Day: July 5, 2018

Out of the 29 firms released by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this week to the fourth cohort of the regulatory sandbox, ten are blockchain and crypto asset firms, according to the EconoTimes.

The FCA’s regulatory sandbox was created so that prospective companies would be able to test innovations and services in a live, protected, business market. The current round is the fourth since the project was announced in 2016.

As this latest round illustrates, 40% of the fourth round companies accepted are distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain-based startups. Also, the regulator has accepted a small number of crypto-assets related firms as the FCA suggested that they are “keen to explore whether, in a controlled environment, consumer benefits can be delivered while effectively managing the associated risks.”

Christopher Woolward, executive director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, explained further why it saw fit to include crypto-assets firms in this year’s fourth round:

“…we can see significant use of distributed ledger technology (DLT), some experimentation with crypto assets which will help inform our policy work and propositions aimed at helping lower-income consumers.”

The DLT and crypto assets-focused startups selected for the fourth cohort include BlockEX, Capexmove, Etherisc, Fineqia, Fractal, Globacap, Natwest, Token Market, Tokencard, Universal Tokens, World Reserve Trust, 20|30.

Due to the enormous growth in interest in new crypto assets like Bitcoin, the UK government created a Cryptoassets Taskforce earlier this year, consisting of the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority.

The FCA does not regulate cryptocurrency exchanges, brokers or businesses, which gives them a gray area status and some freedoms. However, it has been pushed by the British Cryptocurrency Trade Association, the UK’s first self-regulatory blockchain industry trade body, to begin regulating the industry.

The United Kingdom was ranked fourth out of 48 other “crypto-friendly” nations, according to a study made by Blockshow Europe this year in which the UK had been praised for its “importance as a European hub for cryptocurrencies”.

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Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have come in for more bad press from banks as the head of the Bank for International Settlements says they “fail” as money

Bitcoin Press Rlease: NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern-backed FanChain available on QRYPTOS June 30th

June 28, 2018, Grand Caymen- SportsCastr today announced FanChain, a cryptocurrency designed for the multi-billion dollar global sports market, will launch its early contributor private token sale on June 30, 2018. FanChain will power a decentralized sports entertainment ecosystem that rewards fans for producing content, including live color commentary on sporting events. The FanChain private sale will be hosted on QRYPTOS, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by global fintech company QUOINE. Interested contributors will need to create an account on QRYPTOS and pass KYC to participate in the FanChain private sale. More information can be found in the FanChain private sale portal.

Kevin April, CEO of SportsCastr stated:

“We are excited to offer the cryptocurrency community an early opportunity to participate in FanChain’s token sale through one of the leading licensed global exchanges. Our partnership with QRYPTOS provides us advantages that many token sales do not have the ability to reach thousands of potential contributors, streamline participation, and provide access to an exchange soon after the conclusion of the public token sale.”

Fanchain Platform

FanChain will be integrated first on the SportsCastr platform, allowing users to tip color commentators in a model that Twitch users are already familiar with. Developed for the fragmented sports market, third-party entities including leagues and media outlets can join the FanChain network to target and reward their audiences. Sports fans will be able to exchange their FanChain tokens for access to exclusive content, digital goods, and memorabilia from the teams and leagues they follow.

Mike Kayamori, CEO, and Co-founder of QUOINE commented:

“FanChain aims to bring transparency and value to fans in the sports space using blockchain technology, and we’re excited to provide our customers with this exclusive opportunity to gain early access to their private token sale on QRYPTOS.”

By conducting the private sale on QRYPTOS, FanChain will have access to hundreds of thousands of QRYPTOS’s existing users. Existing users who qualify for the private pre-sale will be eligible to purchase FanChain tokens at a special rate.

To unlock details to the private pre-sale, interested contributors must have a verified account on QRYPTOS with an account balance equivalent to at least $1,000.00 USD in BTC, ETH, BCH or QASH. For more information, visit https://qryptos.com/ico/fanz. The private sale on QRYPTOS will not be offered or sold to persons located in the United States or any jurisdiction where the sale of FanChain Tokens is not permitted by law.

About FanChain by SportsCastr

FanChain is a token and crypto-economy built specifically for SportsCastr and the global sports market. The FanChain token leverages a unique combination of fungible and non-fungible characteristics that enables team loyalty to be embedded within individual tokens, which can be produced and transmitted across multiple platforms. Third-party entities can be whitelisted to distribute and reward fans and users with FanChain tokens. For more information, please visit www.fanchain.com.

