Day: June 11, 2018

Most cryptocurrency holders and investors aren’t happy with the way the markets are evolving as of right now. That is only normal, as the Bitcoin price determines the fate of the rest of the pack. In the case of the Bitcoin price, it seems the dip is nearly over, albeit the sideways trading momentum doesn’t bode all that well either at this point.

Bitcoin Price Needs Stability

Whenever the Bitcoin price goes down, it is a matter of time until the rest of the market follows. Over the past few days, there have been numerous altcoins dropping in value like a brick, mainly because of the Bitcoin price losing a lot of momentum in the process. These past 24 hours resulted in another 6.23% Bitcoin value decline, pushing the price to just above $6,800.

Most speculators expected the Bitcoin price to hold its own at the $7,000 support level. That clearly hasn’t happened, although it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone. The cryptocurrency market remains incredibly volatile, even though the Bitcoin price was a lot lower a year ago today.  Looking at the bigger picture is incredibly important in this industry, and that picture still appears to be relatively bullish, for now.

Over the past 14 hours, not much has happened to the Bitcoin price. There has been one attempt at driving the price to $6,600 but that quickly fell apart when the market started pushing back. As such, it will be interesting to see what the future holds in this regard, as $6,800 may need to become the new Bitcoin price support level.

One thing clearly working in favor of Bitcoin is how the trading volume has increased for the first time in a while. Rather than the usual $4.5bn in 24-hour trading volume one sees on a daily basis, it seems the volume has increased to $5.7bn. It is a major increase compared to what one would expect, albeit there is still plenty of room for improvements.

With the volume rising, it is all the more impressive to see how Binance’s USDT pair successfully maintains its dominant position, at least for now. Bitfinex’s USD market comes in second place, whereas OKEx’ s USDT pair is in third place. Huobi and GDAX are also in the top five, and it is good to see so many different companies vying for these top spots. Just two fiat currency pairs in the top five isn’t amazing, but all three other pairs are USDT offerings, which is also decent.

For the time being, it remains to be seen what the future will hold for the Bitcoin price. Things are not looking impressive, but it’s not all doom and gloom either. A lot of positive momentum can still materialize later this year, as that appears to be what most experts predict at this time. Whether or not that will come true, is a different matter altogether, as the current bearish momentum may not dissipate anytime soon either.

Key Points

• Bitcoin price fell sharply and declined below a major support area at $7,000 against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line formed with resistance at $6,950 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair may perhaps correct a few points higher, but it could face sellers near $6,900 and $7,000.

Bitcoin price declined heavily below $7,000 against the US Dollar. If BTC/USD corrects higher, it may perhaps find a lot of hurdles on the upside.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

The past few hours were very bearish as bitcoin price declined by more than $500 against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair started a sharp downside move and fell below key supports at $7,500, $7,200 and $7,000. It even declined below the $6,800 and traded towards the $6,600 level where buyers emerged. A low was formed near the $6,628 and the price is currently correcting higher.

On the upside, an initial resistance is around the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the last decline from the $7,350 high to $6,628 low. On the upside, there is also a major bearish trend line formed with resistance at $6,950 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The same trend line is close to the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of the last decline from the $7,350 high to $6,628 low. Therefore, if the price corrects higher, it could face sellers near the $6,900 and $7,000 levels.

Looking at the chart, the current price action is very bearish below $7,000. As long as the price is below the stated level, it remains at a risk of a downside break below the $6,600 level in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is currently reducing its bearish slope with a few positive signs.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is moving high and is currently recovering from the oversold levels.

Major Support Level – $6,600

Major Resistance Level – $7,000

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Bearish Below $7,000 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Mainstream media misleadingly points to hack of small S. Korean exchange Coinrail as cause of current crypto market dip

The number of women showing an interest in investing in cryptocurrencies has gone from 6% to 13% over the last six months, reports City AM.

The report, conducted by cryptocurrency firm London Block Exchange, showed that cryptocurrency is most popular with women in the millennials group. Another survey conducted by Reddit at the end of 2017 indicated that one out of five women had considered investing with a huge 96% of Ether users being males.

Bitcoin News recently reported that figures, released from community-driven Bitcoin statistics and services site Coin Dance, showed that as of May 2018, 94.73% of Bitcoin community engagement and active participation came from men and 5.27% from women.

Although statistics can be unreliable, it does suggest that if the CoinDance figures are correct, then this increase in cryptocurrency interest among women has occurred over a much shorter period, born out by London Block Exchange’s senior business analyst Agnes de Roeyer, who believes women have recently become keener to join the crypto market, explaining:

“There’s still a common misconception that cryptocurrency is a game for men, but we’ve seen hundreds of women sign up for our exchange in the last few months and some of the most inspiring and knowledgeable investors, leading the way in the industry are female.”

