Day: August 24, 2018

Major U.S. bank Bank of America applies for blockchain patent on encrypted crypto storage system for enterprises

Though gains are around three percent week over week, altcoins are clearly rejecting lower lows and recovering. Thus far, there are reasonable gains in Litecoin, EOS and Stellar Lumens. If Stellar Lumens shake off sellers and bulls drive prices above 26 cents, chances are another flip may happen with EOS dropping down to position six in the liquidity table. Before that happens, we suggest short term buys in IOTA, Tron and Litecoin with stops at immediate support lines.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

EOS Technical Analysis

From the News

• EOSFinex, which is almost complete, is building a trustless and high performance DA trading platform around the scalability and speed that’s only available at EOSIO. In a recent interview, Kasper Rasmussen of BitFinex says EOSFinex will rely on BitFinex expertise to create this trustless platform for trading digital assets innovatively within the EOSIO platform. As a blockchain based DEX, there is a lot of expectation around EOSFinex and especially on the three main components of the platform: Sunbeam—it’s node.JS library, its smart contracts and Nodeos plugin—for order support.

New: Eosfinex status update https://t.co/SJnMamxrue $EOS pic.twitter.com/4GOvTzDul6

— Reddit: r/EOS (@reddit_eos) August 24, 2018

Technical Analysis

EOS Daily Chart by Trading View

Though EOS is up six percent in the last day, prices are still oscillating within an energy sapping consolidation inching between Aug 17 bullish engulfing high low.

Going forward, our last EOS trading plans will still hold true and before we see strong movements in either directions-above $5.5 or $4.5, we shall hold a neutral to bullish position cognizant of the fact that prices did find support this week though bulls didn’t build enough momentum to clear last week’s highs.

Litecoin (LTC) Technical Analysis

From the News

• The First Annual Litecoin Summit is scheduled for Sep 14 and 15 of this year and will be held in San Francisco. Expectedly, this event will attract blockchain figure heads with the lineup of who is who in the blockchain universe delivering speeches. As such, it would be exciting if the Litecoin Foundation announce some high octane news as the re-launch of LitePay, a move that previously flopped.

Litecoin Foundation to Host First Annual Litecoin Summit – https://t.co/bZWhNCvafc

— Litecoin Foundation (@LTCFoundation) August 23, 2018

Technical Analysis

Litecoin Daily Chart by Trading View

Like most coins, Litecoin is in the green adding three percent in the last 24 hours. The result is that nice series of higher highs rejecting prices below $50.

Even though LTC price movements are still confined within Aug 16-17 high lows, odds are the coin might find support and inch higher next week now that it is clear bulls are beginning to get into the trade.

If anything, it’s an effort versus results scenario with the last eight days of trading reversing a single day gain of Aug 17. As such, we recommend taking longs with stops at $50 with first targets at $70.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) Technical Analysis

Stellar Lumens Daily Chart by Trading View

With a doji candlestick printing, yesterday’s price action was pretty much balanced and though Stellar Lumens prices are overwhelmingly bearish, we might see rejection of lower lows over the weekend.

Notice that, our last XLM trade plan is going according to plan and not only are prices finding support at the monthly support trend line but there has been a general slowdown in sell momentum in the last couple of weeks.

In any case, our trade plan is active but today we suggest risk off traders to initiate small size longs with stops at Aug 24 lows at 20 cents and first targets at 30 cents.

Otherwise, from a conservative point of view, ideal buy and sell triggers stand at 26 cents on the upside and 18 cents or 2018 lows on the downside.

Tron (TRX) Technical Analysis

From the News

• CoinPayments–which is one of the leading and comprehensive cryptocurrency payment platform- and Tron are collaborating meaning TRX is slowly towards being a global coin. By integrating CoinPayments, 2.2 million users in more than 182 countries can comfortably settle with TRX.