About Qryptos by QUOINE

QUOINE is a leading global fintech company that provides trading, exchange, and next generation financial services powered by blockchain technology. With offices in Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, QUOINE combines a strong network of local partners with extensive team experience in banking and financial products to deliver best in class financial services for its customers. In June 2017, QUOINE launched a fully digital cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform called QRYPTOS, exclusively for cryptocurrency trading on the desktop version at www.qryptos.com.

For more Information, visit the website at – https://fanchain.com/
Connect on Telegram – https://t.me/joinchat/HMX3kA5Y_7f1BO7i_jRqSA
Connect on Twitter – https://twitter.com/sportscastrlive
Meet the Team – https://www.linkedin.com/company/sportscastr/

Media Contact
Contact Name: Molly Waldron
Email: [email protected]

SportsCastr is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high-risk tolerance. Only participate in a token event with what you can afford to lose. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

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ICOs will face obligatory regulation in Thailand from July 16 in a full legitimization of the technology

Ethos has enjoyed a nice bump in trading price since its global wide launch 3 days ago, but how much is a matter of speculation.

Universal Wallet Launch Gains Mass Support

Ethos, at the time the 60th largest cryptocurrency, whose new universal wallet promises to take the control of crypto investors private keys away from centralized third parties and give them wholly to the user themselves.

The company presents a public statement about their goals which reads:

“Our mission is to build a financial ecosystem that is open, safe and fair for everybody. Ethos harnesses the power of design, technology and social intelligence to create a breakthrough solution that will enable everyone to participate in the New Economy.”

The wallet launch seems to have gained a receptive audience perhaps due to overall concerns about centralization becoming more prevalent in a community that is first and foremost invested in the idea of decentralization.

The Ethos crypto wallet aims to change that by combining a variety of crypto assets into one “universal” wallet. With a single Smartkey users will be able to hold ownership over all of their assets without relying on any exterior platform.

The universal wallet strives to be a one-stop fix for all cryptocurrency users needs by implementing cold storage options, portfolio tracking, plus cryptocurrency research and analysis in the future.

Three Day Launch Sees at Least 25% Price Push

Ethos has launched the Universal wallet globally over the last three days; first in the Netherlands on Monday, followed by Germany and then on July 4 in the US in an apparent bid to gain support on the nations day of independence. The company posted a message about it’s US rollout that read, “In true Independence Day fashion, Ethos has released a new wave of financial freedom in the U.S. by way of the Universal Wallet! What better way to celebrate independence?”

It seems the gambit has paid off, but how much is a matter of speculation. The US announcement was met with an immediate influx in trading volume. The majority of this volume was recorded by the popular Korean exchange Bithumb which saw prices quickly reach $3.5. Strangely though other exchanges did not experience such price run-ups.

As some reports came out that Ethos had shot up 100% with the momentum of its launch, others reported 50% and now CoinMarketCap has omitted the Bithumb prices which corrects the companies gain to 25% on the day.

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Bitcoin’s short-term bull market has paused at the key technical resistance of $6,750.

Bitcoin Press Release: Leading sportsbook now more accessible than ever with first fiat currency betting option.

28th June, 2018. Tallinn, Estonia:  Sportsbet.io, the leading Bitcoin-led sportsbook, has announced that it will accept euros as a deposit and wagering method – making betting on the site easier and more accessible than ever.

The move underlines Sportsbet.io’s commitment to delivering fun, fast and fair gaming to all, with customers now able to deposit, play, win and withdraw in euros via their own bank.

Euro deposits will open Sportsbet.io’s world-class user experience to an even wider audience, who can all now access its wide range of markets, price boosts and specials – not to mention a World Cup Centre packed full of unbeatable offers.

Euros is the third payment method added to Sportsbet.io, following the recent addition of SOC coin, the cryptocurrency of the All Football app. Players can also deposit with their credit or debit card using BTCXE, Sportsbet.io’s new partner’s fiat-to-Bitcoin exchange service.

Just two years on from launch, this growing range of payment options is helping to position the operator as the sports betting venue of choice for players around the world.

Joe McCallum, Director of sportsbook at Sportsbet.io, said:

“We are constantly looking for ways to reward loyal players and bring in new ones – and this expansion ticks both boxes. By accepting euro we are able to cut down the process time between depositing, exchanging and placing a bet, meaning our offering is easier to access than ever before. We can now offer players a sports betting experience that goes toe-to-toe with the industry’s biggest names – with even more innovative new features to come.”

Sportsbet.io continues to drive momentum during the World Cup, consistently delivering innovation that puts the player at the centre of its universe.

