Day: July 10, 2018

BitConnect was a high-yield cryptocurrency investment ponzi scheme that collapsed in January 2018, and now YouTube is being sued for alleged negligence in propagating BitConnect content. Apparently, YouTube published over 70,000 hours of unedited BitConnect connect, generating 58 million views, possibly resulting in hundreds of thousands of victims.

The founder of the Silver Miller law firm which has launched the class action Bitconnect lawsuit, David Silver, says, “The platform allowed BitConnect to reach hundreds of thousands of potential investors, all while YouTube was aware that BitConnect was a scam. As the old saying goes: Sometimes when you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.”

BitConnect promised daily interest earnings for cryptocurrency invested on their site, up to 40% per month, with an additional interest rate of 0.25% daily for people that invested over USD 10,000. BitConnect had a native cryptocurrency, BCC, that had a market cap of USD 2.5 billion at the peak of the scheme.

BitConnect announced that it was closing up due to negative reports by the media and said it would repay all loans with BCC. They did this maliciously, since they waited to repay loans until after the announcement. In January 2018 BCC lost over 99% of its value, as victims scrambled to sell their coins, and BitConnect was able to repay all loans for a miniscule fraction of the real loan value. BCC is effectively dead at this point with daily trading volume of USD 100. This might be the most catastrophic and complete collapse of a cryptocurrency in history, having gone from a market cap of USD 2.5 billion to virtual death in less than six months.

The BitConnect scandal may be part of the reason that YouTube’s parent company, Google, banned all cryptocurrency advertisements. However, this ban does not affect content being posted on YouTube.

It remains up to the court to decide if YouTube is actually responsible for people being victimized by content in videos posted on their platform. A tremendous amount of videos are posted on YouTube every day, and it would be quite difficult for YouTube to look through all the videos and delete ones related to cryptocurrency scams. Additionally, it can be argued that people need to be responsible for their own investment decisions.

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Key Highlights

• Ripple price is under a lot of pressure and it recently broke the $0.4500 support against the US dollar.
• There is a short-term declining channel in place with resistance at $0.4500 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair is likely to extend the current decline towards the $0.4300 and $0.4250 levels in the near term.

Ripple price is extending losses against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD is in a downtrend and it could accelerate losses below the $0.4400 level.

Ripple Price Downtrend

There was a sharp downside move from the $0.4800 pivot level in Ripple price against the US Dollar. The XRP/USD pair fell sharply and cleared the $0.4750 and $0.4500 support levels. There was even a spike below the $0.4400 level and a low was formed at $0.4393. Later, there was minor correction above the $0.4400 level. However, the upside was limited by the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.4810 high to $0.4393 low.

The price is moving lower once again and it may soon break the $0.4400 level. It seems like there is a short-term declining channel in place with resistance at $0.4500 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. Above the channel resistance, the price could move above the $0.4550 level. The next resistance is at the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.4810 high to $0.4393 low around $0.4600. Any further gains may perhaps face a strong resistance near the $0.4750 level.

Looking at the chart, the price is clearly in a downtrend below $0.4500. It is likely to break the recent low of $0.4393. The next supports on the downside are at $0.4250 and $0.4200.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is moving lower towards the 30 level.

Major Support Level – $0.4250

Major Resistance Level – $0.4500

The post Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD Extending Slide appeared first on NewsBTC.

Opera has released a beta version of their web browser for Android that includes a native crypto wallet

The authority that governs a special economic zone in the Philippines plans to reap $67 million by issuing crypto exchange licenses. 

One of England’s most venerable institutes of financial learning has announced an online course on investing in cryptocurrency starting August 28.

Famed London Institute Launches Crypto Course

The Financial Times has reported that the London School of Economics will be offering a new course dubbed “Cryptocurrency Investment and Disruption,” The courses mandate is to give students the “practical skills to interact with cryptocurrency exchanges,” Skills which include; using cryptocurrency wallets and evaluating the prospects of an initial coin offering (ICO).

The famed school which is the alma mater to 18 winners of the Nobel Prize and numerous “world leaders” cites its motto to “understand the causes of things” as the motivating factor for establishing the new course.

Though the school’s listed goals of assisting “private organizations, individual investors, financial service firms, governments and regulatory bodies (to understand the) highly disruptive trend” sounds slightly dated already, the curriculum teaser is more inclusive. As quoted by the Financial Times:

“The exponential growth and volatility of cryptocurrencies and the distributed ledger technology underpinning them has led to a global interest in cryptoassets, ICOs and the distribution of digital wealth.”

The online course offered by the London School will be led by Dr. Carsten Sorensen, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Innovation. The course will cost 1,800 Euros and is to consist of six modules, adding up to 60 hours of class time, which has been judged as a bargain by posters on Reddit.

LSE Getting a Late Start

The announcement from the school comes a bit late to the game as some institutes of higher learning began creating courses to deal with the break out of cryptocurrency as a real financial subject months, if not years ago.

A wave of course offerings washed through some of the most elite schools in America at the start of the last semester when the hype around Bitcoin was at its peak. Universities including Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Duke and the Massachuttess Institute of Technology all began offering courses on cryptocurrency for their fall 2018 semesters.

