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Asia Pacific: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th March to 5th April 2018

Asia Pacific 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 14% of Japan’s young male workforce invest in cryptocurrencies: According to a recent study by Shin R25, more than 14% of Japan’s young …

The post Asia Pacific: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th March to 5th April 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Asia Pacific

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

14% of Japan’s young male workforce invest in cryptocurrencies: According to a recent study by Shin R25, more than 14% of Japan’s young male employees in the age bracket of 25-30 regularly invest in cryptocurrencies. Out of these young enthusiasts, 92% got into it because it was a good investment while 37.4%invested because it was a “trend” and around 20% said they got into it because of media and investor acquaintances. Regarding future investment, around 45% were of the opinion that they would invest again in the future while 35% didn’t want to invest again because of sharply declining prices in the near-term. Japan continues to be a strong hub of investment in cryptocurrencies particularly Asian origin NEO and NEM coins.

Japan’s central bank encourages people to “try” cryptocurrencies: In a bold move, Japan’s central bank’s financial services information head Masashi in a Q&A summary called Lets think about cryptocurrencies” has called for the public to at least try cryptocurrencies in the future.

The official statement said: “To that end, it is important to actually try it in the world. There is reason to believe that [its maturity] will allow us to use existing cryptocurrencies, accumulate use cases and promote further technical development.”.

Japanese online broker bids for cryptocurrency exchange: Japanese cryptocurrency broker Monex is considering buying CoinCheck, a cryptocurrency exchange that suffered a high-profile hack back in January according to recent reports. Bitcoin’s price index actually experienced a significant increase in the following days following this positive news from the Land of the Rising Sun and rose above USD 7,400 after the news was aired as it would have given the embattled exchange another lifeline.

Chinese national arrested for cryptocurrency fraud: Japanese police revealed last Tuesday that they had arrested a Chinese citizen from Tokyo after the said person was caught selling client accounts in cryptocurrency exchanges that he had opened to a gang of criminals. The man, named by reports as Lin Xiaolin, had been living in Tokyo for a while. He has so far denied these allegations and could be trialled later on. When the cryptocurrency boom was at its peak, many cryptocurrency exchanges closed their doors to new investors because of scalability and security issues. Because of the demand, it was somewhat common to see people looking to buy existing cryptocurrency exchange accounts that were sitting idle or with negligible activity.

South Korea

Seoul to launch its own cryptocurrency: News from Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has confirmed earlier reports that the city administration is aiming to launch its own cryptocurrency called the S-Coin. The coin will be used for social benefits programs according to the mayor Park Won-soon and it will launch soon according to an interview with Coindesk Korea.

Won-Soon said: “As Seoul is the world’s leading city in the field of information and communications, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution, I think we should study new technologies such as blockchains.”.

Blockchain technology will potentially be used for a wide range of government administrative processes in South Korea.

Cryptocurrency exchanges promise market cleanup: Cryptocurrency exchanges operating from South Korea have called for a “healthier” market trend. The exchanges Gopax, Coinone and Korbit, one of the biggest in the country collectively declared this during the Deconomy conference in Seoul last Tuesday.

Exchange executives in lockup in embezzlement probe: South Korean authorities on cyber crime have arrested four executives from two cryptocurrency exchanges CoinNest and and another unnamed one on charges of embezzlement of customer funds.

According to a Reuters report, the prosecutors’ office alleged: “They are being questioned about the embezzlement of billions of won (tens of millions of dollars) from their clients’ accounts and transferring it to their own”.

China

Crypto mining company posing threat to AMD and Nvidia: Cryptocurrency Mining hardware is going to face increased competition in the future as US chipmakers AMD and Nvidia will be tested by Chinese hardware company Bitmain Technologies Ltd based in Beijing. The Chinese company just started sales of its powerful Ethereum mining hardware and will look to build on that and challenge the hegemony of AMD and Nvidia in GPU mining.

China likely to follow global cryptocurrency regulations: China will likely support a consensus-based global cryptocurrency regulatory framework according to a recent insight by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The move comes after recent investments in blockchain technology by the Chinese government and impending release of the first government-backed cryptocurrency in the country.

China’s government cryptocurrency gathering momentum: A group of Shanghai reporters got a rare look inside the secret project by the Chinese government to introduce a new state-backed cryptocurrency in the market. The reporters were allowed access into Bank of China Credit Card Development Ltd in Hanghzhou. However, the bank also doubled down on not recognizing other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin or Ethereum.

