Day: February 13, 2018

Paxful, the peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace that enables its users to purchase and sell bitcoin instantly, has funded the construction of a school for young students in Rwanda.

Located in Kasebigege Village in the Bugesera District of Rwanda, Paxful’s bitcoin-funded school will serve children aged from 3 to 6 in a town with over 7,500 residents. The school has three classrooms, four restrooms, irrigation system, and a 35,000-liter water tank, providing a stable source of water supply for both the students and local residents.

By contributing $50,000 in bitcoin, Paxful contributed to the Education is Life project and Water Well project, building schools and providing a better ecosystem in partnership with Zam Zam, a non-profit organization that focuses on helping students and families in Afghanistan, Gaza, and Rwanda.

“Paxful cares about corporate responsibility, and they believe that positive things can happen through Bitcoin. The Education is Life project is not only a model for what can be built with Bitcoin, but is a model for how we create and sustain successful corporate partnerships,” said the Zam Zam team.

Last month, CNBC featured a documentary covering the efforts of the Paxful team building a school in Rwanda using bitcoin as the primary source of funds. The Paxful team intends to fund more schools and infrastructures in Africa in the future, with donations raised from the cryptocurrency community with bitcoin.

“One of our key goals is to bring financial inclusion to the underbanked, via bitcoin. #BuiltwithBitcoin is the next logical step. Now we are not only helping those in emerging economies meet their day-to-day financial needs; through our work with Zam Zam, we are also making a real and lasting difference in their communities. We hope that others in the cryptocurrency scene will join this important venture,” said Ray Youssef, Paxful CEO and co-founder.

Last year, in December 2017, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his concerns over the valuation of the cryptocurrency market and whether the community has done enough to support the global financial system, bank the unbanked, and assist individuals in third world economies with blockchain technology.

“How many unbanked people have we banked? How much censorship-resistant commerce for the common people have we enabled? How many Venezuelans have actually been protected by us from hyperinflation? The answer to all of these questions is definitely not zero, and in some cases it’s quite significant. But not enough to say it’s $0.5T levels of significant. Not enough,” said Buterin.

In regions like Rwanda, wherein the majority of individuals struggle to obtain stable banking services due to poor financial infrastructure, decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin allows anyone to freely transact and settle payments on a peer to peer basis.

As such, with bitcoin donations, even without the existence of an intermediary, projects led by non-profit organizations such as Zam Zam in partnership with Paxful can be funded.

Arthur Schaback, the co-founder and CTO at Paxful, emphasized that the company plans to continue demonstrating the impact a decentralized financial network can have on the entire world.

“We will continue to build and perfect this model so that the entire world can see what a real difference can be made with bitcoin. We take the same philosophy with our product and are building the Paxful wallet as the model financial services application for the entire world,” Schaback said.

The post Bitcoin Marketplace Paxful Builds School For Students in Rwanda appeared first on NewsBTC.

John Perry Barlow fought for an open internet. Late in life, he cautioned blockchain innovators that the technology could be liberating or oppressive.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price is finding strong buying interest near the $0.9100 level against the US dollar.
• Buyers are making an attempt to push the price above a bearish trend line at $0.9550 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from SimpleFx).
• The pair could accelerate higher once there is a close above the $0.9800 resistance in the near term.

Ripple price is following a bullish path against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD should move above the $0.9800 resistance to gain upside momentum.

Ripple Price Rise

There was a positive development in Ripple price from the $0.9000 swing low against the US Dollar. The price tested the $0.9100 and $0.9000 support levels on a couple of occasions. However, sellers failed to push the price below $0.9000, which prompted an upside move. It seems like there is a major support base forming above $0.9000, which could increase bullish pressure in the near term.

Earlier, there was a dip below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.8398 low to $1.0268 high. However, the downside move was limited by $0.9100. Moreover, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.8398 low to $1.0268 high also acted as a support. An upside move in underway, and the XRP/USD pair is making an attempt to push the price above a bearish trend line at $0.9550 on the hourly chart. Should there be a close above $0.9600 and $0.9800, the price could move above $1.0000.

