Day: April 10, 2018

A long-awaited ICO project for allowing people to get paid for their extra CPU power launched on ethereum’s mainnet today.

It has been pretty difficult to make sense of the cryptocurrency markets throughout most of 2018. That situation will not improve in the near future either, although there are a lot of opportunities waiting to be explored as of right now. One remarkable trend is how the Bitcoin price, while still suffering from downward momentum, seemingly refuses to drop below $6.500 as of right now.

The Bitcoin Price is Preparing for a Boost

As has become quite evident throughout most of 2018, there is little to no positive market momentum to take note of right now. This is only normal, as everything is tightly correlated to the Bitcoin price. Anyone who paid attention to this particular market will have noticed things are not necessarily looking all that great for the world’s leading cryptocurrency.

Even so, there are some interesting things people should effectively take note of moving forward. Over the past week, there has been plenty of negative Bitcoin price momentum. Even so, the Bitcoin price is not going down below $6,500 as of right now, which is some sign of hope This doesn’t mean that level of support will not be broken eventually, though, but for now, it seems to hold up quite well.

As of right now, the current Bitcoin price of $6,752 is still in place, although a leg up to $7,000 would certainly be appreciated. We saw similar momentum late last week, yet the new price could not be held onto for that long. Instead. the Bitcoin price dropped by another $450 out of the blue, a sit seems people are more than content to keep the Bitcoin price down for quite some time to come.

Another positive aspect is how the Bitcoin trading volume seems to remain steady around the $4bn mark. Although we would all like to see things improve in this regard, more volume at this point would undoubtedly lead to even more speculation moving forward. It is still a long way removed from the $15bn we used to see a few months ago, but one has to take the good with the bad in this industry.

Looking at the cryptocurrency exchanges generating the most Bitcoin volume, Bitfinex continues to dominate the market with its USD market. We also see OKEx in the top three, followed by two Binance trading pairs. Upbit completes the top five, but not with this KRW pair. Instead, its XVG/BTC pair is generating so much volume, it almost dwarfs the KRW market. An interesting correlation between the different cryptocurrencies, that much is evident.

For the time being, it is unclear if the Bitcoin price can remain above $6,700 for a while. It has become evident there is still a fair amount of bearish pressure on the market, although we may see some positive action in the hours to come. With the Bitcoin price decline slowly coming to a halt, some interesting things are bound to happen in the cryptocurrency industry at some point. Whether or not that can effectively happen in the hours to come, remains anybody’s guess as of right now.

There has been no new cryptocurrency tax guidance from the IRS since 2014. Consequently, few investors fully understand how to treat 2017 gains.

Argentina, a country that suffers from chronic inflation at 25%, is a natural market for Bitcoin to blossom. A number of enthusiasts have thrown the ‘Bitcoin Day’ party, where 500 attendees took part to share knowledge about the new technology.

‘Bitcoin Day’ Gathers 500 Enthusiasts in Argentina

Held in the city of Almagro, Argentina, the ‘Bitcoin Day’ conference served as an opportunity for people in the country to learn more about the revolutionary technology, while cryptocurrency entrepreneurs were able to present their findings and offerings.

Adriel Araujo, one of the event organizers, said that Argentina is one of the most innovative markets in the crypto space: “Buenos Aires is one of the top capital cities where most blockchain-based projects are developed”. He added that Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA), the country’s central bank, is very much open to innovation and is working with cryptocurrency experts to set up regulation. The BCRA is currently adopting a non-intervention policy in order to allow for the development of the technology.

Araujo is not worried about recent market fluctuations and that the asset class is still in a bullish trend, about to surpass the recent all-time highs. He believes that cryptocurrencies have the potential to “eliminate the monetary borders globally”.

A number of blockchain-based startup founders have joined the conference, including Guillermo Torrealba, CEO of the Chilean cryptocurrency services firm Buda, Gonzalo Blousson, CEO of digital notary startup Signatura, and Carlos Maslaton, head of treasury at Xapo.