We are pleased to announce the addition of #TRON (TRX) to our platform. Any of our 2.2 million+ businesses and users can now accept payments in $TRX through any of our integrations for all the major ecommerce platforms! #TRX @tronfoundation @justinsuntronhttps://t.co/EJKyze4kcQ

— CoinPayments (@CoinPaymentsNET) August 23, 2018

Technical Analysis

Tron Daily Chart by Trading View

By adding five percent in the last day, TRX is taming sell pressure but is still well inside Aug 17 bullish engulfing high low.

Going by this development, we recommend taking a positive preview of TRX in the short term and because of yesterday’s follow through, aggressive traders can begin loading longs at spot prices with stops at 1.8 cents.

And as per our previous TRX trade plan, conservatives should enter the market once there are gains above 2.5 cents to the upside and 1.8 cents should sellers resume trend.

IOTA (IOT) Technical Analysis

IOTA Daily Chart by Trading View

There are attempts of IOTA higher highs and this bodes well with our last trade plan.

From yesterday’s price action, IOTA is up three percent and even with some bullish candlestick, prices are still range bound and far from testing our first buy trigger line at 60 cents.

If that goes through today then we recommend short term buys with first targets at 90 cents, our last sell trigger line and main resistance line.

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 EOS, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, Tron, IOTA Technical Analysis: Altcoins Shaking Off Sellers with IOTA, Tron, XLM Recording Gains appeared first on NewsBTC.

Victims of the Mt. Gox hack can now file rehabilitation claims under a new procedure announced by the trustee of the exchange, Nobuaki Kobayashi. Currently, the system is available only to individual claimants. October 22, 2018 is the filing deadline set by the Tokyo District Court.

Also read: Crypto Exchange Rents Pricey HK Offices, UAE Realtor Sells Homes for Crypto

Mt. Gox Trustee Announces Rehabilitation Proceedings

Crypto investors who lost funds in the Mt. Gox hack have been invited to file rehabilitation claims against the exchange for the return of cryptocurrency and money, according to a press release posted on its website. The claim procedures were announced and will be overseen by the court-appointed rehabilitation trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi.

In accordance with the Civil Rehabilitation Act of Japan, the victims of the notorious hack can now submit proofs for rehabilitation, either online, or via mail to the office of the trustee in Tokyo if they are unable to use the recommended online method. Instructions for both the online and offline filings have been published as well. The announcement reads:

Users around the world can, without using time or money, easily participate in the civil rehabilitation proceedings through filing proofs of exchange-related rehabilitation claim in accordance with the Civil Rehabilitation Act of Japan and other laws and ordinances. Filing proofs of rehabilitation claim with the online method will benefit all interested parties.

Further details can be found in another document listing basic questions and answers titled “Q&As for Filing Proofs of Rehabilitation Claim.” The trustee has warned claimants that inquiries made directly to his office by email will not be answered. The preferred point of contact is the following phone number: +81-3-4588-3922, between 1:00 pm and 10:00 pm Japan time.

Filing System Intended Only for Individual Claimants

According to the notice, the filing process described is intended only for individual investors. Corporate creditors will have to file their claims at a later date, after a separate system is released. October 22, 2018 is the deadline set by the Tokyo District Court for filing proofs of rehabilitation claim. After that the right to claim might be lost. The planned date for the trustee to submit his approval or rejection to the court is January 24, 2019 but a definite date is yet to be determined.

When filing a claim, investors can also check the balances in their Mt. Gox accounts by signing in with their username or e-mail address and password. The maintained database reflects the conducted claim investigations. It’s been pointed out that additional functions will be released in the future. Further notifications will be made public via the platform’s website.

The announcement follows the approval of a petition filed with the Tokyo District Court in November, 2017. In June of this year the court heard it and issued an order for the commencement of the civil rehabilitation which effectively stayed the bankruptcy proceedings. With the civil rehabilitation claims creditors will be able to receive compensation in bitcoin, their assets will not be converted to fiat currency.

