Day: February 19, 2018

Action star and martial arts master Steven Seagal’s latest role has him playing the part of cryptocurrency spokesman but, can his combination of Hollywood magic and Akito moves save this lost cause?

Can This Ageing Action Star Kickstart Bitcoiins Success

Steven Seagal has weathered over three decades in one of the toughest business there is by sticking to a formula; save the girl, beat the bad guys, uncover the conspiracy, try and be cool while doing it.

His latest role as the spokesman for an ICO called Bitcoiin2Gen though may be his most difficult to sell. The token that invites speculation right off for its obvious play on Bitcoin’s name seems to have a number shortcomings.

From the basic problem that Bitcoiin’s white paper doesn’t actually address a targeted problem the coin will solve to the fact that none of its initial backer’s names are cited on its homepage.

Data from ICAAN reveals that the company was originally started in 2015, is registered in Panama and has changed ownership around Jan. 8. None of this bodes well and then things getting even dodgier with their referral commission – Partner program.

The scheme which is literally diagrammed as a pyramid on their website shows the four levels of ICO investment. This has caused the ICO to be compared to Onecoin and Bitconnect both of which have been accused of running pyramid schemes.

“To promote Bitcoiin B2G, a depositor who chooses to participate in one of our accredited Mining Programs, will earn commissions off their recruits’ earnings. Bitcoiin B2G is offering a 4-level commission structure, available to whoever joins the program and/or purchases Bitcoiin B2G during the ICO period.”

Though Bitcoiin Gen2 looks pretty bad on all fronts celebrity endorsements are growing in the cryptocurrency world as tokens like Bitcoin and Etheruem prove to be profitable assets.

Cryptocurrencies Look To Celebrities

Perhaps most active in lending his celebrity to crypto-projects is Mr. Money; Floyd Mayweather Jr. In July 2017 he was the spokesman for stox.com’s ICO and a month later came out for Hubli Network. Signed in September he was key in Centra raising $30 million for their ICO.

Pop singer Katy Perry boosted the reputation of cryptocurrency when she posted a photo of her fingernails that each had the logo of one of the biggest cryptocurrencies painted on it.

Richard Branson has been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin from the beginning when he announced he accept the currency for payment on his upcoming space fights virgin galactic in late 2013. Since then he’s put his money where his mouth his investing $30 billion in Bitpay in 2014.

Even Iron Mike has put his fame to work partnering with Bitcoin in 2015 to put his face on Bitcoin ATMs and then again in 2016 when Bitcoin direct announced that the former champ would have his own wallet that people could trade from using the app.

The list of celebrities who have backed cryptocurrencies goes on but in this case, Bitcoiin may be one lost cause the zen master Seagal can’t save.

The post Can Steven Seagal’s Celebrity Power Help Fund B-Rated ICO? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Pewdiepie may be late to the Bitconnect bashing party, but he’s made up for it in a searing 15-minute sketch. “Finally I can quit making Youtube videos, this is the answer BITCONEEEEEECT!” the world’s most popular Youtuber cries to his 60 million subscribers. In “How I Made My Millions! (and so can you)”, Pewdiepie also takes aim at the Youtubers who were responsible for promoting the cryptocurrency.

Also read: Bitconnect Shuts Down Its Exchange Citing a String of Excuses

Bitconnect Gets the Pewdiepie Treatment

“It’s a great meme,” begins Pewdiepie, acknowledging Carlos’ Bitconnect scream that has been parodied and remixed countless times. Mocking Bitconnect has been fashionable for some time now, and as Pewdiepie concedes he’s “the last one to the meme”. The sketch opens with a montage of various Youtubers who were pivotal in driving Bitconnect’s pyramid scheme. When the house of cards collapsed, the videos were hastily deleted but not before they had been saved and re-uploaded by users, because the internet never forgets.

“The thing about cryptocurrency is everyone’s just shilling it for their own benefit so who can you really trust?” ponders Pewdiepie before proposing his own Brofist Coin. There’s not much to be gleaned from Pewdiepie’s latest video in terms of how the Bitconnect scam unfolded; the Swedish vlogger is more interested in goofing around and interspersing clips of Carlos with his own attempts at the Bitconnect scream. He does succeed in pointing out the ridiculousness of the scheme, however, and expresses incredulity that people were seduced by it.

Too Little, Too Late

It’s a shame Pewdiepie hadn’t caught on to Bitconnect earlier. If he had, his influence may have helped steer some people away from it. For the millions who watch Pewdiepie’s channel, this introduction to cryptocurrency will not have been a particularly positive one; they’re not to know that most cryptocurrencies are nothing like Bitconnect. The crypto Youtube community could use its own Pewdiepie to make light of the more ridiculous aspects of the space and point out suspected scams. Pewdiepie isn’t the most intellectual of Youtubers, but he’s the perfect buffoon for highlighting the buffoonery of Bitconnect and all who sailed on her.

Who are your favorite crypto Youtubers and what do you make of Pewdiepie’s Bitconnect sketch? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Youtube.

Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services.

