Day: June 19, 2018

BitTorrent said it has “no plans to enable mining of cryptocurrency now or in the future” in a statement on Tuesday.

The president of commodities brokerage and trading firm Blue Line Futures, Bill Baruch, said in a video for CNBC that Bitcoin volatility has plummeted and is at its lowest level in more than a year. He says this is a sign that selling has become exhausted, and now that the price and volatility are stable, the bottoming process can begin.

30-day Bitcoin volatility on the USD market exceeded 8% in early January 2018 and remained relatively high through February 2018 before starting a steep and steady decline in March 2018. Volatility dropped as low as 2.45% in June 2018, a 70% decline from peak volatility levels. This is the lowest level of volatility in over a year for Bitcoin, but there have been many times in the past that Bitcoin volatility has dropped even lower to below 1%, so perhaps the market is not at minimum volatility yet. Regardless, volatility around 3% indicates a much more stable market than before.

A bottom is a process, not a price according to Baruch, and a bottom will occur soon if Bitcoin’s price holds above USD 6,000, although the 100-week moving average indicates a bottom of USD 4,550. Baruch and Blue Line Futures expects Bitcoin’s price to go up significantly in the long term. He advises not to sell Bitcoin below the price of USD 10,000.

Baruch says the Bitcoin market rose too much, too fast, in December 2017 due to the launch of Bitcoin futures trading on CME and CBOE, which is a milestone in the maturation of a tradable asset. Speculation plus fear of missing out on profits are the primary reasons Bitcoin’s price soared far above its equilibrium according to Baruch. The sell-off from the peak of USD 20,000 down to less than USD 7,000 per Bitcoin has wiped out most of the over-enthusiasm, stabilizing the market.

Aside from expectations that low volatility levels might be a harbinger for a future Bitcoin price increase, in general, low volatility levels are beneficial for people who use Bitcoin as a currency.

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Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) will be taking administrative action against several registered cryptocurrency exchange operators in the country.

These exchanges include Quoine, Bitbank, BITPoint Japan, BtcBox, and industry leader BitFlyer, who authorities claim don’t have proper internal management systems in place, including measures to prevent money laundering. 

FSA Crackdown

The moves were announced today, and suggest that even operators registered under the revised payment services law, which was put in place in April of last year, have not yet established adequate internal control systems. According to the FSA, the agency’s crackdown — the third against multiple cryptocurrency exchange operators — is aimed at making the crypto industry healthier and safer, reports the Japan Times.

Digital currency transactions in Japan in 2017 increased 20-fold, a jump from 2016 to about ¥69 trillion. The problem is that, despite warnings earlier this year from the FSA, some exchange operators have failed to take sufficient measures to prevent money laundering and protect customers’ assets. These include things like verifying customers’ identities and enacting preventative measures to protect exchanges from hacks and thefts.

In February the FSA carried out on-the-spot inspections of all exchange operators under screening for registration, taking administrative action on many of them. These moves came primarily in response to the massive theft of the cryptocurrency NEM from Tokyo-based Coincheck Inc., which was also under screening, in January.

Coincheck’s Legacy

As noted, the FSA’s proactive moves have come primarily as a consequence of the Coincheck hack. In response, the FSA ramped up its efforts in attempts to ensure that the country’s exchanges are running correctly and keeping customers’ assets safe.

Looking to the future, Coincheck has applied for a license with the FSA, but it first needs to improve its services before it has any chance of receiving one. Understandably, the regulator has ordered the exchange to make several improvements.

In an attempt to boost customer confidence, Coincheck was recently acquired by online brokerage Monex Group for $33.5 million. The hope is that the exchange will experience a turnaround that sees a boost in customer confidence. That said, it remains to be seen whether the exchange can re-establish itself again.

The FSA also has problems with certain ‘privacy orientated’ cryptocurrencies, pushing exchanges to delist coins like Monero, Dash, and Zcash. It is a controversial decision which may hurt merchant adoption for those coins moving forward. Another problem is that if Japanese exchanges do comply, they effectively create a situation in which other trading platforms around the world may be forced to follow their example.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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From self driving cars to car sharing application, how blockchain change automotive industry

There’s been a lot of controversy over the past few weeks stemming from the anonymous Twitter handle and co-owner of Bitcoin.org, ‘Cobra Bitcoin.’ The well-known BTC community member has been at the forefront of contentious subjects for many years now, and this week Cobra is claiming that one man has control of more than 51 percent of the BTC network.

