Day: December 18, 2017

Frustrated by crypto transaction fees? This CoinDesk Explainer gives an overview of why they’re necessary for the blockchains being built.

Even though fewer people have paid attention to NEO over the past few days, there was some good money to be made. More specifically, the NEO price has surpassed the $74 mark for the first time in history. This is quite a sufficient increase, considering how it has been pretty difficult for the NEO price to surpass $50 not that long ago. Cryptocurrency markets remain highly unpredictable and there are still plenty of fireworks to come in the coming months.

NEO Price is Surging Quite Hard

No one will deny it is almost possible to buy any altcoin today and expect big profits in a week from now. That is, assuming the Bitcoin value doesn’t tank in any significant manner. Even if it does, however, most altcoins seemingly don’t care about this price change associated with Bitcoin whatsoever. In the case of the NEO price, the value is soaring for quite some time now and it seems this momentum will not run out anytime soon either. Especially now with a new all-time recorded a few hours ago.

To put this into perspective, the NEO price has been on quite a tear over the past week. On December 12th, the NEO price was $36.5, which is still pretty spectacular. However, things have shifted into a higher gear ever since, and we now have a NEO price of just over $74. Very solid gains for this particular altcoin, although it seems this may have something to do with the few ICOs being hosted on top of this network in recent weeks. There are still people who hope NEO can surpass Ethereum in value, although the jury is still out on this front.

Thanks to a 29.04% gain in USD value and 34.71% gain over Bitcoin, things are looking pretty good for NEO right now. As is the case with any cryptocurrency surging in value, there will be plenty of people looking to take profits sooner or later. It seems this will not affect the NEO price anytime soon, though, as there have been a few dips on the chart in the past few hours. An interesting altcoin to keep an eye on, that much is certain.

With over $519.35 million in 24-hour trading volume, the demand for NEO is certainly very strong right now. Without such substantial trading value, there would be far less demand for NEO and the value wouldn’t go up in value in any significant manner whatsoever. At the same time, it seems the demand for NEO is growing, which may or may not be influenced by the ICOs launching now and in the future. It is an interesting indicator to keep an eye on over the next few months.

As one would almost expect, Bittrex is the main trading platform for NEO right now. They control 35% of all trades through their BTC, ETH, and USDT markets. Although their Bitcoin market is the largest in overall volume, Bitfinex is not too far behind, and Binance is also contributing a lot of volume. These three platforms combine generate close to 95% of all NEO trades throughout all of their markets, which is pretty interesting. So far, this doesn’t have any negative impact on the NEO price just yet.

It will be interesting to see how high the NEO price can go in the coming weeks and months. At this pace, surpassing a price of $100 doesn’t seem impossible. All cryptocurrencies are firing on all cylinders as we speak, yet this euphoric momentum cannot last forever. Whether or not the NEO price is due for a massive correction soon, remains to be determined. All rationale has left the cryptocurrency ecosystem quite some time ago.

On CNBC’s Rundown, respected researcher and financial analyst Ronnie Moas from Standpoint Research stated that in the long-term, the bitcoin price will likely reach $400,000.

“Bitcoin is already up 500 percent since I recommended it in the beginning of July, and I’m looking for another 500 percent move from here. The end-game on bitcoin is that it will hit $300,000 to $400,000 in my opinion, and it will be the most valuable currency in the world,” said Moas.

In July, Moas predicted the price of bitcoin to surpass the $5,000 mark by the end of 2017, when bitcoin was trading at below $2,600. As of December 18, the price of bitcoin remains above $19,000 and its market cap has surpassed $317 billion.

$400,000 Long Term Target

Essentially, a $400,000 long-term price target of bitcoin would require the market valuation of the cryptocurrency to achieve exactly $8.4 trillion, a market cap that is larger than that of gold.

In 2013, Thompson Reuters GFMS revealed in a report that there exists 171,300 tons of gold in supply. That estimate placed the valuation of the gold market at $7 trillion. For the price of bitcoin to surpass $400,000, its market cap will have to surpass that of the gold market.

Previously, NewsBTC reported that JPMorgan global markets strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou explained the potential of bitcoin penetrating into the gold market and establishing itself as the premier store of value through a drastic increase in liquidity and adoption.