The post Pewdiepie Pokes Fun at Youtubers Who Shilled Bitconnect appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Russian development bank Vnesheconombank has partnered with Kaliningrad’s regions government to pilot blockchain-based payment solutions.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price is struggling to move higher and is currently trading below $1.0850 against the US dollar.
• There is a major contracting triangle pattern forming with resistance at $1.0700 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from SimpleFx).
• The pair has to move above $1.0700 and the 100 hourly simple moving average to move further higher.

Ripple price is slowly moving away from the bullish zone against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD must break above $1.0700 and the 100 hourly SMA to avoid further declines.

Ripple Price Upside Hurdle

There was no upside break above $1.12 in Ripple price during the past three sessions against the US Dollar. The price started a slow and steady downside move and traded below $1.10. It also traded below the $1.0750 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average. The last upside move not sustainable above the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the 1.1510 swing high to $1.0050 swing low.

There was no hourly close above the $1.10 level, which ignited a downside wave. At the moment, there is a major contracting triangle pattern forming with resistance at $1.0700 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair is approaching a short-term break either above $1.0700 or below $1.0400. On the upside, above $1.0700, the price could test the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the 1.1510 swing high to $1.0050 swing low at $1.0945. Above the mentioned $1.0945, the price may perhaps move above the $1.10 level.

On the flip side, if the pair fails to move above the 100 hourly SMA, it could decline back towards $1.0200 in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

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

Major Support Level – $1.0400

Major Resistance Level – $1.0700

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – Can XRP/USD Break 100 SMA? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Yesterday was President’s Day in America. Schools were shut, no government offices functioned and even the stock markets rested. While the banking system napped though over $7 billion in Bitcoin was traded.

Bitcoin Rebounds As Banks Take The Day Off

Unlike the stock and commodities markets, cryptocurrency trades 24/7. It recognizes no national holidays, doesn’t mind working on Sundays and stays up all night.

Since January 3, 2009 when Bitcoin went online it has been functionally trading 99.99 percent of the time. In that same time period, there have been 216 bank holidays in America (more in other countries) not including weekends, when trading in traditional markets stagnates.

Historically cryptocurrencies will spike on national holidays. It makes sense that like online commerce which always has an uptick when people are off work Bitcoin markets will see a bump when the majority of day traders are at home.

Yesterday was no different. Bitcoin trading was brisk over the weekend as the price rose back over $11,000, showing an 84% gain. Though it dropped back down to 10,800 on Monday as investors took some profits out more than $7 Billion traded over the day.

This rebound should ease some investors fears about a free falling market and shut down much of the FUD and doom and gloom from naysayers looking for a bubble to pop.

As Bitcoin fell from all-time highs starting in December and other cryptocurrencies followed suit there was much talk from government representatives and mainstream media about it being a false market in need of heavy regulation.

Analysts who specialize in following the movements of the crypto market though called it a correction that fell in line with crypto market history and said there would be a slow recovery through the spring and sharp gains starting around July.

Good News From Europe And Asia

Though some of the movement yesterday may be contributed to leisure time activity like shopping and online gambling the steady price rebound over the last two weeks may mark the return of a crypto bull market that analysts are looking to bring big gains back to the market in 2018.

The UK’s business insider reported that much of the weekend recovery was fueled by heavy trading in Japan as investors rush to get back in the game now that Bitcoin is gaining again.

There was also positive news from Europe as the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) published guidelines last week to regulate ICO’s and one of the main banks in the Netherlands has announced that it will use Blockchain technology to replace escrow accounts. As the fiat banking systems rests the cryptomarket continues to trade, sometimes rising, sometimes falling but always working.

The post Bitcoin Processed $1 Billion While US Banks Stay Closed appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin (BTC) has recovered 88% from the ~US$6000 low posted on February 6th. The market cap now stands at US$186.7 billion, with US$4.3 billion traded on exchange over the past 24 hours.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price is trading above the $1,500 support and is preparing for the next move against the US Dollar.
• There is a short-term contracting triangle forming with resistance at $1,540 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD (data feed from SimpleFX).
• The pair is likely to break the triangle resistance at $1,540 and make the next move.

Bitcoin cash price is stable above the $1,500 support against the US Dollar. BCH/USD may continue to rise in the short term towards $1,600 and $1,650.

Bitcoin Cash Price Support

There was a slow and steady rise above the $1,450 level in bitcoin cash price against the US Dollar. The price moved above the $1,500 level and is currently trading comfortably above the stated level. Moreover, the price is above the $1,510 pivot level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. After the last decline to $1,381, the price recovered and moved above the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,615 swing high to $1,380 low.

However, there is a major resistance near the $1,540-1,550 levels. There is also a short-term contracting triangle forming with resistance at $1,540 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD. The pair may continue to trade in a range above $1,500 before it makes the next move. A successful close above the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,615 swing high to $1,380 low could open the doors for more gains. A break and close above the $1,550 level could clear the path for a push towards $1,600.

On the downside, the $1,500 level remains a major support. A break below it could ignite more losses towards $1,400.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is slowly moving in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD is currently above the 50 level with a flat structure.

Major Support Level – $1,500

Major Resistance Level – $1,550

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis – BCH/USD To Make Next Move appeared first on NewsBTC.