Earlier this month, it launched ‘Your Road To Glory’, a ground-breaking Twitch-based football show bringing news and views from this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

Already viewed over 25,000 times, the two-hour show which is beamed live from Sportsbet.io headquarters features betting insight, commentary and exclusive offers.

Sportsbet.io’s commitment to pushing boundaries and disrupting sports betting will continue beyond the World Cup with a series of exciting new features set to launch.

About Sportsbet.io

Founded in 2016 as part of the Coingaming Group, Sportsbet.io is a leading Bitcoin-led sportsbook operator.

Sportsbet.io has an expansive, quality betting product across all major sports and eSports, offering more than 350,000 pre-match events per year, as well as comprehensive in-play content. It also provides innovative markets such as player prop bets for soccer, American football and basketball, and is the only bitcoin-led sportsbook to provide live streaming across all major sports.

Sportsbet.io prides itself on its secure and trustworthy betting service, with withdrawal times of around 1.5 minutes amongst the fastest in the industry.

Find out more about Sportsbet.io’s World Cup Centre and offers here
Visit the Website: https://sportsbet.io/
Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sportsbetio/
Follow on Twitter: @Sportsbet_IO
Medium: medium.com/coingaming
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/coingaming/

Media Contacts
Name: David Bartram
Email: [email protected]
Location: Square in the Air Communications

Sportsbet is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

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A lot of people are surprised to see most of the cryptocurrencies are still in the green as of right now. Considering how yesterday evening looked rather uneasy, the positive momentum remains in place, for the time being. None of the top coins have noticed any major gains, yet the Zilliqa price is definitely rising rather rapidly these days.

Zilliqa Price is on Fire

Although most cryptocurrency speculators hardly ever look beyond the top 15, there is some interesting momentum building further down the line. Considering how the Zilliqa price currently sits at $0.088, it is one of the only currencies on the market today which is slowly inching toward its previous all-time high again. Said all-time high was recorded in late May and pushed the Zilliqa price to $0.1946.

Thanks to another 10.72% gain in the past 24 hours, the puzzle pieces are falling into place for Zilliqa right now. While it remains unclear what is driving this Zilliqa price trend exactly, the currency has seen a 33% increase in value over the past week. Maintaining this strong uptrend will be pretty difficult, given the current market conditions. However, the current progress cannot be denied, and the coin is making some strides whereas other currencies are not moving all that much.

As one would expect from such a Zilliqa price increase, there are gains over both Bitcoin and Ethereum. ZIL gained 9.04% over Bitcoin in the past 24 hours, whereas the ZIL/ETH ratio improved by 8.86% in the same timespan. If this trend continues, it is not unlikely the Zilliqa price will it $0.1 in the coming hours and days. That will heavily depend on how long both Bitcoin and Ethereum can remain in the green, though.

Albeit the overall cryptocurrency trading volume has increased over the past few days, Zilliqa’s volume remains relatively low. With just $73.76m in 24-hour trading, there isn’t anything special to be excited about in this regard. Even so, it appears this trading volume is more than sufficient to keep the Zilliqa price trend going for some time to come.

It appears the vast majority of the trading volume originates from the Upbit platform right now. Binance’s BTC pair is not too far behind, and Huobi’s USDT market completes the top three. Further down the lines, there’s Binance’s ETH pair and BitForex’s USDT offering. One fiat currency in the top five isn’t exactly impressive, although it seems more than sufficient for ZIL at this time.

As is always the case in the cryptocurrency world, maintaining momentum will remain a key challenge first and foremost. For the Zilliqa price, the current momentum is rather appealing, albeit there is no guarantee the current trend will remain in place for much longer. It is still possible a value of $0.1 will be reached fairly soon, assuming the profit taking will be kept to a minimum first and foremost.

After a months-long process that saw public hearings and legislative debates, Thailand regulators said a rule on ICOs will take effect this month.

A British Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) has released his report, ‘Unlocking Blockchain’, which advocates a public-facing chief blockchain officer to oversee the UK’s blockchain strategy, according to City AM.

MP Eddie Hughes made recommendations in his report urging Theresa May’s government to focus more readily on blockchain technologies, citing social freedom, increasing efficiency and the rebuilding of societal trust as the main areas of its use in governance.

The report was published by the Conservative party think-tank Freer, an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs. It suggests that a long-term target of a 1% efficiency saving using blockchain tech should become its aim over the next year, saving up to GBP 8 billion on the 2017/18 budget.

