Day: June 1, 2018

FOMO Moments

Crypto markets have remained sideways as we enter the weekend. There has been no momentum in either direction and the markets are holding steady for now at around the $330 billion mark. Bitcoin has done very little over the past 3-4 days and is floating around the $7,500 level. Technical analysts are predicting a breakout as BTC approaches a major resistance level at $7,600. Ethereum has made small gains but is steadily heading upwards, currently trading around $580. The rest of the altcoins are mixed once again, but the majority are in the green, albeit very slightly. Iota has extended its bullish run from yesterday but the other coin making a move this morning is Qtum.

According to Coinmarketcap Qtum is trading 9% higher this morning in Asia. Trading at $14.56 Qtum is up from $13.30 this time yesterday and is one of the top performing altcoins at the moment. Over the past seven days it has made 10% from $13.22 this time last weekend. On the month however Qtum has fallen 34% from just over $22 at the beginning of May. Against Bitcoin it is up 9% on the day to 194300 satoshis from 177600 sats this time yesterday. Weekly gains on BTC have been a similar 9% from the same level this time last Saturday. Over the month Qtum has lost 20% against Bitcoin falling from 242000 satoshis this time last month.

Founder of Qtum, Patrick Dai, has been announcing future plans for the cryptocurrency and its team. Becoming more active on twitter can reignite interest in certain altcoins and Qtum seems to be one of those;

we will push Qtum once again to massive adoption.. earlier, because the regulation risk in china, we slow down the marketing plan since December of 2017, then we focused on development work since the beginning of 2018, but we realized we still need more efforts on marketing.

— Patrick Dai (@PatrickXDai) May 30, 2018

He went on to say that they are building the best technology for the industry but have failed to market and communicate that correctly. This change in focus will put Qtum back into the limelight which is currently driving momentum.

Qtum is traded predominantly on little known Chinese exchange LBank which has around 35% of the total volume. South Koreans have also been trading Qtum heavily over the past 24 hours with Bithumb and Upbit taking large shares each in KRW. Trade volume has increased from $120 million to $162 million over the past day, and market cap currently stands at just under $1.3 billion positioning this altcoin at 19^th spot.

Total crypto market capitalization has remained flat over the past 24 hours and currently sits at $333 billion. This is the same level things were at this time last weekend before a Tuesday slump to just over $300 billion. Other altcoins are not moving very much in either direction, Iota is still performing well, up 11% on the day following the Norwegian Bank collaboration. OmiseGO is the third best performing altcoin in the top 25 with gains of 5%, and Bitshares is up 6.3%.

More on Qtum can be found here: https://qtum.org/

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: Qtum Rising on Founder’s Future Focus appeared first on NewsBTC.

Estonia has canceled its plans to issue a national cryptocurrency after criticism from the European Central Bank

The New York state legislature has proposed establishing a crypto task force to study the potential impact of the use of digital currencies on financial markets

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is up one percent in the last 24 hours as I type this. Even though it is still a long way from catching up with ETH, chances are it may appreciate in months to come and close the wide gap. This analysis automatically marks this coin under the undervaluation tier meaning ETC is yet to reach full capacity. Everything shall spring back to life if we see prices crossing the $16 mark assuming the recent hard fork drew user demand.

From the News

It may be so easy to dismiss Ethereum classic but the thing his, their believers still hold on to the original objective of the coin. That of complete transparency and immutability even in the wake of DAO smart contract exploitation that saw a couple million dollars siphoned off from their coffers. All in all, ETC remains relevant for some and with a new web wallet, Emerald; we can conclude that this coin is tempered and ready to roll on. Even Charles Hoskinson of Cardano laid emphasis on this.

We did it! 99% of the mining hashrate upgraded successfully.

Blocktimes getting faster; down from 22 seconds to 14 seconds.

