Day: July 8, 2018

Prospects for the cryptocurrency industry are beginning to look up, with prices marginally increasing throughout the week. But are the bulls really back?

Institutional Investment Sees Interest Continue

Discussion regarding institutional interest has continued, with this prior week seeing a variety of news pieces regarding the growing number of institutional entry points. 

Coinbase Custody Sees Successful Launch

Coinbase has just launched its long-awaited custody service to institutional clients, bringing unique security features to more wary investors.

A Medium post from Sam Mcingvale, product lead at Coinbase Custody, wrote:

“Over the past six years, Coinbase has pioneered leading crypto storage techniques and is currently responsible for the custody of more than $20 billion in crypto assets. Coinbase Custody builds on this expertise to offer a brand new, independent solution for our institutional customers.”

Bloomberg has reported that the service has already been met with success, accepting ten deposits from a mix of family offices and hedge funds in its first week. Due to the fact that the service only accepts a minimum of $10 million in crypto assets, these ten clients bring at least $100 million in institutionally-tied cryptocurrencies under Coinbase’s control.

Coinbase’s aspirations do not end there, with the firm hoping to manage cryptocurrencies with a collective value of $5 billion by the end of 2018. Many have high hopes for the success of the service, as many Coinbase Custody fills the growing gap in viable security options for wary institutional investors. 

Growing Potential For A Crypto-Based ETF

Cryptocurrency Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) continue to be a topic of discussion in many cryptocurrency circles, with recent news indicating that crypto ETFs could be just around the corner.

In an unexpected move, Europe’s largest trader of ETFs has made indications towards moving into the crypto industry. Despite disapproval from Dutch regulators, Flow Traders NV has begun making markets with Bitcoin and Ether backed exchange-traded notes.

The arrival of the Flow Traders into this industry may signal to the public and other financial institutions that cryptocurrencies are legitimate, bringing higher levels of credence and interest.

Once crypto secures capital form institutions, it is highly speculated that regulatory bodies will finally begin to ponder the addition of cryptocurrency ETFs onto trading platforms. Many see cryptocurrency ETFs as the perfect method of tying in retail and institutional money into the market, bringing adoption and interest levels to new highs.

BitMEX’s CEO commented on crypto-based ETFs in a recent CNBC appearance, saying:

“We are one positive regulatory decision away, maybe an ETF approved by the SEC, to climbing through $20,000 or even $50,000 by the end of the year.”

Gemini Hires Wall Street Executive In Move Towards Institutional Investors

Gemini, a well-known American-based exchange, has just hired Robert Cornish, who is now Gemini’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Cornish’s experience is not something to scoff at, as he has worked as the Chief Information Officer at the NYSE.

Seeing such a talented individual move from the traditional assets space to cryptos has many excited, and may indicate that Cornish sees a real future in the industry.

Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini’s CEO and co-founder, elaborated on the hire, giving the media the best of what Cornish has to offer:

“He will ensure that Gemini continues to deliver the best platform experience to our customers possible and set the standards of excellence for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. Rob is globally recognised for his abilities in leading high-performing engineering teams, his expertise in exchange and matching-engine architecture, and running high-throughput platforms that are both secure and resilient.”

It is clear that the new CTO will become an integral part of the Gemini team as the platform moves to join Coinbase, Circle, and Blockchain in offering institutional-focused services.

Market Sees Cautious Move Upwards Despite Declining Exchange Volume 

 The cryptocurrency market saw a brief resurgence last Friday, as exchanges saw an influx of buying volume, pushing up prices by over ten percent. But since then, the cryptocurrency market has quietened down, with exchange volumes moving from a high of $15 billion to $11 billion today. 

Low volume levels have historically been held as a negative sign for financial markets, as it can often indicate declining interest. Holding this economic ideal in mind, many were surprised to see a positive week for the cryptocurrency market, with the collective value of all crypto assets rising by five percent.

Some have begun to speculate that there are viable reasons for the declining volume figures. A few pessimists chalked it up to CoinMarketCap recently cracking down on questionable exchanges, which may have been reporting volume levels which are in no way representative of the current market state. While the optimists speculated that volume has moved to OTC exchange pools, due to the constant talk of institutional interest.

Despite posting declining volumes, the cryptocurrency market has taken a cautious move upwards, with Bitcoin and Ethereum seeing 4% gains over the past seven days. A majority of other crypto assets have followed, with many altcoins seeing similar moves to the upside. It is probably too early to say whether the bulls have returned, but if prices continue to rise moving into next week, a bull market might just be in sight.

