Mastodon

Asset Freeze Continues for Public Company That Pivoted to Crypto

The SEC is likely to prove that three defendants associated with fintech firm Longfin took part in the sale of unregistered securities, a judge said.

The SEC is likely to prove that three defendants associated with fintech firm Longfin took part in the sale of unregistered securities, a judge said.

UNICEF Turns to Crypto Mining to Raise Funds for its Humanitarian Causes

TheMerkle_Tencent Charity China BitcoinDo you want to support UNICEF’s goal of making the world a better place for less fortunate kids? Turns out now you can, just by visiting a website and volunteering your computer’s processing power. UNICEF Australia has turned to crypto mining to fund its humanitarian causes, and it’s counting on support from the public. While there have been widespread cases of people’s computing power being used to mine cryptos, this initiative is different, as it’s dedicated to funding UNICEF as it endeavors to provide humanitarian assistance to children and mothers. The Hopepage UNICEF Australia has launched The Hopepage, a website with a simple

TheMerkle_Tencent Charity China Bitcoin

Do you want to support UNICEF’s goal of making the world a better place for less fortunate kids? Turns out now you can, just by visiting a website and volunteering your computer’s processing power. UNICEF Australia has turned to crypto mining to fund its humanitarian causes, and it’s counting on support from the public. While there have been widespread cases of people’s computing power being used to mine cryptos, this initiative is different, as it’s dedicated to funding UNICEF as it endeavors to provide humanitarian assistance to children and mothers.

The Hopepage

UNICEF Australia has launched The Hopepage, a website with a simple interface that calls on visitors to “Give Hope, Just By Being Here.” Once one visits the site, he or she is prompted to click a ‘Start Donating’ button that lets them start donating their computer’s processing power right away. One also gets the option to determine just how much of their processing power they will donate, with the maximum allocation being 80%. (It can be dangerous to donate too much of your processing power to mining, as it’s a very energy-intensive process.)

The site also explains how the process works. Once you agree to donate your processing power, your computer automatically starts solving algorithms (mining) which earns UNICEF cryptos that it trades to raise funds for its causes. Those funds are used to buy life-saving supplies like vaccines and safe water for millions of children.

For those who would like to contribute to the cause but are wary of mining, the site has an assuring message for them:

Mining is perfectly safe for your computer. If you’re ever worried about power consumption, turn down the amount of processing power you’re donating.

The site uses Coinhive, a crypto mining service which has in the past been widely associated with cryptojacking, a process in which unscrupulous internet users mine cryptos using people’s computers without their knowledge or consent. This is, however, a very noble undertaking for Coinhive, and will have the secondary benefit of restoring some faith in the service, which has gained notoriety for being used to target users of YouTube, Google, and even UK government sites.

A Growing Trend

While UNICEF Australia is pioneering the use of people’s processing power for humanitarian causes, other companies have also turned to using the processing power of their users to mine cryptos, some legally and many more illegally. Among those doing it legally and openly is Salon, a media outlet that is exploring using its visitors’ computing power in place of ads. This offer is optional, and one can opt out and instead view ads if they wish.

Among those that have been caught using Coinhive to illegally harvest processing power from users include The Pirate Bay, a digital repository for media content and software. After users found out that the site had been cryptojacking their computers, the site apologized and proposed a more open harvesting of processing power in place of ads. Most of the people who responded to the proposal were supportive of the initiative just so they could avoid ads. Showtime, an American television network, was also found to have been doing the same thing; it had been mining Monero, a privacy-focused crypto, using Coinhive’s software.

3 Things That Could Lift Bitcoin Prices To New Highs – Forbes


Forbes

3 Things That Could Lift Bitcoin Prices To New Highs
Forbes
Some experts think so, provided that three things go in Bitcoin’s way. The first thing is higher Bitcoin adoption rates as a store of value and as a medium of exchange, two functions common among conventional currencies. That, in turn, will take a


Forbes

3 Things That Could Lift Bitcoin Prices To New Highs
Forbes
Some experts think so, provided that three things go in Bitcoin's way. The first thing is higher Bitcoin adoption rates as a store of value and as a medium of exchange, two functions common among conventional currencies. That, in turn, will take a ...

