Day: February 13, 2018

Want to earn a little extra money on the side, without compromising your current schedule? Ditch-it, a new app is here to help you get started quickly, and that too without many of the startup costs generally associated with traditional businesses.

Ditch-It is a decentralized local mobile marketplace on the blockchain that enables users to locally buy and sell the things they love for Electroneum cryptocurrency. The platform, to encourage individuals and businesses to have alternative sources of revenue is now running its crowdsale campaign. (ICO)

What is Ditch-It?

The platform aims to decentralize the buying and selling process, creating a strong channel for people to buy and sell goods from one another. By supporting a broad range of cryptocurrencies, the platform has made it incredibly easier for the users to earn cryptocurrency by selling their used stuff. Users can search for the desired goods based on location, find secondhand products and goods as well as services instantly via this crypto classified ad platform.

High Security & Privacy

The platform offers encrypted communication between the users, ensuring maximum privacy and security. The platform rewards the buyers with “crypto-back” bonus. It allows the users to post their ads, promote them using DICH Tokens and post videos of their goods or services.

About the ICO

The Ditch-It ICO has created quite the buzz in the world of digital currencies as investors flock to the best ICO’s hoping to cash in on the ground floor and pave the way for their retirement. Analysts have been predicting that this ICO may be among the top ICO’s of the year because of the exponential growth of the Ditch-It user base as well as company expansion.

The Ditch-it platform is a novel approach to bring classified ads to the blockchain and benefits from the added advantage of biometric facial recognition security features. Historically, it has been difficult for internet-based platforms to create a currency more convenient than fiat cash as a medium of exchange during secondhand goods sales, the added security and transparency provided by Ditch-it have impressively resolved the challenge.

To learn more about this ICO or purchasing tokens for investment purposes, visit their official website at http://www.ditchit.io

The post Start a New Side Hustle With Ditch-it and Earn Up to $50k Extra a Year in Crypto appeared first on NewsBTC.

A lot of things are happening behind the scenes of Ethereum. While the scaling issues are being sorted, there is another project worth keeping an eye on. Introducing two new identity standards on top of this ecosystem will be a big challenge. Even though ERC20 is a standard associated with digital data, it seems separate identity standards will be introduced. Known as ERC725 and ERC735, these proposals are well worth keeping an eye on.

Blockchain technology is about so much more than financial transactions. Recording transaction data has become second nature when distributed ledgers are the talking point. In the case of Ethereum, the ecosystem has always been about so much more than just doing the same as Bitcoin. More specifically, we may very well see identity standards be introduced in the near future. Two of such standards are currently in development by Fabian Vogelsteller, the creator of the Mist browser.

Two Possible Identity Standards

There is a growing need for digital identity solutions as we speak. Using the blockchain will make a lot of sense in this regard. It is evident Ethereum is in a prime position to offer such innovative solutions. Real world applications will benefit from such a digital solution as well. Most current systems are inadequate and are not exactly immune to hacking either. With a blockchain-based system, the central point of failure is removed automatically.

For now, it remains to be seen how these identity standards will pan out. One option is to introduce formal verification proofs for ERC735. Additionally, ERC725 may not see any official use cases in the near future, as it is not designed for that purpose. Using zero-knowledge proof contains is something Vogelsteller is actively considering right now. As such, the container can validate inputs without revealing any of the data itself to the public. It’s a mix of public and private verification rolled into one.

If Ethereum can offer identity and ID management, things will get very interesting. So far, no other project comes close to realizing such an ordeal in a convenient manner. It will also help address money laundering concerns associated with cryptocurrency in general. This doesn’t mean everyone will see the merit of such a solution, though. For now, we will have to wait and see if and when Ethereum’s identity standards comes to fruition. A lot of work has yet to be conducted as we speak.

The post Ethereum may Introduce its own Identity Standards Rather Soon appeared first on NewsBTC.

