Day: March 25, 2018

A week full of news: see how the markets reacted and what to expect next. #PRICE_ANALYSIS

Recent media coverage overstated a blockchain startup’s involvement in the Sierra Leone election. CoinDesk inadvertently contributed to the problem.

Bitcoin has endured another $300 slump. After trading at nearly $8,900 and giving many advocates hope that it could potentially reach $9,000 in the coming days, the father of cryptocurrencies has ultimately shrunk back.

Overall, both bitcoin and ether fell nearly four percent from yesterday’s “highs” following what appeared to be a steady week of small, yet noticeable growth. Analysts widely claim that the jump may have been a result of bitcoin striving to spike above fear surrounding Binance, the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange also operating in Japan.

“Land of the rising sun” regulators had given Binance a warning memo explaining that the company was operating without proper registration, and that if it didn’t play be the rules, it would face reprimands. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later released a statement, commenting that the warning was nothing big and that investor shouldn’t worry:

“We received a simply letter from JSFA about an hour ago. Our lawyers called JFSA immediately, and will find a solution. Protecting user interests is our top priority. No need to worry. Some negative news often turns out to be positive in the long term. The Chinese have a proverb for this. New (often better) opportunities always emerge during times of change.”

But while Binance continues to work out its problems, bitcoin cannot seem to decide where it wants to be. This $300 slump is nothing new; in fact, our previous price watch pieces seem to be inciting a theme. Bitcoin rises $300, then falls by the same amount. This is likely the window where the digital asset, for whatever reason, is encountering the most resistance, and it’s proving a hard barrier to break.

Interestingly, however, it appears many experts are still bullish on bitcoin’s price, saying it could strike the $30,000 mark by early December.

This prediction comes primarily from David Drake – founder and chairman of investment firm LDJ Capital – who explained to regulators at the recent G20 summit that bitcoin had been encountering a “cold winter,” but that things were likely to strike new ground by the end of the year.

Where Drake does differ is in his stance on digital currencies in the future, primarily on how many will exist. Previously, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey explained that he felt bitcoin could become a “single” currency in the end – that all other forms of fiat and digital assets would ultimately disappear, leaving bitcoin as the only usable option to pay for goods and services.

While he agrees that bitcoin is the primary form of digital currency today, Drake doesn’t seem to think it will stand alone. Right now, he says there are approximately 1,500 different cryptocurrencies on the market. He admits that some are “strange” or fraudulent in some way, but comments that those which have stood their ground (i.e. ether, litecoin, etc.) could make their way up the financial ladder along with bitcoin, and that years from now, while money may all be digital, the industry will not rely strictly on bitcoin alone.

It is probably just a matter of sitting back and waiting to see what occurs.

Overly, Bitcoin and most altcoins were up by week ending March25. According to data from Coin360, Bitcoin and ETH, the two most liquid coins in the world are up 11.45% and 5% respectively.

This means somehow altcoins were supported and its definitely good news. EOS leads the recovery with a 54.96% gain in the past 7 days.

In the same vein, will G20 Meeting regulatory support, Binance spreading their reach and shaking off JFSA amongst other important fundamental events change the course of LTC, EOS and Stellar Lumens? It may or may not but in my personal opinion, LTC might chart higher especially if there is a convincing break above $170 in the coming sessions.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

XLM/USD (Stellar Lumens)

Technically, Stellar Lumens is in a down trend and more often than not, I won’t recommend fading the general trend. In this case though-and over the past 48 hours or so, Lumens buyers are obviously rejecting lower lows.

Therefore because of this outlay, I will still maintain my previous stand and encourage short term longs with targets at $0.30 on the upper edge or we exit trades when a stochastic sell signal prints.

Otherwise, it will be interesting to see how prices react at $0.25 or around the resistance trend line connecting February-March highs.

IOT/USD (IOTA)

From our last preview, our position on IOTA remains neutral. However we remain net bullish if only prices surge past $2, the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement line and our immediate resistance line in our entry chart.