Above $1.0000, it has to break the $1.0265 high to rise further. The overall bias is positive as long as the price is above the $0.9100 and $0.9000 support levels.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is mostly flat with a few bearish signs.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD has just moved below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.9200

Major Resistance Level – $1.0250

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – Can XRP/USD Gain Upside Momentum? appeared first on NewsBTC.

As Olympians in Pyeongchang, Korea perform to huge audiences in the popular events of skying, snowboarding and hockey. Less popular US lugers have turned to Bitcoin to fuel their sleds.

Bitcoin funds US luge team

The USA Luge Foundation began campaigning for donations of Bitcoin using Medium since December of 2017. The team is the first Olympic group to set up its own Bitcoin wallet to accept donations.

USA luge marketing director and former double silver medalists Gary Sheer said that matching Bitcoin to the US luge endowment fund is a natural fit;

“You know, we hear a lot of jokes about lugers being crazy, and people don’t know why we do it. But luge is something that gets into your blood and transforms your life and the Bitcoiners we’ve met know exactly what it’s like to be all in on something that the world doesn’t appreciate yet. We’ve looked at Bitcoin hard, and it is definitely a risk-reward we understand and are eager to take.”

Although no Olympic team is allowed to have any type of advertising on their uniforms or equipment during the games the team has promised to promote the cryptocurrency in up and coming competitions.

The team has laid out a rewards schedule depending on how much Bitcoin they raise in the future.

• 5 BTC – Bitcoin’s logo will appear on team hats and memorabilia hats.
• 10 BTC – Above, including Bitcoin logo sewn onto all luge team outerwear for the
• 2018 season (excluding the Winter Olympics).
• 25 BTC – All of the above, including Bitcoin logo of sleds for the next two seasons.
• 50 BTC – All of the above, with Bitcoin logo on sleds for next four seasons.
• 100 BTC – All the above including Bitcoin logo on team skin suits for four years (excluding Olympics).

For 21 million the team promised to find ‘Satoshi and get him on a sled’ – 21 million is the finite number of Bitcoins.

Cash only at Olympic Village

Being that South Korea is a major hub of cryptocurrency trading and the Olympics an international event one would expect vendors and facilities to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies during the events.

That is not the case though. According to Forbes there is only one place to spend your Bitcoin, a single ski rental shop at the Olympic Village. Many were expecting vendors to take up the platform Coinduck which allows payment in Etheruem and then pays the local vendor in Korean Won. The lack of cryptocurrency at the games could be a reflection of the countries current conflicted views on regulating cryptocurrency markets.

The post US Olympic Luge Team Welcome Bitcoin Donations appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

Midweek trading is looking good from an Asian perspective as most cryptocurrencies have shown positive price action this morning. Bitcoin is still holding steady, up around 1.5% at $8,840, and this has had a positive influence on a lot of the altcoins. A couple are showing very strong growth today and those are Ethereum Classic and Litecoin

Looking at the Coinmarketcap charts shows that ETC is currently on a flyer, up 24% from this time yesterday. The Ethereum forked coin is trading at $35.6 at the time of writing, up from $28.50 24 hours ago. Over the past week is has shown solid growth of almost 100% from $17.8 on Wednesday last week. ETC is heading back towards its all-time high of $47 on December 21.

Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum which was created after the DAO attack in 2016. As with Bitcoin, the community was split along with the software division but founder Vitalik Buterin went with the new forked version which has now become the standard. With no announcements on their blog or social feeds this month the uptake appears to be a technical, not a fundamentally driven one.

As with the momentum on most altcoins recently it is all happening in South Korea. Almost 40% of the trade is in KRW on Upbit, Bithumb and Coinone. ETC has a total market cap of $3.5 billion with $1.37 billion traded in the past 24 hours, it is ranked at 14^th and climbing. Ethereum Classic has been far less volatile that other cryptocurrencies in recent weeks.

The only other altcoin with a double digit movement is Litecoin which is up 14%. LTC has been on a downward slide since its $370 high on December 19, possibly coinciding with founder Charlie Lee selling his entire stash. Renewed momentum will be driven by the upcoming Litecoin Cash fork which is expected early next week.

