Day: April 21, 2018

In recent days, both the EU and Taiwan have moved towards tighter regulation for cryptocurrencies.

The European Parliament voted on Thursday to support the European Council’s December 2017 proposal to bring in new measures to combat illegal use of digital currencies such as money laundering and financing terrorism. This policy, maintains the EU, will reduce anonymity with future cryptocurrency practices.

Under the new measures cryptocurrency exchanges, platforms and wallet providers will now have to be registered with authorities and provide customer verification. The new directive will be legalized three days after publication by the Official Journal of the European Union, then member states will have 18 months to bring the new rules in under the 27 nations’ national laws.

Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini argued that billions of euros were lost annually to criminal activity including tax evasion, suggesting that these funds should fund hospitals, schools, and infrastructure:

“With this new legislation, we introduce tougher measures, widening the duty of financial entities to undertake customer due diligence.”

In similar news, The Taiwan Central News Agency has reported that the country’s minister of justice, Chui Tai-san, has said that Taiwan plans to have its new money-laundering legislation in place by November. According to this news report, Taiwanese banks have ordered its regulator, FSC, to identify bank accounts offered to Bitcoin trading platforms as “high-risk clients”. This will require transactions through the accounts above a certain threshold to be flagged to the regulator.

These new measures follow statements last month By Yang Chin-long, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) when he suggested that cryptocurrencies were under the microscope by the country’s lawmakers, recommending that Bitcoin needed regulating under the country’s existing money laundering laws.

These recent moves to tighten legislation surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies by both the EU and Taiwan are in line with a general shift towards global digital currency regulation.

The post EU and Taiwan Push For Bitcoin Transparency appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Traveling the world in seconds through teleportation is something people have always wanted to do. However, the term is commonly associated with scenarios depicted in sci-fi movies like ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Interstellar’. Many view teleportation as a fantasy that will never be fulfilled. However, advanced technologies like virtual reality, 3D holograms, and artificial intelligence beg to differ. Exploring the wonders of Paris and enjoying a fuller experience through VR headsets and live streaming fills some of the gaps.

For many people, however, that’s not enough. Tele-tourism has risen to stardom in the past couple of years, though in the absence of a pioneering platform with top-notch video and audio features, the average consumer doesn’t get the complete experience he thirsts for. To help meet the demand and cater to people’s dire need to be everywhere in seconds, Blockchain-based platform UbiatarPlay enter the scene to provide a better solution.

At the core of UbiatarPlay lies the Ubiatar Inc technology stack

At the core of UbiatarPlay lies the powerful technology behind existing platform Ubiatar Inc. The new project aims to leverage the already available patented technology, apps, and software to develop a marketplace that puts the power of ubiquity in the hands of the people. Based in the U.S., Ubiatar Inc has an existing business model in place with over 2,000 active users around the world. The platform’s app is live and can be downloaded from both Android and iOS marketplaces.

By embracing Blockchain technology, Ubiatar has developed the adjacent platform UbiatarPlay to streamline user interaction, cut back on transactional costs, and ensure complete transparency between all parties involved without a middleman. One of the main objectives of UbiatarPlay is to provide job opportunities to people around the world, as well as enable travel enthusiasts to be everywhere in seconds without leaving the comfort of their homes.

UbiatarPlay’s unique value proposition

UbiatarPlay plans to become a human empowerment network geared towards people willing to become Avatars or hosts for other people (Usars – travelers, seekers of foreign services/products), and take them on an unforgettable virtual journey in exchange for UbiatarPlay (UAC) tokens. After downloading the app, users will have to sign up for an UbiatarPlay account, either as an Avatar (service provider) or Usar (service payee).

Avatars will use their smartphones to live stream video content desired by Usars, whether it’s a tour of London or a visit to a museum in Paris. On the UbiatarPlay platform, the Avatar embodies the Usar, and will act as their eyes and ears. This way, someone from South Africa can virtually experience what snow in Switzerland feels like in December from thousands of miles away. Avatars receive directions through the advanced graphic user interface (GUI) to ensure complete telepresence to the Usars.

Introducing the UbiatarPlay human app

UbiatarPlay will feature a wide range of projects for businesses as well. Local travel agencies, for example, can brand their Avatars, give them a personal identity, and use them to provide services pertaining to their industry. By joining UbiatarPlay’s Human Empowerment Network, people can market their business or services remotely and help others from different corners of the world get access to something that has always been out of their reach.

