Day: August 19, 2018

FOMO Moments

Markets inch up slowly; Tezos, VeChain, and Ontology getting a good start to the week.

Crypto markets have been pretty inactive over the weekend. This is good news as there has not been another drop and total capitalization has actually increased a little and is now just over $215 billion. On the other hand there have been no real signs of a sustained recovery just yet either.

Bitcoin spiked over $100 around ten hours ago lifting it back to $6,500 after spending most of the weekend oscillating around the $6,400 level. It has since fallen back to $6,470 but technical analysis for BTC indicates that a breakout could be imminent. Ethereum has struggled to rise above $300 and has actually dipped below it several times over the past two days. ETH is currently up 1.5% on the day but could climb further, especially if BTC does make moves.

Most of the altcoins are in the green at the moment according to Coinmarketcap. Those in the top ten are showing small gains of between 1-3% with XRP making the biggest move of 3.5% to trade at $0.341. Levels are still very low and the majority of altcoins are still lulling around their lowest prices for over a year.

In the top twenty there are some bigger moves being made with Tezos pumping at the moment. XTZ is currently up 14% on the day trading at $1.55 the spike has come from a Coinone listing announced a few hours ago.

#테조스 가 @coinone_info 에 상장됩니다$xtz will list on #coinone #tezos https://t.co/HELuOqqyzk

— Tezos Korea (@Tezos_Korea) August 20, 2018

VeChain is having a similar pump of 14% and has been on the up for several days now. VET is currently trading at $0.0141 which is up 58% on the week from $0.0089 this time last Monday. The only other altcoin in the top twenty showing any significant movement is Iota which has gained 7% on the day to $0.527.

Further down the list Ontology is also performing well with a 16% climb on the day and Nano is not far behind, up 15%. In the top one hundred Veritaseum is leading the way with a 26% jump in 24 hours. Reddcoin is also rallying with a 19% climb on the day. The biggest loser at the moment is Cortex dropping 8.5%.

Total crypto market capitalization has inched up just under 2% on the day to around $216 billion at the time of writing. Trade volume is still pretty low however and has remained at $12 billion over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin’s market dominance has actually dropped back a little but is still over half at 51.7%. Markets are at the same level as last Monday and have clawed back all losses since Tuesday’s biggest drop of the year.

More on Tezos can be found here: https://www.tezos.com/

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 20 altcoins during the current trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Update: Tezos Jumps on Coinone Listing appeared first on NewsBTC.

The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has announced that the Petro will have an official exchange rate of USD 60, which is apparently equivalent to a barrel of Venezuelan oil.

The Bolivar fuerte (VEF) will be tied to the Petro with an exchange rate of VEF 360 million per Petro. The Sovereign Bolivar is projected to be issued in late August 2018, amid a hyper-inflation crisis. After it is issued, each Petro will be worth 3,600 Sovereign Bolivars, since VEF will be converted to Sovereign Bolivar at a 100,000 to 1 ratio.

This is exciting news in the sense that this is the first time in history a nation has made a cryptocurrency an official national currency. The Petro could thrive in Venezuela since Bitcoin is in high demand in Venezuela but its use is frowned upon. People can buy and use Petro in Venezuela and not have to worry about upsetting government officials.

Venezuela’s VEF is the weakest fiat currency in the world. Venezuelan citizens seem to be using USD, EUR, other globally popular fiats, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies as the Bolivar is losing too much value every day to be useful as a currency.

Bloomberg is tracking the value of the Bolivar with the café con leche index, which simply tracks the price of a cup of coffee at a café in Caracas. A year ago, a cup of coffee was VEF 2,300, now it is VEF 2.5 million, yielding an incredibly destructive inflation rate of 108,596% per year. The unofficial exchange rate is nearing VEF 10 million per USD, and the new official exchange rate is VEF 6 million per USD. The Venezuelan government hadn’t been issuing exchange rates for a long time, so this represents a 96% devaluation from the previous exchange rate but it is still too high of a rate according to the currency markets.

