Day: February 4, 2018

Peach Aviation, Japan’s number one budget airline, has announced plans to maintain their schedule to accept bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies for ticket payments.

Peach looking to spread cryptocurrency

Despite waves of fear that passed through the crypto-markets in the wake of the $500 million Coincheck hack on January 26, and speculation that Japanese regulators would rein in trading and spending in the crypto-market, Peach will stick to their previous schedule of accepting Bitcoin.

As part of a bid to encourage visitors from other parts of Asia to visit Japan, the airline announced they would stick to previous plans to accept cryptocurrency according to Bloomberg.

“We want to encourage visitors from overseas and the revitalization of Japan’s regions … This is a real first step in partnerships for Japan and we are aiming for more company and service tie-ups.”

Said Shinichi Inoue, chief executive officer of Peach.

The plan to accept Bitcoin by the end of the fiscal year in March 2018 was implemented after the April 2017 law on fund settlements in April helped facilitate crypto transactions. Peach is looking forward to creating cryptocurrency tie-ins with regional governments and corporations in order to spread usage of the new currencies.

Peach Aviation isn’t the only airline making the move towards accepting Bitcoin. Airbaltic in Latvia announced almost three years ago that it would accept Bitcoin as part of improved customer service. In a much wider reaching plan, Universal Air Travel Plan announced a partnership with Bitnet that would allow customers the ability to purchase tickets from more than 260 airlines two years ago.

Plans delayed but not destroyed

Peach follows at least 10,000 other corporations in Japan that are either currently or have implemented plans to accept cryptocurrency for products and services. This despite the country being home to the two largest cryptocurrency thefts in history totaling about a billion dollars and fears that the Financial Security Agency would be putting the clamps on Bitcoin trading.

Initially Peach planned on accepting bitcoin for ticketing and adding tie-ins such as pay points in souvenir shops, restaurants and for accommodations as well as installing bitcoin ATM’s (BTM’S) in conjunction with Bitpoint Japan by Autumn 2017. However, due to fluctuating markets late in the year, the new start date of March 2018 was given.

“We are reviewing the timing of service start,” the spokeswoman for Peach’s public relations said. Both Peach Aviation and Bitpoint Japan have confirmed their dedication to implementing their initial plans throughout 2018.

The post Peach to be Japan’s First Airline to Accept Bitcoin appeared first on NewsBTC.

A New York lawmaker has proposed researching the creation of a state-backed cryptocurrency.

Skraps is a new micro-investing application that looks to break the mold of all others before it. While Acorns is great for investing your spare change in stocks and shares, Skraps takes it in an entirely new direction. With Skraps, you can invest your spare change in cryptocurrency.

As far as investing is concerned, cryptocurrency is a brand-new asset, and one that many are too tentative to touch. There is a general perception that you need a large sum of money to invest in cryptocurrency, and a large knowledge base to know which ones to invest in.

While the first statement is entirely false, the second one does ring true. You do not need to fork out your life’s savings to get involved in the cryptocurrency market. On the contrary, it is strongly recommended that you only part with funds that you are prepared to lose, as the market can be volatile.

With that said, if you are looking to take a DIY approach to cryptocurrency investing, you would need to be an expert in your own right. There are far too many digital currencies for you to choose from, and it takes extensive knowledge to know which ones to select!

For the person looking to invest just a little of the funds on the side, the hours of research required just aren’t worth it. Luckily for them, SKRAPS will take all of the hassle and all of the confusion out of low-budget cryptocurrency investing.

How does SKRAPS work?

SKRAPS is a mobile application that will automatically invest your spare change left over from card purchases into cryptocurrency. Once downloaded on your mobile device, the application will take no more than a few minutes to set up.

Once you have linked your debit and credit cards to SKRAPS, you can select how much you would like each transaction to be rounded up to. For example, you can choose to round up to the nearest 50c, $ or $2, and the balance will be sent straight to Skraps with each transaction that you make.

Under your user settings in the application, you can select the portfolio you would like to invest in, based on whether your taste is aggressive, moderately aggressive, moderate, moderately conservative or conservative. Should you struggle to choose, you also have the option to split your investments into some or all of the portfolios on offer.

Skraps does not have a minimum or maximum amount that you must invest or store in your account. In addition, it does not charge transaction fees or withdrawal fees. The only amount that you will pay Skraps is a fee of 5% of your profits made for the month. Skraps believes that fair is fair, so should you not make a profit, you will not pay a fee.

