Day: July 24, 2018

Bitcoin bulls could have a breather after 40 percent month-on-month rally.

On July 20 reports circulated that a partnership between electronics giant Samsung and Lithuanian crypto payment and blockchain startup CopPay was in the works. The deal was set to make it possible for Samsung customers in three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — to pay for in-store purchases with cryptocurrencies. In surprising news, it appears as though the collaboration could have been fabricated by CopPay.

Samsung Denies Partnership With CopPay

Despite the fact that several major news publications reported on about the supposed deal a Samsung spokesperson has denied the partnership, saying: “Our official response is that the rumor is not true,” according to Hard Fork.

The supposed partnership was first announced on CopPay’s Medium blog, which has since been deleted. Though an archived version is still accessible. CopPay, which is a relatively small crypto platform, claimed it had set up merchant gateways in 31 Samsung stores across the Baltic region. The announcement spoke of support for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Nem, and Steem.

The company went so far as to claim that Samsung had rallied under their slogan “Turn On Future,” and chose to “embrace” cryptocurrencies by using CopPay’s point-of-sale devices. As of now it’s not clear what led to the announcement and its subsequent removal from CopPay’s blog.

At first, Hard Fork reached out to CopPay for comment but were only told that the startup was in talks with Samsung concerning the matter. At the same time, Samsung told Hard Fork that the whole situation was simply an unsubstantiated rumor.

In an even more surprising turn of events, late this afternoon CopPay CEO Ina Samovich contacted Hard Fork and refuted Samsung’s statement, claiming that their partnership was in fact real. Samovich blamed the botched announcement on a communication mishap with an unnamed “reseller,” saying:

“The official reseller has singed agreement with our company and several transactions occurred during last two weeks. So we can prove that the crypto payment method was used and was powered by CopPay. We were not aware that reseller did not inform HQ about our cooperation.”

Fake Partnerships

Despite the currently conflicting stories, and that fact that full details are not fully available yet, there have been other instances of companies claiming collaboration with others in the crypto space in attempts to boost visibility. 

In March, startup carVertical announced a deal with German carmaker BMW. It was later revealed that it wasn’t a “partnership” per se, but that carVertical were simply using third party data retrieved from BMW’s CarData interface to test its shared car-data blockchain platform, so no deal was in fact required.

Theres others, too. Last November, IOTA revealed that tech giant Microsoft was a partner in its data marketplace platform. In the immediate aftermath, IOTA’s market cap grew from $2.95 billion to over $13 billion. Unfortunately, just a few weeks later, Microsoft clarified that it had no official partnership with IOTA.

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The post Another Fake Partnership as Samsung Denies CopPay Crypto Payments Deal appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke through the $8,000 price point this morning, as the top cryptocurrency continues to outperform most other major crypto assets

Back to basics. Refresh your understanding of cryptocurrency prices

FOMO Moments

Bitcoin is leading the markets higher; altcoins are suffering, Bitcoin Diamond dumps while Zcash and Bitcoin Private prosper.

As if in a flashback to trading patterns common in the latter half of 2017, Bitcoin is climbing at the expense of the altcoins. There was a very clear and distinct correlation between Bitcoin and altcoin price movements as one fell when the other climbed, usually signaling traders moving their money around in the markets. The same is happening at the moment and very little ‘new money’ is coming into crypto.

Bitcoin is on a roll at the moment, climbing 4.1% on the day to trade at $8,010, the highest it has been since late May. Its market dominance continues to rise eating away at the altcoins and currently approaching 50%. Bitcoin currently has a 46.7% share of the total crypto market, which is its highest level this year.

The second most popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has made a marginal gain on the day rising 1.2% to $470. ETH trade volume is approaching $2 billion which could signal further upside momentum. Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are both up around 4% at the time of writing but the rest of the altcoins in the top ten have fallen a couple of percent today.

Only Monero is showing a significant gain in the top twenty altcoins with a rise of 4% on the day to trade at $140. All of the others are relatively flat again with1-2% movements in either direction. Zcash is performing well today with a 11% jump to $215, ZEC has had a good week with gains of around 16% from $185 this time last Tuesday.