The Petro is supposedly backed by oil but it is not disclosed how this is done and it is questionable if Petro really has oil reserves backing it. Regardless, the most interesting thing is there are 100 million Petros, and at a value of VEF 360 million each, this yields a market cap of VEF 36 quintillion worth USD 3.6 billion. If the Venezuelan government is being truthful, this would cap the amount of Bolivars that can be printed for the first time in history.

If Venezuelan government really means to fix the exchange rate of the Petro to the Sovereign Bolivar, that would require an end to money printing.

The positive things to take away from this news is that Venezuela is making a cryptocurrency, the Petro, an official national currency, which is a big milestone for cryptocurrency. Also, Venezuela is making a Central Bank for cryptocurrency, which is another first in the world.

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Key Highlights

• ETH price is recovering after trading as low as $282.73 and formed a decent support against the US Dollar.
• There is an ascending channel forming with current support at $296 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is likely to rise slowly and steadily above the $300 and $308 resistance levels in the near term.

Ethereum price is showing positive signs against the US Dollar and bitcoin. ETH/USD could accelerate gains above the $308 levels if it stays above $290.

Ethereum Price Support

There was a key downside correction initiated from the $320 swing high in ETH against the US Dollar. The ETH/USD pair declined below the $300 level and traded close to the $282 support level. A low was formed at $282.73 and later the price started an upside correction. It moved above the $295 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Moreover, there was a break above the 50% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $321 high to $282 low.

However, the upside move was prevented by the $308-310 resistance zone. Additionally, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $321 high to $282 low also acted as a resistance. At the moment, it seems like there is an ascending channel forming with current support at $296 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. As long as the price is above the channel support and $295, it is likely to move higher. On the upside, an initial resistance is near the $308-310 zone. Above this, the price will most likely break the $320 swing high for more gains.

Looking at the chart, ETH price is placed nicely above $295 and $290. More gains are possible if buyers continue to hold the $295 and $290 support levels.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is slowly moving into the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is currently placed nicely above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $290

Major Resistance Level – $310

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD Could Accelerate Higher appeared first on NewsBTC.

Technology sectors have long been dominated by males and lacked gender diversity. This is slowly changing with fintech enterprises attempting to address and push the shifting dynamic from the top.

Now, the ratio at conferences and funding rounds have a significantly different outlook. Such events, which historically lacked success stories reporting women moving the industry ahead to bigger and better things, can now boast of some of the industries prime movers.

Bitcoin News posted a feature on Australian women in the forefront of blockchain development earlier this year, but the US boasts of some of the major players in the industry.

Amber Baldet, co-founder of Clovyr, well known for her work at JPMorgan as a leader of blockchain products, and developed the Ethereum based Quorum software designed to accelerate financial databases. Baldet left Wall Street to develop her own software by founding Clovyr and get startups on the road to using blockchain technology more effectively. She says:

“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to people who see things very differently… Being able to transition back and forth, I can help people understand each other and build stronger products together.”

Of gender diversity in the tech world she suggests, “People have tried to call out crypto as being better or worse…Diversity is a challenge across all tech subcultures.”

There have been regular headlines of IBM and collaborators looking to enter the blockchain space. IBM started a partnership with Maersk and Agility, a global logistics provider, announcing their plans to track shipping containers using blockchain technology back in February.

IBM has been pushing for the lead in the race for adopting blockchain technology working alongside various industries and supporting giants like Visa, HSBC, and Walmart. At IBM, women run the blockchain show with Marie Wieck to her boss Bridget van Kralingen, to CEO Ginni Rometty. As spokeswoman Holli Haswell says “We have the blockchain sisters at IBM,”

Marie Wieck, the company’s general manager for blockchain, with 25 years’ service under her belt, is the driving force behind some of the companies biggest new innovations in the fintech/blockchain space. She still worries about the low numbers of women moving into tech positions and suggests that there are fewer now that when she started at IBM back in the day. Her aim is “to create a community of champions of both women and men who proudly support women in STEM.”

