Day: March 27, 2018

The Hangzhou Blockchain Research Institute, a subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has launched a blockchain-based platform, the first of its kind to be launched under China’s central bank.

China Launches Blockchain Registry Open Platform To Cut Through Bureaucracy

The organization, also known as the Zhongchao Blockchain Research Institute, has reportedly presented its Blockchain Registry Open Platform (BROP) at the Global Financial Science and Technology Summit in Hangzhou on Monday.

BROP aims to remove China’s redundant bureaucracy and, according to its white paper, it is an open platform for developing independent intellectual property rights based on the blockchain.

The research institute belongs to Zhongchao Credit Card Industry Development, a subsidiary of China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC) under China’s central bank.

BROP will leverage its partners to make credible records of user identity, certificate data, and digital credentials for enterprise users. With these identity records, the platform will be able to provide verifiable and supervised ownership registries and information on public services.

Fan Guifu, chairman of Zhongchao Credit Card Industry Development, which is a member of the Linux Foundation, commented the launch of the Blockchain Registry Open Platform.

“We started the layout of blockchain technology in early 2015 and set up the Zhongchao Blockchain Research Institute last year. Our key focus is the development of blockchain and other emerging financial technologies.”

A leader of blockchain development in China, the Hangzhou (Zhongchao) Blockchain Technology Research Institute has applied for 22 blockchain patents.

Out of the top 100 companies with the highest number of patents published for blockchain technology, 49 were Chinese and 23 from the United States, according to the Global Blockchain Enterprise Patent Rankings 2017, published by IPRdaily.

Alibaba leads the ranking, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is third on the list, while Zhongchao Blockchain Technology Research Institute is ranked 18th.

The race for blockchain technology has produced and continues to produce a wide number of patents. This has created a need in the market to ensure an optimal protection of intellectual property, which IPCHAIN Database is attending. The platform has launched its pre-sale just days ago.

China has been one of the most aggressive countries towards cryptocurrencies as it tries to shut down all Bitcoin operations in the country.

At the same time, the country’s government authorities, namely the PBoC, seems to be looking to create their own digital currency, Digital Currency For Electronic Payment (DCEP). The digital currency is expected to go through initial test phases in 2019.

The post China To Cut Bureaucracy With Blockchain Technology appeared first on NewsBTC.

The popularity of blockchain technology has brought a lot of attention to the idea of decentralized databases. As a result, decentralization has become a buzzword overestimating its actual use case.  

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The truth is that most future applications probably aren’t going to be purely centralized or decentralized as there are distinct advantages to both. While decentralization reduces the likelihood of a single point of failure, decentralized databases can limit throughput and be more difficult to maintain than centralized ones. Because of this, engineers should incorporate the advantages of both types of systems in order to develop well-rounded apps.

No More Centralized vs Decentralized. OPEN Brings the Best of Both Worlds

OPEN Platform gives developers the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits that both centralized and decentralized systems offer. This is made possible thanks to OPEN API and Scaffolding, which gives developers the option of running payment systems on the blockchain while keeping their codebase entirely off-chain.

Developers don’t need to know any blockchain programming languages in order to process cryptocurrency transactions. This means that OPEN’s hybrid system can easily be implemented into new and existing apps with just a few short lines of code. The easy-to-use design of the OPEN Platform makes it the perfect choice for developers who don’t have extensive knowledge about blockchain, but still want to benefit from on-chain advantages like:

• Auditability: Blockchain technology increases transparency, making it easier to track where money is going and what it’s being spent on. We can easily verify the purchase and ownership of the digital asset.
• Authorization: Smart contracts require both parties to meet their agreed-upon terms and conditions before the transaction takes place. A record of the transaction is permanently stored on chain and the data automatically propagated back to application’s database.
• Payment: Cryptocurrencies avoid the high fees charged by fiat payment providers, the liquidity waiting periods of up to 60-90 days, and fraudulent chargebacks.

