Day: August 21, 2018

The U.S. Senate has held a hearing on the application of blockchain and cybersecurity technologies in the energy sector, addressing possible benefits and arising problems

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price recently broke to the upside of its consolidation visible on the 1-hour time frame.
• This could be indicative of further gains in the cards, although oscillators suggest a slowdown in bullish momentum.
• The strong upside break is being attributed to the looming SEC deadline for some bitcoin ETFs on August 23.

Bitcoin price made a sharp upside break from its short-term consolidation to signal that further rallies are in the cards.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA recently crossed above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This means that the rally is more likely to gain traction than to retreat from here. Price also moved past the moving averages’ dynamic inflection points that could continue to hold as support.

The consolidation spans $5,800 to around $6,600 so the resulting climb could be at least $800 tall. RSI is already indicating overbought conditions, though, so buyers taking a break could invite sellers to take over. Stochastic has some room to rise before hitting overbought levels but is nearing the area, too.

A quick pullback to the broken range resistance could ensue and more buyers could join in at this level to push bitcoin price past the $6,800 swing high. However, a stronger return in selling pressure could allow the consolidation to resume.

BTCUSD Chart from TradingView

The recent pop higher is being attributed to anticipation over the SEC decision on a number of bitcoin ETF applications due August 23. This batch from ProShares was submitted back in December, so the regulator could no longer extend the deadline for their ruling unlike they did so for VanEck/SolidX.

Of course denying these applications could send jitters across the industry once more, leading many to expect that their next ruling due towards the end of September could have the same result.

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch: Major Consolidation Break! appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency mining manufacturer Bitmain has made USD 2.5 billion of profits in the past year, received billions of USD of investment and is about to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) that will bring in USD 18 billion. With this money, Bitmain has been creating mining supersites, mining farms on a scale never seen before. Other major cryptocurrency mining firms, like Coinmint, are also building similar sites. These are expected to make personal mining obsolete in the next year or two.

A race against becoming obsolete

Cryptocurrency mining’s history is a history of technology becoming obsolete. At first, Bitcoin’s hash rate was so low that computer processing units (CPUs) on personal computers were enough to profitably mine Bitcoin. Then, someone wrote a program that could mine Bitcoin with graphics processing units (GPUs) and CPU mining became unprofitable and obsolete. Then, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) were created that mined Bitcoin far more efficiently and profitably, making GPU mining for Bitcoin obsolete.

Numerous other cryptocurrencies have been created that block ASIC mining, so GPU and CPU mining for these remain feasible. However, for Bitcoin, ASIC is the only way to profitably mine. For years, individuals have been able to purchase ASIC mining rigs to personally mine Bitcoin. However, mining supersites have strong potential to cause personal mining to become obsolet, and at that point, the only profitable mining will be occurring at these mining supersites owned by firms with billions of dollars.

Coinmint is purchasing an old aluminum processing plant in New York and spending USD 700 million to turn it into a mining supersite. Bitmain is doing the same thing in Texas and spending USD 500 million. The fact is that the more you spend on mining equipment, when doing proper research, the cheaper you get the hashrate. These major mining firms have the best connections to mining equipment and the most money to buy mining rigs, so they will get hash rate far cheaper than individual miners or even small mining companies.

As these mining supersites go online, the mining hashrate will skyrocket. Already, Bitcoin’s hashrate has exceeded 50 exahash/s for a brief time and is now hovering over 40 exahash/s. This might be the first taste of these mining supersites going online around the world. Even though Bitcoin’s price has dropped significantly, it is still profitable to create these mining supersites and these big crypto mining firms have the money to do it, so Bitcoin’s hash rate will likely continue to rapidly rise long term even if personal mining operations have to shut down.

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Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has jumped 6.6 percent in quick succession pushing prices well above $6,600.

Blockchain experts and professionals discuss crypto and blockchain usage in e-commerce, real estate, entertainment, and other fields, on the second day of BlockShow Americas 2018

Fundamentally, XRP prices should to be skyrocketing and there are hints of that because on a weekly basis, XRP is up 26 percent. However, when we take a closer look in the daily chart, it appears as if sellers are still in charge rebuffing bullish attempts above 35 cents and even 40 cents, our main resistance line. In any case, news of Ripple product merger would go a long way in boosting prices especially now that testing of xRapid has been a success,

From the News

Three high liquid and community trusted exchanges Bittrex of the US, Bitso of Mexico and Coins.ph of the Philippines are joining hands building a working ecosystem around xRapid where XRP, an on demand liquidity tool will used to facilitate cross border payment across the three countries. By incorporating XRP, transacting companies will enjoy seamless movement of capital from one jurisdiction to another via the RTXP protocol without sacrificing security and speed. Besides, there will be low liquidity costs thanks to the use of XRP which would instantaneously convert fiat from one denomination to another in a cheap manner.

Coincidentally, this comes at the time when the company announced the completion of xRapid testing and ready for mass roll out. The solution is one of Ripple’s products that make use of XRP and should companies begin adopting, then XRP would have a direct boost.