David Yermack, a business and law professor at New York University who began offering one of the first for-credit courses on the topic back in 2014, reported his classes were standing room only in 2017. Professor Yermack commented on that first year saying,

 “There was some gentle ribbing from my colleagues when I began giving talks on Bitcoin, But within a few months, I was being invited to Basel to talk with central bankers, and the joking from my colleagues stopped after that.”

There is little doubt that the academic world will continually expand its course coverage of both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as both become more and more important in the financial and business sectors. As the London School of Economics plans their first crypto course so has the University of Malta announced their first degree in blockchain studies to commence in October 2018.

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Key Highlights

• ETH price declined heavily and traded close to the $425 support area against the US Dollar.
• There is a crucial bearish trend line in place with resistance at $448 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is consolidating losses and it is facing many resistances on the upside near $440 and $448.

Ethereum price is back in a negative zone against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD could correct higher, but it is likely to face sellers near $445-448.

Ethereum Price Resistance

Yesterday, there were heavy losses in ETH price as it broke the $460 support against the US Dollar. The ETH/USD pair declined below the $452 pivot level to move into a negative zone. It almost tested the $425 support before buyers appeared. A low was formed at $428.14 and the price is currently consolidating. An initial resistance is near the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $486 high to $428 low.

Above the $441 resistance, the next hurdle is near the $448-452 barrier. There is also a crucial bearish trend line in place with resistance at $448 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The trend line resistance coincides with the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $486 high to $428 low. More importantly, the 100 hourly simple moving average is aligned with the trend line and is currently at $460. Therefore, if the price corrects higher, it is likely to face many barriers near $441, $448 and $455.

Looking at the chart, the price is currently trading in a range above the $428 low. If there is a downside break, the price may perhaps move towards $410. The overall price structure is bearish as long as the price is below $448 and the 100 hourly SMA.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is slightly placed in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is now around the 40 level.

Major Support Level – $410

Major Resistance Level – $448

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD Remains at Risk appeared first on NewsBTC.

Based on unique addresses, nodes, and job listings, Ethereum shows signs of continued growth and usage throughout 2018 and 2019. If or how this will translate into price is not yet apparent. The next wave of bullish price action may well be driven by the numerous dApps making their way to market.

Regulators are doing their homework and recognizing there’s at least potentially something different going on here from what they’re used to seeing.

A Southern Californian Localbitcoins trader has been sentenced to prison for a year for unlicensed money transmitting and money laundering. The trader, Bitcoin Maven, reportedly exchanged between $6 and $9.5 million for customers across the country, according to the notice by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

One Year in Prison for Localbitcoins Trader

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that Theresa Lynn Tetley, also known as Bitcoin Maven, has been sentenced to one year in federal prison. The announcement reads:

‘Bitcoin Maven,’ who admitted to operating an unlicensed bitcoin-for-cash exchange business and laundering bitcoin that was represented to be proceeds of narcotics activity, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $20,000.

Former stockbroker and real estate investor, the 50-year-old Southern Californian was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real “for conducting an illegal business and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving bitcoins,” the DOJ wrote. She “pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of money laundering.”

The Justice Department further revealed that “Tetley was also ordered to forfeit 40 bitcoin, $292,264.00 in cash, and 25 assorted gold bars that were the proceeds of her illegal activity.”

News.Bitcoin.com first reported on this case last month when the persecutors asked the judge to sentence Tetley to 30 months in federal prison.

Selling BTC Without License

The Drug Enforcement Administration and IRS Criminal Investigation unit investigated this case. The DOJ explained that Tetley offered bitcoin exchange services without registering with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) as a money services business. She also did not establish “anti-money laundering mechanisms such as customer due diligence and reporting certain transactions required for these types of businesses,” the Justice department divulged, adding:

Tetley advertised on localbitcoins.com and exchanged, in total, between $6 and $9.5 million for customers across the country, charging rates higher than institutions that were registered with Fincen.

The authority concluded that by operating this unregistered business, “Tetley facilitated laundering for one individual who is suspected of receiving bitcoin from unlawful activity, such as sales of drugs on the dark web.” Moreover, she “also conducted an exchange of bitcoin-for-cash for an undercover agent who represented that his bitcoins were the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.”

Crackdown on Illicit Use of Crypto

In the sentencing documents, the government claimed that Tetley’s business “fueled a black-market financial system,” citing “the growth of the dark web and the use of digital currency, unlicensed exchangers provide an avenue of laundering for those who use digital currency for illicit purposes.”

The U.S. Government has been actively trying to crack down on the illicit use of cryptocurrencies.

Last month, a high-ranking official of the U.S. Secret Service gave a testimony before the House of Representatives. He urged Congress to consider additional legislation to address anonymity-enhanced cryptocurrencies and services intended to obscure transactions on blockchains.

Also last month, the House unanimously passed Bill H.R. 6069 to help prevent the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, dash, zcash, and monero.

What do you think of the sentencing for Bitcoin Maven? Let us know in the comments section below.

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The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority has awarded licenses to three crypto exchanges and expects to raise $3 million in investment

Switzerland’s banking culture is synonymous with growing the wealth of the rich and hiding it away from the rest of the world to preserve it. Is this the right environment for global cryptocurrency policy-shaping to be taking place?