Day: February 20, 2018

As president, Nicolas Maduro rolls out the El Petro ICO, Venezuela is named the cheapest country in the world to mine Bitcoin. But is it also the most expensive place to live?

The manual for the first 82.4 million units of the Venezuelan cryptocurrency, El Petro was made available for download in multiple languages yesterday to much international criticism. The digital currency, which is linked to the countries oil reserves, has been derided as a workaround of the economic sanctions created to allow those in power to increase their wealth in the crypto market.

President Maduro announced that the valuation of the Petro’s 100 million tokens would be just over $6 billion and that the sale would bring a new economic era to the nation.

Cheapest Mining In The World

Meanwhile, the country has been named the cheapest location in the world to mine cryptocurrency. According to the company Elite Fixtures which carried out a study on the cost of mining around the world Venezuela is more than 100% cheaper then it’s near neighbor Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the company they took statistics supplied by countries and agencies around the world on electricity costs and compared the use on three of the most popular mining rig configurations. The cost in Venezuela was $531 followed by Trinidad at $1,190 with South Korea coming in at $26,170 per coin, the most expensive in the world.

China, Russia, and The United States present similar costs. China being slightly cheaper at $3,965 while both Russia and the US are around $4,700.

But Also The Highest Cost Of Living

While making money mining Bitcoin in the Latin American country may be very profitable due to its subsidized electricity doing almost anything else is very expensive. Inflation over recent years in Venezuela has been as high as 800% by some estimates making the Bolivar essentially worthless as the government prints more and more of the currency.

The oil-rich country carries a 14% budget deficit of its GDP and a 60 trillion debt after decades of mismanagement by corrupt or just truly wrong-minded leadership. Though the official exchange rate is about 6.3 Bolivar per US Dollar the black market rate is multitudes higher, perhaps as high as 100 times that.

Factor in the scarcity of everything from food to medicine, as well as a crime rate that has soared over the last three years and it’s clear that the cost of living in the country would offset the advantage of cheap electricity. Given the dire state of the economy as well as the government’s oblique regulatory stance on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency trading the launch of El Petro seems an odd solution to the countries economic woes.

The post Venezuela Named Cheapest Country to Mine Crypto as El Petro is Launched appeared first on NewsBTC.

True to its word, the SEC has begun punishing listed companies that have previously had zero ties to the blockchain or digital currencies and have announced, with little to no supporting evidence, that they were moving into the cryptocurrency or blockchain space in some form or another. 

Top officials say Gibraltar will let the market determine what ‘good’ ICOs look like, and hinted that crypto investment fund regulation is to come.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price struggled to gain momentum above $1.15 and declined sharply against the US dollar.
• There is a crucial bearish trend line forming with current resistance at $1.02 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from SimpleFx).
• The pair is currently trading well below the $1.00 support and it remains at a risk of more declines.

Ripple price is under a lot of bearish pressure against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD could decline further towards $0.9000 as long as it is below $1.00.

Ripple Price Decline

There was no increase in buying sentiment for Ripple price above the $1.10 level against the US Dollar. The price failed to gain momentum and declined below the $1.05 and $1.00 support levels. It even broke the $0.98 support and is currently well below the 100 hourly simple moving average. The recent was formed near $0.9268 from where an upside correction was initiated.

XRP moved above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1.0811 high to $0.9268 low. However, the upside move was contained by the $0.9850 level. Moreover, the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1.0811 high to $0.9268 low also acted as a resistance. To the topside, there is a crucial bearish trend line forming with current resistance at $1.02 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. Another important resistance is at $1.00 and the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1.0811 high to $0.9268 low.

Therefore, there are many resistances on the upside near the $1.00 and $1.02 levels. On the downside, the price may find support near $0.9500, but overall it remains at a risk of more declines.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is moving further lower in the oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $0.9500

Major Resistance Level – $1.0000

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Declines Below $1.00 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Global trading and investment platform eToro has announced that NEO and Stellar (XLM) are the latest cryptocurrencies to be added to the site. As of Monday, 19th February, 2018, eToro’s nine million users will be able to trade an impressive total of nine cryptos.

The decision to introduce these two exciting altcoins is a response to the growing demand for diversification in this increasingly popular asset class, according to Yoni Assia, eToro’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.

