Day: June 8, 2018

A recent study held among 25 different cryptocurrency exchanges across Europe and the US revealed that only 32% perform full KYC identity checks on their users, writes Bitcoinist.

The study conducted by analytics house P.A.ID Strategies that out of these 25 exchanges, all based in the US and Europe, two-thirds failed to comply the requirements of the so-called Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure. New anti-money laundering regulations are due to come into effect in 2019, and it’s thought that the KYC checks will encourage crypto exchanges to examine their operations more carefully in terms of compliance.

The exchanges not compliant with KYC regulations were found to be allowing users to trade in cryptocurrency and fiat without providing official ID, or even going through the standard KYC check. Most of these allowed users to start trading simply by providing a telephone number and a current email address. Some 68% of those questioned fell into this non-compliance category.

John Devlin, chief analyst at P.A.ID, commented: “Cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges want to enjoy the same trust as the wider traditional financial services, but for this to happen they need to rise above the sometimes-dubious reputation of cryptocurrencies’ past and be seen as ‘model citizens’ of the economy.”

To give more credibility to the space things are about to change, as the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has stated that cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as wallet providers, need to identify their users. The directive known as AMLD5 will be in effect from June 2019.

The new rules will ensure that the branding of a non-compliant company will be impacted, but signing up to an exchange need not be complicated for the user. Kalle Marsal, COO at Mitek, a company selling identity verification technology, which commissioned the study held by P.A.ID, points out:

“Wallets and exchanges want to change perceptions of lawlessness and it’s a relatively straightforward fix. Identity verification processes can be—if implemented correctly—simple for the customer and no barrier to signing up. …By incorporating systems that are just as future-looking as cryptocurrency itself, exchanges and wallets can be both competitive and compliant with regulatory demands.”

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The post More Than 2 out of 3 Crypto Exchanges Don’t Know Their Customers (KYC) appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Digital exchanges that offer clients services to trade earn through one major source: Charging a certain fee for all transaction and trades made on the platform. Depending on the type of exchange, overall trading volume and the position in the market, the exchanges can either charge a hefty amount, or an insignificant one.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

ChainEX’s Fee

ChainEX is a South African digital asset exchange that allows users to trade in over 30 cryptocurrencies. The exchange is the only service that allows South Africans to buy digital monies using their national fiat, the Rand.

The exchange, despite its unique position of being the only Rand supporting exchange, does not believe in exploiting its position when it comes to customer services. The platform has one of the lowest trading fees in the world, with a charge of 0.25% of trade, regardless of the volume.

In its bid to offer more services in an attractive manner, the platform has recently announced a two week charge free event, starting on the 4th of June. During the two weeks, users will not be be charged for any and all trading done on the platform.

About ChainEX

Born from a chance of accidental eavesdropping, the South African-based digital exchange that operates in more than 200 countries is the only platform that accepts Rand as a direct payment method to buy crypto. The exchange provides a world class service that is reliable, robust and secure.

One of the team executives overheard people talking about cryptocurrencies during a breakfast in 2015. With interest piqued, the executive started learning about digital monies and the result is ChainEX being started in 2018.

Relatively new, the platform offers services that are competitive and of high quality. The exchange offers:

• Live Trading: Crypto asset prices are updated in real time, giving traders the edge they need to stay ahead of the game.
• Multi Currencies: Exchange or trade in multiple crypto and fiat currencies, allowing ease of not only trading, but cashing out if desired.
• Rand Support: Rand supported as fiat, allowing South Africans to now jump into the crypto trading scene, previously denied to many since no ZAR support existed.
• Expert Customer Support: A professional support team is available to handle any kind of issue related to digital assets.
• Low Fee: A flat 0.25% of the trading volume is charged as fee. This relieves the users from complex calculations to see if the trade they are interested in is viable or not.
• Secure Assets: Most of the assets on the platform are secured in cold storage and a robust firewall and a team of security experts.

Developed from a fairy tale like scene, the platform’s team employs the same enthusiasm the founders showed in understanding what cryptocurrencies were all about. This has put the exchange in a unique position where it has been able to attract a large number of users.

For more information on the South African digital asset exchange, visit their website: https://chainex.io/

Competition among cryptocurrency trading platforms is a good thing. While many centralized solutions exist, some companies try to offer something unique. In the case of Huobi Pro, they are seemingly bucking the negative trend surrounding Monero trading. Rather than disallowing the currency, Huobi Pro decided to introduce Monero trading earlier this week.

