Day: June 18, 2018

Despite the market downtrend, Binance’s team has forged ahead to ensure that its consumers are having a great experience using the exchange. 

Binance Supports Three EOS AirDrops

Airdrops have historically been a touchy subject for cryptocurrency exchanges, as claiming airdrop tokens can often require exchanges to give up some wallet security. As well, logistically setting up the support for airdrops may not be worth the time for some exchanges, as exchanges do not directly benefit from this process.

However, Binance has taken the initiative to support three airdrops from the recently launched EOS mainnet, pleasing many users in the process.

For the time being, Binance will only be supporting the IQ, DAC and EON airdrops, three of the most notable projects launched on the EOS blockchain. EON withdrawals have just opened, allowing for users to move their airdropped EON to their personal EOS wallets.

However, Some users took this announcement the wrong way. A blog post made it clear that support for these cryptocurrencies will only consist of withdrawal support and not trading, saying:

For trading and listing of these airdropped tokens on Binance, each project will go through the same strict listing review process as Binance does for any other coin/token. The default position we have is no listing.

Despite the misunderstanding, the announcement was still well received by the community, with many users giving their thanks to Binance for accepting these airdrops. Airdrops essentially provide users with free cryptocurrencies, which can rack up value quickly.

Binance has yet to open up withdrawals for EOS mainnet tokens, weird considering that EON token withdrawals are now available. But it has become apparent that the exchange will continue to support the EOS mainnet, by continually supporting airdrops launched in the future.

Community Coin Of The Month Is Back

Binance has announced that they will be reinstating the community coin of the month, which allowed for users to vote and propose coins/tokens they think should be added to an expansive lineup.

It has been over 3 months since the last community vote, so seeing this feature reimplemented has given users another reason to use the already great exchange. The community vote has historically been a topic of interest for the Binance community, with users coming out en-masse to vote for their favorite projects.

The cryptocurrency nominees for this month are as follows:

1. Arcblock (ABT)
2. Bytom (BTM)
3. Dock (DOCK)
4. Fusion (FSN)
5. Havven (HAV)
6. Oyster (PRL)
7. Pundi X (NPXS)
8. Ravencoin (RVN)

Voting started around three days ago, with there being twos remaining days for users to vote.

Users are required to impart with 0.1 BNB in order to choose a candidate for a potential listing. Once the voting ends on June 19th, votes will then be weighted on the amount of BNB the voter owns. For example, a user with 100 tokens will have a voting power of 100, while a user with 10 tokens will have 10% of the voting power of 100 tokens. However, the limit for the ‘Final Multiple’, as Binance likes to call it, will be 500 tokens, to ensure that risk of vote manipulation is minimized.

Once the voting period has elapsed, Binance’s team will verify that all votes are legitimate before listing the coin that was chosen by the community.

A blog post stated:

Upon completion of the voting process, Binance will list the coin on our exchange within a reasonable time frame.

Having a listing on a large exchange can often draw the eyes of many investors, and allows for an unprecedented level of adoption for many smaller altcoins. This is why communities and projects do their best to attain that coveted listing spot on exchanges like Binance.

Binance is one of the only exchanges that has implemented a ‘community coin’ feature, drawing a multitude of users to cast their vote on the exchange. Some users of the exchange have said that the community vote is what keeps them coming back, so it makes sense why this feature was reimplemented.

Binance has continually proven itself to be one of the most reliable and successful exchanges, with these recent announcements only improving community sentiment.

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The post Binance Implements New Features To Help Improve User Experience appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Department of Homeland Security has awarded a grant to blockchain project Factom for live testing a platform for securing camera and sensor data.

The village of Nishiawakura in Japan is to launch its own cryptocurrency through a coin offering launched by the local government, making it the first of its kind in the Asian country.

Nishiawakura is a village located in Aida District, Okayama Prefecture, which is located in the southern part of Japan’s Honshu island. The prefecture is largely known for its rural landscapes, feudal castles and art museums. As of October 2016, the village has an estimated population of 1,437.

The idea of the village launching an ICO has come about so that Japan can create its own self-maintaining social environments using blockchain, so that small centers like Nishiawakura can secure its own financing resources and upfront development.

The village coin, Nishiawakura Coin (NAC) will enable villagers to become involved in municipal decision making and even voting. A village statement read:

“We plan to advance according to the revised fund settlement law…in line with the self-regulation rules on the management and finance by the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Industry Association.”

This industry association was established in April and consists of 16 government-approved crypto exchanges. The revised fund settlement law went into effect in Japan last year, legalizing crypto as a means of payment.

The village began considering the idea at the end of 2017 when it announced it had found a blockchain provider for the enterprise and that it wouldn’t be Ethereum or WAVES.

The nearest to a blockchain town outside of Japan appears to be the Swiss town of Zug although, unlike Nishiawakura, it hasn’t gone as far as creating its own cryptocurrency. The entire Zug ecosystem promotes innovation and provides opportunities that other cities and countries lack. The town uses Bitcoin as payment for city fees and Bitcoin payments up to CHF 200 (Swiss francs), immediately converting all Bitcoin payments into Swiss fiat currency to minimize risk. Its latest project is to test voting on the blockchain.

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Key Points

• Bitcoin price failed to move above the $6,600 resistance and it currently under pressure against the US Dollar.
• There is a significant bearish trend line formed with resistance at $6,500 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair must move above the $6,500 hurdle and the 100 hourly simple moving average to climb higher.

