Day: July 31, 2018

Social media personality and global superstar Kim Kardashian West was given her first bitcoin – in physical form. The entertainment mogul promptly featured her new asset for all the world to see, much to the excitement and amusement of the cryptocurrency community.

Also read: Bitcoin ETF Rejection Sparks Firm’s Public Protest

Kim Kardashian West Given First Physical Bitcoin

“If Only” was a Texas Hold’em poker tournament hosted by gazillionaire philanthropists Irving and Shelli Azoff for the cancer-related charity City of Hope. This year, the first annual tournament was held in Los Angeles at the old LA Lakers basketball arena, The Forum. Charitable participants were promised “The best food and drink, unlike anything you’ve ever had at a poker tournament! Try Keeping up with the Kardashians! Play at a table with either Kris, Kim, Khloe or Kendall as you try and knock out the bounty!” among assorted prizes.

Draped in back, the Kardashian gals mingled at their table, snapping photographs and attempting to play poker with a coach to guide them. Also at the charity soiree was crypto entrepreneur Matthew Roszak. He came prepared.

At some point, he gave Kim Kardashian West, arguably the most famous of the klan, what appears to be her very first physical bitcoin (BTC). Those wondering why someone like Mr. Roszak would gift basically $8,000 (at press time) to someone of Mrs. Kardashian West’s considerable wealth, some basic facts might be in order.

Kialara

She has over 110 million Instagram followers, and it appears her family’s longtime running hit reality show was taping at the event. One well placed interaction on either platform, let alone both or more, and, well, that’s probably the best $8,000 Mr. Roszak has ever invested (he also tweeted a picture of the two, he holding the physical representation). Mrs. Kardashian West’s estimated net worth is well over a quarter billion dollars.

It might also be newsworthy because usually celebrity endorsements are far less organic, and have of late involved alternative coins (Ashton Kutcher and Ripple on Ellen, for example). This is the first time in a while bitcoin has been so prominently featured to a mainstream audience. “We moved onto Bitcoin!” Mrs.Kardashian West announced on an Instagram story, an ephemeral feature to compete with rival Snapchat.

Mr. Roszak, her bitcoin benefactor, is cofounder of Bloq, and while at a presentation not too long ago referenced the famous social media family as a use-case for the token economy. “Every brand, every artist, every tribe, can tokenize their economy,” Mr. Roszak urged. Later, in perhaps what was his plan all along, he gave her what’s known as a Kialara, which used to be all the rage a few years ago. They’re limited edition encasings, and appear to have sold out. The case includes quite beautiful holograms, sterling silver, aluminium, stainless steel, along with engravings. Chances are that site has been flooded as well. No word, yet, as to what Mrs. Kardashian West plans for her 1 BTC.     

Will Kim Kardashian’s use of bitcoin bring more adoption or onboarding? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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Images via Pixabay, Twitter, Instagram.

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Be sure to check out the podcast, Blockchain 2025; latest episode here. 

The post Kim Kardashian Receives Her First Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The CEO of Vietnam-based cryptocurrency mining farm Sky Mining has reportedly absconded, leaving investors USD 35 million short.

Investors found an abandoned premises

The Sky Mining business structure offered people the chance to buy shares in the cryptocurrency mining hardware and collect a percentage of the profits. It advertised these profits at 300% in one year for a one-time payment between USD 100 and USD 5,000, as well as private use of a mining device for 15 to 18 months.

When the investors were told they may pick up their mining equipment from the business’s registered location, they instead found empty, closed premises. Upon further investigation, Sky Mining’s Phu Nhuan District office was also found abandoned.

CEO, Le Minh Tam, has been AWOL since Thursday; 5,000 investors are faced with losing an estimated total of USD 35 million.

No good news for investors

Local media outlet Thanh Nien published a letter reportedly from Tam who claimed his mining venture was no longer profitable and he was forced to sell the equipment to cover his losses, then run in fear for his life. In a new addition to the saga, Saturday he posted a Telegram chat video where he claimed he would return and restore the business to profitability.