Panigirtzoglou stated that the launch of bitcoin futures contracts and integration of the cryptocurrency by major financial institutions would allow bitcoin to compete against traditional asset classes such as gold. He stated:

“In all, the prospective introduction of bitcoin futures has the potential to elevate cryptocurrencies to an emerging asset class. The value of this new asset class is a function of the breadth of its acceptance as a store of wealth and as a means of payment and simply judging by other stores of wealth such as gold, cryptocurrencies have the potential to grow further from here.”

Bitcoin Already Penetrating Into Offshore Banking Market

As many analysts including Blocktower co-founder Ari Paul noted, bitcoin is aleeady pentrating into the offshore banking market at a rapid pace, an industry which major banks such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs dominate.

The offshore banking market is estimated to be worth over $40 trillion, with the majority of holdings and wealth of large-scale investors and traders stored overseas. Paul emphasized that as a robust and decentralized store of value, bitcoin is capable of serving the offshore banking market in orders of magnitude better than centralized financial institutions, as it provides financial freedom, privacy, and independence.

Over the next few years, if bitcoin can sustain its current growth rate as a store of value and a currency, the market cap of the cryptocurrency will likely enter the trillion dollar region.

In April, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees, who has always been extremely optimistic in regards to the mid to long-term growth trend of the cryptocurrency market, explained that he would be satisfied if the cryptocurrency market cap surpasses $300 billion by 2021.

Tokens as an asset class have surpassed $30 billion. I predict over $300 billion within 4 years. https://t.co/BNqBzdUfKk #bitcoin #ethereum

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) April 24, 2017

The bitcoin market cap has surpassed the $300 billion cryptocurrency market cap prediction by Voorhees, and the market valuation of all of the cryptocurrencies in the market combined has surpassed $587 billion.

The post Researcher Ronnie Moas: Bitcoin Price Will Hit $400,000 in Long-Term appeared first on NEWSBTC.

A good and useful cryptocurrency needs specific features to succeed. Not only does it need to be fungible, but it also requires secure storage solutions. In the Bitcoin world, using multisignature support has almost become the new normal. Things are a bit different when it comes to the majority of altcoins. Monero, the coin known for its privacy and anonymity, will receive multisig support soon. The code has been merged into the official development branch as we speak.

Most Monero enthusiasts are all too aware of the multisig development. This code has been worked on for quite some time now. After a thorough testing period, the new feature is now officially merged into the main branch of Monero development. Interested entities can always check out this code on Github. For many people, this is excellent news in every possible way. It shows the Monero team is working hard to make their cryptocurrency better and more secure.

Multisig Support is Coming to Monero Soon

The next Monero client will release will have multisig support. It is unclear when we can expect this new client, although it is good to know what types of features one can expect. There are some other interesting features about this integration as well. More specifically, multisig transactions and addresses look the same as regular Monero transactions and addresses. That is quite different from Bitcoin and any other coin supporting multisignature solutions right now.

Multisig has just been merged into master and will be included in the next release! 🎉

Note that multisig transactions and addresses are indistinguishable from normal transactions and addresses.https://t.co/tx6NIKxcIl

— Monero || #xmr (@monerocurrency) December 17, 2017

In the Bitcoin world, regular wallet addresses begin with a “1”. Multisig wallets have a “3” at the front. In the case of Monero, there will be no way to distinguish between regular and multisignature transactions and wallets. For a currency focused on privacy and anonymity, that is quite a marvelous feat of strength. Moreover, it may help other exchange platforms and services integrate Monero support in the future. Multisignature support is pretty significant in this regard, as it opens up a lot of new opportunities.

Speaking of which, it’s also good news for darknet adoption of Monero payments. So far, most DNMs remain on the fence about XMR due to the lack of multisig support. With the new client due out soon, that will all come to change as well. It will be interesting to see how the general cryptocurrency responds to this new development. Most people focus on profits rather than solid technical developments these days. An interesting future lies ahead for Monero, that much no one can deny.

The post The Next Monero Client Release Will Have Full Multisig Support appeared first on NEWSBTC.