Also Read: Freedom of the Press Foundation Now Accepts Five Cryptocurrencies

The Infamous Snake Twitter Handle ‘Cobra Bitcoin’ Claims Bitmain Controls 80 Percent of the BTC Hashrate

The notorious Cobra is at it again stirring up controversial conversations on Twitter, and begging the BTC community to change the protocol’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm. Cobra believes mining pool centralization has taken over the network. Cobra’s tweets specifically target the Chinese firm Bitmain Technologies and the company’s CEO Jihan Wu. This is not the first time Cobra has initiated the subject of mining centralization as he has brought the topic up many times over the years, alongside BTC core developer Luke Jr, another staunch advocate of a PoW change. On June 18 the co-owner of Bitcoin.org shared a pie chart of the mining pools processing blocks on the BTC network and stated:

Bitcoin simply can’t be censorship resistant long term if the hashing power is controlled almost entirely by one entity — You can’t build ‘digital gold’ on something that can be shut down by one man, and needs rapid massive coordinated response amongst *everyone* to counter.

Prior to Cobra’s tweet showing the hashrate distribution pie chart, the anonymous individual started tagging big pools that he suspects are directly connected to Bitmain and its CEO Jihan Wu.      

“Bitmain claims they don’t control the majority of the hashing power behind Antpool, BTC.com and Viabtc and other pools,” states Cobra.

These claims and this hashing power needs to be audited, to verify how much is independently owned — Suspect 80%+ of BTC hashrate is Bitmain.

Cobra Accused of Throwing Stones from a Glass House  

This specific statement led to a response from BTC.com’s business operations VP, Alejandro DeLaTorre, who scoffed at Cobra’s claims. Following the response, Cobra asks DeLaTorre if he can confirm “how much of the hashing power on BTC.com is owned by Bitmain?” DeLaTorre decides to respond by bringing up another point of centralization, which concerns Cobra’s control over the domain Bitcoin.org, and the recent changes the site has made banning companies that once supported the New York Agreement.

“Can you explain me to why the BTC.com wallet is no longer welcome on Bitcoin.org? While we followed all the community guidelines and more?” DeLaTorre asks the co-owner of the website (the other co-owner of Bitcoin.org is Theymos, the owner of r/bitcoin and bitcointalk.org).

All the wallet requirements have been met — Where does it state anything about NYA? If you’re going to play politics at least be transparent about it and reflect it on the requirements.

Not the First Time a Large Pool Controlled a Great Deal of BTC Hashrate — Ghash.io Surpassed 51% Several Times in the Summer of 2014    

Cobra’s following Twitter posts later that day continue to claim that Bitmain is in full control of the BTC hashrate, and he believes other mining pools cannot compete with the Beijing company’s power.  

“We have waited years for this competition that never arrives — Halong hardware is 1% of the network hashing power, and they don’t sell anything anymore,” Cobra explains. “It seems nobody can compete with Bitmain on cost per J/THs — They will continue to dominate long term, with nothing to stop them,” he adds.

The solution is to change the PoW, and end their monopoly, or to at least soft fork in a new algorithm alongside the existing SHA-256. This algorithm is at present a total failure.

At the moment, according to statistics from Blockchain.info, BTC.com, and Bitcoinity, data shows BTC.com’s pool currently has around 28-29 percent of BTC’s network hashrate at the time of publication.

The last pool that grew significantly large when it processed more than 51 percent of the BTC network in the summer of 2014 was Ghash.io. The mining pool Ghash.io surpassed the 51 percent mark a couple of times that year, and held that number for more than half a day on June 16, 2014. However, at the time the pool promised to stay honest and since then the Ghash.io pool had split up into multiple factions. Nothing major ever happened like Bitcoin Gold’s recent 51 percent attack, except a whole lot of FUD spread in MSM headlines that year.

As far as Cobra and his recent statements, the snake-like character has relentlessly pushed for a PoW change for quite some time, and due to his bi-polar like statements its difficult for many to take his words seriously. However, his control over Bitcoin.org has allowed his voice to stir up controversial conversations once again.

