Day: December 24, 2017

Most alt coins today are trending lower. Dash prices in particular continues to trickle lower while NEM consolidates.

In my honest opinion, I really think the 20 period MA which was obliterated on December 22 will continue to hold an important role in the coming sessions.

DASH, Monero, IOTA and LTC prices might continue to trend lower, what do you think?

NEM CONSOLIDATES

As per Saturday’s recommendation, we shall continue holding our bullish projection. It’s not really rocket science in my opinion.

In light of last week’s knee jerk reaction and failure of prices to close below the 50% Fibonacci retracement level drawn from last week’s high low, we shall hold a bullish projection.

The reason is simple, notice those long lower wicks and those higher highs relative to the lower BB after that reversal from the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level on December 22? Well, if NEM prices close above the 20 period MA, then we enter long and aim at December 19 highs as our immediate, short term target.

DASH PRICES LOWER

DASH prices are consolidating and when compared to December 23 price action, price action is actually testing support defined by 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level as drawn from last week’s high low.

Now, here’s the deal, as long as prices remain below the 20 period MA, we remain bearish. Because of this skew, we expect support at around $800 which is December 1 highs and 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level.

IOTA SELLERS FOCUS ON DECEMBER 22 LOWS

On December 22, IOTA crashed to $1.1 but the recovery was swift. However, ever since that higher highs and close above $3.3 which was the base of our bull flag before this break below, buy demand has been low and has failed to close above the equilibrium line.

In higher time frame, last week prices were overextended with a whole candlestick closing above the upper BB.

Because of that, we expect prices to continue trickling lower especially if there is no attempt of close above the middle BB. In line with this search for equilibrium, sellers should target $1.1 as printed by December 22 lows.

MONERO BEARS NOW TARGET $160

Monero prices continued with their collapse. Evidently, the 20 period MA couldn’t hold and you see the consequent lower lows confirming that.

If prices remain this way and the 20 period MA remain as ceiling, $215 should be the immediate seller’s target. Otherwise, if sellers persists, then lower lows to August 27 highs of $160 is likely.

LTC BEARS CONTINUE TO SUPPRESS PRICES

LTC prices are still sliding and as it is, it looks likely to remain so. The middle BB and the resistance trend line continue to hold prices and encouraging sellers to get in.

As it is, bear pressure makes it reasonable for sellers to aim at $140  December 22 lows. Already, there is a stochastic sell signal which is in sync with daily chart short term trend.

Therefore, until a stochastic buy signal prints, sellers are in charge.

All charts courtesy of Trading View

The post AS NEM CONSOLIDATES, DASH PRICES TRICKLE LOWER appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price after a decent recovery started a new downside correction toward $0.8000 against the US Dollar.
• There is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $1.00 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair is slowly moving down toward the $0.8000 and $0.7500 support levels.

Ripple price is correcting lower against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD might decline further and test the $0.8000 support level.

Ripple Price Resistance

After testing the $0.7000 support area, Ripple price recovered very nicely against the US Dollar. The price made a nice upside move and traded above the $1.00 level. However, the upside move was capped by the $1.15 level. Later, a fresh downside correction was initiated and the price moved down below the $1.00 level. There was a break below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.6800 low to $1.1410 high. However, the current downside wave is limited and the price remains supported above $0.8000.

There was a complete test of the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.6800 low to $1.1410 high. XRP is moving higher, but upsides are capped by the $1.00 resistance. The 100 hourly simple moving average is also around $1.00 and acting as a strong resistance. Moreover, there is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $1.00 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. Therefore, there are many resistances on the way up and an upside break above $1.00 won’t be easy.

The $1.10 level is also a major hurdle for buyers. On the downside, the $0.8000 and $0.7500 levels are major support zones.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is slightly place in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is mostly flat around the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.8000

Major Resistance Level – $1.0000

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Kraken

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Downside Correction appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Key Highlights

• ETH price has recovered well and is currently trading above the $680 pivot zone against the US Dollar.
• There was a break above a bearish trend line with resistance at $670 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair is now positioned nicely to gain further in the near term above $700.

Ethereum price looks like completed a correction against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD might recover further above $700 in the near term.

Ethereum Price Resistance

Recently, we saw a lot of swing moves in ETH price above $550 against the US Dollar. The price corrected towards the $740 level where it faced sellers and started a downside move once again. It traded below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $475 low to $739 high. The downside move was mostly a correction wave as it remained supported above the $570 level.