Huobi Pro Takes a Big Gamble

It is commendable to see Asian trading platforms give Monero a fair chance. This anonymity-oriented altcoin has gotten a lot of negative attention over the past few months. It has seemingly become the new go-to currency for cyber-criminals of all kinds. Especially when it comes to malware and cryptojacking, Monero has taken center stage on more than occasion.

As such, various Asian trading platforms bar all XMR trading. In Japan, the FSA has requested all exchanges to delist Monero, as well as Dash and ZCash. This is mainly due to the anonymity and crime concerns mentioned above. It is possible this trend will extend to other Asian regions in the coming weeks and months. Huobi Pro, however, is taking a completely different approach in this regard. Rather than barring XMR trading, the new platform is embracing Monero in an official capacity.

More specifically, XMR deposits were enabled on June 7th. The actual trading of Monero will go live on June 8th, with withdrawals remaining offline until June 10th. Having this currency supported on such a prominent trading platform will spark new interest in XMR moving forward. The currency can use some positive attention in this regard, after all of the negative associations in terms of crime and so forth.

Beware of the Caveats

As is usually the case when developments like this occur, certain caveats arise as well. Huobi Pro is still not available in the United States at this time. The company is exploring ways to comply with existing regulations and governmental policies. Listing the most prominent anonymity and privacy-oriented cryptocurrency will not help matters much in this regard, though.

At the same time, Gemini recently enabled ZCash trading. This confirms exchanges targeting institutional investors can offer such trading pairs. However, Gemini is a fully regulated and licensed exchange in the US, and they may have jumped through several hoops prior to completing this listing. Other platforms may not decide to pursue such options at this time. It appears Huobi Pro is certainly not inclined to do so.

It is not the first time this platform adds a privacy or anonymity currency either. Both Dash and ZCash trading have been available on the platform for quite some time now. For Monero, it remains unclear which trading markets will be opened exactly. Huobi Pro offers USDT, BTC, ETH, and HT trading pairs. It seems likely XMR will be added to all of these markets moving forward, albeit that has not been officially confirmed at this stage. At the time of writing XMR was trading at $162, 3.3% down on the day.

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The post Monero Trading Going Live on Huobi Pro, But Not For Americans appeared first on NewsBTC.

When the going gets tough in the cryptocurrency world, things will only grow worse fairly quickly. All of the top 10 cryptocurrencies continue to get battered at this time, and it seems there will be no relief to speak of. Further down the line, we see the Monero price on the verge of slipping below $150 in the coming hours.

Monero Price Woes Are Never Fun

As is the case for all cryptocurrencies these days, the going has gotten very tough for some unknown reason. At times, it appears as if the whole world has cooled off on Bitcoin trading, which also doesn’t bode well for all other alternative currencies. Considering how the Monero price has been on a very sharp decline throughout 2018, it remains to be seen how low this value can go.

To put this into perspective, the Monero price hovered near $230 just one month ago. Ever since that time, there has been a very noticeable downtrend in both USD and BTC value. Fast forward to today, and the Monero price has dropped to $158. It seems to be a matter of time until the value drops below $150. That in itself isn’t a positive development for this currency by any means. Even so, this trend is not entirely surprising, as all other markets suffer from quite similar momentum right now.

Over the past 24 hours, the Monero price has declined by another 5.78%. Additionally, there is a 4.09% decrease in the XMR/BC ratio, which will not help this altcoin gain any traction. It is evident Monero direly needs positive Bitcoin price momentum prior to noting any gains of its own. That is not a development to look forward to, as it seems the Bitcoin price will continue to get battered for some time to come.

As is the case across all cryptocurrencies these days, the Monero trading volume is borderline abysmal. This anonymity-oriented cryptocurrency has never been an overly liquid market, and that situation will not change anytime soon either. With just $37.41m in 24-hour trades, there is virtually no demand for Monero to speak of, and that particular number may not increase in the coming days either.

To compound these issues even further, HitBTC has become the leading Monero exchange ranked by trading volume. Its BTC and USDT pair are in first and third place, separated by Binance’s BTC pair. Poloniex has dropped to fourth place, and Bitfinex is fifth. No other platforms generate over $1m worth of XMR volume in the past 24 hours, further confirming this market will not see any major action except for further downward pressure.

With the weekend almost upon us, it seems evident the Monero price will continue to decline for the foreseeable future. Although the changes may be minimal, for the time being, it seems reaching $150 and potentially dropped lower may happen as soon as this weekend. For Monero price watchers, now may not be the best of times to scoop up XMR, although cryptocurrency markets never evolve in a direction people would expect.

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