Day: January 3, 2018

Key Highlights

• Ripple price extended gains and was able to move above the $3.00 level against the US Dollar.
• There are two important bullish trend lines forming with supports at $2.75 and $2.30 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair might continue to trade higher and it could even settle above the $3.00 handle.

Ripple price gained further momentum against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD broke $3.00 and it may continue to move higher.

Ripple Price Upside Thrust

There were further gains in Ripple price as it broke above the $2.40 resistance against the US Dollar. The upside move was strong as the price was even able to move above the $3.00 resistance. A high was formed at $3.0505 and it seems like the price may continue to move higher. Before the upside thrust, the price tested the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last upside leg from the $1.95 low to $2.80 high.

It found support and bounced sharply to move above $3.00. At the moment, there are a few signs of a minor correction towards the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $2.25 low to $3.05 high. There are many supports on the downside such as $2.80 and $2.50. Moreover, there are two important bullish trend lines forming with supports at $2.75 and $2.30 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The first trend line is close to the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $2.25 low to $3.05 high.

Therefore, if the pair corrects lower, it will most likely find buyers near $2.50-2.80. On the upside, a break above $3.05 could set the pace for a move above $3.25.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is moving nicely in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently well above the 60 level.

Major Support Level – $2.8000

Major Resistance Level – $3.0500

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Kraken

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Breaks $3.0; More Gains Likely appeared first on NewsBTC.

Websites and publishers need to be prepared for cryptocurrency miners slipping into ads on their sites, according to Israeli adtech firm Spotad.

Merrill Lynch, a major US-based bank that was acquired by Bank of America in 2011, has reportedly banned its clients from investing in bitcoin.

An internal memo released by Merrill Lynch obtained by The Wall Street Journal read:

“The decision to close GBTC to new purchases is driven by concerns pertaining to suitability and eligibility standards of this product.”

Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) Banned

Specifically, Merrill Lynch prohibited its clients from purchasing shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), the only regulated bitcoin investment vehicle in the US market operated by Grayscale Investments, a brokerage arm of Digital Currency Group.

The forbidding of GBTC trading by Merrill Lynch is noteworthy because GBTC remains as the only regulated channel with which bank clients can trade bitcoin. Outside of that, there are bitcoin futures exchanges operated by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) and CME Group but those two platforms target institutional and retail investors.

Merrill Lynch advisor also told WSJ:

“I think it’s a very good idea. [The company] made an assessment that there’s too much risk.”[When you buy a currency, you buy that country [based on its underlying economy and monetary supply.] When you buy bitcoin, you just buy bitcoin.”

However, given that the value of any asset, currency, and commodity is subjective, and their performance depend on the market, the definition of risk involved in cryptocurrency trading remains unclear. Investment in any asset class or market can be risky. Every year, individual investors lose billions of dollars in the global stock market. Still, banks enable investors to invest in the stock market.

It is not for the banks to decide which assets can be classified as risky or safe, considering that a solid criteria to segregate assets based on their risk cannot be formed. More to that, in a free market, the market and investors within it have the authority and the right to invest in whichever asset or currency, as the market decides the value for any asset.

In a business standpoint, or the viewpoint of Merrill Lynch, it is not the best decision to disallow bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading because other leading financial institutions in the global market including the $96 billion Goldman Sachs and $360 JPMorgan Chase are providing an efficient platform for investors in the traditional finance market to engage in cryptocurrency trading.

Clients of Merrill Lynch are not obligated to remain with Merrill Lynch. If they are dissatisfied with the decision of the company to outright ban bitcoin trading, clients will inevitably move to other major banks, that are larger than Merrill Lynch, to invest in the cryptocurrency market.

Vietnam’s Bitcoin Ban

The global cryptocurrency market and finance industry reacted similar to the imposition of a nationwide ban on bitcoin trading by Vietnam. The entire community was taken aback by the fact that major economies like Japan, the US, and South Korea have regulated bitcoin as a legitimate currency and an asset while a minor economy like Vietnam prohibited the usage of bitcoin.

As with any other asset and technology, the failure to address the demand for a rising asset like bitcoin could isolate businesses such as Merrill Lynch from the global market.

The post Merrill Lynch “Bans” Clients From Investing in Bitcoin, Why It Will Backfire appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Blockchain Guild, a community fund set up to further bitcoin development, has made its first award. The project is designed to mentor the next generation of developers, in whose hands the future of blockchain technology lies. A number of major backers have given Blockchain Guild their support including litecoin’s Charlie Lee, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song, and Tuur Demeester.