There was a complete test of the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $475 low to $739 high. It was a positive sign and after testing the $605 support area, the price started a fresh upside wave. It has moved above the $680 pivot and is slowly gaining momentum. During the upside move, there was a break above a bearish trend line with resistance at $670 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. It has opened the doors for more gains and the pair has move above the $700 level.

At the moment, the price is attempting a break above the $705 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Once there is a close above the 100 hourly SMA, the price could gain further traction towards the $740 level.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is moving back in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is moving higher and is nicely placed above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $680

Major Resistance Level – $740

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Technical Analysis – ETH/USD Recovery Underway appeared first on NEWSBTC.

December 2017 will go down as a Bitcoin Christmas, with price surging from $9,000 to $20,000 in just three weeks, then dropping by nearly 50% in a few days. #ANALYSIS

News of big partnerships are always a lift for undervalued altcoins. With Bitcoin stealing the show, and most of the capital time after time, alternative cryptocurrencies need a bigger boost. Relatively unknown Tron is about to get that as a partnership has just been announced.

According to a Medium post and the founder’s own Twitter feed rumours were flying that Tron could be partnering up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Tron’s brainchild is Justin Sun the former Chief Representative of Ripple in Greater China and the CEO of Peiwo, the leading audio content community of China. Sun made the Forbes 30 under 30 list twice at the age of 26 and was hand-picked by Alibaba chief Jack Ma himself to study at the Jack Ma Hupan University for entrepreneurs. The two Chinese tech gurus have close ties already.

However the partnership actually announced on Twitter was with oBike, one of the largest sharing economy companies in the world. It is still an impressive announcement from the relatively new entry into the cryptocurrency market. oBike is Singapore’s first homegrown stationless bicycle-sharing system with operations in several countries in Europe and Asia and over ten million users. According to the post oBike will be launching its own Ocoin for Bluetooth bike sharing applications; this will be based on the Tron network.

According to the company website Tron

“aims to construct a worldwide free content entertainment system with the blockchain and distributed storage technology. The protocol allows each user to freely publish, store and own data, and in the decentralized autonomous form, decides the distribution, subscription and push of contents and enables content creators by releasing, circulating and dealing with digital assets, thus forming a decentralized content entertainment ecosystem.”

The Tron token, TRX, has a current market capacity of $2.6 billion at the time of writing. According to CoinMarketCap.com it is ranked 18 in the list of cryptocurrencies. This month alone it has jumped from $0.002 to an all-time high of $0.067 representing an increase of over 3000%. TRX is currently trading at $0.04 after a relatively flat week.

The majority of the trade is made on Binance and Korean exchange Coinnest and it has had $318 million in volume in the past 24 hours. There are 100 billion TRX coins with 65.7 billion in circulation which makes this altcoin extremely undervalued at the present time. Should bigger partnerships such as Alibaba come in the future this cryptocurrency could go a long way.

[Disclosure: The author of this article is a Tron (TRX) holder]

The post Tron partners with oBike to add 10 million users appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The global prediction market is growing at a very fast rate, and this is due to the increasing level of information available over the various fields of predictive outcomes that make up the industry such as the prediction markets and sportsbooks.

A largely redundant system

Despite how widely the awareness surrounding this industry has spread, the huge potential therein and the flexibility that it could offer to participants is yet to be achieved mainly because of the current structure of the industry. For instance, the centralized nature of traditional betting platforms implies that users deposit funds while earning no interests and more or less leaving such funds dormant for long periods of time. Also, on these platforms the rates at which betting odds are renewed or refreshed do not represent real-time data efficiently, therefore participants are deprived of the opportunities to have the best odds per time.

Another setback that comes with the existing system is the process of scanning various sportsbooks to find the best line, which is time-consuming. This process, combined with the liquidity issues discussed above, leads bettors to spend time doing monotonous, inefficient work, with a fraction of their working capital available.

Unleashing the resident potential

By implementing blockchain technology, BlitzPredict is focused on releasing the numerous underlying potentials of the betting industry to make for an efficient and trusted practice amidst improved beneficial opportunities for participants.

