Day: January 7, 2018

Surging demand for digital currencies is overloading many exchanges’ infrastructure, resulting in degraded performance and a halt to user signups.

A man’s life savings disappeared from a Ledger brand Nano hardware wallet after Reddit user moodyrocket purchased the wallet second hand through eBay. #NEWS

We’ve bought in, but how much are these assets really worth? Turing Group’s top quants talk about a major token challenge ahead.

Over the past few months, cryptocurrency exchanges across the globe have been swamped with new customers looking to trade or acquire digital assets. Trading platforms have been having a hard time keeping up with the new registrants. Users are complaining that identity verifications are now required and take weeks to process, while some exchanges are not accepting new customers at all. This has led to rise of individuals selling “fully verified” accounts for a variety of popular digital currency platforms.

Also Read: Several Bitcoin Exchanges Are Closing Their Doors to New Traders

As Exchanges Stop Accepting New Registrants and Require More Identity Verification — A Great Number of Fully Verified Accounts Are Being Sold for Bitcoin   

Just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on how some exchanges like Bittrex, and Cex.io have temporarily stopped accepting new customers due to the heavy influx of registrants these days. Further, we reported on how one of the leading trading platforms, Binance, disabled new user accounts a few days ago. Meanwhile, in December Poloniex announced it required legacy accounts to verify their identity or the accounts would be closed. All of these issues has led to significant verification delays, and people finding it more difficult to trade cryptocurrencies. However, some individuals are selling “fully verified” cryptocurrency exchange accounts for bitcoin and other digital assets.

Verified Accounts Lead to Much Larger Withdrawal Limits

For instance, there are many examples of people selling accounts on forums over the past few months. On Bitcointalk.org one user is selling a Poloniex Verified Account (Level 3 Verified) that comes with a  $25,000 daily withdrawal limit for $12. The same person is also selling a Bittrex enhanced account for $10. Verified accounts have been for sale for years, but these days the amount of people selling them has increased significantly. Just last week another individual was selling a Bittrex account with “proof” on the Selly platform, and announced the sale multiple times on forums stating;

Hello guys, I’m selling a Bittrex verified account with a daily withdrawal limit 100 BTC.

The Frustrating Verification Process Has Led to the Blowback of Underground Sales

Having your identity verified on exchanges is pretty much a requirement for over 90 percent of the trading platforms online, no matter which country you live in. Even exchanges that used to have very little verification requirements, like BTC-e, have changed to fully regulated platforms requiring KYC/AML. In order to get verified, users often have to upload a state-issued license, verify their phone number, and even submit various papers that show your residential address. With all these requirements many users get frustrated and won’t even sign up for an exchange. If they do register their identity, they wind up waiting a long time and even weeks on end.

In addition to these posts found on forums account dealers are also selling verified accounts on messenger apps like Telegram. Cryptocurrency groups on Telegram in particular have various individuals selling accounts to Poloniex, Bitstamp, Bittrex, GDAX, Binance, and many more exchanges. With governments making it more difficult for exchanges to operate without abiding by KYC/AML background checks comes with some blowback — The rise of underground verified cryptocurrency exchange account sales.

It’s safe to say purchasing one of these accounts is really not the smartest move, as the seller could easily hold some credentials to the account and unload the user’s funds when the person least expects it.

What do you think about the number of people selling fully verified accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support the product or service where people are selling verified accounts. The links provided in this article are for source purposes only and news.Bitcoin.com does not recommend or consider these account vendors trustworthy.  
Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned links or any of the vendor’s services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images via Shutterstock, Bitcointalk, Selly, and Telegram.

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The post People Selling ‘Fully Verified’ Crypto-Exchange Accounts On the Rise appeared first on Bitcoin News.