Japan pressures exchanges to drop Monero, Zcash and Dash

Japanese regulators have reportedly pressured local exchanges to delist privacy coins, calling into question the authority of trading platforms to carry coins that cannot be tracked by law enforcement agencies. Japanese regulators have reportedly press…

Japanese regulators have reportedly pressured local exchanges to delist privacy coins, calling into question the authority of trading platforms to carry coins that cannot be tracked by law enforcement agencies. Japanese regulators have reportedly pressured local exchanges to delist privacy coins, calling into question the authority of trading platforms to carry coins that cannot be tracked by law enforcement agencies.

IOTA, Stellar Lumens, Tron, Litecoin, EOS: Technical Analysis for May 3, 2018

Other than IOTA, that is back in the top 10, most coins including Stellar Lumens, Tron, EOS and Litecoin are slowing down. As it is, IOTA is a straight buy now that it is trading within a bullish break out complete with a stochastic buy signal and in sync with the overall bullish wave in

The post IOTA, Stellar Lumens, Tron, Litecoin, EOS: Technical Analysis for May 3, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Other than IOTA, that is back in the top 10, most coins including Stellar Lumens, Tron, EOS and Litecoin are slowing down. As it is, IOTA is a straight buy now that it is trading within a bullish break out complete with a stochastic buy signal and in sync with the overall bullish wave in the weekly chart. So, with IOTA being clear, watch out for price movements in Litecoin and if bears push below the middle BB in Tron’s 4HR chart.

Let look at these charts:

EOSUSD (EOS)

Honestly, waiting for this EOSIO mainnet launch is more like that count down before a space rocket launch. Think of Space X. Everyone is talking about it and so we can imagine how prices will tank in case there is a last minute disappointment.

Anyhow, on the light side, in the last couple of hours UpBit became one of the latest exchanges after BitFinex and Binance to declare their support for EOSIO independent coin. While this is happening, Trezor is also asking EOSIO development team to reach out  so that they can start their EOS integration. By doing so, EOS holders shall securely store their coins even after launch when they are no longer a ERC-20 token.

Back to price action and it’s slow as it gets. Fact is EOS is up six percent in the last 24 hours but still, we are neutral with a mild bearish skew at least in the short term. In my view, $14 is a key support line and even though we have this belt of support between $14 and EOS recent ATHs at $18, we need to gauge the strength of bull to see if it’s safe to buy straight away.

That $4 range with lower limits at $14 is important to me and so unless we see a strong push above $20 today then I urge patience until we see indications of strong buy price reversals from recent lows.

LTCUSD (Litecoin)

When it comes to price pumps, nothing beats the Network Effect which at its core is all about adoption. In cryptocurrencies, there shall be a boom if there is even but a marginal percentage increase in retail adoption. As it is, hard data shows that Litecoin adoption trajectory is up, processing up-to 30,000 TX/s daily, and is poised to increase now that hopefully besides Argentina, we shall see more ATMS being launched in more countries.

From price action, Litecoin is in accumulation mode in the midst of an uptrend. That’s irrefutable unless otherwise. Yesterday, I recommended break out buys at $150 especially if a stochastic buy signal prints.

Currently we have a buy signal but we shall remain on the sidelines until we see a push and break above that minor resistance trend line at $150. Otherwise, conservative traders should wait for surges above $180 in the daily chart before looking for longs in the 4HR chart.

XLMUSD (Stellar Lumens)

Of all the coins in the top 10, price erosion is only visible in Stellar Lumens. Yes, we can see the same slide happening in the 4HR chart and sellers jumping in at around 45 cents. Coincidentally, this happens to be 5 cents away from our minor resistance and buy trigger line.

Because of this, yesterday’s Stellar Lumens price forecast is still valid. All we have to do is wait for reversals anywhere between 35 cents and 40 cents and more so when a stochastic buy signal prints. Alternatively patience for buyers to push prices above 50 cents before jumping in with the buy train can be a good trading strategy.