Overly, prices are bearish and we can see the reaction of sellers at each key support line in the higher time frames.

In the mean time, assuming prices find resistance anywhere between $1.5 and $1.6 with a stochastic sell signal turning from deep the overbought territory then we can as well sell. In that case, our immediate targets should be $1 or there about.

If not and buy pressure persists then we shall wait for a convincing bull break out and buy with stochastic buy signal dips with targets at $3 and $4. After all, we are net neutral on this pair.

EOS/USD (EOS)

Even if it appears that buyers are in charge, that’s not true and we can see price stagnation and rejection of higher highs in the last couple of days.

Evidently, sellers are in charge and we can see from price action that EOS bears have been charging lower despite the small time revival of prices after EOS-FinLab AG partnership announcement.

In my view, I will consider all EOS highs as selling opportunity especially if a stochastic sell signal prints anywhere below the resistance trend line clear in the 4HR chart. Even if prices break above it, liquidation may happen anywhere at around $7.5

LTC/USD (LTC)

All we can say is that LTC bears are in charge and that resistance trend line says it all. So, we shall take nuggets from our previous forecast and wait for strong break out patterns accompanied by stochastic buy signals to go long.

If that happens today, then aggressive traders should buy LTC and place their stops just below $150. I must say, that’s picking a potential bottom and undoubtedly, that’s fading the main trend.

As such, trade small positions with ideal targets at $190 or exit when a stochastic sell signal turning from deep the overbought zone prints. Whichever comes first!

NEO/USD (NEO)

Like most altcoins, NEO is stuck within a consolidation but still, it’s likely that prices might move higher in line with recent fundamental and even technical formations. In our entry chart, we can see prices NEO buyers rejecting lower prices.

In fact, we are generally trading within a minor bullish break out pattern after prices tested $55. Remember, $55 is last year’s break out highs.

It’s basically a level where prices began surging and therefore, the retest phase of a larger bullish break out pattern might as well be over.

In this regard therefore, I will recommend short term buys with stops below $50 and targets at $90. Since we are net bearish, I will exit whenever a stochastic sell signal prints.

All BitFinex, Bittrex and CoinBase charts courtesy of Trading View

The post NEO, EOS, LTC, IOTA, Lumens: Technical Analysis March 26, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

In a huge step towards bringing cryptocurrencies to the mainsteam, Shorcan Digital Currency Network (Shorcan DCN) is teaming up with Toronto-based Paycase to launch a brokerage service for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Shorcan DCN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group, the Canadian financial services company known for operating the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). The brokerage is set to launch mid-year.

TMX Group says the brokerage is designed to leverage Shorcan DCN’s background in providing brokerage services with Paycase’s cryptocurrency data aggregation platform for the betterment of digital currency integration with traditional markets. The announcement praises the potential value of Paycase’s “established worldwide network of industry leaders and participants,” as the banking platform has been a significant player in the Canadian landscape for years.

John Lee, Managing Director, Enterprise Innovation & Product Development of TMX Group had the following to say regarding the deal:

“Shorcan DCN represents a significant step forward in the execution of TMX Group’s digital strategy. As new technologies continue to reshape the global financial industry, we continue to explore new ways to evolve our business to address client needs in both traditional and non-traditional markets.”

Shorcan Digital Currency Network and Paycase

Through establishing brokerage services and furthering its current approach to digital currencies, Shorcan DCN and Paycase stated that the two companies will create digital currency benchmarks, sourcing data from the world’s leading digital currency exchanges and over the counter brokered volume.  

“We are excited to enter in to this agreement with Paycase, an industry leader with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit,” said Shorcan President Peter Conroy. “We look forward to putting in the necessary collaborative work in the days ahead as we strive to make Shorcan DCN a lasting success.”