India

Cryptocurrency purchases banned: Reserve Bank of India has banned cryptocurrency purchases from local fiat bank accounts according to latest sweeping measure in the South Asia country.

According to an RBI statement:

“Reserve Bank has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, regarding various risks associated in dealing with such virtual currencies. In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time.”

Malaysia

Malaysian airlines open to cryptocurrencies: According to news from The Sun Daily, Malaysian Airlines is open to new digital initiatives to enhance customer experience and would be open to a cryptocurrency payment option.

Australia

New crypto exchange regulation enforced: Effective from 3 April, the Australian government has levied new Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, according to confirmed reports from the Australian government. The move comes after a sharp rise in cryptocurrency related scams in the region. Failure to abide by these new regulations will risk appropriate punishment from the courts but a six-month grace period is also given to the exchanges to catch up to these new rules.

 

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Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 04/06/2018 – How Low Can It Go?

Bitcoin price completed its pullback to a descending trend line and Fib level, resuming the drop to the swing low. Price is currently testing the 38.2% Fibonacci extension level at $6500 and could be due for more downside. In that case, the next support could be at the 50% extension or $6240. Stronger selling pressure

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Bitcoin price completed its pullback to a descending trend line and Fib level, resuming the drop to the swing low. Price is currently testing the 38.2% Fibonacci extension level at $6500 and could be due for more downside.

In that case, the next support could be at the 50% extension or $6240. Stronger selling pressure could take it down to the 61.8% extension at $5934 or the full extension at $4942.7.

However, the 100 SMA is starting to cross above the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that a reversal from the downtrend could be due once completed. Still, these moving averages could hold as near-term resistance on another bounce.

Stochastic is pointing down to signal that sellers still have some energy left to push for more losses. However, the oscillator is also nearing oversold conditions to indicate that bearish pressure is weakening.

Risk aversion has returned to the markets once more on worsening trade tensions between the US and China. Neither party is refusing to back down and has announced more sets of higher tariffs on each other over the past 24 hours.

This has led to a wide selloff in stocks and commodities, leading traders to put funds in the safe-haven dollar instead. Apart from that, the upcoming NFP release could also provide some support for the dollar if the actual results turn out stronger than expected. This would spur rate hike hopes for the rest of the year and increase the dollar’s appeal versus bitcoin price.

Another factor weighing on bitcoin price is the ban announced by India’s central bank. The Reserve Bank of India banned banks from allowing people to transfer money from their bank account into wallets, which also weighs on one of the markets of the cryptocurrency.

Along with their monetary policy statement, the RBI said the ban on “dealing with or providing services to any individuals or business entities dealing with or settling virtual currencies” will take effect immediately.

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Crypto in March – a Simple Overview

Below you can find an overview of what happened in March in the world of cryptocurrencies – brought to you by SimpleFX CFDs trading platform. Whether you took some time off following the news and you’d like to catch up, or you just want to go over last month’s highlights, this article is for you.

The post Crypto in March – a Simple Overview appeared first on NewsBTC.

Below you can find an overview of what happened in March in the world of cryptocurrencies – brought to you by SimpleFX CFDs trading platform. Whether you took some time off following the news and you’d like to catch up, or you just want to go over last month’s highlights, this article is for you.

As revealed by the documents that are said to have come from Edward Snowden, NSA is allegedly running surveillance programs aimed at identifying bitcoin users. This is actually not surprising as it’s consistent with the concerns about cryptocurrencies being used for financing terrorism voiced by Steven Mnuchin and some US lawmakers. In a similar vein, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a US agency responsible for the country’s foreign economic sanctions, announced that it’s planning to add cryptocurrency addresses as another type of identifiers to its list of entities that US companies cannot do business with.

Twitter banned many accounts as a result of a spike in the number of copycat profiles scamming users to transfer cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, some of the legitimate ones were also caught in the crossfire. Following that, the platform introduced a policy banning ICOs and token sales ads. It will be interesting to see if the ban is going to include cryptocurrencies as such. In light of a recent comment by Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, that bitcoin will become more important than US dollar as well as his own involvement in the crypto sector, there may be hope for some leniency.

It seems that the cryptocurrency sector has reached a point when balanced regulations would be most welcome and actually beneficial to legitimate businesses. Currently, there have been many instances of different kinds of scams, which caused reactions from the authorities. However, as governments have little experience with cryptocurrencies and no clear legal frameworks, they are in the dark. Hence, their actions might be at times disproportionate and hurting legitimate companies. The same situation is with companies such as Facebook, Google, and MailChimp blocking cryptocurrency content, which might actually slow down the development of DLT innovation.