Mike Barrow, one of the ‘Bitcoin Day’ organizers, took the stage to present his blockchain-based project, Mike Tango Bravo. Owner of the Costaflores wine house, the American software expert will issue a coin for each bottle produced. These digital tokens are tradeable in the market and the wine house will only accept the MTB token as means of payment. The wine will be available in 2021.

Barrow argues that the project aims to fix the arbitrary pricing issue that wine producers face as some quality bottles are sold for a few dollars and others are sold for thousands. The Costaflores wine house produces 15,000 bottles a year.

The entrepreneur also presented a blockchain-based app called “Open Vino”, which offers transparency over its wine harvest and all production costs, including the price of corks, salaries, and sales by country. “It basically means extreme transparency”, Barrow said about its public database in the blockchain that should be able to garner trust from customers.

Image from Shutterstock

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It seems particular patterns are destined to repeat themselves in the world of cryptocurrency. Every working project with decent technology is losing value, whereas currencies which are just in the early stages of development are soaring. It has become evident the Ontology price is subject to a lot of manipulation, but so far, the uptrend remains in place.

Ontology Price is on the Rise

While it remains to be seen how things will play out in the world of cryptocurrency, the overall trend remains extremely bearish, for the time being. This is not entirely surprising, as there is no reason for any positive momentum as of right now. Then again, the Ontology price is quite successful in bucking this trend albeit it remains unclear why that is the case exactly. The project has everything to prove at this stage, after all.

To put this into its proper perspective, the Ontology price currently sits at $3.91. That is quite a high value, especially when keeping in mind how relatively new this altcoin is. It is not uncommon for new currencies to suddenly spike in value, although most people expected the Ontology price to drop from $2 to less than half.

So far, that has not happened, as the Ontology price is seemingly continuing its upward momentum with relative ease. Over the past week, we saw the Ontology price rise from $1.75 to almost $4. If this pace keeps up, it will hit $5 pretty quickly. Whether or not such growth is even remotely sustainable, remains to be determined. Additionally, the Ontology market cap has risen to $942.3m, which is rather high for this particular venture.

With $92.4m in 24-hour trading volume, it is clear very little money can make the Ontology price move pretty quickly. More specifically, it takes less volume to make things happen for this altcoin right now, even though it remains to be seen how much of those trades are not driven by hype and speculation. If the general altcoin industry is any indication, it seems this is a very deliberate pump-and-dump schemes.

One thing Ontology has going for it is how the currency is listed on Binance. The world’s largest altcoin exchange is the go-to place for pump random coins, even though this Ontology price trend has been in place for quite some time now. Binance represents over 66% of all ONT trades right now, which is not necessarily a positive sign by any means. Huobi is also in the top three, although its volume is far less impressive.

For the time being, we will have to wait and see how things play out for the Ontology price. It has become evident there is a lot of price action going on, although it may only be temporarily, for all we know. The same pattern has repeated itself several times over, albeit it remains to be seen if this trend will continue for quite some time to come. Owners of Ontology will be quite happy with the way things are going as of right now, that much is rather evident.

A Bitcoin Day conference which took place last week in Buenos Aires attracted some 500 cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

Argentina and Bitcoin were once described as a “match made in heaven”. Its financial and economic history is a fragile one after suffering numerous rounds of inflation; hyperinflation of 20,000% in the late 1980s being the South American country’s lowest economic moment.

Bitcoin has been greeted in Argentina with enthusiasm partly because countries with histories of inflation and devaluation of their currencies see the digital currency as one that can conserve the value of user investments and savings. After President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner‘s tightening of currency controls debased the Argentine peso (ARS) in 2012, Bitcoin has gained increasing popularity.

In 2017, the volume of Bitcoins traded in Argentina increased to a record 2.1 million ARS, quadruple the volume of the previous year, against a backdrop of a growing fintech market.

Chile looks to its neighbor Argentina as an indication of how the cryptocurrency climate can be improved on the continent, avoiding mistakes which have been made elsewhere. Bitcoin exchange Buda’s CEO, Guillermo Torrealba, is making an effort to achieve banking support in Argentina: “There are even banks here that have executives that are exclusively dedicated to cryptocurrency companies.”