As previously highlighted, Bittrex account holders can now trade the XRP/USD market. Despite this being an exciting XRP liquidity boosting announcement, select international account holders and those from supported US states can choose to trade from the two USD markets on offer. Most would be barred from trading but should Binance, another major cryptocurrency exchange the XRP community is lobbying to make XRP as base, the price of XRP might be positively affected.

Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

XRP Weekly Chart by Trading View

In this time frame, the trend is clear despite the 26 percent week over week gain.

As visible from the chart, week ending Aug 12 break out bear candlestick continues to define and confine recent price action. As mentioned in previous XRP technical analysis, buying and trading against the trend is counter intuitive that is regardless of last week’s small range bullish candlestick rejecting lower lows.

Clearly, for buyers to be in charge then buyers must build up enough momentum and clear 40 cents, our immediate resistance line and sell trigger. If not and sellers drive prices lower this week, then we suggest selling on pull backs in lower time frames with first targets at 15 cents.

Daily Chart

XRP Daily Chart by Trading View

By dropping two percent in the last day, XRP sellers are yet to reverse Aug 17 high lows meaning our last XRP trade plan is valid since that bullish engulfing and Morning Star reversal pattern is not yet confirmed.

Going by our last trade plan, all we need is prices to edge past 35 cents and even retest-or break above—our immediate resistance line at 40 cents.

Should that fail to happen and sellers drive prices below 25 cents, the tip of Aug 14 doji candlestick, then we recommend selling on every with first targets at 15 cents and stops at 30 cents.

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 XRP Technical Analysis: Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz A Proud Bitcoin Hodler appeared first on NewsBTC.

Nouriel Roubini has triggered a wave of discussion on Bitcoin’s decentralization by stating that blockchain has “zero” to do with fintech issues during a panel at BlockShow Americas

China’s 1 billion-user social media platform WeChat has reportedly blocked a series of crypto and blockchain related accounts, including Huobi News and Coindaily, according to local media

The initiative operates fully under the guise of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) having obtained its own financial services license.

Cointree is also licensed with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) to prove full compliance with anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing legal expectations.

Cointree operations manager Jess Rendon said that the platform had trialed its own bill-paying feature, but expected the partnership to make the process easier and more accessible, particularly to people previously not involved with cryptocurrencies. Last year, they reported around USD 100 million of bills paid with the feature.

Crypto in Australia

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Though there are attempts of higher highs now that most coins are yet to break away from key support lines and still trading inside that strong bullish engulfing candlestick of Aug 17, odds are today sellers might snap back and confirm the eight month bear trend. As seen from the chart, Litecoin, Tron, Stellar and even IOTA registered losses with EOS printing a seven percent loss yesterday.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

EOS Technical Analysis

EOS Daily Chart by Trading View

It’s back to red territory for EOS. Accompanying this depreciation is a seven percent drop in the last day effectively nullifying last week’s attempts for higher highs. Judging from the chart, our EOS trade plan is clear: Sell on every high going forward now that yesterday’s price action was limited with sellers failing to breach Aug 20 lows.

Considering  the general layout of candlestick in the last 20 days or so, our bear break out pattern which went live after Aug 8 high volume break below $7 confirming June 22 break below $9—the upper limit of our last consolidation is now live.

As such, and as per our iteration in our last EOS technical analysis, fading the trend by buying is counter intuitive especially if we bring into the picture the strong bear trend of the last eight months.

Litecoin (LTC) Technical Analysis

Litecoin Daily Chart by Trading View

From the chart, LTC prices are confined within a $15 trade range defined by our immediate resistance at Aug 17 highs at $65 and lows at $50 as marked by the lows of Aug 14 pin bar.

While we retain a bearish projection, buyers might build up momentum and break above $70 cancelling our sell stance.

If not and there is a dip below $50, then we recommend shorting on pull backs in lower time frames with stops at the break out highs with first targets at $30 as laid out in our last LTC trade plan.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) Technical Analysis

Stellar Lumens Daily Chart by Trading View

Of all the coins under our review, Stellar Lumens looks promising. Not only did it recovery and rebuff sell pressure once Facebook launching rumors began doing rounds but the simple fact is that XLM is steady and is actually one of the top performer in the last month or so.

For now, Stellar Lumens sellers appear to have an upper hand following yesterday’s six percent drop and since the overall trend is bearish, odds are we might see further depreciation today more so after prices dip below our minor one week support trend line as marked in the chart.

Once that happen, we shall recommend risk off traders to sell on every high in lower time frames with stops above the break out candlestick and first targets at 15 cents and later 8 cents. On the flip side, conservatives can take a neutral stand and trade according to our laid out Stellar Lumens trade plan only initiating trades once XLM bulls edge prices above 26 cents on the upside and 18 cents on the downside.

Tron (TRX) Technical Analysis

From the News

• Justin Sun wants Venezuela’s Petro to launch in Tron and not Ethereum

Technical Analysis

Tron Daily Chart by Trading View

Like most coins, not only are TRX prices moving within tight ranges but yesterday’s price action failed to breach below or above Aug 20 high low.

In that case, our previous Tron (TRX) is solid and going forward, short term aggressive traders would be free to initiate shorts only when there is conclusive high volume close below 1.8 cents as they sync with the general trend with first targets at Jan 24 lows.