Deputy chairman of Sky Mining Le Minh Hieu attempted to control the chaos by forming a board of 16 participants but was forced to disperse the group when he and his family became subject to death threats from angry investors. Hieu said that he too was a victim of Tam’s scam and has reported the threats to the police.

He said that he assumed Tam had retreated to the US with the investors’ money, noting that Tam most likely succeeded in his endeavor because he was responsible for directly managing the goings on of the mining equipment.

As of Monday, 20 investors have signed a joint complaint with the police department, with one investor taking her complaint to court after allegedly loosing approximately USD 269,000. Unfortunately, Vo Do Thang, Director of the Athena Network Security Training Center told VNexpress they had next to no chance of seeing their money returned.

 

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newsBTC

Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Could Surge Past $8300 newsBTC Yesterday, we discussed an important barrier near $8,300 in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair made another attempt to break the stated $8,300 resistance, but it failed. As a result, there was a bearish reaction and the price dipped ... Bitcoin Price Intraday Analysis: BTC/USD Bias Conflict PrevailsCCN all 51 news articles »

Key Points

• Bitcoin price is struggling to break the $8,300 resistance area against the US Dollar.
• Yesterday’s highlighted important bearish trend line is intact with resistance at $8,280 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair has to break the $8,280 and $8,300 resistance levels to climb further higher.

Bitcoin price is placed nicely above the $7,850 support against the US Dollar. BTC/USD is likely to surge higher once buyers succeed in clearing the $8,300 hurdle.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

Yesterday, we discussed an important barrier near $8,300 in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair made another attempt to break the stated $8,300 resistance, but it failed. As a result, there was a bearish reaction and the price dipped below the $8,000 level. However, the $7,800-7,850 support area acted as a strong hurdle for sellers and prevented more declines.

A low was formed at $7,854 and the price bounced back. It broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $8,373 high to $7,854 low. However, the price struggled to settle above the $8,200 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Moreover, the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $8,373 high to $7,854 low also prevented gains. At the moment, the price is consolidating near the $8,100 level and the 100 hourly SMA. On the upside, yesterday’s highlighted important bearish trend line is intact with resistance at $8,280 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

Looking at the chart, the price needs to clear the $8,220 level, trend line, and the $8,300 barrier to climb higher. The next resistance awaits at $8,500, above which, the price could surge above $8,700. The key supports on the downside are $8,000, $7,850 and $7,800.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is slightly placed in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is currently flat near the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $7,850

Major Resistance Level – $8,300

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Could Surge Past $8,300 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Forbes

The Biggest Thing To Happen In Blockchain Since Bitcoin Forbes There is no doubt that Blockchain is evolving, right now hundreds of ICOs are currently vying for your investment ready to launch that great new project. But to find the best thing since Bitcoin, you need to look at why Blockchain was created in the ...

Franklin, Washington State, is the latest U.S. county to have suspended new utility applications from crypto mining farms over spiking power demands.

A popular cryptocurrency analyst and pundit by the name of ‘Crypto Bobby’ yesterday recalled a discussion he had with a “NYC real estate broker” on his Twitter feed, who had apparently “sold a $3M apt in Brooklyn for $BTC when Bitcoin was $270, he took his commission in cash instead…”

Since then, Bitcoin’s value has risen exponentially and sits at $8,162.22 at the time of writing. With an overall market cap of $140,227,625,605, according to CoinMarketCap.

As such, as Bobby relayed in his tweet that

“He wasn’t happy when I told him his $80k commission check would be worth over $3 mil if he took BTC”

Ari Paul, CIO / Managing Partner of BlockTower Capital and proprietor of The Cryptocurrency Investor, followed up with a similar story in his reply.