There were many predictions by so-called experts in 2017 and no one was able to predict it correctly. Most thought Bitcoin was a bubble that was about to pop and others predicted moderate increases up to $4,000. No one expected it to get to around the $20,000 and even though it has dropped, it has still settled around the $15,000 mark. What the mainstream media seem to be forgetting are the huge returns it has made over the year than the occasional profits taking. Anyone with a Bitcoin Wallet with a sizeable amount held in it over the whole year made a fortune and the same will happen the year ahead.

In 2018 we are going to see a “regulation war” as Governments will try to control the decentralized product. It is going to be a very difficult task to control a Bitcoin Wallet and one which is doomed to fail. Rather than fighting the crypto revolution, they should be embracing it. It will only take one country to adopt their own state cryptocurrency and the rest will have to follow. There have been many rumors that China and Russia are going to release their own cryptocurrency. If this happened, the 2017 boom in cryptocurrencies will look like a drop in the ocean.

By the end of 2018 Bitcoin may not be the number one cryptocurrency. The Achilles heel of BTC is the high financial transaction costs and unless this is resolved it gives others a competitive edge over it. That is why we are seeing the rapid rise of Bitcoin Cash as it is far cheaper and should be a solid investment for the year.

Ripple has the possibility to become the world’s leading cryptocurrency in 2018 and has pushed Ethereum into third place. With the banks and hedge funds now dipping their toes into the crypto market, these two digital currencies are their preferred choice. That could send the prices skyrocketing and transform the sector.

In 2018 expect ICOs to be in the news a lot as these have transformed the venture capital sector. This area of cryptocurrencies is going to be under a lot of scrutiny this year and it faces an epic battle with regulators. Expect many ICOs to fail but the ones that make it will make the initial investors extremely rich if they are brave enough to hold onto it for the next few years.

It is not just the financial system that is going to be revolutionized in 2018 as the technology behind cryptocurrencies (the Blockchain) is going to have a major impact on countless industries. The main sectors affected will be consumer goods and retail, democracy, and government. higher education, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications and media, transportation, resources, and healthcare.

Conclusion

2018 is going to be a roller coaster of a ride and as the worldwide economy gets worse, cryptocurrencies will benefit. The regulation battle is going to get dirty but due to the decentralized nature, it should be able to survive the war. We are going to see inflation get out of control in many parts of the world due to the collapse in fiat money. This will escalate the economic crisis and the solution to it is cryptocurrency. It only takes one government around the world to realize this and the revolution will make the boom of 2017 look like a tiny blip on the chart.

The post What Is in Store for Cryptocurrency In 2018? appeared first on NewsBTC.

It’s no doubt that it IOTA has been on a rough patch with sellers pushing prices lower. However, after that close above $4.2, just buy IOTA. Yes, and while at it aim for $5.5.

Of course, after last week’s higher high, retracements and break outs, I was hoping LTC to spice up after waking up from a 2 week slumber but it didn’t.

Instead we are seeing a series of lower lows and that is okay since any reversal from $255 is a retest which is pretty inviting for buyers.

Let’s have a look at other alt coin charts

AS NEM BUY PRESSURE STUTTER FOCUS SHIFT BACK TO $1.35

Prices are pretty good and for NEM buyers, there is no reason to complain.

Judging from last week-which by the way ended up bullish against my expectation, looking for buying opportunities is after all a profitable activity and that is what we should be gearing at this coming week.

At the moment though, we there is that conspicuous 3-bar double reversal pattern, an evening star pattern right at the second Fibonacci extension line at $1.76.

I’m of the opinion that this level is a good trigger line for bulls especially if there is convincing dip and reversal leading to close about this obvious resistance line.

Like last week, my potential and ideal buy zone is at $1.35 as we look to trade that break out on January 3.

DASH IS YET TO CLOSE ABOVE $1300

We can go on and on about the effect of $1300 and how liquidation of DASH arises every time price action tests that level.

On January 6^th, all talk was about the need of DASH buyers to push above $1300-CONVINCINGLY! I’m not seeing nothing of the sort to warrant a break out trade which if it does happen-bearing in mind the long consolidation, the blast would be “loud” and clear!