“If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins,” he said, pointing out that the global market capitalisation for all cryptos exceeded £500 billion last year. “As investors seek new opportunities and diversification within their portfolios, attention will shift away from the mainstream cryptos towards new challengers in the market.

“We’re constantly identifying and assessing new concepts as they emerge and are committed to bringing the best crypto assets onto our platform for our users to invest in. We’re excited to have NEO and Stellar now available and we look forward to seeing how the market develops in 2018 following a very successful 2017 for the crypto community.”

Introducing NEO And Stellar

China-based project NEO, founded by Da Hongfei (and originally launched in 2014 as AntShares), is a blockchain platform and also a crypto that enables the development of both digital assets and smart contracts. Users are able to issue and trade assets on the platform, and NEO uses tokens to prove ownership of asset – and not the asset itself. This therefore takes into account all of the legal complications and obligations that may come with the transfer of shares, equity and assets.

And Stellar, founded by Jed McCaleb and Joyce Kim in 2014, is an open-source protocol for value exchange, which is supported by the nonprofit Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). As a public infrastructure for money it allows increased interoperability between diverse financial systems and currencies. Further, it is a technology that enables money to flow directly from people, companies and financial institutions as simply as electronic mail. As such, this makes for better access for individuals, while lowering costs for banks, and boosting revenue for businesses.

“The development of blockchain technology is bringing new innovations to the market almost daily,” said Mr McCaleb, Co-Founder of SDF. “Platforms such as eToro are an essential component in bringing together innovative projects and early-adopters. We are delighted to be working with a leading crypto platform to make Stellar available more widely.”

Why Trade On eToro

NEO and Stellar join Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, and Dash. With four years of offering cryptos – it first listed Bitcoin in 2014 – eToro has built a reputation for being a straightforward and experienced platform. And with over a decade as a global trading and investment platform, it is considered – particularly when it comes to cryptos – a market leader, having attracted millions of clients spanning 140 countries.

Since July last year eToro’s clients, who benefit from fast verification procedures and robust security processes, have been able to own the actual crypto asset, rather than a CFD – another response to customer demand.

From the moment it was launched in 2007 the vision for eToro has been powered by putting the client at the heart of the platform, listening to feedback, with the ambition of making it as straightforward to trade as possible. The inclusion of NEO and Stellar is another example of how eToro has responded to customer demand in a positive fashion.

For more information go to www.etoro.com

The post Cryptocurrencies NEO And Stellar Added To eToro Platform – Newsbtc appeared first on NewsBTC.

The cryptocurrency bull run of 2017 attracted multitudes of investors looking to get rich quick but it also created a mining boom that has resulted in a worldwide shortage of computer components.

Miners Plunder Singapore, Hong Kong For Cheap Rigs

Scores of miners from around the world come to the electronics bazaars in Asia to buy cryptocurrency rigs. Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po and Singapore’s Sim Lim Square to name just a couple are jammed with people of all ages ordering specialized rigs.

This new demand for mining rigs has revitalized these electronic markets that were dying only a few years ago when shoppers turned online for computers, cameras, and gadgets of all kinds.

“It’s 30-50 percent cheaper to buy equipment related to crypto-mining in Hong Kong than in Europe,” Russian bitcoin miner Dima Popov said. This is because Hong Kong has no sales tax and is in close proximity to Chinese components manufacturers.

Miners are demanding more powerful rigs that can include up to 500 graphics cards each which has created a worldwide shortage of the cards allowing manufacturers and retailers to gauge buyers on the price.

Scarce GPU Cards Selling At Double Price

The market for high-end graphics cards used to work like anything else. You went to the electronics shop, found the card you wanted and paid just about the Manufacturer’s retail price. Today due to the escalating demand from mining you’ll most likely find the shelves that once held them bare but if you do actually what your looking for expect to pay a premium.

These high-end graphics cards are the most efficient way to mine cryptocurrency and as hobbyist miners and big players alike scramble to snatch up as many as they can prices go through the roof. Last summer popular GPU’s like the AMD Radeon RX 580 sold for about $250 at retail, today the price is more likely to be over $500 and that is if you can find them.

Checking the price of the 5 most popular graphics cards from last year and comparing it with the updated version shows a general price increase of between 70 and 100%. This leaves many wannabe miners trolling online for the best deals on new or even second-hand cards. Buying older cards though means slower computing ability which reduces the profitability of a rig.