TRXUSD (Tron)

It’s obvious that Justin Sun likes taking the lead. In the past 24 hours, there have been two important announcements from Tron Foundation. The first being BTCC Pool will be running for Tron’s super representative. Secondly, CoinTiger EX shall list Tron as TRX where their customers can exchange their Yuan, Ethereum or Bitcoin for TRX. I believe this shall in the long run add to TRX liquidity which even the Tron Foundation wants to see.

Price wise, Tron is literally stagnant with a short term bearish skew. If bears push prices below the middle BB then I expect Tron to find support at 8 cents or there about. Ideally, I shall stay neutral until we have a sufficient retest of support or a stochastic buy signal or both. Before then, being neutral with a long term bullish stand and looking for buying opportunities on dips can prove lucrative.

IOTUSD (IOTA)

After staying out in the cold for five days, there is a recovery in IOTA. It is now in the top 10, after adding 15 percent in the last 24 hours and replacing NEO. It might be because buyers are reacting to their MOBI announcement but well, that’s what IOTA is designed for. Undoubtedly, it operates efficiently in IoT environment and that’s what MOBI plans to further develop going forward.

Price wise, IOTA is a straight buy following yesterday break above last week’s consolidation. Furthermore, as you can see in the 4HR chart, there is a stochastic buy signal following a break above resistance trend line. Because of this I recommend buys with targets at $3 and $4.5.

The post IOTA, Stellar Lumens, Tron, Litecoin, EOS: Technical Analysis for May 3, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Ethereum and Blockchain Tech in the Oil and Gas Industry

oil and gasWe tend to associate blockchain tech with cutting-edge developments. With creating entirely new opportunities or revolutionizing existing systems beyond all recognition. Connecting the world, wiping out poverty, eradicating fraud, even taking to the skies – they are just a handful of the uses for this wonder tech. But blockchain can be applied to traditional industries as well, not to shake them up, just to make things better. And that’s finally starting to become a reality in oil and gas. In a well-established, slow-to-change industry, it may be surprising to hear that oil and gas is at last adopting blockchain. Yet that would be

oil and gas

We tend to associate blockchain tech with cutting-edge developments. With creating entirely new opportunities or revolutionizing existing systems beyond all recognition. Connecting the world, wiping out poverty, eradicating fraud, even taking to the skies – they are just a handful of the uses for this wonder tech.

But blockchain can be applied to traditional industries as well, not to shake them up, just to make things better. And that’s finally starting to become a reality in oil and gas.

In a well-established, slow-to-change industry, it may be surprising to hear that oil and gas is at last adopting blockchain. Yet that would be doing it a disservice. Since the very real fact of finite resources hit home and plummeting oil values sent alarm bells ringing, hydrocarbon companies everywhere have had to adapt or die.

Even Saudi Arabia, a country in which a liter of oil is cheaper than a liter of water, is busy diversifying for its future. So, what help can blockchain tech bring to the oil and gas industry to keep it on its toes?

Improving Order-to-Cash Processing

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Ondiflo is a joint venture of Amalto, a Paris-based cash-to-order company, and ConsenSys, an experienced Ethereum developer. The idea is to provide digital solutions for order-to-cash processing. And it’s about time.

When so many of our established systems are tied up in antiquated processes, digitization will improve life for every stakeholder involved, increasing efficiency in production and reducing heavy lifting.

Applying blockchain technology to oil and gas makes for more efficient scheduling and dispatching, more precise measurement of volumes of liquid, more accurate invoicing and record-keeping, and reduced revenue leakage. It will also make coding errors a thing of the past. It’s another smart way of fixing broken links in the supply chain, this time for oil and gas.

Oil and Gas Gets Digital

Based in Houston, Texas, the beating heart of the US oil and gas industry, Ondiflo’s Ethereum smart contracts will allow it to create a ticket-based automated system. This will make the order-to-cash process more streamlined and bring paper records into a digital ecosystem at last. It’s hard to believe that in 2018, these processes are still being carried out using paperwork. Not only is the industry busy burning through oil and gas, they’re wasting paper as well – and a whole lot of manpower on top.

And, as is the nature of blockchain, data through proof of work is another major benefit. Transactions will be settled in minutes rather than days, human error will be cut out of the equation, and the risks of tampering and corruption will disappear. This will lead to increased profits and efficiency all around, and a chance to stay competitive amidst emerging alternatives.