The Skraps Return on Investment

Skraps aims to bring you the highest possible return on investment for your choice of portfolio(s). It does this by splitting the risk across a wide base of cryptocurrencies available in the market and uses analytical software to predict which ones will yield the highest returns.

In this way, it is likely that you will receive a much higher return than you would from traditional banking and investment methods. However, there is always a risk associated with cryptocurrency investing, and Skraps is not able to control the direction that the market will go.

Nonetheless, through splitting the investment between a large number of cryptocurrencies, every effort is taken to ensure that your funds are exposed to as little risk as possible. In the event that one or two cryptocurrencies were to experience a dip in value, the overall profit on the investment should remain positive, with the rest of the portfolio making up for the loss.

The Skraps Token Sale

Skraps kicked off its token sale on January 15, 2018, and it will run until the 15^th of February, with its native token carrying the tag of SKRP.

The price per SKRP token steadily increases throughout the token sale, giving those who join early an opportunity to purchase tokens at a significantly reduced rate. The first week of the token sale offered the lowest price, asking only $0.30 per SKRP token. The second week saw the price raised to $0.35, but week three is when things got interesting.

The third week of the token sale kicked off Round 3, which lasted from January 29 to 31. From Round four, the price increased not by 5c but by 0.5c, and went up not weekly but daily. In other words, every 24 hours saw the price increase by half a cent. By the last day of the token sale on February 14, the price will have reached $0.45 per SKRP.

The Skraps token sale has had an incredible response so far, having hit the $1 million soft cap just 10 hours after officially open. With almost 10 million SKRP tokens sold just two weeks later, it can already be considered a hugely successful token sale.

How To Get Involved

Skraps’ official website can be accessed at www.skraps.io. The token sale has a dedicated website, however, which can be viewed at www.ico.skraps.io. To purchase tokens, the place to be is www.dashboard.skraps.io.

Skraps has a dedicated group on Telegram with team members on hand around the clock to answer questions about the project. It is encouraged that investors join in the light-hearted conversation, and everyone is welcome in the Skraps community.

For those not looking to purchase SKRP tokens, Skraps also offers the ability to earn them through its very own bounty program, the link to it being here. Through the bounty program, participants can earn tokens by getting Skraps’ name out into the world, and generate awareness about the project.

After the Token Sale

The token sale is just a phase in the greater roadmap of the Skraps project. Once the token sale concludes, SKRP will be listed on one or more high-ranking cryptocurrency exchanges, where investors will be able to trade or purchase SKRP tokens.

In the background, the Skraps team will develop the fully-functioning mobile application, which is set to hit the world in June 2018. The air remains thick with anticipation.

The post What is SKRAPS and Should You Invest In its Token Sale? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price struggled to move above the $0.9500 resistance area and declined again against the US dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance at $0.8000 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from SimpleFx).
• The pair is currently trading near a major support area at $0.7500-0.7700, which holds a lot of importance.

Ripple price failed to recover substantially against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD is currently near $0.7600, which must hold to avoid further declines.

Ripple Price Resistance

We saw a recovery recently in Ripple price from the $0.6041 swing low against the US Dollar. The price moved above the $0.8500 and $0.9000 resistance levels. However, it failed to move above the $0.9500 and $0.9600 resistance levels. As a result, a downside move was initiated and the price moved below the $0.9000 support. There was a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.6041 low to $0.9661 high.

More importantly, the upside move was protected by a major bearish trend line with resistance at $0.8000 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair is currently trading near the $0.7500 support area. Moreover, it is holding the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.6041 low to $0.9661 high. It must stay above the $0.7500 support area to avoid any further declines. If it fails to stay above $0.7500, there is a chance of XRP sliding back towards $0.7000.

The next major support is at 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.6041 low to $0.9661 high at $0.6895. On the upside, the price has to break the $0.8000 and $0.8200 resistance levels to gain upside momentum.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is back in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.7500

Major Resistance Level – $0.8200

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Holding Key Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

In the wake of the second largest cryptocurrency theft ever on January, 26, which triggered painful memories of the Mt. Gox hack in 2014 Japan continues to lead the way in the Asian Bitcoin market.

Japan will see tighter regulation but no ban

Despite being home to the two largest cryptocurrency heists in history totaling nearly a billion dollars and a traditionally conservative financial tendency the Japanese market is still enthusiastic about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

As China maintains a complete ban on all cryptocurrency and South Korea bans aspects of crypto-trading including anonymous transactions, the most important aspect for many traders, Japanese authorities continue to embrace the technology.