More on Ethereum Classic can be found here: https://ethereumclassic.github.io/

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 Asian Altcoin Trading Roundup: the top crypto is Ethereum Classic appeared first on NewsBTC.

Using bitcoin’s lightning network can be dangerous – but it could also help propel the cryptocurrency toward its next growth stage.

Key Highlights

• ETH price is slowly moving higher and is currently trading above $830 against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bullish trend line forming with support at $832 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair is likely to grind higher and it could even trade above the $860 resistance in the near term.

Ethereum price is slightly bullish against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD is eyeing further gains with supports on the downside at $832 and $825.

Ethereum Price Support

There was a fresh downside wave in ETH price from the $865 high against the US Dollar. The price traded lower and broke the $850 and $840 levels. It traded as low as $814 where buyers prevented further declines. An upside wave was initiated and the price was able to move above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $865.19 high to $814.03 low.

On the downside, there is a major bullish trend line forming with support at $832 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair is likely to follow the trend line and move above $840. An immediate resistance is around the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $865.19 high to $814.03 low. However, the price is likely to move higher and it may soon break the $850 resistance, and settle above the 100 hourly simple moving average. The most important resistance on the upside is at $865. It is a pivot level for a move towards $890.

In the short term, the price is likely to move higher towards $865. Any further gains would depend on how sellers react when the price test the $865 level.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is currently showing a few bullish sign, but it is lacking upside momentum.

Hourly RSI – The RSI has just moved above the 50 level, which is a positive sign.

Major Support Level – $830

Major Resistance Level – $865

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Technical Analysis – ETH/USD to Rise Short-term appeared first on NewsBTC.

Deal with ads and pop-ups or become a corporate crypto-mining minion. These will be your choices from now on when you go to Salon’s website.

Add free for miners

In a bid to replace revenue lost from the number of browsers who have enabled ad-blocking programs Salon will now give you a choice, turn off your ad-blocking software or “suppress ads.”

By choosing the latter option viewers won’t be bothered by ads but will hand over part of their computers processing  power so that Salon can mine the cryptocurrency Monero using the program Coinhive.

Like many sites that depend on add revenue, Salon has felt the pinch of ad-blocking software in their money bag.

“Like most media sites, ad-blockers cut deeply into our revenue and create a more one-sided relationship between reader and publisher,”

Salon’s team wrote in a note addressing the new program.

If you chose to allow Salon to mine with your computer that agreement lasts for 24 hours and will then prompt you again on your next visit to their site. Critics though have raised concerns about recent criminal activity associated with Monero and hacks that have involved Coinhive.

Through no fault of it’s developers Monero has become the currency of choice for some criminals who dropped Bitcoin during it’s meteroic rise during 2017. While the concpet behind Coinhive is potentially beneficial for companies using it openly the software often makes the news as hackers use the program to mine cryptocurrency on computers of the unsuspecting.

Salon CEO Jordan Hoffner pushes those concerns aside saying that new technologies are often abused by criminals in their early stages but once adapted by the mainstream those activities abate.

“These things will straighten themselves out over time. I was there at the time of online video and online piracy. They straightened themselves out over time. That’s what history has suggested,”

Salon CEO Jordan Hoffner.

Is the candle worth the game?

The question to be asked though; is it worth alienating a portion of your readership for such a pittance? Based on Coinhive’s own predictions and Salon’s visitor numbers the site would only earn about $1,000 per month if every one of their 13 million monthly viewers decides to take the mining option.

For Hoffner though it’s about letting the past go and generating revenue in the future.

 “We are earning something when we were earning nothing … we just want to right now collect coins and see what happens.”

The post View Adds Or Mine Cryptocurrency, Salon Gives You The Choice appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price is currently consolidating, forming higher lows and lower highs inside a triangle pattern.
• Price is bouncing off support and might be due for a test of resistance soon.
• Technical indicators are also suggesting that the bounce could take place, possibly even leading to an upside break.

