Day: February 16, 2018

It is likely that most altcoins will complete a 3-bar bull reversal pattern known as a morning star right at key support levels in the weekly chart.

LTC, Lumens and EOS/USD will lead the charge and offer wonderful buy opportunities next week.

My advice is for buyers to wait for meaningful entries next week and not to buy at peaks at current prices.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

XLM/USD

In the coming sessions, trading Lumens is pretty much straight forward.

As we can see from the chart, prices are trending higher and with stochastics signals widening, it is likely that prices will continue rally-as it is doing at the moment, meaning every pull back in lower time frames is another clear buying opportunity.

Let’s not forget that we are trading from a top-down approach. If this week’s end up bullish, then there will be a sweet confirmation of a 3-bar reversal bull pattern-the Morning Star in the weekly chart.

Therefore, this means any lows that prints in lower time frames is another opportunity to buy on dips with bull targets at $0.70.

IOT/USD

Today’s candlestick looks like a sold block with no lower and upper wick-a marubozo-and this is no rocket science, it means buyers are strongly in charge.

Remember, upon checking yesterday’s candlestick we note that prices did slow down ending up bearish.

But as per our trading strategy, our recommendation is to buy on every pull back-especially to the middle BB. If we zoom to the 4HR chart, we note that prices bounced off from that line.

In this case, any higher highs is remains important from IOTA bull perspective and today we wait and see how prices react at $2.2, the mid range of this solid resistance zone.

EOS/USD

The reaction before today’s breach of the all important middle BB at around $10 has been nothing short of impressive.

Notice that before today’s bull bar, prices did stall along $9.5-our main resistance line now support with restriction on the upside by the 20 period MA.

Besides this bullish development in the main chart, the stochastics continue to hint of bullish pressure continuation.

With every diverging %k and %d, $9.5 should be a spring board and a loading zone for buyers more so if there is a pull back.

LTC/USD

Now, this week’s LTC will end up bullish not just from a technical point of view but also from supportive fundamentals-LitePay and others.

Technically, we remain bullish and trade according to a bull break out strategy. Despite prices being on a roller coaster and riding along the curves of the upper BB-note the banding, somehow, there must be a retrace back to the middle BB or even lower to $180 in the coming sessions.

That’s what we expect of such strong break outs-it happens all the time. As such, it won’t be a good idea to go long at the moment.

After all, the stagnation in the 4HR hints of bearish pressure and that’s why buyers should stay on the side lines until next week.

NEO/USD

This is exactly what we want to see and now that prices are now above $130, position traders should refine their entries and buy with every stochastic buy signal in the 4HR chart.

At the moment, we shall treat the middle BB and $130 as potential support with ideal loading positions at around $120.

All charts courtesy of Trading View

The post Altcoin Analysis: NEO, EOS, LTC, IOT and Lumens appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency investments, blockchain trends and industry development vectors will be discussed at Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand

On March 6, Bangkok will host a large-scale international conference on blockchain, cryptocurrency and ICO – Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand. The event will be held at the five-star hotel Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit.

Leading experts of the cryptocurrency sector from Thailand, as well as international experts from other countries will speak at the conference. Names and topics of the seven speakers are already known.

Joseph Tsou is the managing director at BlockEx. He has extensive experience in financial services and he is also a fintech expert. The topic of his presentation is “Basic concepts of blockchain technology and a review of the cryptocurrency sector: trading, investments and ICO.”

Vladislav Sapozhnikov is a co-founder and CEO of a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Deex.Exchange. This expert in digital assets will talk about why decentralized ecosystems that use BitShares platform are the future of blockchain technology.

The investor and CEO of the DAV Foundation, Noam Copel, dedicates his presentation to everyone who is interested in effective investments and ICO. His report “How to evaluate a token” covers many aspects – from the classification of tokens themselves to the history of the DAO foundation.

Cal Evans is a lawyer and consultant on cryptocurrency agreements at Gresham International. As one of the few experts on international law regarding cryptocurrency, in his report he will cover legal aspect of blockchain projects.

Keith Lim will talk about trends in the blockchain industry and current state of the cryptocurrency market. The expert manages the insurance service Hearti, which is based on blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Head of the SyncFab MFG Token Sale project Jeremy Goodwin is a high-tech enthusiast. He is interested in such innovations as additive and advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cryptography and decentralization. The topic of his speech will be known later, as well as the topic of the report of another speaker – Dr. Jason Corbett – managing partner at the Silk Legal law firm.

