Day: January 16, 2018

Healthy dip or massive correction? #PRICE ANALYSIS

For naive investors who invested in BitConnect (BCC), today marks an exponentially bigger loss than the general cryptocurrency downtrend. After discontinuing its “lending” program, BCC instantly plummeted over 90% from the day’s high, dropping from over US$330 to a low of just under $20.

While most of the community warned about the blatant scam presented by BitConnect’s lending program, the ponzi still rose to a top market cap of almost US$3 billion. With the lending program, individuals could deposit USD or Bitcoin onto their BitConnect accounts, where they would then stake their holdings for daily interest for a predetermined period of time. The more money the user locks up in the loan, the higher the daily returns and shorter period in which their money is frozen for.

Just hours ago, BitConnect announced they the would be closing all loans and discontinuing their lending program, effectively immediately.  Users with existing loans would have BitConnect credited to their account equal to the loan value, using a set value of US$363.62 per BCC in reimbursement. The BitConnect coins, now worthless, were immediately transferred to other exchanges and dumped immediately by the duped investors.

While investors technically did not lose their funds, the exchange of their Bitcoin and dollars for the now useless BCC represents an essentially equal fate. While the coin has recovered from the initial low of under US$20 to a current price of just under $40, investors and lenders have still witnessed a vast majority of their investments vanish in an instant. According to the BitConnect company, they chose to close the lending platform after massive bad press, along with receiving Cease-and-Desist notices from the states of Texas and North Carolina.

Due to the nature of cryptocurrency, it is highly unlikely that duped investors will receive any sort of compensation. Since the announcement, BitConnect has dropped from the top 30 on Coinmarketcap to well below the top 100. This is an unfortunate event for the overarching crypto community, as well, as these new investors will likely not return to the cryptocurrency scene after seeing most of their investments stolen.

For some investors, these past 24 hours have represented a state of panic, as cryptocurrency markets are experiencing a major drawback after an explosive December and first half of January. With Bitcoin down over 20%, only one coin on the top 100 outside of Tether (USDT) has maintained its dollar value in the wake of the current Bitcoin dump.

Neblio (NEBL) is the only currency in the top 100 on Coinmarketcap that has appreciated in the past 24 hours, gaining 1% in USD to achieve a price of US$23.86. Beyond that, only 22 of the other 99 currencies on the front page have outperformed Bitcoin. Fortunately, Bitcoin has maintained value above the 10k support, and has only spent small amounts of time below US$11,000.

Supporters and skeptics alike have a number of theories to support this major downtrend, in which the global market cap has dropped over US$1050 billion. Before today, the overall market was worth 680 billion. After reaching a low of 450 billion, the global cap is currently valued at 530 billion.

A major factor many have attributed to this downtrend is recent uncertainty towards cryptocurrency in South Korea. Briefly, there were government talks of prohibiting cryptocurrency to some extent. This will not be the case in Korea, as these talks were responded to by hundreds of thousands of citizens signing a petition in support of cryptocurrency overnight, as well as calling for the resignation of the Minister of Finance. However, there is still likely going to be some regulation manifesting in Korea, which has investors worldwide secured.

Another major belief suggests that institutional plays are driving the price down. Because CME and CBOE Bitcoin futures first expire tomorrow, institutions who have shorted Bitcoin are pushing the market down to take maximum profits from the impending closures, in which “losing” long positions will be forced to liquidate and reward their winning counterparts.

However, many others believe that all that is taking place is the January dump. Every January for the past several years, Bitcoin sees a significant loss before inevitably rebounding and surpassing previous highs. This can be due to any or a combination of number of possible factors. Lunar New Year is taking place soon, in which many traders will be taking out profits to afford travel and gifts.  It is also likely that successful traders in 2017 have held off on taking profits until now,  so as to put off taxes for another year. Of course, it can all be entirely coincidental.

While the future for cryptocurrency is uncertain, many firmly believe that, along with all previous major dips, this one will also be followed by an even bigger pump. With countless major technologies coming to market this year, fundamental analysis would suggest that the future is still very, very bright.

On Tuesday, we had technical difficulties that prevented us from posting for several hours. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Announced Tuesday, the investment by Ripple executives in Omni feels ill-timed as the price of the coin has fallen more than 40 percent.

The company behind the controversial cryptocurrency BitConnect has announced that it will close down its lending and exchange platform.

Russian president Vladimir Putin believes that legislation laying out rules for the country’s cryptocurrency sector will be needed in the future.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

With the vast amount of new blockchain and cryptocurrency platforms out there it is easy to get overwhelmed when looking for a project to invest or get involved with. This article summarizes each of the top 50 cryptos, based on the ranking from coinmarketcap at the time of writing.

1. Bitcoin

The grandfather of crypto, secure decentralized transactions and store of value.

2. Ethereum

Number one smart contracts and token platform, leader in providing a robust platform for decentralized app development.

3. Ripple

Fast and secure transactions, similar to Bitcoin but targeted towards financial institutions.

4. Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin fork that provides cheaper transactions and a more open development process.

5. Cardano

Established by a co-founder of Ethereum, Smart contracts platform, the “Ethereum of Japan.”

6. Litecoin

What Silver is to Gold, Litecoin is to Bitcoin.

7. NEM

World’s first “Smart Asset” blockchain.

8. Stellar

Ripple Fork, caters more towards end users rather than financial institutions.

9. IOTA

No mining, no blocks, no transaction fees, limitless nano payments.

10. DASH

Digital Cash, a hybrid between Monero and Bitcoin.

