Day: April 2, 2018

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Financial services company Robinhood have announced today that their customers in four US states will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Those using the Robinhood application in California, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Montana will be the first Robinhood users to benefit from the update. This should make it simpler than ever before for those new to the space to get exposure to digital assets.

Robinhood Takes Aim at Coinbase

Robinhood have been in the financial services game since 2013. Whilst, they are new to the cryptocurrency space, their business model should have some of the industry’s largest players afraid. They are actually offering trading of digital assets that is entirely commission free. When compared with the likes of Coinbase’s 1.5 – 4%, this will translate into big savings for users. It’s therefore not surprising that four million users signed up for the Robinhood Crypto waiting list in the first five days of its announcement in January.

The announcement to introduce the cryptocurrency roll out in the four mentioned states was made earlier today via Twitter:

Commission-free Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading is now rolled out and available to investors in California, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Montana. Stay tuned for more updates!

— Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) April 2, 2018

Whilst the company have only introduced BTC and ETH trading, it’s likely that the functionality will extend to at least 16 more digital assets soon. All Robinhood users can currently track the price of: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum Classic, Zcash, Monero, Dash, Stellar, Qtum, Bitcoin Gold, OmiseGo, NEO, Lisk and Dogecoin. For now, there has be no word as to when Robinhood will add additional assets or introduce BTC an ETH trading for the rest of their customers around the world.

Rather than rely on commissions to generate revenue, the Robinhood model instead charges subscription fees for users wishing to trade using borrowed money from the platform. In addition, they also make money from the interest on the money that users store in their accounts. This allows them to seriously undercut existing options in the cryptocurrency industry.

The move into cryptocurrency should bring a lot of new investors into the space. Robinhood already have an established customer base who use the application to trade stocks, ETFs, and options. It therefore seems rational that at least some of these will take up positions in digital assets, particularly given that the company focuses on a younger class of non-accredited investors – a group more likely to understand and see the appeal of cryptos.

The Robinhood application will make it easier and cheaper for potential investors to get familiar with digital currencies – something that is needed for the kind of widespread adoption needed for cryptocurrency to become the groundbreaking innovation that many hope it will do.

The post Robinhood Rolls Out Commission-Free Crypto Trading to Four US States appeared first on NewsBTC.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

For the first time in a while, the top 10 liquid cryptocurrencies are in the green. That’s a breather and considering the positive correlation of Bitcoin and altcoins, gains in the former should help drive prices in the later. Even though NEO, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, IOTA and EOS are still ranging below previous resistance lines, impressive gains in Stellar Lumens could potential kick start a new wave of bulls.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

XLM/USD (Stellar Lumens)

XLMUSD 4HR Chart from Bittrex for April 3, 2018

Most altcoins are on a recovery path and Stellar Lumens is up 10% in that regard. In fact, most altcoins are in green territory as I type this and surprisingly, Stellar Lumens is leading the march.

Anyways, from yesterday’s Stellar Lumens technical analysis, all that we needed was a close above $0.22 and with a 10% gain, that’s exactly what we are seeing.

Going forward, chances are, prices might inch higher with buyers building up their momentum as they capitalize on that bullish divergence pattern in play.

In line with this technical formation, there is room for more upside with $0.40 or the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement line the most viable short term bull target.

IOT/USD (IOTA)

IOTUSD 4HR Chart from BitFinex for April 3, 2018

Even with E-Krona announcement from Swedish authorities, IOTA couldn’t muster enough momentum to push prices higher. All we are seeing are attempts for higher highs from our IOTA technical analysis despite a stochastic buy signal in the 4HR chart.

All in all, prices are still trending around the $1 mark which is also our previous bear target and main support line. For IOTA to move higher-it registered moderate gains yesterday-then we should have strong gains above $1.1, the middle BB in the 4HR chart and $1.20 in the medium term.

As a result of this preview, seller should reduce their short holdings especially if prices break above $1.1 today. IOTA buyers can look to enter long with targets at $1.2 and $1.5.

EOS/USD (EOS)

EOSUSD 4HR Chart from BitFinex for April 3, 2018

According to Daniel Larimer, the co-founder of EOS, the token is experiencing fast development to cope up with potential threats. When Google or IBM will run supreme in the world of quantum computing, EOS will adopt blockchain technologies that would make it quantum resistant.

Of course, this is awesome news and not market moving per say—until of course when quantum computing becomes a real threat.