Earlier this year, Conservative MP Matt Hancock delivered a speech to the Law Society commenting that blockchain technology would have a “monumental impact” on people’s lives in the future. The MP pointed out that in June 2017, the UK’s top ten publicly-traded fintech businesses crossed the 100-billion-dollar market at a value of GBP 71 billion.

He went on to illustrate that it was blockchain which was the most important emerging technology and that UK financial regulators were leading the world in encouraging innovation:

“Blockchain poses real and searching questions… What role do nation states have when setting frameworks for these decentralized, cross-border systems? And how do we address the challenges of smart contracts, when computer coding needs specificity and the law often needs interpretation?”

Hughes, clearly wanting to build on these successes, has suggested that the UK initiate an international blockchain competition to lure global companies to the UK market. He recommended that such a move would also promote local entrepreneurship and could be funded by businesses who would gain from raising national technological standards.

These voices from the conservative side of British politics continue to press the government towards a more proactive approach to examining how blockchain and its related technologies can improve and update UK’s data systems at the government level.

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The cryptocurrency market has come surging back over the past week, moving up 15% from its lows, but analysts and CEOs expect for Bitcoin to move downwards before returning to all-time highs.

Bitcoin Will “Probably Hit $2,000 Before It Hits $20,000”

The cryptocurrency community breathed a sigh of relief this week, as Bitcoin quickly rebounded off yearly lows, finding stability 15% above the $5,750 low.

Despite this bullish price movement, with Bitcoin seemingly breaking out of its bearish trend, the CEO of ADVFN expects Bitcoin to continue lower. Clem Chambers, CEO of the financial data provider, spoke to Express U.K. elaborating on his opinion on the direction of the cryptocurrency market.

When questioned about the $20,000 price level by an Express U.K. reporter at the CryptoCompare MJAC Blockchain Summit, Chambers noted:

“It will probably hit $2,000 before it hits $20,000.”

Chambers further added that Bitcoin “is quite likely’ to eventually hit the $100,000 price level.

Chambers holds this bullish sentiment for Bitcoin due to his belief that blockchain and DLT technologies will become world-changing technologies, similarly to how the internet revolutionized the past two decades. The CEO of ADVFN stated:

“The blockchain will be the way of the future which will be like the internet was to the generation before. Bitcoin will probably be part of that future in the long term.”

Chambers gave further reasoning to his price prediction, as he talked about a shortage of fiat currencies, adding: There’s a shortage of actual money in the world. That’s what people, I don’t think, have worked out. Clarifying that statement by saying:

“They are not creating enough money to make the world go around. The cryptocurrencies are filling that vacuum. Because that’s an economic suction going on there and the cryptocurrencies are filling that vacuum. It will generate an economic lift (for Bitcoin).”

This has become an important piece of sentiment in the cryptocurrency industry, with many believing that cryptoassets will begin to replace government-issued currencies.

An Echoing Sentiment: Further Down Before Moving Up?

This sentiment of a further move downwards before a return to $20,000 has been echoed by other crypto personalities and experts, as the market moves into the second half of 2018. Arthur Hayes, CEO of the BitMEX exchange, has stated that he could see Bitcoin falling as low as $3,000 before hitting 50k by the end of the year.

On an appearance on CNBC’s Fast Money segment, Hayes stated:

Well, I think that something that goes up to $20,000 in one year can have a correction down to around about $6,000. I think we could definitely find a bottom at the $3,000 to $5,000 range, but we are one positive regulatory decision away, maybe an ETF approved by the SEC, to climbing through $20,000, even to $50,000.

This sentiment is in-line with what Ran Neu Ner, host of CNBC Africa’s ‘Crypto Trader’ show, thinks, as he also expects a continuation downwards before the eventual run. Ran has noted that he sees $5,350 as the next stop for Bitcoin,  expecting this level to be reached within the next two weeks. 

Despite experiencing the recent price surge, Ran has continually stated that Bitcoin will need to retest resistance levels with high volume to secure a price reversal.

Price increases alone do not reverse a cycle, they need to be accompanied by volume. For the last 3 months we have seen no volume in the market. Today the 24 hour volume traded is 25% higher than the last 30 days average. Im not getting excited yet but it is looking better. pic.twitter.com/prn1MocpZS

— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) July 2, 2018

Some cryptocurrency traders, analysts, and executives see Bitcoin heading down in the short term. But one thing remains clear, experts like Hayes and Ran Neu Ner still expect for Bitcoin to continue upwards in the long-term, easily surpassing previous all-time highs.

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