Day: March 19, 2018

A public company in China is being questioned over a blockchain claim that appeared to drive a rally in its stock price.

The co-founder of ethereum has made the argument that the cryptocurrency market hasn’t burst its bubble following a slump in market prices last week.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Joseph Lubin, the co-founder of ethereum, explained that it would be ‘shortsighted’ to say that the market had popped.

“It may be hard to tell because we’re so focused on ethereum, we’re so focused on building decentralised applications on the ethereum platform and we’re so much less focussed on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin,” he said. “But I would argue that we’ve seen a correction in our space, calling it a bubble to have been popped is a little bit shortsighted.”

He added that there was “foundational, fundamental work being built” and that it was still early days for the ecosystem.

His comments come at a time when the cryptocurrency market has experienced a downturn in price. Amid heightened pressure from authorities to regulate the market as well as a major selloff in coins, market prices have fallen. Over the weekend, bitcoin was trading at $7,400 while the price of ethereum had dropped to $465. At the time of publishing, ether’s value has improved slightly, at $534, according to CoinMarketCap.

Notably, though, it’s still a significant distance from the above $1,000 mark it has been experiencing of late. Bitcoin is currently trading at $8,270, which has seen a surge in price after G20 nations announced they would not be cracking down on cryptocurrencies.

Regardless of the drop in market values, Lubin appears happy with the direction that the industry is taking, particularly in relation to regulations.

“We are extremely happy about how things are going with regulators. There are many jurisdictions that are excited about the tokenised security of the utility tokens that wouldn’t be considered securities,” he said. “That’s actually true in this country as well, in the United States. There are many great applications being built worldwide on ethereum and with other blockchain technologies.”

He added that due to the number of fraudulent projects in the sector it’s ‘perfectly reasonable’ for a pause to occur, and that it was important for projects to do ‘their legal homework and issue tokens properly.’

Despite Lubin’s optimism it remains to be seen when and how market prices will recover. With the market still highly sensitive to changing environments, Ethereum prices could continue to fall along with other major cryptocurrencies if the market fails to secure a strong short-term rally.

The post Ethereum Co-Founder: Saying Cryptocurrency is a Bursted Bubble is “Shortsighted” appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin’s corrective rally may gather traction, however, the overall outlook remains bearish as long as prices stay below $11,700.

MasterCard wants to work with gov’t-backed crypto, all other crypto is “junk” #NEWS

An established company is using Blockchain to address critical issues in healthcare, such as high misdiagnosis rates and the integrity of patient data. #SPONSORED

Following in the footsteps of Facebook and Google, Twitter is reportedly planning a ban on advertisements related to cryptocurrencies.

The Bitcoin price is on everybody’s mind as of right now. With the current trend remaining bearish, the outlook is not all that positive. If Ronnie Moas is to be believed, however, things will turn out just fine. His $28,000 target by mid-2018 still holds up, by the look of things. A rather bullish sentiment in this sea of negativity.

Ronnie Moas Remains Bullish

Not too long ago, Ronnie Moas made an intriguing Bitcoin price prediction. In his opinion, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency will hit $28,000 in the near future. This may happen as soon as mid-2018, which is almost upon us. A lot will need to change before this situation will change for the better, though. Right now, things are not looking all that great whatsoever.

As one would expect, the Bitcoin price has stumbled throughout 2018. With the value dropped as low as nearly $7,000 last week a worrisome trend has emerged. The bears are bringing down the Bitcoin price like they do every single year. In most cases, the Bitcoin price will rebound in a strong fashion. Whether or not this will be the same in 2018, remains to be determined at this stage.

Ronnie Moas is not too concerned about what is happening right now. In fact, he considers the uptrend to emerge pretty soon. Technical analysts are putting up major sell signals, which seems destined to shake out the weak hands in the coming days and weeks. Most people who invest in Bitcoin don’t have the stomach for these volatile price swings, especially if things head south.

The Next Three Months may be Crucial

Even though most speculators don’t care about technical Bitcoin developments, they will impact the price pretty soon. With scaling becoming less of an issue, things are heading in the right direction.It is evident for everyone to see how the Bitcoin price is being manipulated. Ronnie Moas confirms as much, and he is seemingly enjoying the show.

People are being played for fools by tech analyst sell signals that you are paying for / #bitcoin price is being manipulated & I think a lot of you are going to regret that you were shaken out. I'm not budging off of my $28K target. Don't take a bet that you can't afford to lose. pic.twitter.com/KyJ9aiz1Ln

— Ronnie Moas (@RonnieMoas) March 18, 2018

In the Tweet above, it becomes evident he is effectively buying more Bitcoin at the current prices to keep stocking up. This seems to indicate a lot of money can be made with BTC in the coming weeks and months. Those looking for the “uber” gains, however, are holding Bitcoin long-term. The best is yet to come for Bitcoin, and Ronnie Moas is buckling up for the ride as we speak.

