Day: May 11, 2018

Markets react as news breaks of local police investigating leading South Korean crypto exchange for alleged fraud

A former Digital Asset executive and a long-time securities lawyer have started a new law firm that will focus exclusively on blockchain clients.

Founder of the BKCM digital asset fund and contributor to CNBC’s Fast Money, Brian Kelly, has stated on the same program that he sees Wall Street becoming a major factor in crypto market popularity as new institutions come on board.

Kelly maintains that the addition of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Goldman Sachs to the crypto status quo will cause the market to surge, according to CNN.

It was reported elsewhere that the parent company of the NYSE, the ICE exchange, is not simply launching a futures market as suggested, but a Bitcoin exchange which would trade in the standard way where customers can buy, store and sell Bitcoin.

“The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange has been working on an online trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold Bitcoin, according to emails and documents viewed by The New York Times,” the New York Times reported.

Kelly commented that he was “shocked” when the market didn’t “surge” at the recent announcement by NYSE, maintaining that customers had missed out on an important element that ICE would offer a custody solution. He also noted that this development by NYSE’s parent company demonstrated the emergence of cryptocurrencies as an asset class, allowing for institutional investors to invest in the cryptocurrency market. He commented:

“[The] physical delivery of Bitcoin… means that ICE has a custody solution. That has been the big hurdle. How do you hold onto these assets? These are generally bearer instruments… and so you have to have a third-party custody person. That’s the big deal, they have come up with a custody solution for institutional holders.”

ICE, as yet, have not confirmed if it plans to build an in-house cold storage solution, something usually only offered to small companies. It has been suggested that if institutional investors were to enter the cryptocurrency market with huge capital, this would accelerate it into a multi-trillion dollar market.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews

The post Brian Kelly Says Crypto Markets Will Surge with Wall Street Interest appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Rumors are an integral part of the cryptocurrency industry. In Japan, there are some sources which claim the domestic Bitflyer exchange may be in trouble. Although specifics are difficult to come by, the company refutes all of these claims. The firm has also recently been on a big hiring spree to ensure it can continue to grow.

The Bitflyer Rumors in a Nutshell

Yuzo Kano is a well-known individual in Japan. He is also responsible for the massive growth of the Bitflyer exchange in Japan. In one of his recent tweets, Kano responds to allegations of the exchange being in “trouble”. While no specifics were provided, the Japanese cryptocurrency community is in a slight state of panic. With the FSA cracking down on exchanges which may pose a problem, fearmongering is the last thing this industry needs.

一部SNS等で話題となっている件について当社では確認できておらず、現在、事実確認のお問い合わせを行っております。当社は通常通りサービスを運営させて頂いておりますのでご安心ください。

— 加納裕三 (Yuzo Kano) (@YuzoKano) May 11, 2018

As is always the case, this rumor needs to be taken in stride. There has been a fair amount of miscommunication regarding cryptocurrency-related events in the past few years. It is true the Japanese FSA is closely monitoring all exchanges. They will not hesitate to undertake action if the need arises. For now, it seems BitFlyer is doing everything right.

The rumor in question mentions how Bitflyer will “stop operations temporarily”. So far, there is no official source to lend any credibility to these rumors and no active investigation is taking place. This rumor may also be the reason why all cryptocurrency markets see a lot of bearish pressure these past two days. Until proven otherwise, the Japanese exchange is doing fine and will not halt any operations. 

The Future of the Japanese Exchange

Despite this rumor, the growth of Bitflyer has been nothing but stellar. The exchange is the world’s fourth-largest trading platform by turnover. Moreover, the company has set up various physical offices in the US and Europe. Kano is confident he can expand Bitlfyer’s presence to Africa, Australia, Asia, and South America. Such an expansion will not happen if the company is facing any major trouble.

This is further confirmed by the company’s recent hiring spree. A few days ago, it became clear Yuzo Kano is hiring Wall Street talent to build his own “empire”. As such, he now employs over 150 people,, which includes a large number of people actively working for Bitflyer. If this trend remains in place, Kano will successfully employ 300 people before the year 2018 is over.

Kano also ensures Bitflyer did not make the same mistakes as Coincheck. That other popular Japanese exchange faced a major hack in early 2018. They were eventually acquired and victims of the hack were reimbursed. However, the firm acknowledges it had “failed” its clients. All other Japanese exchanges want to ensure they can avoid those pitfalls first and foremost.

The post Japan’s Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange is Not Shutting Down, CEO Refutes FUD appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin has dropped to three-week lows and may take a further hit over the weekend, the technical charts indicate.

Video games have become something far more than just a casual past-time; from its humble beginnings in the arcades to the industry boom caused by the successes of console and PC gaming, video gaming has become a mainstream, competitive and a profitable market — even for the players themselves.

E-Sports and E-Money

Games are highly competitive, and as technology and video game concepts evolved, it became evident that players were beginning to take some of the most popular online multiplayer games very seriously, giving rise to the world of E-sports.

