Month: June 2018

A group of 133 deputies from Partido Popular have proposed to use blockchain in the country’s public administration

A nearly year-long wait appears to be over for investors in the embattled block chain project Tezos.

Travel booking platform Expedia has stopped accepting bitcoin (BTC). A company representative confirmed the policy change, while stating that various payment options are being continuously evaluated without elaborating on the details. Expedia has been supporting bitcoin payments since 2014.

 Also read: Russian Railways Eyes Crypto for Tickets, Blockchain for Cargo

Expedia Confirms Suspension of BTC Payment Option

Expedia.com, one of the world’s largest travel sites offering booking services for flights, hotels, and car rentals, is currently not accepting bitcoin (BTC). This week, the news was shared on Reddit by traveling bitcoiners who expressed their disappointment with the absence of the cryptocurrency among the payment options. Bitcoin payments have been available on Expedia for years.

Responding to a request for more details from Nathalie Stucky of news.Bitcoin.com, a company representative confirmed the reports via email. Acknowledging the grievances of cryptocurrency users, Christie Hudson, Sr. Communications Manager at Expedia – North America, explained:

I can confirm that as of May 10, 2018, Expedia no longer supports Bitcoin as a payment method. Currently, we do not feel that we are able to offer the best experience for those using Bitcoin, but will continue to evaluate various options in order to offer travelers flexible payment solutions.

According to the information provided by Reddit user bowiestar, the bitcoin payments have been suspended since June 10. Bowiestar is quoting the travel agency’s customer support service.

No official announcement has been published on Expedia’s website, at least not in the Newsroom section. At the same time, the Terms & Conditions page for the bitcoin payment option is still accessible.

Attempts to book a flight from the EU return credit card thumbnails beneath the “How would you like to pay?” question at checkout.

Buying a Ticket, Booking a Hotel with Bitcoin

Expedia started accepting bitcoin exactly four years ago. “Offering travelers another way to book online, customers can now shop from the world-class inventory of a vast array of hotels available on Expedia.com, and for the first time ever beginning today, easily pay for their hotel accommodations using bitcoin,” stated the official announcement published on June 11, 2014.

The crypto payment option was offered through a partnership with the US-based crypto exchange and wallet provider Coinbase. In order to complete the booking process, customers were redirected to Coinbase’s website where they were able to see the total at an exchange rate set by the trading platform. Some comments in the forums suggest that Expedia might have stopped the bitcoin payments due to Coinbase’s decision to discontinue custodial services for merchants.

There are a number of alternatives that crypto enthusiasts can turn to for their bitcoin-paid travel and accommodation. Cheapair.com has been considering working with Bitpay to process bitcoin payments, as news.Bitcoin.com recently reported. It has been accepting bitcoin since 2013, again previously using Coinbase as a payment processor.

The checkout on Cheapair’s website now offers bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC), and dash (DASH) as active payment methods. Payments with three of these cryptocurrencies, BCH, LTC and DASH, were introduced in May and are currently processed by Gocoin.

“In different ways, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Dash all promise improved transactability than their predecessor, with faster transaction times and/or lower fees,” Cheapair noted in a press release. “Over the last six months, we’ve seen a huge uptick in the number of customers requesting alternative currencies, so we’ve worked hard to integrate the three that were most requested,” said CEO Jeff Klee.

Another travel agency that accepts bitcoin for plane and train tickets, cars and hotel rooms, is Destinia. It currently supports both bitcoin core (BTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH) payments. Two more platforms accepting bitcoin for their services are abitsky.com and BTCtrip.

Do you think Expedia will reintroduce bitcoin payments in the future? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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The post Expedia Drops Bitcoin Payments, Official Confirms appeared first on Bitcoin News.

At press time, the father of cryptocurrencies has jumped by $500 in just 24 hours. Yesterday, the coin had fallen to its lowest point in months, and was trading at $5,800 for most of the day. Many analysts were skeptical about potential recovery, and were certain a bear period was likely to mar bitcoin’s progress for weeks or even months on end.

While it’s impossible to say if this jump is part of a short-term or long-term period of improvement, investors and traders are likely breathing a sigh of relief now that the currency has once again moved into the $6,000 region.