If not and say buyers build up enough momentum confirming Aug 17 Morning Star bullish reversal pattern and edging past 2.2 cents, then we recommend low size longs with first targets at 3 cents as the retest phase is completed.

IOTA (IOT) Technical Analysis

IOTA Daily Chart by Trading View

If anything, yesterday was the fourth day of yet another lower time frame consolidation inside Aug 17 high low. This not only validates our previous trade plans but builds up momentum of a potential break above or below 60 cents or 45 cents.

Though altcoins sentiment has been bright in recent days, chances are we might see lower lows and snap back to trend more so if there is a break below 45 cents today or in coming days.

It’s because of this reason that we suggest holding off trades until after there is a solid trend definition.

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 Litecoin, EOS, Stellar Lumens, Tron, IOTA Technical Analysis: Bitcoin Dominance at 53.25% as Altcoins Register Losses appeared first on NewsBTC.

Elizabeth White, CEO of the White Company, will be asking the hard hitting questions that you actually want answers to. White connects the world of global payments for consumers and merchants, providing real world solutions for the cryptocurrency community. In her new, weekly column “Ask The Expert,” White will ask your questions, as well as some of her own, to the most prominent figures and forces in the crypto community, offering readers all the insight and answers they desire.  

Calvin Ayre

Calvin Ayre has made a name for himself in a wide array of industries, including government, gambling, philanthropy and, most recently, Bitcoin Cash. The Canadian-Antiguan billionaire and entrepreneur is best known for founding the Ayre Group, launching Bodog entertainment company, owning Coingeek.com and as Special Economic Envoy to the Government of Antigua. His varied and expansive career has lead to a great deal of intrigue and questions from the general public. Now you have the chance to voice these questions, with Ayre serving as the subject in this week’s “Ask the Expert.” 

Through his days as a self-branded ‘billionaire-bad boy’ running Bodog, an online gambling site utilizing the reach and anonymity of the internet, Ayre garnered media attention and secured himself a place as a Forbes recognized ‘Billionaire Bachelor.’ He has promoted the idealized image of a luxurious party boy and nothing is holding him back as we saw with the 1 year Anniversary of Bitcoin Cash Celebration: Bitcoin Rebirth.    

After facing charges of illegal gambling and money laundering and consequently ceasing activity through Bodog enterprises, Ayre resurfaced with the launch of CalvinAyre.com, a news source for the gambling and entertainment industries. Ayre has publicly criticized the US Criminal Justice System for abusing the system for large corporations’ fiscal gain. Ayre went on to serve as an Economic Envoy, advising sovereign island states on the effective implementation of new technological developments in cryptocurrency and with Bitcoin Cash. An early investor in Bitcoin and vocal supporter of crypto, Ayre helped Antigua and Barbados to implement laws incorporating Bitcoin into the commonwealths’ national laws.

What will you ask Ayre about? His allocation of significant funds in support of a mining facility that dedicates its hashpower to the bitcoin cash blockchain only? His contributions to philanthropic causes through his foundation, such as environmental causes or education for the disadvantaged and animal welfare?

This enigmatic, bad-boy-billionaire, philanthropist, crypto-success story will be answering your questions so ask what you like for this fascinating figure in the comments section below or on Twitter @Thewcomp.

The University of California-San Diego has received a staggering USD 818,433 grant for a blockchain-based project named “Open Science Chain” (OSC).

OSC is proposed as a platform that allows for researchers to access and verify the data gathered by numerous scientific experiments. The project will be led by Subhashini Sivagnanam, a software architect and researcher who presently works with the Data Enabled Scientific Computing Division at the San Diego Supercomputing Center.

Sivagnanam was awarded the funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop the project. The NSF organization has been around for quite some time and it has previously displayed interest in blockchain projects and research efforts.

In January 2017, NSF was offering millions to fund cyber-security research which included blockchain technologies/ Later that year in July, it provided over USD 400,000 in federal funding to a Princeton University researcher to research cryptocurrencies as part of a mechanism incentive study.

The funding will be officially granted on 1 September 2018 and will be available until 31 August 2021.

According to the blog post on the official NSF website, the OSC project is described as “a web-based cyberinfrastructure platform built using distributed ledger technologies that allow researchers to provide metadata and verification information about their scientific datasets and update this information as the datasets change and evolve over time in an auditable manner”.

The post adds that researches can search, verify and validate datasets, linking them to show lineage information.

Future funds

Funding of this level is becoming less of a rarity for blockchain efforts in 2018 and has the capacity to set a global precedent for other governments to follow in the footsteps of.

Perhaps the US is only now beginning to catch up in the blockchain research and education funding race. In China, four universities are to receive approximately USD 20 million to conduct an interdisciplinary research project that examines blockchain technology applications, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic payment security enhancements.

South Korea has also allocated a significant fund to drive innovation growth over the next five years or so. As part of the Growth through Innovation Investment Plan, the government will be aiming to educate and train a 10,000 strong workforce by 2022-2023 across many fields including blockchain technologies.

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