Day: August 25, 2018

Bloomberg cites the falling prices of EOS and NEO in August as evidence that Tether issuance is not currently affecting crypto market prices

China has banned crypto-related WeChat accounts, events, exchanges, OTC markets and news sites. Is there anything left to ban?

Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of popular news and forum site, Reddit, is bullish on Bitcoin despite the current price slump. His optimistic views on the future of Bitcoin come as he moves away from Reddit and towards more venture capital initiatives, including investments in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency companies.

Following the acquisition of Reddit by Conde Nast parent company, Advance Publications, Ohanian has been slowly relieving himself of his day-to-day duties at the online platform. The 35-year old is now looking towards investing in more cutting-edge technologies, including Instacart, and self-driving car company Cruise. He has also been moving further into the cryptocurrency industry, acquiring a sizable amount of Bitcoin as well as an investment in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Ohanian is optimistic about his investments on both a fiscal and personal level, explaining that his new job as the head of his venture capital firm, Initialized Capital, allows for better family discussion with his wife, tennis star Serena Williams.

While speaking about Initialized Capital, Ohanian said:

“I’ve wanted for a long time to get back to early stage founders to being the ‘first check’ in Initialized. It’s a lot of fun, frankly. I get to come home and have really good dinner table conversations about the things I did at work, and it’s always [about] meeting new founders, learning about the future and then sometimes rolling up my sleeves.”

Ohanian Bullish on Bitcoin and the Future of Cryptocurrency

Despite the current price slump in the cryptocurrency markets, falling from a market capitalization of over $800 billion in January to its yearly low of under $200 billion in August, Ohanian is still incredibly optimistic about the future of the cryptocurrency markets.

Part of his bullishness on crypto is due to the instability of fiat currencies in countries in economic turmoil, saying:

“As a store of value, there is some real traction [with bitcoin], and actually as we’re seeing in countries like Turkey that are having significant economic crisis — where people are losing faith in the Turkish lira — we’re going to see money move over to bitcoin because as unstable as it is, it is actually a lot more stable for a lot of people than their own nations’ fiat currency. But right now, we’re still in the earliest, earliest stages.”

Ohanian is referencing the overwhelming devaluation of fiat currencies in countries like Turkey, who have seen their state-backed currency, the Lira, decline in value by 50% since September of 2017 due to economic decline. Another country that has been turning to cryptocurrency over their fiat currency is Venezuela, who has seen hyperinflation of their fiat currency, the Bolivar totaling an estimated 1,000,000% by the end of 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In Venezuela, citizens are turning to cryptocurrencies, like Dash and Bitcoin, to make daily purchases, as no middle man is required to initiate or complete a transaction.  Dash has seen a meteoric rise in adoption in Venezuela, mainly due to a massive marketing campaign in the country.

The CEO of the Dash Core Group spoke to Business Insider about Venezuela, saying:

“We are seeing tens of thousands of wallet downloads from the country each month… Earlier this year, Venezuela became our number two market even ahead of China and Russia, which are of course huge into cryptocurrency right now.”

Ohanian doubled down on his bullish statement on the future of cryptocurrencies, explaining that price action doesn’t really matter right now, saying:

“No matter what the currency prices are doing, seeing more and more people creating accounts … shows more and more adoption, and their end game is to be this interface between people, their fiat money and crypto — it would be the most user friendly trusted safe secure way to do it. I just encourage people not to get too, too invested in the speculation around the day-to-day trading of the currencies.”

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country. Next up is South America.

Argentina

Bitcoin ATMs in Argentina Rising: Argentina’s cryptocurrency revolution is becoming clearly evident as more and more Bitcoin ATMs are being installed across the country.

Recently, Matias Goldenhorn, the Director of Latin America at Athena Bitcoin, an American Bitcoin company announced a move for the installation of a number of new Bitcoin ATMs across the country. Athena Bitcoin’s new Bitcoin ATMs include a new one in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. More than 4000 ATMs are expected to be installed in the country in the near future.

Argentina’s Largest Mining Farm in the Works: The biggest cryptocurrency mining farm in the country is being planned as the cryptocurrency scene expands its presence in the region. After Canada, Iceland, and the USA, now miners are looking towards Patagonia, a resource-rich area in Argentina to set up mining farms.