The top performing altcoin at the moment is Bitcoin Private which is up 24%, Mithril is also having a good day with a 13% climb. The remarkable snapshot right now is that Bitcoin is the 6^th best performing cryptocurrency in the top 100. After several consecutive days of gains Bitcoin Diamond has predictably dumped shedding 56% today proving that it was indeed a classic pump and dump pattern.

Total crypto market capitalization has crept up a little again today to $293 billion. The 2% gain has solely been the work of Bitcoin as market cap excluding BTC has made no moves in 24 hours. Trade volume for all cryptos is up 30% to $17.5 billion from $13.5 billion over the past day. Since the July 13 dip there has been a general market uptrend predominantly Bitcoin driven.

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 ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin Eats Altcoins, Breaks $8,000 appeared first on NewsBTC.

GE Ventures reveals investment in blockchain, Industrial Internet of Things startup Xage Security

The Chinese city of Nanjing is launching a fund worth over $1 billion to support development of blockchain projects.

The Financial Stability Board, an international body that advises G20 on global financial systems, presented a framework for monitoring cryptocurrency assets at this year’s meeting. This states that while crypto doesn’t currently pose a threat to financial stability, careful monitoring of the market is needed in future.

Around the world, blockchain-powered platforms are stepping up their effort to take over a $9 trillion industry

One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform has had a stellar week, as positive news floods in regarding the platform’s expansive development plans.

Coinbase’s Custody Service Secures The Business Of A $20 Billion Hedge Fund

Institutional investment seems to be all the rage in cryptocurrency circles, with many citing this form of interest and investment as the next step for the cryptocurrency market. Some have even gone on to say that an influx of institutional investors will welcome in new all-time highs, with Bitcoin easily surpassing $20,000 as the industry sees rapid growth and development.

However, in the industry’s current state, there isn’t enough infrastructure to support many institutional firms, with these investors citing security and regulatory risks as the foremost reasons why they have been slow to enter the market. But this is quickly changing, with firms like Coinbase, Blockchain, and Circle all opening cutting-edge services aimed at institutional clients.

According to a recent report from Business Insider, institutional investors have begun to flock to Coinbase’s institutional-focused service. Individuals who are familiar with the matter stated that the firm had already taken on an unnamed $20 billion hedge fund through its Prime service, which intends to provide custodial, trading and management support for clients from legacy markets.

Colleen Sullivan, who heads a crypto-centric venture capitalist firm CMT Digital, commented on the need for prime brokers in this industry, stating:

“Without a prime broker, trading firms are directly subject to events that an exchange may suffer like hacks, regulatory issues, operational issues, technology issues (and many more) — all of which may lead to loss of the trading firm’s cash and coin.”

It is clear that this is just the beginning with other industry leaders and firms pointing out that an influx of institutional clients may arrive within the near future.

Facebook Restores Cryptocurrency Advertisements, Noting It Has No Intent To Block Legitimate Firms

As reported by NewsBTC on an earlier date, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, announced that Facebook had approved the platform’s request to post advertisements.

These ads come after an almost six-month hiatus in cryptocurrency-related Facebook ads, as the world’s largest social media platform temporarily banned that variety of ads citing the consumer protection risks in the ICO sub-industry.

As a result of a revamped system for prospective cryptocurrency-related advertisers, Coinbase was required to submit relevant licenses and background information pertaining to the product that the firm wished to advertise, ensuring that scams are not seen by any Facebook consumer. The social media platform’s approval essentially endorses Coinbase as a bona fide company, not affiliated with any cryptocurrency scams or malpractices.

Many cryptocurrency personalities and consumers see this as a large step towards adoption, with the arrival of Coinbase ads reaching millions of consumers who have not received a taste of what this industry has to offer.

Coinbase Moves One Step Closer To Listing Securities Crypto Assets

The SEC has had its eye on the cryptocurrency industry for months, as many regulators like to bring attention to the multiple risk factors involved in investing in this industry. Additionally, the U.S. regulatory body has pointed out that some cryptocurrencies may be considered a security in the future, resulting in stricter regulatory oversight. This has led firms like Coinbase to stray away from listing or endorsing crypto securities due to the potential regulatory risk involved.