Rigs using, for example, a high-end Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 ti card costing around $1,300 (MSRP) can earn as much as $10 dollars a day at current crypto values. This means that the card may pay for itself in about 4 months.

String the math out and it’s easy to see how a fair sized rig can make a very nice profit over a year or more. Retailers reported a dip in demand for the cards during the crypto market correction but now that Bitcoin and it’s like are on the rise sellers and manufacturers are looking for demand to reach and surpass 2017.

The post Crypto Mining Craze Creates Global GPU Shortage appeared first on NewsBTC.

Ethereum (ETH) has essentially held steady in February. The market cap now stands at US$89.55 billion, with US$1.58 billion traded on exchange over the past 24 hours. While daily traded volume is down sharply from late December and early January, the Ethereum platform continues to be adopted by an array of startups and is now being used at-large, reducing traditional banking friction, increasing payment speed, and removing intermediaries.

Key Highlights

• ETH price failed to gain pace above $940 and declined sharply against the US Dollar.
• There was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at $925 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair is now trading below the $900 level and it seems like the price may struggle to correct higher.

Ethereum price declined sharply against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD may correct a few points from the current levels, but upsides remain capped.

Ethereum Price Resistance

There was no upside break in ETH price above the $940 resistance level against the US Dollar. It resulted in a downside reaction and the price declined sharply below $900. It even moved below the $880 support and settled below the 100 hourly simple moving average. There are many bearish signs visible on the charts below the $900 level. The recent low formed was $848 from where the price started an upside correction.

During the downside move, there was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at $925 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair traded above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $948 high to $848 low. However, the upside move seems to be limited as the price is facing sellers near $895. On the upside, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $948 high to $848 low is likely to act as a resistance. Moreover, there is also a bearish trend line on the same chart with resistance at $900.

Therefore, it seems like the price may struggle to correct further above $890-900. On the downside, the $840-850 area is a major support in the short term.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is placed strongly in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is attempting a small recovery from the oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $850

Major Resistance Level – $900

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Technical Analysis – ETH/USD Nosedives Below $900 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price sold off from its rising wedge support previously highlighted, signaling that a downtrend may be in order.
• However, price is still testing support at the rising trend line connecting the lows since the start of the month.
• Technical indicators are also suggesting that bullish momentum could return.

Bitcoin price is pulling back from its uptrend and is testing support at an area of interest where buy orders might be located.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is still above the longer-term 200 SMA to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This means that the uptrend is more likely to resume than to reverse. Also, the 100 SMA lines up with the trend line to add to its strength as a floor.

A break below the trend line could still find a floor at the 200 SMA dynamic inflection point, which is still within the area of interest or former resistance zone around $10,000.

Stochastic is on its way down to show that sellers are on top of the game but the oscillator is dipping into oversold territory. Similarly RSI is in the oversold region to signal that sellers are starting to get exhausted. Turning back up could draw bullish pressure back in and allow bitcoin price to bounce.

Market Factors

The US dollar extended its gains to its counterparts even as US traders returned from the holiday. Risk aversion was in play as equities and commodities closed in the red, which was also bearish for bitcoin price.

Higher US bond yields are being pinpointed as the main factor spurring dollar gains across the board. Today the FOMC minutes are up for release and hawkish remarks could spur tightening expectations, which might even be more bullish for the dollar.

Meanwhile, there are a few more naysayers on bitcoin lately, including BOE head Carney who noted that bitcoin has failed as a store of value. On the other hand, there are a few positive reports, such as the one from India where SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd decided not to ban purchasing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with credit cards.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 02/21/2018 – Waiting for More Buyers appeared first on NewsBTC.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro claimed Tuesday that a presale for the country’s national cryptocurrency netted $735 million on its first day.

FOMO Moments

After a few days in the green crypto markets are correcting today and red is dominating the coin charts. A small selloff has started as traders take profits during the Asian session. Bitcoin has retracted by around 2% to $11,300 and most of the altcoins have followed it down. Only one or two are still showing positive gains over the past 24 hours and OmiseGO is leading the pack in the top 25.