With that said, there’s still one drawback that comes from having a completely on-chain application: throughput. Centralized databases process more information in less amount of time. For developers, this means slow transaction times that can drive away impatient customers.

At the moment, the Ethereum network can only process around 15 transactions-per-second, whereas centralized payment solutions can support more than 10,000 transactions. OPEN’s blockchain-agnostic approach mitigates this problem by allowing developers to accept payments on multiple blockchains and leave the computational intensive components of their application to off-chain servers.

The Future Is a Hybrid System

There is currently a growing interest in on-chain mobile applications. Right now, the focus is primarily on games like CryptoKitties, which use the blockchain to store characters, upgrades, and in-game items. But as the interest in blockchain technology continues to grow, more developers will explore ways to integrate it into their wide array of applications.

With OPEN Platform, developers have the ability to seamlessly integrate blockchain technology to increase security, as well as verify and preserve authenticity, while still using centralized databases to process more transactions and other activities going through the application.

Australia seeks the public’s advice about how to solve difficulties in crypto taxation #NEWS

TNW

Lightning Network now has more active nodes than Bitcoin Cash TNW The Lightning Network might still be in its infancy stages, but it already has more active nodes running than Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Statistics show that the Lightning Network has taken a slight lead over BCH when it comes to the total number of nodes ... and more »

There are now approximately 12 ICOs passing every day. So when one is choosing among them, it’s important to bear in mind that with so many companies wanting to make collections of funds, some will actually be a scam, others might have good intentions but prove unsuccessful, and some will have the chance to succeed.

-Pavel Salas, cryptocurrency trader, Tokenbox.io CEO, and CoinPlace adviser

As many a bleary-eyed ICO team emerges from the ashes of 2017’s year-long party (and investors wake up to find their wallets empty), a thin veil of remorse hangs delicately in the air. There’s more to ICO investing than meets the eye.

The insatiable demand created by a heady mix of FOMO marketing, constrained hard caps, and whitelists is starting to calm down.

Realization sets in that none of these quasi-legal ICO investing activities really tackled the most fundamental of issues. What’s really important to the investor? An appealing name and comfy bandwagon to jump on, or a project that will survive long term and yield positive returns?

The ICO Party Is Over

Oh, okay, it’s not that the party is over. It’s just that the lights are being turned on and the grownups are arriving. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Graham Leach, Managing Director of Remediare, comments, “In 2018, regulators have started to pay attention to what might rightly be called a historical pattern of “pump and dump” or “bucketeering” in the ICO space. They are taking strong steps to signal to participants that such activity is not only socially undesirable, it may even be criminal.”

So, that suspicious character selling dubious packages outside the door? It’s time for him to go. The focus is shifting from the eye-catching wrapping to the goods inside the box. The quality of the opportunity being examined and the feasibility of its plan.

A Corporation’s Process

Jim Angleton is President of Aegis FinServ Corp, a company that operates both in the conventional banking space and the cryptocurrency area. AegisFS adheres to a long and complex process when it comes to underwriting an investment in blockchain entities. This includes making sure the company is R3 approved, can provide 12 months of actual bank statements, passes KYC, AML and Color of Money Stress Testing, and is 100% compliant as it relates to operations.

They also carry out a background check on each member of the team and verify the quality of the technology they use. It must enable the capture of immutable, trusted, and verifiable information based on digital cryptography, grade of encryption and update schedules.

Says Angleton, “As you can see, this is quite deep, and yet we always have investor remorse because the technology is so new, so sophisticated and regulation-prone, which all makes risk an element where decision-making is extremely difficult. We like the fact that Blockchain is diversified and the horizon is very bright. What makes us sleep less at night is worry over the ‘What-if’ situation.”