From my perspective, the minor support trend line is proving important in the short term and any break below means we have to wait for entries from key Fibonacci retracement levels.

BUY IOTA

For the first time in more than 12 days, IOTA buyers are trending above $4.2!

This qualifies to be a break out trade and as such, we should be looking for enter this trade.

Of course, any retest of $4.2 is another buying opportunity.

CLOSE ABOVE $430 INVITES MONERO BUYERS AIMING FOR $500

By week ending January 7, Monero buys had put in a lot of minutes and pumped prices $114 towards the main resistance at $400.

Now, here’s the deal. See that bear candlestick reversing right from the $400 following long lower wicks from late January 6? Those are pointers and signal a potential correction towards January 5 lows of around $350.

Regardless of the sell signal in the weekly chart, I shall be recommending buys at $350 as it coincides with the 50% Fibonacci retracement level anchored on last week’s high low.

Conversely, any blast above $430 cancels this minor correction and ushers in a new wave of strong bull pressure. Either way, our ultimate target is December 20 highs of $500.

LTC BREAK OUT TRADE: LOAD UP AT $255 RETEST

You know what? All LTC traders should be thankful of the current retracement despite the strong LTC bull candlestick on January 6.

It’s typical of break out trades bearing in mind that the actual break out happened after that blast above $255 and as it is, these lower lowers is merely a retest which is cool.

I went ahead and placed a Fibonacci tool between last week’s high low and guess what? The $255 falls right at the 50% level and that is where I’m recommending we go long even if you did buy above $290.

All charts courtesy of Trading View and these are my own views. I’m not a signal provider so do your own due diligence first.

Let me know what you think!!!

The post BUY IOTA AND AIM FOR $5.5 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Most people are well aware of how the majority of Bitcoin mining takes place in China. Not only is this a centralization problem, it also means China is still dictating the Bitcoin landscape to a certain extent. Last week, news broke that the Chinese government was cracking down on Bitcoin mining. It seems a portion of that information was vastly overstated, even though mining business operators were asked to exit the industry in an orderly fashion.

The Future of Bitcoin Mining in China

It was only a matter of time before the Chinese government turned its attention to other parts of the cryptocurrency industry which could prove problematic in the long run. After the PBoC shut down CNY-based trading a while ago, it was time for it to look at the Bitcoin mining industry. Given the vast electricity use associated with this type of operation and the speculative side of cryptocurrency, a new decree has been issued. It is not something most Chinese Bitcoin miners will like, though.

It seems the Chinese government is greatly concerned over the consumption of electricity associated with the mining of cryptocurrencies. Since the government wants to focus primarily on curbing deviations from the real economy, Bitcoin and consorts have proven to be rather problematic. Moreover, these issues have been discussed among the country’s municipalities and provincial governments. As a result, a new “arrangement” has been put in place to make cryptocurrency mining far less attractive.

The goal is to guide firms in exiting the cryptocurrency mining business as soon as possible. The decree will affect the amount of electricity businesses can use moving forward, which will effectively put an end to cryptocurrency mining over time. It is expected this “exodus” will commence on January 10, although it remains unclear how long companies will have to exit the industry.

It is evident this sector is a problem for the Chinese government, although most cryptocurrency enthusiasts were well aware that such measures would be introduced sooner or later. Companies which continue to mine – but in a scaled-down manner – will have to adhere to some new conditions. Details will need to be provided to the government including the business name, registered capital, the number of mining machines, operating income, and so forth. None of these guidelines are overly invasive, although a reduction in the amount of electricity to be consumed will force companies to either scale down or look for new places to set up shop.

Speaking of which, it seems a few companies are already planning to leave China altogether. It seems Canada is an attractive destination right now, although locations with access to renewable energy sources will become even more attractive over time. It is a good thing to see mining firms leaving China – either partially or fully – as it has become evident this Asian country wants nothing to do with cryptocurrencies whatsoever.