Also read: Gavin Andresen Drops A New Concept On Github for Bitcoin Cash

A Bounty on Future Bitcoin Development

As the Blockchain Guild explains, its purpose is to “Allow Patrons to be able to…support the open source ecosystem that allowed them to be successful.” It’s basically a means for bitcoiners who’ve “made it” to help those who are just starting out. These junior software engineers and blockchain developers may have the skills, but they lack the funding to dedicate time to improving code bases and developing infrastructure.

The first award the foundation has made is 0.5 BTC to Kalle Alm, a bitcoin core member who’s based in Tokyo. Alm will be using the award to work on btcdeb, a Bitcoin Script debugger. Christopher Allen, Jimmy Song, Tuur Demeester, Charlie Lee, and Zcash were the patrons for this particular award. Allen and Demeester are key members of the Guild along with a handful of other respected members of the bitcoin community.

Patreon for Bitcoin

The Blockchain Guild has been described as a Patreon-style platform that awards funds for enterprising coding projects. Project advisors oversee work that is performed in addition to voting on which bounties to award. A majority consensus of approximately 75% is required for a project to be given the go-ahead. Advisors who lead on a project aren’t devoting their time and experience for free: they’re eligible for 20% of the patron funds, with 10% going to platform costs and 70% to the recipient of the bounty.

The Guild is exploring the possibility of becoming a non-profit organization, and invites patrons to pledge their support for emerging talent who will carry the reins for future bitcoin development.

What else do you think should be done to support up and coming bitcoin developers? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to know the price of bitcoin? Check this chart.

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Key Highlights

• ETH price is surging higher and it recently moved above the $900 level against the US Dollar.
• There is a crucial bullish trend line forming with support at $890 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair remains in a super bullish trend and it is likely to move toward $1000 in the near term.

Ethereum price is gaining upside momentum against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD may soon make an attempt to break $1000.

Ethereum Price Trend

There were continuing gains in ETH price from the $800 swing low against the US Dollar. The price gained upside momentum and was able to move above the $850 and $860 resistance levels. The upside move was strong since the price was able to move above the $900 level. A new all-time high was formed at $946.71 from where the price started a downside correction.

It recently tested the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last upside leg from the $813 low to $946 high. On the downside, there are many support levels such as $900 and $890. There is also a crucial bullish trend line forming with support at $890 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The same trend line support is around the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last upside leg from the $813 low to $946 high. Therefore, if the pair corrects lower, it will most likely find buyers around $900 and $890.

On the upside, the recent high near $946 is a short term resistance. Above the mentioned $946 level, the price is likely to accelerate towards the $1000 handle. It would be interesting to see how the price reacts around $1000 and whether buyers can keep the upside momentum intact.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is placed nicely in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is currently correcting lower from the 70 level.

Major Support Level – $900

Major Resistance Level – $950

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Technical Analysis – ETH/USD Gunning Toward $1000 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Venezuela is looking for miners for the country’s national cryptocurrency, the Petro. The government has opened up a registry for miners to sign up to mine and gain access to the new currency. According to Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, 860,811 young people have already registered to create the Petro mining farms.

Also read: Venezuela Unveils Mining, Trading, and Launch Details of National Cryptocurrency

Venezuelan Miners Wanted

Venezuela has opened up the Registry of Cryptocurrency Miners for anyone with national identification to sign up to mine the country’s cryptocurrency, the Petro. The portal, launched by the Superintendence of Cryptocurrencies and Related Activities, will remain open until January 21.

Registration “is an essential requirement for natural and legal persons to have access to Petro,” reported El Impulso. Additionally, the Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodriguez, indicated that the registered may have access to other digital currencies that are authorized by the government. He was recently quoted by Panorama saying:

Natural or legal persons registered in the Registry will be able to acquire other types of cryptocurrencies for free use and demand in Venezuela, as long as they are authorized.

Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro first announced the creation of the Petro back in December, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. He then created the Superintendency of cryptocurrencies as well as the Blockchain Observatory to oversee the launch and operation of the Petro. Recently, he backed the Petro with 5 billion barrels of oil reserves and released mining, trading, and launch details of the new currency.

Based on the latest data provided by the Ministry of Petroleum, “The basis for calculating the value of the Petro will be the price of a barrel of crude, which currently stands at an average of 57 dollars,” the news outlet noted.

860,000+ Have Signed Up

Since the announcement of the Petro, Maduro claims to have been recruiting young people across his country to develop mining farms for the Petro. He was quoted by El Universal:

We are going to call them a special cryptocurrency team…[They will] set up cryptocurrency mining farms in all states and municipalities of the country.

