Day: June 12, 2018

Weekly reports regarding developments in the world of cryptocurrency is always worth one’s while. In the case of OKEx’s new report, their blockchain industry report for the past week highlights a lot of interesting topics. With the falling Bitcoin prices, one would expect a lot of negativity to ensure. That is not necessarily the case, though.

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Positive Growth for Tokens

One has to acknowledge the cryptocurrency markets have not evolved in a positive direction between June 2nd and June 8th. While there was some positive momentum, the top currencies did not show much momentum. Even so, the OKEx report shows tokens such as AirToken, swarm and XTD Coin all gained over 100% in value during that week. In fact, all of the strongest gainers in the top 10 raised their overall value by 65% or more, which is rather impressive.

Another thing worth pointing out is how the market cap of the top 200 projects increased by 3.56% during that particular week. Exchange platform tokens and advertising verticals are definitely leading the charge in this regard, even though it seems the tokens and coins focusing on vertical industrial application are not seeing much love despite a respectable increase compared to the week prior.

No Shortage of New Projects

As one would expect in the cryptocurrency industry, new projects are still launching around the clock. That in itself is an interesting trend, especially because a lot of projects focus on basic chain and protocol solutions. The gaming and payment industries are also getting some much-needed love and attention. All other categories are somewhat less popular, with smart contracts being on the same level as gambling and IoT right now.

The OKEx report also clearly defines where all of the new currencies and coins are getting listed. Exchanges are keeping tabs on all of these developments, but it is difficult to cull the weed from the chaff. IDEX is clearly dominating the space right now, followed by Hotnit, HitBTC, and CoinBene. Most of these names may not necessarily ring a bell for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but that is also what makes these reports so interesting.

Closed Public Sales on a Global Scale

Another intriguing trend to keep an eye on is how a lot of projects are slowly moving toward private sales these days. Various projects were successful in the week between June 2nd and 8th. HybridBlock raised the most money at $50m, although the other projects were all successful as well. Surprising, nearly half of the projects are hosting their sale in England, whereas the others are spread over Hong Kong, Singapore, and Switzerland, among other regions A competitive form of regulation will certainly drive innovation in this space, and those four countries are seemingly very appealing in this regard.

Regulation, Regulation, Regulation

It is safe to say regulators all over the world are focused on cryptocurrency and ICOs. Important developments have taken place in Europe, the US, Asia, and South Africa. With the exception of Vietnam, Japan, and Russia, all of the developments will help foster growth and innovation in the cryptocurrency space. Rest assured there will be more of these developments in the coming months, either for better or worse.

OKEX Weekly Report, 6.2_6.8 by JP Buntinx on Scribd

Crime and cryptocurrency almost seem to hand-in-hand these days. Not a month goes by without some criminal activity involving Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. One Bronx biker gang has three men arrested for their involvement in a $2 million cryptocurrency kidnapping and robbery incident.

The Bronx Biker Gang-Cryptocurrency Angle

While one wouldn’t necessarily expect biker gangs and cryptocurrency to come together in a meaningful way, some correlations do exist. Three members of an unnamed Bronx biker gang have been arrested for kidnapping one of the member’s friends. They also robbed the victim of $2m worth of cryptocurrency by obtaining the victim’s wallet recovery seed. Considering how he was held at gunpoint for nearly two full hours, disclosing that information appeared to be the only remaining option.

All three men were not all that difficult to identify. One of them knows the victim well, thus his involvement could be proven with relative ease. The other two members were identified through surveillance footage and their tattoos. It seems the “ringleader” of this operation goes by the name of Guzman, who recruited Nunez and Meda due to their “involvement in a Bronx motorcycle crew”.

As one would come to expect, the three arrested individuals remain hopeful their sentence will be lenient. Especially Nunez, who is seemingly an individual who does a lot of charity work for his own Bronx community. Whether or not that works in his favor after kidnapping someone, holding them at gunpoint, and stealing nearly $2m, is a different matter altogether.