Paycase chief executive Joseph Weinberg also commented on the arrangement, describing the brokerage as being the first public crypto brokerage desk by an exchange, saying the new partnership “represents the true institutionalization of cryptocurrencies as an asset class.” He went on to say:

“Paycase’s partnership with the TMX solved a major problem in the blockchain ecosystem. With this partnership, we have built the first major bridge between the crypto world and the traditional financial markets.”

TSX Venture Exchange

Several cryptocurrency companies have already sought public listing on the firm’s TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), most notably Galaxy Digital — a cryptoasset merchant bank founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz.

Further, Coinsquare, one of Canada’s foremost cryptocurrency exchanges, has also stated that it will hold an initial public offering (IPO) on the main TSX exchange later in 2018.

The post Operator of Toronto Stock Exchange Announces Launch of Cryptocurrency Brokerage Platform appeared first on NewsBTC.

It’s too early to tell whether the crypto markets are out of the woods and inching back into the light. If a doctor was giving the prognosis, she would probably venture that we should remain “cautiously optimistic”. But if the top stories from this week in bitcoin are an indicator, there’s every reason to feel confident about the shape of crypto to come.

Also read: Bitcoin Ransomware Attack Halts Major American City’s Government and Police

Battle of the Acronyms

Words are constantly evolving. “Literally” used to mean literally, only now it’s more commonly used to exaggerate stories for dramatic effect. Then we have FOMO and FUD, two acronyms frequently used in the cryptocurrency space, both of which have also evolved from their original definitions. This week in bitcoin, we’ve got an equal stack of both: bullish stories that constitute FOMO and bearish ones that go down as FUD.

FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) is now applied to any story that bagholders believe detrimental to their chosen cryptocurrency. The story about child porn on the bitcoin blockchain definitely falls into that category – the reality is nothing of the sort. FOMO (fear of missing out) has similarly been misapplied so that it’s now used to denote anything positive. We’ll get to the upbeat stuff shortly, but first let’s finish this week’s allocation of fear.

Spies Gonna Spy

There was fear alright in the revelation that the NSA was aggressively targeting bitcoin users as far back as 2013, as the latest Snowden leaks show. It’s not a big surprise, but there’s still something daunting about seeing it in black and white. The leaked slides also provided further evidence that Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht may have been snared by the NSA trawling the web for bitcoin-related activity. If so, this evidence wasn’t disclosed in court, and thus Ross’s defense team were unable to contest it. It’s long been suspected that “parallel reconstruction” – the practice of faking an evidence trail after the suspect’s been nabbed – is rampant at the highest level, and the NSA docs do nothing to allay that fear.

The news that at least $3.4 billion of ethereum is in the possession of ICOs, who could dump it on the market at any time, is real alright. This week’s most read story, it qualifies as FUD because this knowledge is bound to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the market. Some people believe that ethereum shouldn’t be used at all for ICOs, and that a stablecoin should become crypto’s de facto crowdsale coin. That’s easier said than done though, and meanwhile almost 4% of ethereum’s total supply sits in ICO wallets, ready to be dumped on an exchange whenever projects need to pay the bills.

Feel the FOMO

This week also brought its share of positive stories for bitcoin, or perhaps it just feels that way because everyone’s stopped being so gloomy now the markets have picked up slightly. Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey expects bitcoin to become the world’s ‘single currency’ in about 10 years, and while that’s, like, just his opinion man, it’s a very bullish one from a man who knows his trends. Add in the appointment of an allegedly bitcoin-friendly governor of the People’s Bank of China and things are looking up.

The conclusion of the G20 summit of world leaders, without passing any motions on cryptocurrency regulation, was also interpreted positively. Far better that officials should kick the proposal into the long grass than rush through ill-thought legislation for the sake of being seen to be tough. If all that’s not enough reason for cheer, have some solace in the fact that 2018’s bear market is nothing like that of 2014. Tl;dr: the crypto markets of today are far more resilient to bad news.