Subscribe to the project news not to miss the announcements of new speakers and participants of the exhibition area! Registration to the conference is already open.

The post 7 speakers of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Thailand appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

The Asian holiday weekend is upon us and markets are looking good. Most digital assets are in the green and Bitcoin is holding steady at over $10k again. Altcoins are once again being pulled up by their big brother and, as expected, one is standing out from the crowd.

According to Coinmarketcap NEO is the only altcoin trading in double digit gains during this morning’s Asian session. Up to $140 from $121 this time yesterday, Neo is having a solid run and is 13% higher. All other cryptocurrencies are marginally up on yesterday’s levels. Neo has been one of the few altcoins that has shown a lot of resilience during the big dip on February 6. It dropped to a low of $67 and has since made gains of over 100% over the past ten days. Neo’s all-time high came in mid-January when it reached $195.

Often referred to as the Chinese Ethereum, Neo has made steady progress over the past three months. It does not have the wild fluctuations that other altcoins experience and is one of the more stable cryptocurrencies. Neo is a platform, similar to Ethereum, which enables developers to build decentralized applications on. It is being used for a number of ICOs and new projects in the region.

The community is very active and developer conferences are held often across the world. The launch of a new decentralized NEO and GAS powered exchange called Neon is likely to boost prices further however the project is still in pre-ICO stage. As with most cryptos, Neo is traded predominantly in South Korea which has over 30% of the global volume. Market capacity currently sits at $8.9 billion and Neo is ranked at number 7. Over $264 million has been traded in the past 24 hours.

Other altcoins enjoying solid gains during the Asian session are Monero, Litecoin, OmiseGO and Verge.

More on Neo can be found here: https://neo.org/

FOMO Moments is a 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: Top Cryptocurrency is Neo appeared first on NewsBTC.

February 16th, 2018 – Wild Crypto (SYMBOL: WILD), the revolutionary international lottery and eGaming platform built upon blockchain technology, has gone live following last year’s successful token sale.

The platform is the first of the major new cryptocurrency gaming projects to launch, and does so just four months after it raised 10,592 in Ether during a ground-breaking token sale.

Wild Crypto offers a range of lottery, slots and bingo games, where players can stake WILD tokens for the chance of winning prizes. These include a first lottery draw offering a one million WILD token jackpot.

William Trentini, CEO, Wild Crypto, said: “While other fundraised blockchain gaming platforms are taking years to deliver, Wild Crypto has delivered an innovative, game-changing product in just four months.

“Our early investors have already enjoyed a wild ride, but now we are live we look forward to delivering an ever-improving gaming experience to our customers.”

In recent weeks, the price of WILD tokens has soared in anticipation of the launch, but are still trading on exchanges such as Cryptopia at quite undervalued prices.

However, WILD tokens will be sold on the Wild Crypto platform at 100 per 1 Ether, giving each token a value of around $8 in today’s market.

The Wild Crypto platform, which is regulated via a Curaçao license, is delivered by regulated lottery specialist Twelve40, which supplies the certified back-end game technology for the new platform.

For more information, please visit: https://wildcrypto.com/ and join the Telegram group here.

For more information, please contact:

Square in the Air Communications

David Bartram

+44 (0) 20 3586 1978

[email protected]

About Wild Crypto

Wild Crypto (SYMBOL: WILD) is the developer of a disruptive, international lottery and eGaming platform built upon blockchain technology.

It launched in early 2018 following a successful token-sale.

For more information, please visit: https://wildcrypto.com/ and http://wildtoken.com/.

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.

Thought, a blockchain start-up based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, knows the importance of a great team. They have put together a skillful development team, and an accomplished board of advisors. And they are certainly not trying to hide themselves.

Thought is fundamentally changing the way data is being processed by embedding every piece of data with artificial intelligence. This means that otherwise ‘dumb data’ that needs an application to become useful, becomes valuable and ‘smart’, and is able to act on its own – understanding where it came from, where it’s supposed to go, and what it has to do. This reduces the need for third-party applications, making data processing a lot cheaper and faster.

“The amount of data being created by humans is increasing exponentially with things like social media, and innovations like IoT (Internet of Things) devices.” says the Founder and CEO of Thought, Professor Andrew Hacker. “Traditionally, data just sits around until it is sent to applications that are able to process that information, but Thought makes data agile and able to act on its own without any external help.”

Integrating blockchain technology with this concept creates an extra layer of security on the smallest level. Every piece of data is secured with cryptography, allowing the owners of the data to dictate exactly who has access to it.