UK-based PayperEx is the first alternative share market network to utilize Bitcoin blockchain technology to lower the barrier of entry into cryptocurrency trading.

PayperEx aims to decentralize the shares market by creating an alternative trading network and bringing the benefits of blockchain technology to shares trading. The platform, which is built on the Bitcoin blockchain, allows users to buy and sell shares of digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc…  through a proprietary unit called a Payper.

For each asset on the platform, a limited number of Paypers will be issued. Users purchase these Paypers using PAX, PayperEx’s native cryptocurrency.

Advanced Smart Contracts on the Bitcoin Blockchain

One of the most game-changing aspects of blockchain technology is the smart contact. In simplest terms, a smart contract is a computer program that facilitates and enforces the terms and conditions for a transaction – or set of transactions – to occur between two or more parties.

Smart contracts are digital contracts that self-execute when triggered by a pre-determined event, such as another transaction taking place or a certain block height being reached. They are completely automated and verified by every computer on the blockchain network.

Until recently, smart contracts were the sole province of the Ethereum blockchain. New blockchains are being developed – Ripple, Corda, Hyperledger, and others – that incorporate smart contract technology, however, the Bitcoin blockchain traditionally been left off of the list since it has been unable to support anything but the most basic of smart contracts.

Until now.

Backed by more than 15 years of experience in the financial sector – including R&D, IT, systems development, and online trading – the team behind PayperEx have managed to harness the security and stability of the Bitcoin blockchain to develop a robust cryptocurrency investment platform that utilizes advance smart contracts.

When asked about the decision to utilize Bitcoin’s blockchain, PayperEx Co-founders Yaniv Baruch and Menahem Maya said:

With many years of experience in the technology world we know that if you want to develop something stable and scalable start with the best platform to build it on. After evaluating the available options, we found Bitcoin’s blockchain to be a more secure, stable, decentralized and transparent platform to build our smart contracts and tokens on.

The PayperEx Multi-Currency Wallet

When a user signs up to participate in PayperEx’s token sale, upon logging in they are taken to their account dashboard where they can access the platform’s web based multi-currency wallet. The wallet supports all major tokens and cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum, and makes participating on the token sale fast, secure, and anxiety free.

Using the wallet to invest in PayperEx is simple. Once logged in, users simple click on their wallet and then click on the Buy Pax Tokens button. On the next page, they enter the quantity of tokens they wish to buy and select the cryptocurrency they want to use to make the purchase. After clicking the Buy Pax button, they are given the address to which they need to send funds.

Unlike most ICOs, PayperEx investors won’t be left wondering if the company received their transaction and they won’t have to wait until the end of the token sale to receive their tokens. The wallet maintains a complete and transparent record of each user’s transactions and PAX tokens are added to users’ wallets immediately upon transaction confirmation.

One of the PayperEx wallet’s most standout features is its flexibility with regard to funding source. The majority of today’s ICOs are based on the Ethereum blockchain and require that funds be sent from an ERC20 compatible wallet. That rules out many wallet applications and most online exchanges.

Because the PayperEx wallet is built on the Bitcoin blockchain, it does not have those limitations. Users are free to send their cryptocurrencies from any exchange or any wallet application they like.

Currently the wallet can only be used to buy PayperEx tokens (PAX), however, once the token sale is finished, users will be able to transfer and store their bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies just like any other online wallet.

PayperEx Token Sale

The network will have its own currency, the PAX token, which is the first token to be built on the Bitcoin blockchain. Cryptocurrencies will be able to be traded for PAX, which in turn can purchase Paypers. The initial distribution of the tokens will be done via token sale, which is currently under way and will continue through December 25, 2017.

A total of 4,000,000,000 are available for sale during the token sale. Any tokens not sold at the conclusion of the token sale will be cancelled. The current rate for PAX 0.000036 BTC ~  $0.70

Excepted coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin cash, Litecoin, Bitcoin Gold

For more information about PayperEx please visit the official company website and download the project white paper. To participate in the PAX token sale, click here. To keep up to date

With the latest PayperEx developments, follow them on Facebook or Twitter or come join their Telegram channel.

