Day: August 25, 2018

Canadian Ontario based crypto exchange Coinsquare is expanding into European market towards the end of this year.

Coinsquare is one of Canada’s principal crypto exchanges and also claims to be the nation’s most secure platform for crypto trading. Founded in 2014, the exchange has over 100,000 users. It supports seven cryptocurrencies and four fiat currencies: the British pound, Canadian dollar, euro, and US dollar. In July, the FSA in Japan received Coinsquare’s application to also operate there.

Its new European users will also have access to the same North American selection of coins- Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Dogecoin, and Dash. Thomas Jankowski, Coinsquare’s Chief Digital, and Growth Officer commented on the latest move:

“Coinsquare is a regulated, fully-compliant trading platform and we’re thrilled to offer the European market the same secure and intuitive interface that we offer to Canadians.”

Until now, Coinsquare has only been open to Canadian citizens or residents. The users had to register by submitting relevant documentary proof like driver’s license, passport, national ID card, residence permit or in the case of Quebec, a healthcare card for verification. According to Coinsquare, its move into Europe by partnering with businesses will enable it to:

“…launch fully white-labeled platforms that offer a consistent brand experience, and are specifically tailored to individual markets and the needs of their clients.”

Along with these developments, the company also launched a subsidiary in July, called CoinCapital. Registered with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)  as an exempt market dealer, investment fund manager and portfolio manager CoinSquare sees it as a worthwhile addition to the main company. The company commented:

“This new division will offer a suite of investment products focused on emerging technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrencies.”

Canada is rapidly becoming a world leader in embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, behind the US and the UK. Due to provincial research and development, low energy costs, high-speed internet and internal regulation, Canada — the home of Ethereum, has become an established global leader in blockchain innovation.

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Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price failed to gain momentum above the $540 level and declined against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line formed with resistance near $535 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair must stay above the $500 and $510 support levels to avoid a downside break in the near term.

Bitcoin cash price is showing a few bearish signs below $540 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD could make the next break either above $540 or below $500.

Bitcoin Cash Price Resistance

There was a strong buying interest emerged above the $500 level in bitcoin cash price against the US Dollar. The BCH/USD pair slowly moved higher and traded above the $520 resistance. There was also a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $573 high to $509 low. However, there was a strong resistance near the $540 and $545 zone along with the 100 simple moving average (4-hours).

The price failed to gain momentum and struggled near the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $573 high to $509 low. More importantly, there is a major bearish trend line formed with resistance near $535 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair. The same trend line is positioned with the 100 SMA at $545. Therefore, the price has to break the $540 and $545 resistance levels to accelerate towards the $570 and $580 levels. On the flip side, the $510 level is an initial support. Below this, the next major support is near $500.

Looking at the chart, BCH price seems to be preparing for the next move either above $540 or below the $500 level in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

4-hours MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is slightly placed in the bearish zone.

4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD has moved below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $500

Major Resistance Level – $540

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis: BCH/USD Reaching Crucial Juncture appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• ETH price attempted a recovery above the $275.00 level, but it failed to gain traction against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line formed with resistance at $280 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair must accelerate above the $282 and $285 levels to recover further in the near term.

Ethereum price is struggling to gain traction versus the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD could climb higher if buyers gain control above the $285 level.

Ethereum Price Resistance

There was a decent support base formed near the $255 level in ETH price against the US Dollar. The ETH/USD pair traded a few points higher and moved above the $280 level. There was also a break above the 50% fib retracement level of the last decline from the $301 high to $259 low. However, there was no upside acceleration above the $282 level as buyers failed to hold gains.

There was also no test of the 61.8% fib retracement level of the last decline from the $301 high to $259 low. These are negative signs and suggests the importance of the resistance near the $282 and $285 levels. Moreover, there is a major bearish trend line formed with resistance at $280 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD. The same trend line is currently preventing gains and pushing the price down towards the $270 level. If the price continues to move down, it could test the $268 and $265 levels. Below these, the price may perhaps test a crucial support zone near the $255 level.

The above chart indicates that ETH price is following a bearish structure below the $285 level. A proper break and close above the $282 and $285 levels may well open the doors for a push towards the 100 simple moving average (4-hours).

4-hours MACD – The MACD is mostly flat in the bearish zone.

4-hours RSI – The RSI is currently just around the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $255

Major Resistance Level – $285

The post Ethereum Price Weekly Analysis: ETH/USD’s Struggle to Rise Continues appeared first on NewsBTC.

Mexico will be hosting its first ever blockchain event Viva la Crypto! this year on November 20 and 21 in Monterrey. The organizer, 25-year-old engineer Angelica Villarreal, hopes the event will be an opportunity for Mexico to become a globally recognized center for blockchain.

