Day: May 15, 2018

Jesse Powell and Erik Voorhees delivered red-meat rhetoric but also made subtler points about New York’s cryptocurrency regulations at Consensus 2018.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC will introduce their first Blockchain phone to the market in October, the device will be available for purchase with Bitcoin.

HTC First Major Blockchain Powered Smart Phone

HTC has become the first major producer of smartphones to bring a product to market with dedicated blockchain encryption. The Taiwanese company announced at the Consensus 2018 Blockchain Conference in New York that the blockchain based Exodus will be available in October. According to information from HTC the phone has a “built-in secure hardware enclave” that will store users information and cryptocurrency on the device securely.

Exodus project leader and creator of HTC’s Vive Headset Phil Chen said “There is a lot of work ahead of us, but I believe the mobile hardware layer can contribute significantly to our decentralized world,” Chen went to highlight the phone’s capabilities saying;

“I want to see a world where the end consumers can truly own their data, such as browsing history, identity, assets, wallets, emails, messaging, without the need for central authorities.”

To begin with, the Exodus will support major networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with others expected to come on once the phone is in circulation. Each Exodus phone will serve as its own node in the greater make up of the network that forms its native blockchain system to support cryptocurrency trading between users. It will also support decentralized applications (dApps) for Android and have a universal wallet to securely store its owner’s cryptocurrency. HTC has further embraced the digital market by making the phone available for sale through cryptocurrency.

HTC Joins the Fray of New Generation Smart Phones

Though the Exodus may be the first blockchain powered phone by a major manufacturer, HTC joins a long list of phone companies that have either released or have announced dedicated blockchain devices. Sirin Labs in partnership with Foxconn has their $1000 Finney device which allows users to store and use digital currencies without paying any transaction fees.

Earlier this month Huawei, the third largest handset maker in the world, announced their first digital currency app would be pre-installed on all new phones and available for download in the second quarter for older models. The Bitcoin wallet app was developed for the phone company by Bitmain the Chinese based Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer.

Other Chinese phone manufacturers have announced the development of similar blockchain powered devices soon to be available including Sugar which claims to be developing a phone that can mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Image from Shutterstock

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Key Highlights

• Ripple price failed to move above the $0.7500 resistance area and declined against the US dollar.
• There was a break below this week’s ascending channel with support at $0.7200 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair declined below the $0.7000 support and moved back in a bearish zone.

Ripple price traded below key supports against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD is now back in a short-term bearish trend below the $0.7000 support.

Ripple Price Trend

This week, we discussed about a major resistance near $0.7500 in Ripple price against the US Dollar. The price struggled to move above the $0.7450 and $0.7500 resistance levels. As a result, there was a downside reaction and the price declined below the $0.7200 support level. There was a sharp increase in selling pressure and the price even broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the last leg from the $0.6300 low to $0.7500 swing high.

More importantly, there was a break below this week’s ascending channel with support at $0.7200 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair settled below the $0.7000 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average, which is a bearish sign. It seems like the price may decline further if sellers break the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last leg from the $0.6300 low to $0.7500 swing high at $0.6580. The next support on the downside is near the last swing low at $0.6300.

Looking at the chart, the price is clearly under a lot of pressure below $0.7000. If it manages to correct higher, the broken support at $0.7000 and the 100 hourly SMA are likely to act as hurdles for buyers in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is back in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently placed in the oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $0.6580

Major Resistance Level – $0.7000

The post Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD Turned Short-term Bearish appeared first on NewsBTC.

NEO has been trending lower since breaking below a rising trend line and complex double top. Price has completed its retest of these areas of interest and is setting its sights on the next support zones.

The Fibonacci extension tool shows where NEO might head next, with the 38.2% level lining up with the swing low at $58. A break below this level could take NEO down to the 50% extension at $54.54 or the 61.8% extension at $51. Stronger selling pressure could lead to a move to the 78.6% extension at $46.17 or the full extension near the $40 major psychological mark.

The 100 SMA has crossed below the longer-term 200 SMA to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the selloff is more likely to resume than to reverse from here. The 100 SMA also lines up with the recent pullback and could hold as dynamic resistance in another bounce.

RSI is on the move down but is nearing oversold levels to signal that a return in bullish pressure is in order. Stochastic is also heading south to signal that sellers are in control, but the oscillator is also approaching oversold territory.

NEO Chart from TradingView

NEO continues to make headway in its partnerships in China, acting as a rival to ethereum and other altcoins. However, it seems to have been hit by the recent wave of declines in the industry as investor optimism has turned lower.

Dollar demand has also dampened cryptocurrency gains as revived expectations of rate hikes lifted bond yields. Although April retail sales disappointed, the components revealed a pickup in price levels and the March report enjoyed upgrades.

Looking ahead, sentiment might remain the biggest driving factor for NEO price action to the dollar as there are no major reports due from the US economy next. A return in optimism in the industry could pave the way for a strong bounce.

The post NEO Price Watch: How Low Can It Go? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• ETH price started a sharp downside move and traded below the $700 and $690 supports against the US Dollar.
• This week’s highlighted key bullish trend line with support at $725 was broken on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is now back in a short-term bearish zone and it could retest the $660 support.