Players from all over the world can now battle it alone or in teams out for glory, for their sponsors and huge cash prizes. E-sports are massive and now offer the chance for the most skilled of players to make a career from their favourite games.

A blockchain gaming project from the United Kingdom is boldly entering the E-sports market, offering cryptocurrency as prizes instead of a cash pot. Blockchain gaming startup TriForce has just announced the release date for the first part of their technology, RaidParty as part of a broader collaborative effort with UK based video game studio, TheGameWall.

Blockchain Meets Video Games

TriForce has found an exciting way to bring blockchain technology and video games together; the company aims to be the industry standard on multiple gaming platforms, their utilization of blockchain technology offers player-to-player trades and a unique market honorary system that rewards players for collaborative gameplay, providing a new way to monetize play time.  

The partnership with TheGameWall studios, an award-winning independent game publisher studio from Cambridge, brings with it a brand new game for players to play and compete for cryptocurrency rewards.

Ethereum and FORCE for the Players

RaidParty from TriForce is a social engagement platform for gamers; it’s designed to connect the entire gaming community alongside TriForce tokens (FORCE), which players can earn while playing games they love.

On the 7th of May, 2018, RaidParty goes live, and players can compete for prizes of up to 10 ETH on the platforms flagship game WarGate, a 3v3 Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, which is available on Android and iOS devices.

The release will be limited to the first 150,000 players to sign up; to qualify for the chance to win the top prize of 10 ETH; players must complete at least ten matches within the 30 day reward period to be entered into the prize draw.

But it’s not just Ethereum that is up for grabs, and players can also earn FORCE tokens for completing specific tasks across a number of games that are also to be released; FORCE tokens can also be redeemed at later stages in the platform’s development for gaming merchandise, other cryptocurrencies and exclusive content.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews

The post Blockchain Video Gaming Startup Launches Mobile Video Game Wargate and RaidParty App appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

The free stock trading app, Robinhood, announced on Thursday that it has raised USD 363 million in a new investment round, reports Fortune.

This makes the company the second most valuable private fintech startup in the US after online payments company Stripe, valuing it at USD 5.6 billion. Fortune reports that Robinhood has shown an ability to rapidly overtake incumbents in one of the oldest Wall Street industries after its valuation has quadrupled in the last year.

Growth has largely been driven by new product launches and commission-free trading. The new funding will allow the company to expand its workforce from barely 200 employees, and hire more experienced executives and technical talent.

Baiju Bhatt, Robinhood’s co-founder, explained why the company experienced such a rapid rise in after only three years of operation:

“I think the real ‘X factor’ that made investors even more excited about being a part of Robinhood was seeing our ability to, with a very, very limited workforce, to ship three brand new products in these last six months, while maintaining and growing one of the largest brokerages in the US”

Robinhood Crypto, which launched in February, is expected to be rolled out throughout the US by the end of 2018 and could become a viable challenge to US giant Coinbase, according to Bhatt. It is currently only available in 10 states around the US.

“We expect by the end of the year to be either the largest or one of the largest crypto platforms out there, but we also really feel we’ll have the absolute best experience for investing in crypto as well — from having a large variety of coins available to a more favorable cost structure — mainly no commissions — to just quality of product.”

Robinhood plans to bring on board other currencies in order to make the challenge to Coinbase, which lists only four cryptocurrencies on its exchange: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. Robinhood currently only offers trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also allows its users to track market data for 16 different cryptocurrencies, including Ripple and Zcash.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews

The post Robinhood’s $363 Million Expansion to Rival Coinbase appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Prosecutors in South Korea have raided the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country, UPbit, over suspected fraud, according to a report.

From an oil backed coin designed to circumvent global economic sanctions, to another that is bankrolling a Macau casino, to one that forced Ethereum to hardfork, the top 10 biggest ICOs to date are nothing if not controversial

Key Points

• Bitcoin price failed to break a major resistance area near $9,400 and declined sharply against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance at $9,380 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair is now trading well below the $9,050 support, which is a bearish sign in the short term.

Bitcoin price turned bearish below $9,050 against the US Dollar. BTC/USD may continue to move down as long as it is below $9,000-9,050.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

Yesterday, we discussed a major resistance area near $9,450 in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The price was trading with a positive bias, but buyers failed to push the price above $9,400 and $9,450, which resulted in a downside move. There was a sharp bearish reaction and the price tumbled below the $9,050 and $9,000 support levels. The recent downside break looks real as the price settled below the $9,000 handle and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

It traded as low as $8,696 and is currently consolidating losses. An initial resistance is near the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $9,465 high to $8,696 low. However, the most important resistance is close to $9,050, which was a support earlier. Moreover, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $9,465 high to $8,696 low is at $9,050 to prevent gains. A push above $9,050 could decrease the current bearish pressure in the short term.

Looking at the hourly chart, is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance at $9,380. On the downside, a break and close below $8,600 may perhaps open the doors for more losses towards the $8,200 level in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:              

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is gaining momentum in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is currently near the extreme oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $8,600

Major Resistance Level – $9,050

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Turned Bearish appeared first on NewsBTC.