These last two weeks have been a series of hurdles for bitcoin, which fell to about $6,200 from $6,800. This price itself was a dismal misfortune considering bitcoin had been trading for roughly $7,600 the week before, but to fall to $6,200 was considered a major turning point, and not in a good way.

From there, the currency couldn’t make up its mind about what it wanted to do, or where it wanted to go. As a result, several swings from $6,100 to about $6,300 continued over the next several days, and yesterday’s drop to $5,800 was considered the final stake through the heart.

At press time, the next step to take would be a rise towards $7,000, but one source mentions there are several hurdles to surpass before bitcoin can reach this position. At one point during the early morning hours, bitcoin was trading for as high as $6,500 on some exchanges, though it appears the currency has retraced its steps a bit, meaning it’s not out of bear territory just yet. The source also mentions that bitcoin is likely to experience solid resistance at the $6,700 mark.

Indeed, many analysts’ predictions of $20,000 or even $40,000 by the end of the year are appearing unfounded, considering the growing volatility and regulatory scrutiny we’ve witnessed throughout the year. Sadly, several other analysts say the future looks bearish, and can no longer justify the words of their peers.

Technical analysts Fawad Razaqzada, for example, states, “I can’t base my analysis on anything other than technical information, and right now, the charts are looking very bearish. Therefore, as things stand, I have no reason to expect bitcoin to go to those crazy levels again.”

One of the biggest bulls for bitcoin has been Fundstrat’s Tom Lee, who has remained adamant that bitcoin will end the year at $25,000. Robert Sluymer – an associate of Lee at Fundstrat – says he can no longer agree with his counterpart, and believes his prediction to be incorrect.

“You have what is happening and what could happen, and I think if you are using technical [analysis]– and you have to be very truthful about what is happening – then we have a downturn in place,” he explains. “From my perspective, price is news, and [bitcoin]needs to show evidence of turning to reinstate bullish calls.”

On the other hand, CEO of BitMex Arthur Hayes believes bitcoin’s drop to $6,000 is part of a natural correction period, and suggests the coin will end the year at $50,000.

“I believe that a cryptocurrency that can go up to $20K and have a correction down to $6K within a six-month period has reached its bottom,” he affirms. “The cryptocurrency is one regulatory decision away from $20K or even $50K by the end of 2018.”

Bitcoin Charts by TradingView

There is no shortage of controversy surrounding the EOS cryptocurrency project. Its main net launch has seen multiple issues, and it now appears Block.one is throwing its weight around where the voting process is concerned. Although this development is not necessarily a bad thing, it has some community members concerned.

The EOS Voting Process and Block.one

For those unaware of how Block.one factors into EOS, the company received 10% of the initial EOS token allocation. As such, the firm is one of the biggest EOS token holders to date. Holding this heavy bag of tokens also comes with a lot of new responsibilities. Given the ongoing changes to the EOS constitution, the company is being forced to weigh in on critical decisions.

In its latest blog post, Block.one explains that it will participate as a voting EOS community member. The company has confirmed that votes will be allocated to block producers who share the core values needed to take EOS to the next level. It is this development which has a lot of people concerned, for understandable reasons. The way in which this was phrased seems to suggest the possibility of potential collusion.

More specifically, Block.one wants to see the system contract be updated to support 50 block producers per account. As of right now, that number is 30. This would be a positive change if approved by the EOS team and its community. However, newly added producers will be vetted by Block.one, which will undoubtedly cause a fair amount of controversy moving forward.

According to some tweets, this is a clear indication that Block.one is “taking over” the EOS voting process. That seems rather unlikely, although one should keep all possibilities in mind regardless. The amount of tokens controlled by this entity is quite vast and seemingly more than covers the necessary amount of tokens needed to “swing” votes in one particular direction.

Although there is some math involved to prove these claims, it is also evident these numbers may not hold up for much longer. With just 30% of the EOS community voting as of right now, it is a bit easier to influence the voting process. However, that doesn’t mean other people will not vote in the future. Additionally, the to-be-appointed block producers may not necessarily agree with Block.one on every proposal, which will have some interesting consequences as well.

Rest assured a lot of people will have an opinion on Block.one’s recent decision. In the long run, one has to hope for higher voter turnout, but achieving that goal may prove to be rather challenging. Additionally, the idea of assigning one vote to every token seems to be rather counterproductive, although that is still a matter of debate.

