and press release placement services for ICO projects are ready to go at the touch of a button. Find out more at http://weraise.pro/offer

Find WeRaise here:

Website: http://weraise.pro
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Weraise

The post Launched in November, WeRaise Advertising Agency Boosts ICOs with Fresh Approach in Banner Ad and Press Releases Placing. appeared first on NEWSBTC.