A mining company named Bit Patagonia has announced its plans to set up the biggest mining farm in the country, in the region. The project is said to be a conglomerate of some of the biggest mining names in the world and aimed at testing the waters in the country.

Chile

E-Commerce Accepting Cryptocurrencies on the Rise: Local Chileans are surprised by the announcement made by CryptoMKT, a local cryptocurrency exchange, and payment company Flow. The post stated a while ago that more than 5,000 stores across Chile now accept cryptocurrencies.

One such user thought it was a hoax until she decided to research more into it. She found that right now, the stores are accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar Lumens as payment through a website called Cryptocompra. The website offers free sign up for businesses for integrating cryptocurrencies on e-commerce platforms using plugins, according to a blog post by the user.

The crypto options also come with a lesser fee structure as compared to the fiat peso option for the sellers, thus providing a stiff competition to the fiat circles.

Venezuela

Venezuela Becomes Second Largest Cryptocurrency Market for Dash: Dash, a cryptocurrency known for its privacy has announced that Venezuela has become the second largest market for the cryptocurrency in the world.

Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core Group said:

“Earlier this year, Venezuela became our number two market even ahead of China and Russia, which are of course huge into cryptocurrency right now.”

The economic crisis in the country is forcing many Venezuelans to turn to cryptocurrency to circumnavigate the high levels of hyperinflation prevalent since the last few years. Cryptocurrencies other than state-run Petro are banned in the country.

President Announces Move to Tie Cryptocurrency to Bolivar: The President of Venezuela Nicholas Maduro has announced new devaluing measures for the national fiat currency, the bolivar and announced that the new state-run Petro cryptocurrency is pegged to the bolivar now. 

The widely criticised cryptocurrency was launched last year by the Maduro administration but the country is facing difficulties in gaining more acceptance for it, both domestically and abroad.

Bitcoin Venezuela Founder Sees Rejection of Petro: The Venezuelan state cryptocurrency Petro could be in for an early demise as it is reportedly being rejected in favor of more popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dash.

Randy Brito, the founder of Bitcoin Venezuela believes that the rejection of Petro is being experienced because of a lack of trust in the government regarding the new initiative. According to him:

“People don’t trust the government here on anything to do with economics or currency management because they have proven to be so bad. The Petro is not backed by anything, there is no way to back a digital currency to a physical asset like a barrel of oil without having to trust a third party. Here, the third party is the government, so I don’t think anyone that understands this concept believes that they are telling the truth.”

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The post Cryptocurrency News Roundup 17-24 August 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Bitcoin Press Release: Skycoin, a decentralized blockchain company are looking to expand their scope by breaking into the Korean market.

August 17, 2018, Shanghai – Skycoin is a high-performance blockchain project for a new decentralized networking protocol. Skycoin’s revolutionary ecosystem will overhaul the current internet with a faster, more secure replacement. Bitcoin was the first generation prototype for decentralized economics, created to give citizens across the globe unrestricted access to a financial transaction. In addition, Ethereum is blockchain 2.0, the platform designed for the ability to easily launch hundreds of blockchain projects.

Skycoin is blockchain 3.0, the next level of decentralized engineering with an incentivized ecosystem and infinite scalability. It combines and improves upon the benefits of Bitcoin and Ethereum while solving the problems of speed, centralization, and scalability that arose in their development and use.

Skycoin consists of an ecosystem of technologies that work together in unison to provide a complete package:

• Skycoin – The digital currency that produces Coin Hours for network bandwidth.
• Skywire – Decentralized wireless mesh network for a secure, fast, Web 3.0
• Obelisk – Consensus algorithm that distributes a “web of trust”
• Fiber – Infinitely scalable parallel network of blockchains

Skycoin: Third Generation Blockchain

How does Skycoin stack up against its predecessors? Skycoin comes in as the third generation project, solving the problems of scalability with Fiber. Therefore, Fiber is Skycoin’s infinitely scalable solution, rather than blockchain projects launching on one blockchain resulting in congestion of the network. Furthermore, Fiber implements parallel blockchains, allowing applications to have fully customizable implementations. The more projects that exist on Fiber, the stronger the system becomes.