With the end goal to empower everyone to learn, meet, discuss, share ideas, and see places located at the other end of the world, UbiatarPlay is committed to rewarding all parties involved. The UbiatarPlay launch is planned for May 9. Thus far, the team has already gathered $6,800 ETH in their pre-ICO. With an estimated hard cap of $30 mln, the project seeks to continue the platform’s development throughout Q3 of 2018.  

The post Peer-To-Peer Marketplace Powered by Blockchain Aims to Make Teleportation a Reality appeared first on NewsBTC.

A company plans to help the public monetize their data, describing their information on social media sites as “gold just sitting in their pocket”. #SPONSORED

BTC and ETH are back below the psychological price points of $9,000 and $600, having broken them earlier this morning. #NEWS

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has released details of its Q1 earnings this year, with the demand for ASIC chips growing over the period.

Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips are a necessary element to efficiently mine Bitcoin. Bitmain is one of the biggest names in Bitcoin mining hardware and they purchase their chips from TSMC.

A growing number of ASIC chips sold to companies like Bitmain has resulted in an extremely profitable first quarter for TSMC; it made approximately USD 4.2 billion in profit, with an increase in revenue at 6.1% over the previous quarter.

Speculation behind the Q1 results points to the release of the Bitmain Antminer E3, the first Ethereum miner utilizing ASIC chips. Due to be released this July, the hardware is advertised as mining Ethereum more efficiently than a standard GPU setup, at a reduced cost.

Profit levels for TSMC could be threatened, however, as Vitalik Buterin has discussed moving Ethereum to a full proof-of-stake model that would prevent the currency from being mined at all. Buterin has also discussed introducing a hard cap for Ethereum of 120 million, which would decrease the demand for mining in the long-term.

The direction Buterin takes Ethereum will indeed have a huge impact on TSMC’s profits, as Bitcoin mining has become less profitable due to the value depreciation, while alternative currencies that can be mined do not carry nearly as much value.

The whole of 2017 saw TSMC’s profits stand at just USD 114.8 million, due to USD 367 million in expenses recorded. This still put the company at a 2.8% increase over 2016.

The final quarter of 2017 saw the biggest increase in performance from TSMC, with the company recording USD 4.7 billion income. This is notably the period when Bitcoin had its highest recorded value at just under USD 20,000 per Bitcoin.

The profitability of Bitcoin mining is also influenced by how many miners are currently in the network, with more miners meaning the less profitable it becomes. Even if the value of Bitcoin begins to increase substantially, this does not necessarily mean it will become more cost-efficient to mine.

For now, however, evidence from TSMC points towards an increasing trend in the mining process.

The post ASIC Chip Manufacturer Posts Q1 Growth Due to Increased Crypto Mining appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Of all the altcoins under our focus, Stellar Lumens is the top performer for the week gaining 45 percent which increases its market cap to $6.8B. Despite this, NEO, Litecoin, IOTA and EOS are correcting. In this case, buyers should wait until stochastic buy signals print before loading longs probably in the coming week.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

XLM/USD (Stellar Lumens)

Stellar Lumens 4HR Chart by Trading View

We can’t write much from the fundamental front but what is obvious is that Stellar Lumens is pretty much stagnant. In the last 24 hours alone, the coin is up 0.54 percent and 43 percent for the week. That’s not bad at all but here is the thing.

We were pretty much bullish for the better of the week but with a double bar bear reversal pattern in the daily chart and a strong stochastics sell signal in the 4HR chart, sellers might pick up momentum through to next week. Personally, and from my Stellar Lumens technical analysis, a short term correction is bound. Potential reversal points lies between $0.27 and $0.30.

IOT/USD (IOTA)

IOTA 4HR Chart by Trading View

Of course, IOTA at $1.90 is awesome. It would even be better if we have some sort of upsides where IOTA would test $3 or so. We can’t discount that and after all, our IOTA technical analysis projects buyers testing this key resistance line in the coming days.

In my view, I shall point at increasing demonstration of how IOTA solves real life problems. After all, after Fujitsu and a couple of other projects, IOTA is now partnering with InnoEnergy in a bid to create this futuristic smart energy economy. Now, is this where Metcalfe’s law applies? Well, maybe and if it does, then expect IOTA to gain.

