Day: March 30, 2018

The tax treatment of hard forks in the U.S. is uncertain and the IRS should issue guidance addressing such issues, says a legal expert.

With all cryptocurrencies bleeding value as of right now, it is evident the upcoming weekend will be crunch time for a lot of altcoins. As of right now, the Tron price is taking a major beating compared to other currencies This is pretty interesting, as the team recently unveiled the launch of the testnet. So far, most investors seemingly couldn’t care less.

The Tron price is Heading Down

While all other cryptocurrencies are also losing value, the Tron price is the only one effectively in the double-digit percentage right now. That in itself is quite problematic for such a currency which has seen a meteoric rise over the past six months. At the same time, the Tron price exploded without a working project, and it seems that is now backfiring on the project as a whole.

Even though Tron now finally has an official testnet, it is evident there’s still a lot of work to be done. As such, the Tron price is not responding kindly, as the losses are piling up as we speak. How all of this will play out in the long run, remains to be seen, for the time being. With the Tron price now heading below $0.043, it is evident a drop to $0.04 is not entirely impossible.

With this 10.8% decline, things are not looking great for the Tron price. With this altcoin also losing value against both Bitcoin and Ethereum  -both of which are dropping in value right now as well – it is evident the future looks pretty troublesome for Tron as a whole. Whether or not the momentum will temporarily reverse over the weekend, is a different matter altogether. Anything is possible, but for now, the Tron price will likely keep going down.

With $512.66m in 24-hour trading volume, Tron is certainly outpacing a lot of the altcoins on the market as of right now. Whether or not this volume will help the Tron price recover in the long run, is a different matter altogether. It seems the sellers are in full control of the market, and until the Tron price can find a stable floor, things may not improve anytime soon either.

Looking over the exchanges ranked by trading volume, Binance is in firm control of the market as of right now. Their trading volume is over double that of Upbit, and nearly four times as high as Bittrex. With no fiat currency pairs in sight, it has become evident the cryptocurrency holders are trying to diversify right now. So far, that isn’t doing Tron any favors, but things are always subject to change in the world of cryptocurrency.

Whether or not the testnet launch can effectively boost the Tron price, is a different matter altogether. Right now, it seems most holders still don’t care too much about something that isn’t a live and working global product. At the same time, the overall negative pressure across all cryptocurrency markets is still in full effect. This coming weekend will be pretty interesting, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

Cryptocurrency exchanges play a big role in people’s lives. These service providers can effectively make or break someone’s personal life. It seems evident OKEx may have some explaining to do in this regard. One of their customers claims the company liquidated his large Bitcoin stash in an illegal manner.

The OKEx Story in Brief

A lot of factors regarding this OKEx incident are still unknown. More specifically, sources claim someone attempted to take matters into their own hands at the company’s offices. The reason for this behavior is the alleged liquidation of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. More specifically, the liquidation allegedly occurred illegally. It is a very troublesome development which also highlights a few key risks.

#okex illegally liquidated this Chinese person $10,00,000 worth of #Bitcoin $BTC. He was trying to commit suicide right in front of the okex office. https://t.co/wFu3ULBaq0

— Coin Panda (@8bitandstuff) March 29, 2018

Relying on centralized trading platforms will always be a big problem. These companies effectively control user funds at all times. Trusting companies with thousands of dollars is a mental hurdle for a lot of people. Doing so with millions is a very different idea altogether. There is no reason any third-party should ever access millions of dollars of your personal funds and remain in control over it at all times.

Additionally, responsible investing is something people tend to lose track of as well. The cryptocurrency greed is setting in on a regular basis. Especially with the prices skyrocketing last year, a lot of people threw life savings into Bitcoin and outcomes. Right now, their portfolio has dropped by 50% in value or more. Cryptocurrency is not a get-rich-quick scheme by any standards.

The Volatility is not Over

Unfortunately, it seems things will get worse for cryptocurrency holders. As of right now, there is so much volatility in the market, the prices will likely continue to drop. Someone is clearly pushing the value of Bitcoin down on purpose. Despite solid technical developments on the horizon, it seems the world’s leading cryptocurrency keeps taking a beating.

The "illegality“ here was due to OKEx futures price crashing 30%-40% more than every other margin exchange, when spot price merely went down by 5%. This greatly reduced "leeway" and made liquidation inevitable.

— Coin Panda (@8bitandstuff) March 30, 2018

Some people speculate how OKEx may play a big role in this regard. Their futures market is certainly crashing a lot harder compared to the rest of the exchanges. This is quite odd, as their spot price doesn’t suffer the same fate. It appears a lot of trader son that platform may get liquidated due to this “strange” activity. Whether or not something malicious is going on, remains to be determined.

All of this further confirms people need to think wisely before buying Bitcoin. It is a long-term hold when buying the cryptocurrency itself. Investing in futures contracts may seem more convenient, but it also has clear drawbacks. Financial gains and losses are very much a part of cryptocurrency as a whole. With futures being liquidated, the money is gone forever. Buying the currency outright and storing it in a proper wallet will leave the end user in control at all times.

NewsBTC reached out to OKEx for comment but did not receive any response at the time of publishing.