According to the president, a total of 860,811 young people have already signed up to take part in the mining farm project, 300,000 of which have already begun working on it as part of the country’s Chamba Juvenil program. For this project, computers will be interconnected by a mining software, Maduro elaborated.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s private business sector has some reservations about the Petro. El Impulse quoted them asserting:

The cryptocurrency market in the world is not managed by governments, and its credibility and success are based on trust, something that does not exist in Venezuela.

Do you think Venezuela will be mining real cryptocurrency? What do you think of the Petro? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of the Venezuelan government and Reuters.

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

The post Venezuela Seeks Miners for the Petro – Maduro Claims 860,811 Already Signed Up appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Dallas, TX (USA), December 29, 2018. Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018, an international conference on blockchain technology that will be held in Texas, has been scheduled for February 22 – 24, 2018. And the host city will be Addison, a northern suburb of Dallas.

It will be an opportunity for all involved in blockchain technology – developers, lawyers, regulators, cryptocurrency traders, or just enthusiasts – to get together to explore and exchange ideas around a technology that’s set to completely reshape how we interact and conduct business in the coming years.

R3, a fintech startup that counts more over 100 banks, financial institutions, regulators, trade associations, professional services firms and technology companies as partners, and Blockmatics, a leading educator in the blockchain space, will conduct training classes for developers, business executives and lawyers.

R3’s 2-day Corda training for developers will cost just 33% of what you’ll normally pay at other locations. So even after taking into account travel and hotels cost from anywhere on the planet, you can still save about $1,000 USD by taking the class at this conference.

More information about the training classes and conference presentations is available at https://blockchain-conf.com.

Need to reach the organizers for any reason? Our contact information is on the website.

We hope to see you all at the conference.

The post Announcing Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price started a downside correction after trading toward $2800 against the US Dollar.
• There is a key bullish trend line forming with support at $2450 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD (data feed from Kraken).
• The 100 hourly simple moving average is also around $2450 to act as a support.

Bitcoin cash price is correcting lower towards $2400 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD must stay above $2450-2400 to avoid further declines.

Bitcoin Cash Price Correction

We saw further upsides in bitcoin cash price above the $2700 level against the US Dollar. The price traded close to the $2800 level where it faced sellers. A high was formed at $2782 from where a downside correction was initiated. It moved below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $2220 low to $2782 high. However, there are many supports on the downside around the $2400 and $2450 levels.

At the moment, the price is trading just below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $2220 low to $2782 high. On the downside, there is a key bullish trend line forming with support at $2450 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD. The same trend line support at $2450 coincides with the 100 hourly simple moving average. Moreover, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $2220 low to $2782 high is also around $2430. Therefore, it seems like the $2400-2450 support zone may act as a strong buy zone in the near term.

On the upside, an initial resistance is at $2650. A break above $2650 could open the gates for a move toward $2800 and $3000 in the short term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is currently in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD is now below 50 and is moving lower.

Major Support Level – $2450

Major Resistance Level – $2650

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Kraken

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis – BCH/USD Approaching Key Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency volatility isn’t just here to stay, it’s heralding the chaotic change of the blockchain future yet to come.

After watching Bitcoin’s astronomical rise from $997.69 at the start of 2017 to the current value of $15,429.68, as of January 2nd, 2018, it is safe to say that many people have suddenly taken notice of cryptocurrency and are eager to buy Bitcoin for future gains.

Bitcoin has made many headlines in 2017. What’s the buzz?

It is highly unusual for any commodity, let alone a currency, to appreciate by 1,410 percent year-on-year. The average market gain for all stocks is around 7 percent, so it is no wonder that a great deal of discussion has centered around the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin was invented on January 3rd, 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto whose identity is still unknown. Speculation abounds as to who Nakamoto is, and many also believe that Nakamoto is a single alias used by a whole group of programmers.

The purpose of Bitcoin was to be a currency that did not rely on banks or intermediaries to be owned, but could instead be transferred by peer-to-peer networks – this is what is meant by a decentralized currency. Bitcoins are created through the encoding of private and public cryptographic keys, a process that requires supercomputers to crunch through a bewilderingly high number of calculations every second. This is what secures the Blockchain network – the fact that it would take immense processing power to defraud the network – more processing power than any individual has. Only 21-million Bitcoins will ever be created.