However, as of early June, Coinbase has been working to list SEC-regulated crypto securities as revealed by Asiff Hirji, the President and COO Of Coinbase. Hirji wrote:

“Today, we’re announcing that Coinbase is on track to operate a regulated broker-dealer, pending approval by federal authorities. If approved, Coinbase will soon be capable of offering blockchain-based securities, under the oversight of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)… This is all being enabled by our acquisition of Keystone Capital Corp., Venovate Marketplace, Inc., and Digital Wealth LLC.”

Early last week, a Coinbase representative told Bloomberg that it had received the green light from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to acquire the three aforementioned firms.

The acquisition of these three companies will allow Coinbase to facilitate a variety of services for crypto securities, as the firm will receive the licenses required to be classified as a broker-dealer, an alternative trading system and a registered investment adviser all at once. These new licenses given to the platform will allow Coinbase to allow its customers to eventually trade for tokenized securities, ICOs, along with also permitting the firm to offer margin and over-the-counter services.

However, reports later noted that the firm had not received explicit approval from the SEC to acquire Keystone.

Coinbase spokeswoman Rachael Horwitz stated:

“The SEC’s approval is not required for the change of control application. Coinbase has discussed aspects of its proposed operations, including the acquisition of the Keystone Entity, on an informal basis with several members of SEC staff.”

Despite the setback, it is likely that it is only a matter of time before Coinbase receives regulatory approval to acquire the aforementioned firms, and subsequently list cryptocurrencies deemed securities by regulatory bodies.

Coinbase Forms A So-Called “Political Action Committee”

As aforementioned, cryptocurrencies are often on thin ice when it comes to regulation as many governmental figures are skeptical of the industry at best. Speaking on the “challenging” side of cryptocurrencies, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve stated:

“They (cryptocurrencies) are very challenging. Cryptocurrencies are great if you are trying to hide money or if you are trying to launder money. So we (regulators) have to be very cautious and conscious of that.”

But as divulged by Politico, Coinbase has plans to the change governmental sentiment regarding this nascent industry, aiming to lobby for more regulatory leniency and acceptance through a recently established political action committee (PAC). For those who are unaware PACs are organizations that raise funds and subsequently donate capital to political campaigns that it supports, hoping to influence certain decisions made in government.

It is likely that Coinbase has plans to reach governmental figures involved in financial regulation, donating to these figures to help create a more accepting environment for the cryptocurrency industry.

What Does This All Mean Going Forward?

Many have seen the recent news regarding the platform as a bullish sign for the industry overall, as these developments indicate that sentiment regarding the industry will only improve moving forward. Additionally, news like the reintroduction of Coinbase advertisements, along with Coinbase’s Prime service taking on a $20 billion client, signify that retail and institutional adoption is set to see rapid growth in the near future.

The Washington Post put it best when it called Coinbase a “cryptocurrency empire,” as many users and industry onlookers would agree, due to the fact that Coinbase has become a multi-faceted giant in this ever-growing industry.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Influx of Positive Developments for Coinbase is Bullish for Crypto appeared first on NewsBTC.

Facebook partially reversed its crypto ad blanket ban by allowing Coinbase ads as of 22 July 2018, opening the door for more properly licensed and regulated crypto companies to regain their advertising ability via an application process. Google, the biggest online advertiser in the world, is following Facebook’s lead and serving Coinbase ads via its Adsense and Adwords platforms. Additionally, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is now displaying Coinbase ads.

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in the United States, appears to be the only crypto company allowed to advertise on Google, Facebook, and Instagram for the time being. This has given it a major advantage over all other crypto companies. Google’s and Facebook’s advertising platforms serve billions of dollars of ads per year and they are among the biggest websites in the world with billions of users.

Apparently, Facebook displaying Coinbase ads has re-ignited speculation that Facebook might acquire Coinbase. This appears to just a rumor for now, but Facebook certainly has enough money to acquire Coinbase since it is one of the biggest corporations in the United States with a stock market cap of USD 602 billion as of this writing on 23 July 2018. Additionally, the head of the Facebook blockchain team, David Marcus, is on the Board of Directors of Coinbase.

The initial blanket ban of crypto ads was the result of numerous ICO- and crypto-related scams using Google’s and Facebook’s advertising service to lure in victims. This latest reversal of advertising policy is expected to help increase the adoption of crypto globally. Simultaneously, stricter rules for ads should hinder the ability of crypto scams to proliferate.

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