In early August creditors agreed to be paid by the trustee 160,000 in BTC and 168,000 in BCH. Nobuaki Kobayashi had already liquidated 30,000 of the 200k bitcoins he controlled. Mt. Gox, once the largest and most popular bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014 after losing 744,000 BTC in the hack.

What is your opinion about the procedures for compensating victims of the Mt. Gox hack? Share your thoughts on the recent developments in the comments section below.  

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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The post Mt. Gox Creditors Can File Rehabilitation Claims by October 22 appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Kenya’s electoral agency plans to utilize a blockchain voting system in its reform efforts to promote transparency.

The blockchain system in the works would be used to offer real-time voting results to avoid any perceptions of misconduct including tampering with the results. A statement from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati detailed the potential blockchain solution as providing security for all presidential candidates and allowing them to access and verify the results themselves.

The northeast African nation of Kenya has suffered claims of election rigging in nearly every election since the institution of multi-party democracy in 1991. The leader of the opposition party Raila Odinga just last year rejected two of the presidential polls; the first was annulled by the Supreme Court on the grounds of substantial electoral irregularities.

In 2007, chaos ensued after the disputed election results, leaving approximately  1,100 people dead, as well as displacing around 600,000 before a coalition government was finally agreed upon.

A blockchain-backed voting system could be a valuable tool in promoting a peaceful democracy in Kenya, bringing an end to any lingering doubts about the legitimacy of results.

Blockchain solutions in elections

Ukraine has also been testing the benefits of utilizing blockchain in its voting procedure. The Central Election Commission of Ukraine has been experimenting with the NEM blockchain, with the commission commending the immutability of hosting elections on the blockchain, as well as the improved security benefits of the decentrally-hosted data.

While it remains in the trial stages, the head of the country’s voter registry at the commission Oleksandr Stelmakh has been providing much positive feedback on his social media pages.

An Australian start-up also has plans to institute blockchain voting technology in countries such as Indonesia that are struggling to preserve the sanctity of elections in their emerging democracies.

The platform designer Jamie Skella said: “If you utilize blockchain to submit a vote in the same way that a Bitcoin transaction can’t be reversed, it can’t be changed, it’s a trustworthy process based on a system, which is not owned by any one entity, not by an organization, or a government or an individual.”

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The post Kenya Enlists Blockchain to Fight Allegations of Electoral Corruption appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Russia’s interior ministry proposes criminalizing unregistered crypto operations, Ministry of Economic Development states that it is “still early” for such action

Despite advancements in aviation technology, the mechanisms underpinning the travel industry in this sector haven’t changed much since the 1960s.

Due to the constant moving parts that make up the passenger air travel industry, digitization and automation of operations have been excruciatingly slow. Flight coordination, customer and supply management are often executed across a myriad of incompatible systems with little or no way of harmonizing their operations, resulting in high costs for travelers and a large overhead of up to 35% for companies.

There is nowhere that reflects these inadequacies more graphically than an airport.

Brisbane airport has teamed up with Australian crypto travel company TravelByBit, which designs tourist routes and provides selected providers with a digital currency payment platform. The airport will use the platform to enable flyers to use Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash and other digital currencies to shop and dine at various stores and restaurants across both of Brisbane’s air terminals.

Getting to the terminal itself has been made easier by blockchain startup AVINOC that brings passengers, airlines, air traffic control and travel agencies together with its advanced, decentralized technology. This company looks to challenge the status quo of old centralized booking companies such as CheckFelix or Expedia.

But what of the airport itself? To many the ordeal really begins at the terminal gates, the traveler having to endure endless ticketing and immigration queues, followed by baggage check-ins, then the sheep pens of passport and visa checks. Many seasoned flyers would subscribe to the view that flying has become time-wasting, stressful and is often a display of complete incompetence by airport authorities and airlines, particularly in some less-developed locations around the globe.