Before then, EOS movement is still moving within a tight range and as long as prices are below $6.5 and the resistance trend line, bears are still in charge.

This decision comes at the back of a 1.75% gain in the last 24 hours but really, that is a small gain that doesn’t influence a thing.  If bears push price action lower below $5.5, then we shall maintain our previous bear targets at $4.

LTC/USD (Litecoin)

LTCUSD 4HR Chart from CoinBase for April 3, 2018

Nothing much filtering in from the news but notwithstanding, Litecoin is up 2.35% in the past 24 hours. That’s somehow encouraging for hodlers who have been on the receiving end in Q1 2018. How fast time moves!

Anyway, from our previous Litecoin Technical Analysis, buyers are rejecting lower low and all we need is prices to inch higher with ultimate reversal of fortunes being confirmed when prices push above $140. In the mean time, sellers can wait for further appreciation before shorting at around $130-$140 whenever sell pressure is evident.

NEO/USD (NEO)

NEOUSD 4HR Chart from Bittrex for April 3, 2018

It appears that Kucoin is in a de-listing campaign and after purging Bitcoin Cash pairs, they are removing some pairs involving NEO. There is no apparent effect on price but overly, this could be negative when it comes to liquidity of this pair. Listing=utility=volumes-value gain.

To counter, news that Switcheo, a NEP-5 token exchange was launching on NEO’s mainnet is definitely supportive. If there is enough volume on this DEX, then it will definitely be a boost on NEP-5 tokens and NEO.

Switcheo (@SwitcheoNetwork) will launch it's decentralized NEP-5 token exchange on March 31st, at 5:00 pm (UTC +8). Initial tokens available for trading will be $RPX, $TKY, $IAM, $TNC, $DNC, $SWH, $NEO & $GAS. https://t.co/Tv55iocVO7

— NEO News (@NEOnewstoday) March 30, 2018

While at it, NEO is still trading within a $2 range and finding it hard to close above the middle BB in the 4HR chart. It’s on my opinion that short term aggressive traders can load long trades when NEO surge past $55. If not, bears would be in charge.

All charts courtesy of Trading View

Feature Image Courtesy of Pixabay.

The post NEO, EOS, LTC, IOTA and Lumens: Altcoins Technical Analysis April 3, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

China’s Sinochem Energy Technology completes all-Blockchain managed shipment of gasoline for “first time”. #NEWS

Bitcoin proponent and former chief equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Tom Lee, has recently encouraged Bitcoin traders to hold their coins despite its loss of 40% value so far this year.

Lee’s experience as a stock analyst has given him heightened insight into the current market slump Bitcoin is experiencing. In a note written by Lee on 28 April, he describes the current situation as a matter of market timing, which is usually advised against in traditional equity investing.

As Lee alluded to, “If an investor missed out on the 10 best days (for S&P 500) each year, the annualized return drops to 5.4 percent (ex-10 best), from 9.2 percent. In other words, the case for buy and hold in equities is the opportunity cost of missing out on the 10 best days”.

Based on Lee’s statement, this means that if an investor missed the 10 best Bitcoin preforming days every year their annual returns would decrease by 25%.  Fundstrat data released by Lee, who heads the research department, shows that on average Bitcoin was in fact down every year if the top 10 day gains are excluded.

Considering the majority of Bitcoin market gains are condensed into a small number of days each year, Lee recommends that holding is the most potentially profitable option.

HODL on

Despite the recent market instability across a number of cryptocurrencies (notably Ethereum), Fundstrat still holds the prediction that the value of Bitcoin will cross USD 25,000 by the end of 2018.

One of the main obstacles Bitcoin faces is uncertain regulatory conditions that disincentivize potential investors. Fundstrat analysts included in the same note as Lee said that they expected Bitcoin challenges to subside by the latter part of 2018, including ”the clarification of regulatory hurdles”.

A number of countries have recently pursued legislating cryptocurrency regulations, including France, Malta, and Australia.

The predictions from Fundstrat may well encourage many to HODL, the now infamous typo of a frantic trader’s appeal to hold on to Bitcoin, that has become the mantra of Bitcoin enthusiasts.

The post Tom Lee Says HODL Bitcoin As Year-end Target Stays at $25,000 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Google said Monday it is banning cryptocurrency mining extensions from the Chrome Web Store after a flood of submissions that violated its policies.