Cryptocurrency analysts, community members, and personalities all portray institutional investment as the ‘holy grail’ of the industry, but is it really feasible?

Slow Institutional Adoption

The release of the Bitcoin codebase and whitepaper were far from publicized. Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block in 2009, under the watchful eyes of nearly no one. At the time, only a handful of individuals held an interest in this project, with others calling it “a failure” or “useless.”

But since the 2016-2017 bull run, sentiment has changed, bringing cryptocurrencies out from under the shadows and into the limelight. Now not a niche asset, meant only for internet ‘geeks,’ Bitcoin’s price has erupted, inspiring the creation of hundreds of other cryptocurrency projects.

However, Bitcoin’s price movement from $1,000 to $6,000 in 18 months, has been largely attributed to retail investors making speculative investments. Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain, stated that a large majority of the cryptocurrency market is still driven by retail investors, investors like you or me.

Although there is nothing wrong with retail interest, the institutions hold all or at least a majority of the cards. Whether it be through the immense capital they utilize or the array of connections they hold, institutional investors are a force to be reckoned with.  As the New York Times puts it, “(it’s) basic math.”

When put on the scale of the global economy, the cryptocurrency market is nothing but a tiny blip, a grain of sand in a towering pile of rocks. Although the cryptocurrency industry has a collective market capitalization of $250 billion, the cryptocurrency market’s growth only required the investment of a fraction of that figure.

But institutions, like hedge funds, banks or retirement trusts, hold the keys to trillions of dollars of assets, becoming a great target for the cryptocurrency industry.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, institutional investment has become a key topic of discussion for members of the cryptocurrency community. Many analysts see it as the next step in becoming a truly global, and influential asset class.

However, the widespread and dominating presence of retail investors has mostly blocked out institutional investors. With only a few firms getting their hands dirty — putting time, interest, and capital into the cryptocurrency industry.  

Barriers to Entry for Institutions

In its current state, the market is highly speculative, with a majority of investors looking to make a quick buck. Institutional investors have seen that, and have mostly shied away from opening their wallets for the industry. These investors are looking for long-term returns, securing the trust of consumers over time rather than making a quick buck.

Institutional investors cringe when they apply traditional economic sense to the cryptocurrency industry, due to the variance and unpredictability that has become cryptocurrency’s common nature.

Additionally, even if institutions want to trade or invest in the industry, they are often stopped by the lack of infrastructure supporting investors who hold zero crypto knowledge.

Peter Smith, the aforementioned CEO of Blockchain, has recently said that the institutional investment space around cryptocurrencies is “immature.”

Further noting that the institutional services currently offered are far from sufficient, usually only offering high-liquidity over-the-counter (OTC) trading options. Although OTC trading is welcome, many services like Circle Trade, lack research tools or expert analysis which institutions need. Blockchain, a popular crypto-infrastructure company, has just announced Blockchain Principal Strategies, aimed at hedge funds, high-net-worth individuals, and other institutions.

BPS offers what the others do not. Some speculate that it could become a large catalyst for institutional investment, drawing in more firms than ever before.

Even if BPS doesn’t succeed, cryptocurrency firms will try their hands, again and again, attempting to draw the eyes of institutional investors.

Analysts continually call 2018 the “year of institutional investment,” with many echoing that sentiment. But time will only tell if 2018 will shape up to what analysts expect.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Is Bitcoin Feasible as an Institutional Investment? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Even though all cryptocurrencies are still in the green over the past 24 hours, it remains to be seen how long this situation can last. Some of the earlier gains have been eradicated already for most coins. The Cardano price, on the other hand, is still surging full steam ahead during these curious times.

The Cardano Price Trucks Along Nicely

With all of the top cryptocurrencies in the green on a Saturday, a very peculiar situation is created. Albeit there should be plenty of optimism among market watchers, there is also a sense of impending dread. The year 2018 has shown all speculators how no price gains go unpunished for very long.

What that means or the Cardano price exactly, remains to be determined. Over the past 24 hours, there has been a very strong 14.58% increase in value. That in itself is always interesting to keep an eye on. Even so, it remains crystal clear altcoins can only thrive when Bitcoin is doing well at the same time.