You will see in the headlines that Bitcoin is a bubble and that you should not buy Bitcoin because it is about to burst but this could not be farther from the truth. What the mainstream media are not paying any attention to are the huge stock market and real estate bubbles. When the price of BTC drops dramatically the world economy does not come to a standing still halt as has been proven since 2008. When the stock market or real estate markets crash it causes great economic disasters that can take years or even decades with the size of the current market to fully recover from.

It is not just the stock market and real estate bubbles that once pop will bring the house of cards down with it. The most worrying sector is the derivatives market which has never been so large before. These financial instruments have brought around great depressions and used to be banned until Bill Clinton made them legal again. The bonds market is also another bubble on its way to bursting and if this happens hyperinflation will be one of the biggest problems faced by governments. History shows us that this all will come to fruition, it is just a matter of when.

The question is what will happen to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies once the financial collapse takes place. The signs are that when economic circumstances start to deteriorate the price of Bitcoin rises. A prime example of this is during the Cyprus and Greece bailout which saw the price of BTC rise considerably during this period. With banks stopping access to cash in ATM machines, Bitcoin was the perfect solution to be able to store it safely out of the banks and Governments’ hands.

What also happens during a depression is interest rates skyrocket and start to see hyperinflation. This will mean it is extremely hard to get finance from banks and the cost can make it unsustainable. The ICO market is a perfect solution to this problem and as the banking sector suffers, ICOs will boom. More companies will look to these as a cheap way to raise money and will create their own cryptocurrency.

If the derivatives market crashes, there is not enough money to solve it as the sector is over 10 times the size of the global banking sector. Governments will need to find new solutions for money and finance due to total failure of the banks. There are two options when this happens. The first is world war 3 and the second is adopting the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency to provide a fairer, more transparent financial system that rewards its users, and not steal from them.

Conclusion

It is certain that during our lifetimes the financial system will need to be completely revamped. When this takes place it is going to be one of the most dangerous in our history. Luckily we have a solution and it is called cryptocurrency, it just needs one nation to fully adopt it as a national currency and then the other will follow.

The post How Will Bitcoin Perform During The Next Financial Crisis appeared first on NewsBTC.

On December 14th of 2017, Acute Angle Cloud White Paper was released on their website. It’s said that this is an innovative project based on blockchain technology. It aroused heated discussion when the hardware, Acute Angle PC, was launched on their website on the 12th. Acute Angle Cloud is reported to establish a globally distributed IaaS platform, which addresses the shortcomings of Web2.0 and constructs cloud service infrastructure of Web3.0.

Web2.0 is known to have many disadvantages: hackers attacking the central server, the same document multiplies on the internet and takes up a lot of space, a lot of computers have over 60% idle hard disk, a huge amount of resources are wasted, the cost of using cloud services is still quite high, risk of spamming, fraud and virus attack, and lack of privacy, etc.

With Web1.0, servers were built by website developers. If the server is shut down, the website can’t be accessed. And with web2.0, you don’t need to build your own server. Even a startup company can offer quality content and service by renting a cloud server at the cost of a few thousand dollars. The emerging of the Bitcoin network and IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) will bring about a brand-new infrastructure.

As technologies evolve, Web3.0 is coming to us. The arising of Bitcoin enables the internet to carry on more value and trust, and blockchain technology will bring about a bigger upsurge of web3.0, Internet of Everything. It will change the mode of storage and transmission that’s been used for 20 years in the data aspect. Internet of Everything allows users to access a wide variety of applications without expensive equipment. Smart cars can be controlled from a webpage, revenues can be received as soon as a document is saved online, Apple Apps can be adopted in Android systems while maintaining high speed, fast computation, security and permanent web use.

Acute Angle Cloud is a globally distributed IaaS platform realizing global distributed cloud computing based on Acute Angle PC, Acute Angle Chain and IPFS (Interplanetary File System). Acute Angle Cloud is the service platform of web3.0. Estimates show that the service cost of Acute Angle Cloud is only 1/10 of current cloud services. It is a pioneering system solution, more efficient and reliable.