The post PayperEx and Bitcoin – Disrupting the Blockchain Status Quo appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Augmented reality has the ability to power a handsfree computing revolution, enhancing the visual experience with seamless virtual interfaces. What that amounts to in practical terms is that smartglasses can eventually replace many hand-held computing platforms, by converging their essential functions into a single wearable display device. In the future, smartglasses can potentially perform all functions currently done by smartphones, PCs, tablets, and stand-alone consumer electronics like televisions and radios. Therefore, it seems not only logical but likely that AR displays will become the standard for many tasks in the future.

Lucyd has exclusively licensed 13 AR patents, and assembled a team of thought leaders in optics and AR to help realize their mission to build Lucyd Lens, the first blockchain-fueled smartglasses. Lucyd is developing a next-gen pair of smartglasses that can become truly mainstream, since they will address many issues in currently available AR products, like prescription lens incompatibility and narrow EFV (enhanced field of view). Lucyd will seek to bolster their smartglasses with a blockchain app store and LCD utility token to unify AR content and its users on a single, peer-to-peer financial network. Lucyd believes the Lucyd Lab blockchain will enable rapid in-AR transactions, and organically reward app developers based on community feedback. This brief article is going to explore some potential applications of Lucyd Lens hardware, and how blockchain has the potential to greatly enhance and accelerate the development of an AR content ecosystem.

Lens Applications

Truly user-friendly smartglasses will have an unlimited number of useful applications, from work to home, around town and on the road. Essentially, the purpose of AR is to port everything we currently need computing devices for into a comfortable, wearable, handsfree device. That’s what Lucyd Lens is trying to do, to free users from the constraint of having to look away from the world for information, with an adaptive interface that spans a spectrum of immersion from none to complete. Our goal is when you don’t need the Lens, it will revert to ordinary glasses. When you do, it will provide an interface with a wide range of AR applications to assist you in almost any task. Lucyd believes this dynamic nature is necessary for ergonomic all-day wear of smartglasses.

A simulation of a Lucyd Lens interface. ©2017 Lucyd PTE Ltd

Perhaps one of the most important application of smartglasses is to help prevent distracted driving. By having a customizable, heads-up AR display, Lucyd Lens could help keep your eyes on the road. Need directions, but don’t want to look at a phone or GPS? No problem, the Lens will be able to show you or read out your next turn to you. Want to see your gauges in a bright digital display, so you don’t have to look down at your dashboard? Lens could connect to your car via Bluetooth to relay information from the onboard computer. Want to control your music faster and with a more natural interface? Certainly possible with AR. Lucyd believes all of these features, if executed properly, will add up to a safer driving experience. Similar interfaces can assist with use of other vehicles, and while walking around town, running or cycling. In fact, many air force pilots are already using monocular AR displays for real time guidance and vital information. The Elbit Systems Targo II helmet-mounted system relays real-time avionics to a pilot’s helmet, displaying them in an AR lens. If AR can assist military pilots in navigation, then it follows that it can do the same for the average driver.

A simulation of a Lucyd Lens interface. ©2017 Lucyd PTE Ltd

Shopping is another daily task that can be greatly enhanced by AR. By simply looking at a QR code for a second, one could pull up any amount of information and user reviews on a product. Lens can also provide easy tracking of your to-do and grocery lists, so you never miss a beat. Instant price comparisons with similar products online is also possible, thanks to sophisticated AI image recognition algorithms. Finally, smartglasses can integrate all of your wallets into one, for rapid payments with any currency through Apple Pay-style RFID payments in person, and fiat, crypto and LCD payments online. Lucyd believes that in the near future, you could potentially look at a point-of-sale card reader with the Lens, get an AR prompt about the purchase, and vocally confirm payment. A number of security measures will could be implemented, such as voice pattern recognition, or retina scanning to help prevent unauthorized use of the Lens, making your transactions safer than ever before. In the future, not only can smartglasses potentially replace your phone, they can also replace your wallet.

