Day: April 8, 2018

For Ethereum price watchers the year 2018 has been rather abysmal. This is not entirely abnormal, as a massive price correction was to be expected after the crazy year we had in 2017. As of right now, the Ethereum price is noting some positive momentum again, as its value may surpass $400 again later today.

Will the Positive Ethereum Price Momentum Last?

If there is one thing people have to admit about the Ethereum price, it is how this market is getting battered and beaten week after week. With all other markets going through a similar brawl, it is not entirely surprising to see Ether lose a lot of value. With the price dropped below $400 some time ago, people were genuinely getting concerned about this altcoin.

As is usually the case in the cryptocurrency world, positive momentum can appear out of nowhere. Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Ethereum price rise by 4.61%. This is a very modest gain for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, yet it is a welcome change nonetheless. As a result of this small gain, the Ethereum price is on the verge of surpassing $400 again..

As one would expect, Ethereum is also gaining on Bitcoin, albeit ever so slightly. A 1.71% gain in favor of the altcoin means virtually nothing when looking at the bigger picture. Still, it is a glimmer of hope Ethereum price speculators have been waiting for all year. How long this small uptrend will last, is difficult to determine.

Ethereum generates under one billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, which is rather remarkable. Although all cryptocurrencies suffer from lower trading volume, it doesn’t happen all that often the demand for Ethereum decreases in semi-spectacular fashion. A worrisome trend to keep an eye on, although things will probably improve in the weeks to come.

Bitfinex is, once again, firmly in the lead when it comes to Ethereum trading volume. Its lead over OKEx is very slim, though, and Binance is not all that far behind either. All of this shows a pretty diversified trading ecosystem for Ethereum, although it will not necessarily make any big impact in the hours to come. Only one fiat currency pair in the top five is rather troublesome, but things should turn out just fine.

How all of this will play out for the Ethereum price, remains to be determined. With the overall bearish pressure still dominating the markets, it seems no long-term gains can be secured as of right now. A peak above $400 is more than welcome for Ethereum, albeit finding stability near this price level will be challenging, for obvious reasons.

One of the biggest deals in crypto mining history was sealed this week when Canadian miners HyperBlock purchased mining firm CryptoGlobal in a deal worth CAD 106 million (USD 83 million).

The stock-based acquisition sees CryptoGlobal shares purchased at USD 0.74 a piece, over 40% higher than the current market OCT prices. With HyperBlock’s new acquisition, the company, one of the largest in North America, plans to list with Canadian exchanges on completion of the deal. CryptoGlobal investors will be reimbursed by HyperBlock with the newly-merged companies shares.

HyperBlock is a cryptocurrency mining company that currently operates the Sector 14 cryptocurrency mine within the Project Northwest mining facility. The company maintains that it has a “rapid growth strategy” and has signed a definitive agreement to acquire its co-location partner Project Northwest, which is one of North America’s largest facilities.

The impact of the merger with Toronto-based CryptoGlobal will make a significant impact on its new owners as it will make HyperBlock one of the largest players in the market of outsourced mining. CryptoGlobal currently mines Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dash. HyperBlock CEO Sean Walsh commented that the combination of one company’s service model and the other’s mining and crypto trading prowess would “create a strong foundation for both organic growth and growth through acquisition”.

In addition to cryptocurrency mining, HyperBlock is now currently active in the server hosting market, allowing the company to profit from engaging with multiple different sectors, thereby diversifying risk. Its aim is now to become the western world’s largest crypto mining power through further expansion.

Mining as a service has become increasingly popular for those unable to afford a rig or who don’t have the power resources to run one. Estimates are that there are over 100,000 people globally who contribute to the cryptocurrency mining network. The highest share of the total mining resources is commercial enterprises. Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index reports that Bitcoin’s current estimated annual electricity consumption is 29.05 billion kilowatt-hours, more than the total electricity consumption of 159 countries.