Complementary currencies + cryptotechnologies = game changer. #IN_DEPTH

Reports indicate the South Korean ministry of strategy and finance is to begin taxing cryptocurrency in a bid to regulate the crypto sector by 2019.

Since the winter of 2018, South Korea has garnered a great deal of attention as a key crypto-battleground; the rumoured ICO bans, exchange shutdowns and misleading negative press coverage has contributed to making South Korea one of the most misunderstood locations when it comes to cryptocurrencies.

But reports, on the contrary, are emerging at a hastening pace, and now South Korean regulators are reportedly planning to announce placing a capital gains tax and other income taxes on virtual money. In a statement made to Financial News, a ministry official said:

“We do not have a specific time frame, but we are thinking about announcing a virtual money tax in the first half of the year”.

The snowball effect

Negative speculation surrounding cryptocurrency in the country began appearing in January and then very slowly, as the clarity around purported crypto bans came to light, it became apparent that things were, in fact, moving in a positive direction.

As February rolled through, discussions of regulation in South Korea were brewing especially when the chief of South Korea’s Finance Supervisory Service (FSS), Choe Heung-Sik made these comments at a press conference:

“The whole world is now framing the outline (for cryptocurrency) and therefore (the government) should rather work more on normalization than increasing regulation.”.

Remarks such as these have made for a snowball effect in the global discussion of cryptocurrency. Most recently, BitcoinNews reported that Park Won-Soon, Mayor of Seoul is bringing forth new plans to adopt blockchain technologies with remarkable intentions to create Seoul’s very own cryptocurrency.

Government officials in South Korea have conducted direct investigations in several countries around the world, including Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Officials made conclusions that each country has its own approaches on how to categorize cryptocurrencies for taxation purposes:

“Currently, the US and the UK are taxed with capital gains tax, Japan with miscellaneous income, and Germany with other income. It is because the characteristics of virtual money were different in each country, such as payment means, monetary ability, financial assets, and so on. However, these countries have found that there are few cases where actual tax is imposed, as opposed to taxation based on the principle that there is a tax on income.”.

Pioneering efforts

These are very telling moments for the future of the cryptocurrency industry. South Korea’s efforts over the course of the next year could contribute to those of Switzerland, which at present is home of the Crypto Valley Association. Switzerland is beginning to receive increasing enquiries concerning blockchain technologies and is formally investigating the economic purposes and functions of the tokens.

South Korea, the third largest fiat-to-Bitcoin market in the world, is approaching the creation of positive conditions for regulatory frameworks, preparing for its capital to have its own cryptocurrency and is in now preparing for various taxation laws that would begin to normalize the existence of cryptocurrencies in the country. These are several huge steps in the right direction.

The post South Korea Regulators Preparing to Announce Cryptocurrency Taxation Laws appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Who better to learn about Fintech from than NASAA President and Director of the Alabama Securities Commission Joseph Borg? I sat down with Joe for a lengthy discussion about what millennials and baby boomers need to know about the fintech space.

Joseph Borg, NASAA President and Director of the Alabama Securities Commission

1. Technology Outruns Regulation, Always

“The crossroads between financial services and technology, a la fintech, is the wave of the future, and it’s here now,” said Joseph Borg, Director of the Alabama Securities Commission. But the one thing to understand is that technology always outruns regulation.

The Merkle: Why do you believe that regulation falls behind newer technology?

Joseph Borg: Fintech, with all its great technology, time-saving [features] and convenience, has its dangers as well. We’re getting into spaces, e.g. cryptocurrency and ICOs, where folks take advantage of those who may not understand that technology quite as well, or put too much trust in that technology. As a result, they forget about security for their own personal well-being.

2. Not All Risks Are Created Equal

Recently, state securities regulators conducted a pulse survey regarding who they believed to be most at risk for fraud, underscoring why regulators in the industry need to stay vigilant.

The Merkle: Who do you think is most at risk for fraud in this space?

Borg: Definitely the millennial generation. Why? Because they grew up with technology. There is a [deep] trust in that tech, because that’s what they know, which is well-founded. But I think they also don’t have this “fear of loss of privacy,” and because of that trust, sometimes they don’t see the potential for fraud, whether it’s hype or not.

The Merkle: As a millennial myself, how do you see us taking steps towards appreciating the risks that come with this new technology?

Borg: It’s a matter of education. Chances are, you’re familiar with historical turndowns and problems in the past, but you haven’t seen it personally with regards to technology. For example, you may know about stock market crashes and housing bubbles, but you haven’t really experienced it with technology. Therefore, technology has a greater stature to your generation than other things.