What do you think about the infamous Cobra Bitcoin character and his recent statements? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Images via Pixabay, Wallpaper Abyss, and Blockchain.info.  

Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today.

The post The Anonymous Bitcoin.org Owner Accuses BTC Mining Pools of Centralization appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Cambodia’s government issued a statement to the public today on 19 June 2018 that essentially bans cryptocurrency in the Southeast Asian nation. The statement was signed by the National Bank of Cambodia, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, and the General-Commissariat of National Police, and says that using cryptocurrency without a license is illegal.

However, there is no information available on the cryptocurrency license, so for the time being, it appears to be illegal for Cambodians to engage in cryptocurrency activity. Anyone who buys, sells, trades, settles, or propagates cryptocurrency in any other way, which would include mining, is breaking the law and will face severe penalties.

The statement says using cryptocurrency without regulation causes risk to the public since cryptocurrencies are not backed by collateral. It says cryptocurrency investments may result in losses due to volatility, is subject to a high rate of hacking and theft, and has no mechanism to protect customers who use them since cryptocurrency payments are irreversible. It also says cryptocurrency users can be anonymous which helps terrorists and criminals launder money.

Clearly, Cambodia’s government has a negative view on cryptocurrency based on this statement, and since there are no details and no timeline given for the cryptocurrency license, this could prove to be an outright ban of cryptocurrency activity in Cambodia.

Cambodia’s neighbors, China and Vietnam, have also taken skeptical views towards cryptocurrency. China banned all cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings in September 2017, forcing some of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world to flee the country. Vietnam has been working towards a total ban of cryptocurrency, first by saying all non-cash payments are illegal and then banning the import of cryptocurrency mining equipment.

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Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev is hoping to make a splash in the digital advertising supply chain with the help of blockchain technology.

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retail company based in Sweden which focuses on selling ready-to-assemble furniture and home accessories, has had the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) approve its plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its stores and other operations by 80 percent by 2030.

Unrealistic Targets Are Difficult to Back up Scientifically

Large conglomerates often resort to environmental initiatives to improve their global brands and images. Nearly every corporation in every large industry has some environmental initiatives in place such as building waste water treatment plants and reducing the usage of plastic.

For instance, Coca-Cola’s most widely recognized environmental initiative was the development of its PET bottles with 24 percent less plastic, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have adopted the international environmental management system standard ISO 14001 in the majority of our plants. These are also audited against The Coca‑Cola Quality System standards on an annual basis. Our goal is a 25 percent carbon reduction in the whole value chain and 50 percent carbon reduction from our direct operations by 2020 compared with 2010,” Coca Cola explained.

While it is quite easy to provide investors and consumers with a long-term target to improve the environment, it is challenging to provide audit results and targets based on scientific evidence, similar to what Coca-Cola and IKEA have done.

Most recently, IKEA received an approval from the SBTi based on its previous initiatives and its 2016 benchmark to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by the company by 80 percent. An approval from the SBTi is only provided if both the SBTi, which is comprised of CDP, WRI, WWF, and UN Global Compact, and the target corporation can back up its claim with sufficient scientific data.

Essentially, SBTi acknowledged that the IKEA Group’s target to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by its business by 80 percent within the next 12 years is a realistic objective, and that IKEA is officially recognized as a company that maintains the standard of the Paris Agreement’s 2C trajectory.

Pia Heidenmark-Cook, Ikea Group’s chief sustainability officer, said:

Taking action on climate change is not only the right thing to do for people and the planet, it’s necessary for our long-term success as a business. Setting science-based targets will challenge us to find new and better ways, as well as drive innovation and renewal in our business. We encourage other companies to join us in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy which boosts investment, employment and innovation.

WWF Encourages Other Corporations to Do the Same

Alexander Liedke, the sustainable business and markets manager for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), stated that companies like IKEA that have large global footprints due to the sheer size of their operations have the ability to hugely impact the global environment.

“It is particularly encouraging to see IKEA addressing the emissions associated with the products it sells. As a company with a large global footprint, it has the ability to help drive down emissions in households around the world,” Liedke noted.