Hashrate going up 5 TH/s -> 8 TH/s; making the network more secure. https://t.co/vYuyzgVQ10

— ETC Cooperative (@ETCCooperative) May 30, 2018

After all, why would you not believe in them? ETC is rebuilding after that mass exodus to Vitalik’s Ethereum and to get developers can be arduous. Besides, there have been comparisons between Ethereum and Ethereum classic that simply puts the latter miles ahead. Apart from the smart contract ability and DApps, ETC is superior on their approach on PoW and PoS, technology application and with ETC’s Calisto side chains, ETC whizzes past ETH on scalability. Let’s not forget about their governance structure and how they reach consensus.

ETC proponents still stick to proof of work consensus and they do opine that this is the best system of securing the network. Of course we may argue that PoW is resource intensive but the benefits are that there is better decentralization. For consensus, one has to really commit to the network and show their individual contribution. Therefore, in the spirit of PoW, they did a hard fork in a bid to solve the Difficulty Time Bomb issue. This time, the objective of this fork-in which most nodes have upgraded to-was to decrease block creation time from 26 seconds to 14 seconds within the Ethereum legacy network at block 5, 900,000.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Price Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Weekly Chart by Trading View

From the weekly chart we can easily identify a $12 trading range whose lower limit anchors at $13 and upper limit-and ultimately our mid range buy target-at $25. Technically, these limits should be our support and resistance levels and swing trading range. When we take a look at how price action is panning out then most likely we can have series of higher highs in the coming weeks especially if this week ends up bullish or a bullish pin bar. Like technical formations in other coins, we can easily conclude a long covering in May if we relate trading volumes relative to April and the speed of retracement. That’s why this weekend’s trading activities shall define ETC in June and even July.

Daily Chart

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Daily Chart by Trading View

There are two candlesticks that are important in our analysis. They did print on May 23-bearish with strong volume spikes and May 29 bullish-a double bar bullish reversal rejecting $13 with similar volume surges. We do need prices to break below or above the recent consolidation.

This shall either confirm a bullish recovery in line with May 29 bullish reversal or bear trend continuation set by May 23 candlestick. It is likely that May 23 was a climax confirming a temporary pause of bear run. Therefore, if prices are to recovery and sync with the general recovery in crypto markets, all we need is a push above $16.

I’m bullish on ETC and so, any close above that would mean buying on dips with targets at $25 or May 7 highs.

The post Anthony Lusardi: Proof of Work (PoW) is Superior to PoS, dBFT, DPoS and other consensus Protocols: Ethereum Classic (ETC) Price Technical Analysis (June 2, 2018) appeared first on NewsBTC.

A Chinese beverage-turned-blockchain company’s stock spiked today following the announcement of a “strategic transformation plan,” but with no long term gains

Besides Tron which is nose diving after prices broke below 5.5 cents main support, IOTA and Stellar Lumens are strong buy candidates. IOTA did get a boost with DNB ASA MoU while Stellar is technically a buy with no strong fundamentals to back it. EOS on the other hand will prove their assertions today with their mainnet launch. We anticipate bullish pressure but should they collapse below $10 then it’s time to sell from Sunday on-wards.

Let’s check these charts:

EOS Price-Technical Analysis

EOS Daily Chart by Trading View

It’s a day to EOS mainnet launch and while we want to see concrete preparations like announcements of official wallets and things like those, Block One is busy moving ETH. Solid data shows that within 24 hours before an important event, EOS did move about 200,000 ETH to a BitFinex account via their OTC desk.

@bytemaster7 on telegram: “Hardware wallet is coming sono for certain Apple devices” @EOS_io #eos #EOSIO #eos_io pic.twitter.com/dFky5lHnKg

— Eos Italia – Official Community (@eos_italia) June 1, 2018

This effectively upped EOSIO ETH expenditure this month to a whopping 1.75 million ETH. That’s up from 1.25 million month over month meaning that they have effectively drained their crowd funding smart contract account. Their yearlong ICO came to a close yesterday and all focus is today’s mainnet launch that shall test the resilience of EOSIO and Dan Larimer.