Such issues of trust and liquidity are still lingering among participants in the betting industry, sports betting “experts” aren’t held accountable for their predictions. Experts can lie about their track records and claim they bet at numbers that never existed. As it stands, being a successful sports betting tout is more an exercise in marketing than in accurately predicting the results of events. Also, the rivalry that exists between different analytics groups who compete independently toward the same goal, instead of cooperating makes for a non-progressive industry.

By providing a suite of smart contract tools for users to better interact with sportsbooks and prediction markets, a transparent and trusted ecosystem is being introduced by BlitzPredict. On this platform, users will be able to set up smart contracts to execute when specified criteria are met. The goal is to bring the power of an advanced betting syndicate’s tools to our users.

The blockchain efficiency

While also functioning as an aggregator of sportsbooks and prediction markets, by constantly refreshing the odds like a stock market ticker, it will be ensured that users will always get the best odds available for a given bet. Blockchain implementation streamlines the process to make prediction markets as simple to navigate as traditional sportsbooks.

One of the utmost desires of users of blockchain products is how efficient the platforms exchange process can function, especially in the spontaneous prediction market, where players want to cash out and take profit as often as they can. The Bancor protocol that is implemented by BlitzPredict enables users to convert their tokens without waiting for any third-party buyer or an external exchange. This same protocol further provides liquidity and low rates for users of the platform.

Achieving independence

The ability to function from an independent angle is a key character in the prediction market. This can only be possible for participants when they are equipped with sufficient analytical tools that will help them understand the market direction in real time. This is one of the rare benefits that the platform offers by incentivizing sports analytics experts who contribute to the platform and work to create powerful predictive models.

The secure and streamlined implementations of blockchain protocols will onboard casual users to partner operations, bringing users with no previous blockchain experience to the low-vig, high-volume options in the space, and deliver a beautiful, easy-to-use experience.

The post Blockchain Makes Unlimited Resources Available to Players in Sports Betting Market appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Nowadays, Bitcoin is dominating cryptocurrency and financial headlines. Everyone wants a piece of the blockchain action, including large multinational banks like Goldman Sachs, who may have a cryptocurrency trading desk in place by June 2018. However, Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency worthy of investor attention. A quick perusal of the entire market shows that many coins are having an excellent 2017. One coin in particular, Qtum, has seen an 850% plus price increase since its launch in May earlier this year.

Now, these rapid gains may lead some to cry “bubble”, but it is much more than a shell coin with no real potential. Rather, Qtum is an open source blockchain project started by a Singapore-based company. Its goal is to combine a fork of the Bitcoin Core with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and a Proof-of-Stake protocol.

This unique hybrid system allows the network to run smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps) on a similar infrastructure, giving businesses and developers an environment that is easy to work with. In essence, the platform will bridge the gap between blockchain technology and business by becoming the public blockchain for businesses. The goal is to penetrate various industries like telecommunications, finance, logistics, and manufacturing with the objective of increasing operational efficiency and output.

The New and Better Ethereum?

Currently, the Ethereum network is the leading smart contract system that many companies and dapps use as their basic infrastructure. Unfortunately, the Ethereum network is riddled with deficiencies.

First, the network’s Proof-of-Work protocol hurts scalability and results in high energy costs. Though the team has announced they will be switching to the PoS consensus, no firm date has been given for the hard fork. Second, Ethereum code and smart contracts are not as secure as originally thought. Although The DAO fiasco has been put to rest, the network still isn’t as secure as it should be. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the Ethereum network struggles to scale as blockchain bloat becomes an increasingly large problem. With more data and transactions being logged every day, many fear the Ethereum blockchain is just too cumbersome.

Business and developers who want to make use of smart contracts can instead consider the Qtum blockchain. It de facto has a leg up on the Ethereum blockchain because it already uses Proof-of-Stake for consensus. This alone will help the blockchain scale and reduce bloating. Its x86 virtual machine (VM) allows it to effectively execute smart contracts, even those that are too complex for Ethereum’s VM. The existence of a fast, more streamlined blockchain coupled with a powerful VM is a major win for developers.

What’s more, unlike Ethereum, the network is constantly backwards compatible. Thus blockchain technology can be implemented by a wide variety of users, further decentralizing transaction verification and theoretically allowing applications to run forever.

Because Qtum is based on both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains, Bitcoin-based and Ethereum based applications are able to port quite easily. For developers, this provides a tremendous layer of flexibility that neither the Bitcoin or Ethereum blockchains can provide. It also opens up a whole array of opportunities for businesses who would be otherwise limited by blockchain incompatibility.