Shyam Kamadolli is Managing Partner of AVG Blockchain Fund, a company that specializes in investing in blockchain technology. When asked about their investing process, he says, “We almost always ask, ‘Would this project get funded if it was a traditional VC round being raised?’ If the answer is ‘Yes’ based on our fundamental analysis and diligence, we then get into the crypto elements: the tech stack, the tokenization, deal terms, etc.”  

Individual investors may not have the same tools on hand to carry out such complex due diligence. But you can simplify things by checking out the company’s credentials, verifying the existence of its team, and asking yourself whether the technology is real and how game-changing it really is.

Sometimes your gauge can really be your own instinct. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

How Do You Know if a Company’s Going to be Successful?

“That’s not an easy answer,” Kamadolli admits. No one really knows which ICOs will go the distance and which ones will fall at the first fence. But taking some basic measures will certainly increase your chances of backing a winner.

Let’s be honest, though. Isn’t that part of the attraction to this adrenaline-filled digital money world, laden with surprises at every turn? It’s the spine-tingling uncertainty that keeps us coming back, not the knowledge that our savings are accumulating interest in a bank.

Spring Labs, an identity- and credit-focused blockchain startup, has raised $14.75 million in a seed funding round.

One of the biggest and fastest growing crypto communities announces a blockchain-based Game Monetization System and opens Token Sale on April 17.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

During the last couple of years, the gaming industry has seen a massive growth in size, as roughly 2.3 billion players produce over $105 billion in revenue on a yearly basis. However, the gaming environment has a major problem, this being a lack of monetary liquidity, due to centralized payment systems, which cannot effectively serve players who wish to purchase/sale in-game items, or those who play competitively.

This is about to change, given the appearance of FLUX, which is a unique gaming platform, meant to unite all parts of the gaming ecosystem. Therefore, players, developers, traders and other members of the community will be able to transform time spent gaming, into a profit, via the Flux Coin.

The smart contract-based platform will have several pillars supporting it. To kick things off, the matchmaking feature will allow players to compete in games, and earn the opponent’s tokens after defeating them. The developer market will allow for a more efficient monetization of competitive games, as developers can help increase demand, by distributing their games on the Flux platform, while also earning commissions on competitive matches.

Additionally, Flux will also offer a trading platform and store. All participants can trade in-game items, skins, game currencies or packages, in exchange for Flux Coin. Those with bright ideas will be able to describe their project idea, and have it funded by the community, through the crowdfunding platform available on Flux.

Those who enjoy streaming their gameplay will also obtain several benefits. Flux will grant live streamers the possibility to receive donations both from Twitch, but also from Flux. For streamers, this will mean a larger viewer base, alongside higher revenue.

To make the project a reality, Flux will be holding their public sale between the 17th and 24th of April. Keep in mind the fact that the whitelist is limited, yet offers a bonus of 30%. FLUX has already reached the soft cap, during their pre-ICO.

The FLUX team is also pleased to note the willingness of leading companies to be among the partners of the project: Ubisoft, Hyundai, and others that will be announced soon. Together with the project team – this is a highly reliable fusion of the best expertise in the industry.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, Flux hopes to monetise the gaming environment in such a way that will be beneficial to the users. By creating a universal in-game payment platform backed by tokens, Flux will eliminate many of the impediments that the gaming ecosystem has been dealing with until now. For more information, feel free to check out their website.

Africa

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

African Union Meets in Rwanda – African Union leader Ramaphosa has proposed Africa’s own cryptocurrency following Venezuela’s state coin. At a recent African Union meeting in Rwanda, where delegations of 44 nations participated, the idea was floated to sign a deal to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and a new currency similar to Euro but only digital. There are initial discussions going on regarding the new currency but it is unlikely that a consensus can be achieved in the near future.

Uganda

Africa’s young crypto enthusiasts are flocking to embrace Bitcoin and are incentivizing other people to get into the blockchain space. This is especially the case in Uganda where tech-savvy Africans are using Bitcoin for trading and long-term investments.