Initially, not many people took notice of Bitcoin, as its technical nature made some people reluctant to understand it, and its lack of a central issuing authority, such as a bank, made others hesitant to invest in it or use it as a currency.  However, a rise of 1,410 percent in a given year is hard to ignore, especially when new millionaires are being created practically overnight. This is why 2017 has been a year for Bitcoin to break into the public consciousness.

By how much has Bitcoin’s value appreciated and depreciated historically and in 2017?

According to World Coin Index, Bitcoin is prone to sharp rises and sharp, sudden falls. Initially, Bitcoin’s value was insignificant. On March 17th, 2010, BitcoinMarket.com listed a sale price of $0.003 per Bitcoin or 333 BTC for $1. Over a year later, on April 22, 2011, Bitcoin reached the value of 1 USD. The first major ‘bubble’ price it reached was $31 and then dropped to $2. The second major bubble was $266, then it fell to $70. The third bubble took it as high as $1,242 on November 29th, 2013. After this crash, it rarely returned to the $1,000 mark, reaching as low as $200 in March 2015 but usually staying in between $500 and $800.

This trend held true right through to the end of 2016, breaking the $1,000 mark again only on January 1st, 2017. By November 28th, 2017, Bitcoin was at $10,000 and rising.

Will this year bring Bitcoin’s fourth price bubble?

What are some threats to Bitcoin?

As you can see from the price fluctuations, Bitcoin is a very volatile currency. No one knows what its value will even be tomorrow, let alone a week from now.  This makes Bitcoin very unsuitable as a currency. This is similar to national currencies where there is hyperinflation, which is what happened in Zimbabwe in 2009. Eventually, after printing notes worth one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollars, Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank stopped printing its national currency as it was completely inappropriate for people to bring wheelbarrow-loads of money into stores to do their grocery shopping.  What this means for users is that investing in Bitcoin right now is very like gambling – highly speculative.

Another threat that has recently emerged is the processing fees of Bitcoin. At the moment, the Bitcoin network can only process four transactions per second. At the start of the year 2017, some exchanges charged 19 US cents to get your transaction confirmed within an hour. At the time of writing, it costs almost $17 to process within an hour, or just under $29 to have it processed within ten minutes. The graph of transaction costs closely resembles the graph of the value of Bitcoin itself.

Currently, according to The Motley Fool, Bitcoin is illegal in six countries – Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and most recently, Morocco. Furthermore, Russia’s finance ministry suggested in September 2017 that they may soon ban payments in Cryptocurrency, too. Each country that makes Bitcoin illegal is a risk to the value of Bitcoin because it decreases investors’ confidence.

Other possible threats to the price of Bitcoin include loss of appeal. Big businesses no longer accepting Bitcoin, hackers targeting large Bitcoin exchanges in order to illegally steal Bitcoin, and the fact that many investors are individuals rather than firms mean that any bad news about Bitcoin is likely to have a snowball effect – just as the good news throughout 2017 has arguably done.

Who thinks investing in Bitcoin is a good idea, and why?

According to ARS Technica, Bitcoin may well not be a classical investor bubble. Bitcoin has so far recovered from all of its shocks, each time becoming higher. This consistent recovery of Bitcoin over the years, along with the durability of the global Internet, suggests that the network won’t be shut down, nor will confidence suddenly plummet to zero. Finally, it is actually possible to print your own keys on paper, so non-digital storage is possible, too.

So, should you buy Bitcoins now?

Some believe the safest option for individuals without specialist trading knowledge is the ‘buying and holding’ method with which you should never invest more than 1 percent of your net worth, use your own hardware or paper ‘wallet’, and, instead of buying all your Bitcoins in one transaction, rather buy a fixed number every day, week or month until you reach your intended amount.

To buy Bitcoins easily you can turn to cryptocurrency exchanges like CEX.IO that offer a variety of trading options and operate in most countries. CEX.IO stands out for its useful feature of buying cryptocurrency with a payment card, be it VISA or MasterCard. By linking one or several cards to the account, CEX.IO users are able to carry out purchasing operations faster and with no risk as the exchange possesses the PCI DSS certificate (Level 2), which indicates safe processing of the cardholder data. Apart from the credit card payment option, CEX.IO also supports wire transfers and CryptoCapital transactions to provide the comfort of use and improve customer experience on the platform.

In the end, it is up to you to decide whether it is worth spending your hard-earned money and buying Bitcoin now. The only advice that should be running in your mind – Never invest more than you can afford to lose.

The post Is It Worth Buying Bitcoin Now? appeared first on NewsBTC.