For now, the BTC price remains at a crucial pivot. If this current uptrend crumbles, hitting $7,000 is not out of the question. Assuming the uptrend is legitimate, things will only improve from here on out. It is a matter of time until the prediction by Ronnie Moas either comes true or goes up in flame. No one minds a BTC value of $28,000, especially not given the current price.

The post Financial Analyst: Bitcoin Mid-Term Target at $28,000 Still in Play appeared first on NewsBTC.

The bankruptcy trustee for the defunct Mt. Gox exchange has denied that the sale of $400 million in BTC and BCH caused the recent drop in prices.

It is evident the cryptocurrency markets are going through a brief period of recovery as of right now. With most markets showing some positive momentum out of the blue, things are looking good as of right now. The Stellar price is one of the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours, pushing the value back to over $0.22. A positive turn of events, assuming this momentum doesn’t vaporize in the next few hours.

Stellar Price Momentum Returns

With last week finally behind us, the time has come to look toward the future once again. Right now, the momentum across all cryptocurrency markets is surprisingly positive, although it remains to be seen how long this period of joy will last. If the Stellar price is any indication, things are looking pretty solid, for the time being.

Thanks to a nice 20.71% gain over the past 4 hours, we are now looking at a Stellar price of $0.227 once again That in itself is a positive development, especially after all of the struggles these markets went through just last week.  People have been waiting to see the markets recover sooner or later. Right now, the Stellar price is doing exactly that, albeit it remains to be seen if this positive momentum can remain in place for a few days straight.

There is also an interesting development in the XLM/BTC ratio as of right now. More specifically, Stellar has gained 12.56% on Bitcoin even though the Bitcoin price is noting some serious gains as well. It is always intriguing to see how altcoins appreciate in both USD and BTC value when the Bitcoin price is going up. When Bitcoin goes down, altcoins drop in both USD and BTC value as well. Very peculiar correlations which only further confirm how Bitcoin remains the top dog in all of cryptocurrency right now.

With $104.75 million in 24-hour trading volume, things are looking pretty good for Stellar right now. While this trading volume is not all that high, it is more than sufficient to keep the Stellar price momentum going, for the time being. Assuming things remain this way, we may even see the Stellar price hit $0.25 later today, although it may require a slightly higher trading volume to really make a push for it.

Binance is dominating the trading volume right now, followed by Upbit and Poloniex. What is rather remarkable is how we see three Kraken trading pairs in the top eight, which doesn’t happen all that often these days. Of those three markets, the EUR market is ahead of the USDT pair, but the BTC pair generates nearly as much volume as those two combined. A very peculiar development, although one that seemingly indicates good things are bound to happen if the markets do not falter once again.

Whether or not the Stellar price will remain this positive in the coming days and weeks, is a different matter altogether. The value of all cryptocurrencies is subject to a lot of manipulation right now, and that trend will not relent anytime soon. As long as market maker scan keep toying with this form of money, they will continue to do so, for obvious reasons. As of right now, the Stellar price seems underway to hit $0.25, but it may not necessarily get there today.

China has a new head for the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the country’s central bank, which could positively affect the future of bitcoin and the local cryptocurrency market.

New Central Bank Governor is Pro-Free Market

President Xi Jinping has appointed an American-educated economist known for being a pro-free market advocate to run the central bank. Yi Gang, who has served as Vice Governor of PBoC will take over from  Zhou Xiaochuan who has headed the Peoples Bank of China for a decade and a half.

President Xi has made moves to bring like-minded party members into positions of power in order to create new economic policy.

Most prominent of these changes was the promotion of Liu He to the position of Vice Premier. A position that makes him overseer of the central bank and effectively acting as the nations economic czar.

The combination of having Liu and Yi as the countries top economic minds shows steps towards opening up financial markets and rethinking policies that were put in place after the market turmoil of 2015 -2016.

“Liu and Yi have a shared understanding of the need for financial market reforms and liberalization, coupled with more effective regulation,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and former China head for the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Yi talked about the need to liberalize China’s capital account in order to encourage foreign firms to invest in China at a press conference last week.

Mr. Yi recently spoke of ways to encourage foreign investment at a press conference last week.

When President Xi delivered his development plan to a party congress in October of last year opening cross-border capital flow was not part of it though it was a clearly stated goal of his predecessor.

Unlike its western counterparts, the Peoples Bank of China is not independent. It’s leaders shape its policy including setting loan and deposit rates. Ironically these tight controls over the Yuan could open the doors for the use of digital currency in the remittance market.