An upcoming Bitcoin Core software release is finally making it easier to use a code change called SegWit in the software’s standard wallet.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price is still rallying and has broken one resistance level after another.
• Zooming out to the daily time frame reveals that price is closing in on a major area of interest.
• Applying the Fibonacci retracement tool on the daily swing high and low shows that this potential ceiling lines up with the 61.8% level as well.

Bitcoin price could pause from its climb once it tests the next area of interest visible on the daily chart.

Technical Indicators Signals 

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA on this long-term time frame, so the path of least resistance is to the upside. This suggests that the rally is more likely to continue than to reverse.

However, the 100 SMA dynamic inflection point lines up with the area of interest to add to its strength as a potential barrier. Then again, the gap between the moving averages is widening to reflect stronger bullish momentum.

Stochastic is indicating overbought conditions on this time frame, though, so selling pressure could return soon. In addition, a bit of bearish divergence can be seen as price made lower highs while stochastic had higher highs.

RSI has some room to climb before hitting overbought levels, which means that buyers can stay in the game for a bit longer, possibly even leading to a move past the area of interest.

Market Factors

Sentiment has significantly improved in the cryptocurrency industry, allowing bitcoin price to sustain its recent rallies. This is seen to have stemmed from the US Senate hearing encouraging developments in the industry, followed by positive remarks from South Korean officials over the previous weekend.

Other nations are expected to take a similar stance on bitcoin, although it’s also worth noting that BOE Governor Carney recently commented that it has failed as a store of value.

Dollar price action could pick up and lead to more volatility for BTCUSD as the Fed gears up to release the minutes of its latest policy meeting. Keep in mind that global tightening expectations have been influencing market sentiment and bitcoin price has drawn support from risk-taking.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 02/20/2018 – Watch Out for this Ceiling! appeared first on NewsBTC.

It’s not all about gambling, you know 🤔 #EXPLAINED

FOMO Moments

Things are looking rather pleasant for crypto markets during this morning’s Asian trading session. Bitcoin has sustained solid growth of over 7% on the day and currently trades at just over $11,450, this has pulled the majority of the altcoins to higher levels. One way out in front of the pack at the moment is Ethereum Classic.

Coinmarketcap has ETC trading at 26.5% higher than this time yesterday. The price hike has sent the altcoin from $34 to $43.5 in 24 hours. It is way ahead of the next best performer in the top 25 which is VeChain. Looking at the weekly chart Ethereum Classic is up almost 50% on the $28 it was trading at this time last Tuesday. The recent spike in price happened a few hours ago when consolidation was broken on the upside and it jumped almost 10% in about an hour.

Ethereum Classic was the original version of Ethereum which was created after the DAO attack in June 2016. The core community and developers split along with the software division with founder Vitalik Buterin going with the new forked version which has now become the standard. There are 99.9 million ETC tokens circulating with a $4.3 billion market capacity putting it at 14^th position in the charts.

Momentum as usual has come from South Korea this morning with Bithumb and Upbit taking the largest trade volume at just under 40% combined. Around $1.3 billion has been traded in the past 24 hours, largely in KRW.

Other altcoins enjoying double figure growth this morning are VeChain and OmiseGO. The few in the red include Cardano, Stellar, Nem and Lisk.

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

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 Ethereum Classic appeared first on NewsBTC.

Gibraltar, February 19, 2018 – Covesting, a universal cryptocurrency trading platform run by former Saxo Bank traders, today announced the launch of its Crypto Intelligence Portal, a comprehensive resource offering a unique insight into cryptocurrency investing.

Professional traders and novice investors will benefit from news, videos, tutorials, articles, trading ideas, and other educational materials posted on Crypto Intelligence Portal. The materials will cover both the fundamental concepts, such as the nature of cryptocurrency and ways to use it, and advanced cryptocurrency trading topics, daily trade ideas and technical analysis from experienced digital asset managers.

The trading ideas section of the portal serves as an excellent way to learn from experienced traders who also plan to become digital asset managers on the upcoming copy-trading platform. While traders have a chance to introduce themselves and showcase their technical analysis abilities, and even enhance their expertise before copy-trading is fully functional on the Covesting platform itself.

“Crypto Intelligence Portal aims to become the largest, community-oriented and continuously growing knowledge resource for investors, as well as a one-stop place to receive the latest information from top crypto-related media outlets, live quotes, charts and latest analysis – everything that everyday investors may need to become successful in cryptocurrency trading. It’s another great addition to Covesting’s all-inclusive infrastructure that we are currently building,” Dmitrij Pruglo, CEO of Covesting, said.

Covesting’s initiative is aimed at helping all interested but yet inexperienced investors familiarise themselves with the market specifics and facilitating the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Importantly, Covesting invites all cryptocurrency traders to join the community-driven resource and share their ideas and thoughts.

Covesting has successfully held its ICO, with the funding goal reached sooner than planned. The team is currently at the full-scale development stage and aims to release Beta of the trading platform as early as end of Q1 2018, which is well in line with the original road map.

The first public version of Crypto Intelligence Portal as well as registration are available at the link ci.covesting.io.

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.