Last but not least, March was also the month when another edition of Cryptocurrency World Expo took place, this time in Germany. We are happy to say that SimpleFX received the award for Best Cryptocurrency Trading Platform 2018, the second year in a row.

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Cardano Prices Keeps Dropping as $0.15 Support is Obliterated

Cryptocurrencies are always evolving, albeit not necessarily in the direction people would hope. In the case of the Cardano price, the momentum earlier this week has completely evaporated, as the value is plummeting once again. With a  5.92% decline in the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency markets remain extremely volatile with little improvements in sight. Cardano Price Struggle is Very Real As one may have noticed by looking at the cryptocurrency price charts these past few months, the overall momentum is anything but positive right now. It seems a fair few market makers are intent on keeping all prices as

Cryptocurrencies are always evolving, albeit not necessarily in the direction people would hope. In the case of the Cardano price, the momentum earlier this week has completely evaporated, as the value is plummeting once again. With a  5.92% decline in the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency markets remain extremely volatile with little improvements in sight.

Cardano Price Struggle is Very Real

As one may have noticed by looking at the cryptocurrency price charts these past few months, the overall momentum is anything but positive right now. It seems a fair few market makers are intent on keeping all prices as low as possible, even though they will not necessarily benefit from this pressure. In fact, it has become more than apparent any small uptrend will be dumped through immediately.

For the Cardano price, this means the going only gets tougher as more time progresses. More specifically, we see the Cardano price lose even more value in these past few days compared to the weeks and prior. As of right now, we are looking at a value of just over $0.14, which is a fair bit lower compared to the all-time high of $1.28.

It also appears Cardano continues to lose value compared to Bitcoin, which only further compounds these problems as of right now.With the Bitcoin price also on the decline, there is little to no room for upward momentum for the Cardano price. Racine $0.2 seems almost completely out of the question right now, and it is likelier we will see the value drop to $0.1 in the coming days and weeks.

Even the trading volume for Cardano so far from where it is supposed to be. As of right now, Cadano notes a rather poor trading volume of just $90.1m, which is next to nothing for a cryptocurrency in the top 10 ranked by market cap. Unfortunately, all currencies still suffer from a decline in overall volume, and that trend is not improving, by the look of things.

With a South Korean exchange leading in terms of trading volume, it is evident the rest of the world is not looking at buying cryptocurrencies like Cardano right now. Instead, we see only two platforms generating over $10m in trading volume these past 24 hours. Upbit represents over half of all ADA trades, whereas Binance takes care of another 22.47%. The third exchange is Bittrex, followed by another Upbit trading pair.

All of this goes to show the upcoming weekend may effectively be one of the worst for all cryptocurrencies. Considering we had a small uptrend earlier this week, it seems highly unlikely something like that will happen again in the next two days. For Cardano price watchers, it may be best to not look at the charts too closely for the foreseeable future, as this bumpy ride is far from over.

Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th March to 5th April 2018

Europe 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. European Union Effects of EU regulation on the market: During the Easter winter break, the EU mostly remained silent on new cryptocurrency regulation. However, …

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Europe

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.

European Union

Effects of EU regulation on the market: During the Easter winter break, the EU mostly remained silent on new cryptocurrency regulation. However, the aftershocks of the recent Brussels announcement in EU securities watchdog European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and its new set of rules designed to stop leverage limits for cryptocurrencies were evident as Bitcoin price stumbled to a several-month low of around USD 6,500. It is feared that the leverage limit for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is there to stay and will be adopted by other countries and financial unions as well.

Lichtenstein

Friendly regulation: Lichtenstein’s government has announced that it is going to be taking a “light-handed approach” towards cryptocurrency regulation in a bid to attract more blockchain businesses in the small European nation. Lichtenstein’s stance on cryptocurrencies is directly in line with its recent low-taxation policy to attract businesses from around the world. Elaborating on the loose regulations, it won’t be necessary to open a bank account to start a blockchain business and the entire process can be handled in either Bitcoin or Ethereum as the central bank of Liechtenstein has started accepting cryptocurrencies directly. In the words of blockchain entrepreneur Yanislav Malahov: “They’re making it really easy to incorporate a cryptocurrency business.”.

Lichtenstein aims to become a global hub in blockchain-related businesses and increase Europe’s appeal around the world as the centre of excellence in blockchain.