The post Hyperblock Buy Out CryptoGlobal For $83 Million appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

The cryptocurrency industry has always attracted speculators and market makers. Institutional investors have not shown much of an interest in Bitcoin until very recently. Slowly but surely, the tide will turn in favor of all cryptocurrencies. Financial moguls, including George Soros, the Rothschild family, and others, now have their sights set on Bitcoin. It makes for an interesting development, albeit the potential impact has yet to be determined.

Soros, Rothschild, and Co Flock to Cryptocurrency

Interesting things tend to happen in the cryptocurrency world when people least expect. Earlier this week, it became apparent George Soros is looking to trade various cryptocurrencies. The Soros Fund Management venture internally approved the trading of virtual coins in the past few months. So far, no actual “big trades” have has been made, but that situation will come to change very soon.

A similar sentiment can be heard in camp Rothschild. This particular family is best known for their close-knit ties with banks and other financial institutions. As such, one wouldn’t expect them to give Bitcoin a second glance. In reality, it seems this family has been active in cryptocurrency trading for quite some time now. The first rumors began surfacing back in 2017 when Rothschild began purchasing cryptocurrency through GBTC. Buying into a major Bitcoin Trust is pretty significant, even for this family’s legacy.

Rockefeller, Soros, and Rothschild money entering the cryptocurrency space….it sounds like regulations might be getting a bit more lax

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) April 7, 2018

With this positive tone being set, it is a matter of time until other institutional investors follow suit. Bitcoin is still extremely volatile, but it seems most of the bearish market pressure has subsided. After last year’s crazy run, things have returned to a more normal level for investors. With the Dow Gains and S&P 500 also taking a beating this week, diversification remains key for all parties involved.

No More “Bitcoin Bubble’ Talk

All of these developers come at a curious time. George Soros, for example, called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January of 2018. Less than three months later, he wants to dip his toes in cryptocurrency trading. Whether or not his comment was designed to crash the price, will always remain a mystery. The end result is how Bitcoin lost over 40% of its value. With the dip now ending, the “big guns” are moving in.

In fact, it seems there has been no further talk of a Bitcoin bubble for several weeks now. While Kenneth Rogoff still thinks the Bitcoin will crash to $100, the rest of the world is a bit more optimistic. If institutional investors truly buy Bitcoin in decent quantities, a new uptrend should begin forming pretty soon. The cryptocurrency industry direly needs an injection of fresh capital at this stage.

This new information, combined with upcoming Bitcoin developments, paint an interesting future. All of the stars are seemingly aligning to proper the Bitcoin price back to its all-time high. It may not go as quick as last year, but the momentum is building slowly. Sooner or later, the Bitcoin price will go up once again. George Soros and the Rothschild family will benefit from this positive momentum just like everyone else.

The post Soros, Rothschild, and Big Institutional Investors are Entering Bitcoin Market appeared first on NewsBTC.

Even though most people tend to overlook the NEM ecosystem, this particular cryptocurrency project is coming together nicely. With the release of Catapult, things will only get better from here on out. This full-featured blockchain engine offers a lot of benefits to developers and corporations.

Catapult in a Nutshell

The concept of Catapult is rather straightforward. It is a blockchain engine which supports both public and private chains through unique smart contract plugins. This opens up a lot of new opportunities for interested parties to explore in the months and years to come. More competition in the world of blockchains and smart contracts can only be considered a good thing.

How Does it all Work?

The concept of smart contract plugins will certainly attract a lot of attention. According to the NEM team, these plugins have many use cases. Among the possibilities are bulletproof digital asset creation, decentralized swaps, and business logic modeling, all of which sound pretty appealing.

It is expected Catapult will continue to evolve in the months to come. If things go according to plan, it will become the new core NEM engine, which is something to look forward to for NEM supporters. Some of the more intriguing aspects of Catapult include improvements to speed and scalability, aggregated transactions, and multi-level signature accounts.

Aggregated transactions combine multiple transactions into one, allowing for trustless, atomic cross-chain transactions. Catapult achieves this by generating a one-time disposable smart contract which executes all transactions once all parties approve the transaction. It is a very different approach compared to what most blockchain projects are offering right now, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Who Will use Catapult?

