Day: January 10, 2018

We have witnessed dozens of global attempts to regulate cryptocurrencies in recent years. None of these efforts have been positive whatsoever. South Korea now urges other countries, as well as the IMF, to curb cryptocurrency trading. An interesting stance, although it may turn out rather positive for the future of Bitcoin and altcoins. Whether any of the addressed parties will take action, is something else entirely.

In a way, curbing cryptocurrency trading is all governments can do right now. Rather than take China’s lead, following South Korea may not be a bad idea. More specifically, the local financial regulator wants to prevent money laundering, terrorist funding, et cetera. Cross-border cyber transactions involving cryptocurrency have become rather problematic in South Korea over the past few months. It is unclear if any other region of the world has to deal with similar issues right now.

Regulating Cryptocurrency Trading Won’t be Easy

An international coordination to regulate cryptocurrency trading will not be easy to achieve. Very few countries are actively concerned about this new form of money. The laissez-faire attitude reigns supreme in this regard. If countries were to work together, however,  interesting things could happen. It will be either beneficial or destructive for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In this day and age, there is no middle path when it comes to governments, regulation, and cryptocurrency.

With South Korea attempting to initiate discussions, a big first step has been taken. Addressing the way people can buy and exchange cryptocurrency seems to be the top priority. No country can afford to ignore this new form of money any longer. Preventing speculative transactions is another important aspect to keep in mind. Right now, all cryptocurrencies are mainly valued based on hype and speculation. It creates very volatile markets where money can be earned and lost very quickly.

Although it is commendable to tap the IMF in this regard, that institution most likely won’t intervene. More specifically, the IMF maintains a level-headed approach to cryptocurrency trading. They have announced not to take any drastic actions for the foreseeable future. At the same time, the organization doesn’t dismiss Bitcoin and other currencies either. Whether or not other regulators will respond to South Korea’s action, remains to be determined. For the time being, it seems very little will change.

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Tech giant Microsoft is once more accepting bitcoin payments after it halted transactions in the cryptocurrency last week.

Up to 870% returns in average within 3-4 months – that is how the five largest ICO ended the year of 2017.

It is safe to say the cryptocurrency ecosystem is anything but stable right now. With Bitcoin still struggling for momentum, altcoins will struggle quite a bit as well. The one thing that sheds an interesting light on this entire debacle is Ethereum. More specifically, the Ethereum price keeps moving up every single day. Moreover, Ethereum now has over half the market cap of Bitcoin, which is a rather impressive feat.

Ethereum Price Rises yet Again

Very few people had expected to see Ethereum come close to Bitcoin in market cap. Although similar discussions first became apparent about a year ago, the situation has changed quite a bit ever since. In fact, it seemed as if the so-called “flippening” would never materialize after all. Especially with Bitcoin’s market cap growing to over $200bn and Ethereum remaining below $100bn. Things always have an interesting way of working out in the cryptocurrency world, though.

More specifically, the Ethereum market cap is now $126.67bn. That is over half of Bitcoin’s, although there is still a very long way to go. If the Ethereum price momentum keeps up, we may achieve some degree of parity in the future. Bitcoin’s current issues don’t warrant it being the world’s leading cryptocurrency for much longer. Ethereum also has its fair share of issues and controversy, though. None of those problems have impacted the Ethereum price in a negative way, by the look of things.

At the time of writing, we have an Ethereum price of just over $1,300. This is a very healthy increase compared to the $880 of just one week ago. Although there has been some market resistance, the Ethereum price has been on a solid course to set new all-time highs nearly all week. Ever since surpassing $1,000, anything is possible. A remarkable turn of events, but a more than welcome one at the same time.

With nearly $9.5bn in 24-hour trading volume, no one can deny Ethereum is the hot commodity of this moment. Few people are looking at Bitcoin or Ripple right now, but that type of behavior is nothing new in the cryptocurrency world. The bigger question is whether or not Ethereum has what it takes to dethrone Bitcoin as the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Right now, that is far from the case, but things can evolve rather quickly in the world of cryptocurrency.

Unsurprisingly, most of Ethereum’s trading volume originates from the Bithumb exchange. Although Korean Won-denominated prices are no longer part of the global average, the trading volume is still a valuable metric. Binance is in second place, with GDAX completing the top three. We see three USD trading pairs in the five for Ethereum, indicating a lot of fresh capital is entering the market as we speak. If this trend keeps up, it is only a matter of time until we see an Ethereum price of $1,500 or slightly more.

With the Ethereum price moving up nicely and the currency’s market cap growing steadily, things are looking pretty good for ETH. Although cryptocurrency remains a volatile and unpredictable industry, it is evident this currency will not suddenly disappear whatsoever. If this trend keeps up, Ethereum might effectively rival Bitcoin in terms of market cap one day. Whether or not that would also make it a better currency or store of value, remains unclear at this time.

Blockchain technology isn’t just used to power cryptocurrencies, it is applicable to a wide variety of functions. #FINTECH

Venezuela’s opposition-run congress has declared that a planned new oil-backed cryptocurrency called the petro is illegal.

The EARTH Token ICO is in full swing with only days to go at Stage 1 – 20% Bonus Tokens offer rate. EARTH Token and the Natural Asset Exchange are set to revolutionize the multi-billion Dollar trade in Natural Assets.

Stage 1 of the EARTH Token ICO sale only has days to go. The ongoing current Stage 1 – 20% Bonus Tokens levels, offering 20% bonus tokens as the name states will end on Monday 15th January 2018 12:00 GMT.

The end of 2017 saw a rise in the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum which was accompanied by a general lull in ICO Token sales from their October record levels, but confidence and interest in EARTH Token has not wavered, with Millions of EARTH Tokens already been snapped up. 1 ETH buys you 4,000 EARTH Tokens and for the next few days, you can still claim another 800 Bonus tokens at the current 20% Bonus stage. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity!