China Needs an Alternative to Fiat

Recently Ripplenet signed a deal with China-based payment service LianLian International. LianLian will use xCurrent, Ripples centralized software payment systems to transfer funds between China the US, Canada, and Europe. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, tweeted about the deal saying

“(Ripple) just opened the door to the largest e-commerce market in the world”

The Ripple deal shows the need for an alternative method to moving funds in and out of China which is the worlds second largest remittance market falling short just a fraction behind India at $57 billion a year.

It’s possible that the pro-free market approach of Governor Yi and Vice Premier Liu could see the end of China’s strict regulation of cryptocurrency as it becomes the obvious choice for international financing.

The post Can Bitcoin Thrive Under China’s New Central Bank Chief? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Coincheck, the Japanese exchange that lost ~$550 million worth of NEM to hackers, will stop dealing with Monero, Dash and Zcash. The trading platform has recognized the risk posed by these cryptocurrencies which provide high levels of anonymity. Half of the NEM coins stolen in the hack may have been converted already on the darknet, a cybersecurity expert claims.

Also read: Hackers Target 400,000 Computers with Mining Malware

Anonymity Postpones Coincheck’s Registration

The Japanese exchange Coincheck, which is trying to recover from one of the worst hacks in crypto history, is expected to stop handling three cryptocurrencies providing high levels of anonymity, the Japan Times reported. Coincheck now recognizes the high risk posed by these coins when used in money-laundering transactions, unnamed sources said. The cryptos are Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH).

It is virtually impossible to identify the recipients of funds denominated in these cryptocurrencies on their blockchains. That’s probably the main reason for Coincheck’s decision. The anonymity facilitates their possible use in money laundering, which is not the case with other cryptos, like bitcoin. The exchange is considering buying the coins at a fixed rate from customers who agree to sell. It will accept transfers from Coincheck accounts whose owners have been verified.

Coincheck’s application for new registration under the revised payment services law is still pending partly because the exchange works with anonymous customers. It was submitted with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) back in September, before the hack, and the screening is taking longer than expected, the Japan Times notes. Trading was suspended right after the attack in January and when it resumed last Monday, the three coins in question were not among the available options.

Stolen NEM Converted on the Darknet

The NEM coins that disappeared in the hack were worth about ¥58 billion (~$550 million USD) at the time. This month Coincheck said it was preparing to start compensating its customers, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. On Tuesday, the exchange announced it had refunded ¥46.6 billion ($440 million) to 260,000 customers who lost NEM.

A cybersecurity expert now claims the hackers may have converted half of the NEM cryptocurrency into other digital coins or fiat cash in order to launder the stolen money. According to the Chief Technology Officer at Japan Digital Design, Masanori Kusunoki, they have probably done that through a darknet website. The conversion started on February 7.

Kusunoki says it is getting more difficult to trace the coins. He believes the site is still being used for money laundering transactions. “It has become evident that we cannot block currency laundering just because all transactions are recorded”, the expert concluded. Masanori Kusunoki thinks it’s becoming impossible to trace the NEM coins.

No matter how far the chase will go, it’s going to be hard to reverse the damage. In mid-February Coincheck informed the FSA about the measures it was planning to take in the aftermath of the hack. More than ¥40 billion were cashed out immediately after the exchange resumed yen withdrawals. Two weeks later, 132 investors filed a lawsuit in a Tokyo court asking for ¥228 million yen.

Do you think the decision to stop trading anonymous cryptos will help Coincheck recover from the hack? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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The post Coincheck Drops Anonymous Monero, Dash, Zcash appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Key Highlights

• ADA price after a sharp decline below $0.20 found support near $0.1250 against the US Dollar (tethered).
• There was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $0.1550 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair (data feed via Bittrex).
• The pair is currently facing a major resistance near $0.165 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

Cardano price is slowly recovering against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ADA/USD has to surpass the $0.165 and $0.180 resistance levels to recover further.

Cardano Price Resistance

There were continuous declines in ADA price from well above the $0.2020 against the US Dollar. The price declined and broke the $0.18, $0.165 and $0.150 support levels. It even traded below $0.13 and formed a low near the $0.1237 level. Later, a recovery was initiated and the price moved above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.1867 high to $0.1237 low.

Moreover, there was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $0.1550 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair. The pair is now trading in a bullish zone above $0.140. There was also a break above the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.1867 high to $0.1237 low. However, the price is currently facing a major hurdle near the $0.165 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Lastly, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.1867 high to $0.1237 low is also acting as a resistance.

A break above the $0.165 and $0.180 resistance levels is must for more gains in the near term. On the downside, the last swing low of $0.150 is a short term support followed by the $0.1450 level.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ADA/USD is slightly in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ADA/USD is currently well above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.1450

Major Resistance Level – $0.1800

 

Charts courtesy – Trading View

The post Cardano Price Technical Analysis – ADA/USD Facing Crucial Resistance appeared first on NewsBTC.