#IOTA, #InnoEnergy together with ÖBO and #ElaadNL team up to demonstrate the IOTA #Tangle on a smart community testbed to explore new business model for #emobility and #smartcommunity energy markets. https://t.co/Ootoek5VNe pic.twitter.com/nvFsGO2WtK

— IOTA News (@iotatokennews) April 20, 2018

From the charts, prices are correcting. Even though we remain bullish, we can refer to the 4HR chart which shows clear lower lows complete with bearish engulfing candlesticks testing and a stochastic sell signal. I remain net long but swing traders can sell and take profits at around $1.55 and $1.65 or whenever a stochastic buy signal prints in the course of next week.

EOS/USD (EOS)

EOS 4HR Chart by Trading View

After gaining 18.24 percent in the last 24 hours, EOS now occupies the number 5 spot usurping Litecoin in the process. By now, you should know that all developments are geared towards that well publicized EOSIO launch in June.

Know this though: EOS shall freeze the EOS ERC tokens on June 2 for a maximum of 20 days to allow BP vote in. Now, what is causing a buzz is the potential number of projects that shall launch post mainnet. Already, Block One CEO promised that there will be thousands of projects from all sorts of companies and earlier,OK Blockchain Capital announced a $100M slush fund kitty to support projects launching on EOS blockchain.

OK Blockchain Capital Campaigns EOS Supernode, Offering USD100 Million Supporthttps://t.co/kDwhxuaKn8

— OKCoin (@OKCoin) April 19, 2018

In the daily chart, it’s obvious that there is a break out past the main resistance line at $10. That’s a bullish break out we have been waiting. However, with prices correcting across the board, we expect EOS prices to follow suit and probably test $8 in the coming few days. After all, there is a stochastic sell signal in place and as such I recommend short term sells as above.

LTC/USD (Litecoin)

Litecoin 4HR Chart by Trading View

It’s a flap guys. Litecoin’s market cap stands at $8.25B. Even with marginal gains in the course of the week, it couldn’t prevent EOS from taking over that spots. Anyways, I’m selling Litecoin at the moment but I’m overly bullish. Potential buy target is at $125 on the lower end or when a stochastics buy signal prints and there’s a bullish candlestick confirming that.

NEO/USD (NEO)

NEO 4HR Chart by Trading View

It has been a generally busy week for NEO straight from impressive Switcheo trade volumes, Ether Capital trading on NEO exchange, Asura ICO and white listing and of course Aphelion desktop wallet release. What I like about Aphelion is that it easily integrates with Ledger Nano S. Cumulatively, all these are bullish for NEO and we expect prices to catapult in the coming weeks.

Introducing the Aphelion NEO Desktop Wallet Available Now. Get yours FREE here: https://t.co/UeIWNFuy0p

— Aphelion (@AphelionToken) April 20, 2018

Price wise, it’s the same pattern and even as we trade a bearish divergence pattern in the 4HR chart, prices should bounce back. Buy zones lies at $60 or whenever a stochastic buy signal prints from deep the oversold territory in the 4HR chart.

The post (Short Term Correction) NEO, EOS, Litecoin, IOTA and Stellar: Technical Analysis April 21, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

The day’s signals

1. Markets are showing a bullish sentiment with the price following a rising trail.
2. Traders have so far welcomed a breakout above USD 8,500 without major resistance following it.
3. Today’s top was reached at around USD 8,550. Prices now are continuing to trail at levels above the USD 8,500 price point after the spike to such levels.

GDAX BTC/USD charts showcase how markets reacted after today’s upward spike.  Traders now seem to be welcoming buy pressure more than in any of the preceding trading sessions. The change in market sentiment is becoming apparent through the rise of the price throughout the day. Prices went from USD 8,140 price levels at the beginning of the trading session up to reaching above USD 8,350 before today’s spike. Notably, even after a sudden spike that pushed prices from USD 8,350 price levels to above USD 8,500, this was taken in well by traders.

OKEX BTC/USD weekly futures charts are showcasing a similar mood from futures traders. The divide that had developed between futures prices and live markets in recent trading sessions remains but has shrunk considerably. Futures traders appear to be a little more cautious after the spike but are nevertheless continuing to showcase support for prices above the USD 8,500 price point.  Potentially, futures traders are looking for more support on Bitcoin markets but if the current trend is sustained this would come off naturally.