Bitcoin price is still struggling to gain pace above $6,600 against the US Dollar. BTC/USD is likely to hold the $6,325 and $6,230 support levels in the near term.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

This past week, there was a decent bounce from the $6,130 level in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair traded above the $6,500 and $6,600 resistance levels. However, sellers successfully defended the $6,700-30 zone. As a result, there was a downside reaction and the price declined below the $6,660 pivot level. There was also a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $6,122 low to $6,731 high.

The price even settled below the $6,500 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. However, the price was able to hold the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $6,122 low to $6,731 high. There are many important support levels on the downside such as $6,325 and $6,230. As long as the price is above $6,230, it could make an attempt to move higher. On the upside, there is a significant bearish trend line formed with resistance at $6,500 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

Looking at the chart, the price has to move past the trend line resistance, $6,500, and the 100 hourly SMA to gain upside momentum. A close above $6,500 may clear the path for a push towards $6,700.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is about to move back in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is moving higher towards the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $6,230

Major Resistance Level – $6,500

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Struggle Continues appeared first on NewsBTC.

The EOS mainnet had to take a quick breather yesterday, with an unexpected bug causing its blockchain to come to a full stop.

Quick And Effective Response

EOS New York stated that the blockchain paused at 9:56 UTC, which immediately triggered a knee-jerk response from all active EOS Block Producers. The block producers along with ‘standby nodes’ quickly jumped into a conference call to help identify and amend the issue.

After almost an hour of discussion, members of the conference call decided that it would be best for all standby nodes to temporarily disable their nodes, while still backing up vital information.

Eventually, the group of determined individuals found the cause of the problem, declaring that they were working on a fix. After almost five hours of work, the EOS chain resumed, allowing for transactions to go through at 14:48 UTC.

The #EOS Mainnet is live again and no data (irreversible transactions) are lost. Excellent response from block producers and block one to find the root cause & fix within a few hours.

— EOS Authority (@EOSauthority) June 16, 2018

Despite the quick response, users still felt an almost five-hour downtime, expressing their anger and disbelief on this project’s native subreddit. 

Reddit user, ‘SonataSystems’, jumped on the fact that such a bug exists, saying:

Is there a realistic (real world configuration/load) testnet to put these patches through a strong, regressive gauntlet prior to release? Are they just chucking untested code over the fence? Just how much test coverage is there, and how much regressive testing is performed, where is it performed and by whom?

Rough Start For An Aspiring Blockchain

This isn’t the best sign for a brand-new cryptocurrency project, as the downtime deterred thousands of transactions, if not more.

This pause has only added to the negative sentiment held towards this ambitious project, as it aims to overtake players like Ethereum. EOS has had a far from smooth launch, taking almost two weeks to ensure that the blockchain was stable and fully functional.

Many critics attributed this delay to the fact that the ICO team handed the management ‘reins’ to the community, removing the efficiency of an almost $4 billion fund.

On June 14th, the mainnet officially launched, with many users believing that all worries were far behind them.  However, with this bug crippling the EOS blockchain, it is apparent that there may be more issues to worry about, at least in the short term. 

Some speculate that Block.one, the team behind EOS, did not do enough work to ensure that the mainnet was free of bugs. Just days before the scheduled mainnet launch, a developer racked up over $100,000 in bounty claims while finding errors within the pre-released code repository.

Considering the fact that a common user, not backed by any corporations or ICO funds, found a multitude of bugs has had some worried. Would it be all too crazy to assume that there are other bugs that lie in wait for other users to find?

EOS has had a tumultuous start, to say the least. But there are still many who still root for the success of this infantile blockchain, not deterred by yesterday’s events. 

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Key Highlights

• ADA price started a fresh downside move from the $0.1750 swing high against the US Dollar (tethered).
• There is a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance at $0.1600 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair (data feed via Bittrex).
• The pair may perhaps continue to move down towards the $0.1550 and $0.1505 support levels.

Cardano price failed to move higher and declined against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ADA/USD is likely to extend the current decline towards the $0.1505 level.

Cardano Price Analysis

This past week, there was a minor upside recovery from the $0.1460 swing low in ADA price against the US Dollar. The price climbed above the $0.1500 and $0.1600 resistance levels, but it failed to hold gains. A top was formed around the $0.1740 level before the price started a downside move. It declined and broke the $0.1650 and $0.1600 support levels to settle below the 100 hourly simple moving average. There was also a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.1462 low to $0.1746 high.

At the moment, the price is trading well below the $0.1650 level and the 100 hourly SMA. It is testing the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $0.1462 low to $0.1746 high. A break below the $0.1550 support level may well call for more slides towards the $0.1505 level in the near term. On the upside, there is a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance at $0.1600 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair.

The chart indicates the price could extend declines as long as it is below $0.1650 and the 100 hourly SMA. The most important support on the downside is at $0.1505 where buyers may put to test.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ADA/USD is placed nicely in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ADA/USD is declining towards the 20 level.

Major Support Level – $0.1505

Major Resistance Level – $0.1600

The post Cardano Price Analysis: ADA/USD Is In Downtrend appeared first on NewsBTC.

Blockchain insurance consortium B3i announced Monday it would use R3’s Corda platform to develop its products.