The research also investigated the “Fear of Missing Out” phenomenon known as FOMO in crypto circles, suggesting that women are 50% less likely to suffer from the crypto malaise of missing the next big investment opportunity. Women also are less impulsive than men, likely to consult family and friends before making an investment.

It’s not surprising that these figures suggest that it is women in the millennials group who have increased the percentage of women participants in the space, as millennials remain the dominant group worldwide in cryptocurrency investment. A recent survey revealed that this group viewed Bitcoin as more trustworthy than big banks. What exactly the survey meant by “trustworthy” is not elaborated on, but it is suggested that they find the Bitcoin blockchain a more secure option.

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The post Women’s Crypto Interest Has Doubled This Year, Millennials Lead the Way appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

A goal of 60,000 – 80,000 Transactions Per Second

#MetaHash, a leading blockchain-based digital asset exchange network, and decentralized real-time application platform announced the public debut of its #TraceChain protocol and #MetaGate browser. Now comes the question: сan the #MetaHash network solve many of the issues currently plaguing the industry, including partial centralization, high fees, and slow transaction speeds?

Although some dubious quarters had initially considered #MetaHash as a “very ambitious project”, it has kept abreast of its development roadmap, trailblazing the direction for the cryptocurrency community to branch off from older, existing blockchains that are “stagnating due to low scalability and a lack of smart contract or DApp functionality”.  With the public debut of  #TraceChain protocol and #MetaGate browser, crypto experts are anticipating that #MetaHash will hurdle a major uphill battle of widespread adoption.

4 Components of a Single, Synergistic Entity

Advertising technology trailblazer Gleb Nikitin joined forces with Anton Agranovsky, an entrepreneurial business, and product development leader, to form #MetaHash’s founding team. With a common vision of blockchain interoperability as the future of the distributed web, the team developed #MetaHash — a pioneering next-generation solution based on Blockchain 4.0, which allows networks to interact and integrate with each other.

#MetaHash team has decided to have a look at the architecture of the decentralized ledger from a different angle. The main obstacle to the growth of the speed of all decentralized ledgers (both DAG and blockchain) is the synchronization of data (especially between different continents). Therefore, the first problem, which #MetaHash began to solve, was to achieve the maximum possible network synchronization speed while using the standardized speed for most computers on the Internet bandwidth of 100 MBit/s.

The multi-layered architecture of #MetaHash is the optimal solution for the purpose of using standard computers for the network with the simultaneous maximum synchronization speed and verification of the data. A high-performance network library, created by #MetaHash, has become the basis for building a network of the future.

Four components of the #MetaHash system form a single, synergistic entity:

• #TraceChain

An automatic self-learning signal routing protocol, #TraceChain can process more than 50,000 transactions per second. It grows as more nodes with higher bandwidth are added to the network, forming its core and improving the reliability of additional #DataChains needed for running applications.

• #MetaHashCoin (#MHC)

#MHC is a digital asset that acts as means of payment in the network. #MHC provides consensus and regulates self-financing of network development. Digital assets in the form of tokens in the #MetaHash network can be exchanged within the network, and also converted into tokens of other networks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, and back.

• #MetaApps

The core code of #MetaApps optimizes the location of application copies based on required resources and financial motivation of the owners of nodes connected to the network. Any developer can create and publish an application in #MetaApps, while #MetaHashCoin holders decide via open vote whether or not to approve updates or changes, reflecting the universal values of all network members.

• #MetaGate

#MetaGate is a browser for decentralized applications that includes a multi-currency wallet. Via its open source interface, third-party developers can use #MetaGate code to embed #MetaApps and #TraceChain/blockchain features into various applications and browsers.

The trial period, expected to run through Q2 2018, leverages more than 200 temporary servers throughout the world, that will be replaced by token owner nodes once the network is fully functional. Interested parties can now download the free browser which is available for trial on Windows, OS X and Unix, with iOS and Android to follow shortly. Once the numbers roll in from satisfied users, #MetaHash can validate its goal of 60,000 – 80,000 Transactions Per Second.

More information about the company is available at metahash.org. 

The post #MetaHash Protocol: Solution to Major Issues Plaguing the Crypto Market? appeared first on NewsBTC.

The U.S. regulator has subpoenaed four crypto exchanges to submit trading data as part of an investigation into market manipulation.

Speculation is an integral part of the cryptocurrency industry. This becomes even more apparent when there is a lot of bearish pressure on the market.One has to wonder why these sell-offs keep happening so regularly. The ICO industry may have a role to play in this regard, albeit nothing can be proven right away.

Are ICOs Crashing Cryptocurrency?

There is an interesting correlation between the ICO industry and cryptocurrency market movements. Most projects raise funds in Ethereum to sell their tokens to investors all over the world. As such, these companies hold a lot of funds in Ethereum and other currencies. However, these companies do not hold on to their ETH holdings by any means.