Speaking to Coin Rivet, Villarreal said that unfortunately many cryptocurrency investors and industry heavyweights fail to see the potential in Mexico. One of the difficulties she has found in organizing the event has been to even get recognition for the country as a place full of talent and potential. ”That’s another reason Viva la Crypto is so important” she said.

Villarreal has made a name for herself in the industry after just three years in the space, and now heads Horizen (formerly ZenCash) that operates across Latin America. As the lead organizers of Mexico’s first blockchain event, she hopes to bring together an inclusive crowd of 1,500 men and women to listen to the dozen or so prominent speakers.

The event has gained a large amount of media traction, she said, adding, ”We’ve had enormous interest from people, organizations as well as the media, which has led us to plan our next national campaign to promote this unique event further.” This will certainly be a significant opportunity for exposure to Mexican talents on the international stage.

Planning began in January when Villarreal jumped on the opportunity to create a blockchain-focused event in her local city, with Mexico City being the target for 2019.

Speakers at the event

Among the list of prominent speakers at the event are:

Arnaud Saint Paul: As the founder an director of Give.si, Paul is recognized as a socially conscious blockchain expert and philanthropist. He will give a lecture on blockchain and its social Impact.

Alexandra Levin: She holds a position as the Chief Diversity Officer at the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. With a background in global finance, her speech will be dedicated to international regulation in blockchain and cryptocurrencies:

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Reputable US-based exchanges are fast losing ground to those in less regulated jurisdictions. Figures suggest Coinbase and Kraken have lost between 73% and 83% of their overall trading volume over the past year to dominant crypto-to-crypto exchanges Binance and OKEx. Where would you put your money?

Cobalt mining involving children in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be heavily reduced by applying blockchain solutions to the problem.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), devastated by a protracted war which has caused the death of 5.4 million people, is listed as the world’s poorest nation. A project is set to be launched this year using blockchain in order to provide manufacturers of devices, such as iPhones, genuine information that guarantees that cobalt in their lithium-ion batteries is not mined by children. The tracking of cobalt in the Congo is an enormous problem due to numerous informal mining sites and many of them being worked by children.

Congo holds half of the world’s cobalt reserves and the demand for the main mineral component of lithium-ion batteries is set to surge as electric cars proliferate. According to Reuters, in 2016, Congo mined 54% of the total 123,000 tons of cobalt produced worldwide. Also, automaker Volkswagen is trying to secure long-term cobalt supplies to sustain their own electric car production, but need verification that no child labor has been involved in the production.

The proliferation in the use of lithium-ion has led to the increased volume demands. As a part of the deal, Volkswagen has made a move to demand guarantees that no children have been involved in the production process. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda are planning to switch to solid-state batteries for their electric cars. These factors alone may reduce the volumes required worldwide.

Blockchain will offer much-increased supply chain transparency until a solution to finding an alternative source to cobalt can be found by phone companies and car manufacturers. Amnesty International researcher Mark Dummett said, “You have to be wary of technological solutions to problems that are also political and economic, but blockchain may help. We’re not against it.”

Amnesty International is currently exploring the possibility of implementing blockchain technology to address the problem of child labor by enabling consumers to choose a mine to make their purchase. Illegal mines would have no registration and thereby easily identifiable through blockchain.

German carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) has recently joined the Responsible Cobalt Initiative, a programme established under a Chinese industry body to tackle risks in the cobalt supply chain arising from artisanal mining. The initiative, set up in 2016 includes Apple, Sony, and Volvo and was established by the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters.

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North Korea is reportedly planning to hold a conference devoted to blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. The event, said to have been scheduled to take place in October, is expected to bring experts from around the world who will meet representatives of North Korean enterprises.    

Also read: China Escalates Crackdown, Russia Chases Shadows, UK Warns of Scams

DPRK’s First International Crypto Event?

The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK), the hermit communist state that suffers from bad publicity in the crypto space, is organizing a cryptocurrency and blockchain conference in Pyongyang in October. This is according to a report by the U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

The first Korean International Blockchain Conference will be a two-day event in the capital city of the DPRK, starting on October 1. According to the report, the conference will bring together experts in the field from around the world. Participants are also expected to hold meetings with representatives of the North Korean state-run entities on October 3.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security expert told the radio station that North Korea appears to be trying to show off its capabilities when it comes to cutting-edge crypto and blockchain technologies.

New Hacking Allegations May Overshadow the Conference

The news about the upcoming Pyongyang event comes after another report implicating the communist regime of exploiting digital security weaknesses in the West to acquire crypto capital through illicit means. Lazarus Group, a cybercrime syndicate often associated with North Korea, has deployed new malware adapted to infect multiple operating systems.

Researchers at the cyber security firm Kaspersky claim the presumed North Korean hackers have recently initiated a new campaign named “Applejeus” using a trojan called Fallchill. The cryptocurrency-stealing software was discovered after it penetrated the IT systems of an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange based in Asia.