To ensure safety of the system, traditional centralized servers perform a lot of backups which lead to vulnerability and redundancy. IPFS is a technological solution that generates a unique fingerprint for a document using Hash algorithm and the entire system will delete files with repeated fingerprints before saving the Hash value to the blockchain. It’s safe and permanent while reducing redundancy of the integrated system. P2P proximity transmission can save 60% bandwidth resources and improve the speed several times.

Acute Angle PC, as the terminal hardware of the entire system, can be included in the Acute Angle Chain system. It can provide comprehensive and sustained IaaS service for Internet business by providing idle resources. Rewards obtained from mining can be used for acquiring Acute Angle Cloud service.

Acute Angle Chain a decentralized public blockchain platform, which uses smart contracts to motivate users to provide idle hard disk, bandwidth, hash rate, etc. To provide the cloud service. Motivated by Acute Angle Chain, the entire system would have permanent impetus. Everyone is a contributor and in return gets rewarded for it. It constructs a highly efficient, safe, stable and permanent globally distributed IaaS service platform.

Acute Angle Cloud White Paper now can be downloaded from Acute Angle Cloud website. For more details, please visit the official website: www.AcuteAngle.com and join our telegram channel: https://t.me/acuteanglecloud

The post Is the Third Revolution of the Internet Here Yet? appeared first on NewsBTC.

With so many new people entering the world of cryptocurrencies, it is only normal that there will be issues encountered along the way. Not only do we see exchanges struggle to keep their infrastructures up and running, but Ledger is also experiencing delays. More specifically, the company has seen such a huge demand for its Nano S hardware wallet, new shipments have been delayed until March 19. This is a blessing and a curse at the same time, although it will cause a fair amount of friction in the community.

Ledger’s Popularity can be a Burden

On the one hand, it is good to see increased demand for secure cryptocurrency hardware wallets. This seemingly indicates people are finally realizing that keeping money in an exchange is never a smart idea. Nor should they rely on desktop and mobile clients either, especially not when the goal is to keep funds offline at all times. Hardware wallets are always the go-to solution in this regard, even though none of them support all popular cryptocurrencies at this point in time.

However, overwhelming demand for these products can spell trouble for the manufacturers of these devices. In the case of Ledger, its Nano S has quickly become the darling of hardware wallet users. It is sleek, secure, convenient, and not overly expensive. The one thing to contend with is how long it can take to get one’s hands on one. With the increased demand come increased queues for orders waiting to be shipped.

More specifically, Ledger announced Friday that the company has seen a major influx of orders for the Nano S. This is a good sign for the future of cryptocurrency, but it also means the company is struggling to keep up with demand. The Nano S is completely out of stock as we speak, and no new shipments will be made until March 19. It is a very long waiting period for a lot of customers, as this also affects people who placed orders in the past few weeks.

Moreover, the company announced it is dropping the price of the Ledger Nano S to EUR 79 – excluding VAT – and will offer free shipping to all major countries. It seems likely this will only lead to even more orders of this popular hardware wallet, which is why the company also plans to ramp up its production. Interested parties can still pre-order a Nano S from the company’s website, but they will be shipped based on the order in which they were placed.

How all of this will play out for the company in the long run remains to be seen. It is good to see the demand for these hardware wallets increase exponentially, although few people expected things to have moved along at this pace. It also shows that Ledger seemingly offers something no other manufacturer is capable of right now. It is a bit unclear what that is exactly, as all major hardware wallets offer secure cryptocurrency services.