We are now in the digital age and as the Brisbane project shows, it is beyond the time that blockchain should intervene to make the traveler’s experience a happy and smooth one, rather than a recipe for raised blood pressure.

With DLT solutions, traveler identities can be verified in an instant at home via a mobile or desktop and further at the airport without the mindless gaze at a paper picture and endless key pushing by a hapless officially seemingly nailed to a chair. Bags can be chipped and scanned to match owners for both security and speed of loading, a service thankfully currently provided by VeChain Thor.

Face recognition is beginning to use, but inconsistently, and retinal scans and fingerprinting offering maximum security in this age of heightened terrorist activity, are rare to non-existent. Decentralized digital identities remain the realm of fantasy movies such as Mission Impossible but in the real world, the traveler must make do with sagging outmoded systems… and oh yes, those sheep pens.

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The post Blockchain Must Be Solution to Travel Red Tape and Endless Waits appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Bitcoin mining can be a lucrative venture under the right circumstances. Most countries around the world lend themselves to this type of activity, including Norway. Unfortunately, it seems one particular operation may be shut down because it is generating too much noise for surrounding residents.

Noise Is an Issue for Bitcoin Miners

When it comes to mining cryptocurrencies, there are several concerns to take into account. First of all, there is the electricity drain, which can overload local power grids and cause issues for mainstream consumers and companies. Secondly, there is the volatility associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as prices tend to fluctuate quite often.

For the Bitcoin mining firm known as Kryptovault, another problem has arisen. This venture is located in a former paper mill just north of the capital city of Oslo. It uses up to 40MW of power and has over 9,500 mining units in operation at this stage. Powering this operation is done through a combination of wind energy and hydroelectric power. Those forms of electricity are quite common across all of Scandinavia.

Unfortunately, it appears there is a different type of drawback to this particular venture. The facility uses massive fans to provide sufficient cooling to keep the mining equipment running at optimal temperatures. These fans generate so much noise that local residents have begun complaining about the issues. Things are slowly getting out of hand, primarily because the firm received a bomb threat just last week.

It was to be expected that these complaints would be investigated sooner or later. The local municipality has investigated the complaints and suddenly decided the mining firm is operating without a permit. As such, the firm is illegal and will need to shut down fairly soon. Unless, that is, the issues can be resolved, even though addressing the noise problems will not be all that easy.

Operating a Bitcoin firm without permits is always troublesome. It is unclear why this only came to light now, considering the facility has been in operation for several months. Kryptovault was informed that all of the necessary permits were in order when the company took over the old paper mill. It is unclear which new permits will need to be obtained to settle this matter once and for all.

Thankfully, the company is willing to take a proactive approach. Its current plan of action revolves around investing in additional noise-reduction equipment to reduce the fans’ noise output by 25%. Whether or not that will be sufficient to please local residents remains to be seen, but it is evident it will be impossible to please everyone.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get weirder in the cryptocurrency space, one of the most untrusted characters within the Bitcoin community has announced the launch of a new full node Bitcoin Cash client. The notorious owner of the website Bitcoin.org, Cobra Bitcoin, has revealed what he calls the ‘Cobra Client,’ a Bitcoin Cash full node implementation that aims to be ready before the hard fork scheduled for November 15.

Also Read: A Look at Two More Bitcoin Cash Token Projects in the Works

The Controversial Cobra Bitcoin Discusses Consensus Failure and Chain Splits

We’ve covered a lot of stories involving the infamous and anonymous figure who calls himself Cobra. As stated above it’s safe to say the character is considered untrustworthy by both Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Core (BTC) supporters. There have been lots of reasons as to why Cobra is considered controversial. Some of the reasons include asking people if Bitcoin.org should alter the original Bitcoin white paper hosted on the site, and he also thinks proof-of-work (PoW) is centralized and wants to change the Bitcoin consensus algorithm. He’s also transformed from a BTC fan who at first disliked BCH, to a very vocal Bitcoin Cash supporter over the past few months. This has caused a lot of distrust towards him from the BTC community as he was asked to relinquish ownership of the Bitcoin.org domain.