Keeping that in mind, there are quite a few altcoins noting solid gains over Bitcoin. Cardano is no exception in this regard. The current Cardano price increase is fueled by the ADA/BTC ratio rising by 6.73% in favor of the altcoin. As such, the current Cardano price sits comfortably at $0.135, although it is possible there will be some pushback sooner or later.

As is the case with most of the altcoins, the overall trading volume has picked up the pace once again. For Cardano, a total of $111,736m worth of trades have been generated, which is still rather impressive all things considered. Even so, its volume may not be sufficient to keep the Cardano price momentum going for very long. People will eventually take short-term profits and move on to other coins.

For once Binance is not the top exchange for Cardano trading, although it still has a USDT and BTC pair in the top three. Instead, Upbit is leading the pack, and Huobi and Bithumb complete the top five. Two fiat currency pairs and two USDT markets in the top five is a lot more positive compared to the trading momentum over the past few weeks.

As is usually the case in the world of cryptocurrency, things are always subject to change first and foremost. In the case of the Cardano price, this current momentum looks promising, but the value can collapse pretty soon as well. Whether or not there will be any further positive momentum this weekend, remains rather unclear at this point.

The initial coin offering industry has seen a lot of growth over the past 18 months. Various projects launch every single week, and most of them raise a few million dollars in the process. Unfortunately, a lot of ICOs are destined to fail sooner or later. Several billions have been lost due to such failed projects already, and it seems things will only be getting worse from here on out.

The Demise of ICOs Is a Real Problem

Whenever major growth occurs in one particular industry, it is only a matter of time until the first casualties occur. With so many different companies and projects pursuing similar ideas and business models, it is only natural that a big chunk of them will eventually fail to meet expectations. In the world of initial coin offerings, there has been a growing number of failed projects, and it seems things will not improve anytime soon.  

According to data from Coinopsy, the failure rate of ICO projects is alarmingly high. Several factors contribute to the demise of these big projects. The mounting number of scam projects raising $50 million or more is by far the biggest problem to contend with, yet the SEC is actively cracking down on such schemes as of right now. Even so, investors are always at risk of losing their money to scams, which is rather worrisome.

Additionally, projects with honest intentions raising over $50 million have struggled to meet investors’ expectations. Six percent of these companies fail within the first year, generally because the process of building their infrastructures was too much to handle. Having an idea on paper is one thing, but turning it into a working project with mainstream appeal is a very different matter. It appears most ICOs still underestimate the difficulty of that process, even in 2018.

Although such low chances of success are to be expected, there is no real solution in place for investors who lose money to unsuccessful projects. A failed initial coin offering means investors are left with a bunch of tokens which have little to no value. There is no recourse in this regard, as the losses have to be written off in one way or another. Unlike traditional investments, there is no insurance or other way to recuperate one’s initial contribution.

Identifying “killer apps” has also been a growing challenge. This issue is not unique to initial coin offerings, as it also applies to the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in general. The influx of new ideas and potential businesses is a positive trend, although not every idea needs a blockchain or native currency to succeed. Unfortunately, every ICO chooses to create its own token nowadays, rather than use an existing cryptocurrency.

It is to be expected that there will be even more casualties in the ICO industry moving forward. Given the current weak position of all crypto markets, it is evident that companies and projects will continue to suffer. Additionally, investors in ICOs have never been known to be especially patient, and the lack of returns on investments will only hinder this industry’s chances of success. For all the negativity, there is still tremendous potential for ICOs, but only a few companies will succeed.

“The Cereal business model is one of the best I’ve seen in the blockchain space.”

The Cayman Islands, June 30, 2018 — Cereal, a fintech startup & blockchain platform for crypto asset and mining rid-based lending market, has announced that prominent MIT professor John R. Williams has joined the team taking an advisory role.

“I’m excited about Cereal because they bring a much needed financial product to the crypto-currency space by allowing investors and businesses to leverage their crypto-assets as security for fiat loans. The Cereal business model is one of the best I’ve seen in the blockchain space. Their technical and business team has tremendous experience and I believe they are one of the few “solid” blockchain based companies,” said Professor John R. Williams about the appointment.