France

Vague cryptocurrency policyFrench minister for finance and economics Bruno Le Maire briefed the French news website Numerama regarding the future cryptocurrency policy of the European nation aimed at inviting blockchain businesses from around the world.

The op-ed is a message to the French people that blockchain technology is the future and an agent of change in the world, both disruptive and beneficial. According to him, “[cryptocurrency and blockchain] could upset daily practices in the banking and insurance sectors, financial markets, but also patents and certified acts… Let’s not be mere spectators: become actors in this revolution.”.

All in all, the future policy of France would be “benevolent, yet cautious” thus offering little concrete meaning for blockchain businesses who might be inclined to invest in France. There is a need for further clarification from the French ministry regarding the vague contents of this op-ed by Le Marie.

Germany

Deliberating on future of crypto regulation: Germany and France’s tussle on regional influence and dominance may take its toll on cryptocurrencies as well since both offered differing opinions at the recent G20 meeting. While France is sending out mixed signals with lenient ICO rules, Germany is focused on making a unified European Union stance on cryptocurrencies and wants France to come onboard. It is expected that regulatory conventions in both of these countries will directly affect the concerted effort by the EU to arrive at a unified cryptocurrency and blockchain policy.

Deutsche Bank calling for crackdown on cryptocurrencies: In the absence of a robust policy towards cryptocurrencies, Phillippe Vollot, the global head of Deutsche Bank, was of the opinion that cryptocurrencies are not subject to regulation and controls by the German government and it is, therefore, the duty of the government to crackdown on illegal unregulated crypto trade. He is advocating strict control using modern technologies including bots to help control suspicious transactions.

German national tourist board now accepting payment in cryptocurrencies: German National Tourist Board based in Frankfurt has now started accepting payment in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for its services.

Spain

Cryptocurrency cyber criminals arrested: A notorious cyber criminal gang involved in heists of over USD 1.2 billion worth of funds was arrested in Alicante, Spain. The gang comprised of Ukrainians and Russians who robbed over 100 financial institutions around the world and covered their tracks by converting the stolen wealth to cryptocurrency.

According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo: “The alleged mastermind is a 34-year-old Ukrainian man whom officials identified as “Denis K,” who wanted to create a money-laundering cryptocurrency for the Russian mafia.”

Spain’s rise in cryptocurrency circles gone under the radar? Spain is at the forefront of cryptocurrency innovation and global shift towards cryptocurrencies. The Spanish government has set up two major industrial blockchain consortiums that are aimed at making Spain the frontrunner in the new technology. It is also planning to use blockchain in an attempt to counter money laundering.

Russia

Putin promises obligatory cryptocurrency regulations: The Russian government is working on a new cryptocurrency regulation called Digital Assets Regulation Bill which has been in deliberation since last year. Newly re-elected president Vladimir Putin has signalled that cryptocurrency regulation in the country should become a law as early as 1 July of this year, putting pressure on regulators to come up with a workable plan.

GazpromBank to test cryptocurrency service: Russia’s Gazprom Bank will test cryptocurrency-based payments according to deputy chairman Alexander Sobol. There are no details whether Gazprombank will itself invest in cryptocurrencies or not.

Ukraine

“Wild East of cryptocurrencies”: While Ukraine’s tech scene is improving and has a lot of potential, it is being brought harm because of raids of crypto-operations and unclear status of cryptocurrencies. The Kiev-based government is being labelled “paranoid” for not controlling cryptocurrency and constantly blames it for allowing illegal armed groups to function. But, the country is also at the forefront of cryptocurrency revolution with hundreds of legitimate startups that are suffering from overbearing government oversight.

 

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Don’t Believe the FUD, India Has Not Banned Cryptocurrency

Though the internet is awash with FUD today that India has banned cryptocurrency in the country that is not the case. The RBI has released a statement outlining new bank regulations. India has Not Banned Cryptocurrency The truth is that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a statement that bars regulated financial institutions from

The post Don’t Believe the FUD, India Has Not Banned Cryptocurrency appeared first on NewsBTC.

Though the internet is awash with FUD today that India has banned cryptocurrency in the country that is not the case. The RBI has released a statement outlining new bank regulations.