Though unrelated to real estate he recounted a tale of similar regret and hindsight…

I met a working actress who was paid a dozen BTC when it was <$100 when she was working as a PA and totally forgot about it until we chatted about crypto. We waited we baited breath as she recovered her Coinbase password. She sold when it was $200 )-:

— Ari Paul (@AriDavidPaul) July 30, 2018

Blockchain + Real Estate

Matthew Murphey, former Global Vice President at Renren (currently working across a range of advisory positions) stated in a piece published in Forbes earlier this year that “Cryptocurrencies Will Disrupt the Real Estate Industry”.

Murphy hails innovative companies which include “global real estate marketplace called Propy” which “operates a decentralized title registry and creates a space for buyers, sellers and brokers as well as escrow and title agents and notaries to come together to execute transactions using blockchain.”

NewsBTC has published itself a number of articles on promising new projects that have sprung up and grown within this previously untapped area also, including token based real estate investment platform BitProperty.

A long way to go

Whilst a large number of projects can be observed which attempt to bring cryptocurrency investment into the property investment paradigm (and vice versa), we have yet to see any of these examples breaking through and making continued headway either among investors, press, or the community.

According to recent coverage: ‘A Fifth of UK Millennials Would Rather Invest in Bitcoin Than in Real Estate’ which is a vast difference in opinion than what was presumably held by the same people when Bitcoin was in the $200s.

This claim is supported by the fact that the market value of all real estate grew by £517 billion year-on-year in 2015, and yet by only £493 billion in 2016 according to Statista.

Furthermore, another Forbes contributor by the name of Omri Barzilay laid out his own set of warnings to existing and potential homeowners seeking perform cryptocurrency-backed property transactions. Many of the reasons listed surround security, trust, and verification based concerns – to prevent fraud.

Until regulations catch up, or a highly secure block chain based real-estate project begins to develop a prominence in the market, we are unlikely to see the financial numbers match the ambition of the current roster of solutions.

We should consider ourselves at least a short while away from being able to declare the two a winning combination.

 

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post What Influencers Are Saying About Cryptocurrency and Real Estate in 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency usage is growing at an alarming rate with each crypto-asset having one form of a wallet or the other. Basically, the predominant wallet types include desktop, web wallets, hardware wallets, and paper wallets. Bitcoin Blockchain, which is the leading cryptocurrency by market cap has registered downloads of its Blockchain app numbering in tens of millions since its inception. With cutting-edge hardware wallets like OraSaifu, new standards have been set for security, flexibility, and portability of wallets servicing digital asset portfolios.

Ora Inc., established in 2013, is a technology-driven enterprise aiming to change the world of payment services by introducing its conceptual frameworks of cryptocurrency and fiat-based digital integrations. The development team have quite the pool of experiences that span different top technology giants to include Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Nokia and Huawei, and have come together to create a disruptive tool using blockchain technology and incorporating other high-tech transfer/communication protocols.

OraSaifu has gotten angel support funds in millions of USD in its first-round offer and wants to carry out a second crowdfunding event to make its platform and product open to the larger community. Ongoing viable business partnership negotiations with top blockchain industries are currently being pursued.

All-in-One Digital Wallet

OraSaifu presents a revolutionary concept as a solution to storing all of one’s digital assets on a single digital hardware device and also an NFC payment wallet feature. It aims to provide as much security as the contemporary hardware wallets like those of Trezor and Ledger. However, it comes with even more enhanced security features, making it a choice option. More so, it also accommodates the traditional bank/payment cards and makes handling digital assets a lot easier and portable. It’s probably the first digital hardware concept that incorporates both fiat based digital currency and cryptocurrency management.

Cutting Edge Hardware Wallet

The uniqueness of this product is seen in how it has combined both Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and SE technology in one single chip which is revolutionary as it ensures that security of digital assets within its wallet and when it’s being used for Near Field Communication (NFC) payments.

The product has other features that stand it out among similar technologies, especially when compared to the number of currency it can hold. OraSaifu challenges other technologies by accommodating over 20 kinds of popular cryptocurrencies with the ability to maintain sending and receiving transactions and also managing multiple addresses.