Professor John R. Williams, Professor of Information Engineering at MIT, was formerly the Director of the AutoID Laboratory, where he led MIT’s efforts in the invention and development of the Internet of Things and its software architecture. He has since gone on to direct MIT’s Geospatial Data Center where applied computational research is being connected to blockchain technologies. Professor Williams was named as one of the 50 most powerful people in computer networks in 2005, alongside Bill Gates and Larry Ellison. He has authored over 150 publications.

Professor John R. Williams also said that “Cereal is going to change the way people view cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange. The barriers to moving between fiat currencies can be removed by using stable crypto-currencies as an intermediary. Furthermore transaction costs and time delays can be reduced significantly allowing anyone with a cell phone or a laptop move their assets without friction.”

Today, holders of cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related assets had to choose between maintaining their investments and cashing out to fiat money to meet their day-to-day financial needs or cover the operating costs of mining rigs, buying new equipment, and funding future maintenance. However with the Cereal platform there is no need to cash out for immediate needs for fiat currency .Cereal is aimed to create an ecosystem of high-quality and affordable loan products for the crypto community.

Cereal will create an innovative blockchain-based platform that will directly connect cryptocurrency enthusiasts, financial companies, investors, retailers, and manufacturers and lead the loan market to new grounds. Apart from it, the Cereal token will power a universal loyalty program framework with a system of financial incentives for all participants.

Cereal is positioned to strengthen its status quo in the emerging cryptocurrency-asset-based lending market, estimated at $30 billion, and draw out the participation of the world’s millions of crypto enthusiasts. A strategic partnership with Giga Watt, the world’s first full-service mining solution provider, is already in place. This will help accelerate Cereal’s suite of next-generation loan products, backed by Giga Watt’s mining infrastructure.

Co-founder and CEO of Cereal, Sergey Vart is a serial entrepreneur that has founded fin-tech startups like Credeo and Rassrochka24.

“Professor John R. Williams joining our team means that he recognises Cereal’s technology and business value. We will work with Professor Williams in incorporating his computer engineering expertise to create synergy with Cereal, ” said Cereal’s CEO Sergey Vart.  

To date, Cereal has completed a private pre-sale of CRL tokens and a public ICO sale will be held from May 25, 2018 to July 31, 2018.

For more information, visit https://cereal.cryptonomos.com

###

Professor MIT John R. Williams

About Cereal

Cereal is a visionary asset-based lending platform. According to the founders, it is set to transform the cryptocurrency-secured loan market and develop an asset-based lending network for millions of cryptocurrency enthusiasts around the globe.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Over the past few weeks, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has seen a lot of new infrastructure support, applications, and protocol innovation. While everyone has been watching the bearish markets across the digital currency economy, in general, there’s a lot of action happening within the BCH ecosystem that supersedes its current price speculation.

Also read: Crypto Business Is Now Legal in Belarus

The BCH Train Continues to Truck Along

BCH proponents have been able to continue the focus towards spreading adoption and lately there’s been a lot of infrastructure support to back up the passion. At the moment the Bitcoin Cash blockchain is over 7,000 blocks ahead of the Bitcoin Core (BTC) chain operating at 11.5 percent of BTC’s current network difficulty. During the last days of June, it is 9.98X more expensive to transact on the BTC chain than using BCH according to Coin Dance statistics. BTC is the most traded cryptocurrency swapped for BCH while ETH, HT, Waves, and LTC follow behind.

Unwriter Unleashes Bitdb: Build Decentralized Apps With a NoSQL database powered by Bitcoin

On June 29 the developer Unwriter released the Bitdb.network which is a global database of Bitcoin OP_Returns and anyone can build decentralized apps using the protocol with zero servers and zero infrastructure. The creator of the project hosted an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on Friday, and discussed the project in more detail. News.Bitcoin.com also recently featured the developer Unwriter’s three other projects that are powered by the BCH chain.

“Bitdb is a NoSQL database powered by Bitcoin — It’s an autonomous public MongoDB instance which self-updates by crawling and indexing Bitcoin OP_RETURN transactions, a special type of transaction that can include up to 220 bytes of arbitrary data,” explains the website. “Using this 220 bytes as a database insertion command, we can construct an entire database system from Bitcoin.”

Because it’s backed by Bitcoin as canonical storage, it comes with all the benefits of Bitcoin’s decentralization, and because it’s powered by MongoDB as index, it comes with all the benefits of NoSQL databases, including unlimited insertion of unstructured data, as well as highly flexible and portable query interface.