Imagine a hospital room where all of the equipment communicates with each other. For example, the thermostat can communicate with the patient’s health record and his/her current health readings from the equipment and find the most optimal room temperature and humidity for this patient. And that’s only the thermostat! You don’t need any third-party applications to make it happen; the information is able to communicate with other pieces of data to make this happen.

Thought’s development is led by Professor Andrew Hacker, who, in addition to being the Founder and CEO of Thought, is a Cybersecurity Expert in Residence at Harrisburg University. He has conceived and developed the concept of hybrid and smart data for the last six years. With extensive cybersecurity experience, Andrew has appeared in many publications talking about the ever-increasing importance of security in the age of the Internet.

“Harrisburg University provides world-class science, technology and analytics education.  But we increasingly also support business start-ups and entrepreneurship. Several years ago, we had the opportunity to have Mr. Andrew Hacker, a known expert in cyber security, join HU.” Says Dr. Eric Darr, President of the Harrisburg University. “Andrew’s technical expertise added greatly to our educational offerings, while his start-up company provided terrific experiential opportunities for our students. We came to believe that Mr. Hacker’s technology had significant promise. Therefore, HU has been pleased to financially support the involvement of many computer science students in the further development of the latest Thought technology. “

“The upcoming release of this new technology, Thought Blockchain, and its applications for businesses and consumers in artificial intelligence and analytics represents the bleeding edge of innovation. Harrisburg University looks forward to continuing its work with Mr. Hacker and Thought Technologies as they continue developing new and valuable technology.” Explains Dr. Darr.

The whitelist is open from today, with Pre-ICO starting on March 1, 2018 and the main ICO starting on March 14, 2018. To participate in the Thought ICO, or join their whitelist, please visit: https://thought.live and you are also invited to join their Telegram group on https://t.me/thoughtcommunity

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.

London, 16 February 2018: Mattereum and InsurePal have announced the Identity Insurance Consortium (IIC) to drive insurance-based identity solutions to underpin the security of commerce on the blockchain. The IIC represents the infrastructure network of services covering critical aspects needed to accelerate the adoption of blockchain commerce. New members are invited to join the consortium in order to grow the ecosystem of identity sovereign assurers building a global network of trusted partners.

Mattereum, the company founded by the launch release coordinator of the blockchain platform Ethereum, Vinay Gupta, with co-founder Rob Knight, and InsurePal, the first decentralized social proof insurance service, have today announced the establishment of the Identity Insurance Consortium (IIC).

Mr Gupta announced the launch of the consortium at the Blockchaingers Global Digital Identity Deep Dive in the Hague. Recognising the need for identity assurance for blockchain trades, Mattereum CEO Vinay Gupta said: “Mattereum is bringing legally enforceable blockchain based smart contracts into wider use in an environment in which identity fraud is still a concern. Insurance-based identity protection is an important tool in neutralising this threat so that trades on the blockchain can become more widely adopted.”

Both IIC founding members share a vision of a future blockchain economy, consisting of three pillars: blockchain insurance, a dispute resolution body and identity sovereign* assurers. Working collectively they form the decentralised infrastructure needed to accelerate trust between members of the blockchain community when transacting products and services.

As InsurePal CEO Matt Peterman explained: “A seller or purchaser’s proof of identity can be lodged with an insurer who can then issue a policy against which any transaction can be linked.  This is safer and more convenient than providing sensitive identity documents each time an individual or company conducts business on the blockchain.”

Christopher Wray, Mattereum Chief Legal Officer, added: “The existence of identity insurance means that disputes that could arise will be substantive ones related to legal obligations of a contract rather than the more basic issue of identity fraud. This leaves Mattereum free to focus our energies and resources on producing legal texts and developing their digital equivalents for our clients and their customers, who can be more confident of a speedy and efficient legal process even if a dispute arises.”

The IIC will develop identity insurance solutions and bring identity insurance products to market through an ecosystem of providers who will act collectively as the guarantors of identity for all blockchain transactions and trades by those insured through the consortium and its members. Organisations in the insurance sector and those already involved in blockchain trades are invited to become members of the Identity Insurance Consortium and contribute to its development.  For more information: https://identityinsurance.org/#become-member.

Vinay Gupta, Matt Peterson and Christopher Wray are available for interview.