In an additional effort to make the platform more appealing to businesses without prior blockchain experience, the platform permits smart contracts to be coded with well-known programming languages like C, C++, and Java. What’s more, because of the platform’s structure, it is easy for businesses to create their own tokens and smart contracts customizable for their business applications.

The establishment of a simple payment verification (SVP) protocol is built into the codebase, so smart contracts can be executed from lite wallets which can be installed on mobile devices through dapps. This gives businesses the ability to conduct operations on the fly without having to always run expensive network setups.

In light of these features, it’s no wonder Qtum’s price has been on a tear. The platform is a revolutionary public blockchain that provides businesses with true utilitarian value.

The post Could There Be a New Crypto-Sheriff in Town? appeared first on NEWSBTC.

NITRO, the public-company backed cryptocurrency for the games industry, announces airdrop to holders of current video-game tokens.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

In line with its mission to empower gamers with the opportunity to have a say in games that are in the process of development, NITRO will airdrop a total of 50 NOX per wallet holders of a carefully curated list of video-games tokens.

To be eligible for the airdrop, token-holders must hold the equivalent of at least 0.1 ETH of major video game tokens and register to stake a claim on NITRO’s website. The major video game tokens are as follows: AppCoins, Decentraland, DMarket, Enjin, Flux, Game Machine, KickICO, MobileGo, NITRO, Playkey, Skincoin and WAX.

Registrations will begin on the 20th of December and last till the 31st of December (23:59 GMT). Only the first 10,000 registrants with eligible wallets will receive NOX. The list of eligible wallets will be obtained from a snapshot taken on 01:00 hours on 24th December (GMT).

The airdrop will enable recipients to join current NOX holders in:

1. Being able to vote on the funding of games
2. Receive discounts when converting to in-game currency
3. Participate in reward programs for their activity within the network

The airdrop will be conducted in the following manner:

1. A snapshot of the blockchain will be taken on 01:00 of 24th December (GMT)
2. The distribution of NOX will begin by the second week of January.

For existing NOX holders

As a form of reward for participation in the network, purchasers of of NOX tokens can expect to receive quantity bonuses based on their wallet balance on 26th December. The bonus tokens will range from 5% to 25%, based on the schedule indicated below:

1. A snapshot of the blockchain will be taken on 23:59 on 26th December (GMT)
2. The distribution of bonus NOX will begin by the second week of January.

“Having previously announced the addition of over 318 games and 348m users to be integrated into our network and raised the equivalent of over US$2.7m in the first phase of its crowdsale, we are excited to open up our project to holders of video-game related tokens at large. We believe that this will give them a greater voice in being able to vote for games to be funded via NITRO. We would also like to reward purchasers of current NOX tokens for their contributions” said Kin-Wai Lau, NITRO’s Director

About NITRO

NITRO is an online blockchain based cryptocurrency project designed to provide a holistic approach to solve end-to-end ecosystem problems of the video-games industry. The Project seeks to integrate all stakeholders of the US$100 billion video-game industry onto a single platform.

NITRO involves the creation of NITRO Token or NOX and an integrated online marketplace called NITRO Marketplace. NOX is developed on the Ethereum network. NITRO is the first cryptocurrency project backed by a publicly listed company — iCandy Interactive Limited, a Southeast Asian mobile entertainment group listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

About iCandy Interactive

iCandy Interactive Limited (“iCandy”) is an Australian incorporated public company that has its core business in the development and publishing of mobile games and entertainment for a global audience. iCandy is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under the symbol ICI. iCandy is one of the leading mobile entertainment group in Southeast Asia with over 23 million smartphone users over their network

iCandy runs multiple subsidiary games studios in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, including leading games studios Appxplore and Inzen Studio. In particular Appxplore has been named Google’s Top Developer on the Google Play store. Top games made by iCandy include Crab War, Alien Path, Star Tap and Dark Dot. Almost all of iCandy’s games titles have been recommended and featured on Apple’s App Store (iOS) or the Google Play Store. iCandy has won various awards including the Best Gameplay award at the recently held International Mobile Games Awards (IMGA) Southeast Asia 2017.

For further question on this news release, please contact [email protected]

For more information visit www.nitro.live

Block No. 501451, which is planned to be produced roughly speaking on December 28, 2017, will be decisive for the old/new fork Segwit2X, and a Christmas present for the entire crypto-community. An experienced team of developers declares that it will resume activity based on the launch of the suspended project on its website.