Even though the technology is quite versatile, finding use cases for Catapult may not be so easy for most people. The NEM team is confident their creation can serve any type of project, from voting and insurance to medical records and encrypted messaging. Whether or not enterprises and developers will flock to this new solution is very difficult to predict.

April 8, 2018 – The increasing penetration of cryptocurrency technology across all the industries on a global scale has given birth to the fast-growing blockchain-based game segment. Zeepin, in view of this emerging trend has created CryptoGalaxy — a Galaxy super dApp, which has already acquired thousands of fans in the blockchain community just after the release of its teaser. CryptoGalaxy is the world’s first blockchain-based game having a virtual universe theme, enabling players to enjoy the universe exploration via mobile dApp, compatible both with iOS and Android.

How CryptoGalaxy Works?

CryptoGalaxy game has been built on the principles of “Playable Creativity” and “Explore-trade-benefit”, which are also its slogans. CryptoGalaxy is both profitable and entertaining since players can win Gala tokens by performing tasks within the game. As opposed to the traditional games, Galaxy is the virtual universe that can be turned into digital assets and run under Zeepin’s ecosystem .

The Game & GalaTokens

CryptoGalaxy players can earn profits by digging on their plants to obtain mythical crystals that can be converted into Gala – a token that drives the entire Galaxy blockchain. The blockchain is maintained by Galabot Interstellar Mining, that can be upgraded for more power. In the later parts of the game, players can stake ZPT (Zeepin token) in their Zeepin Wallet to receive a planet. (The ZeeWallet and ZeeChain will be connected to Galaxy Chain).

The value of the planet will increase through the game as users complete various tasks. They can sell, buy or trade planets with other players in the Galaxy store. Players can earn Gala in a number of ways, the details of which will be announced by the company soon.

The Core Technologies of CryptoGalaxy

• 3D Real Time Rendering For Planets & Top-notch Graphics

To impress users with fascinating visualized experience, Unity 3D technology will be applied for real-time rendering of the exclusive attributes of the planets. The planets within the game will be on par with exquisite artworks.

• The AI Technology

The color, physiognomy and other attributes tied to the planets will be presented on a random basis with the help of AI technology to make sure every planet is unique.

• Alliance Formation

Each player will have a role as an explorer in the game and embark on an epic journey to discover new planets. Meanwhile, each explorer will be a part of an alliance with other players and will form a nation. The ranking will reflect the number of planets owned by players in a specific nation. The nation owning the most planets will top others on the ranking list and become the winner.

• Explore the Universe

Universe will be formed with multiple galaxies, countless planets, exploration is limitless, when a player discovers new things they will automatically put them on a map. They can sheer their planet in CryptoGalaxy.

The Closed Beta Test Activity Coming Soon – Chance To Get The First Batch Of Planets & Be The First To Play The CryptoGalaxy Game!

The CryptoGalaxy’s Closed beta test activity will run from April 9th till  April 16^th, where users will be able to vote for their country and select products/monuments/ideas that represent their country best.

You can submit the form and share it on social media with your personalized referral link. There will be a ranking list everyday with most active users.

CryptoGalaxy will reward top daily users by giving them a chance to participate in the closed beta test and to receive the first batch of planets. More details and updates are available on Twitter.

The official presentation and more details will be revealed in first ever Zeepin Meetup in Seoul on April 23^rd 2018, while the App Release date will be announced soon. To know more about the platform, please visit https://cryptogalaxy.one/

The post Zeepin Is Launching CryptoGalaxy – the World’s First Virtual Universe Powered by Blockchain appeared first on NewsBTC.

It has almost become the new normal for banks to take a rather aggressive stance toward cryptocurrencies. That will not surprise anyone, although it is quite rare to hear Pakistan’s State Bank weigh in on these discussions. Although it is just a warning for the time being, it is possible we may see an official ban imposed on cryptocurrency purchases in the near future.

Pakistan State Bank Isn’t Keen on Cryptocurrency

Most financial institutions around the world have taken a negative stance toward Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This is not entirely surprising, considering that this new form of money threatens the business models of existing financial institutions. To put this into perspective, a few US banks have made it clear they feel threatened by Bitcoin, and opposing this form of money seems to be the logical consequence.