Cointext Raises $600K in Bitcoin Cash

In other news, the firm Cointext.io has raised $600,000 in BCH from a seed funding round led by Yeoman’s Capital. Cointext allows users to transact with bitcoin cash with any type of mobile phone using SMS technology (text). David Johnston, Managing Director of Yeoman’s Capital, explained that his firm wants a project that will change the lives billions worldwide. “We have a high bar for projects that we invest in — the technology must have the potential to impact over a billion people,” explains Johnston.

Cointext President and CTO, Vin Armani, details that Yeoman’s team will bring valuable experience to the table. “We are dedicated to making cryptocurrency easy to use for the maximum number of people,” Armani emphasizes.

Keys4coins Announces 0-Confirm Transaction Says Its “Faster Than Lightning!”

This week Bitcoin Cash fans were also pleased to hear about the game store Keys4coins announcing the acceptance of zero-confirmation transactions. Keys4coins is an online store that sells keys to games and Steam gift cards, and the company does not accept fiat. This means as soon as the network broadcasts the transaction users are allowed to claim their items (game keys and gift card codes) right away rather than waiting for one confirmation.  

“We are happy to announce Bitcoin Cash 0 confirm payments is now enabled,” explains Keys4coins.  

That means your transactions will now be faster than lightning — Make your order today and see the wonder of Bitcoin Cash. Experience order completion and delivery within seconds of making payment.

Further Support and Innovation With Purse.io, and Trustless Bets

Overall there’s been a lot more support and infrastructure additions to the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem during the last few weeks. Just yesterday Purse.io officially announced BCH integration, and now users can save 20 percent or more at Amazon using BCH with the Purse system.

Another great achievement this week was when the Electron Cash developer, Jonald Fyookball, revealed a working prototype for — Chainbet — A protocol that brings trustless betting to the BCH network. So far even though crypto-markets have been in a slump you couldn’t tell with all the building and innovation taking place these days.

What do you think about all the apps, support, and new innovations coming to the Bitcoin Cash network lately? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below.

Images via Shutterstock, Nokia, Cointext, Keys4coins, and Bitdb.network.

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The post Bitcoin Cash Sees More Infrastructure, Applications, and Protocol Innovation appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Bitbon System is a large-scale infrastructure project of Simcord Company, which represents a conceptually new decentralized Blockchain platform for managing digital Assets.

Simcord has been operating in the world of high technologies for over 18 years. During this time, the Company has achieved significant success in the field of development of digital technologies for managing finances and property rights to Assets. Simcord holding conducts its activity at the international level and is certified according to the ISO 9001:2015 standard.

On June 17, 2018, public crowdsale has started according to the stages of the Bitbon System development described in the White Paper. The Company has also announced the results of the pre-sale and internal crowdsale stages, during which it managed to raise more than 50 million USD.

The Simcord team believes that the global economy is undergoing a large-scale transformation, and its complete transition to the decentralized Blockchain management is expected shortly. This way, a new digital economy will be built.

Analysis shows that, over the last 5 years, capitalization of the crypto investment field has increased by 20,000% (300 billion USD), and the value of the global stock market and derivatives markets equals more than 600 trillion USD. The percentage of these sectors can be visualized in the following diagram:

It is clear that the development potential of both the crypto industry and Blockchain as its foundation is huge — more than 200,000%.

Capitalization of the crypto investment field accounts for just 0.05% of global economy.

99.95% from this enormous volume of Assets is still awaiting integration into the new digital economy whose foundation will undoubtedly be Blockchain platforms.

The financial crypto instrument Bitbon is backed by real Assets. The mechanism of its backing is implemented in the Bitbon System by means of Contributing, which is an innovative type of activity, and by means of automatic participation of the Bitbon Capitalization Fund in the Contributing process.

Contributing opens up fundamentally new opportunities in the field of investment and fundraising, whereby each Participant is verified, and business projects are checked and audited in advance by the Bitup-Agency.

An important thing is that any activity in the Bitbon System is absolutely legal, and the Blockchain technology guarantees complete transparency and security.

Furthermore, conditions in the Bitbon System are optimal for generating cyclical supply and demand for Bitbon, which ensures a steady and predictable growth of its price.