Our EOS trade plan remains the same as yesterday’s because of the slow movement in price action. As long as EOS prices trend within May 24 high low this horizontal movement shall continue being a consolidation and a spring board for a possible explosion or collapse. Today shall be D-Day for EOS and whether prices shall mirror TRX’s we don’t know. Let’s wait and see.

Litecoin (LTC) Price Technical Analysis

Litecoin (LTC) Daily Chart by Trading View

Their social media campaign advocating for Litecoin payment is finally paying off for the Litecoin Foundation and Charlie Lee. After Cheap Air and a host of other travel companies, Surf Air now accepts Litecoin payments.

On the heels of @TapJets accepting Litecoin, I just got confirmation that @SurfAir is also accepting LTC now in addition to BTC and ETH. More info on this next week! More places to #PayWithLitecoin.

— Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) May 31, 2018

Surf Air is a travel company that arranges flights and other complementing services for clients wishing to fly under their membership program. At the moment they only serve the west coast of the US but they shall add more regions as the gain ground in the coming days. That’s not all though, VRPorn also accepts Litecoin because of its deep liquidity, short confirmation time and its reputation.

Despite everything, prices are still moving within a consolidation within a tight trade range. Because of this, we shall retain yesterday’s trade plan as we retain our bullish skew. Aggressive traders should find reason to buy if and only if prices are above $125 while $130 is a buy trigger for conservatives. By then, we would have strong higher highs.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) Price Technical Analysis

Stellar Lumens Daily Chart by Trading View

In my view there is no better time to buy Stellar Lumens cheaply than at this technical formation. Yesterday’s candlestick did turn out bearish but still didn’t manage to close lower. As such, all consequent lower time frame movements supports our bullish projection and all you have to do is pick these long opportunities in lower time frame and aim for 50 cents as our previous trade plan dictates.

Tron (TRX) Price Technical Analysis

Tron Daily Chart by Trading View

The marketing goes on and all that we need is a CTA right? Okay, The Tron Foundation did blast their Mainnet Launch ad for everyone to see at NASDAQ. There is a distinction here. All they did was a campaign and not a listing at the NASDAQ exchange. So, it’s not a partnership as some people assume.

#TRON hits #NASDAQ once again! We’re going to change blockchain, the internet, and the world! We’re going full speed. Don’t get left behind.  $TRX #TRX pic.twitter.com/BBkztNMY0b

— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) June 1, 2018

For now though, if Tron has solid plans of usurping Ethereum then you realize that there is a chance that there is some under-valuation. Anyway, like Ethereum was back in the day, let’s see if Tron shall behave once the TestNet is over.

On the charts, there is a break below 5.5 cents meaning we shall sell today. It seems like bears are following the rhythm set by May 28 sell bar and all we have to do is short on every over valuation and aim for 5 cents and later 4 cents.

IOTA (IOT) Price Technical Analysis

IOTA (IOT) Daily Chart by Trading View

User case adoption, technology and risk reward are some of things that can either make or break a coin. Luckily, IOTA is doing a pretty nice thing drawing the attention of financial, tech and even organizations as the UN.

Yesterday, Norway’s DNB ASA-a financial player in the Nordic region, did sign a MoU with IOTA meaning they shall be part of be part of IOTA’s data market place and participate in innovative activities.

#DNB, Norway’s largest financial services group, teams up with #IOTA to explore the Economy of Things and MyData/GDPR as an opportunity

David Sønstebø Lasse Meholm Dominik Schiener https://t.co/lcUo2Qq5FS https://t.co/ZGXIYHJJub

— Wilfried Pimenta (@wilfriedpimenta) May 31, 2018

Like yesterday, I really think IOTA is edging higher. Technicals support this view and with news as such, IOTA apparently rides on good vibes. It’s a straight buy on dips with targets at $3 and stops at $1.7.