Bitcoin is also a new source of income for many of these new entrants in the blockchain space as the centralized economy is creating problems. The attitude of Uganda’s central bank is not encouraging for local traders as they have been warned against investing in Bitcoin as it “is taking a risk in the financial space where there is neither investor protection nor regulatory purview.”.

Kenya, Nigeria and Namibia

Kenya and Nigeria have voiced similar concerns while Namibia has banned cryptocurrencies altogether. But, overall the African countries are diverse with some taking an anti-Bitcoin stance while other more liberal economies looking to open new possibilities with the right kind of guidance and regulations. In the words of blockchain analyst Stephen Kaboyo, “it is not wise to dismiss cryptocurrencies at this stage”. Crypto enthusiasts are overall unfazed by the volatility of the market.

South Africa

Scam – In South Africa, a USD 50 million cryptocurrency scam was unearthed. A company named BTCGlobal was implicated in it and tens of thousands of African investors lost their investment, either fully or partly.

South Africans rode the cryptocurrency wave in the tens of thousands and many of them invested in BTCGlobal but it was uncovered to be a scam when CEO Steven Twain disappeared and site stopped payouts. Its guaranteed 14% weekly returns was a definite sign of scam but did not raise alarms for newcomers from the country.

CryptoKitties, that cute little game run entirely on the Ethereum blockchain, was received popularly by South Africans.

Hardware – Graphics card shortages in South Africa still abound as crypto miners are buying all the high-end GPUs, creating a demand and supply gap. NiceHash is one of the services that provided these GPUs to the public. Six card rigs are around 50,000 South African Rands (ZAR) – approximately USD 4,300 – mark right now and the goal was to buy as much hardware as they can. Some local businessmen even bought more than eight of these totalling  ZAR 300,000 (USD 26,000) . Such costly investments are not advisable, especially when possessing little or no understanding of cryptocurrencies.

Egypt

A report by the University of Toronto purports that the Egyptian government is secretly mining cryptocurrencies on its citizens’ computers. This follows a series of apparent moves by the incumbent Egyptian government to hijack computing resources and to “put them into good use”. According to the researchers, “this type of intrusion by a nation-state” is “the stuff of legends”.

A scheme called Adhose is being held responsible for the mining malware. The research found a staggering number of computers affected by Adhose in the African country. The infrastructure that is being used to enable this illegal mining effort also doubles up as a censorship tool.

The Egyptian government is in full crackdown mood against its citizens following the disruption of its electoral process. It blocks access to new sites like Aljazeera and NGOs like Human Rights Watch.

 

The post Weekly Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup: Africa, 19 to 26 March 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Asia

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

 

Japan

Japanese government’s decision to increase regulations on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked a few weeks ago, is affecting the price of Bitcoin, forcing it below USD 9,000 and eventually around USD 8,800 at the time of writing.

 

Police in Japan has claimed that Japanese people have lost over USD 6 million in cryptocurrency hacks only last year. Japan has generally been very accepting of the new digital assets but it is taking exception to Binance, which is based in Hong Kong, and Chinese politics with Japan might a be a factor in this decision.

South Korea

South Korea has been cracking down on ICOs but sources close to the current government believe that the ban on new ICOs could soon be lifted as it doesn’t want to miss out on the new asset class. The authorities are going to follow the steps by the US government to allow ICOs to operate if they register with the government, according to Cointelegraph.

South Korea is also stepping up to investigate banks over crypto-linked Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) guidelines. Despite all this negative news, South Korea is still considered as a future destination for blockchain-based technologies because of its tech infrastructure and human resource working on the blockchain technology.

China

Over in China, ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges have been banned for a long time. WeChat, the East’s answer to Whatsapp, is undergoing a crypto crackdown.

Ripple, however, is close to making a breakthrough and the pre-mined cryptocurrency could be the first fully legal coin to be allowed access to the Chinese market after regulatory clarity is achieved. Chinese regulators will test Ripple’s settlement solution.