As we have seen over the past few weeks, it is evident the cryptocurrency markets are still pretty volatile. While things looked to be in a good place last night, this morning has resulted in a lot of losses again. All major cryptocurrencies are down between three to seven percent. One exception is ETC, as the Ethereum Classic price is still up by 12.5% compared to 24 hours ago.

Ethereum Classic Price Continues Uptrend

With most cryptocurrency markets in the red once again, it is always interesting to see who can buck this trend successfully. When Bitcoin loses value, it is an excellent time for altcoins to improve their BTC ratio. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be happening all that much right now, other than where the Ethereum Classic price is concerned. Unlike all other currencies, the Ethereum Classic price is still in the green over the past 24 hours.

More specifically, the Ethereum Classic price has increased by 12.58% in the past 24 hours. Given Bitcoin’s current 3.4% loss in the same period, this gain is pretty interesting to keep an eye on. After all, it further confirms ETC is making up lost ground in the BTC ratio department as well. Otherwise, the Ethereum Classic price would have significantly declined USD value as well, just like any other cryptocurrency on the market right now.

To put this into perspective, the Ethereum Classic price went up by 15.58% in USD value, pushing the price to $29.63. At the same time, the ETC/BTC ratio rose by 17.72% in favor of the alternative cryptocurrency as well. With such solid gains in both departments, things are looking pretty solid for Ethereum Classic right now. Even so, there is a very real chance the negative momentum will eventually drag ETC with it, although it remains to be seen how things evolve in this regard.

With $712m in 24-hour trading volume, Ethereum Classic looks rather impressive when looking at the bigger picture. After all, the overall cryptocurrency trading volume has dropped from over $24bn to just $17.2bn in the past 24 hours, which seems to indicate further bearish momentum will materialize in the coming days and weeks. A bearish trend will undoubtedly impact the Ethereum Classic price at some point, thus cashing out the current profits may not be a bad idea altogether.

With most of the ETC trading volume originate from OKex, an interesting situation is created. Although Upbit and Bithumb are also in the top three, it is evident a lot of people are looking to diversify their Bitcoin holdings once again. The way things look right now, there is a lot more upswing potential for altcoins compared to Bitcoin, even though all markets are intrinsically linked to the world’s leading cryptocurrency first and foremost.

For the time being, it is unclear what will happen over the next few hours. With all signs pointing to a bearish trend once again, the Ethereum Classic price may come apart very soon. If that happens., it is not unlikely the ETC price will drop to $24 or a bit lower before the day is over. At the same time, there is a lot of positive momentum in the ETC market right now, and the Ethereum Classic price may surpass $32 before things turn around.

Key Highlights

• Bitcoin Cash hit an intraday high $1,297.3 on Monday, before easing back ahead of the close to end the day up 5.26% at $1,275.
• A bearish trend has formed through the early part of Tuesday, with Bitcoin Cash down 4.14% to $1,230.3 at the time of writing.
• Bitcoin Cash tested its first major support level $1,232.6 in the early hours, falling to an intraday low $1,213, before moving back to $1,230.3.

Bitcoin Cash Price Support

Following Monday’s failed attempts to break through to $1,300 levels, Bitcoin Cash has been the worst performer amongst the major cryptocurrencies this morning, with a $1,285.2 intraday high being hit at the start of the day.

The pullback through the morning has seen Bitcoin Cash test its first major support level of $1,232.6, having fallen to an intraday low $1,213, with a bearish trend developing through the morning.

Bitcoin Cash fell through the 23.6% FIB Retracement of $1,237.17, with a lack of buyers pinning back a move back towards $1,300 levels hit during the weekend.

A failure to pull back through to $1,250 could see a further decline to test the next major support level sitting of $1,175.45, though we will expect some support at $1,200.

Sentiment towards the cryptomarket continues to pin back any major rally, with Bitcoin Cash and the rest of the cryptos unable to hold on to gains as investors continue to fret over what lies ahead for the market.