The post Stellar Lumens, IOTA, Tron, Litecoin and EOS Price Technical Analysis (June 2, 2018) appeared first on NewsBTC.

Fiat currencies need work, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official, suggesting that they need new ideas to make them more of an attractive proposition for users in the “digital age”, according to Cointelegraph.

Dong He, IMF’s Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, has published an article suggesting that the way to make fiat currencies “more attractive”, and, thereby, more competitive in the light of potential competition from cryptocurrencies, require three main areas needing improvement.

Dong said that fiat currencies, in the hands of central banks, need to become “more stable units of account” with fresh ideas, referring back to an earlier statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde who claimed that “…the best response by central banks [to crypto] is to continue running effective monetary policy while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve.”

IMF boss Lagarde has developed a positive, if not guarded, approach to cryptocurrency development in past months, according to an earlier report by Bitcoin News. In the last weeks, the French lawyer commented in an official IMF blog post that both “crypto-condemnation” and “crypto-euphoria” should be substituted by taking a clear-minded and rational approach to the regulation of cryptocurrencies. She wrote:

“Just as a few technologies that emerged from the dot-com era have transformed our lives, the crypto-assets that survive could have a significant impact on how we save, invest and pay our bills. That is why policymakers should keep an open mind and work toward an even-handed regulatory framework that minimizes risks while allowing the creative process to bear fruit.”

Dong echoed Lagarde’s view that regulation is necessary but added that it necessitates a way of ensuring that a soft- handed regulation of cryptocurrencies would give them an “unfair competitive advantage” and that this should be avoided. He said, “That means rigorously applying measures to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism, strengthening consumer protection, and effectively taxing crypto transactions.”

The deputy director went on to say that the issuing of a CBDC could reduce transaction costs for individuals and small businesses as well as allow long-distance transactions. This he said would make “central bank money user-friendly in the digital world by issuing digital tokens of their own to supplement physical cash and bank reserves”.

In March, Lagarde said that crypto markets must be regulated by the same laws that apply to traditional markets and that regulations must be developed on a global scale with help from the IMF.

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Dether has a mission, to give power back to individuals, particularly those who were previously unbanked. The lack of tangibility of cryptocurrencies is being solved by Dether, who is building a global ecosystems from crypto buyers and sellers who will trade crypto for fiat cash. No bank account, just a mobile phone with internet access.

A Cost Effective Mobile App that lets you Cash-in and Cash-out Cryptocurrency

There are currently some limitations of cryptocurrencies that has slowed mainstream adoption. Previously, fiat currency barriers, the need for a bank account, and certain geographical limitations were all obstacles for cryptocurrency users. Those who were excluded from using cryptocurrency because of their national currency or lack of passport also suffered.

Dether is looking to provide a global solutions to these problems. Dether’s beta version was released on Ethereum test net in March 2018 on https://betakovan.dether.tech. Allowing users to test the app and experience how they can benefit. With the release of the Dether mobile app in June 2018 anyone has the power in their hands to connect and trade with crypto sellers near them. All on the Dether map, which is the app’s built-in location system.

Dether co-founder, Mehdi Amari commented:

“We are building a fully decentralized cash-in and cash-out marketplace, meaning that no central entity has any control over the user’s accounts, funds, or conversations. No funds are held. Each individual has his own private key locate in his device. Conversations are fully decentralized and peer-to-peer. The decentralized reputation system is based on the user’s number of trades and volumes. As a company, we don’t take any fees on the transactions between buyers and sellers.”

Enabling any cryptocurrency holder to become a mobile ATM

Dether is set to make cryptocurrency transactions as easy as visiting an ATM. By addressing both individuals, and physical shops willing to accept cryptocurrency, Dether is bridging a gap between conventional and cryptocurrency spheres. With Dether, individuals and shops can become an exchange by registering the point of sale on the Dether map and choosing their own fees. Giving freedom to the individual like never before.