Note to Editors:

Self-Sovereign Identity and Identity Insurance: An internet-like identity system would allow any person, organisation, or thing to have an identity relationship with any other without the need for authorisation from someone else. In order for this to happen they need to trust each other. A system of registering and assuring identities is therefore an important cornerstone of blockchain commerce.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

About Mattereum

Based in London, with a team comprising programmers and lawyers, Mattereum (MTRM Industries) was established in 2017 to bring the power of blockchain software to legal contract execution and to provide reliable legal interpretation and enforcement to digital trade. The foundation for the global Internet of Agreements, Mattereum constitutes the next generation of digital commerce that will underpinunderlie many companies’ operations. It is founded by a team with proven experience of designing and launching nation state-level infrastructure and its core ambition is to enable business on the blockchain, creating a system of decentralized commercial law by automating legal contract execution, with enforceability.

https://mattereum.com/

—

About InsurePal

The world’s first decentralized social proof insurance service, InsurePal aims to accelerate trust between members of the crypto community when transacting products and services, building a much more affordable insurance sector based on social proofing through rewarding behavioural patterns that benefit not only individuals but also groups and society as a whole.

https://insurepal.io/

Contact: [email protected]

For all media inquiries about the Identity Insurance Consortium, please contact:

[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.

Cryptocurrency mining is more competitive than ever. With enormous rig constructions consuming more energy than many of the nations of the world dominating the once cottage industry, cutting every possible cost is vital. For this reason, miners like cool climates where electricity is cheap. Endless rows of components brute forcing numerical combinations to release cryptocurrency is warm work and extraction units cost money to buy and run. For these reasons, miners have previously favoured the likes of China and Iceland. However, facing increased regulatory pressure in some territories whilst having no clue what they can and can’t do in others, it makes sense for them to spread their operations as far and wide and possible. Enter Canada.

Canada, like many so-called First World nations, used to have a lot of heavy industry. However, in the globalised world we now live in, much of this has relocated to parts of the planet more favourable to businesses (or with populations more easily exploitable). Towns like Powerview-Pine Falls in rural Canada used to be home to paper mills and built entire economies around now-defunct industries. When businesses like Tembec Inc. left in 2009, they took with them their capital but left behind an infrastructure tailored to heavy industry.

Almost a decade later, digital currencies could be about to breathe life back into such communities. Several of the planet’s undisclosed cryptocurrency miners have reached out to the town in the past month with plans to take advantage of both the town’s cheap hydro electrical resources, as well as the cool climate. Mayor of Powerview-Pine Falls, Bev Dubé, spoke with optimism about the developments in her town to the Financial Post:

“That’s why this is so exciting, it’s something truly new… I’ve been here 40 years, through all the loss of industry and I can’t help but think, you know, is this another world-changing technology coming in? And if we could have any part of it … well, it’s exciting to think they’re coming to us.”

However, being so innovative, the town also have their reservations about the nature of the industry that could be heading their way.

Head of China research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), Sophie Lu, explained to the Financial Post the experience of small Chinese towns that had previously housed textiles mills and since welcomed crypto miners. Despite the cheap, abundant electricity they provide, the relationship was fairly one-sided. The mine employed only around 50 people and any profits generated were immediately taken out of the area. She continued:

“About six months ago they began to realise their local economy wasn’t getting anything from this.”

It’s for this reason that Canadian hydroelectricity companies are claiming that they expect the miners themselves to foot the bill for any infrastructure upgrades or changes that need making. They’re also not entirely sold on the idea yet so are keeping their options open.

This is largely because another industry is vying for cheap and plentiful power sources in the area. Data centres, which can employ many thousands of local people, are an alternative to welcoming cryptocurrency miners. It’s widely expected that this will be more beneficial to the population than the more self-interested crypto miners. Jonathan Côté, a spokesperson for Hydro Quebec, put it simply:

“This is something we have thought about and it’s one of the reasons we were so focused on data centres, not bitcoin mines from the get go… If we had to choose between an Amazon data centre and bitcoin we would definitely choose Amazon.”

However, the mayor of Powerview-Pine Falls is still confident that the town could benefit from the crypto mining industry despite the lack of jobs it might provide:

“We’re excited, but we want to be careful and get the best deal possible. Maybe this doesn’t come into the community and create jobs, but there could be a land purchase or lease or maybe some publicity. If they show interest in our community, others could too.”

Image: PixaBay

The post Could the Small Industrial Towns of Canada Provide the Ideal Home for Crypto Miners? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cointelegraph ranks crypto and Blockchain industry heavy weights in its own rating. #NEWS

A patent grants its holder exclusive rights to an invention, such as a piece of technology, for a certain period of time. While designed as a means of protecting the intellectual property of inventors, the system is not without its critics who believe that patenting deters innovation and wastes resources.