OraSaifu also has a cold wallet which enables both offline and online transaction processes achievable. Using embedded NFC and Offline QR code reading technologies, it is able to process offline transactions without immediate dependence on online connections. Another fascinating aspect of this technology is its unlimited storage, which beats a number of other similar technologies with limited storage and limiting currency use.

The security feature is one of the most sought-after criteria in any cryptocurrency platform, product or concept. OraSaifu uses offline mechanisms combined with multiple authentications and verification systems to secure cryptocurrencies stored within its wallet. With vulnerability issues prone to a number of online based wallets and a few hardware wallets, OraSaifu ensures that no form of data exchange or transfer occurs between the USB port and that of the connected device, thereby keeping private keys secure and tamper-proof. However, the maximum security is ultimate still dependent on the user.

Obviously, by using top cryptocurrencies, OraSaifu is paving a way for a more acceptable ideology of cryptocurrency as value prospects in terms of payment processes. OraSaifu will make it easy to send and receive money both in online and physical stores through its all-in-one hardware wallet.

Classy, Professional, Artistic Design and Features

The first impression upon sight is a fancy-like and sleekly designed hand-held device, it’s hard not to feel impressed. The artistic design complements its high-end software features, making it a product for this age. Other physical attractions include its feather-like weight, its size is almost like that of a bank card, with a 4-inch screen display and an 83.37% screen to body ratio and could be seen as a classy competitor to the latest iPhone. The device also has voice recognition software inbuilt in it and makes accessibility a lot more user-friendly.

Not just cryptocurrencies, Imagine having many access cards and the trouble of having to carry every one of them each time one needs to access multiple facilities. Ora wallet can store other kinds of digital identity cards such as membership cards, business cards, and many more modern age digital access cards; as long as they are NFC enable OraSaifu can do the job through a simple to use – scan, copy and store. Ora wallet makes all that worry go away.

Indeed, the OraSaifu hardware wallet is truly revolutionary and would give the jaw-dropping experience to digital currency enthusiasts. As cryptocurrencies continue to make impactful waves both in the digital world and in the real-world, hardware wallets are bound to become the trending event. OraSaifu has carved a niche ahead, giving it a headstart in preparation for a world waiting to receive cryptocurrency in a grand style.

Early Bird Sale

OraSaifu is offering an entry opportunity for early adopters on July 19th, 2018 which will be launched globally on the Indiegogo platform. Registrations are currently open on their website.

Visit the Website: https://orasaifu.io/

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All cryptocurrency markets are still suffering from sideways and bearish trading momentum. This situation will remain in place until Bitcoin gets its act together once again. For the EOS price, this waiting game has resulted in a pretty steep decline over the past 24 hours. Its value is now heading to $7.5 and potentially lower.

EOS Price Continues to Decline

Whenever the Bitcoin price goes through a rough patch, all altcoins and digital assets are bound to follow suit. In the case of the EOS price, it is evident things are not heading in the right direction as of right now. There has been an ongoing decline for a few days now, and the bearish pressure only intensifies as more time progresses. Not a positive sign for this altcoin, and the worst is yet to come.

Over the past 24 hours, the EOS price has declined by another 7.25%. This is a relatively big setback for any digital currency or asset, especially in the world of cryptocurrency. It is also a surprisingly big setback, mainly because of how the Bitcoin price hasn’t declined by much over the past few days. Altcoins usually suffer from far worse momentum, mainly because people are looking for ways to minimize their losses at all times.

As one would come to expect, this EOS price decline is only fueled by an ongoing decline in the EOS/BTC ratio. The altcoin has lost 6.89% over Bitcoin in the past few years, and it seems things will not necessarily improve anytime soon. If these trends keep up, there is a very real chance the EOS price will drop below $7.5 in the coming hours. That will undoubtedly spook investors even more.

Even though the overall cryptocurrency trading volume has been on the rise over the past few hours, it is not helping EOS all that much. The altcoin notes a volume of $823.439m over the past 24 hours, although it is evident this is mainly made up of people looking to sell the altcoin rather than buy it. More bearish pressure appears to be forming in very quick succession, although it remains to be seen how this will impact the market over the next few hours.