Bitcoin price is finding support at the bottom of its triangle consolidation and may be due for a move past the resistance if buyers are strong enough.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This means that support is more likely to hold than to break. It could also indicate that the top of the triangle could be broken.

In addition, the 100 SMA is currently holding as dynamic support and keeping losses in check as it lines up with the triangle bottom. A break past the $8,000 level could be enough to signal a bullish break and further gains.

Stochastic is pointing up to signal that buyers are in control of bitcoin price action while RSI also seems to be turning north. However, hitting overbought levels could draw sellers back in and lead to a move back to the triangle support.

Market Factors

Equities still closed slightly in the green to confirm that risk appetite extended its stay in the financial markets. Note that bitcoin has been tracking these higher-yielding assets these days instead of taking risk-off flows.

But as mentioned, the gains were smaller this time, signaling a slowdown in momentum and a potential correction. US CPI and retail sales figures are up for release and apart from influencing USD price action, it could also have a significant impact on overall sentiment.

Other altcoins like litecoin are starting to enjoy a bit more bullish support, so it’s possible that bitcoin could follow suit. Analysts point to easing concerns about regulation as the crackdown news in South Korea are no longer hitting headlines as one of the factors propping prices up.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 02/14/2018 – Sitting Tight for a Breakout appeared first on NewsBTC.

Yet another day brings yet another tale of woe about mining malware. Back in the day we had viruses and worms to worry about, and then came a surge of spyware, today the hackers want your computer to mine them more Monero. The latest victim is messenger app Telegram which has been exploited to run mining malware.

According to security researchers at Kaspersky Lab a zero day vulnerability in Telegram’s desktop app has been exploited to deliver multipurpose malware. A zero day exploit is an attack that targets a previously unknown vulnerability, the victims literally have zero days to fix and patch the exposed systems.

Mining malware delivered

The malicious code can be used as a back door to deliver mining malware to the target computer. As in other cases it would then leech the machine’s processing power to surreptitiously mine for Monero and Zcash, two anonymous cryptocurrencies.

The cyber security team discovered that the Telegram zero-day vulnerability was based on the RLO (right-to-left override) Unicode method. This is often used on languages that read from the right such as Arabic or Hebrew. Users can be tricked into downloading malicious files which can be disguised as images. Additionally while analyzing the threat, researchers found archives containing a Telegram local cache that had been stolen from victims.

Remote access exploit

One the exploit had been compromised a backdoor that used the Telegram API as a command and control protocol was installed, resulting in the hackers gaining remote access to the victim’s computer. Once it had access it switched to silent mode enabling the infestation of further malware and mining processes.

Kaspersky Lab analyst Alexey Firsh commented;

“The popularity of instant messenger services is incredibly high, and it’s extremely important that developers provide proper protection for their users so that they don’t become easy targets for criminals. We have found several scenarios of this zero-day exploitation that, besides general malware and spyware, was used to deliver mining software – such infections have become a global trend that we have seen throughout the last year. Furthermore, we believe there were other ways to abuse this zero-day vulnerability.”

As we reported a couple of days ago mining malware will increase exponentially in 2018, it is the new weapon of choice for hackers and scammers looking for a free ride to crypto land.

The post Telegram Messenger App Exploited by Mining Malware appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Canadian Securities exchange will launch a blockchain-based clearing and settlement platform for security token offerings.

Multiple concerned U.S. corporate customers of Bitfinex have posted on Reddit after discovering that they were unable to access the exchange’s margin trading services. Although Bitfinex has previously indicated that it would no longer allow U.S individuals to access the exchange’s services, Bitfinex’s support portal currently states that the restrictions do not affect U.S. corporate customers.

Also Read: U.S. Regulators Send Tether and Bitfinex Subpoenas

Bitfinex Restricts U.S. Corporate Account Holders From Accessing Margin Markets

In recent days, several Redditors claiming to be U.S.-based corporate customers of Bitfinex have complained that they have suddenly found themselves unable to access the exchange’s margin services.

Last year, Bitfinex announced that it would terminate its services to U.S. retail customers in November. However, the company assured corporate customers that “the restriction affects individuals accounts only” – as currently stated by the FAQ section of Bitfinex’s support portal.