Consider crypto founding fathers like Satoshi Nakamoto, individuals and groups who place ideas ahead of profit and are more aligned with open source principles than filing patents and closely guarding their secrets — the only secret Satoshi guarded was his/its identity. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that in the last decade the company that has amassed more cryptocurrency patents than any other  — and who, to some, seems to be the antithesis of everything decentralized currency stands for — is Bank of America.

According to Bitcoin Patent Report, in the nine years since Bitcoin’s first block was mined, over 2,000 related patents have been filed. In the cryptocurrency’s first few years the number of patents was low — averaging under 50 a year. By 2015 that number began to increase, and by 2016 was growing exponentially. In 2017, 1,250 cryptocurrency-related patents were filed.

Some of the companies who feature in the top ten are to be expected, such as Bitflyer and IBM, whose interest in blockchain is well documented. The computing giant has filed a total of 34 cryptocurrency related patents, but is outpaced by South Korean brokerage Coinplug, which is third on the list with 39.

Others on the list are more unexpected, either because they have publicly expressed little interest in cryptocurrency, or are not commonly associated with such cutting-edge technology. It makes sense that MasterCard would have an interest in digital payment systems, for example, but it is surprising to see them ranked ninth for cryptocurrency related patents, with 21 filings. The greatest surprise of all is reserved for the top spot, which as noted above is claimed by Bank of America, having at least 45 patents filed.

Bitcoin Patent Report also revealed that 50% of all crypto-related patents come from China (910), followed by the U.S. (676), the U.K. (112), and South Korea (98). Regardless of the merits of each patent, and the moral case for their very existence, they indicate an unprecedented level of interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technologies.

The post Patent Stockpiling: Bank of America Holds 45 Crypto-Related Patents appeared first on NewsBTC.

It seems to be good times for the crypto market again! 😃 #PRICE_ANALYSIS

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken action against a Brooklyn resident who was using a Bitcoin miner because the machine was interfering with T-Mobile’s 700 MHz LTE network in the city. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel commented on the incident in a Tweet:

Okay, this @FCC letter has it all: #bitcoin mining, computing power needed for #blockchain computation and #wireless #broadband interference. It all seems so very 2018. https://t.co/EaXxmBAMXH

— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) February 15, 2018

New York City resident Victor Rosario was issued a Notification of Harmful Interference and was ordered to turn off his Antminer S5 Bitcoin Miner after the FCC discovered that it was interfering with T-Mobile’s wireless network. “On November 30, 2017, in response to the complaint agents from the Enforcement Bureau’s New York Office confirmed by direction finding techniques that radio emissions in the 700 MHz band were emanating from your residence in Brooklyn, New York,” the FCC wrote in a complaint posted to its site.

“When the interfering device was turned off the interference ceased. You identified the device as an Antminer S5 Bitcoin Miner. The device was generating spurious emissions on frequencies assigned to T-Mobile’s broadband network and causing harmful interference.”

The FCC warned Rosario that continued use of the device — and therefore further interference with T-Mobile’s network — would be a violation of federal laws, and “could subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, in rem arrest action to seize the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment.”

Agency rules require operators of radio frequency devices to cease operating a device after receiving this type of notification. “Operation shall not resume until the condition causing the harmful interference has been corrected,” the FCC said.

What isn’t clear is why the Antminer S5 Bitcoin Miner was generating 700MHz radio emissions — a hardware design flaw or after-market modifications made by the user could potentially be the cause. The Notification of Harmful Interference is specific to Rosario’s device, “not its brand or model and is not meant to suggest or find that all Antminer S5 devices are noncompliant,” the notification said in a footnote.

The FCC is still researching the issue, with the agency asking Rosario to answer several questions about the device and where he purchased it, asking Rosario specifically to “provide the following information on the device: Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, and if there is any FCC labelling identification.”

Wireless carriers like T-Mobile have always attempted to protect their networks from interference. In 2016 AT&T said that its wireless network was suffering from interference generated by a range of electronics operations, including large-scale video displays, industrial lighting systems, LED lights, and FM radio stations. These interference situations could happen more frequently and become more complex as more devices are connected to wireless networks, and wireless networks span more and more frequency bands. T-Mobile is also facing a federal lawsuit for allowing hackers to steal users’ cryptocurrencies.

The post FCC: Bitcoin Miner Interfered with T-Mobile’s LTE Network in Brooklyn appeared first on NewsBTC.