The closing of cryptocurrency exchange accounts in Chile over recent weeks by the Chilean State Bank demonstrates Argentina’s forward-looking approach to the use and adoption of digital currencies. But this is not necessarily going to become the status quo elsewhere in South America.

CEO of digital notarization platform Signatura, Gonzalo Blousson, acknowledged that progress is being made in Argentina due to the registration of official bulletins on blockchain, commenting that “We used to call the companies to tell them what blockchain is about. Today they call us…”

Speaking at the Bitcoin Day conference, Carlos Maslaton, head of treasury at wallet provider Xapo, indicated that he was satisfied with the current dialogue on how financial institutions were wary of Bitcoin because he felt it “generates competition” in financial markets.

The post Argentina Leads the Way with Bitcoin Day appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

At the start of the year, Coincheck Inc suffered from a major hack, losing USD 550 million in tokens. The Tokyo-based exchange put one of the single biggest cryptocurrency thefts in history down to a lack of expertise among staff.

With the industry revolving around currency and holding data, it has attracted the attention of hackers. And with exchanges frequently found wanting in cybersecurity measures, there will only be so much that regulatory powers will tolerate. If this shortage of development expertise continues it could have detrimental effects on many businesses.

Demand for blockchain developers inflates salaries

With demand for developers at all-time highs, salaries are seeing a 20 to 30% rise from previous years. With experts in the industry often being aligned with the values of blockchain, there is no haste to assist some of the larger corporations which decentralization sets out to disrupt.

Japan doesn’t seem to be the only country struggling, even if the likes of the UK and US have engineers who can easily transition into this new field. Japan, on the other hand, seems to be stuck in a rut with employees often bound to lifelong careers with companies.

Current methods of dealing with the shortage

Large organizations are looking to invest in the future of their workforce by setting up in-house training centers to quickly bring their employees up to speed on the concepts behind blockchain. At the moment, most have only a basic understanding. Migrating entire systems over to blockchain requires employees to be more astute in the technology to produce more intuitive designs during development.

As they don’t currently possess the necessary skills, many companies have no choice but to outsource work. However, contracting work to blockchain freelancers is an expensive option and will only inhibit the abilities of smaller startups to off the ground. But ideas that can’t hire or afford to hire will be going nowhere.

With competition high and large organizations researching blockchain, the rush is on. Employers who can’t afford to wait for new graduates are now willing to take on employees without degrees. Since online courses and open resources are enough to bring some junior developers up to speed, they are able to complete basic roles within the industry.

Shortage of development expertise

Leading towards the end of Q4 2017, blockchain jobs had doubled from six months prior. From 2016 to 2017, a growth in startups had seen available positions triple, with a general lack of expertise in the industry.

With new startups on the rise and large organizations looking to explore the technology, it is hoped that millennials can rise to the challenge. Cryptocurrencies have already captured their attention, with younger generations often owning some. After being born into a digital age, they have the potential to bring innovation to the industry.

Have you got what it takes to become a blockchain developer?

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Industry experts spoke of the need for regulations and standards to boost blockchain growth at a Chinese event on Tuesday.

Chile’s energy regulator has begun authenticating data on the blockchain platform, including marginal costs, fuel prices, compliance with the renewable energy law, and average market prices. The executive secretary of the CNE explained that blockchain will improve the security of energy data published on the platform of the regulatory body. The impossibility of altering the information on the database ensures the data will not be modified since its inception without the consent of those involved in the process.

“The National Energy Commission has decided to join this innovative technology and we have decided to use blockchain as a digital notary, which will allow us to certify that the information we provide in the open data portal has not been altered or modified and left unalterable record of its existence,”

Andrés Romero said. Romero added that;

“public information is an important input for the decision making of investments and energy projects and many of our users use this information to decide technical, economic and labor aspects. That is why, through the use of this technology, we will raise the levels of trust of our stakeholders, investors and the general public that consumes the data delivered at www.energiaabieta.cl.”