It’s worth noting that up until this point, markets seemed to have been driven by one-off sizable sell or by orders and taking consideration upon them. Today’s trading session is different in a sense that markets kept moving prices upwards before an upward spike took place. The overall market sentiment is improving, and that’s something sending ripples of positivity across crypto markets. For now, if price levels above USD 8,500 are sustained, Bitcoin could potentially be entering another decisive run.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis, 20th April 2018: Bullish Breakout for BTC/USD Markets appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Delaware’s status as a go-to jurisdiction for business can’t be taken for granted as tokens take off and issuers flock to blockchain-friendly states.

WikiLeaks Shop loses access to Coinbase for an unnamed Terms of Service violation. #NEWS

The allegedly fraudulent Centra Tech’s co-founder was arrested yesterday for securities and wire fraud, following the arrests of the other two founders earlier this month. #NEWS

Bitcoin is performing well in the market today as it tests the $9,000. The newfound bullish momentum is not a surprise for Fundstrat Global Advisors analyst Tom Lee, who said that tax filings were bringing the cryptocurrency market down and ‘Tax Day’ would eventually trigger an upside move for the bitcoin price.

Bitcoin Reaches $9,069 As Sentiment Improves

The bitcoin price has been steadily rising since April 12 after being buoyed at the $6,500-$7,000 range. The number one cryptocurrency by market cap is up by nearly 40 percent from the April lows as it has already crossed the $9,000 line to print a high at $9,069, according to TradingView.

Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, had previously explained that the tax liability of the massive capital gains obtained by cryptocurrency investors last year was behind the downward market pressure as holders of Bitcoin et al were cashing out to pay taxes.

“The U.S. tax day is behind us (April 17th) and since then, the overall tone in the crypto market has improved. We believe the ‘winter’ is ending for Bitcoin, as the crypto to fiat pressures from tax day subside, and as headline risks seem to be fading”, Tom Lee said in a note to investors.

As cryptocurrencies constitute property, according to the IRS, these are subject to capital gains tax. The 1,300% upward move in 2017 might have resulted in $25 billion in taxes in the United States. The head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors argued that U.S. households captured 30% of the $590 billion capital gains in 2017 and the $92 billion taxable gains were subject to a 27% rate.

Tom Lee also recommended investors to keep an eye on the CoinsharesCrypto ETF, a leading indicator for bitcoin, which he compared to Punxatawney Phil, a groundhog who predicts whether winter is over based on its shadow.

“We believe large institutional investors globally use this ETF as a way to quickly gain exposure to Bitcoin. Hence when shares rise, big money is buying bitcoin”, Tom Lee added.

Tom Lee predicts Bitcoin will reach $20,000 by mid-year and $25,000 by the end of 2018. The analyst sees Bitcoin at $91,000 by early 2020.

Sentiment in the industry has also improved considerably after news that leading investment funds are entering the cryptocurrency market, including George Soros and the Rothschild family. The Soros Fund Management venture internally approved the trading of virtual coins. Soros has recently called the market a “bubble” and that investors were operating on “some kind of misunderstanding.”

The post Bitcoin Price is Up 13.6% Since Tax Season Came to an End appeared first on NewsBTC.

A ‘Lord of the Rings’ reference in several crypto projects illustrates a coming land grab on the finite amount of “cool” names.

Most altcoins tend to ride Bitcoins coattails a bit when the world’s leading cryptocurrency rises in value. This concept also applies to most currencies which “forked” off Bitcoin in the past few months. The Bitcoin Private price, for example, is trying to surge but still fails to gain any real traction. Despite the neglectable trading volume, the Bitcoin Private price is going through solid upward momentum.

Bitcoin Private Price Gets a Blatant Pump

Even though some people are convinced Bitcoin Private is the superior version of Bitcoin on the market today, most people consider it as just another altcoin which will eventually lose momentum and be all but forgotten about. Whether or not that means the Bitcoin Private price will see a massive correction in the future, remains to be determined. As of right now, the BTCP value is rising quite sharply for no apparent reason.