Linda Pawczuk now leads Deloitte Consulting’s US blockchain practice. Rising through the ranks, she opined that in the early years of blockchain it was mostly an obsession with “the engine room stuff”. But now, its more about cooperation and businesses working together, which she says she’s pleased to see is beginning to happen.

Gracie Wong who co-founded Liven alongside her brother William Wong perhaps puts it best when she suggests that blockchain needs as much expertise as it can get, particularly as it’s still in its infancy. Reflecting Baldet’s views that diversity is the key, she argues:

“While blockchain might be a newly-named technology, the reality is it’s a combination of existing technical competencies. We need people that are great data scientists, who understand governance, who are cryptographers… and AI experts. When you combine this together in a novel way, it becomes enlivened.”

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Ripple Price Key Highlights

• Ripple price has completed its retest of a former resistance level, which has held as support.
• Price could be due to climb to the Fibonacci extension levels, but it has yet to break out of this short-term triangle.
• Technical indicators are showing mixed signals on the direction of price action from here.

Ripple price appears to be gaining bullish traction but has yet to break out of a short-term symmetrical triangle.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the upside. In other words, the uptrend is more likely to resume than to reverse. The 100 SMA is holding as dynamic support as well.

RSI is turning lower, however, suggesting that selling pressure is returning. Stochastic is also on the move down to indicate that bears have the upper hand, which indicates that there’s also a pretty good chance of a downside break. The pattern is around 0.0400 tall so the resulting breakout in either direction could be of the same height.

XRPUSD Chart from TradingView

If bullish pressure is sustained, Ripple price could also aim for the swing high near the 50% Fibonacci extension of 0.3800. Stronger momentum could take it up to the 61.8% extension at 0.3920 or the 78.6% extension at 0.4129. The full extension is located at 0.4395.

Ripple had a run of positive developments last week, including the three new exchange partners of its cross-border payments product xRapid. This could bring more liquidity and increased activity for this particular digital asset, which could then keep its value afloat.

According to Cory Johnson, Chief Market Strategist at Ripple:

“We’ve seen several successful xRapid pilots already, and as we move the product from beta to production later this year, these exchange partners will allow us to provide financial institutions with the comfort and assurance that their payments will move seamlessly between different currencies.”

The post Ripple (XRP) Price Watch: Setting Its Sights Higher appeared first on NewsBTC.

Chinese police have arrested three individuals who allegedly stole bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies worth around 600 million yuan, or $87 million. 

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price has formed higher lows and found resistance around $6,500 to create an ascending triangle pattern on its 1-hour chart.
• Price is currently testing the resistance and is nearing the peak of the formation, so a breakout might be due soon.
• Technical indicators are giving mixed signals on which direction the breakout might take.

Bitcoin price is consolidating inside an ascending triangle pattern and might be due for a breakout in either direction soon.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This suggests that an upside break is more likely to occur than a break lower. Also, the moving averages are near the triangle bottom to add to its strength as a floor around $6,400.

RSI is heading lower to signal that selling pressure is in play and that resistance would likely hold for now. Stochastic is also in the overbought region and turning lower suggests a pickup in bearish momentum. The chart pattern is around $600 in height so the resulting rally or selloff after a breakout could be of the same size.

BTCUSD Chart from TradingView

Market Factors

Bulls continue to defend long-term support levels for bitcoin, so there’s a strong chance that the floor won’t be giving way anytime soon. Buyers now have another attempt to spur a larger rebound, possibly one that could last longer on a break of nearby resistance levels.

The anticipation for the SEC decision on the bitcoin ETF applications put on hold is building up as the end of the month nears and September approaches. However, a denial could still lead to another round of losses for bitcoin and its peers while approval might see sustained gains.

Other factors pushing bitcoin around include trade-related updates and potential contagion coming from Turkey, so price could stay sensitive to headlines from here.