OKEx leads the charge in terms of EOS trading volume with its USDT pair. Huobi and Binance offer identical markets, and they are all in relatively close proximity to one another in terms of trading volume. Bitfinex offers the first and only fiat currency pair in the top eight, followed by OKEx’s BTC pair. Not too much fresh capital is entering the EOS market as of right now, although there is still a good chance the situation turns around when people least expect it.

Cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile. This is especially true when things get tough for Bitcoin, as has been the situation for several days in a row now. After being rejected at $8,300 multiple times, the negative pressure is now affecting altcoins as well. For the EOS price, a dip to $7.5 or lower is definitely in the cards, albeit anything is possible in this complex industry.

People that invested in Pantera Capital, one of the first crypto hedge funds, have seen a return of 10,136% since its launch in July 2013. It is an illustration of just how phenomenal growth has been in the crypto space long term. This article explores how this return percentage compares to the typical stock market, and how it compares to simply holding Bitcoin.

The S&P 500 is considered by many experts to be the best measure of the stock market in the United States, alongside the NASDAQ and Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 index has risen from about 1,650 points in July 2013 to 2,800 today, which is a 70% increase. This represents an excellent rate of return in the stock world. Hedge funds based on stocks strive to have an even better rate of return than the S&P 500; not all succeed.

On average, returns from investments into stock-based hedge funds are probably around 70%, which is far less than the return seen from crypto hedge fund Pantera Capital during the same time. Without a doubt, investing in the crypto space in 2013 ended up being a far better decision than investing in stocks, but that reward came with great risk. No one knew for sure that crypto would grow like it did; many experts said that crypto would go to zero.

On 21 August 2013, the founder and CEO of Pantera Capital issued a forecast that Bitcoin would hit USD 5,000, which was quite an aggressive and courageous forecast considering that Bitcoin was only at USD 104 when he made that forecast. As of this writing on 30 July 2018, Bitcoin is almost exactly at USD 8,000, so his forecast has more than been verified. This represents an increase in Bitcoin’s price of 7,592%.

This means that for now, Pantera Capital has outperformed Bitcoin, which is considered the gold standard of crypto, by thousands of per cent since 2013.

 

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Key Highlights

• Ethereum classic price is trading in a bullish zone above the $16.50 support against the US dollar.
• There is a crucial contracting triangle forming with resistance near $17.25 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair (Data feed via Kraken).
• The pair may perhaps break the $17.20 and $17.30 resistance levels to trade further higher.

Ethereum classic price is eyeing more gains against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETC/USD has to surpass the $17.30 level to accelerate gains in the near term.

Ethereum Classic Price Resistance

During the past few days, there were bullish moves above $16.00 in ETC price against the US dollar. The ETC/USD pair settled above the $16.50 support area, which is a positive sign. However, the price failed on a couple of occasions to break the $17.30-40 resistance zone. It recently dipped to $16.60 and climbed back towards the $17.25-30 zone, where it faced sellers.

It declined and broke the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $16.60 low to $17.25 high. However, the price found a decent support near $16.80 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. At the outset, there is a crucial contracting triangle forming with resistance near $17.25 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair. Therefore, the pair must clear the triangle resistance and then $17.30-40 to gain upside momentum. Above this last, the price will most likely surge above $18.00. On the flip side, if the price moves down, it could test the triangle support at $16.60.

The chart suggests that the price is forming a breakout pattern with resistance at $17.30 and support at $16.60. Should there be a break and close below $16.60, the price may well drop towards $16.00. Otherwise, it is most likely to break the $17.30 resistance to climb higher.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETC/USD is slowly moving in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETC/USD is flat near the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $16.60

Major Resistance Level – $17.30

The post Ethereum Classic Price Analysis: ETC/USD Eyeing Break above $17.40 appeared first on NewsBTC.

The bank wants to use ethereum as a notary, but regulators discourage holding even the tiny bit of ether needed to put data on the public blockchain.