One asterisk on cryptocurrency is it volatility. For Dether users who are wary of such volatility, Dether and MakerDAO, have partnered together to bring the value and power of a stable token to retailers and individuals worldwide. This enables any individual or shop owner to easily switch between cryptocurrency and fiat currency, which further breaks the barrier of cryptocurrency adoption.

Be a Part of a Global Ecosystem

Dether launched a successful token sale in February 2018. Following on from the event, Dether released “Dether for Shops” on the Ethereum mainnet, a milestone that allowed retailers to stake DTH in order to be listed on the Dether map and to broadcast their status as an acceptable cryptocurrency.

Dether co-founder, Hamid Benyahia stated:

“In terms of user experience, it’s much like the process of searching for a nearby café or restaurant on Google Maps, but in this case, you’re looking for a place to spend your cryptocurrency. This represents a unique opportunity for merchants and the crypto community,”

Soon, “Dether for Shops” will allow shop owners to be listed on the Dether map under exclusive keywords related to their business.

An Expected Release Targeting Developing Countries in Africa, Asia and South America

Dether co-founder, Hamid Benyahia said:

“We are thrilled to be releasing the Dether app across countries in Africa, South America, and Asia. There are more than 2 billion adults that remain unbanked in these regions. Whether it’s for remittance, investment, or as a response to hyperinflation, we believe that these markets are in critical need of the ability to easily buy and sell cryptocurrency for cash.”

Users interested in accessing the Dether mobile app can register for early access here: http://app.dether.io. To find out more on Dether’s groundbreaking new chapter, visit their Website and read the Whitepaper. Dether also invites you to join the community and connect on Telegram.

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Bitcoin’s price of USD 7,420 at time of writing is at near-parity with the 10,000 Brunei dollar (BND) bill issued by Brunei in December 2006, yielding an equivalent price of USD 7,132.

Brunei is a country of less than half a million people located on the island of Borneo in the South Pacific. Brunei’s BND 10,000 banknote features a picture of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the current leader of Brunei, one of the wealthiest men on Earth with a net worth of USD 20 billion. It is fitting that the most valuable banknote in circulation on the planet has the image of one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet.

The price of Bitcoin is volatile and, in general, this year Bitcoin has been worth far more than the BND bill. Bitcoin went as high as USD 20,000 USD when it hit record highs in December 2017. However, before November 2017 Bitcoin’s price was far below that of the banknote.

The BND is legally at parity with the Singapore dollar (SGD), and Singapore used to print its own SGD 10,000 banknote but took it out of circulation to prevent money laundering, leaving the Bruneian banknote as the most valuable fiat currency bill officially in circulation.

Indeed, many other countries have taken their large denomination fiat banknotes out of circulation to prevent money laundering. A briefcase containing USD 1 million of USD 100 bills would be 70% full, while a briefcase with USD 1 million worth of BND 10,000 bills would only be 1.5% full. It is, therefore, very easy to conceal huge amounts of money with the larger bills, thought to help illegal activity.

The European Union is getting rid of its EUR 500 bill, unofficially called the Bin Laden since it was so often used to launder money for terrorism. Latvia is also getting rid of its LAT 500 bill. One notable holdout is Switzerland who refuses to get rid of its CHF 1,000 (Swiss franc) bill.

Bitcoin would appear to be efficient for money launderers too, probably more so than any banknote since it can be sent anywhere in the world anonymously and instantly. However, its traceability on a public blockchain has proven to be the downfall of many would-be launderers, as proven by the high-profile takedowns of online dark markets since 2014.

The largest banknote ever in history was probably the USD 100,000 bill issued in 1934, but this was discontinued in 1940 and was only for intra-governmental use by the Federal Reserve when it was in circulation. Of course, these bills still exist and are legal tender. Perhaps one day in coming years, Bitcoin will exceed the value of the USD 100,000 bill should long-term trends continue, at which point it will be more valuable than any fiat banknote printed in history.