More specifically, we have seen the Bitcoin Private price rise from $24 to $43 in the span of seven days. Although most other cryptocurrencies noted similar gains percentage-wise, there is no apparent reason for Bitcoin Private to go up in value. It is a currency with nearly no trading volume, unique features, or purpose, just like 90% of the altcoins. As such, it is evident this currency is riding the coattails of Bitcoin first and foremost.  

Even so, the Bitcoin Private price managed to increase by 21.26% over the past 24 hours. An impressive gain, even if it is entirely based on market manipulation. This upward trend is also made possible thanks to BTCP gaining 14.97% over Bitcoin itself. We have seen most altcoins go through a similar trend this past week, thus it is somewhat normal BTCP follow that example.

What is rather abnormal, however, is how the Bitcoin Private price has gained so much value with virtually no trading volume. It is a tell-tale sign of market manipulation, as virtually no one is seemingly interested in buying or selling BTCP as of right now. Over the past 24 hours, this altcoin noted just $1.2m in trading volume, which is absolutely atrocious for a currency with a market cap of nearly $800m.

It seems Trade Satoshi is the go-to place when it comes to trading Bitcoin private, along with Nanex. Both of these trading platforms combined represent nearly 87% of all trades, even though it is unclear why anyone would buy BTCP at this current price. Manipulating smaller exchanges is a lot easier than ensuring Bitcoin Private gains any real traction.

How all of this will play out for the Bitcoin Private price in the long run, remains unclear at this stage. While no one will deny this uptrend is quite impressive, all of the other contributing factors paint a rather worrisome picture. It seems to be a matter of time until the Bitcoin private price returns to more normal levels, and a dip to $25 or lower is not out of the question by any means.

Following the conclusion of its successful token generation event, CoinMetro is now in the midst of holding an airdrop campaign that ends on April 15th, 2018. All qualifying participants of the airdrop will receive 68 XCM tokens (CoinMetro’s native digital token), and will become part of the CoinMetro Airdrop family, ready to receive future benefits.

More than 120 million XCM tokens have already been sold to over 7,000 unique participants during the entire crowdfunding exercise and token generation event which ended on the final day of March 2018. In total, over EUR 12 million was raised, proving that CoinMetro’s solution for a one-of-a-kind fintech platform has worth and value in the eyes of the public.

As a result of that trust and belief, CoinMetro has decided to give back to the community via its CoinMetro Airdrop campaign.

Amplifying the CoinMetro presence

Despite its already significant presence, CoinMetro believes that this airdrop campaign will spread even more awareness to even wider audiences. It acknowledges the potential of the theory of widest possible distribution, employed with some degree of success by other projects, in creating public awareness and expanding its userbase.

Beyond a mere airdrop copy of other tokens, however, CoinMetro believes that its giveaway is a show of confidence in its own token and its own product, along with confidence in its growing base of users.

The airdrop

A few simple steps are all that is necessary to participate in the XCM Airdrop.

Simply join the CoinMetro Telegram group and request the password in there from the admins. Next, sign up for a CoinMetro account or login if you are an existing member, entering the password from admins to claim your XCM tokens.

All participants of the token generation event automatically qualify. If you have not contributed before, you will need to donate a minimum of 1 XCM / 0.1 ETH / 0.01 BTC / 0.3 LTC / 0.05 BCH) to qualify.

The airdrop applies to CoinMetro’s Exchange-Traded Crypto Fund (ETCF) platform which is scheduled to launch later in 2018, and can only be used on ETCF. All qualifying participants will receive the 68 XCM as soon as the platform launches. Airdropped XCM must be held for at least three months.

The CoinMetro Airdrop ends on April 15th 2018, 23:59:59 GMT. New participants are subject to KYC processes which can take up to 30 days to verify.

Welcome to the CoinMetro Airdrop family

The first 10,000 contributors depositing 0.1 ETH or more will also be members of the CoinMetro Airdrop family.

All members of this exclusive group will qualify for any and all future airdrops that will take place on the ETCF exchange platform. This signifies a unique opportunity to pay once and receive benefits in the form of free tokens for many years to come.

To learn more, visit the CoinMetro website or read the CoinMetro whitepaper. To keep up with the latest developments, follow CoinMetro on Twitter, Facebook and Telegram.

The post CoinMetro Is Raining Down Free XCM Until April 15th 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.