Companies like Samsung have already started to employ various methods to limit greenhouse gas emissions and the use of nonrenewable energy. Recently, Samsung stated that it planned to solely use solar energy to power its operations in the US, China and Europe by 2020.

The CEO of fintech firm Circle claims that every world currency will one day have their own digital version. Jeremy Allaire spoke to CNBC in an interview today about the inevitability of a crypto dollar, yen, and euro in the future.

Allaire: “All Fiat Currency Will be Crypto”

Jeremy Allaire spoke in no uncertain terms about the likelihood of digital currency versions of traditional currencies to CNBC. The Circle CEO stated:

“Our view is that all fiat currency will be crypto… It seems inevitable at this point.”

Allaire co-founded Circle in 2013 with partner Sean Neville. Since then, the fintech start-up has been right up there with the firms most supportive of the financial innovation that is cryptocurrency. They currently offer Circle Pay – an application that allows the transfer of funds from one user to another that is facilitated using blockchain – Bitcoin’s underlying technology.

The company have also created Circle Invest – an application that will allow their users to buy and sell the most established cryptocurrencies. In addition to this offering tailored to retail investors, the startup also provides support to institutional investors. Circle Trade allows over-the-counter (OTC) trades in excess of $250,000.

Circle enjoy the support of some rather impressive names. Both U.S. investment banking giant Goldman Sachs and the Chinese internet powerhouse Baidu back the startup. The company that is currently worth in excess of $3 billion also recently acquired the digital currency trading platform Poloniex.

During Monday’s interview with CNBC Allaire commented on Circle’s commitment to developing fiat-pegged ‘stablecoins.’ The CEO stated:

“Our focus with fiat stablecoins is we really think of it as a core building block for a crypto native global digital economy… Our interest is in how do we take all of the tasks involved in the financial industry and move those onto a crypto native infrastructure.”

Circle are currently working on a U.S. dollar-backed digital coin. It will be known as Circle USDC or USD Coin. It’s being built within a platform called CENTRE. CENTRE is a subsidiary of Circle that raised $20 million in funding late last year.

In addition to the U.S. dollar digital currency, Allaire commented that Circle were toying with the idea of creating both euro and a British pound-backed digital currencies.

As part of their efforts to develop platforms that expand the accessibility of cryptocurrencies, Circle have recently been in talks with U.S. regulators to obtain a banking license for their operations.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Circle’s CEO Allaire: Every World Currency Will Soon Have a Digital Version appeared first on NewsBTC.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Cointelegraph’s decentralized application aggregator DApphub launches at https://dapphub.cointelegraph.com/

Norway has presented new gambling regulations to the EU for approval which may affect how cryptocurrency is utilized in this part of the country’s entertainment sector, reports Norske Casino.

The new restrictions have been proposed by the Norwegian government essentially to inhibit other providers operating apart from the country’s two state-run casino chains. The two companies cover all gambling services throughout Norway.

In past years, there has been an influx of several internationally-licensed companies attracting gamblers online in Norway, despite the activity being illegal under the country’s gambling legislation. The new proposed rules will make it illegal for banks and financial institutions to process payments online and offending companies will be asked to report users details to regulatory authorities.

Cryptocurrency has now become a topical point of interest given that new legislation, if passed, requires conventional banking to support online casino services. It is feared by the government that players wanting to use the unlicensed providers can avoid the financial system and bypass their bank accounts by using cryptocurrency wallets for payments and receipt of winnings.

It appears that this is a loophole that will be pursued and utilized by bettors as there is little that authorities can do due to the cost and time consumed in order to find user identities.

Norway’s current regulations regarding cryptocurrency use in the country are fairly flexible, allowing many providers to accept cryptocurrency payments. At present, there is no specific law telling Scandinavian banks how to view cryptocurrency, although there is anti-money laundering legislation already in place.

An official document was recently released by Norway’s central bank (Norge bank) which announced its intent to launch its own cryptocurrency. This is very much in keeping with current trends, showing increasing numbers of central banks looking into the viability of creating national cryptocurrencies.

Norway has become an increasingly cashless society. As far back as 2016, it was reported that as few as 6% of Norwegians even used cash. One bank, DNB, has even stopped using cash as a result.

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