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A Singapore-based crypto-finance company FUSION has secured $12.3 bln in financial assets on their blockchain-based platform

The initial coin offering industry is still under a lot of scrutiny by the SEC as of right now. That is only normal, as a fair few projects have violated securities laws or defrauded investors. The Titanium ICO is a perfect example of such a nefarious project, although some people feel the SEC should have shut it down a lot sooner than it did.

The Titanium ICO Raised Many Questions

When people found out about the Titanium ICO, there was a fair bit of excitement surrounding this project. Known as Titanium Blockchain, the company tried to offer a unique project in exchange for people’s contributions. Although hosting an initial coin offering is the cool thing to do these days, not all of those projects are created equal.

Indeed, there have been a lot of rumors regarding the Titanium ICO defrauding investors. It is not the first time an initial coin offering has faced such allegations. In the case of this particular project, there may be some truth to the allegations, though.

To put this story into perspective, Titanium Blockchain was touted as a new platform designed to decentralize the internet. More specifically, it would decentralize the likes of AWS, Microsoft Azure, and so forth. This is certainly an achievable goal when it comes to blockchain technology, although decentralizing file storage and servers is not something that can be done overnight.

While just over $21 million was raised during the Titanium ICO, it quickly became evident things were not adding up. The parent company claimed a massive amount of its BAR tokens had been stolen from the company’s wallets. This resulted in a 95% drop in the token value, which seemed to hint that the company had simply cashed out and disappeared.

Whether or not that was actually the case remains unknown at this time. The SEC did obtain an emergency asset freeze against Titanium and charged founder Michael Stollaire with securities fraud. Moreover, the SEC isn’t amused by claims made by the Titanium team regarding partnerships with PayPal, Boeing, and The Walt Disney Company. None of those partnerships exist, indicating that the company intended to defraud investors.

Although the SEC eventually cracked down on this ICO, some people feel action should have been undertaken a lot sooner. Despite the SEC’s warnings against blindly investing in initial coin offerings, many individuals continue to do so. It will be interesting to see how this ongoing investigation pans out and whether or not investors will be reimbursed in the end.

Europe

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

Russia

Central bank says crypto no threat to global financial stability: The Russian Central Bank has said in a statement that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin do not pose much of a threat to the current world economy.

The report cited lower cryptocurrency trading volumes of late as one of the major reasons. The report comes after other central banks are either warning against cryptocurrency or exercising restraint.

Russia is relying heavily on mining and using and other activities to become the hotbed of cryptocurrency happenings in the world. However, the government is often accused of using the new currencies to disrupt the dollar standard.

Netherlands

Low risk to financial stability regarding Bitcoin: The Dutch government’s economic watchdog CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis has said that cryptocurrencies pose a low risk to financial stability in the country.

The report was initiated to get a measure of how much impact the cryptocurrencies could have in the future because of their increasing popularity in the country. It recorded healthy numbers and found out that there were 44,000 Bitcoin transactions from one exchange platform alone.

The report concludes that cryptocurrencies pose a low risk to the overall financial system right now because of relatively lower levels of capitalization and non-association of banks. It said they are more like assets as people tend to hold on to them and not spend them. In the end, the report suggested common sense regulation for cryptocurrencies.

United Kingdom

Major banks have negative effect on crypto: Most cryptocurrency exchanges and fintech companies believe that major banks are having a negative effect on the crypto industry in the capital city of London.

London is widely seen as an economic hub in the world but the slow adoption and response of cryptocurrencies are seen as major impediments towards adoption of the new fintech revolution started by cryptocurrencies. Many crypto startups believe that locations like Tokyo, Chicago and New York are being preferred over conventionally important destinations like London.

FCA launches investigation against 24 unauthorized crypto businesses: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is launching an inquiry against 24 unauthorized cryptocurrency startups in the country, according to The Financial Times.