Now, this week Cobra is getting involved with the argument between Bitcoin ABC developers and Nchain developers over the next BCH upgrade planned for November. Cobra says that a BCH upgrade is planned every six months and Bitcoin ABC and Nchain/Coingeek’s consensus changes are completely different. Cobra says if the two clients are adopted by two sets of hashing power there very well could be a consensus failure and “split of the coin into two competing chains.”   

“Such a consensus failure will be a disaster for all investors and users of Bitcoin Cash, but it is almost impossible to avoid at this point as all the developers and miners involved refuse to back down,” Cobra’s recent Medium blog post details. “Such a scenario will wipe out huge amounts of value from Bitcoin Cash, lead to total ridicule of the currency, and widespread loss of trust and faith.”

Such reputation damage is simply not worth it, all just so some developers and miners can avoid having their egos bruised around some mostly unimportant and non-urgent changes — Even a temporary fork will cause lasting damage.

The Cobra Client

Following these statements, Cobra reveals he is publishing a new full node BCH client called ‘Cobra Client.’ In contrast to Bitcoin Unlimited’s proposition to include both ABC and Nchain’s changes so miners can vote, the Cobra Client plans to have no consensus changes whatsoever. “The hard fork implemented by Cobra Client will make no consensus changes or add any new features as it’s clear there is not enough consensus on issues around the new Opcodes and Canonical Transaction Ordering,” the owner of Bitcoin.org explains.  

Instead, Cobra Client will implement replay protection to prevent Bitcoin Cash transactions being replayed across alternative chains. This means users will be unaffected by the forked chains and drama of Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCA) and Bitcoin Cash Nchain/Coingeek (BCN) chains and respective tokens.     

Cobra’s New Client Backed By Bold and Unconfirmed Claims

Moreover, Cobra makes some pretty interesting claims as well after announcing his new BCH client. In fact, Cobra says there is a “commitment equivalent to at least 25% of the existing Bitcoin Cash hashing power backing the upgrade.” Cobra also claims a number of business have tested the version and it will make sure continues use of the BCH ticker remains. With replay protection Cobra says BCH users can “safely sell BCA and BCN tokens” without the split affecting an investor’s BCH.

“Widespread adoption of Cobra Client allows Bitcoin Cash to continue servicing businesses and retail without interruption or failure as one would expect from something claiming to be the equivalent of digital cash,” explains Cobra.

For businesses, the best way to avoid a chaotic situation and have uninterrupted service to customers is to run the Cobra Client software in November. Investors and users of Bitcoin Cash should run Cobra Client to prevent Bitcoin Cash splintering into two competing chains, and preserve their existing Bitcoin Cash holdings and avoid getting it replayed across multiple strange chains.

Many BCH supporters were confused about the announcement, to say the least, and many suspect Cobra of just stirring the pot in order to cause chaos during the current upgrade debate. Since the consensus debate started, BCH proponents have accused swathes of BTC supporters of interfering with the upgrade conversation in order to intentionally cause strife.  Furthermore, Cobra’s claims are very bold especially the so-called commitment equivalent to at least 25 percent of the BCH hash power, so a lot of people find his statements to be unbelievable. At the moment Cobra Client is currently undergoing testing and will be released in the next few weeks, Cobra concludes. The BCH community will have to wait and see if this announcement from Cobra comes to fruition. 

What do you think about the Cobra Client announcement? Do you think Bitcoin Cash supporters should trust Cobra or should they be leery of the snake-like character? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below.

Images via Pixabay, and Twitter.

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The post Bitcoin.org Owner Announces the ‘Cobra Client’ BCH Node Software appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The blockchain-based bond with Australia’s CBA — is it setting a new trend for the banking sector? Exclusive interview with the World Bank head of treasury operations, capital markets banking and payments.