Regulatory updates continue to hit the news wires and, while much of the chatter is from smaller crypto jurisdictions, the main jurisdictions are unlikely to be far behind, with any major news likely to hit the markets hard over the near-term.

For Bitcoin Cash, another concern for investors will be the imminent launch of Litecoin’s LitePay, with the team has announced a launch date of 26^th February. Investors will have to wait for launch to get a sense of how popular the payment platform will be, but it will more than likely test support for Bitcoin Cash near-term.

The support and resistance levels provide some guidance on where buyers and sellers may be concentrated, but as we have seen through much of the year, moves are likely to be news driven until the market settles.

Looking at the Technical Indicators

• Major Support Level: $1,175.45
• Major Resistance Level: $1,322.1
• Fib 23.6% Retracement Level: $1,237.17
• Fib 38% Retracement Level: $1,145.72
• Fib 62% Retracement Level: $997.89

The post Bitcoin Cash Technical Analysis – Bitcoin Cash Falls through Key Support Level 13/02/2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Self-proclaimed fans of popular Chinese boy band TFBoys have built a controversial initial coin offering (ICO) around their idols.

South Korea is examining a licensing system to regulate the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges in a major turn around from its previous harsh stance.

A turn around from hardline approach

After announcing less than a month ago that some or all cryptocurrency exchanges may be shut down in the aftermath of the Bitcoin market correction South Korea looks as if it may soften their stance.

According to Business Korea, the government is considering adopting a system similar to New York’s Bitlicense model. The New York system only allows exchanges that applied for a Bitlicense from the state department of financial services to trade cryptocurrency. New York requires detailed reporting regulations and a minimum capital requirement which has limited the number of firms and currencies that qualify.

The South Korean government considers that implementing such a system brings a notoriously volatile market into a more familiar institutional framework which can be more easily supervised. These recent statements are a dramatic reversal to an energetic crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges last year.

The first mention of a ban by South Korea, one of the top cryptocurrency markets in the world, in December of 2017 caused Bitcoin to slide 18% in one day. Resulting in the chief of financial services commission to talk openly about shuttering cryptocurrency exchanges nationwide in a speech to parliament.

“(The government) is considering both shutting down all local virtual currency exchanges or just the ones who have been violating the law,”

Choi Jong Ku, chief of financial services commission.

This call for tighter regulation sparked a strong reaction as thousands of South Koreans signed a petition to stop any ban on cryptocurrency trading on the website of the presidential blue house.

Creating a path to stable crypto market

This recent reconsideration from the government comes as a great relief to investors both in the country and around the world as South Korea’s policies would affect the international cryptocurrency market.

It seems that the recent stabilization of Bitcoin’s value after it fell dramatically at the end of last year has convinced the government that a safely regulated market is viable.

Or maybe the government realized that an attempted ban on trading would drive cryptocurrency exchanges underground, taking them out of the tax revenue loop as well as alienating South Korea from the developing Blockchain technology expansion and all of the benefits that are sure to come with it.

The post South Korea Mulls New Crypto Licenses for Exchanges appeared first on NewsBTC.

Since the birth of online casinos in the 1990s, the global online gambling industry has continued to expand and evolve alongside the internet, smart mobile technology and even payment methods. Bitcoin, for instance, is being accepted at an increasing number of online casinos to the joy of players attracted by the cryptocurrency’s negligible fees, instant payments, and virtual anonymity.

That and the fact the world’s premier Bitcoin-friendly online and mobile casinos offer players exactly the same games as their FIAT currency counterparts. In other words, Bitcoin casinos are powered by the exact same world-leading online casino game vendors. Although a few still offer downloadable games, most develop browser-based ‘instant play’ games – for demo play and real money.

Which raises the question of what are the best casino games you can play with Bitcoin?

This article aims to answer this question by showcasing a handful of the most popular, entertaining, lucrative and feature-laden online slots you can play right now with Bitcoin and/or any other major currency. Leading international no deposit online casino guide NoDepositRewards says the following online slots from Endorphina, NetEnt, Play’n GO, BetSoft are amongst the best available.