While it is too early to call them scams, the FCA is only looking at determining whether the businesses require FCA authorization and regulation to continue operations. The UK was ranked 4th out of 48 crypto nations in friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies and the government is increasingly cautious regarding implementing regulations.

Germany

Seized crypto auctioned by prosecutors: German prosecutors are auctioning off millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies seized in recent raids in fear of a latest Bitcoin price tank.

The sale involves a whopping BTC 1,312, BCH 1,399, BTG 1,312 and ETH 220, and is the biggest public sale of recovered cryptocurrencies recovered by any government. The money was confiscated during an investigation into an online platform LuL.to.

Half of German millenials willing to invest in crypto: According to latest reports in Cointelegraph, nearly half of all millennials in Germany are ready to invest in cryptocurrencies. Anonymity and security were seen as important factors while investing in cryptocurrencies.

It was most popular among people in the age bracket 18-34 commonly referred to as millennials, with as much as 46% saying they were considering investing in cryptocurrencies while 6% had already done so. Some 14% of the millennials aimed to invest within the next twelve months.

Czech Republic

Natural gas company to accept Bitcoin: The largest natural gas company in Czech Republic has announced that it will accept payment in cryptocurrencies according to its top executive Pavel Janececk.

The company, Pražská Plynárenská, has more than 420,000 customers across the tiny European nation and turns out record profits in tens of millions of dollars. Customers will have the option to pay their gas bills in Bitcoin starting this June.

Prague subways to have Bitcoin ATMs: Prague’s sprawling subway routes will see the installation of new Bitcoin ATMs, according to latest reports coming from Czech Republic.

General Bytes, one of the biggest Bitcoin ATM operators in the world, will install these ATMs and they will accept all popular cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Litecoin. Customers will also be able to purchase cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Dash and Monero.

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The post Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 25th to 31st May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, along with a few South Korean partners, has announced that they will be joining hands to create a blockchain startup investment fund.

Joint Blockchain Fund

Popular Singapore-based exchange, Huobi, has revealed that they will be joining a joint collaboration with Chinese financial company, NewMargin Capital, and South Korean securities giant, Kiwoom Securities Co., Ltd, according to a report from China Money Network.

This collaboration has taken the form of a blockchain investment fund, which will help to fund innovative and promising blockchain startups located in China and Korea. A multitude of South Korean financial institutions have also joined the fund as investors. These institutions were revealed to be the three following banks.

• Korea Development Bank
• Industrial Bank of Korea
• Mirae Asset Financial Group

The fund has its eyes on its goal of at least $93 million dollars worth of starting capital. This substantial amount of funding should allow for a high quantity of startups to benefit from this fund. Huobi and its partners also hope that this move will help increase blockchain adoption and collaboration between the two dominant Asian countries.

This announcement along with others made earlier this month has made it clear that Huobi is trying to redefine itself while reaching for new heights.

Huobi: The Next Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Giant?

Huobi just announced that they will also be creating an exchange-traded fund (ETF) which will mirror the prices of 10 crypto assets listed on the Huobi exchange. However, for the time being, Huobi will only offer for prospective investors to use cryptocurrencies to buy this ETF, rather than fiat currencies.

This new investment, dubbed HB10, will allow for more casual retail investors to gain access to a variety of cryptocurrencies in an easily accessible format.

At the start of May, Huobi announced that they would be creating a $1 billion blockchain ‘incubator’ in the Hainan Province in China. This incubator is going to act in a similar fashion to the new fund, but will provide extra support in the form of a workspace and advice from market experts.

Earlier this week, the Chinese president expressed his high hopes for innovative new technologies, like the blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies. The announcement of Huobi Labs, as noted by a Huobi press release, stated:

“It is a national-level strategy that President Xi Jiping, personally planned, personally deployed, and personally promoted.”

It is has become apparent that Huobi, along with the Chinese government, has been trying to speed up the growth of blockchain involvement and development in China. But time will only tell whether Huobi and the Chinese government will succeed.  

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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