Outdated Statutes Hindering Crypto Regulation: CFTC Chair

TheMerkle_UK Payments Regulator CompetitionBitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies have elements of all asset classes. This makes it very complicated for regulators to come up with a comprehensive regulatory framework for this industry. That’s according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman, Chris Giancarlo, in an interview with CNBC. He added that as a regulator, he doubts there will be a solution in the near future, as most of the statutes that are being applied today by regulators were formulated over 70 years ago. That makes it difficult for one to regulate new and advanced technological innovations like Bitcoin. Fostering Innovation And Expected Legislation Giancarlo discussed the CFTC’s role

TheMerkle_UK Payments Regulator Competition

Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies have elements of all asset classes. This makes it very complicated for regulators to come up with a comprehensive regulatory framework for this industry. That’s according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman, Chris Giancarlo, in an interview with CNBC. He added that as a regulator, he doubts there will be a solution in the near future, as most of the statutes that are being applied today by regulators were formulated over 70 years ago. That makes it difficult for one to regulate new and advanced technological innovations like Bitcoin.

Fostering Innovation And Expected Legislation

Giancarlo discussed the CFTC’s role in nurturing Bitcoin and blockchain technology, saying that the CFTC has always been one to support innovation.

As a regulatory agency, our agency, the CFTC has often been [at] the forefront of technological revolution. It’s part of our DNA as an agency. We try to apply our statute[s] [using] a principles-based approach. We look at the core principles and apply [them] to new innovations.

Giancarlo is optimistic that Congress will come up with a regulatory policy for the crypto industry in the near future as the need to regulate the sector rises. He, together with the SEC chairman, Jay Clayton, recently testified in front of the House Banking Committee, and it’s up to the lawmakers to decide whether or not new laws should be formulated for the crypto industry. His optimism stems from the conversations he’s had with some senators and congresspeople which indicate a growing appetite for some rethinking regarding cryptos.

I think you will see going forward, perhaps this Congress or [a] future Congress, an attempt to deal with this innovation…. Bitcoin has been around for 8 or 9 years, but the fact of the matter is it’s still relatively new for us as a regulatory agency and it’s going to take some open-mindedness, some new way[s] of thinking about it, for us to get our heads around it.

Regulation Is Still A Grey Area

The remarks come barely a week after the former CFTC chair, Gary Gensler, said in an interview with The New York Times that he considers Ether and XRP to be non-compliant securities. If the CFTC were to take such a stand against the two most valuable altcoins in the crypto industry, it would become illegal to trade them on most of the exchanges currently offering them. Gensler did, however, state that Bitcoin would probably be exempted from this classification, as it was not issued via an ICO and has a decentralized network of developers.

Such is the ambiguity in regulations that has turned out to have hurt the crypto markets greatly. In the interview, Giancarlo also stated that the CFTC and the SEC are not in a position to make any laws, and that the two agencies can only enforce whatever laws Congress puts in place. He has in the past voiced his support for both Bitcoin and blockchain technology, unlike other key figures that have openly opposed Bitcoin but supported the technology behind it.

It seems that despite the long wait, a definitive regulatory framework isn’t as close to becoming a reality as many of us would want.

 

Square’s Bitcoin Business Is Struggling to Make Money – Fortune


Fortune

Square’s Bitcoin Business Is Struggling to Make Money
Fortune
Square shed light on the state of its fledgling Bitcoin business in its earnings report Wednesday afternoon. The good news for the payment company is that it pulled in $34 million of Bitcoin-related revenue last quarter—the bad news is that Square
Square says it sold $34 million of bitcoin in first quarterCNBC

all 3 news articles »


Fortune

Square's Bitcoin Business Is Struggling to Make Money
Fortune
Square shed light on the state of its fledgling Bitcoin business in its earnings report Wednesday afternoon. The good news for the payment company is that it pulled in $34 million of Bitcoin-related revenue last quarter—the bad news is that Square ...
Square says it sold $34 million of bitcoin in first quarterCNBC

all 3 news articles »

BRD Wallet ‘Augustus’ Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading

BRD Wallet 'Augustus' Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency TradingThis week the company BRD (formally Bread Wallet) released its anticipated ‘Augustus’ wallet release which provides BRD users with a bunch of new features. Not only will the BRD wallet offer BCH, BTC, and ETH balances, users can now store over 100 unique ERC20 tokens as well. Additionally, the BRD development team has added a […]

The post BRD Wallet ‘Augustus’ Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News.