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There is a lot of uncertainty revolving around Bitcoin these days, having entered the second hundred days of the bear market. People are now beginning to question whether the technology is worth their continued investment.

Bitcoin, despite the last few months, is valued higher than it was at the same time last year. Most people now in Bitcoin are relatively new investors. The market saw an influx of new investors last year who are now feeling blue because they haven’t seen the price spikes they had hoped for.

For those who got in when the levels were much higher than they are now, it is no wonder they have concerns. But for those who entered a long time ago, at a much lower entry point, the ride hasn’t been that uncomfortable. Today, the only thing on people’s minds is what will drive the next bull run.

Is Bitcoin the gold standard that people thought it would be? Will there be significant investment by Wall Street in the cryptocurrency market? Is anything going to vault the market back up to those previous levels again?  These are the questions running through the minds of those who now have doubts. So, what are the answers?

If you are someone who trades regularly and is into Bitcoin and altcoins for the long haul, it doesn’t matter if Bitcoin vaults again soon as long as the other coins decouple themselves and have lives of their own. Even if Bitcoin loses value, if the market is still doing well, then it shouldn’t matter if you’re a long-term investor.

Binance recently opened its first crypto-to-fiat exchange for residents of Uganda. While this might not sound like much, it has major implications for the market in general, and for Bitcoin in particular. The largest altcoin exchange by volume (Binance) has started something new, and the possibilities are endless.

Altcoin trading is mostly handled through Bitcoin, with a small amount going through Ethereum and an even smaller amount going through USDT.  When one sees technical analysts commenting on price targets, they are generally talked about in terms of Satoshi values. It would be hard to chart these values in any other form than Bitcoin, as that is what all the retail traders and algorithms are working with.

Trial and error will dictate the outcome of Binance’s Ugandan experiment, to be sure, and as they get more green lights from smaller countries willing to work with them, it will most likely yield prosperity to those countries who were forward-looking enough to take those first steps.

Pending regulatory reviews around the world, this first step could turn into a full walk, and then turn into a nice jog and maybe even a full-out run at some later date. It is likely that the leading nations (the USA, Canada, EU members, etc.) will soon be on board, and that will pull in money from the other markets when they begin trading with fiat currency on altcoin exchanges such as Binance and Bittrex, or on other big, top-tier exchanges that can handle the necessary volumes when these things come to pass.

However, once people can trade fiat money for the smaller cryptocurrencies, this will present a large issue for Bitcoin, as its main use case will no longer be present.

So, these new developments are good for the cryptocurrency market and are a plus for the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency. They also bode well for the next cryptocurrency upturn; however, they could spell bad news for Bitcoin, as most people would probably rather use their fiat currency to trade rather than Bitcoin if given a choice in the matter.

Gaus Trade is preparing to sell the first Mercedes-Benz vehicles with a discount of 30%. The vehicles will be sold using the Gaus Trade platform, a blockchain-based vehicle marketplace.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

By using Gaus Trade, any buyer can order a new vehicle directly from the manufacturer, thus bypassing dealers and other intermediaries. As a result, the vehicles will be 30% cheaper in comparison with their retail prices. It will be possible to use both fiat and popular cryptocurrencies as means of payment.

The Gaus Trade team has already developed an Alpha version of the product with a payment gateway, which will allow the purchase of the first new Mercedes-Benz vehicles for fiat or cryptocurrencies via the GAUS Token. The vehicles can be claimed in Hamburg within 3 working days from the date of payment. Interested individuals can buy the vehicles regardless of their place of residence by using the Gaus Trade platform.

Transportation and delivery will be the responsibility of the buyer with Gaus Trade acting as a consultant on the issue. Gaus Trade intends to provide a transportation and customs clearance service for the vehicles in the near future with the help of its partners with payment in GAUS Tokens. The alpha version will be launched in July of this year.

The second stage is the launch of a beta version of the Gaus Trade platform with embedded online configurators from the automakers, so potential buyers will have the ability of selecting their desired options. The launch of the beta version is scheduled for the end of 2018 and involves the addition of vehicle insurance and consumer lending services.

Daimler will be the first automaker whose vehicles will be sold through Gaus Trade. The team of the blockchain startup is simultaneously negotiating with several automakers about the possibility of sales of their products through the Gaus Trade platform without the involvement of intermediaries. The parties interested include the Swedish Uniti startup, which is developing an electric vehicle for use in metropolis areas.

The platform is a ready-made solution for large automakers for selling their vehicles for cryptocurrencies without the involvement of intermediaries. The Gaus Trade solution will allow small vehicle manufacturers to start selling vehicles online on the basis of the Tesla operations model without establishing expensive dealer networks. In addition, the transaction scheme insures the buyer from monetary losses in the event of the manufacturer’s bankruptcy, which is also beneficial to small manufacturers of sports and electric vehicles in increasing brand trust.