Image From Shutterstock

The post Trader Threatens to Commit Suicide, as Millions Worth of Bitcoin Were Liquidated appeared first on NewsBTC.

Nvidia’s CEO bullish on crypto as a means of value exchange, mainstream media interview shows. #NEWS

Bitcoin prices dropped to a 50-day low of $6,630 today, but a bottom may be in sight, chart analysis suggests.

Intel’s new BTC mining hardware accelerator patent seeks to reduce BTC mining energy use. #NEWS

No safe haven for investors as traditional stock markets perform worst since January 2016. #NEWS

The Singapore government is launching an innovation-boosting blockchain challenge that will reward successful projects with funding.

After a week of Twitter ad ban news and Mailchimp’s closure of crypto-related accounts, the crypto markets have seen a overall decrease in prices across the board. #NEWS

The negative momentum in the cryptocurrency industry is not slowing down by any means. It is evident some people are trying to push the price of all cryptocurrencies down for quite some time to come. As of right now, we are looking at a Bitcoin price which struggles to remain above $7,100. Not necessarily the development people have been looking for.

The Bitcoin Price Struggle Worsens

While it is not entirely surprising to see the Bitcoin price struggle today as well, it has become rather evident there is no real improvement in sight as of right now. While we were still looking at a Bitcoin price of $7,500 last night, things have become a lot more problematic in the past few hours. As of right now, that same Bitcoin is valued at $7,177.

Whether or not the Bitcoin price will continue to drop lower, is very difficult to predict. It seems there is no stable support level as of right now, which may effectively push the Bitcoin price well below $7,000 in the near future. Assuming that is indeed what will happen, the entire cryptocurrency market cap can easily dip below $250bn before the week is over. It is a very worrisome turn of events for new investors, but most of us are used to these wild swings by now.

Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Bitcoin price drop by another 5.38%. It is still a pretty steep decline, although less bad on the eyes compared to that 11% drop yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, it seems the Bitcoin price continues to decline by 5% to 10% every single day. Considering how these losses come on the heels of an already declining Bitcoin rice, it is evident things are not looking too great as of right now.

While the Bitcoin trading volume is on the rise as of right now, it is quite interesting to see how the sellers continue to scare off potential buyers as of right now. With $7.43bn in 24-hour volume compared to yesterday’s $5bn, it is evident liquidity is not much of a problem in the world of Bitcoin right now. Unfortunately, it is not liquid for the right reasons as of right now.

With Bitfinex still leading the charge as of right now, the influx of fiat currency into Bitcoin seems almost guaranteed. Binance and OKEx complete the top three with two USDT trading pairs, which is pretty interesting. Whether or not we will see some positive developments in this regard, remains to be determined. Things are just not looking all that great right now, although things may start to look up when the weekend comes around.

For the time being, the Bitcoin price can still head in any direction. It seems more likely we will see another Bitcoin price decline in the near future, which may push its value well below $7,000 in the hours to come. At the same time, the value may rise to $7,500 again over the weekend, although that will not turn it into a new support level automatically.

Last year, social media platform Kik raised a whopping USD 98 million for its “kin” token, and now the Kin Foundation is branching out into the video game industry, specifically through leading game engine developer, Unity.

Unity has joined with Kin to develop a gaming-specific software development kit (SDK), the purpose of which is to integrate kin, which is hosted on both Ethereum and Stellar blockchains.

Worlds collide

The famed Unity engine has been use by video game developers and publishers all over the world, notable titles built on the engine in recent years have been: the Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality VR game, Cuphead, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Kerbal Space programme, and is a company that is very well ahead of the times. Earlier this month, PocketGamer.biz reported that Unity had also partnered with DMarket in a move intended to bring real asset value to in-game inventories.

Theirs not the only video game focused blockchain effort in the world. BitcoinNews recently reported that an Ethereum-based tabletop video game console is making its way onto the market that has potential to share a similar premise, the monetization of video gamers in-game data, such as high-level characters or items.

Another player in the game, ImmVRse, is taking on the cutting edge of video game technology. Virtual Reality (VR) is getting attention from industries all across the globe; construction, property, medicine, advertising and of course, video games are all developing VR systems for whatever needs they have.

Once again, with ImmVRse, the idea is to decentralize VR and monetize the creative content built through on platforms through its native token.

Lidwine Sauer, director of insights and trends at publishing giant Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab, summarized the ideological pursuit in an interview with gaming news website IGN, saying:

“…finally have real digital collectibles that cannot be replicated by anyone and can be 100 percent owned by you. Thanks to the blockchain, we can now have the equivalent of a digital Picasso, with the advantage that it’s a lot more difficult to steal something on the blockchain than to steal a Picasso.”

Digital ownership
Monetization and peer-to-peer trades appear to be part of the early and decentralization of video game technology, and perhaps for some players, it redistributes some of the incredible amounts of revenue from micro-transactions and digital content made by the industry.

It seems natural for these two technologies to come together, as virtual currencies and digital cash purchases are now a norm for consumers. The gamer audience is dominantly made up of millennials already have a strong connection with blockchain technology and may treat these early efforts to control their digital assets similarly to that of the liberating move away from fiat to crypto.

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