For the time being, it remains a bit unclear as to what happened to the stolen cryptocurrency exactly. Converting such a vast sum of money without verifying one’s identity is nigh impossible, especially if it has to be done in a quick and untraceable manner. It should not be overly difficult to track the trail of these transactions, considering how most public blockchains lack the necessary privacy and anonymity to obfuscate such information.

This news also highlights the attractive nature of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While not a positive development, in this case, it does show any gang around the world is taking notice of the potential of these new currencies. As such, it is of the utmost importance consumers do so too, as it will help them understand the proper aspects of money and financial control.

Regarding the sentencing of the three bikers, no information has been shared with the public at this time. Any kidnapping and theft need to be taken very seriously, regardless of which form of money was involved in the process. How the presiding judge will deal with this development and all of its “interesting” aspects remains rather unclear at this stage.

Bitcoin hit all time highs near USD 20,000 in December 2017 and since then has been in a constant decline which has seen its price drop roughly 66% to USD 6,750 as of this writing, shaving USD 210 billion off of its market cap. This has caused much gloom and stress among investors and traders, especially all the new investors that were attracted to Bitcoin during its historic price rise.

However, Bitcoin old timers like Changpeng Zhao know that this type of Bitcoin market crash is simply business as usual.

Many people seems to think BTC price was flat before this year, as they appear to be on the graph. To the old timers, it's the same pattern every year. Just the units on the left is different. pic.twitter.com/mwu8U3jn0J

— CZ (@cz_binance) June 10, 2018

Since the time Bitcoin started in 2009 there have been many sharp and sustained declines in its price after hitting all-time highs.

As Zhao shows in his graph, the price of Bitcoin dropped from USD 35 in June 2011 to USD 2 in November 2011, a 94% drop. In April 2013, Bitcoin hit nearly USD 200 before dropping to USD 70 in July 2013, a 65% drop. In December 2013, Bitcoin broke the USD 1,000 milestone for the first time and went all the way up to USD 1,166, and then declined to USD 170 USD by January 2015, an 86% drop.

History shows that there have been even more drastic price declines than what the market has experienced during 2018. It is normal for the Bitcoin market to be extremely volatile in the long term with drastic boom and bust patterns.

On average, in the long term Bitcoin has been going up rapidly. In 2009 when Bitcoin launched, it was worth less than a penny, now it’s worth thousands of USD. The fact of the matter is that after every Bitcoin decline, Bitcoin rebounds and hits all-time highs, often an order of magnitude higher than the previous all-time highs.

Based on past market behavior of Bitcoin declining on the order of 90% after hitting peaks, it could be possible that the current price decline still has some ways to go. Indeed, some Bitcoin analysts are saying Bitcoin will go below USD 5,000. This may end up being a great opportunity to buy Bitcoin cheap, since if past market behavior continues, Bitcoin will go all the way back up to USD 20,000 and way beyond.

 

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Coinbase has just announced that they will be finally launching their index fund, which will be composed of all crypto assets on Coinbase’s exchange services.

Coinbase Index Fund Is A Go

Back in March, the Coinbase Asset Management (Coinbase AM) team announced that the creation of the Coinbase Index Fund. The community reaction was positive at first, with community members believing that this fund was going to draw in large amounts of institutional and retail investment.

Announcing: Coinbase Index Fund is open for investment. https://t.co/IVzeO4C6BK

— Coinbase (@coinbase) June 12, 2018

However, it became apparent that this fund would only be open to U.S. accredited investors, disappointing some consumers.

Reuben Bramanathan from Coinbase AM team has just announced that the fund will now begin accepting investments which range from $250,000 to $20 million. It is odd that they will not be supporting investments above the $20 million price range, but the fund may not be able to undertake copious investment amounts at the current time. 

As mentioned earlier, this index fund will be composed of all the cryptocurrencies that are listed on Coinbase’s exchange services, including the upcoming addition of Ethereum Classic.

All cryptocurrencies on the index fund will be weighted in terms of their market capitalization, to ensure that investors receive a performance that mirrors the foremost cryptoassets.