11. NEO

Smart contracts ecosystem similar to Ethereum, goal is to be a platform for a new smart economy, China’s largest cryptocurrency.

12. TRON

ERC20 token, goal is to be a decentralized entertainment content sharing platform.

13. Monero

Number one currency for anonymous transactions.

14. EOS

Smart contracts platform similar to Ethereum, but with performance and scalability benefits.

15. ICON

Wants to “Hyperconnect the World” by building one of the largest decentralized global networks.

16. Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin fork that uses a new POW algorithm and faster block difficulty adjustment, ultimately allowing for GPU mining.

17. Qtum

Singapore-based Ethereum and Bitcoin hybrid.

18. RaiBlocks

Focuses on scaling and zero fee transactions.

19. Ethereum Classic

Ethereum fork that didn’t revert the hacked DAO funds.

20. Lisk

Smart contracts platform similar to Ethereum but based on Javascript.

21. Verge

Just like Bitcoin but faster transactions with tor integration.

22. OmiseGO

ERC20 token, extention of the company OMISE – payment processor in Asia.

23. Siacoin

Distributed cloud storage platform

24. BitConnect

Branded a Ponzi scheme by regulators and investors, allows for lending of Bitcoin using their platform.

25. ZCash

Privacy centric cryptocurrency similar to Monero but with a different protocol.

26. Bytecoin

Just like Bitcoin but with faster transactions and a different POW algorithm

27. Populous

Ethereum based platform designed for invoice and trade finance.

28. Stratis

BaaS (Blockchain as a Service), allows companies to create their own private blockchain and applications to run on those ledgers.

29. Binance Coin

ERC20 token issued by the Binance exchange, allows users to pay lower trading fees using the coin and is a way to “invest” in the exchange.

30. Bitshares

A decentralized exchange and a platform for Smartcoins – coins like bitUSD, bitGOLD, bitCNY – which are “pegged” to the value of their counterparts.

31. Ardor

A blockchain platform that will allow people to utilize the blockchain technology of Nxt through the use of child chains.

32. KuCoin Shares

Just like Binance Coin but for the KuCoin exchange.

33. Tether

A cryptocurrency that represents fiat currencies, each tether is backed by $1 USD, essentially “pegging” each tether to $1.

34. Dogecoin

Such DOGE much WOW very MEME

35. Status

An open source messaging platform and mobile interface to interact with decentralized applications that run on the Ethereum Network.

36. Dentacoin

ERC20 token, whose goal is to be used in the global dentistry in order to reduce costs, improve dental care, and create a community.

37. Steem

The currency for the Steemit platform – an incentivized blockchain social media platform, get paid to post content.

38. VeChain

Blockchain based platform that provides retailers and consumers with the ability to determine the quality and authenticity of products that are bought.

39. Waves

Blockchain based platform that allows users to launch their own custom cryptocurrency tokens, can also exchange these tokens on the P2P exchange built into the wallet.

40. Dragonchain

Private / public hybrid blockchain with levels of trust, developed in Disney’s office in seattle, currency is called Dragons and is an ERC20 token.

41. WAX

Short for Worldwide Asset Exchange, token is used as payment method on the marketplace OPSkins, which allows anyone to list their own virtual goods like CS:Go skins, CryptoKitties, and much more.

42. DigiByte

Just like Bitcoin, except faster transactions, less fees, different POW algorithm.

43. Veritaseum

A P2P platform similar to WAX and Bitshares, is is a token rental facility, a vehicle for conducting peer-to-peer, over-the-counter token transactions.

44. 0x

Pronounced “zero-x”, is an open, permissionless protocol (P2P exchange) allowing for ERC20 tokens to be traded on the Ethereum blockchain.

45. Augur

A decentralized prediction market built on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing you to forecast events and be rewarded for predicting them correctly.

46. Ark

An ecosystem that allows users to build their own blockchains from Ark’s, has a feature called SmartBridges which allow the “bridging” of multiple blockchains.

47. Dent

Backed by DENT Wireless Limited, allows anyone to buy, sell, or donate data using the Ethereum blockchain.

48. Komodo

A hybrid between Bitcoin Dark and ZCash, featuring a dPOW (delayed proof of work) protocol.

49. Hshare

A token for HCash, a cryptocurrency designed to transfer value between blockchains, allows for private transactions, DAO governance and quantum resistance.

50. Golem

A global, open source, decentralized supercomputer that anyone can access.

March 6, 2018, Bangkok will host a major international conference dedicated to blockchain, cryptocurrencies and ICOs – Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand.

The conference is aimed at cryptocurrency investors, blockchain startup representatives, developers, marketing specialists, lawmakers, lawyers, financial experts and advisors engaged in the cryptocurrency and ICO sector.

Participants will discover the current condition of the cryptocurrency market, blockchain trends, ICO aspects and investments in tokens.

The conference will reveal the following issues:

• blockchain technology application in Fintech and Govtech sectors;
• how to launch an ICO of your own project and attract investments;
• technical features of blockchain-based solutions;
• legal regulation of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and ICOs.

Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand is organized by Smile-Expo, an international company that has been holding blockchain and cryptocurrency events since 2014. Every conference brings together from 200 to 2500 participants.

Tickets can be bought on the official website. The earlier purchase, the more profitable price:

• until February 5 – 10 000 THB (255 EUR);
• from February 6 till March 5 – 15 000 THB;
• on the event day – 20 000 THB.

Registration details can be found on the website of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand.

The post Smile-Expo to Organize Blockchain and Bitcoin Conference Thailand in Bangkok appeared first on NewsBTC.