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch: Waiting for a Triangle Breakout appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price is steadily rising and is currently placed nicely above $550 against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bullish trend line formed with support at $560 on the hourly chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair looks set to gain further above the $590 and $600 resistance levels in the near term.

Bitcoin cash price is poised to extend gains above $600 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD is placed nicely above the $550 support area and the 100 hourly SMA.

Bitcoin Cash Price Trend

There was a decent downside correction from the $612 high in bitcoin cash price against the US Dollar. The BCH/USD pair declined and traded below the $600 and $560 support levels. However, the decline was protected by the $540-550 support zone. A low was formed near $537 and later the price started a fresh upward move. It traded above the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $612 high to $537 low.

The price also traded above the $570 level and it is currently consolidating below $590-600. Moreover, it is testing the 50% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $612 high to $537 low. Once it gains momentum above the $590 resistance, it will most likely surpass the $600 resistance. Above $600, the price could revisit the last swing high at $612. On the downside, there is a major bullish trend line formed with support at $560 on the hourly chart of the BCH/USD pair. More importantly, it seems like there is a strong support forming near $540-550 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

Looking at the chart, BCH price is positioned nicely for more gains above $600 as long as it is above the $540 support area.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD is currently well above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $540

Major Resistance Level – $590

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: BCH/USD Eyes Upside Break above $600 appeared first on NewsBTC.

My experience as a Chinese woman in crypto has taught me that we need to be twice as strong and grounded to compete with our male counterparts.

Three Japanese public companies have individually made announcements regarding their cryptocurrency operations. Forside has grown its mining operation with a plan to sell 7nm bitcoin mining rigs. Farsteps is planning a Singapore exchange launch. Meanwhile, Line Corp, the operator of Japan’s most popular chat app, has added crypto price quotes to its Clova AI assistant and has launched a token fund. In addition, human consultants are now available to answer questions about bitcoin for free from within the Line chat app.

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

Forside Expands Mining Operation

A Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed company in the content and real estate-related businesses, Forside Co. Ltd. (TYO:2330), announced last week developments of its mining operation.

“Forside Financial Services Co. Ltd., a consolidated subsidiary of Forside Co. Ltd., received OEM from LC Mining (GPU mining machines) developed by Lucky Cue Co. Ltd.,” the Zaikei Shimbun described, adding that the company will start selling these mining rigs under its brand name, FFSM.

Forside Financial Services has already started a mining operation in Canada. Its parent company says that the mining rig sale is “one of the efforts aimed at realizing the growth strategy development of the virtual currency mining business” at the subsidiary.

Furthermore, Forside announced:

In the future, our subsidiary will use semiconductor chips (mining chips) utilizing state-of-the-art 7nm process technology on its own mining [operation]…[and] selling ‘Next Generation Mining Board’ equipped with the chips.

While Forside did not reveal the supplier of its 7nm mining chips, in Japan, GMO Internet recently started selling 7nm mining rigs with a plan to sell its “Next Generation Mining Board.”

Fasteps Plans Exchange Launch in Singapore

Another Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed company, Fasteps Co. Ltd. (TYO:2338), recently announced that its Singaporean subsidiary plans to launch a crypto exchange in Singapore. The company mainly engages in system solution, media solution, and cost management businesses.

In June, Fasteps opened an exchange in Hong Kong called Bitone. It currently offers trading in three markets, with 11 BTC trading pairs, 10 ETH trading pairs, and 5 USDT trading pairs.

Line Launches Token Fund, Adds Prices to Clova

Line Corporation (TYO:3938), the operator of Japan’s most popular chat app, has added crypto price quotes to its Clova AI assistant for Android and iOS operating systems. Crypto prices are provided by Kraken exchange.

The company also announced last week that its subsidiary, unblock corporation, has established a corporate token venture fund in Hong Kong called “unblock ventures ltd.”