At the time of writing, the fund is composed of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin which are weighted as follows: 

• Bitcoin: 61.5%
• Ethereum: 27.2%
• Bitcoin Cash: 8.2%
• Litecoin 3.1%

This may look like a pretty bland lineup, which doesn’t include any of the ‘hot’ projects which are being talked about on cryptocurrency forums worldwide. However, the aforementioned blog post stated that the fund will be updated with more assets when Coinbase lists them in the future.

This index fund provides another layer of financial security for investors, as Coinbase is insured from asset loss, reducing the risk for prospective investors. Additionally, Coinbase has proven itself to be a reliable place to store cryptocurrencies, as not one hack has been reported in Coinbase’s six years of operation. 

The Coinbase Fund Management team will also be doing all the heavy lifting, rebalancing the portfolio multiple times a year to keep up with the volatile market. However, this increased level of security and management will come at a 2% annual fee, eating into the potential profits of investors. 

U.S. Accredited Investors Only, For The Time Being

The blog post reaffirmed that the Coinbase Index Fund will only be available for U.S. accredited investors for the time being. For the uninitiated, an accredited investor needs to have a net worth of over one million dollars, along with having an income of over $200,000 annually.

This extravagant prerequisite will minimize the number of investors allowed to put money into this index fund, reducing adoption greatly. 

Despite the limited investment opportunity, the Coinbase AM team is working on ways to open up similar investment opportunities to a wider audience, with the blog stating:

We’re working on launching more funds which are accessible to all investors and cover a broader range of digital assets.

Hopefully, these proposed funds will begin their respective launches in the near future, with large amounts of retail and institutional adoption following closely behind.

The past 24 hours have come with two large announcements from this exchange giant, with Coinbase also announcing that they will be supporting Ethereum Classic in the near future. The announcement made yesterday made Ethereum Classic’s price jump by over 15%, with volume nearly quadrupling in the short span of one day.

It is currently unclear how the investors have received this investment opportunity, but community sentiment, whether it be positive or negative, will begin to become apparent over the next few days. 

 

Image from Shutterstock

 

The post Coinbase Launches Index Fund For Investments Up To $20 Million appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Canadian mass media and information giant, Thomson Reuters, is expanding its sentiment analysis to track 100 of the world’s top cryptocurrencies.

The police in Japan are cracking down on the illegal use of personal computers for cryptocurrency mining. Multiple prefectural police departments are currently investigating one particular case and pursuing criminal charges, which would make it the first criminal case in Japan where computers are illegally used for mining cryptocurrencies.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Police to Press Charges

A police investigation is underway in Japan over the hijacking of personal computers to mine cryptocurrencies, the Mainichi reported.

“According to investigative sources, people involved in the case set up websites in the fall of 2017 to install a program on viewers’ computers and use the machines for mining the monero cryptocurrency,” the news outlet conveyed, elaborating:

If police press charges, it will be the first case in Japan where illegal use of computers in cryptocurrency mining would become a criminal case. The incident is being pursued jointly by multiple prefectural police departments including those in Kanagawa, Chiba and Tochigi in central Japan.

Growing Use of Coinhive

Three people are being investigated including a website designer for using a web browser-based mining program, Coinhive, to mine crypto using website visitors’ computers. The program, freely available online, allows website owners to mine cryptocurrencies using the processing power of their visitors’ devices.

Japanese cyber security and defense company founded in Los Angeles, Trend Micro, detected 181,376 terminals running mining software from January through March this year in Japan, the publication conveyed, adding that this is a substantial increase from 767 in the same period a year ago.

However, not all uses of the mining program are malicious. Last month, Unicef Australia launched a website to allow visitors to donate computer power to mine cryptocurrency using Authedmine – an opt-in version of Coinhive’s API. In February, mainstream web magazine Salon started offering visitors the option to opt-in to mine crypto instead of viewing ads.

The use of Coinhive has been growing due to its ease of use and profitability. In its research published in March, Cyren Security Lab found that domains with mining scripts rose 725%. In October last year, Adguard independently published a study showing that over half a billion people had been mining crypto without knowing it through websites using Coinhive and another similar program called Jsecoin.