One of the Bank of America’s wealth management divisions, Merrill Lynch, has forbidden clients to invest in Barry Silbert’s Bitcoin Investment Trust. The news comes via a memo from the financial advisory firm last December which was seen by Reuters.

The note was sent to around 17,000 brokers at both Merrill Lynch and their subdivision of independent trade managers, Merrill Edge. According to the memo dated December 8, 2017, the wealth management firm will no longer approve new orders for Silbert’s trust. This was due to uncertainty over the “suitability and eligibility standards” of the Bitcoin fund.

The Bitcoin Investment Trust was founded in 2013 by the serial-digital currency entrepreneur Barry Silbert. It’s managed by Grayscale, a subsidiary of the Digital Currency Group, who also own CoinDesk. Silbert himself has also been heavily involved with the financing of several other digital currency ventures in recent years. These include Ripple and Coinbase, and BitPay.

In response to the memo reported by Reuters, Silbert said via email:

 “We look forward to speaking with Merrill Lynch and addressing any questions or concerns they have about the Bitcoin Investment Trust… We are unaware of any similar policies at other brokerage firms.”

Prior to the December ban, those trading through Merrill Lynch and Merrill Edge could buy stakes in the Bitcoin Investment Trust. However, such privileges have been revoked for all but their clients with historic positions with the trust. Those who have fee-based advisory accounts have been forced to sell their holdings.

The attitude of Merrill Lynch towards Bitcoin financial products should hardly come as a surprise. The Bank of America also refuse to offer their clients exposure to either the CBOE or CME Group futures markets that were launched late last year. Such policies represent a growing division within traditional financial institutions over how to treat Bitcoin. These differing stances between large banking and brokerage firms are likely to continue as further trading options become available in the future.

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Two major Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges have delayed their launches in South Korea due to uncertainties surrounding the government’s regulation. The regulators are currently working on a real-name identification system that will end the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies in the country.

Also read: Russian Cryptocurrency Bill Is Ready – Regulators Share Details4

A Bump in the Road to Korea

Ever since the Chinese government closed down China’s crypto exchanges in September, two of the country’s largest crypto trading platforms have been preparing to enter the South Korean market. “Huobi and Okcoin have delayed their planned launches in Korea amid the tightening of government regulations,” the Korea Herold’s the Investor reported on Wednesday.

Okcoin established a subsidiary called Okcoin Korea in October with a plan to start a trading service in December of last year. Initially, the platform would support 10 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), and ether (ETH). However, the news outlet elaborated:

The plans were scrapped at the last minute due to growing uncertainties surrounding regulatory changes.

Huobi also made a plan to launch an exchange in Korea. The company recently partnered with Japan’s SBI Holdings to begin operations in Japan. According to Nikkei, SBI will buy a 10% stake in Huobi’s South Korean subsidiary. In November of last year, Huobi’s CEO, Li Lin, was quoted by the Korea Times saying:

We are preparing to establish an exchange in Korea to compete with Bithumb.

Bithumb has long been the largest crypto exchange in South Korea by volume. However, recently, newcomer Upbit has been reporting trading volumes that exceed those of Bithumb, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. Upbit is backed by Kakao Corporation, which owns the country’s largest chat app called Kakao Talk.

Regulatory Roadblock

In December, the Korean regulators made several announcements regarding cryptocurrency regulation, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. Most recent announcements concern the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. The government is creating a real-name identification system and is expected to end the practice of anonymous trading by January 20. Currently, this practice is possible through the use of “virtual accounts.” So far, all major crypto platforms in the country have complied with all regulatory measures announced and revised their terms of service accordingly.

In addition to prohibiting the issuance of new virtual accounts, according to Ajnews, the government has decided:

A new entry into the virtual currency trading market will be blocked until the realization of the so-called ‘virtual money real name system’ that can confirm the identity of the account owner on the 20th of this month.

Do you think Chinese exchanges will do well in South Korea? Do you think the government will make it more difficult for them to enter the market? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Etoday.

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

The post Chinese Cryptocurrency Exchanges Delay Launching in South Korea Due to Regulation appeared first on Bitcoin News.

2017 has been a great year of progress for the space, we saw bitcoin rise to over $20,000 USD, while simultaneously attracting international coverage that captured people’s attention and curiosity. Meanwhile ICOs have raised billions of dollars, helping further promote innovation and growth in the sector.Many industry leaders believe 2018 will see the blockchain industry become increasingly mainstream, and looking at the year ahead, I believe there are eleven technologies in particular to look out for: