Day: June 15, 2018

On the heels of a 25% rout the previous week, the U.S. government finally provided comments regarding regulatory clarity for Ethereum (ETH). The comments were interpreted immediately by the market as bullish. The market cap now stands at US$49.12 billion, with exchange-traded volume of US$1.25 billion in the past 24 hours. 

Some cryptocurrency community members believe that a piece of historical technical analysis indicates that Bitcoin’s price could be headed upwards real soon.

Historical Technical Analysis Methods: Wyckoff Method

According to a post put together by Reddit user, “CryptoPorto,” Bitcoin’s price could be mirroring the hypothetical chart of a strong price reversal.

The chart which the Reddit user used (shown below) was derived from Richard Wyckoff’s teachings, from the early 1900s. As you can see, the two charts below look eerily similar, almost identical in-fact, with Bitcoin’s current price action following a steep decline after a short period of sky-high prices.

According to the chart, Bitcoin could be seeing a price ‘spring’ within the next few days, perfectly in line with the Wyckoff method.

For those who are unaware, the Wyckoff method uses a variety of laws and scenarios to try to predict the price movement of a publicly traded asset. These laws are as follows:

1. The law of supply and demand determines the price direction
2. The law of cause and effect: A significant event occurs, causing movements in price
3. The law of effort: The presence of volume

Wyckoff’s methods have been largely accepted by members of the technical analysis community, with Wyckoff being one of the most respected historical figures on Wall Street.

To fulfill the aforementioned bullish scenario, Bitcoin will need to continue to rally over the next few days, breaking through key resistance levels. According to FundStrat analyst, Robert Sluymer, a key resistance level for Bitcoin may lie at $7800, around $1200 away from current prices.

However, many Reddit users were quick to call this technical analysis bogus, some saying:

Of course, you will find something similar to the current situation if you search long enough…

Another critic of this piece of seemingly apparent wishful thinking also said:

There’s some kind of TA for every single scenario out there. S**t goes up, s**t goes down. That’s all you need to know.

Others also believe that there could be some large discrepancies with the given timeframes, as Wyckoff worked with the slower-paced stock market. In direct comparison, cryptocurrencies are traded 24/7, in all parts of the world, quelling the use of traditional technical analysis methods for longer timeframes.

Bullish Sentiment Remains

These Reddit users may be onto something, as it could be a pure coincidence that Wyckoff’s chart matches Bitcoin’s price action. On the other hand, ‘CryptoPorto’ could be drawing accurate and timely parallels between historical technical analysis and today’s volatile cryptocurrency market.

Cryptocurrency analysts like Fundstrat’s Tom Lee and Robert Sluymer still believe that Bitcoin is set for a bull run within the next few weeks. Earlier this week, Tom Lee assured for the umpteenth time that Bitcoin will reach $25,000 by the year’s end. Additionally, Bitcoin is currently sitting atop the $6500 support level which Tom Lee has noted to be a price of interest, due to the fact that it costs around $6500 to mine a single Bitcoin.

A recent string of positive news may also indicate that Bitcoin is ready for another round of growth. Yesterday’s SEC announcement caused the cryptocurrency market to jump by over 10%, easing regulation worries regarding the second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum.

This announcement may indicate that U.S. regulatory bodies are willing to give the cryptocurrency market some regulatory leeway, a hope for many in the community.

However, time will only tell whether the cryptocurrency market is ready to move towards new heights, bypassing ATHs seen earlier this year.

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The post Bitcoin Price Trend in 2018 is Nearly Identical to Previous Movements appeared first on NewsBTC.

A crime thriller called Crypto is reportedly being filmed, featuring a money laundering agent and a case involving cryptocurrency. Among the cast of the movie are Hollywood actors Kurt Russell, Luke Hemsworth, Alexis Bledel, Beau Knapp, Jeremie Harris, and Vincent Kartheiser.

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

A Crypto Thriller

An upcoming crime thriller called Crypto is currently filming in New York, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The cast includes a number of Hollywood stars including Kurt Russell, Luke Hemsworth, Alexis Bledel, Beau Knapp, Jeremie Harris, and Vincent Kartheiser, the media outlet detailed on Friday.

The movie reportedly takes place in a U.S. government agent’s “remote New York hometown,” the publication continued, noting that it is “where his father (Russell) and brother (Hemsworth) are struggling to maintain their family farm in a changing economic landscape.” The Reporter described the movie’s plot:

Crypto centers on a young anti-money laundering agent (Knapp) tasked with investigating a tangled web of corruption and fraud…The agent quickly finds himself enmeshed in a dangerous underworld populated by a mysterious art dealer (Bledel), a cryptocurrency enthusiast turned cyber-sleuth (Harris) and a corrupt accountant doing the bidding of ruthless clients (Kartheiser).

The Cast and Production of Crypto

Leading actor Beau Knapp was the main character of the sci-fi thriller The Signal. He also starred in Netflix’s recently-canceled series Seven Seconds. Alexis Bledel grew up on the set of the Gilmore Girls and won an Emmy for her role as Ofglen in Handmaid’s Tale last year.

Hollywood veteran Kurt Russell has been constantly featured on the silver screen since the 1960s. Among his most famous roles is Snake Plisskin in the 1981 classic Escape from New York. Luke Hemsworth, of Westworld fame, was also in a couple of older brother Chris Hemsworth’s Thor movies. Vincent Kartheiser of Mad Men and Jeremie Harris of Legion are also accomplished TV actors with many credits under their belts.

According to the news outlet, this indie film is directed by John Stalberg Jr, who directed the 2010 movie High School, starring Adrien Brody and Colin Hanks. Crypto is written by Carlyle Eubank and David Frigerio, who previously co-wrote The Signal. Producer credits include Frigerio, Jordan Yale Levine, and Jordan Beckerman.

Stalberg commented, “I am overjoyed to be working with such an incredible cast to bring this timely, thrilling story to life.” Levine elaborated:

Cryptocurrency has captured the attention and imagination of consumers and entrepreneurs all over the world but has never been explored in film in such a nuanced and exciting way.

Bitcoin at the Movies

Crypto will not be the first movie to feature a cryptocurrency. The first to debut in cinemas worldwide was the well-received 2015 Lionsgate feature film Dope. The following year Vietnamese audiences enjoyed Bitcoin Heist, which was similarly focused on crime surrounding bitcoin.

Another crypto-themed movie that has been announced is called Bitcoin, which features a suburban father trying to convert bitcoin from an anonymous account into cash to save his family after he lost his job. This movie was announced back in December 2016 and, according to Imdb, is currently in the pre-production stage.

What do you think of the movie Crypto? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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The post Hollywood Stars in Movie About Crypto Money Laundering appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Ethereum futures may be a thing of the very near future says the Cboe now that the SEC has made an official ruling that Ethereum is not a security.

SEC Offers Clarity to Ethereum

Thursday’s announcement by the US Securities and exchange commision head William Hinman at the Yahoo Finances all market summit Crypto in San Francisco that there would be no change in securities rules to include Ethereum “clears a key stumbling block for Ether futures” according to Chris Concannon, President of Cboe Global Markets Inc.

Hinman explained that when there is no reasonable expectation of a third party to profit from an asset ( in this case Ether) it should not be ruled as a security. Adding that if the network on which the token exists is “sufficiently decentralized,” a digital asset does not represent an investment contract and therefore can not be classified as a security investment.

The director was quoted by Bloomberg speaking directly about Ethereum when he said “Putting aside the fundraising that accompanied the creation of Ether, based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions,”

Cboe says SEC Ruling Opens Way for Ether Futures

This long-awaited clarity on the issue of whether crypto assets would be regulated as securities has led President Concannon of Cboe global markets to speculate that regulators would now be much more likely to sign off on Ether futures. Both the Cboe and CME have been offering Bitcoin futures since late in 2017 and have been eager to do the same with Ether. As Concannon told Bloomberg,

  “We are pleased with the SEC’s decision to provide clarity with respect to current Ether transactions, This announcement clears a key stumbling block for Ether futures, the case for which we’ve been considering since we launched the first Bitcoin futures in December 2017.”

The news is not as good for Ripple as comments director Hinman made may define Ripple’s XRP Coin as a security. Ripple spokesman Tom Channick seemed to be trying to get out in front of the speculation with an emailed statement that read in part. “We are pleased that the SEC has announced that it does not view Ether as a security. We believe that XRP likewise should not be classified as a security and look forward to confirmation from the SEC.”

Though Ripple hasn’t been given a direct reprieve XRP still enjoyed a price bump from the news of just over 7% while Ether soared by 10% just after the news to break the $500 mark and is currently trading at $510 according to coinmarketcap.

The post Ethereum Futures May Emerge Soon, as SEC Clarifies Ether is Not Security appeared first on NewsBTC.

Hacked BitGrail exchange reported the seizure of bitcoins by Italian authorities following a court order

Missoula county of the US state Montana has postponed ruling on a decision as to whether Bitcoin mining initiatives should be shut down, as well as the banning of any new projects. The final decision will now be made in August.

A lack of information has been cited as the prominent reason behind this deferment, as reported by CoinDesk. A public hearing held by the Missoula County Commission concluded that the limited data available was not sufficient to address all of the concerns.

Jean Curtiss and Cola Rowley, both county commissioners, told local news outlet the Missoulian that at the time of the hearing the commission could not fully comprehend “all the impacts in the future or the long game.”

Those looking to ban the mining initiatives operating in the county cite concerns regarding large Bitcoin mining operations as an issue, as this could negatively impact local property values. As well as this, some residents fear excessive energy consumption could cause electricity rates to increase.

Those supporting the operations argue the farms create valuable jobs for local residents.

Previously predicted to be the next mining hub

Earlier this month the economist Brandon Bridge published an article predicting Montana to be the next Bitcoin mining haven.

Referencing Montana’s relatively low energy rates, a cold climate and lots of unused warehouse space, Bridge wrote:  “There’s a huge potential for locations and jurisdictions around the world that are favorable to the Bitcoin industry – most notably right here in Montana.”

Just last year Montana become the first US state to issue public funding to Bitcoin mining operations in an attempt to increase state-wide rates of employment.

Washington state soon followed with similar legislation, but two counties have temporarily stopped accepting any new applicants for the funding due to a reported spike in electricity demands causing issues.

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Infamous cryptocurrency advocate John McAfee, who is running for President of the United States with a campaign platform that focuses on cryptocurrency, is furious over the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to classify most initial coin offerings (ICOs) as securities. He is demanding a debate with SEC chairman Jay Clayton that would he hopes to be broadcast on CNN.

McAfee makes a significant portion of his money from advertising ICOs on his Twitter feed where he has 827,000 followers. Apparently, he makes USD 105,000 per promotional ICO Tweet, which he admits is “embarrassingly” huge. This is all down to a supposed “McAfee Effect” where cryptocurrency prices jump after they are promoted in his Tweets.

It is, therefore, no surprise that McAfee is upset about the recent declaration from the SEC that ICOs will be treated as securities if there is an organization making money from conducting the ICO, and if people who invest in the ICO expect a return on their investment. If ICOs are considered securities then John McAfee could end up facing severe legal consequences for promoting ICOs that aren’t properly licensed by the SEC.

He says that he will no longer work for future ICOs under the current conditions, but promises to fight the SEC’s decision. He believes that ICOs don’t meet the criteria for the Howey Test which was created by the Supreme Court to define what a security is.

McAfee says that if the SEC tries to prosecute any ICO activity prior to the date of their announcement, then he will become “the greatest thorn in the side of the SEC since the founding of our Constitution”.

McAfee has challenged the SEC to a debate on CNN, having previously lambasted the FBI and NSA on CNN and RT, respectively. In typically provocative fashion, he welcomes the opportunity to “rip the SEC a new butthole”.