Criminal Case Justification

The Japanese investigators are pursuing the case criminally “because the installation of the mining program was done without the consent of the computer owners and those machines were forced to function in ways not intended by their legitimate owners,” the Mainichi detailed, adding:

Police do not intend to press charges over websites that clearly say they are placing mining software on visitors’ computers.

The investigators will only press charges against “websites without clear notices about mining, because they judged that users remain in the dark about the use of their computer power, users often can deny ad distribution to their computers,” the news outlet described.

The Yokohama Summary Court has already ordered one person to pay 100,000 yen (~US$906) for illegally storing a computer virus. However, the defendant “argues that it was not a virus as it uses a method similar to distributing advertisements online. The case is set to proceed to a fully fledged trial at the Yokohama District Court.” The defendant’s lawyer, Takashi Hirano, confirmed that he intends to “wage a full-scale legal fight.”

What do you think of the Japanese police’s action? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinhive.

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The post Japan Cracks Down on Illegal Use of Computers to Mine Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News.

FOMO Moments

The bears have full control and crypto markets are sliding further again today. With almost $20 billion shaved off in 24 hours things are looking grim in crypto land. Bitcoin is falling dangerously close to $6,000 and altcoins are getting punished as usual. BTC has declined a further 4.3% on the day to $6,580 and ETH has fared even worse dropping 7% to $495. There is a sea of red across the boards during this morning’s Asian trading session and there are no gainers in the top 100 altcoins.

Total market capitalization has collapsed another 6% over the past 24 hours dropping to $282 billion. Trade volume has remained steady at around $15 billion. The fall marks the lowest point in total market cap since April 12. It is shaping up to be the third time markets have dropped to these lows and it could form a critical support level. There may be the last chance for a bounce or things could get ugly fast if market cap falls below $250 billion marking a new yearly low.

BTC market dominance is currently just under 40% but its price has fallen to the lowest level since the February 6 dip of $6,250. We could well be seeing Bitcoin go down to $5,000 before showing any signs of recovery. Of course all other cryptos will be dragged down with it.

All altcoins have been battered in the past 3-4 days and some have fallen by double figures today. The biggest loser in the top ten is Iota falling by over 9% to $1.27 or 19200 satoshis. EOS and Tron are not far behind with both losing 8.5% on the day. There have been double figure losses for Bytecoin, Zilliqa, 0x, Verge, and Nano.

Even yesterday’s Coinbase announcement could not prevent Ethereum Classic wiping out most of its gains and falling 7% on the day back to $14.60. Good news, exchange listings, and partnership announcements are no longer enough to keep a coin buoyed up in this very negative market. It seems that those who got into crypto in late 2017 and early this year are licking their wounds and running. Ones who got in in early to mid-2017 will still be up but starting to get anxious. The next few days will be critical for cryptos, can a third bounce come or are we looking at a new low for Bitcoin and its brethren.

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: Chance of a Third Bounce, or New Low Looming appeared first on NewsBTC.

The price of litecoin falls below $100 again today to reach a 2018 low so far.

EOS Price Key Highlights

• EOS is ready to resume its downtrend after bouncing off the top of the descending channel on the 4-hour chart.
• Price is also breaking below the mid-channel area of interest to signal a potential move until the bottom.
• The Fibonacci extension tool shows the next downside targets, but technical indicators suggest a return in bullish pressure.

EOS looks prime for further declines to the channel bottom, but technical indicators are saying otherwise.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA for now, indicating that the path of least resistance is to the downside. However, the gap has narrowed enough to signal a potential bullish crossover. If this pulls through, a return in buying pressure could still lead to a bounce back to the channel top for EOS.

At the same time, RSI is starting to pull out of oversold territory to indicate a return in bullish momentum. A slight bullish divergence can be seen as price made lower lows while the oscillator had higher lows since May 23.

Stochastic is also indicating oversold conditions or that sellers are tired and might let buyers take over. In that case, a move up to $14.00 could be seen or at least until the moving averages’ dynamic inflection points.

A continuation of the drop, on the other hand, could take EOS to the next floor at the 61.8% extension. Stronger selling pressure might be enough for a move to the channel bottom near the 78.6% extension of $6.31 or until the full extension near the $4.00 level.