Satoshi’s Secret Slot (Endorphina)

Satoshi’s Secret slot from Endorphina stands out from the crowd because it has incorporated the mysterious and supposed Bitcoin inventor Satoshi into its theme, and because this 3 row, 6 reel, 20 pay line slot game can only be played in real money mode using Bitcoin. Coupled with a theme and colour scheme that is reminiscent of The Matrix films, Satoshi’s Secret’s graphics are enticing.

This video slot has a total of 12 symbols including a hooded Satoshi, the letters Q, W, E, R, T, Y, the dollar symbol, the pound symbol and the euro symbol. The remaining two symbols are the Bitcoin Bonus symbol and the wild symbol. Four bonus symbols automatically trigger the Trading bonus game, while QWERTY across the reels triggers the Hacking bonus game which has three levels.

The wild substitutes for all other symbols except Satoshi and the bonus. With a bet size ranging from 0.01 credits up to 5 credits, Satoshi’s Secret is suited to all budgets and boasts a 5000 coin maximum payout for 5 Satoshi symbols.

Bitcoins, Bitcoins my world for a 1000 Bitcoins

Starburst Slot (NetEnt)

Starburst slot from Swedish gaming powerhouse NetEnt was launched in 2012 and is still one of the most popular slot choices at Bitcoin online casinos. It is revered just as much for its bright, bold and colourful theme as much as its simplicity. Starburst has 3 rows, 5 reels and 10 pay lines that pay from left to right as well as from right to left, which is rare to find in either land or online slots.

This bitcoin slot has 8 symbols made up of the Bar, the 7, the yellow gem, the green gem, the red gem, the blue gem and the purple gem. The final and most important symbol is the multi-coloured Starburst symbol which only lands on reels 2,3 or 4. As an expanding wild, the Starburst substitutes for all other symbols and can also yield the game’s maximum payout of 50,000 credits.

The slot accepts bets from 0.01 up to 1, with a minimum bet of 10 credits up to 100 credits a spin.

Planet Fortune Slot (Play’n GO)

Planet Fortune slot from Play ‘N Go is a 4 row, 5 reel and 40 pay line bitcoin slot with a 1950’s space film-inspired theme and accompanying music and sound effects. Its engaging theme aside, this game is crammed with fun and high-paying features like its randomly triggered Magnetic Mayhem feature and the Robot Revolution Free Spin feature, which brings 10 free spins and sticky walking wilds.

These are wilds that move one reel to the left with each free spin until there are none left and can pay out up to 2,500 times the bet size. The game has 11 symbols that comprise the A, K, Q, J and 10, a space crystal, a space gem, the game’s hero and heroine (Astro-Adam and Extragalactic-Eve) and finally two robots, which are also the slot’s wild symbols and can activate up to 10 free spins.

The minimum bet of Planet Fortune slot is 0.20 while the maximum is 20. The maximum payout is 2500x the player’s stake.

Released on the 25^th of Jan 2018, It promises to be epic

More Gold Diggin Slot (BetSoft)

More Gold Diggin slot from BetSoft is widely played by bitcoin online casino fans due to its superior 3D-style graphics, animations and high-payouts. The sequel to the equally successful Gold Diggers slot, this 3 row, 5 reel, 25 pay line video slot features two ‘redneck’ gold miners and a mischievous gopher that become animated (literally and figuratively) when winning combinations are made.

Set in a rickety goldmine with falling symbols that contain a mixture of precious metals, minerals and stones such as gold, silver, copper, diamonds, rubies, oil along with sticks of dynamite and barrels of TNT. The dynamite is also the game’s wild while the TNT is its scatter, three of which trigger the free spins. There is also a gamble feature, where players can either double up or lose their winnings.

More Gold Diggin slot accepts a coin size of 0.02 to 0.50, and a minimum and a maximum bet of 25 to 125 credits respectively. Its maximum payout is 12,500 the player’s initial stake.

