Day: August 8, 2018

ORCA Alliance, EU-based fintech, has turned on the green light for fundraising of the new digital banking application and is collecting contributions in exchange for an early distribution of ORCA tokens. ORCA’s Open Banking platform strives to make personal finance an effortless experience and bridge the gap between traditional banking services and cryptocurrencies. ORCA tokens will serve the function of energy inside the platform making it the sole method of payment to perform operations, unlock services and engage with the early adopter community in a gamified dimension of the platform – Quest.

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European financial market is undergoing significant changes which head towards reducing the power banks and other traditional payment processors exert on their clients. Upcoming changes are forced by European PSD2 directive that has already been approved by the European Parliament. So-called Open Banking movement in Europe will increase competition from IT-based solutions and will facilitate the growth of digital banking applications and user proficiency.

ORCA Alliance already made a showcase of instant crypto to fiat withdrawal, the transfer from a cryptocurrency exchange straight to user’s bank account was completed under 6 seconds during a livestreamed event this June.

“The whole banking sector is being disrupted […] A couple of years ago it had been inconceivable to think that a startup can enter the closed market of retail and investment banking and take over a part of its market share,” said ORCA representative.

ORCA’s platform will enable integration of multiple bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, and exchanges into a single app of a device screen and will allow users to make transfers, payments, and deposits into and between connected accounts without ever leaving the application. To help users make sense of service offerings and evaluate if the offerings are meeting the actual needs of the users, ORCA is also implementing Smart AI function.

ORCA Open Banking platform will empower users to make informed financial choices on their own, choose appropriate services they actually need. The typical banking experience is going to become more efficient and a lot more satisfying for a regular individual.

ORCA token sale

ORCA token is a single-issue creation of 460,000,000, 42% of which are available for public purchase. Contributions are accepted in Ethereum, Bitcoin, and TOMO. The price of a single ORCA is equivalent to $0.06 USD, the first contributors are awarded with early bird bonuses. The token sale started at 9 AM GMT August 6th and will last until September 6th, or until the hard cap of 9,800,000 USD is reached. More information about the token sale can be found in the official website of ORCA Alliance.

China-based cryptocurrency mining hardware company Bitmain has confirmed Rockdale, Texas as its next location to spearhead the way for its takeover of the US.

Texas operations

Rockdale will benefit from Bitmain’s investments totaling over USD 500 million in the following seven years, with plans to launch mining operations in early 2019. The location will employ 400 individuals for the new Texas blockchain data center, offering educational services and training programs for aspiring employees.

The location was described by Bitmain as a ”strategic investment” for the company, putting them in a prime spot to begin expansion plans across the US. The firm confirmed the plans Monday after speculation began circling last month when Dallas News reported Bitmain had purchased an unused smelting facility.

Despite the positive local press acknowledging the benefits of such an investment in a town recently hit by difficult economic times due to the closure of the coal mines, Bitmain and public officials declined to comment until this week. The article hinted however, it was an open secret shared among Rockdale residents.

Job openings for the new site have already reached online listings for those looking to join the firm as it begins its US expansion.

Bitmain’s recent moves

The Texas location follows Bitmain’s approved land lease in Washington State received in April, with the firm planning to set out a large-scale mining operation in the area. The state has, however, received several complaints from residents regarding the sustainability of cryptocurrency mining.

The cheap electricity tariffs have attracted many mining operations to the area, with locals reportedly concerned about the amount of energy being consumed. Some have suggested that an increase in the use of renewable energy resources in the mining process would stem the complaints.

Brazil is also supposedly on the agenda for Bitmain, with one article suggesting the firm is looking to open offices in the country.

Bitmain has already international footholds in Switzerland and Israel where it carries out its mining operations.

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Coinbase has a new vice president of Engineering – ex-Amazon cloud executive Tim Wagner.

Coinbase Hiring More Execs

Tim Wagner, who had been the general manager of several Amazon Web Services business units including AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and AWS Serverless App Repository, and also spent several years in various high-profile managerial positions at Microsoft, joined the Coinbase team on Monday. Tim Wagner will be “helping to create the world’s most open, secure, and accessible financial system”, according to his Linkedin profile. He is also responsible for hiring for engineering roles in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago.

“Tim is passionate about the Coinbase mission, he’s aligned with our values, and he has deep experience with leading great technical organizations. These qualities, along with his engineering expertise, make him the ideal addition to our team,”

wrote Coinbase’s CEO Brian Armstrong, in a blog post.

The addition of distinguished industry executives to Coinbase’s team strengthens its position as one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges globally. Earlier this year, Coinbase had hired Jeff Horowitz, ex-Pershing exec as its Chief Compliance Officer, and  Rachael Horwitz, ex-Twitter and ex-Facebook Communications director, in the role of vice president of Communications.

Coinbase, however, is not the only cryptocurrency platform which has been making news with its talent acquisition feats. Winklevoss Brothers’ cryptocurrency exchange Gemini recently hired former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) executive, Robert Cornish, as its chief technology officer.