India has Not Banned Cryptocurrency

The truth is that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a statement that bars regulated financial institutions from dealing with cryptocurrencies. Those banks and institutions which already have dealings in cryptocurrency will have to sever ties within a time period as yet unspecified. The official statement reads thusly,

“It has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time. A circular in this regard is being issued separately,”

It should be pointed out that this is only a single paragraph of a 16 section press release by Chief General Manager Jose Kattoor that deals with many aspects of the current financial situation in India including one that proposes the possibility of the RBI developing its own digital currency.

The takeaway from the statement is that banks are not allowed to deal with or facilitate dealings with or in cryptocurrency. Which essentially causes no change on the ground as no banks in the country provide cryptocurrencies and no exchanges have official partnerships with banks either.

 

NewsBTC has been reporting on the build-up of regulatory concern in India that commenced with the terrific rise and fall of cryptocurrency prices at the change of the year. Each new report or shift in position has been moving towards this statement.

Like China, India is Exploring it Own Digital Money

In fact, the statement and regulatory stance is almost exactly that of its close neighbor China. The Indian statement refers to protecting its citizenry against fraudulent practices associated with digital assets, curbing money laundering and potential terrorist funding just as its counterpart from the bank of China did.

Continuing the parody the RBI statement also has a section outlining an official digital currency based on blockchain technology that could be implemented in the near future which would provide the ease of use of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin but still be regulated by the central bank and so, therefore, offering the same limitations as the current fiat.

The move has caused ripples of apprehension and anger throughout the Indian Cryptocurrency environment. Maybe best summed up in this statement by Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder of Unocoin, a virtual currency exchange  “I don’t believe this is the right direction that the central bank has taken. This will cause panic among a few million people in India who are already using cryptocurrencies. If they want to launch their own digital currencies, they don’t need to ban existing ones.”

The post Don’t Believe the FUD, India Has Not Banned Cryptocurrency appeared first on NewsBTC.

Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Consolidating Above $0.4700

Key Highlights Ripple price remained in a tiny range and managed to hold the $0.4700 support against the US dollar. There is a short-term connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $0.4800 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken). The pair has to move above the $0.5000 resistance level

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – XRP/USD Consolidating Above $0.4700 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

  • Ripple price remained in a tiny range and managed to hold the $0.4700 support against the US dollar.
  • There is a short-term connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $0.4800 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
  • The pair has to move above the $0.5000 resistance level to gain upside momentum in the near term.

Ripple price is under a lot of pressure against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD must stay above the $0.4700 support to avoid any further losses in the near term.

Ripple Price Range

There was no recovery during the past few sessions above $0.5000 in Ripple price against the US Dollar. There were mostly bearish moves below the $0.5000 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. On the positive note, the price managed to hold a major support area near $0.4700. At the moment, the price is consolidating losses above the $0.4800 and $0.4700 support levels.

The recent low was formed at $0.4754 before the price started trading in a range. It moved slightly higher and tested the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $0.5540 high to $0.4754 low. However, the most important barrier for a recovery sits near the $0.5000 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Moreover, the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $0.5540 high to $0.4754 low is at $0.5050. Therefore, the price may perhaps face a strong resistance near the $0.5000-0.5050 area.

Ripple Price Technical Analysis XRP USD

On the downside, there is a short-term connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $0.4800 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair must stay above the $0.4700 and $0.4800 support levels to avoid further downsides in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is slowly moving in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is flat near the 45 level.

Major Support Level – $0.4700

Major Resistance Level – $0.5000

 

Charts courtesy – Trading View

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Confirmed: Monex Group To Acquire Coincheck

Japanese financial services provider Monex Group will acquire Coincheck exchange for $33.5 mln. #NEWS

Japanese financial services provider Monex Group will acquire Coincheck exchange for $33.5 mln. #NEWS

Former Core Developer Mike Hearn Returns for Some Bitcoin Cash Q&A

Former Core Developer Mike Hearn Returns for Some Bitcoin Cash Q&AOn April 5 the former bitcoin core developer Mike Hearn came back to do an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on the Reddit forum /r/btc. It’s been a while since Hearn has chatted with the bitcoin community, and one could say he left the development scene a few years ago due to the vitriolic strife over the scaling […]

The post Former Core Developer Mike Hearn Returns for Some Bitcoin Cash Q&A appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Former Core Developer Mike Hearn Returns for Some Bitcoin Cash Q&A

On April 5 the former bitcoin core developer Mike Hearn came back to do an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on the Reddit forum /r/btc. It’s been a while since Hearn has chatted with the bitcoin community, and one could say he left the development scene a few years ago due to the vitriolic strife over the scaling debate. Hearn explains ever since the birth of the Bitcoin Cash network he’s been getting a lot of emails asking him to return and help develop the nascent BCH blockchain.