While China is cracking down on cryptocurrencies, top Chinese innovators are currently unfazed by these latest developments. According to them, there are still plenty of opportunities despite the ban on ICOs, cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign companies dealing in cryptocurrencies.

Taiwan

The “Other China” is behaving oppositely to the mainland Chinese government’s overbearing attitude. Taiwan is actually moving towards liberalization of cryptocurrencies on its soil.

India

The Indian government’s struggles with cryptocurrencies continue as several exchanges were closed down in response to the government’s aggressive clampdown. Crypto trade also took a hit in the second most populous country in the world. India’s overall trading took a dive by over 90% as the Reserve Bank of India is finalizing regulations.

Malaysia

Malaysia’s Air Asia airlines is considering launching its digital cryptocurrency to allow cashless services. The idea was floated by one of the investors of the airline and one of Malaysia’s richest persons. Malaysia is considered as one of the best countries to be for cryptocurrency investors.

Indonesia

In a move by the Indonesian Central Bank, cryptocurrencies are not considered legitimate payments. The warning, however, makes no mention of cryptocurrency exchanges so there may be a lot following this story.

Still, Indonesia is considered a top destination for crypto startups and traders, where the crypto fever is reshaping financial markets. It is projected that within a matter of weeks, the number of crypto traders in the country will be more than conventional traders in the stock exchange.

Middle East

The Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (SAMA) is working to adopt Ripple’s blockchain technology. In a first, SAMA signed an agreement with Ripple to test a pilot program to use blockchain for its services. Central banks like SAMA are very interested in the blockchain itself, rather than in cryptocurrencies.

Over in the United Arab Emirates, a local expert has predicted a heavy Bitcoin price tanking in the coming weeks to a paltry $2,800.

Speaking at a university in Qatar, Jason Griffey, the creator of LibraryBox project is of the opinion that blockchain should be employed in libraries around the world.

 

The post Weekly Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup: Asia, 19 to 26 March 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Ethereum’s creator has proposed a new fee to help keep the cryptocurrency decentralized.

As all cryptocurrency markets are suffering from immense bearish pressure, it only seems normal we will see some worrisome trends. For Bitcoin Cash price watchers, it seems the BCH value may drop below $900 again and stay there for a day or two. This comes at a worrisome time, considering the Bitcoin Cash price only recently retook the $1,000 level.

Bitcoin Cash Price Fight at $900

As is always the case when the Bitcoin price goes down, all alternative currencies will follow eventually. In the case of the Bitcoin Cash price, it has become evident the going is getting a bit tougher than originally anticipated. While we saw a BCH value of just over $1,000 not that long ago, it seems things continue to head south, for the time being. Right now, the biggest concern is whether or not the BCH value vision remains above $900.

While the current trend seems to indicate the Bitcoin Cash price will go below $900 for at least today, it remains unclear if that will indeed happen.  There have been several dips below $900 already today, and all of them eventually saw the value bounce back to $920 or slightly higher. Right now, we are looking at a Bitcoin Cash price of $901 once again, and it seems any positive momentum is squashed as soon as it emerges. Based on that information, a dip below $900 seems more than likely, although the momentum can always turn around quickly in the world of cryptocurrency.

With a 3.27% decline in USD value, Bitcoin Cash is still in better shape than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a few other top cryptocurrencies. However, it is the 0.43% decline in BCH/BTC ratio, which will be worth keeping an eye on. If this ratio can improve ever so slightly, the Bitcoin Cash price will remain above $900 without too many problems. At the same time, any further dip in this ratio can send the value to $850 pretty quickly. Everything correlated to Bitcoin in one way or another, unfortunately.

Right now, Bitcoin Cash generates just $375.73m in 24-hour trading volume. That is nothing spectacular by any means, but it’s not terrible either. Given the overall decline in cryptocurrency trading volume these past few weeks, all of the numbers look “off”. Even so, Bitcoin Cash will need more trading volume to reverse the current price momentum, but it remains unclear if that is even feasible at this point.