In the end, things are looking rather positive for this French company. Its success has been unrivaled in the world of cryptocurrency hardware wallets. All it needs to do now is work on integrating additional top cryptocurrencies, as none of its competitors support most of those coins either. Whoever comes to market first with a product that supports all of the top currencies will immediately become the king of the hill, so to speak.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overdose deaths involving prescription opioids were five times higher in 2016 than 1999. In that seventeen year period, over 200,000 Americans have died from opioid-related prescription overdoses. Every day, more than 1,000 patients are treated in emergency rooms and emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.

One of the main reasons that the prescription drug crisis has gotten so bad is overprescription. One source notes, “Painkiller abuse is particularly on the rise in adolescents who mislead prescribing physicians.” The problem also exists with elderly patients and other legitimate prescription drug users, who sometimes use their access to opioids to supplement their incomes. The sad truth is that “Medicaid patients… can receive medications with a street value of up to $20,000 for a total out-of-pocket price less than $5 monthly.” With easy access and the ability to make a sizeable profit, it’s no wonder that prescription drug use is out of control.

Unfortunately, existing methods don’t do a good job of dealing with over-prescription. The CDC estimates that the U.S.’s total spend on prescription drug abuse is $78.5 billion a year. This includes healthcare costs, productivity losses, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. But regulatory bodies have been unable to prevent overprescribing from happening.

One reason for this is the inadequacy of prescription tracking methods. The current system relies on trust–between the patient and his or her prescriber, between the prescriber and the pharmacy, and between the pharmacy and the patient. Handwritten, paper-based prescriptions can be easily forged, falsely signed, and altered. Doctors are often unaware that patients have seen multiple physicians in order to receive opioid treatment for the same problem. The entire system is in dire need of an overhaul.

Thankfully, one blockchain startup, BlockMedX, is in process of developing a proprietary platform that could stop the prescription drug crisis dead in its tracks. The platform gets rid of outdated handwritten prescriptions and provides a way for all parties to record an unchangeable history of prescriptions.

BlockMedX and the Advantages of a Blockchain Powered Prescription System

The BlockMedX platform runs on the Ethereum blockchain, which provided a cryptographically secure way to transmit prescriptions. The platform provides a way for physicians, pharmacies, and individual patients to interact on a purely electronic and trustless basis. This will ensure greater accountability and transparency for the duration of the prescription process.

Physicians, whenever they see a patient, will be able to access their own prescribing history in addition to the prescription history of the said patient. This is because, on the BlockMedX platform, each prescription is logged on the blockchain. So, when a physician needs to prescribe a drug, he or she will issue new prescriptions by filling out an electronic form. Using a unique verification method, the physician, and the physician alone will be able to sign and transmit the prescription. The issue will be in the pending state until BlockMedX signs the prescription on the blockchain. Once this is done, it is approved and added to the ledger.

Each pharmacy that uses the platform will be presented with a unique queue of approved prescriptions from physicians. The pharmacy will be presented the prescription information and can view the patient’s prescription history. This adds another layer of accountability, in addition to the physician’s ability to track patients’ histories.The pharmacy will have the ability to accept or reject each prescription in their queue. If a prescription is valid, an employee will sign a confirmation of the receipt, and then the patient can pick up the prescription. From beginning to end, the prescription history is logged on the blockchain, allowing third parties like government entities or regulators to better track and crack down on prescription abuses.

Each pharmacy that uses the platform will be presented with a unique queue of approved prescriptions from physicians. The pharmacy will be presented the prescription information and can view the patient’s prescription history. This adds another layer of accountability, in addition to the physician’s ability to track patients’ histories.

The pharmacy will have the ability to accept or reject each prescription in their queue. If a prescription is valid, an employee will sign a confirmation of the receipt, and then the patient can pick up the prescription. From beginning to end, the prescription history is logged on the blockchain, allowing third parties like government entities or regulators to better track and crack down on prescription abuses.

The entire platform operates with MDX tokens, from the prescription issue all the way to patient pickup. This enables a secure, electronic method of payment, creating accountability while also protecting individual identities. With these features, the BlockMedX platform is shaping up to be an exciting development that can forever change the way drugs are prescribed.

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