With LVC Corporation, the subsidiary that operates the group’s cryptocurrency and blockchain businesses, as its sole investor, “unblock ventures focuses on token investments and has a capital commitment of USD10 million,” Line explained, adding:

By launching this new corporate token fund, Line is aiming to boost the development and adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Meanwhile, Tokyo-based consulting center Bitcoin no Madoguchi is offering free consultation via the Line chat app. Users can add the company as a friend inside Line and start asking questions. According to Coinchoice publication, once a question is submitted, an answer will be delivered from a person working at the Bitcoin no Madoguchi office between 30 minutes and 7 hours.

What do you think of these Japanese public companies’ crypto operations? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Forside, Farsteps, Line Corp.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Japan Roundup: Public Companies Unveil New Mining Plan, Exchange, Token Fund appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Shipping giant UPS has filed for a new patent that uses blockchain as part of a distributed system for sending packages worldwide.

Bitcoin ETFs is not yet a yes from the main US regulator, the SEC. However, as things stand, there is Bitcoin Tracker One and though it is tradable via broker’s OTC market, investors can now invest their USDs in Bitcoin. Nevertheless, technical are not that positive and still oscillating inside a descending triangle with triggers at $6,800 on the upside and $5,800—the base of our triangle to the downside. Since prices are in between, we consider taking a neutral approach.

From the News

Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs are yet to become a reality for US investors keen on sinking their hard-earned capital to this coveted security instrument. However according to boosting news from Bloomberg, NASDAQ Stockholm is now creating opportunities for investment through exchange traded notes or ETNs called Bitcoin Tracker One.

These ETNs are now tradable at US brokerage accounts via an Over the Counter market as a foreign debt instruments. Initially, this instrument was available for trading in Euros or Swedish Krona under the ticker symbol CXBTF.

Bitcoin Tracker One was first availed for investors at the NASDAQ Stockholm back in 2015 and as an instrument that is finding its way to US’s brokerage firms through an OTC market, cryptocurrency and Bitcoin investors would have options to trade.

People are excited about the potential launch of a Bitcoin ETF in 2019.

There is already a Bitcoin ETN which does a similar job and allows accredited investors to invest in Bitcoin in US markets.

Mark Cuban invested in Bitcoin through it in 2017, in a Swedish stock market.

— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) August 17, 2018

Even though there is custodial risk associated with the ETN–since the firm holds investors Bitcoins, this will be covered by the annual management fees that the firm will charge investors. Aside from Bitcoin Tracker One, there is Bitcoin Investment Trust that is available for investment through an OTC platform marketed by Grayscale Investments.

Despite this, ETNs is inferior to ETFs. The latter are more liquid, widespread and would definitely spur widespread adoption igniting this boom in prices that investors are eagerly waiting on.

Bitcoin (BTC) Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

Bitcoin Weekly Chart by Trading View

Regardless of recent price “boom”, odds are heavy against Bitcoin buyers even from a fundamental perspective-the lack of approval from SEC is a big deal.

Now, on the technical front, sellers are pushing hard clipping buyer’s effort. As mentioned in previous Bitcoin (BTC) technical analysis, our buys are far from being active and for that to happen, we need to see gains above $6,800 and $7,000—levels which were last tested in late July before that price collapse.

In my view, taking longs now is being too optimistic and while many want to see price appreciation, we prefer taking a neutral stand until either prices dip below week ending Aug 12 and $5,800 or thrusting past $6,800—our main support line and 2018 triggers.

Daily Chart

Bitcoin Daily Chart by Trading View

From the chart, our main support zone stands at $5,800 and $6,000. It’s easy to see why: $5,800 and $6,000 are June and August 2018 lows and are important levels in our technical analysis.

So, going forward, we shall take a neutral as we wait for price action to trigger our buy or sell triggers. Regardless, we shall take a heavy leaning towards bears.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author and aren’t investment advice. Trading of any form involves risk and so do your due diligence before making a trading decision.

The post Bitcoin Technical Analysis: SEC Testing The Waters With Bitcoin ETNs appeared first on NewsBTC.