Lucyd has formed a strategic alliance with ROAR, an innovative AR app developer and dev kit producer. ROAR has a number of shopping apps already released, and Lucyd has teamed up with them to make their products available on Lucyd Lens from the get-go. Both virtual and real-world shopping experiences could be greatly improved by adding ROAR AR-native software to Lucyd hardware.

A simulation of a Lucyd Lens interface. ©2017 Lucyd PTE Ltd

Gaming is another area headed for a major revolution thanks to AR. Nothing is more elaborate and beautiful than the real world, and AR opens a huge canvas of possibilities for layering gaming content onto reality. Imagine, at any moment in time you can drop into the action. Just a walk through the woods can become a quest for glory—and thanks to Lucyd’s blockchain, in-app purchases with the LCD token could be seamlessly integrated into any game. Lucyd believes this will both improve the user experience and enhance app developer revenues. As AR technology improves, the gaming experiences can potentially expand way beyond Pokémon GO™, into richly-textured, dynamic overlays adding highly interactive virtual elements to the real world. At the same time, traditional 2D and VR games can also be displayed by the Lens, offering a full gamut of gaming options from simple AR Tetris to a “real” World of Warcraft™. Lucyd Lens could make it so that anywhere, anytime can be game time.

A simulation of a Lucyd Lens interface. ©2017 Lucyd PTE Ltd

Augmented reality also offers tremendous potential in the world of communication, and assisting with audiovisual impairments. Real-time recognition and translation between text and speech is possible with AR technology, potentially opening up much faster communication between speakers of different languages and those with hearing impairments. A use case for this might be a conversation with a colleague that prefers a different language from your own, and having their words spoken or displayed to you in your primary tongue. For a hearing-impaired individual, they could have the Lens display anything that is spoken to them in text format, and indicate proximity of potential hazards based on their sound. For example, the Lens could create a visual alert to indicate a car is approaching from behind. For a sight-impaired individual, AR technology has the potential to enhance brightness, enable digital zoom for easy reading, or turn visual cues captured by the onboard camera into audio alerts, such as sounding a tone when there is a hazard immediately in front of the wearer. With sound localization and various lengths and types of tones, a significant amount of visual information could be relayed to the sight-impaired. Sight-impaired individuals have responded positively to existing AR devices such as NuEyes^TM, demonstrating real potential for AR to help those with sensory impairment.

A simulation of a Lucyd Lens interface. ©2017 Lucyd PTE Ltd

Integration with blockchain technology offers a number of key functions to Lucyd’s proposed AR app ecosystem, greatly enhancing the developer environment for the Lens. By creating the LCD token, Lucyd seeks to create an engaged and well-connected userbase to develop, distribute and experience new AR content. Unlike existing smartphone ecosystems that charge developers high fees for quality control and management of content, the Lucyd platform decentralizes this oversight to the user community. All revenues on the Lucyd platform will be paid in the LCD token, based on community impact. The more positive reviews and downloads an app receives, the more LCD is “mined” from the blockchain, naturally encouraging developers to create high-quality content. Users can also be rewarded for engagement with in-app actions like referrals, beta testing, bug reporting, ratings and so forth, giving developers the opportunity to drive specific user actions with LCD. Lucyd believes the blockchain also enables rapid peer-to-peer transactions in AR with the LCD token, with the Lens potentially acting as a secure hardware wallet for LCD.

By empowering their smartglass hardware with blockchain, Lucyd wants to create a borderless community around the Lens, where open exchange of apps, media and value occur on an unrestricted basis around the LCD token. This level of connectivity in the userbase, and ease of transactions, Lucyd believes is only possible by uniting AR with blockchain technology. As a result, Lucyd Lens is positioning itself to become the world’s first blockchain-fueled smartglasses.

The post Potential Applications of Lucyd’s Blockchain-Fueled Smartglasses appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin gold price is trading in a range above the $260-270 support area against the US Dollar.
• There is a crucial contracting triangle forming with support at $270 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD (data feed from Bitfinex).
• The pair need to move above the $290 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average to gain momentum.

Bitcoin gold price is approaching a short term break with support at $270 against the US Dollar. BTG/USD might move above $295 to gain traction.