Not every story that made the news this week can be lazily lumped into the FUD or FOMO category. Some got readers clicking and commenting simply because they were damn interesting, like the precocious 15-year-old who rekt Ledger’s wallet security, then refused their bounty payment so as to rek them again by publishing the full exploit. The difficulty of cashing out large quantities of bitcoin obtained back in the day was another post that got a lotta love. For more insights on these stories, plus the latest crypto developments from China, your amiable host Matt Aaron has got you covered in the This Week in Bitcoin podcast.

Do you think 2018’s bear market is starting to ease up, or is there more pain to come? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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

The post This Week in Bitcoin: A New Dawn appeared first on Bitcoin News.

XPA is one of the newer blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystems with a clear mission. More specifically, the project focuses on bringing blockchain asset management to a whole new level, which is something a fair few projects are trying to achieve. Succeeding in this regard will not be easy, but XPA is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

The Concept of XPA

Bridging the gap between cryptocurrencies and real-world assets is not all that easy. It is evident there is plenty of potential when it comes to exploring these options, but building a solution people will actually use is a different matter altogether. XPA positions itself as an innovative blockchain asset management tool to offer decentralized transactions, asset collateral, and external capitals.

How Does it Work?

The current objective of XPA is to have crypto assets pegged to fiat currency to avoid the notorious volatility often found within the world of cryptocurrency. It has become evident that the volatility of cryptocurrency is a big problem, yet XPA aims to remove this barrier to entry. Their goal is to transform cryptocurrency into a practical, stable, and usable asset class for both payments and investments alike.

There is also the XPA exchange to take note of, as it will offer a safe and decentralized structure. That platform’s main focus will be on combining the concepts of financial models – mortgages, leverage, and future index contracts – with cryptocurrency assets. To most people, it sounds like these concepts will clash more often than not, and thus it will be interesting to see how XPA plans to tackle that aspect.

Ensuring that the XPA assets are pegged to fiat currency will also be challenging. The value of these assets is twice the value of XPA itself. These assets will always be exchangeable with fiat currency at a 1:1 rate. The team aims to reach a stable average price, while the real-time value will be subject to some fluctuation. Asset mortgage and liquidity can be provided at the request of users.

The XPA Token Explained

The main reason why XPA has its own currency is that they need to provide the best service to all network participants. The XPA token itself will be the gateway for future XPA assets, and it can be traded on XPA.Exchange. This exchange supports Ethereum and ERC20 tokens as of right now, although this list will grow as time progresses.  

What Comes Next?

As one would expect, the XPA ecosystem is far from production-ready as of right now. The first token round has been completed, and a second batch of XPA tokens will be released in Q2 of this year. A third, fourth and fifth round are also planned. The aforementioned exchange platform is already live, although it only supports a limited number of tokens.

People often get quite creative when it comes to cryptocurrency. An artist who goes by the name Andy Bauch has hidden the private keys to cryptocurrency wallets containing $10,000 worth of coins in artwork built with Lego bricks. It’s a remarkable showcase of artistic skill and cryptocurrency enthusiasm, to say the least.

Andy Bauch creates a unique masterpiece

It is safe to say few people would ever look for a cryptocurrency wallet’s private key in artwork made with Lego bricks. Whether or not that is the main reason why Andy Bauch took this approach remains unknown. We do know his creation has sparked a lot of interest, although it is evident this approach was quite unusual. Combining the concept of cryptocurrency with art in a meaningful way is not something we see every day, unfortunately.

Bauch’s new works are made up of abstract patterns. To the average person, there is no method to this madness, even though there is clearly a hidden meaning within these works. More specifically, the use of Lego bricks was done in such a way that every piece represents the private key to a cryptocurrency. It will be up to individuals to decrypt this information, which may prove rather challenging.

It is quite an intriguing approach to introducing cryptography and cryptocurrency to the public. After all, anyone in the world is able to decode this information if they know what to look for. That is also part of the challenge, as it should never be easy to “grab” $10,000 worth of Bitcoin from one look at Lego artwork. Bauch has been working on his concept for quite some time now, although he doesn’t want to be labeled a promoter of cryptocurrencies by any means.