In April of 2017, the Japanese government became the first to amend their banking act to recognize cryptocurrencies as both methods of payment and asset holdings.

Even after the theft of about $500 million from the Coincheck exchange last week in which weak security practices, storing customers coins in hot wallets connected to the net and without multilayered signature security, are to blame regulators have remained calm.

“We’ll likely see stronger regulations, but not a ban,”

said Credit Suisse’s Shiono.

Japan’s Financial Security Authority raided Coincheck offices for documents and computers to be used as evidence on Friday, February, 2 but this was after Coincheck had already declared they would reimburse investors up to 90% of their loses and would make an in-house evaluation of security protocols.

Experts on the ground in Japan are predicting more oversight of the markets by the FSA but also see cryptocurrency as already too important to the countries economic growth to put a stranglehold on.

“There are estimates that tax revenue from the cryptocurrency business, including capital gains taxes from individual investors and from corporations, could amount to 1 trillion yen (US$9.2 billion), though that is very speculative at this stage,”

said Takashi Shiono, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo.

Japan invested in the future of cryptocurrency

Tokyo’s place as Asia’s financial epicenter has been diminished in recent decades by both Singapore and Hong Kong’s expanding influence. Many experts see cryptocurrency as a new path for Tokyo to regain its prominence.

As the world’s earliest adaptor to recognizing cryptocurrencies spending potential over 10,000 companies in Japan are now accepting payment in Bitcoin. Including Peach Aviation its largest budget airline which just announced that it will continue plans to accept crypto payments by March 2018 despite the Coincheck hack. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the world’s eighth-largest bank, is developing its own cryptocurrency, known as MUFG Coin.

The post Japan Still Leads Asia in Bitcoin Market appeared first on NewsBTC.

Sounds like ethereum? A new idea being explored by two Blockstream veterans could stand to make a distributed blockchain web more accessible.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price failed to move above the $1,300 level and started a downside move against the US Dollar.
• There is a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance at $1,220 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD (data feed from SimpleFX).
• The pair is currently heading towards the $1,050 support area and it remains at a risk of more declines.

Bitcoin cash price faced a lot of sellers against the US Dollar. BCH/USD is back in a bearish zone and it could soon retest the $1,000 level.

Bitcoin Cash Price Resistance

There was a decent recovery in bitcoin cash price above the $1,200 level against the US Dollar. However, the price struggled to move above the $1,300 level and started a downside move. It seems like the price completed a correction near $1,300 and it is back in a bearish trend. It already broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the wave from the $980 low to $1,301 high.

The upside move was capped by a crucial bearish trend line with resistance at $1,220 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD. The pair is currently trading below the $1,100 level and is heading towards the $1,050 support area. It may soon test the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the wave from the $980 low to $1,301 high. A break below the $1,080 and $1,060 levels could push the price back towards the $1,000 level. The mentioned $1,000 level and the $980 support levels are important.

BCH price has to stay above the $1,000 level to avoid further declines. On the upside, an initial resistance is around the $1,150 level. Above $1,150, the trend line resistance could prevent gains near $1,220.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD is currently heading lower towards the 30 level.

Major Support Level – $1,000

Major Resistance Level – $1,150

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis – BCH/USD is Back to Square One appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

The selloff continues as we enter another week in crypto land. Asian trading is all in the red once again and Bitcoin has fallen to the psychologically critical $8,000 level. If support cannot be maintained it could easily plummet even further taking all of the altcoins with it. Looking for a green signal in a sea of red is not easy this morning, and again we find ourselves going beyond the top 25 cryptocurrencies.

There is one altcoin though that has shown some gains over the past 24 hours. Albeit only 2.8% but it is in the green nonetheless. Status is currently trading at $0.21, up marginally on the same time yesterday, it is the only crypto that is doing so, all others are shedding value. Since Feb 2 however SNT jumped almost 100% from a weekly low of $0.132. Its highest value was $0.66 during the first week of January.

SNT is a token for a mobile Ethereum client and messaging platform, a little bit like WhatsApp but decentralized. According to the blurb on their website your mobile device becomes a light client node on the Ethereum Network, enabling you to access Ethereum’s entire ecosystem from anywhere. You can also send and receive ERC20 tokens using the Status network however the platform is still currently in alpha status.