Also read: New Karate Combat League Arena Features Bitcoin Symbol

Mike Hearn Discusses Bitcoin Cash and His Project Corda With the Community

Mike Hearn is a well-known figure within the bitcoin community, as he was the first developer to author the Bitcoinj client a library that uses Java and connects with the bitcoin network. Further, Hearn has talked with Satoshi Nakamoto numerous times over email communications. The developer was also a contributor to the bitcoin core development team and he left in January 2016 due to the scaling debate, and rising network fees. Since then Hearn has joined the banked-backed R3 Cev project, and he’s been building a distributed ledger project called ‘Corda.’

Hearn has a lot to say about Corda throughout his AMA and says the project “scales a lot better than bitcoin, even though bitcoin could have scaled to the levels needed for large payment networks with enough work and time.” Hearn explains that this is possible because Corda doesn’t use the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. Corda doesn’t have a native cryptocurrency as Hearn says the protocol is an app platform much like ethereum so coins can be created on top of the Corda ledger.

Former Core Developer Mike Hearn Returns for Some Bitcoin Cash Q&A

‘Worth Considering How Frequently You Want to Hard Fork’

Hearn then discusses what he thinks about the past hard forks and even the latest May 15 fork slated to bump the block size up to 32 MB.

“Hard forking is an implementation mechanism, not a governance mechanism. Governance is a process, and often an institution, for arriving at a decision — A hard fork is just the software event that makes it real,” Hearn states during his scheduled AMA. “I note with some alarm that bitcoin cash is planning a timed hard fork in just one month, with no attempt to measure support or whether people are ready or even agree — The content is not going to be controversial in this community now, but a lot of organisations would find it hard to schedule and test a software upgrade on one month’s notice,” he adds.

There’s a risk that miners who do upgrade will be split onto a minority chain by accident even if everyone intends to upgrade, and have to roll back, making them even more conservative than they already are.

Bitcoin Cash Strongly Resembles the Bitcoin Community of 2014

Hearn then goes on to respond to another question and reveals that he thinks the bitcoin cash ecosystem strongly resembles the BTC community back in 2014. He tells the /r/btc AMA participants to “liberate themselves from just proceeding along the path Satoshi imagined and be willing to think radical, even heretical thoughts.”

“That experiment [Bitcoin] was tried and it didn’t work. It’s tempting to think that what happened was a freak one-off occurrence, but I don’t think it was,” the former core developer states. “I think it was inevitable given the structure and psychological profile of the community at the time. So just trying to ‘get back on track’ as I see it, is nowhere near radical enough.”

The developer says the bitcoin cash community does need to address methods to deal with certain conflicts. Hearn states the conflicts as being:

  • Bitter, enduring conflicts between two opposing camps of roughly equal size who can never make up.
  • Very different attitudes towards perceived experts, intellectuals, towards academic qualifications etc.
  • A win-at-any-cost mentality by one of the camps.
  • Different views on the validity of the preferences of the majority / “will of the people” etc.

These conflicts cannot be avoided but they can be contained and channeled. If the bitcoin community doesn’t establish systems for containing this conflict it will arise again over some issue that appears superficially different to the block size debate, but underneath looks much the same.

Hearn further states he won’t be joining the current developers working on bitcoin cash network and plans to continue exploring his Corda project.   

“I don’t plan on returning to bitcoin but if you’d like to know what sort of things I’d have been researching or doing, ask about these things. I do not own any BCH,” Hearn adds.

What do you think about Mike Hearn’s /r/btc forum AMA? Let us know what you think about Hearn’s responses in the comments below.   


Images via Pixabay, and Youtube.


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Tiny Towns, Small States Bet on Bitcoin Even as Some Shun Its Miners – The Pew Charitable Trusts (blog)


The Pew Charitable Trusts (blog)

Tiny Towns, Small States Bet on Bitcoin Even as Some Shun Its Miners
The Pew Charitable Trusts (blog)
Things have been kind of crazy in Massena, New York, since the bitcoin miners came to town. So crazy that Steve O’Shaughnessy, the new town supervisor, says he hasn’t unpacked his office since he started his job in January. O’Shaughnessy says it’s a


The Pew Charitable Trusts (blog)