The attack took place after one of the platform’s employees downloaded an infected crypto trading application from a legitimate-looking website. The experts found that the Fallchill trojan had been redesigned to target not only Windows PCs but also macOS devices and possibly Linux machines.

North Korea’s Crypto Dossier

This is not the first time the DPRK is accused of attempting to get hold of stolen cryptocurrency. In March, former NSA official and cyber security expert for the Asia-Pacific region, Priscilla Moriuchi, said the North had obtained at least 11,000 bitcoins (BTC) through mining and hacking in 2017. At the time the value of the crypto fortune was estimated at over $200 million USD.

Last year the notorious Lazarus Group was implicated in attacks on South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. According to intelligence sources in Seoul, North Korean hackers have been involved in the cyberattack on Bithumb, the country’s largest crypto trading platform, which compromised personal data of more than 30,000 users.

Forced to deal with limited access to the global financial system, Pyongyang has been trying to also take advantage of the opportunities that come with cryptocurrencies in terms of unrestricted and anonymous transactions. The seriousness of the intentions of Kim Jong-un’s regime to develop the country’s potential in the space were confirmed by reports that Pyongyang University is conducting crypto courses.

What do you think about North Korea hosting a crypto-blockchain conference? Let us know in the comments section below.

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At press time, the father of cryptocurrency has jumped to $6,700 – the highest it’s been in a while. This is about $200 “taller” than where it stood just 24 hours ago.

Many sources claim that the bitcoin market is beginning to show signs of maturing. The latest sign comes by way of the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rejection of roughly nine separate bitcoin ETF proposals. Strangely enough, bitcoin remained in the $6,400 range the entire time, and was largely unaffected by the news.

The SEC’s reasoning for the rejections is as follows:

“The Commission is disapproving this proposed rule change because, as discussed below, the Exchange has not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that a national securities exchange’s rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”

One of the reasons bitcoin may not have reacted to the rejections is that none of the industry leaders expected the proposals to go through, and bitcoin cannot fall if hope is already in the gutter. Tim Enneking, managing director of Crypto Asset Management explained, “After the most recent Winklevoss rejection, virtually no one expected any of these applications to be approved.”

Oliver Isaacs – blockchain investor, advisor and influencer – offered similar sentiment on the situation. He stated, “I think the ETF rejections were expected, and therefore already factored into the price of bitcoin.”

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund BitBull Capital, claims that the rejected ETFs were not on the same scale as the Winklevoss proposal. In other words, they weren’t as high profile, and thus did not give rise to as many negative trends:

“The ETFs in question were never as high profile as the Winklevoss ETF applications were, so we did not see the markets react on the same scale. We are also witnessing what I refer to as FUD fatigue. We have seen recurring events, such as regulatory concerns in Asia, have a less diminishing impact the more often the markets face them. The same principle applies to the repeated rejection of bitcoin ETFs.”

According to Eric Ervin, CEO of Blockforce Capital, the proposal that still has the highest chance of garnering approval is the one submitted by the VanEck SolidX bitcoin fund:

“In the short run, we feel that the best hope for a bitcoin ETF this year will be the VanEck SolidX proposed ETF, which will take custody of the bitcoin rather than invest in the futures markets. It has a couple of other features which make it slightly more palatable for the SEC. 1) Insurance, and 2) a very high share price, prohibiting the average ‘retail’ investor from participating.”

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The US state of Ohio is following other states in showing interest in blockchain technology and how it can be applied to the economy in that state.

At a press conference on August 23, Speaker of the Ohio House Ryan Smith assembled members of the House leadership and Ohio’s general assembly along with representations from the law, business, and academic sectors to discuss possible implementation.

The state is not new to the concept, having passed an amendment to the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act earlier this year adding, “a record or contract that is secured through blockchain technology is considered to be in an electronic form and to be an electronic record,” thus providing a safe harbour for the emerging technology.

Ohio is certainly not the first US state to take this route as Nebraska, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Vermont, along with Maine, Hawaii, Illinois, and North Dakota are some of the many US states notably either in the process of presenting bills, enacting legislation or actively utilizing blockchain in state legislation.

Speaker Smith suggested that DLT would have numerous applications in the state and cited common storage requirements such as securing birth certificates and marriage licenses as a simple case in point. His aim is to work with universities so that students are encouraged to become involved in the new technology early on, thus helping them secure work for the future and bring their expertise to the State.

Smith is not the first though, to suggest his or her state as a possible blockchain hub. New York earlier this year set its sights on the same target when the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced several initiatives that pursue ambitions of becoming a blockchain technology hub. The state has rather set out its stall for the title given that the NYCED holds the annual New York Blockchain Week there with crypto events all over the city attracting big names in the industry as guest speakers.

However, Smith is optimistic, suggesting, “Because this is so new and this is just beginning to take shape, we can position Ohio out front.”

Time will tell, but the state rush to become a leader in blockchain adoption is very much on.

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