The Merkle: Why aren’t baby boomers as attractive to fraudsters?

Borg: Fraudsters are attracted to the baby boomer generation simply because millennials are still in the process of accumulating money. Whether it’s building up a credit history, putting a down payment on a house, or even building up a stock portfolio, this isn’t as enticeful in comparison to baby boomers, who already have money in the bank and equity in their homes.

“Dollar-wise, baby boomers are a greater target to the fraudster than most millennials,” said Borg. It’s easier to be misled by fraudulent tactics, whether it’s receiving an email from the Nigerian Prince promising $25 million, to a simple phishing attack. These individuals fall for it and fail to realize they just gave away their identity.

3. Don’t Believe The Hype

We are in the center of the digital currency and ICO hype. But what are regulators saying about it?

The Merkle: How do you feel about the mania that is cryptocurrency?

Borg: Anything new in technology always has some hype to it, especially if there’s money involved … the cryptocurrency craze is no different [from] the housing boom. Before the stock market crash, everyone was flipping houses. Why? Because that was the market. It was the thing to do. The crypto market is no different. Where problems arise is when investors fall for the advertisement puffery, like the email from the Nigerian prince offering millions of dollars – in other words, the “too good to be true” scenario.

Now we are in the cryptocurrency space, and those smart enough to mine some of it back in 2008-2010 suddenly saw spikes. We have the same type of mania out there, where anybody who’s anybody, who has no clue what cryptocurrency is, or blockchain for that matter, [is] investing in it. Thus, frauds and crooksters are coming out of the woodwork.

The Merkle: How does cryptocurrency fraud impact the baby boomers?

Borg: [T]hose who are maybe a bit behind in their retirement savings, or whose house fell under water during the last crash, are being told that their money may not be around, that healthcare costs are going up, and that they are going to outlive their money. It’s the “we had a bust in the market, and crypto is going up, so maybe I should buy some. That’s where fraudsters come in, because the best frauds are ripped out of the headlines today. Anything fintech.“

For those getting involved in the space, blockchain tech is here to stay. It’s still a new system, and it may not be as unhackable as people claim. So what’s Borg’s message to anyone investing?

If you’re really geared for this, and you think this is something you want to try—once you do your background, if you want to invest, take your money and say to yourself, ‘If I went to Vegas today, and put this on one bet, red or black, and I bet red, and it came out black,’ could I walk away and say, ‘Oh well, that was fun,’ and go to sleep at night? Can you still sleep at night, knowing you lost it? If yes, then no problem.

4. Don’t Put Your White Flags Up Yet

When Mt. Gox first failed, I got calls the next day saying—requesting the FDIC’s assistance because their ‘funds were in a bank’ and their ‘bitcoin accounts were hacked.’ Nobody understood what they were getting into in the first place. Some thought they were getting actual gold, fiat coins.

The problem with the cryptocurrency market today is that people simply don’t understand it. How can they? They look at a whitepaper that seems like the perfect outline of what it will do and what it could do. But focus in on those keywords—will do and could do. There’s no guarantee that these ventures will survive or even be successful. For those that are, there’s a reason.

The Merkle: What message do you have for investors or businesses investing in blockchain tech and in the crypto space?

Borg: You have to be weary of anyone promising high returns. Right now, every bank is investing in blockchain, and potentially cryptocurrency, down the road. Remember, you can’t guarantee high investment returns, because by definition, high investment returns means more risk. There’s never a guarantee they will increase in value. If you’re getting an unsolicited offer from someone wanting to do it, be weary of it; if it’s too good to be true, it is. More importantly, are they licensed? Many of these fraudulent schemes are unlicensed individuals with unlicensed firms. If you’re approached as an investor, look at red flags you would look at for any other type of investment.

Fintech is here to stay, and it will take time to sort out the development of new tech and the regulations that surround it. “Like mutual funds when it first started, it’s going to have to get sorted out, because nobody understand it,” said Borg.

“The folks creating the tech know more about it than the regulators, but it’s not a criticism against regulators,” explained Borg. The next group to be in the know are the fraudsters, as they make their living off of it and have to know the ins and outs.

5. Do It Right

The Merkle: Can you expand on what “doing it right” means in your world?

Borg: Register the currency as a security, get a broker dealer involved for the sales aspect. Consider the rules with respect to disclosures, and the whitepapers being used—these whitepapers are the preliminary to a disclosure statement. Think about it, it’s 40% of the disclosure statement being used. Now just put that with the risk factors.