Keep in mind that the FOMC is set to announce a 0.25% rate hike today and this could prop up the dollar against its rivals. However, a dovish hike or one that cautions on the pace of tightening from here could still lead to profit-taking off dollar longs.

The post EOS Price Watch: How Low Can This Go? appeared first on NewsBTC.

CNBC

Bitcoin notches two-month low in the wake of cryptocurrency exchange hack CNBC Bitcoin eased further on Wednesday following its initial drop after the weekend announcement that South Korean cryptocurrency exchange had been hacked. Other major cryptocurrencies also weakened markedly. Bitcoin traded as low as $6,455.91 early on ... Hacking Will Make Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP StrongerForbes Bitcoin sinks to two-month low as downtrend persistsReuters Bitcoin Price Drop after South Korean Exchange HackGlobalCoinReport Wired.co.uk -Naked Security all 96 news articles »

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin is down to a major support zone visible on the long-term chart and a breakdown could lead to a test of $4,000.
• If bears still take price below the next long-term bottom, a move towards $2,000 could come next.
• On the other hand, a bounce off this strong floor could allow more buyers to sustain a climb.

Bitcoin is down to the major support zone around $6,500 and might aim for the next floors on a break lower.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA on this time frame to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the downside. This suggests that the selloff is more likely to happen than a move higher.

Price appears ready to bust through $6,500 and might make it all the way down to the next visible area of interest at $4,000. A break below this could pave the way for a move back to $2,000.

On the other hand, a bounce could lead to a pullback to the 100 SMA dynamic inflection point. Stronger bullish pressure could take bitcoin up to the 200 SMA dynamic resistance at $10,000 next. The gap between the moving averages is widening, though, so selling momentum is picking up steam.

However, RSI is indicating oversold conditions or that sellers are tired and might let buyers take over. Stochastic has some room to move lower so sellers could stay in control for a while. Once both oscillators start moving up, bitcoin price might follow suit.

Bitcoin price is currently being bogged down by the ongoing probe into price manipulation, as investors might be keen on lightening their exposure before the results are released. Negative commentary could further erode trust in the industry, which could expose bitcoin to more declines.

Meanwhile the dollar is supported by positive developments in international relations, as well as the upcoming FOMC interest rate decision.

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch: Next Targets if $6,500 Breaks appeared first on NewsBTC.

Blockchain startup Quantstamp is feeling the heat from community members accusing it of misleading them on its QSP token and proprietary technology.

Key Highlights

• ETH price declined further and failed to hold the $500.00 handle against the US Dollar.
• This week’s followed important bearish trend line acted as a barrier near $540 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair declined below the $500 handle and it may accelerate declines in the near term.

Ethereum price is struggling to recover against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD traded below the $500 level and it remains at a risk of more losses.

Ethereum Price Decline

There was a minor upside recovery above the $520 level in ETH price against the US Dollar. The price corrected towards the $530 and $540 levels, where sellers defended more gains. There was a failure to break the $540 resistance area. Moreover, the 61.8% fib retracement level of the last drop from the $566 high to the $503 low, which ignited a downside reaction.

More importantly, this week’s followed important bearish trend line acted as a barrier near $540 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair faced a solid selling interest near the $540 level. It declined and moved below the $520 and $510 support levels. The downside move was strong as the price declined below the $505 swing low and broke the $500 handle. After the $500 level break, the price moved further into the bearish zone towards $440. It traded towards the $480 level recently and formed a low at $483. If it corrects higher, the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $545 high to $483 low may act as a hurdle.

Looking at the chart, the current price action is super bearish and the recent break below $500 could put a lot of pressure on Ether buyers. The next supports area at $465 and $440.

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

Hourly RSI – The RSI is in the extreme oversold levels with no signs of a recovery.

Major Support Level – $465

Major Resistance Level – $505

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD Breaks $500 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Digital Jersey has signed an MOU with Binance to establish a crypto exchange and promote distributed ledger technology in fintech in Jersey

The Financial Action Task Force will reportedly develop new binding rules for crypto exchanges