BRD Wallet 'Augustus' Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading

This week the company BRD (formally Bread Wallet) released its anticipated ‘Augustus’ wallet release which provides BRD users with a bunch of new features. Not only will the BRD wallet offer BCH, BTC, and ETH balances, users can now store over 100 unique ERC20 tokens as well. Additionally, the BRD development team has added a secure in-wallet digital trading service for its supported assets.

Also read: Markets Update: Trading Action Heats Up During the First Week of May

BRD Launches ‘Augustus’ Wallet Release With In-Wallet Cryptocurrency Trading

BRD Wallet 'Augustus' Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency TradingThe BRD platform is a well-known cryptocurrency app that’s been around the digital asset ecosystem for quite some time. This week the BRD development team has launched the Augustus wallet, a release that implements a host of new features. For now, the new features are only available for iOS, but the BRD team’s community manager Alex Eaton explains to news.Bitcoin.com that the Android release will be out soon.

The new Augustus platform comes with its standard services which allow users to hold their own private keys. However, the new BRD app now offers the ability to store, send, and receive ethereum (ETH) and over 100 ERC20 tokens that stem from the ETH network. Additionally, the Augustus version lets users choose which currencies they would like to view in the wallet’s user interface, and the app will only list the favorites chosen. Another nice addition for cryptocurrency enthusiasts is the ability to trade digital assets from within the wallet due to an integration with the Changelly API.

“The way that we do the trading within the app is with an integration with Changelly,” BRD’s community manager Alex Eaton tells news.Bitcoin.com. “Eventually we want to use a decentralized exchange (DEX) and we’ve been in talks with some development teams. Aaron Lasher, the CMO of BRD, and I were talking about it just yesterday and our team does not feel that DEX platforms are ready for integration yet. So we are still waiting for some DEX platforms to be safe enough so we can feel more comfortable with integration.”

BRD Wallet 'Augustus' Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading

The 4-Week BRD Airdrop

BRD Wallet 'Augustus' Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading
BRD community manager Alex Eaton.

Further, the platform’s native token BRD can be stored within the wallet and during the course of the next four weeks, the company is doing an airdrop registration with a limited amount of spots available per week. During the company’s recent Augustus announcement, the firm explains that BRD tokens can be used for rewards and discounts that become available as the company grows, and they can also be traded on the open markets.  

“We’ve been doing an airdrop for two weeks and we just started round three of our airdrop this morning — So we’re giving out so far 20 BRD tokens for every single person that registers,” explains Eaton to news.Bitcoin.com. “We’ve been doing the airdrop at weeks at a time, where week one we were looking for 10,000 registrants and everyone got 10 BRD tokens.”

“This week we are looking for only 4,000 registrants and if we hit that the amount, everyone regardless of which week you signed up for, will get 25 BRD tokens — Then next week when we start week four will have another registration cap,” Eaton adds.

Eaton tells us people can find out more and get alerts about BRD’s 4-week airdrop here, while users can also learn about the new BRD wallet features by joining the team’s Telegram chat.

What do you think about the BRD wallet and its latest features? Let us know your thoughts about this platform in the comments below.


Images via Telegram, BRD, and the iOS app store. 


Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. Want to see the top 500 cryptocurrency market caps in real-time check out Satoshi Pulse!

The post BRD Wallet ‘Augustus’ Release Features In-App Cryptocurrency Trading appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Mastercard: Crypto Card Bans A Factor in Q1 Volume Decline

During its quarterly earnings call, Mastercard CFO Martina Hund-Majean said cross-border volume is down due in part to bans on crypto purchases.

During its quarterly earnings call, Mastercard CFO Martina Hund-Majean said cross-border volume is down due in part to bans on crypto purchases.