Chile, one of the most developed countries on the American continent is very supportive of business and innovation, but it is in a kind of regulatory limbo when it comes to digital currencies. There is some tension between the cryptocurrency community and the banking industry, and the government seems to be taking the side of the latter. Chilean cryptocurrency exchanges have had bank accounts frozen. In response, they have been pleading for fair regulation so that the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABIF) makes its position transparent. They have accused the Chilean regulators of being only a few who want to prohibit access to the technology for the majority.

Meanwhile down south near Valdivia a community on Fort Galt, designed for entrepreneurs to work without restriction, will be hosting a Cryptacademy to educate locals about cryptocurrency.

Image from Shutterstock

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As things currently stand, the crypto market is valued at more than USD $250 billion. While alt-currencies provide users with a high level of financial flexibility, the number of crypto ATMs located all across the world amount to a total of just 1600 kiosks.

Uptoken is the native currency being used by a Seattle-based company called CoinMe to streamline digital asset procuration via the establishment of new ATM portals around the globe.

In addition to being a vertically integrated outfit, Coinme offers its users with a highly simplified pathway for obtaining cryptocurrencies via their specially devised kiosk hardware and software. Other than that, CoinMe is also involved in other niche aspects of altcoin sourcing including:

• Obtaining required federal licensing as well as other regulatory licenses.
• Real estate acquisition
• Managing cash logistics
• Providing round the clock customer service.

Through their ATMs, Coinme provides users with instant, on-the-spot fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat exchanges, thereby eliminating any uncertainty or long waiting periods that regular online exchanges impose on their users. Not only that, Coinme’s crypto ATMs also provides customers with a hassle-free transaction experience that eliminates any barriers to cypto-adoption for non-technical users.

Overview

• The platform allows users to facilitate instant crypto-fiat monetary transactions.
• Can be made use of by novice as well as experienced crypto users.
• Does not require users to link their bank account details to their UpToken profile.
• Customers are provided with incentives (such as cash back rewards) every time they use a CoinMe ATM for withdrawing money.
• There is a dedicated customer support team that users can call 24/7 in case they have any doubts of queries regarding the platform.

Key Features

To start off with, UpToken holders receive a flat 1% cash back on each transaction that is executed via any CoinMe ATM kiosk. The money is provided in the form of UpTokens which can later be redeemed for either physical assets or other digital goods.  

Graph demonstrating the rise in Crypto-ATM use over the past three years.

Similarly, customers receive a 30% discount on ATM transaction fees if they opt to spend their UpTokens to cover for internal transaction charges. This is quite an attractive financial proposition for causal crypto enthusiasts who are looking to switch to digital currencies for their day to day payments.

At this point, it should also be noted that CoinMe has implemented a voting protocol that allows users to choose, over time, the currencies they would like to see across the CoinMe ATM network. As per the whitepaper, auctions will be held as per the requests of the CoinMe community, and interested parties will use UpToken to vote and choose which currencies to adopt next.

How does the ecosystem work?

Unlike standard ATM providers, Coinme is associated with both the production and operation of ATM kiosks. The company develops and manages a full stack of technology ranging from the hardware design to the software of the dispensing unit. As a result of this, Coinme is equipped to meet the changing demands of the crypto market as the industry keeps evolving.

Overview of the CoinMe ecosystem

It is useful to remember that the company is completely vertically integrated, and thus can handle all aspects of the customer experience, from cash logistics to customer support and engineering.

In terms of the internal work-scheme of this platform, if a customer decides to make a purchase worth $1,000 from a Coinme ATM and the ATM transaction fee is 5%, the customer could choose to pay the fee from their Coinme UpToken wallet, which would reduce the transaction fee to 3.5%. All of the aforementioned discounts are applied immediately and monetary savings are reflected in one’s wallet instantly.

Lastly, each time a person uses a Coinme crypto ATM, the company automatically deposits UpToken into the customer’s Coinme wallet equal to 1% of their ATM transaction amount— as part of their customer rewards program.

About the company

With this venture receiving a lot of public interest recently, it can be beneficial for the readers of this article to learn a bit more about the people involved with this project.