These artworks can currently be found at LA’s Castelli Art Space. Every piece in the New Money series is a secret key to various cryptocurrencies. This goes to show these artworks are not just about Bitcoin alone, which further confirms that cryptocurrency is about so much more than just BTC. It seems Litecoin is one of the other currencies, and there are other unnamed altcoins involved as well. Each wallet has a private key which was turned into a pattern hidden within the artworks themselves.

It is safe to say none of this artwork would ever exist without cryptocurrency. Although Bauch has some other ideas for artwork, it is evident these creations are like nothing previously seen. The title of each work hints at which cryptocurrency one is looking at, and the value of each wallet will be projected during the exhibition. Collectors can buy each piece, but viewers can still take the money from the wallets if they are fast enough.

It will be quite interesting to see how long it takes people to crack the code hidden within these new works. It certainly makes cryptocurrency a lot more accessible and appealing, although it remains unclear whether or not there will be much interest in this project. The opportunities provided to people in terms of financial gain should not be overlooked, but in the end, it is still all about the artwork.

U.S. actor and martial arts expert Steven Seagal is again in hot water after another U.S. state has issued warnings about Bitcoiin, of which Seagal is the brand ambassador.

Earlier this month New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs announced that the state’s Bureau of Securities had issued an emergency Cease and Desist Order against Bitcoiin, also known as Bitcoiin 2nd Generation, Bitcoiin 2Gen, or B2G, for offering investors unregistered securities in its ICO of its cryptocurrency.

Fast forward: the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) Securities Division has alerted Tennessee consumers of the actions taken by the State of New Jersey against Bitcoiin and itself identified further problems with the cryptocurrency, including signs of questionable investments based on guarantees of high returns and low risk, social media advertising, and a “pressure to buy immediately.”

The TDCI warning included a reminder that Tennessee residents should be “cautious when investing in cryptocurrencies,” given that they “are not backed by tangible assets,” and are similarly not insured or regulated.

“Rushing into an investment that you don’t fully understand can be bad for your bottom line,” said TDCI Assistant Commissioner Frank Borger-Gilligan. “We encourage Tennesseans to always conduct thorough research to learn the risks associated with the investments they are considering.”

Tennessee: Blockchain and Smart Contracts

In other news out of Tennessee, a bill has been passed that legally recognizes blockchain data and smart contracts under state law. According to public records, Governor Bill Haslam signed the measure on Thursday, capping a months-long process that saw Tennessee become the latest U.S. state to pursue such legislation. According to data from LegiScan, the bill had sailed through the legislature since its introduction in January, passing both chambers unanimously.

The bill “recognizes the legal authority to use blockchain technology and smart contracts in conducting electronic transactions; protects ownership rights of certain information secured by blockchain technology.”

Blockchain technology is defined in the bill as “any distributed ledger protocol and supporting infrastructure, including blockchain, that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared, and replicated ledger, whether it be public or private, permissioned or permissionless, and which may include the use of electronic currencies or electronic tokens as a medium of electronic exchange.”

A smart contract is defined in the bill as an “event-driven computer program, that executes on an electronic, distributed, decentralized, shared, and replicated ledger that is used to automate transactions.” The bill notes that “no contract relating to a transaction shall be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because that contract contains a smart contract term.”

The move highlights a growing interest in blockchain technology and smart contracts among state lawmakers, with Arizona’s government finalizing a similar law last spring. Florida and Nebraska have proposed complementary bills, which are still being debated by lawmakers in those states.

The post Tennessee Warns Consumers About Steven Seagal-Backed Bitcoiin, Passes Bill Recognizing Blockchain and Smart Contracts appeared first on NewsBTC.

China filed the most patents for Blockchain technology in 2017, filing more than double the US. #NEWS