Tiny Towns, Small States Bet on Bitcoin Even as Some Shun Its Miners
The Pew Charitable Trusts (blog)
Things have been kind of crazy in Massena, New York, since the bitcoin miners came to town. So crazy that Steve O'Shaughnessy, the new town supervisor, says he hasn't unpacked his office since he started his job in January. O'Shaughnessy says it's a

ChronoBase Plans to Secure Your Luxury Watch with Blockchain Technology

Luxury watches are becoming extremely popular around the world. This popularity does not only depend on the quality, craftsmanship, and reliability of the watches but also acts as a reaffirmation of the owner’s status in the society portraying the person’s preferred style and taste. The accessories are also a statement of inclusivity and acts as

The post ChronoBase Plans to Secure Your Luxury Watch with Blockchain Technology appeared first on NewsBTC.

Luxury watches are becoming extremely popular around the world. This popularity does not only depend on the quality, craftsmanship, and reliability of the watches but also acts as a reaffirmation of the owner’s status in the society portraying the person’s preferred style and taste.

The accessories are also a statement of inclusivity and acts as solid long-term investments that offer steady returns from future valuations. According to the recent edition of marketing principles, luxury watches fall into the category of special consumer products characterized by unique characteristics and brand identification for which a significant group of buyers are willing to make a special purchase effort. Buyers in this segment usually have a strong brand preference and loyalty while the manufacturers go to great lengths to have an exclusive distribution network in few outlets per market area with a more carefully targeted promotion by both manufacturers and resellers.

However, the growing popularity has also resulted in the appearance and expansion of the black market for stolen watches. Even though all timepieces are created with a unique identification number that authenticates product genuineness, they are stored in the respective manufacturers’ databases with no way of them interacting with each other. In the absence of a single unified database, the ownership history of these expensive devices goes unrecorded with no easy of verifying whether a particular watch is genuine or not.

About ChronoBase

ChronoBase is working on creating a unified market ecosystem to counter the growing black market by leveraging blockchain technology. The ecosystem will include luxury watch owners, dealers and manufacturers. The ChronoBase ecosystem is designed to be operated on a global scale, storing watch profiles with their current status, be it stolen or lost along with any other events tied to the watch as well as their provenance and service history.

As time progresses, ChronoBase will gradually become a reliable decentralized database where users can find information related to thousands of luxury watches. The entire lifecycle of a timepiece is recorded on a blockchain. This allows the owners to retain the true value of their watches in a secure marketplace. The ChronoBase marketplace will become the building block of the entire ecosystem. Here, watch owners will be able to retain their collection and offer any of their timepieces for sale. ChronoBase will issue a digital certificate which will protect customers from fakes and assist them to keep track of their possessions. The ecosystem will also provide escrow services to make it possible to safely buy and sell luxury watches around the world. The entire operation is done without the need for intermediaries to improve watch prices for any interested buyer.

Who needs ChronoBase?

For the watch owner, information provided on watch provenance will improve the resale value. So, the earlier the watch enters the database the more valuable its provenance record becomes afterward. For the manufacturer, ChronoBase ecosystem provides a solution to a range of problems including unauthorized stock movement and re-export by a dealer. The ecosystem will provide manufacturers with necessary business tools to reach out to their clients easily. For insurance companies, the ecosystem can be used as a tool to counter insurance fraud, since ChronoBase offers instant verification for insurance purposes, including the service history and date of initial sale, without compromising the privacy of the owners. Other clients include pawn-brokers and their customers, and service companies.

Ecosystem functionality and token highlights.

The ChronoBase ecosystem will be web-based. The web portal is the unified point of access to all the platform features. This data will also be accessible through a mobile application for their client’s convenience. The fully functioning platform, which provides basic functionality, has been developed and available for use. Users can add new watches, manufacturers can perform a bulk upload of their inventory, add information on service events, ownership transfer and verification, sale offers and reports on loss or theft.

ChronoBase token (BASE) is the utility token used to power the ChronoBase platform, facilitate the purchase of platform’s services and make transactional payments. BASE tokens are ERC20 compliant and based on the Ethereum Blockchain. Total token supply is fixed, and BASE tokens are not mineable.

The Bonus token pre-sale went live on March 27, 2018 and will go on till April 5, 2018. It will be followed by the token sale, starting April 11 until June 5, 2018.

Final Thoughts.