Stay up to date with the latest news on the launch of the Gaus Trade platform:
– Official website: http://gaus.trade?utm_source=merkle

– Blog: https://medium.com/gausblog

Cut through the tantalizing visions of cars with wallets trading with each other, and you’ll find debates taking shape over nitty-gritty details.

Speaking at “New Financial Trends and 2018 Financial Technology Summit” in Beijing, researcher Li Honghan estimated that are now over 3 million investors in China holding on to cryptocurrency assets, reports Bitcoin.com.

Li Honghan, a researcher with the International Monetary Institute of Renmin University of China was discussing the current state of cryptocurrency in the country.

It appears if Li’s figures are correct then China’s prohibitive stance on the trading of cryptocurrencies have had little effect. China is still a major Bitcoin player with 50 to 70 per cent of global mining taking place in the country, although this number is not comparable with its far more significant figures before the ban was actually put in place.

Given that China is not one of the 91 countries worldwide that is unrestricted in trading in cryptocurrency, it does demonstrate a large following despite the legal ramifications that go with ownership. Li’s estimates would suggest that 0.2174% of Chinese citizens own bitcoin.

Li has predicted that DLT will revolutionize many aspects of the financial sector in the future, a view held by many financial experts in the country. Recent comments by China’s president Xi Jinping that the “blockchain was 10 times more valuable than the internet” clearly highlights the direction that the Chinese government is taking regarding the future of blockchain technology in the country.

In other news from China, a leak of an audio recording reported to be of Li Xiaolai, a renown Chinese Bitcoin tycoon has been released, attacking China’s crypto sector, calling some of the industry’s leaders ‘cheats’ and ‘liars’.  Xiaolai, the founder of Bitfund, also attacks a number of cryptocurrencies and refers to some investors as inexperienced traders, claiming that prominent crypto figures should amass a large social following during a bear market then capitalize during bull upturns.

Jon Ostler, CEO of finder.com has said that “China lifting its ban on cryptocurrency would likely have a significant impact on prices…It is such a big potential market that even murmurings of the ban lifting would probably push value up in the short-term.”

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MakerDAO, creator of the Dai stablecoin, announced its partnership with Tradeshift on July 6. Tradeshift, which provides supply chain payments and markets for more than 1.5 million companies in over 190 countries, will add payments through a decentralized marketplace using the Dai stablecoin to fund real-time small business loans.

This partnership could help businesses gain greater access to capital while bringing cryptocurrency investors an opportunity to buy into trade financing through tokenized invoices. All of this action within the decentralized marketplace happens behind the scenes for small business owners seeking cash flow, allowing them to leverage blockchain security and services without having to understand them.

Describing the plans, MakerDAO founder and CEO Rune Christensen explained, “Our partnership with Tradeshift proves the potential of the blockchain to level the economic playing field for businesses of all sizes around the globe. At the same time, we’re delivering new options for investors by creating an entirely new class of investment vehicles with vetted risk, based on real-world assets.”

Tradeshift is currently beta testing a supply chain liquidity market using MakerDAO’s DAI Credit System called the Tradeshift Cash app. This model provides instant invoice financing to micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, giving them greater control over their cash flow. Smaller businesses are often cash-strapped as they wait for payments over long periods, limiting their ability to run operations smoothly.

“The trade receivables market has very tight margins, which leaves no room for a volatile digital currency as an instrument for settlement,” said Tradeshift co-founder Gert Sylvest. “The Dai Credit System is a unique vision for a transparent and stable token that allows anyone to represent real-world currency settlements on the blockchain. It is a vision that we are very excited about.”

This partnership presents an opportunity for seamless blockchain integration for businesses, while potentially expanding opportunities for developers and investors. Cryptocurrency investors can now fund supply chain loans for small to medium-sized businesses. The beta Tradeshift Cash app gives them a market rate for funding loans to small businesses based on data about risks of investment including a business’s historical data. Developers may also be able to contribute new business apps using the Dai stablecoin for payments.

The Dai, launched in 2017, operates through the use of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. The Dai system has been criticized for its complex model relying on both Dai and a second cryptocurrency, Maker (MKR), to create stability via collateralized debt positions and a decentralized governance model, rewarding or punishing those holding MKR tokens for the performance of the Dai in relation to the USD.

Bringing Tradeshift’s large market of small businesses the opportunity to use a stablecoin to fund invoices could help increase the use of cryptocurrencies in supply chains worldwide, strengthening the role of cryptocurrency within global trade.