He will have certainly raised eyebrows by posting the phone number and email of SEC Chairman Jay Clayton on his Twitter feed, urging his followers to pressure Clayton to give in to McAfee’s demands.

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The post McAfee Furious over SEC Decision to Classify ICOs as Securities, Demands Debate with SEC Chairman appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Geopolitical analyst George Friedman thinks that he has “never known any encryption technology not to be broken,” and blockchain will become “obsolete”

Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360 Netlab discovered that hackers have been targeting Ethereum wallets configured with open port 8545, with one attacker pillaging over US$20 million from various victims.

The attack vector used by the perpetrators exists as a feature of most Ethereum wallets in which the software has been configured to expose the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) interface on port 8548. This feature is incredibly useful for network administrators, allowing them to request services from clusters of machines without having to understand the details of the network.

Enabling RPC on wallets within a secure network, one that is protected behind a firewall, insulated from the public internet, or otherwise managed, can be a powerful tool for business or enterprise networks that utilize software to query or interact with their wallets to manage funds. For example, mining operations that operate a group of machines could use RPC over a local network to move their mined coins onto a centralized, secure system to mitigate attack surface area and offload them onto a cold wallet.

PEBCAK: Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

The interface usually comes disabled by default on the majority of Ethereum-based applications, requiring a reasonably knowledgeable user to dive into the application settings to change the RPC parameters, which in the most recent version of the Geth client causes a pop-up warning about possible security issues.

Developers, being the curious creatures they are, have a tendency to fiddle with application settings as a means to understand the full capabilities of software. Unfortunately, this can lead to instances in which developers have forgotten to ‘unflip’ certain switches or overlook the importance of particular functionalities.

An Ongoing Problem for Ethereum Developers

Researchers from 360 NetLab initially uncovered the vulnerability in early March, announcing on Twitter that malicious actors had only stolen roughly 4 Ether from exposed clients.

Someone tries to make quick money by scanning port 8545, looking for geth clients and stealing their cryptocurrency, good thing geth by default only listens on local 8545 port. So far it has only got 3.96234 Ether on its account, but hey it is free money! pic.twitter.com/YVSWlMtYGa

— 360 Netlab (@360Netlab) March 15, 2018

Upon revisiting the issue on June 10, 360 Netlab found that attacks on open ports have become an incredibly popular exploit within the crypto-crime sphere, with one group linked to a wallet totaling 38,642 Ether, worth approximately US$20 million.

Remember this old twitter we posted? Guess how much these guys have in their wallets? Check out this wallet address https://t.co/t4qB17r97J $20,526,348.76, yes, you read it right, more then 20 Million US dollars https://t.co/SXHrdTcb6e

— 360 Netlab (@360Netlab) June 11, 2018

The following day, 360 NetLab posted a list of 21 wallet addresses captured by the team’s digital honey pot, which a Twitter user was kind enough to publish to a Pastebin file for easy data manipulation.

Hackers have been using the following wallet addresses (among others) to steal Ethereum from misconfigured ethereum clients. (sorry have to use screenshot due to twitter's character limit) pic.twitter.com/YDxvrD801L

— 360 Netlab (@360Netlab) June 12, 2018

A brief scan of these addresses shows that attackers have managed to acquire tokens from wallets containing a range of ERC-20 compatible blockchains including Worldcore, ATMChain, and Viuly. While the dollar values of most of these wallets pale in comparison to the largest associated address, there is the potential for the value of these stolen funds to drastically increase as the projects develop.

With cryptocurrency continuing to show signs of mainstream adoption as a valuable asset class, groups affiliated with cybercrime have expanded their operations, luring malicious parties with conventional hacking backgrounds with the promise of instant pay-offs. Any investors operating wallets with moderate to large portfolios should exercise extreme caution when exposing their funds to the public internet, ensuring that cybersecurity best practices are followed to keep their funds secure.

Ether provided the miracle needed to halt the market sliding to a new nadir and it came from an unsuspecting source – Yahoo.