Neil Bergquist is the Co-Founder and CEO of CoinMe. As per his professional online bio, Neil has previously worked as:

• The former Director of Innovation at Delta Dental, Washington
• Former Innovation Management Consultant at Point B—  a consulting firm with offices throughout the US.

Additionally, Neil has also been associated with a company called SURF Incubator in the past.

Similarly, Michael Smyers is Co-Founder of this project. He is an engineer by profession who has also been associated with a wide array of digital entrepreneurial setups. In 2007, Michael co-founded Zipwhip— a cloud-based texting platform— that is currently valued at $281 Million.

Lastly, J.R. Willett is one of the key back-end devs involved with this setup.  He is widely credited as the inventor of the Token Sale/ ICO concept back in 2013 when he launched the Omni Layer digital fundraiser online. Omni is the 2nd largest ecosystem for crypto assets, hosting hundreds of millions of dollars (including Maid Safe and Tether).

Token Performance

Since Uptoken has only been on the market for little under a month, it can be difficult to assess its future market performance.

      Uptoken (UP) lifetime performance chart (courtesy of Coinmarketcap)

Introduced into the market at a nominal rate of $0.41, UP tokens have gradually decreased in value over the course of the past few weeks. As on the 9th of April, 2018 the price of a single coin currently stands at $0.125.

Final thoughts

With the adoption of cryptocurrencies at an all-time high, many market experts predict that altcoin ATMs will be the financial norm moving forward from here on out. With CoinMe providing its customer base with a fully functional, integrative platform, it will be interesting to see how the future of this technology pans out.

If you would like to start investing in this project, UP trading pairs are currently being exchanged on websites such as UpBit, Bittrex and Bancor Network.

All cryptocurrencies are going through a very volatile phase right now. It is safe to say the bear market has been in full effect for quite some time now. Some experts claim this negative pressure will automatically result in a bigger focus on blockchain technology. That seems a bit premature, as this bear market will not last indefinitely either.

The Cryptocurrency Bear Market Problem

Everyone will agree 2018 has not been a great year for cryptocurrencies so far. All top digital currencies have lost 40% of their value or more. Lower-cap currencies have seen similar trends, bar some pump-and-dumps. With no real relief in sight, there is a lot of despair in the market right now. Investors are growing impatient, even though they know things will have to improve eventually.

Wall Street moguls are entering the cryptocurrency space as we speak. Merchant adoption of BTC is also on the rise, which is pretty interesting. Bitcoin will get some major technical upgrades in the not-so-distant future as well. All of these factors combine for a positive outlook regardless of how dire things may look right now.

Even so, some experts continue to predict this bear market will not slow down. They expect things to get a lot more difficult in the coming weeks and months. After the crazy run of all cryptocurrencies in 2017, such statements are not entirely unexpected. It is still way too early to determine whether or not the bear market will carry on for much longer, though.

Blockchain Hype Cycle Renews

As one would expect, the cryptocurrency bear market results in even more blockchain hype. Some experts are convinced it is all about the technology and not cryptocurrencies. Mark Karpeles recently echoed similar statements, as he is no longer a Bitcoin believer at this stage. Not entirely unexpected, although it couldn’t come at a more troublesome time for cryptocurrencies.

One also has to keep in mind blockchain developments are mainly fueled by speculation. Companies develop proofs of concept where they determine if the idea of a blockchain is even viable. In most cases, that may not be the end result. Not every idea needs a blockchain to succeed. There’s also the issue of companies pivoting to a DLT model to simply boost stock prices.

It is unclear what the year 2018 will bring for both industries. Cryptocurrency isn’t in the best of places, but it will bounce back eventually. For blockchain, there is still a lot left to prove in the end. Previous years have shown a cryptocurrency bear market is to be expected. Every single time, Bitcoin and other top currencies come out stronger. There is no reason to believe this year will be any different.

The post Bearish Crypto Markets Do Not Automatically Make Blockchain More Valuable appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin lacks clear bias today, but a decisive session in either direction would likely define the trend going forward.