The coming hours may prove to be crucial for the cryptocurrency industry. With all markets still in the green as of right now, the current situation looks rather promising. Even the Ethereum price is heading in the right direction, as it will seemingly hit $500 again later today. That would be an interesting development for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Ethereum Price is Still on the Rise

As is usually the case when the momentum is positive in the cryptocurrency industry, there is a lingering fear of how things will turn bearish fairly quickly. So far, this has not happened in the cryptocurrency industry over the past few days. In fact, it would appear the bullish momentum is intensifying, although next week can still look very different.

For the Ethereum price, the current momentum is surprisingly positive. The altcoin has seen a 4.93% value increase in the past 24 hours, which is pretty impressive, all things considered.  As such, it is expected the Ethereum price will hit $500 later today, although reaching that value may prove to be a bit more problematic than originally anticipated. Maintaining that price level will be pretty challenging as well.

There is also an interesting development in the ETH/BC ratio over the past 24 hours. This ratio has increased by 2.26% in the past 24 hours despite the Bitcoin price going up in value as well. It has become apparent the cryptocurrency thrives when Bitcoin does well, even though most currencies tend to note extra gains on top of the increase in USD value caused by Bitcoin itself.

On the trading volume front, things are looking pretty good for Ethereum as well. Its trading volume hasn’t decreased all that much over the past few days and seems to hold its own near the $1.4bn mark. If this trend keeps up, the current Ethereum price may look relatively low compared to what may be yet to come in the coming days.

Bitfinex is still in the lead when it comes to Ethereum trading volume. Its lead over OKEx is not all that big, and Binance is also in the top three. BitForex and Huobi complete the top five. Four USDT pairs and one USD pair in the top five cna introduce a lot of fresh capital to Ethereum at this stage. Surprisingly, all USDT pairs put the Ethereum price at over $510, whereas the rest of the world is closer to $486.

All things considered, things couldn’t look much better for the cryptocurrency markets. Positive momentum all around has a positive impact on all values, including the current Ethereum price. As such, it will be interesting to see how things evolve in the coming days and weeks. Mondays usually turn bearish pretty quickly as traders cash out their profits accordingly.

The long-awaited reveal of the private keys – once able to trigger a bitcoin alert system – occurred Monday via email by two Bitcoin Core developers.

Social trading network eToro will release their crypto wallet by next month ahead of their exchange launch set for Q4 2018. In an interview with NewsBTC, the Managing Director said they have had a lot of interest from family offices regarding their new crypto trading desk.

eToro: U.S. is a “Phenomenal Market”

The Managing Director of eToro, Iqbal Gandham, told NewsBTC that they are launching their crypto wallet by August before they launch their crypto exchange planned for Q4 2018. The exchange will follow regulatory compliance in Gibraltar which need to be finalized. Gandham said:

“We are launching our crypto exchange and wallet soon. We’re looking at the exchange coming out within the next quarter, we’re looking at Q4. I feel the wallet release date will probably be towards the end of July, if not early August. The exchange will follow certain regulatory priorities which will happen in Gibraltar. It may get accelerated if Bitcoin’s price goes up to $20,000.”

The Managing Director said that eToro is expanding into the U.S. and have started going through regulatory processes to establish licences. He said that the U.S. is a ‘phenomenal market for crypto assets.’

eToro recently announced that they are setting up an over the counter (OTC) trading desk in London for institutional investors, including hedge funds and banks. He said that it may be ready by the end of the year. This is set against Coinbase who launched their custody service on July 2 which has already attracted $100 million in assets. Gandham added:

“We’re putting together the internal processes. I feel if we dot the i’s and cross the t’s, we’re looking at Q4 to launch the OTC desk here in the UK. Some of our customers have said we want to do OTC trading. It will be an interesting part of the jigsaw puzzle that eToro is putting together.”

He said that eToro has had a ‘lot of interest’ from family offices because they are looking to diversify their portfolio. He added that one or two individuals are needed to make a decision which makes it easier for them to get into the market than big firms.

“UK Has No Regulation”

Gandham is the Chair of CryptoUK, a self-regulatory body set up by leading crypto exchanges to help develop appropriate regulation. He will be presenting at the crypto assets task force in two weeks. He said that the reports by this task force and the UK Treasury Select Committee will shape the UK regulations and that we will hopefully have regulatory clarity by the end of the year. He said:

“The UK has no regulation. It’s quite opaque because you don’t know when regulations are going to move in. From a consumers perspective, because you don’t have clarity, you don’t know which companies to trust. Regulation will really help increase user adoption and decrease the risk. In China, people just moved onto other platforms like LocalBitcoin which are good but really, really risky. By de-risking the country, when they said we need to stop people selling cryptocurrencies, they’ve increased user risk.”