Ethereum price nosedived against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD is currently trading well below the $700 level and it moved into a bearish zone.

Ethereum Price Decline

There was no upside break above the $742 resistance in ETH price against the US Dollar. The price started a sharp downside move and declined below the $730, $720 and $710 support levels. It seems like the price was rejected from the $742 level and buyers failed to gain bullish momentum. The worst thing is the fact that the price settled below the $700 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

Moreover, this week’s highlighted key bullish trend line with support at $725 was broken on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair even cleared the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $635 swing low to $742 high at $690. It has opened the doors for more losses and the price may decline further below $680. The next support on the downside is around the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $635 swing low to $742 high. The overall bias has turned bearish short term with a close below $700.

Looking at the chart, the price is under a lot of selling pressure from $742. If sellers remain in control, there is a chance of more declines below $660. On the upside, the broken support at $700 and $720 are likely to act as hurdles for a recovery.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is gaining momentum in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI has reached the oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $660

Major Resistance Level – $700

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD Nosedives Below $690 appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

As if a digital switch has been flipped all cryptocurrencies are plummeting this morning. Markets have hemorrhaged $30 billion in less than 24 hours, dropping below $375 billion, and Bitcoin has led the freefall by shedding almost 6%. BTC is heading dangerously close to the $8k support level, currently trading at $8,240. All altcoins have been dragged into the quagmire, many losing double figure percentages. The only coin in the top 30 that is in the green at the moment is Aeternity.

According to Coinmarketcap AE is up 5% on the day while all others around it have crashed. Currently trading at $4.25 Aeternity is up from $4.05 this time yesterday, which is only remarkable because the entire market is freefalling at the moment. Over the week AE has actually lost 1% falling from $4.29 this time last Wednesday. The monthly view is much better with a 140% climb from $1.77 the same time last month. Against Bitcoin AE has made 10.5% on the day to 51380 satoshis from 46520 sats this time yesterday. Over the week Aeternity has increase 7.5% against BTC, up from 47500 satoshis this time last week.

Aside from a new development update there does not appear to be any other factors influencing price action at the moment;

The new dev update is here!

Working #StateChannels, non-trivial #Solidity & Sophia #SmartContracts, #Schnorr signatures, Curve25519 and more!

Read in the blog: https://t.co/DBSDg4bxwR

— æternity blockchain (@aeternity) May 15, 2018

The post states that release 0.13.0 is ready and it comes with a number of new features and smart contract updates. Aeternity is another ‘enhanced’ blockchain project that claims to be an improvement upon existing solutions. It touts itself as ‘a new blockchain technology, designed to deliver unmatched efficiency, transparent governance and global scalability.’

Trade has mostly been on Binance which has almost 40% of the total. Volume has over doubled in the past day from around $22 million to over $52 million. AE is just outside the top 25 at 26^th spot with a market cap of $990 billion.

Total crypto market capitalization has taken a beating in the past 24 hours shedding over 7% to $376 billion where it currently trades. Further declines could send it back to the low levels witnessed at the end of March. All other altcoins are in the red this morning during Asian trade. Those taking the biggest hits are Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Nem, VeChain, Bytecoin and Zilliqa.

More on Aeternity can be found here: https://www.aeternity.com/

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and possible fundamentals. 

The post Asian Cryptocurrency Trading Update: Aeternity Defies the Crypto Crash appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price continues to slide and is cruising inside a descending channel on the 1-hour chart.
• Price is approaching the bottom of this channel but it might not be strong enough to keep losses at bay.
• Oscillators are hinting at a bounce but moving averages suggest a break.

Bitcoin price could be due for a test of the descending channel bottom, which might still give way if bears stay strong.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is still to the downside. In other words, the selloff is more likely to resume than to reverse. The 100 SMA is also in line with the channel resistance to add to its strength as a ceiling.

However, RSI is starting to pull up from the oversold level to signal a return in buying momentum. Similarly, stochastic is indicating oversold conditions so sellers might allow bulls to take over from here. If so, a bounce off the $8000 level could be in order, spurring a move to the $8400-8500 channel top.

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BTC/USD Chart from TradingView

Market Factors

Investors seem to be holding out for more positive bitcoin updates before reestablishing their long positions, and it looks like the expected selling of Mt. Gox bitcoin is keeping bears in play.

Recall that the exchange has yet to liquidate most of its bitcoin holdings in order to pay off creditors, and this selling pressure could lead to more losses for bitcoin price from here. It doesn’t help that geopolitical risk and dollar demand are also in place.

The dollar shrugged off weak April retail sales as investors focused on the pickup in underlying prices and the positive revision to March data. This has allowed US bond yields to tick higher on revived tightening prospects, lifting the dollar across the board in the process.

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: Weak Support Zone Just Close By appeared first on NewsBTC.

CNET founder and early Salesforce investor Halsey Minor has revealed new details on his latest cryptocurrency project VideoCoin.

Belarus considers digital technology a top priority, prepares digital economy resolution for the OSCE session in Berlin

Ripple’s new Xpring initiative will provide grants and incubate projects that work with XRP tokens and ledgers

LedgerX has launched a BTC savings account licensed by the CFTC, which permits users to earn yields with overwrite options