With OKEx still leading the charge in terms of BCH volume, things look pretty normal for Bitcoin Cash in this regard. Their lead over HitBTC is not all that great, and OKEx’s BTC pair is not that far behind either. It’s quite unusual to see a USDT pair outpace a BTC pair for Bitcoin Cash on OKEx, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing whatsoever.

Whether or not the Bitcoin Cash price can find stable ground at or just above $900, will be the main thing to look out for today. Anything and everything is possible in the world of cryptocurrency, and it seems as if the negative pressure is slowly reversing course. Even so, any relief felt by the community throughout 2018 eventually turned into even bigger price losses. The bleeding has to stop at some point, but for now, it’s unclear if and when that will be the case.

The Americas

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

USA

Government – The American government has banned US citizens from trading in new Venezuelan cryptocurrency called Petro. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announced this new initiative to help fight back against rapid devaluation of its national currency but few in the cryptocurrency circles view Petro as a solid cryptocurrency because not much is known about it. Cryptocurrencies are generally open source with their records protected from manipulation, but and such does not seem to be the case with Petro.

The move comes after Russia was found directly complicit in creating the Venezuelan cryptocurrency even after US sanctions against it. There are reports that tie Russia as a permanent stakeholder in the Petro initiative.

Survey – A new survey by Finder, a personal finance comparisons portal, found out that more than 8% of Americans now own cryptocurrencies. This is a healthy demographic of tens of millions of citizens. The survey also predicts a rising trend in Americans when it comes to buying cryptocurrencies, mostly for trading purposes. Of the remaining 92%, 7.76% wanted to buy it in the near future. Only 35% of the public believe that cryptocurrencies are too risky while the number of people believing it is a scam is only 18%.

Legal Status, Wyoming – A positive development for cryptocurrencies saw the state of Wyoming declare cryptocurrencies as a new asset class entirely. The current tussle between Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC regarding who will regulate the cryptocurrencies was apparently put to bed, at least in the state of Wyoming. According to the latest utility token bill, a particular set of cryptocurrencies will not come under money transmission laws. But, in order to meet the requirements of the bill, the token cannot be “used as investment” but only as a “means of exchange”. This the latest move by state governments in passing laws to facilitate cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

Legal Status – The US Treasury is also working on putting cryptocurrency public addresses on its sanctions list, provided they belong to someone who has been blocked in the fiat world already. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued the list “to alert the public of specific digital currency identifiers associated with a blocked person”. The list is not likely to be exhaustive as well, according to latest reports but it is a cause for concern. OFAC further states: “Parties who identify digital currency identifiers or wallets that they believe are owned by, or otherwise associated with, an [specially designated nationals] and hold such property should take the necessary steps to block the relevant digital currency and file a report with OFAC that includes information about the wallet’s or address’s ownership, and any other relevant details.”.

Mexico

Moving South to Mexico, a company growing Habanero chilis, a favorite produce, has launched its own initial coin offering (ICO) of sorts, seeking investment from the public. The token is backed by a square meter of hydroponic production in the Quintana Roo state. The profits of “Agrocoin” will be shared with the participants of the coin offering. The minimum investment cap is kept very low to facilitate the public.

The Caribbean

Bitcoin gambling centers are becoming a big thing in the Caribbean. Many online casinos are banking on the security and application of Bitcoin to help their online businesses grow. According to a recent article on CryptoCoin Growth, digital currency could make things better in the Caribbean.

Canada

Canadian policies are extremely encouraging when it comes to the pursuit of cryptocurrency revolution. Bank of Canada deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins was of the opinion that global alignment is needed to introduce uniform cryptocurrency policies around the world.

In a recent move, Toronto-based cryptocurrency mining firm 8 Mining Corp. has struck a deal with the city of Medicine Hat to set up a cryptocurrency mining facility there. As part of the agreement, $100 million will be invested in the city and over 42 megawatts of electricity will be used. It will triple the mining company’s power to 60.7 Megawatts.