In fact, a recent post claims how a previous major Ethereum price dip occurred due to EOS. This hyped-up alternative currency and blockchain project raised money during a year-long crowdsale. As such, they raised quite a substantial amount of money in the process. To cover the ongoing operational costs, amounts of Ethereum have been converted to fiat currency. That is only normal, as all ICO projects go through the same motions in this regard.

What is rather unusual is how 300,000 ETH was sold prior to getting EOS listed on Binance. Exchanging such vast amounts of money in the span of 60 minutes is very unusual. While there is no official evidence as to who is behind this development, a lot of fingers are pointed at EOS. That in itself is not entirely surprising, as the company had been spending a lot of Ether in the past few days.

Speculation but no Evidence

Although the EOS incident has some evidence, it is all a bit circumstantial at best. There are a lot of other reasons as to why such massive cryptocurrency sell-offs are taking place right now. Manipulation is always an obvious concern, especially in this unregulated industry. Proving that type of nefarious action, is as difficult as confirming whether or not ICOs are selling off their holdings in steep amounts.

The blockchain is an interesting tool in this regard. In the case of Bitcoin and Ethereum, all transactions are public and broadcasted in real-time. As such, spotting any major funds moving to and from exchanges is not difficult. At the same time, a big transfer doesn’t mean there will be manipulation or other nefarious activity taking place. Some people and entities have bigger holdings and can easily push the market in any direction. It is an unfortunate truth cryptocurrency users have to live with at all times.

For the time being, it does not appear ICOs are liquidating their holdings. It is not impossible some companies are purposefully selling certain amounts so at this time, since they need operational cash first and foremost. With so many ICOs raising millions of dollars, it is not unlikely some of their conversions may come together at the same time and trigger some market pressure. Nefarious activity will remain incredibly difficult to prove, for rather obvious reasons.

The post Are ICOs Cashing out en Masse to Crash Cryptocurrency Prices? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin’s drop below $7,000 signals a resumption of the sell-off from the record highs in December, according to technical studies.

It has become apparent over the weekend there is still a lot of negative pressure across all cryptocurrency markets. All of these major currencies are still in the dirt, with the EOS price taking the biggest hit of them all. This most recent 14.24% setback is worrisome for altcoin speculators, albeit not entirely unexpected when looking at the bigger picture.

EOS Price Drops Below $11.3

With all of the negative pressure affecting the cryptocurrency markets these days, it is only normal there are a few setbacks to contend with. In the case of the EOS price, the setback is a lot steeper than one would expect at this point. Even though Bitcoin is down by nearly 8% as well, the EOS price has lost 14.24% in the same time period. That in itself is not all that appealing, albeit it’s not the end of the world either.

One always has to put these short-term EOS price snapshots into their proper perspective. Ten minutes from now, the situation can look either a lot worse or a lot better. A temporary snapshot always tells part of the story, albeit no one can deny the bearish pressure on all cryptocurrency markets is not relenting so far. The year 2018 has seen very little positive momentum in this regard,  and that situation may not change in the coming weeks either.

For the EOS price, it seems there will no real improvement in the immediate future. With an 8.6% loss over Bitcoin and an 8.93% decline over Ethereum, it seems evident most altcoins will suffer from the brunt of this bearish momentum for the foreseeable future. As long as the Bitcoin price doesn’t go in the green again, one shouldn’t expect any of the alternative cryptocurrencies to fare better in this regard.

One thing working in favor of EOS is how its trading volume continues to pick up for several days in a row. Albeit the market is currently dominated by sellers rather than buyers a volume of $2.47bn in very impressive. In fact, EOS is only one of a handful of currencies to ever reach such a volume in a 24-hour period, which seems to indicate the demand for this currency is not slowing down.

OKEx remains the go-to trading platform for EOS, with its USDT and BTC pairs both in the top six. Huobi’s USDT pair is in second place, followed by Bithumb’s KRW pair. Bitfinex and Upbit add two more fiat currency markets to the top five, which seems to indicate they may be an influx of fresh capital sooner rather than later. Either that or people are massively selling off their EOS in favor of “stable” fiat currencies. An interesting situation to keep an eye on regardless.

For the time being, there will be no immediate improvement in the EOS price until Bitcoin recovers. As much as altcoins would like to stand alone in this regard, they all primarily rely on the Bitcoin price momentum. EOS is no different in this regard at this stage, albeit investors can only hope to see that situation change. Otherwise, the year 2018 may become a very tough one for all altcoins.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance has published guidance on ICOs, outlining how different aspects of token offerings should be regulated.

The U.S. Fed needs to seriously look into issuing a digital currency, despite risks for credit availability, says former FDIC Chair