Margin Traders Left Unable to Close Positions

One Redditor posted “We’ve had a corporate account with Bitfinex since early 2017 and [are] approved for both exchange, margin, and funding. […] We’ve been making 6-figure trades on margin and currently have 2 margin positions open. On Feb 7th, […] we were locked out of margin trading. No explanation or warning of why our account can’t trade on margin. Worst yet, we can’t manage our margin positions. Not good in this very volatile market. We’ve received a couple of liquidation warning emails as the market dived down yesterday. We sent a support ticket […] and probably over 7 emails. No response from Bitfinex. It appears that they haven’t even opened any of the emails.”

Later that day, a Bitfinex representative called “bill_bfx” contacted the Redditor, stating that the issue had been “forwarded to the team to resolve for you.” Bill_bfx stated that “a US corporate customer […] should not be using margin trading,” however, noted that “if you have open positions it is not acceptable to block you from closing them.”

The Redditor acknowledged the response and stated he would update the thread if his issue was resolved. As of this writing, no indication has been made that the situation has been resolved, despite bill_bfx responding to the Redditor four days ago.

Corporate Customers Seemingly Caught Unaware

Another Redditor posted “I’ve been lending on Bitfinex for a while. Earlier today, the API responded that US users are no longer allowed to take or lend any currency denomination […] I understand that US retail customers cannot use it but I believe the policy did not apply to corporate customers. Has there been a recent change in policy? Will it be permanent or is this a temporary measure?”

As of this writing, the second Redditor has not received a response from Bitfinex, despite directly questioning bill_bfx about the matter on a different thread. Though Bill_bfx did not respond to the Redditor’s query, however, a day later, Bill_bfx did find time to post a sarcastic response to a trollish comment on the same thread.

Do you think that more exchanges will move to restrict access from U.S. customers? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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The post U.S. Corporate Customers Barred From Bitfinex’s Margin Markets appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Graft Blockchain created a new app- CryptoFind – which enables crypto –savvy buyers to locate venues that accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. The app is a network that connects crypto owners with merchants, which will grow on its own through the users’ contributions. This application will permit the further development of the way payments are made with digital currencies.

13th February 2018

Graft, a blockchain-based payment network that operates worldwide, was created for Point-of-Sale transactions. The network intends to rid the issues that the current cryptocurrency payment system is facing, eliminating long waiting intervals and high fees per transactions. They want to facilitate how transactions happen between merchants and buyers, making it easier for them to accept digital currencies at the point of sale.

The newly launched product, CryptoFind, will bring together on a global virtual map, all venues that accept cryptocurrencies as payment for their products or services.

Although the app is a GRAFT blockchain creation, it can record merchants from all locations, not being limited to locations that are enabled by GRAFT. CryptoFind will place on its map the businesses that use digital currencies as payment via methods such as Mobile PoS, Wallet to Wallet, and Partner Credit Card Terminals.

Graft has its own live main net, a network where all transactions take place on a distributed ledger, which was completed ahead of schedule and launched on January 16th.

The network is different than other competitors, as it runs its services on its own blockchain. This independency from the Ethereum blockchain implies that it is immune to the slow processing speed, fees and other issues that plague the network.

CryptoFind offers advantages to both its users and merchants. Rewards will be given to users that manage to convince businesses to use cryptos as payment and enlist on the app, and the merchants will expand their client base while doing so. While this will mutually aid both parties, they will also help make cryptocurrencies be more accepted by the general public as a mean of payment.

The team member supporting GRAFT had to say on their creation the following: “The launch of the CryptoFind App is a decisive step towards stability in the cryptomarket. Merchant support is key, as credit/debit card transactions now dwarf the number of crypto transactions.”

The CryptoFind app is available in the App Store.

Graft launched an ICO on January the 18th and is still continuing. 20 million GRFT tokens have been bought by the 1K crypto enthusiasts that have contributed in the token sale.

Additional information about the GRAFT Blockchain:

• Website 
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linkedin

Contact info:

Valerie Shcherbina

Communications Manager

Email: [email protected]

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.