“Commission and transaction speed within the Bitcoin network reached inconceivable values. In the last month, the average commission of the network was 15-20 US dollars, and the confirmation rate could reach several days. It is simply impossible to use it as a means of payment.

Our team will carry out the Bitcoin hard fork – Segwit2X, which was expected in mid-November. At the same time, its futures trading is conducted on some exchanges, including HitBTC.

We promise that all BTC holders will receive, not only B2X in the ratio of 1:1, but also as a reward for your commitment to progress, the proportional number of Bitcoin of Satoshi Nakamoto who mined it in the first year of the network’s existence,” commented Jaap Terlouw, the project CEO.

The new fork will appear as a result of the revival of Segwit2X, initiated by a group of professional developers. The idea is to resume and refine the suspended project, to create a really anonymous and instant Bitcoin. At the same time, the goal of this work is not the replacement of the original network, but the effective coexistence of two networks with different purposes.

General information about the new Bitcoin Segwit2X

• Estimated fork date: 12.28.2017
• Total issue: 21 million
• Protection against repeated transactions: Yes
• Block extraction speed: 2.5 minutes
• Mining: X11
• Block size: increased to 4 mb
• Recalculation of complexity: after each block
• Unique address format: Yes

In addition, the Roadmap project has the following positive changes:

• Offline codes
• Support for Lightning Network, instant transactions
• ZkSnark
• Smart contracts
• Anonymous transactions

Follow the news of the project on the website: http://b2x-segwit.io/

Telegram chat: https://t.me/Segwit2_X

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

In the world of cryptocurrency, there has always been a keen interest in physical objects. Whether they are coins, paper wallets, keychains, or anything else in tangible form, crypto-related merchandise and collectibles always do quite well. In the case of IOTA, a Kickstarter project was organized to mint physical coins. Surprisingly, this crowdfunding campaign has been fully funded, even though it still has nearly four weeks to go.

A Physical IOTA Coin is Coming

Although most people may not necessarily see the benefit in a physical minted coin representing a popular cryptocurrency, they actually have many advantages. The first reason is that there’s usually only a small amount of physical coins available. As a result, minted physical coins representing any popular cryptocurrency will always be extremely collectible. While they may not necessarily appreciate in value over time, they hardly ever lose their value.

A secondary reason to pay attention to these minted coins is that they make for excellent gifts. Considering that people often want to introduce family members and acquaintances to cryptocurrency at some point, having a visual representation of a coin certainly makes a lot of sense. While their value is still not tangible in most cases, they certainly help people understand the concept of cryptocurrency a lot better. Again, not everyone will like physical coins by default, but they’re always nice to have.

One IOTA community member took it upon himself to explore the concept of minting physical IOTA coins. That has not been done by anyone else, and it doesn’t appear as if there was a big demand for them. Surprisingly, the Kickstarter campaign associated with these physical IOTA coins has been highly successful, as it raised around US$9,000 to start mining and issuing physical IOTA coins to campaign backers. After all, physically creating such coins is not cheap.

Although there are still nearly four weeks remaining in this Kickstarter campaign, its funding goal has been reached already. At the time of writing, 610 people had backed this campaign and contributed a total of almost US$16,000. This goes to show there is genuine interest in owning a physical IOTA coin. This overwhelming success is far beyond what most people had expected, but it’s also a positive sign for the future of IOTA in general.

The design of this physical IOTA coin is pretty interesting as well. Although the final design may differ a bit from the image shown on the Kickstarter page, the front of the coin currently features an “engraved” circuit board. It is 2 inches in diameter, and it will feature two tones of gold and silver. It is a pretty coin, and it’s remarkable that it can be purchased on Kickstarter for as little as US$10. That is pretty cheap for a physical cryptocurrency, as most physical Bitcoins go for at least five times that, or even more.

For the time being, it remains to be seen if the production of this IOTA coin will hit any snags. After all, there are always risks associated with backing any Kickstarter project, especially one that involves minting physical coins. It does seem the campaign’s creator will refund users if there are problems with the production or distribution of this IOTA coin. That in itself is pretty interesting, to say the least. Initiatives like these may help put IOTA on the map for many people, although it is unclear how successful such a venture will be in the end.