The State Bank of Pakistan is the latest institution to issue a strong warning regarding cryptocurrencies. More specifically, they want to dissuade as many consumers as possible from buying Bitcoin and altcoins, even though they will not actually prevent people from doing so. That may change in the future, though, as it is not unlikely that Pakistan will ban cryptocurrency purchases in the future.

The warning itself makes it clear Bitcoin is not regulated in the country, nor is it considered legal tender. No one in the country is officially “authorized’ to deal with this form of money as of right now, although it is impossible for any government to make it impossible for people to purchase Bitcoin and altcoins.

As we’ve come to expect from warnings like this one, cryptocurrency is once again linked to “facilitating illegal activities”. It is certainly true that criminals have taken a liking to Bitcoin and other currencies, but there are a lot more legitimate use cases for this new form of money. In fact, its lack of privacy and anonymity makes Bitcoin far less suited for criminal activity compared to some alternative currencies.

One particular aspect of this warning which raises a lot of questions is the purported “involvement” of law enforcement agencies. Whether this means Pakistani officials want to crack down on Bitcoin use in a harsh manner remains to be seen. There appear to be some Bitcoin-related pyramid schemes active in the country as of right now, which will not surprise anyone at this point.

For the time being, the uneasy situation in Pakistan will not change in a definite manner. We have seen some warnings issued by other countries in this part of Asia, although it seems Bitcoin continues to thrive despite this clear opposition. A complete ban on cryptocurrency trading may yet come to pass in Pakistan, but for now, there is no indication things will get out of hand in the near future.

This weekend seemingly proves to be another interesting period for all cryptocurrency trading. More specifically, we see most of the top 15 markets in the green right now, even though the overall momentum is still pretty bearish. For the IOTA price, things are finally looking up again, albeit it remains to be seen if this will last for a lengthy period of time.

IOTA Price Rises Above $1

Similar to most other cryptocurrencies, the year 2018 has not been kind to IOTA whatsoever. In fact, it has been a while since we last saw IOTA above $2, and it is evident we may not see that value again until later this year at the earliest. Whether or not we will see any long-term positive momentum from here on out, remains to be determined.

As of right now, the IOTA price has successfully retaken the $1 level. Although the IOTA price was well above $1 for some time in the past few weeks, it has taken at a bit of a tumble earlier this week.That is not entirely surprising, as the markets are being manipulated beyond belief as of right now. Unfortunately, this pressure will not relent anytime soon, by the look of things.

Thanks to a solid 5.35% gain over the past 24 hours, the IOTA price is now looking up once again. As is usually the case in the cryptocurrency world, there is a good chance this positive momentum will be wiped out pretty quickly in the near future, although it remains to be seen how things will play out for IOTA in this regard. It is also worth noting IOTA successfully gained 3.39% over Bitcoin, even though the world’s leading cryptocurrency is also regaining some lost value.

The overall trading volume for IOTA is about a slow as it can get, but that won’t surprise anyone. With just $19m in trades over the past 24 hours, the demand for IOTA isn’t there, but it isn’t there for virtually all other cryptocurrencies either. For the time being, this is more than sufficient to keep the IOTA price momentum going, for the time being.

As of right now, Binance is the leading exchange when it comes to IOTA trading. While its lead over Bitfinex is marginal at best, it is quite substantial compared to OKEx’s two trading pairs. We see two fiat currency pairs in the top five for IOTA, which may indicate some fresh capital entering the market as we speak.

How all of this will play out for the IOTA price, remains to be seen. As of right now, the positive momentum seems to be solidifying, but the low trading volume means things turn around pretty quickly. We are still in a bear market, for all intents and purposes. As such, it is only normal to expect the IOTA price to drop below $1 again in the not-so-distant future.

Ripple has been on a tear this year, but it’s popularity is bringing back old debates around what its distributed ledger tech is all about.

Bitcoin sceptic Mark Cuban considers paying off debts as ‘probably the best investment’ you can make right now. #NEWS