During the pre-sale and crowdsale stages, the Bitbon price is determined by the formula described in the White Paper. At the moment, the value of 1 Bitbon equals 6 USD.

Based on the data on capitalization of the global stock market and derivatives markets, the Bitbon price can potentially increase by 12,000% over the next 5 years and exceed 700 USD for 1 Bitbon.

Simcord explains such a rapid growth of the Bitbon value by direct interaction of the Bitbon System with the real sector of economy in the process of Contributing, which is outlined in the Company’s strategy and fully described in the White Paper.

Being confident in the real prospects of the Bitbon System, as part of the public crowdsale final stage, which will last until October 10, 2018, the Company has decided to publish the Option Agreement — Offer to implement the Promotional Offer “Golden Price”.

Basically, by this Agreement the Company creates conditions under which it can repurchase a Customer’s Bitbons at the price of 100 USD for 1 Bitbon. Therefore, a Customer’s guaranteed minimum profit will constitute:

• ≈ 1.3% per one business day;

or

• 320% annually;

or

1,600% upon termination of the Option Agreement — on October 11, 2023.

In addition, under conditions of the Promotional Offer “Golden Price”, the Company provides the Customer who has purchased Bitbons with an option premium in the amount of 3% from the Bitbon amount he/she has purchased.

Start of public crowdsale: June 17, 2018.

End of public crowdsale: October 10, 2018.

To purchase Bitbon on the Bit Trade Exchange of Digital Assets, follow the link.

Payment methods: Visa/MasterCard, Bitcoin, Ethereum, bank transfer and electronic payment systems.

Bitbon issued: 70,000,000

Soft Cap: 50,000,000 USD

Hard Cap: 400,000,000 USD

Bitbon System Road Map:

Bitbon System White Paper — https://www.bitbon.space/en/bitbon-system-white-paper

Bitbon System Public Contract — https://www.bitbon.space/en/bitbon-system-public-contract

Official Information Resources:

https://www.bitbon.space/en/home

https://www.simcord.com/en/

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

The New York-based venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures has announced new investments, including US exchange Coinbase, writes CNBC.

In a week when a competing venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, announced its first-ever fund dedicated to crypto companies, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures, Albert Wenger has said his company won’t take the same route, stating, “We see a lot of upside to keeping it under the same roof.”

Although the company has no plans to create a separate fund as some of its VC competitors have, it sees big profits in the future:

“Investors are rationally pouring a lot of money into this sector because I think people are seeing the winning blockchain here might be worth a trillion, or a couple of trillion dollars,” Wenger said. “It’s not at all crazy to think that.”

Wenger says that he sees the real profits being generated from putting resources into supporting applications rather than the apps themselves, agreeing with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak that early investors in similar ventures may beat the risk of another bubble burst, this time blockchain style. Wenger admits that many projects are doomed to failure but the odd one if it is successful, can be huge.

Wenger referred to scams and failed ICOs, which have amounted to over 1,000 this year does the industry little good:

“You’ve had a series of ICOs where investors have purchased at steep discounts — the second it starts trading those investors cash out, they make a handsome return, and someone else is left to hold the bag,” he said adding that interesting projects are succeeding on far fewer funds.

Wenger admits to personally holding Bitcoin and his company has invested over the year watching its value drop by 60%. As for the future of the market, he feels investing in only one currency would be a mistake:

“The stuff that actually works will float to the top,” he said. “It might take a while, but time will tell.”

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Europe is an interesting region when it comes to cryptocurrency activity. Although euro trading pairs are not as popular as their USD counterparts, the continent is slowly making a name for itself. It appears Turkey is quickly becoming a cryptocurrency hub. Close to one in five residents owns some form of cryptocurrency, which is rather impressive.

Cryptocurrency Gains Traction in Turkey

When it comes to the global cryptocurrency markets, the United States and Asia seem to dominate. Both regions generate high trading volumes every single day, and their regulatory efforts are well ahead of those in other places. Even so, Europe is quickly gaining traction among cryptocurrency firms due to its lenient regulatory landscape.

Over the past few months, the region has attracted major companies such as Binance. The latter’s “migration” to Malta has sparked discussion on how positive cryptocurrency regulation can be a catalyst for the industry. At this time, very few countries want to give cryptocurrencies a fighting chance, although Malta is setting a positive precedent in this regard.