“The EARTH Token team is thrilled with the results we are seeing so far, and we still have just over 2 months of the token sale to go, but of course not at the current 20% bonus levels. We want to make sure that everyone that is interested in buying EARTH Tokens is aware of the current 20% bonus offer so they don’t miss out on the extra tokens” – Allan Saunders – Product Management & Marketing Director, impactChoice

The EARTH Token project will bring to life the Natural Asset Exchange (NAE) which is set to revolutionize the trade in carbon mitigation products, environmental sustainability products, and other natural assets. The goal is to establish a global Natural Asset Marketplace that removes current barriers to participation in activities that preserve our Environment while providing all stakeholders with tangible assets that appreciate in value as the market matures and grows.

A Proof of Concept (POC) video of the Natural Asset Exchange will be available in early February and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) released in mid-March. The initial launch of the NAE is slated for mid-April, at the World Travel Market Africa event in Cape Town, South Africa.

A number of inaugural natural asset supply partners are also already lined up to begin trading at the launch of the NAE. These include existing companies and organizations such as Kariba REDD+ and Black Rhino Reserve Wildlife Trust and a host of new and exciting Waste-to-Energy projects and partners which will be announced in the coming weeks.  On the demand side of the equation, in addition to our existing customers, we recently released details of a deal with Cummings Inc. and have a number of interesting projects in the pipeline, such as a South African brewery that wishes to become climate neutral via the NAE and EARTH Token.

All interested parties can visit the official earth-token.com and make their purchase before the Stage 1 – 20% Bonus tokens cut off time which is Monday 15th January 2018 12:00 GMT.

The post At Last, EARTH Token: Generating Wealth While Supporting Environmental Sustainability! appeared first on NewsBTC.

Mason Borda is a tech entrepreneur focusing on blockchain infrastructure and security. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of TokenSoft Inc, a crypto treasury management and white label token sale platform. The following article is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2017 in Review. It began with some source code and a white paper. Bitcoin, […]

Key Points

• Bitcoin gold price is holding the $210-220 support area and is currently recovering against the US Dollar.
• There is a short-term ascending channel forming with resistance at $255 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD (data feed from Bitfinex).
• The pair may slowly move higher, but a close above the $250-260 resistance won’t be easy.

Bitcoin gold price is slowly moving higher toward $250 against the US Dollar. BTG/USD must stay above the $210-220 support area to avoid a downside break.

Bitcoin Gold Price Resistance

There was a downside reaction in bitcoin gold price recently toward the $210 support area against the US Dollar. The price traded as low as $210.08 and later started an upside correction. It succeeded in moving back above the $220 level. Moreover, there was a break of the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $273 high to $210 low.

However, the upside move faced sellers near $260. There was no close above the $260 level and the price failed to gain pace. There was also a rejection from the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $273 high to $210 low. Sellers defended the 100 hourly simple moving average near $245 and as a result, there was no upside break. At the moment, it seems like there is a short-term ascending channel forming with resistance at $255 on the hourly chart of BTG/USD. The pair has to move higher above the $255 and $260 levels.

Should there be a close above $260, there can be further gains toward $300. Having said that, a break above the $260 level won’t be easy. On the downside, the pair has to stay above $220 to avoid further declines.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTG/USD is attempting to move into the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTG/USD is just below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $220

Major Resistance Level – $255

Charts courtesy – Trading View, Bitfinex

The post Bitcoin Gold Price Technical Analysis – BTG/USD Holding $220 appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Venezuelan parliament has declared the oil-backed cryptocurrency created by President Nicolas Maduro illegal and in violation of the country’s Constitution. Maduro’s decree to create the national cryptocurrency, the petro, has been declared null and void.

Also read: South Korea Urges 23 Countries, EU, and IMF to Collaborate on Curbing Crypto Trading

Venezuelan Parliament Declared Petro Illegal

The National Assembly of Venezuela on Tuesday declared the country’s upcoming oil-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, illegal. Venezuelan parliamentarians unanimously voted “absolute nullity on the issuance of the petro cryptocurrency,” El Universal reported and quoted Deputy Carlos Valero announcing:

This Assembly tells the world that the cryptocurrency the government wants to issue is illegal, and this parliament will come out in front to prevent public opinion [from] falling into that trap.

Deputy Williams Dávila added that the parliamentarians denounced the petro, asserting that the government only wants “to evade financial sanctions, openly violating the Constitution, and legitimizing illicit transactions.”

The Petro Stalled Just Before Launch

The creation of Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency was first announced by Maduro in early December, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. Since then, he has assigned over 5 billion barrels of crude oil to back this new currency as well as securing miners for it. On Friday, he moved forward with the order to issue 100 million petros and promised to release its whitepaper on January 14. According to Maduro’s plan, “The petro’s price is initially to be pegged to the value of Venezuela’s basket of oil and fuel exports, which last week closed at $59.07,” Reuters described.

However, legislators warned investors that even if this new currency successfully launches, it would be seen as null and void when Maduro is no longer in office. The president is up for re-election this year.

Furthermore, some doubt that the petro would be a real cryptocurrency. Venezuelan legislator Jorge Millan was quoted by the publication:

This is not a cryptocurrency; this is a forward sale of Venezuelan oil…It is tailor-made for corruption.

Following the National Assembly’s announcement, Maduro “called on the people to actively repudiate” the Assembly’s decision to declare the petro illegal, Prensa Latina reported.

According to Reuters, “Maduro has routinely ignored the legislature since his party lost control of it in 2016.”

Do you think Maduro will find a way to launch the petro? Would you invest in it if he does? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Associated Press.

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