The Merkle: Turning to venture capitalists, what would you tell them?

Borg: To venture capitalists looking at ICOs—use lawyers who understand tech, but also hire lawyers who understand securities law and commodities. Otherwise, you’re going to fall under either securities (most of the time), commodities (a lot of the time), or money transmission laws (the rest of the time).

Google have decided to take action against the recent rise in cases of cryptojacking. They announced today that they will no longer allow Chrome extensions that mine cryptocurrency.

Blanket Ban on Crypto Mining Extensions

The web giant stated that new submissions of extensions for their Chrome browser that contain scripts used to mine cryptocurrency would no longer be accepted as of today. In addition, Google will remove all existing extensions from their web store that are used to mine digital currencies by July.

Cryptojacking refers to the practice of using other people’s computer systems to mine cryptocurrency. Using malicious software or browser extensions, those behind cryptojacking operations generate revenue by setting other people’s computer processors to work at mining cryptocurrency.

It isn’t necessarily done maliciously but more often than not, it is performed without the express consent of the computer user. One non-malicious use of such software is to provide internet users with an ad-free experience. For example, a website could earn the money to pay their overheads by using their readers’ computers to mine cryptocurrency rather than how publishers of content usually fund their pages – through advertising.

If everyone is aware that their computer’s resources are being used in such a way, there isn’t anything morally questionable about the practice. However, most examples are implemented secretly.

Despite being aware of cryptojacking for some time, until now, Google had allowed mining extensions to be listed in their Chrome store. They did require that users were fully informed that they’d be mining crypto for them. In addition, only extensions that were for the purpose of mining and nothing else were permitted.

Despite these provisos, many extensions that didn’t meet Google’s requirements made it on to the store anyway. Wired estimate that some 90% of the extensions submitted did not meet the standard set by Google. These were either blocked before making it on to the store or removed at a later date. James Wagner, the extensions product manager at Google told the publication:

“The key to maintaining a healthy extensions ecosystem is to keep the platform open and flexible… This is why we chose to defer banning extensions with cryptomining scripts until it became clear that the vast majority of mining extensions submitted for review failed to comply with our single purpose policy or were malicious.”

The announcement from Google is the latest example of the biggest internet companies trying to control the ever-increasing incidences of scamming relating to the cryptocurrency space. Already this year, Facebook, Twitter, and Google themselves have banned cryptocurrency advertising from their platforms. These moves were made to protect investors from losing money by backing fraudulent companies.

The post Cryptocurrency Mining Extensions Banned From Chrome Web Store appeared first on NewsBTC.

Price protection app Earny has recently revealed that the crypto hardware wallet, Ledger Nano, was US state Nevada’s most popular purchase over the 2017 Christmas season. The wallet is one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most favored along with Trezor and Keepkey.

Although the published data did exclude smart home devices, the survey demonstrates that the popularity of the device in crypto-friendly Nevada is growing.  At least in some states, user interest in cryptocurrency has some momentum. The data reflected purchases made between November 2017 and February 2018 with a range of frequent purchases throughout the country from lava lamps to glue.

Hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano have grown in popularity as they provide a far more secure storage of crypto assets. This is due to robust safety features for storage and for securing digital payments. The Nano connects to any computer with a secure LED display which requires users to check and double check each transaction with a single tap.

Such wallets are a preferred way of storing cryptocurrencies, as platform-stored assets could be susceptible to online cyber vulnerabilities.

It is not surprising perhaps that Nevada’s crypto trading public has warmed to the Ledger as the state was the first in the US to block taxation on blockchain transactions. The blockchain-friendly bill was introduced last year and received unanimous Senate approval.

The US is starting to becoming increasingly Bitcoin-friendly, state by state, following recent enthusiasm for cryptocurrency shown by both Nevada and Arizona. Along with other states such as Wyoming and Tennessee, numerous crypto-friendly bills have been introduced in houses of state legislatures around the country.

A reflection of this interest on a federal-state level was Washington’s recent SEC and CFTC hearings on 6 February this year which was focussed on cryptocurrency and blockchain issues. Chair of the SEC, Jay Clayton, although not a crypto enthusiast,  said that the role of virtual currencies in a modern financial ecosystem “couldn’t be denied”.

The post Nevada Goes Ledger Nano Mad at Christmas appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.