Furthermore, it appears that Turkey is improving its position in the cryptocurrency world rather quickly. A new survey from Ipsos shows that nearly one in five individuals in Turkey currently owns cryptocurrency. Although this survey only represents a small sample of the nation’s population, it does seem to confirm there is growing interest in Bitcoin and altcoins.

To put this into perspective, only nine percent of Europeans hold cryptocurrency as of right now. That statistic is rather interesting and is still a higher number than most people would have expected at this time. Even though that situation is improving, cryptocurrencies are still largely considered to be a niche product, especially in Europe. Interestingly enough, the percentage of cryptocurrency holders in Europe is higher compared to America and Australia.

Surveys like these always need to be put into their proper perspective. It is evident that interest in cryptocurrencies has grown in Europe, although most of that attention can be attributed to the crazy price spikes of late 2017 and early 2018. With all markets in a slump right now, it remains to be seen if Europe will remain so keen on this new form of money. Panic selling takes place all over the world, and these numbers may look very different in a few months from now.

The risky nature of investing in cryptocurrencies will always remain a limiting factor in terms of public awareness. One could argue any investment is a big risk, but the recent market volatility affecting Bitcoin and altcoins is very different from how traditional investment vehicles fluctuate. Even so, it is good to see growing European interest in this new form of money. Cryptocurrency is still in its early stages, and the best is yet to come.

The Bank of England has warned financial institutions in the country to limit their exposure to crypto assets. In a letter written by the bank’s deputy governor, the regulator cautioned firms against letting their guard down as the popularity of cryptos soars. It also reminded the firms of the risks that come with handling cryptocurrencies, ranging from money laundering and terrorist financing to high volatility and the possibility of reputational damage. The regulator also expects the firms to act in accordance with the regulations put in place which require them to fully cooperate with the regulatory authorities.

Prudential Treatment of Crypto Assets

Financial institutions have continued to expose themselves to crypto assets as their popularity has risen, and according to the deputy governor, Sam Woods, this necessitated guidelines from the country’s financial industry regulator. In the letter of warning which was addressed to banks, investment firms and insurance companies, Woods noted that blockchain technology has the potential to dominate the financial services industry in the near future before delving into the potential risks to which cryptos expose such firms.

Woods also outlined three risk strategies that the regulator recommends as most appropriate, the first of which relates to the supervisory framework. With cryptocurrencies representing a new and evolving asset class, financial firms should have on their boards someone who is appropriately licensed to handle such entities. The firms must also notify the regulator of their business setups.

Secondly, firms in the bank’s jurisdiction must implement remuneration practices that don’t actively encourage the industry to take unnecessary risk. These firms must also take care to protect themselves from any risk posed, with Woods recommending that they hire relevant experts in the area. The risks to be evaluated are not purely financial; the firms must also consider reputational as well as operational risks.

Guided by these principles, financial institutions should classify crypto exposure in tandem with a comprehensive assessment of the risks which cryptos pose, according to the bank. While leaving room for individual classification of crypto assets based on their features, the regulator insisted that they should not be considered currencies for prudential purposes.

Once the firms conduct a comprehensive analysis on the risks posed by a crypto asset, the findings should be included in their Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process or Own Risk and Solvency Assessment. The analysis should include, but is not limited to, the major drivers of the risk, the risk mitigants, and the capital being held in place for such eventualities and an assessment on how variations in the risk drivers affect valuation. Moving forward, the regulator urges all financial institutions to report any planned exposure to crypto assets, accompanied by a breakdown of the risks involved, how the company prepares to handle the situation, as well as the capital put aside to deal with such an occurrence.

The warning letter, though detailed and categorical, is a work in progress, Woods noted. With the crypto industry being relatively new, regulators globally are grappling with regulations and are amending them to encompass the diverse industry. With this in mind, the Bank of England will communicate any updates on its regulations as time progresses, he promised.

The Bank of England has previously shown an interest in central bank digital currencies, with a staff working paper released in May outlining three possible models of CBDCs. They included a model made accessible to financial institutions exclusively, and one in which banks and households were given access, all coming with different features and varying levels of difficulty of implementation.