There have been a couple of Tweets about partnerships from the company but no recent news sparking interest in the token. The Status Network Token has a supply of 6.8 billion with 3.4 billion in circulation. It is traded almost exclusively on the South Korean exchange Upbit which has 96% of the total volume.

All other coins in the top 25 market cap chart with the exception of Litecoin have lost double figure digits during a rather brutal trading session in Asia this morning.

More on Status can be found here: https://status.im/

FOMO Moments is a new section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and fundamentals. 

The post Morning Asian trading roundup: the leading altcoin is Status appeared first on NewsBTC.

China’s search giant Baidu is testing a crypto dog marketplace on blockchain

Banks will never be fans of Bitcoin. The concept of it alone is the complete opposite of a bank’s business model which is to make profits from other people’s money. Britain’s biggest bank today took the step of banning its customers from buying Bitcoin using their credit cards.

Lloyd’s Banking Group will tell its 9 million credit card customers that it will block any attempts to buy Bitcoin according to the Telegraph. The king of crypto has suffered heavy losses over the past month, falling by over 50% from over $17,000 at the beginning of January to around $8,000 today.

Credit card clampdown

In an email a company spokesperson said;

“Across Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA, we do not accept credit card transactions involving the purchase of cryptocurrencies,”

The block is only for credit cards to prevent potential heavy losses the bank said, debit cards can still be used to buy crypto. Fears have arisen that people looking for quick profits will be laden with debt should the price continue to fall. A growing number of credit-card issuers are deciding they don’t want to finance a falling knife.

It is believed that hundreds of thousands of Brits flocked to buy cryptocurrencies last year during the big bull run that sent prices through the roof. Prime Minister Theresa May has already warned about the risks involved in investing in crypto. She added that the government needs to take a serious look at the digital currencies which could be used for criminal purposes.

Across the Pond

According to Bloomberg three major US banks are taking a similar stance. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have all stated that they are or will start to block credit card payments for cryptocurrencies. Preventing credit card purchases could cause further downward price action as it has just become a little more difficult to enter the market for many.

Mastercard said last week that cross-border volumes on its network, which is a measure of customer spending abroad, have risen 22% this year, fueled partially by customers using their cards to buy digital currencies.

It is likely that more banks will follow and crypto traders will need to use their own funds to get into the markets.

The post UK Bank Lloyds Bans Bitcoin Buying on Credit Cards appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin Cash and Dash vs. BSE 30 Sensex and Hang Seng Index #MARKET_ANALYSIS

Cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies are booming. The numbers speak for themselves — market capitalizations have gone through the roof, transaction volume has skyrocketed, and adoption from individuals, corporations, and governments has reached a global scale.

Speaking with CNBC, NFL star Richard Sherman, cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks, claims players are keen to learn more about cryptocurrencies, revealing that the Bitcoin boom at the end of 2017 prompted a number of players to start paying attention — and some, like himself, to invest. “The way Bitcoin boomed from nothing to $19,000 at one point, that really caught the eye of a lot of people. Ever since then it has been common conversation for a lot of us.”

Sherman was an early adapter of cryptocurrencies, beginning to accept Bitcoin for merchandise purchases on his website as early as 2014. And as he recovers from an Achilles injury, the 29-year-old has been getting up to speed on the latest cryptocurrency news: “There are a ton of different coins,” he says, and that he and other NFL players are “trying to figure out which one is the one they should get.” Sherman owns Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. He’s also a spokesman for the exchange platform Cobinhood, and an investor in the company’s coin, COB.

Despite his knowledge and enthusiasm, Sherman isn’t interested in giving investment advice: “Who knows,” he says, “You read up, you hear great things about some, you hear terrible things about others, they fluctuate throughout the day. It is such an unpredictable market.”

With the top-earning NFL stars taking home more than $20 million every year, many of them are trying to take the right steps to protect or grow their fortunes. “A lot of them have just been trying their best to become more educated on not only cryptocurrencies, but just stocks and trading in general,” said Sherman.

Often, he hears more simple questions from other football players, like, “Are there physical coins?” Or teammates will ask, “What is the difference between this and a stock? Or this and a bond?” According to Sherman: “None of us really grew up with financial literacy.” Because of this, in the past, a lot of players have been taken advantage of by financial advisors. Either way, Sherman, it can be sure, is playing his part in informing the people in his world about cryptocurrencies: “It is difficult to try to advise anyone, but we definitely have a ton of conversations about it.”

The post Richard Sherman: Bitcoin Becoming a Common Conversation Topic in NFL appeared first on NewsBTC.