According to Coinmarketcap OMG is the only altcoin that is up over the past day, albeit only by 2% at the time of writing. From a low of $17.70 yesterday it jumped up to $20.20 before retreating back to $18.75 this morning. OmiseGO has rebounded strongly from the big dip of February 6 and has recovered over 100% of its losses, falling to $8 and rebounding quickly to over $16. It has weathered the stormy ride that a lot of other altcoins are still falling from.

Omise is a Singaporean company that has created an Ethereum based fintech blockchain for use in mainstream digital wallets for real-time peer-to-peer transactions in both fiat and cryptocurrencies. The latest blog posts mentioned that OmiseGO would be joining other Ethereum projects to create an Ethereum Community Fund (ECF) dedicated to the acceleration of infrastructure and decentralized application development. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has openly supported OMG and the team are very active in Thailand and Southeast Asia where a number of partnerships have already been made.

OmiseGO is traded mostly on Bitfinex and Upbit where it can be bought in fiat. There are 140 million in total supply and 102 million in circulation, $125 million has been traded in the past 24 hours. OMG has a market cap of $1.9 billion and is currently ranked at number 21 in the charts.

The only other two altcoins in the green in the top 50 are Dogecoin and DigixDAO.

More on OmiseGO can be found here: https://omisego.network/

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 OmiseGO appeared first on NewsBTC.

Tesla has become the latest victim of crypto mining hacking attack, according to a report from cybersecurity software firm RedLock.

Anyone who loves Bitcoin knows just how valuable the cryptocurrency really is. It is something that has a value that changes all the time, but for the most part it has remained rather high in value. This is why it is so nice that there is a Bitcoin casino now available for those who would prefer to play their favorite gambling games with cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin & Dogecoin) rather than with regular cash.

Bitcoincasino.us is an excellent cryptocurrency only casino. They accept Bitcoin along with a handful of other cryptocurrencies that are currently popular with the general public. They also pay out in those cryptocurrencies as well which is important because this helps the flow of money continue to move back and forth with ease.

A nice reward for players at the moment is the ability to get a one-hundred percent bonus on their first Bitcoin deposit up to one full Bitcoin. That is a potentially huge first deposit bonus given the value of Bitcoin as of late.

That bonus will come in handy when you start to take a look around at the massive variety of games that are offered on this particular site. You can find a ton of slot machine games, roulette, blackjack, and other favorites from the casino. You can give your bankroll a boost by using the deposit bonus so that you are ready to play all of those different games.

For those who enjoy these kind of things, there are tons of Bitcoin tournaments on the casino as well. These are slot machine tournaments in which players are competing to amass as many points as they possibly can in order to win a prize paid out in Bitcoin. That is a great way to get people more into the action, but it also can result in them winning some extra Bitcoin to continue to play the kind of games that they like to play.

A first deposit bonus is not something that is unique to this casino by any stretch of the imagination. However, a deposit bonus that is as large as this one has come out to be is something that you don’t see everywhere. Also, you do not see many casinos that are willing to match a player’s Bitcoin play. That is something pretty unique to this particular casino.

Not every player is able to come up with a full Bitcoin to deposit given today’s prices. That is not a problem. You can still enjoy a matching bonus of one-hundred percent of whatever amount you are able to come up with. The point is just to juice your bankroll to some extend when you go to play the games.

If you felt the urge to, you could get your Bitcoin bonus and then use those funds to enter some slot machine tournaments to try to win even more Bitcoin. That would be one way for you to perhaps get some more funds into your account. However, the choice on how to use that bonus money is completely up to you.

Consider this casino for its ease of transaction, its high deposit bonuses, and its great customer service. It really is the complete package when it comes to playing at a casino online in the United States. You will not beat it when it comes to having all of these great attributes in one place.

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.

For thousands of years, humans have recognized patterns, gathered and analyzed data. Identifying patterns and using this information has been key to our evolution, as well as playing an important role in our pastime activities.

Whether it is making a difference between animals that want to kill us and those who don’t, categorizing plants based on their edibility, seeing patterns in the stars, or creating algorithms that know exactly which cat video we want to see next on Youtube. It’s all patterns and data.

Although data and pattern recognition have been around forever, the way we use, store and spread this information has changed drastically.

While at the beginning we had to rely on word-of-mouth and cave drawings to spread knowledge, nowadays we can store and spread trillions of gigabytes of information without much effort.