ChronoBase is the first project to offer a unified decentralized database for luxury watches with full ownership history and easily accessible via mobile apps. In the future, the ecosystem aims to grow into the marketplace for buying and selling watches around the world backed by verified watch ownership history. The ecosystem will become the first escrow service platform dedicated to luxury watches, based on smart contracts. ChronoBase can be used by all parties in the market for luxury watches thereby elevating it as a global project and a solid long-term investment to timepiece enthusiasts and many more.

Join Token Sale at – https://tokensale.chronobase.io/

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Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis – BCH/USD Could Recover Short-term

Key Points Bitcoin cash price fell to a new low below the $620 level recently against the US Dollar. There is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $640 on the hourly chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair remains supported on the downside near the $615-620 area

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Key Points

  • Bitcoin cash price fell to a new low below the $620 level recently against the US Dollar.
  • There is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $640 on the hourly chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
  • The pair remains supported on the downside near the $615-620 area in the near term.

Bitcoin cash price is holding a crucial support near $620 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD may recover in the short term above the $650 level.

Bitcoin Cash Price Resistance

There were more declines below the $630 level in bitcoin cash price against the US Dollar. The price even broke the last low and traded to a new monthly low of $616.1. Later, it found tiny support and moved back above the $620 level. At the moment, the price is trading near the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $724 high to $616 low.

Moreover, there is a new connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $640 on the hourly chart of the BCH/USD pair. The trend line resistance near $640 is acting as a major hurdle for buyers. However, as long as the price is above the $620 level, it may break the trend line. Above $640, the price may trade towards the 100 hourly simple moving average. The 100 hourly SMA is just below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $724 high to $616 low.

Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis BCH USD

Therefore, the $665-670 zone could act as a major hurdle for buyers. On the downside, the $620 support holds a lot of importance. A break below the $620 support could open the doors for a move towards $600.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is currently in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD is currently just around the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $620

Major Resistance Level – $640

 

Charts courtesy – Trading View

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Mike Hearn: Bitcoin Cash Is Repeating Bitcoin’s Mistakes

Early bitcoin developer Mike Hearn offered new insights into his outlook on the project and its rival implementations in a Reddit AMA Wednesday.

Early bitcoin developer Mike Hearn offered new insights into his outlook on the project and its rival implementations in a Reddit AMA Wednesday.

Coinbase Announces Incubator to Fund Promising Start Ups

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced their plans to launch a new incubator fund for early-stage start-ups yesterday. It will be called Coinbase Ventures. Coinbase Ventures to Fund Startups The San Francisco company’s blog introduced the concept behind the incubator by describing their ideals for investing by stating they are “committed to creating an open financial system

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Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced their plans to launch a new incubator fund for early-stage start-ups yesterday. It will be called Coinbase Ventures.

Coinbase Ventures to Fund Startups

The San Francisco company’s blog introduced the concept behind the incubator by describing their ideals for investing by stating they are “committed to creating an open financial system for the world.”

The statement continued by nut-shelling Coinbase’s commitment to developing their own products but also encouraging the best minds in the crypto space in order to create services and products that best serve and add to customer value.

The meat of the announcement is that;

“We’ll be providing financing to promising early-stage companies that have the teams and ideas that can move the space forward in a positive, meaningful way.”

COO Asiff Hirji was interviewed on CNBC’s “Fast Money” about the incubator where he explained that the investment money is to come from the company balance sheet and that “We will invest in companies that are in the space and are aligned with our values.”

Information in the blog fleshes these statements out further by saying the goal is to help the most promising start-up crypto companies to flourish. Also, that they won’t be creating strategic partnerships the way other venture capital investors do but instead focusing on building relationships that will further the development of the ecosystem.

The blog stresses the firm’s commitment to their alumni network and that they will be looking to that network for ideas to invest in.

Coinbase is not Looking for the Next Money Making Token

The announcement wraps up by suggesting that the venture may fund companies that appear to be competitors with Coinbase. This, according to the blog, is because they are taking a long-term view of the space and it is in everyone’s best interest to see companies that offer the most to the ecosystem grow.

Hirji gave more details in his CNBC interview saying that Coinbase is seeking founders, not the next money making cryptocurrency to invest in. He also pointed out that Coinbase would not be giving preference to companies they fund when it comes to choosing cryptocurrency to add to the trading platform. He stressed that “We are not investing in currencies because we do not want even the appearance of a conflict of interest,”

The official blog post ended on this positive note of encouragement;

“In short, it’s in all of our interest to see this space evolve, expand and mature. We’ll learn a lot along the way, and we’re excited to get started. Stay tuned!”

 

Image from Shutterstock

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