The post Best Casino Games You Can Play With Bitcoin appeared first on NewsBTC.

Now that the world is truly and utterly captivated by cryptocurrencies, we are experiencing a gold rush the likes of which we haven’t seen since the dotcom era. It’s clear to see that cryptocurrencies aren’t just a flash in the pan, however, their true value is the source of much speculation. How much are they really worth? Does cryptocurrency have intrinsic value or is its real-world value far less?

A Bitcoin primer

Bitcoin has been around since January of 2009, mere months after the theoretical paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, by Satoshi Nakamoto was released. While there was interest in Bitcoin from the very beginning, it wasn’t seen as a serious investment option by many market trend analysts until late 2016. After Bitcoin forked in August of 2017 the value of Bitcoin skyrocketed.

What’s amusing about this story is things like the following: that what I paid in Bitcoin for topping up my phone credit several times over would now be worth 10s of thousands of dollars; that the main transactions in Bitcoin for most of its history were drug exchanges on the dark web; that the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto has been rated one of the top 50 richest figures in the world, despite Satoshi’s Bitcoins never being touched and no trace of them for years.

While a lot of mystery and intrigue surrounds the story of Bitcoin itself, as well as speculation on the market, what’s not a surprise is the volatility of the coin, even from day to day. Half of the value of the coin has been wiped off in just over a month and a half, hitting from up to almost (US)$20,000 a coin to under (US)$10,000. For investors, this is a huge gamble. But a gamble that you may not have considered is the gamble taken by actual gambling houses who themselves accept and cash out Bitcoin.

Online Bitcoin gambling has been quietly gathering steam for years now. Online gambling has come a long way since it first emerged as a relevant form of gambling – and jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon was a natural progression. When we talk about the history of online gambling we see that once upon a time there were no regulations in place when casinos could do what they please, and punters could place bets on anything, anywhere. Slowly, regulations started to creep in to keep a lid on these activities, bringing them into line with the regulations of the country of play. But then Bitcoin joined the party.

When punters were dealing with fiat currencies, the play was much more strict, you were limited to playing and cashing out in your own currency, often with wait times and issues like chargebacks. When Bitcoin came in, there was the ability to play in Bitcoin, cash out in Bitcoin (or cash out in your currency if you were playing in your own country), play anonymously, and more. The rise of Bitcoin in online gambling ushered in a less regulated era, yet again. And governments and overseeing bodies have struggled to keep up with technology ever since. If you’d like a guide to Bitcoin casinos then check out CasinoHash for the latest info.

But since the rise of Bitcoin as a fluctuating investment this has been a source of pain for online gambling houses. If you pay out in Bitcoin, then the implications can be disastrous.

Let’s take, for example, FortuneJack, a casino house with over 300 different games available on it. Punters deposit Bitcoin into their accounts to play – or Litecoin, Doge, Dash, or Reddcoin, just for a bit of a choice of options. They’re then able to play to their hearts content until it’s either a) time to cash out or b) they’ve run out of crypto.

But let’s say that a punter deposited 0.1BTC to play today, which is currently valued at $1000USD. They play a few games today and tomorrow then suddenly the cost of Bitcoin skyrockets. A jackpot game that they were playing today, let’s say the dice game, pays out at 11BTC. Suddenly, 11BTC is worth a whole lot more – and if FortuneJack hasn’t adjusted their jackpot in time for the game then they are caught paying out far more than they anticipated.

The other worry for Bitcoin gambling houses is punters who win big and accumulate funds in their online accounts. While on Monday, the house might have had to cash out (US)$10,000 to someone, if they leave their funds with the house for a week and the price rises, then the casino may be handing out what amounts to double that in fiat currency of the actual win.