Bitcoin Gold Price Support

There were more than two rejections from the $260 support area in bitcoin gold price against the US Dollar. On the other hand, there were more than three rejections from well above $300. Therefore, the price seems to be struggling to gain traction above $300 and is currently trading in a range. The price recently traded above the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $348 high to $262 low. However, it failed to move above the $300-310 resistance.

It also failed to break the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $348 high to $262 low. It seems like there is a crucial contracting triangle forming with support at $270 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD. The triangle resistance is currently at $290-295. More importantly, the 100 hourly simple moving average is at $290 to act as a major barrier for buyers. A break above the $295 hurdle could ignite an upside break above $310 in the near term.

The next major resistance could be $327 and the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $348 high to $262 low. On the downside, the $270 support holds the key.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTG/USD is near 42 and is currently flat.

Major Support Level – $260

Major Resistance Level – $295

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Bitfinex

The post Bitcoin Gold Price Technical Analysis – BTG/USD Approaching Break? appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Peter Brandt, a highly regarded financial analyst and trader, has strongly refuted the claims of several individuals in the traditional finance sector who have continuously condemned bitcoin as a bubble since 2013.

According to Brandt, while the price of bitcoin has increased drastically over the past four years, the technology behind bitcoin has begun to transform the global finance industry at a rapid rate. An increasing number of investors, traders, and general consumers have started to embrace bitcoin as a robust store of value and a currency.

Hence, given the real world impact of bitcoin in the global finance sector, Brandt emphasized that it is highly inaccurate to label bitcoin as a bubble. Rather, he stated that a more appropriate description is the term “mania.”

I completely disagree labeling $BTC as a bubble. Underlying distributed ledger blockchain technology will revolutionize global finance. I think the term “mania” is a more appropriate description. pic.twitter.com/OMdNqDdHmc

— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) December 16, 2017

Why is Bitcoin Not a Bubble?

An economic bubble or asset bubble is trade in an asset at a price or price range that strongly exceeds the asset’s intrinsic value. To begin with, as many analysts and investors have stated, the concept of intrinsic value is flawed because value is always subjective.

Salvator Mundi, the recovered painting of Leonardo Da Vinci, could be worth $450 million to an enthusiastic art collector, while a digital cartoon cat on the Ethereum-based decentralized application CryptoKitties could be worth $120,000 to an avid blockchain enthusiast.

As Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein explained:

“A five dollar gold coin was worth five dollars because it had five dollars worth of gold in it. Then they issue paper money that is backed by gold in the treasury. Then one day, they issue paper money that does not have the backing of gold. There was no pledge that if you turn it in, I’ll give you five dollars of gold. It is fiat money. I say this piece of paper is worth five dollars and so therefore it is five dollars and a lot of people did not take that for a long time. But, now they do without question. You move a little bit further and you get bitcoin that is not a fiat currency so I don’t trust, it and I don’t like it. On the other hand, if it works, I say maybe it was a natural progression from hard money to digital money.”

Additionally, unlike traditional bubbles, like stocks, bitcoin has had experienced a series of minor and major corrections. Price corrections in bitcoin enable the market to strengthen, stabilize, and harden, as weak hands fall off and speculators leave the market.

A speculative bubble occurs when the market and investors are no longer able or willing to support the price range of an asset that strongly exceeds the expected amount. Upon achieving new all-time highs, bitcoin has consistently experienced minor and major corrections, stabilized, and prepared for new rallies.

Moreover, long-term speculative bubbles do not exist. Bitcoin has been around for eight years and throughout that period, it had risen in value proportionally to its user base, adoption rate, and application in the financial sector as a store of value, or gold 2.0.

Bitcoin is a Newly Emerging Asset Class 

CME Group chairman Leo Melamed and JPMorgan global markets strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou have described bitcoin as gold 2.0 and a newly emerging asset class that will eventually compete against the world’s reserve currencies and major assets.

As the value of bitcoin continues to increase exponentially over the next few years triggered by the adoption of general consumers, investors, hedge funds, stock markets, exchanges, institutional investors, and offshore banking account holders, most of the bubble talks around bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market will dematerialize.09

The post Prominent Financial Analyst Explains Why Bitcoin is Not a Bubble appeared first on NEWSBTC.