Gandham criticized the lack of regulation, calling it ‘very confusing’ for businesses. He said that clarity on regulation will help ‘foster innovation and protect the consumer.’ He called on the government to provide clear guidelines but recognized that the research is underway.

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Sundays are usually odd periods for cryptocurrencies. In most cases, this is due to some annoying bearish pressure looming overhead. In this particular case, the overall trend is surprisingly bullish. All top currencies are in the green, with the Bitcoin Cash price noting some very strong upward momentum.

Bitcoin Cash Price Busts Some Moves

It is evident any upward cryptocurrency momentum is usually met with a fair bit of resistance throughout 2018. This year has not been overly positive for the most part, although the situation is improving gradually. For the Bitcoin Cash price, today can be a very good day, depending on how the situation evolves in the coming hours.

Over the past 24 hours, the Bitcoin Cash price has increased by 6.36%. This is very positive momentum, especially when considering how the market looked rather worrisome around 24 hours ago. Even so, the current Bitcoin Cash price of $770.74 is not terrible by any means. If this momentum remains in place, a push to $775 isn’t out of the question.

As one would expect from such positive momentum, BCH is also gaining on the world’s leading cryptocurrency at the same time. With a 4.06% increase in favor of Bitcoin Cash, its perceived Bitcoin value has risen above 0.1145 again. This has been a relatively stable level for Bitcoin Cash throughout most of 2018, even though there is still a long way to go until the previous all-time high is within sight again.

A slight increase in overall trading also pushes the Bitcoin Cash trading volume nearly the $700m mark again. More specifically, BCH has generated $690m in 24-hour trades, which is relatively impressive. Even so, there is still a lot of work to be done to maintain this current price level and improve upon it. A slight nudge in trading volume can achieve that goal with relative ease.

The vast majority of Bitcoin Cash’s trading volume originates from one specific exchange. For some unknown reason, ZB.com generates nearly 50% of all Bitcoin Cash trades in the past 24 hours through its BCC/BC pair. OKEx comes in second place with a much higher BCH value, as it is pushing the $800 level on that USDT pair. EXX completes the top three with another BTC pair.

The way things look right now, more positive Bitcoin Cash price momentum can be expected in the coming hours. As long as Bitcoin remains in the green, it is expected the altcoins will thrive as well. Whether or not this momentum will spill over to next week, is a very different matter. The total cryptocurrency market cap needs to push through the $300bn level sooner or later, but it may not happen in the coming days.

FOMO Moments

Crypto land is doing well today, altcoins on the up include Bitcoin Cash, Neo, Tezos and Bitcoin Diamond.

The weekend has been a little brighter in crypto land has upward momentum has resumed and there have been no further declines. A few hours ago markets shot up over $10 billion in less than an hour in one epic pump. Total market capitalization shot from around $266 billion to just under $280 billion before pulling back a little.

Bitcoin jumped $250 in less than an hour giving it a 2.8% gain on the day. BTC is currently trading at $6,830 and technical indicators suggest that it could reach $7,000. Ethereum followed suit with a 4.6% gain to trade at $490 again with positive signals to break $500.

Altcoins are mostly in the green this Sunday with a few streaking ahead of the pack. In the top ten Bitcoin Cash has made the biggest gains with 6.4% to trade at $770. The rest are up between 4 and 5% except Stellar which has only managed to claw 2.3% back at the time of writing.

Neo has made a solid recovery today with 7.5% on the trade price pushing it back over $40. Tezos once again is pumping with an impressive 22% climb on yesterday’s trade price. XTZ is currently trading at $2.18 up from $1.78 this time yesterday and $1.18 the day before. With a market cap of $1.3 billion Tezos has surged into the top 20 surpassing OmiseGO, Qtum and Zcash.

Further down the list Bitcoin Diamond is flying with a 31% pump on the day to trade at $2.70. Other altcoins riding on the back of the upsurge include VeChain up 5.6%, Verge gaining a similar amount, and Digibyte climbing 13% on the day.

Crypto markets have gained 3.4% on the day and are currently at a level of $277 billion. Trade volume has remained stable at $12 billion though Bitcoin dominance has fallen back slightly to $42.1%. Over the past week markets have gained 7.8% climbing from $257 billion this time last Sunday showing short-term bullish momentum. Over the past 30 days however they are still down 18.5% indicating that the mid-term outlook is still bearish.

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the current trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

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