So, as you can see, for Bitcoin gambling houses, the stakes are high. However, there are various provisos that they can put into place that can help to ease the pain in the case of unexpected price rises and falls. One of the ways in which they can do so is to convert all deposits into the casino to an equivalent value of fiat currency for play – even if they don’t actually “convert” it in real life, just have it as a placeholder. Another thing they can put into play is adjusting jackpot values in real time as a reflection of the current cost of Bitcoin’s value, so payouts don’t end up bankrupting the house. Thirdly, they can do a “conversion” to fiat currency on wins, so that even if players keep money in the house before cashing out, this won’t rise to ridiculous amounts.

Of course, all of these options may fall on the blurry side of legalities. What is known for a fact is that Bitcoin casinos and online gambling houses are more at risk now than they have been before due to the fluctuations in the price of cryptocurrencies.

However, there’s also a big opportunity to be made. If clever people behind these gambling houses can predict with some degree of accuracy what’s going to happen in the market on a very short-term basis, they can easily trade with punter’s deposit money, with the opportunity to make gains on the deposits on the open market – which can add up to a lot if you have plenty of customers.

While regulated online gambling markets such as Nevada and the UK strive towards making online gambling houses more honest and held more accountable, their struggles to be a mirroring in the rules, as regulators try to understand the technologies associated with online gambling and cryptocurrencies in particular.

Until more people, and especially those in positions of power and regulation, have a firmer grip on the technologies involved in online gambling, we will continue to see Bitcoin gambling online as a bit of a black sheep within the gambling world: little understood by those except the brains behind the operations and by those who know how to best work the system in their favor.

While there is something implicitly exciting and dangerous around gambling in this new world system, it’s not until these ways of doing business have settled down and the dust has cleared that they will truly be legitimate and more widely accepted. And it’s up to Bitcoin gambling houses to put in the hard yards and answer the difficult questions before this really starts to happen. So let’s make it happen – as Bitcoin gambling has a bright future.

The post Bitcoin’s Rise Is a Risk for Online Casino Sites appeared first on NewsBTC.

In response to the minister of finance naming cryptocurrency as illegal tender Indian exchanges have banded together to create a central repository to maintain a real-time database of traders in a bid at self-regulation.

Exchanges propose self-regulation

When Finance Minister Arun Jaintly named cryptocurrency illegal tender in his early February budget speech he set off a rash of panic selling across Indian exchanges. Since then the panic has subsided and exchanges have made moves to self-regulate in order to put off any harsher government intervention.

Cryptocurrency traders are required by exchanges to submit both their PAN and Aadhaar number along with banking details in order to open a trading account. Though the proceeds from all transactions are credited to the same account the data is not shared as each exchange operates exclusively.

Seven cryptocurrency exchanges have come together to form the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee (BACC) of the Internet and Mobile Association of India. This mouthful has tasked itself with collecting and pooling users trading data through PAN cards and making this information available to government agencies.

“This is one of the proposals we are planning to submit to the government committee which is looking into the issue of cryptocurrency,”

said Ajeet Khurana who heads the BACC.

Indian tax authorities have notified an estimated 100,000 investors asking them to reveal profits earned on cryptocurrency trading for 2017.

BACC will promote best practices

Industry experts estimate that in 2017 about 10,000 crore (100 billion rupees) trade in cryptocurrency was done by around five million active Indian traders.

The BACC plans to submit it’s proposal to the government committee headed by economic Affairs secretary SC Garg this week. The government panel will submit it’s recommendations by March and all expect a trading monitor of cryptocurrency to be appointed by March. The BACC is planning a code of conduct that would require all exchanges following Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering policies already enacted and followed by individual exchanges.

“These exchanges don’t deal with cash and will adopt the best practices applicable for the banking industry Though the government has specified that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender, we hope to present to the government committee that people can still trade in them like they do in ‘stock or gold’,”

The post Indian Cryptocurrency Exchanges Make Moves to Self Regulate appeared first on NewsBTC.

The VC arm of cable giant Comcast has formed a team to explore the number of ways it might profit from strategic blockchain investment.

Templum and Liquid M have called on the SEC to allow token issuers to remediate their offerings given previous lack of regulatory guidance.