In 2016, humans collectively created 16.1 ZB (zettabytes) of data. That’s 16.1 trillion gigabytes. According to the International Data Corporation, by the year of 2025, humans will create over 160 ZB of data in one year.

Social media platforms generate millions of status updates every hour; there are over 400 hours of videos uploaded to Youtube every minute, smart-watches can gather information about your heart-rate and your daily activities, smart-fridges know your eating habits and so on.

Humans create A LOT of data, but there’s a major problem with the increasing amounts of data created: we are not able to process and secure all of this information. With our current ability, less than 20% of the data generated will be analyzed by the year of 2025, and less than half of all of the data will be secured.

The main reason behind is that data is inherently inanimate – it only becomes useful when it is used by applications that can process and categorize it. With our current solutions, we’ll, at some point, end up with a landscape littered with information and without sufficient intelligence to handle it all.

Thought Network’s patented solution for this problem

Already in 2018, even the most innovative deep learning techniques which mimic the human brain and create neural networks, still struggle to sift through the world’s information.

Thought Network is an AI and blockchain start-up backed by the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. Thought attacks the problem with the rapidly growing amounts of information by taking the focus away from traditional “big data” and centralized closed artificial intelligence platforms and instead focusing on handling data more effectively.

“Going forward, the current methods will no longer be scalable, adaptable or smart enough to cope with the massive increase of information generated by our society.” Says the founder and CEO of Thought, Professor Andrew Hacker. “Thought solves these challenges by moving artificial intelligence from the application layer to the data layer. At its core, Thought removes the intermediate application and embeds smart logic directly into every bit of data. Now, data is no longer inanimate; it becomes agile, able to act on its own, directly at the source of creation, distribution or action.”

Mr. Hacker’s unique angle on the problem has granted him and his company an US patent (US9454398 B2). His new technology, called “Smart Data,” turns traditional solutions of collecting enormous amounts of data inside out.

“We’re proud of Andrew’s accomplishments and are honored to have him as a valuable member of Harrisburg University,” said Dr. Eric Darr, the President of Harrisburg University, which is one of the equity partners of Thought Network. “Mr. Hacker’s patent shows the community that the University supports local people doing great things, and it gives our students a great example of what you can accomplish in the growing field of technology.”

The technology of Smart Data takes ordinary data that would usually need applications to process them to become valuable, and gives this data intelligence on its own. This way information understands where it came from, where it needs to go, and what it needs to do, reducing the need for external applications that would otherwise become bottlenecks for all of this data over time.

The pieces of Smart Data are processed in a widespread Thought Blockchain, allowing them to make decisions and take action based on their own internal logic. In addition, data can communicate and collaborate with other pieces of data. While traditionally this could only be done with the help of applications, Thought reduces the need for these applications by bringing the communication and processing to the data level.

Each piece of Smart Data is individually encrypted by dynamic cryptography, increasing security and allowing value derived from the data to be shared while the original data is protected.

“Being able to secure individual pieces of data is the Holy Grail of cybersecurity.”, says Andrew Hacker, who in addition to leading the development of the Thought Network is a cybersecurity expert in residence at Harrisburg University. “In addition, Smart Data can notify its owner if information gets stolen. It’s almost like a built-in alarm, which is very appealing to people concerned with cybersecurity.”

Conclusion

Andrew Hacker knows that the technology of Smart Data holds great potential for industries like health care, manufacturing, urban planning, IoT technology and many more. But, developing this new technology is no walk in the park. It requires a highly skillful and dedicated team of developers and business, legal, operations, and marketing people.

“Building something as complicated as Thought takes a team of dedicated folks that drink, sleep and eat code. Unless you have a dedicated and brilliant team behind your project, you’ll never get off the ground.” Says Mr. Hacker, who has a well-versed and experienced team of over 15 industry experts as well as an impressive board of advisors.

“Although building Thought is a complex endeavor, we have moved at an incredible pace towards the completion of the project.” Says Mr. Hacker, whose team is on the home stretch of getting the MVP ready for the launch of their pre-ICO on the 1st of March. “Seeing the collective passion of the team as we knock down obstacle after obstacle on the path to a release is a really amazing thing to witness!”

The whitelist is open with pre-ICO starting on March 1, 2018, and 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.