Canada is also now home to the world’s first stock exchange cryptocurrency desk. It is being operated by the TMX group that also manages the Toronto Stock Exchange.

“With this partnership, we have built the first major bridge between the crypto world and the traditional financial markets. This is just a taste of more things to come…,” said OECD Think Tank special advisor, Joseph Weinberg.

 

The post Weekly Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup: The Americas, 19 to 26 March 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

CCN

Bitcoin Price Dips Below $8000, Wider Market Struggles to Hold Above $300 Billion CCN The Bitcoin price once again dipped below $8,000 on Tuesday, demonstrating an inability to break out of its prolonged slump. The wider markets failed to fare much better, placing the cryptocurrency market cap at risk of descending below the $300 ... Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano ...Cointelegraph Bitcoin, Ethereum And Litecoin Are The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Investments Among MillennialsForbes Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major cryptocurrencies are at serious lows for 2018MyBroadband Yahoo Finance -Moneycontrol.com -Express.co.uk all 210 news articles »

newsBTC

Demand For Bitcoin in Venezuela Still Surging Amidst Economic Turmoil newsBTC After a lengthy ramp-up period, the demand for Bitcoin is spiking. Even though there have been highs and lows, the overall trend is still in place. Just last week, a new record was set for Bitcoin trading in the country. With a total value of over 1 ... and more »

Venezuela has always been a peculiar country when it comes to cryptocurrency. The locals have shown a big interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the years. It seems that demand will only continue to grow. This is despite the country having its own national cryptocurrency, known as the Petro.

Venezuela and Bitcoin

Looking at the LocalBitcoins chart, the trend in Venezuela is quite apparent. After a lengthy ramp-up period, the demand for Bitcoin is spiking. Even though there have been highs and lows, the overall trend is still in place. Just last week, a new record was set for Bitcoin trading in the country. With a total value of over 1 trillion Bolivares worth of BTC changing hands, things are looking rather promising.

One has to keep in mind the country is still plagued by massive inflation. With the value of 1 Venezuelan Bolivar declining virtually every week, this volume is bound to go up for some time to come. LocalBitcoins trading volume is not the only indicator to determine the success of this optical cryptocurrency. However, it does show the demand for BTC is very strong in Venezuela, and it may not slow down anytime soon.

What is surprising is how the demand for BTC is soaring despite the Petro becoming a thing. So far, Venezuela’s own cryptocurrency has been met with a fair amount of criticism and concern. Its legitimacy is still a big unknown, for the time being. Even so, Bitcoin is not officially recognized in the country either. One would expect that to diminish the interest in BTC, but that is not been the case. It seems both forms of currency can co-exist without any major issues.

What Comes Next for BTC in the Country?

With Bitcoin trading surging in Venezuela, something has to drive this demand. President Maduro made it clear the country wants to attract more Bitcoin mining operations moving forward. It is unclear if that decision has effectively sparked a bigger interest in Bitcoin. It does show Venezuela will keep an open mind toward this currency, which can only be considered to be a good thing.

Whether or not Bitcoin regulation will become a thing in the country, remains to be seen. Right now, there is no official indication the government is thinking along these lines. This growing interest in cryptocurrencies will ultimately require some legal framework to be established. Other countries are taking a similar approach to cryptocurrencies as of right now.

Venezuela is not the only country where Bitcoin demand is surging. Canada, Europe (in general), Hong Kong, and Indonesia are a few other regions where Bitcoin is a much-demanded commodity right now. All of these signs show the negative BTC price trend will reverse eventually. When that will happen and how successful this uptrend will be, is a different matter altogether. For now, the future looks bright for  Bitcoin in Venezuela, despite the “competition by the Petro.

The post Demand For Bitcoin in Venezuela Still Surging Amidst Economic Turmoil appeared first on NewsBTC.