Cryptocurrency wallet Blockchain hired top Goldman Sachs executive, Breanne Madigan, as head of institutional sales and strategy. Facebook’s global payments director, Kahina Van Dyke, recently joined Ripple as its new senior vice president of business and corporate development. A director at the accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Ben Ingram quit his position at the firm and joined the cryptocurrency exchange bitcoin.com.au as its CEO.

Top executives from Fortune 500 companies moving over to cryptocurrency firms the reveals the increasing recognition and acceptance that Blockchain-powered cryptocurrencies are receiving across the world. A Thomson Reuters survey, conducted among 400+ clients across all of Thomson Reuters trading solutions, revealed that 20% of financial firms are considering launching cryptocurrency trading in 2018.

The exodus of top executives also coincides with various jurisdictions in different parts of the world pushing on to create a legal framework for cryptocurrencies and Blockchain businesses. In February, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) published a set of guidelines for the regulation of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Thailand and the Philippines also recently announced  new regulations for token offerings. In both the countries, entities seeking to conduct an ICO will be required to file with an application with their respective regulatory bodies for approval. South Korea is also expected to have a regulatory framework for domestic ICOs in place soon.

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The post Amazon Executive Joins Coinbase, Talents Flock to Crypto Despite Market Instability appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency-backed loan provider SALT Lending announced it will now serve customers in 20 new U.S. states on Wednesday.

Bitcoin’s price has surrendered more than 70 percent of the rally seen in July, putting the bears in a more commanding position.

FOMO Moments

Bleeding markets once again, XRP, EOS, IOTA and Ethereum Classic in a world of hurt

As if testament to the volatility and immaturity of cryptocurrency markets, another FUD storm has caused 25 billion dollars to be dumped in almost as many hours. The SEC’s recent decision to delay a highly anticipated Bitcoin ETF has caused a predictable selloff that has been seen time and time again. Crypto markets have reached another new low for the year.

As if leading the other crypto lemmings to their doom, Bitcoin has slid 7.6% on the day to $6,520. It shed $600 in a matter of hours in an expected dump following the announcement. BTC crashed through the critical $6,800 level which has now become resistance. Ethereum has also been battered shedding 9.5% to $370, matching its low in April and returning to November price levels.

As expected all altcoins are getting hammered at the moment with most of them suffering double digit losses. EOS and Ripple’s XRP are taking the biggest hits in the top ten with over 14%. XRP is down to $0.353, its lowest level since before the spike in December last year. EOS is down to $6 which is over 70% from its all-time high in April. Iota is having another bad day losing a further 15% to $0.672 which has wiped out all gains this year. Even Ethereum Classic, which has just been listed on Coinbase, is down almost 14% to $16.30.

There is nothing positive to report about the rest of the altcoins either with the entire top one hundred in the red. The biggest crash has been seen by Loopring falling almost 20%, BitShares, Verge, Nano and Zilliqa are also in pain. Only Aurora is defying the drop with a tiny but measureable gain at the moment.

Once again traders and hodlers have been suckered into the FUD frenzy and are selling out of crypto. It was hardly as if this decision wasn’t expected and nothing else has really changed in the ecosystem. Total market capitalization has plunged 9.5% on the day resulting in a loss of almost $25 billion. They are currently at their lowest point in 2018 which is just over $231 billion and the bear market is still in full effect.

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 FUD Fueled Crypto Market Dumps $25 Billion in 24 Hours appeared first on NewsBTC.

Coinbase, the only major Bitcoin exchange headquartered in the United States, has announced that it is drastically increasing instant buy and sell limits to USD 25,000 per day for ACH and USD 7,500 for debit cards. This limit will be available for customers who complete the full verification process.

In the past, Coinbase had a weekly, not daily, instant buy limit of USD 1,000, even for customers who completed full verification and had a long history with Coinbase. Over the years, Coinbase has been upping the limits but this new increase is by far the most drastic limit increase for their instant buy feature. Just before this limit increase, Coinbase customers could only buy USD 25,000 per week with maximum verification, so this is a 700% limit increase.

This move is probably in response to the entrance of Huobi and OKCoin into the United States market, via HBUS and OKCoin USA. Huobio and OKEx, which is closely related to OKCoin, are the biggest crypto exchanges in the world and far bigger than Coinbase. HBUS is offering daily withdrawal limits of USD 200,000, far more than Coinbase even with this drastic limit increase. This is a good example of how competition improves the market for consumers, the move to increase instant limits to USD 25,000 is probably in order to be competitive with HBUS and OKCoin USA.

There is a major caveat to Coinbase’s limit increase though. They say crypto will instantly appear in user’s accounts after instant buying and will be available to buy and sell on the Coinbase platform. However, customers won’t be able to withdraw funds until the transaction is final with their bank. This might take a day for debit card transactions and also a day for wire transfers, which is much better than the three to five days it used to take. ACH transfers would still take from three to five days before users can withdraw funds.

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An initial coin offering for Metronome let the market find its price with a reverse auction that sold 8 million tokens.

A forced futures liquidation at OKEx has at least allowed the exchange the chance to learn a valuable lesson, as it admits that there was not much harm done