Skycoin fixes the security issues present in Ethereum with CX, Skycoin’s general purpose programming language. In addition, CX allows users to program contractual agreements on the blockchain while enabling users to amend the digital contracts to address any bugs. The CX programming language is built on the premise of security for the average programmer. Skycoin solves many real-world problems and employs financial incentives for its users in Skywire.  Furthermore, it aims to update the internet with a faster, more secure version that pays its users for providing bandwidth.

Skycoin in South Korea

Korea has set itself up as a country that consistently stays ahead of the technological curve. With a tremendous appetite for technological advancement, Koreans boast the position of being consistently first in the Bloomberg innovation index while also remaining a top contender for technical density. Therefore, Korea unsurprisingly has embraced blockchain technology, implementing classification standards & regulatory frameworks. Currently, some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges are backed by the countries largest conglomerates.

The rollout of decentralized technology will be aided by Korea’s current technology status. In addition, Koreans are technically inclined, they want smooth running products that are easy and fun to use. Smartphones created a substantial advancement in the way we communicate, texting (often with a small charge) evolved toward applications that provided free text services. Furthermore, applications like Kakao talk that provided a better user experience eventually overtook the first movers and became the most used platforms in the country. The propagation of usable customer-focused technology is similar to blockchain projects and their iterations through time.

Ethereum provided for a significant testing ground as a platform for decentralized technology, Skycoin perfects the ideas and processes of Ethereum while creating a usable, incentivized platform that will increase the proliferation of blockchain in the region.

To learn more visit the Website: https://www.skycoin.net/

Telegram Bounty Channel: https://t.me/skycoinbounty
Read the White Paper – https://www.skycoin.net/whitepapers/
Connect on Twitter – https://twitter.com/skycoinproject

Media Contact
Contact Name: Danish
Contact Email: [email protected]

Skycoin is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

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Advertising networks are slowly gaining traction in the cryptocurrency world. With numerous platforms accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, an interesting scenario has been created. Some of those platforms have begun accepting alternative currencies as well. The following platforms are ranked in alphabetical order.

8. A-Ads

One of the largest cryptocurrency-oriented advertising networks is known as Anonymous Ads, or A-Ads. Its main method of payment is Bitcoin, although other currencies may be added in the future. Its reputation has been well-documented over the years. More importantly, publishers do not register on the platform, as there is no collection of personal data at any stage. Money can be earned through unique impressions, referred sales, and so forth.

7. Adbit

Unlike most other service providers on this list, Adbit specializes in letting advertisers bid against one another for available ad spaces. It gives publishers a lot more options to choose from, while also creating a far more fair ecosystem for all parties involved. Popular websites with high conversion rates will be able to earn more money over time.

6. BitMedia

In the world of advertising, text ads are almost obsolete. For BitMedia, it is still a worthwhile option to explore alongside banner advertising. It is somewhat similar to how Google’s AdSense operates, though with a much greater focus on cryptocurrency. Strict requirements make this program a bit more difficult to get into, but the higher payouts make that effort worthwhile.

5. CoinAd

It is very uncommon for advertising networks to work on an invite-only basis. CoinAd differentiates itself from the pack by only focusing on worthwhile websites with high rates of trust and quality. For advertisers, this guarantees they are not deceived or bleeding money, something that can happen when sticking to more traditional advertising models.

4. CoinTraffic

Although this site flies under the radar a bit, CoinTraffic is intent on bridging the gap between advertisers and publishers. With its top-of-the-line support system, CoinTraffic has an edge over some of the other platforms on this list. With earnings calculated in fiat currency, it is also a bit easier for publishers to see how much they earn with CoinTraffic. Payments are still made in Bitcoin, however.

3. CoinURL

Giving users multiple ways to earn money with cryptocurrency advertising is always a smart business decision. CoinURL has made a name for itself by offering two types of revenue models. Its banner ads are the traditional way to go, but there are also shortened links to make money with. It is a very different type of advertising, although it can lead to some new business models along the way.

2. Mellow Ads

One of the older cryptocurrency advertising networks on the market today is Mellow Ads. It makes it easy to get involved with advertisers, but if one’s website has no quality traffic, the earnings will reflect this deficit. Due to its system of paying per unique click or view, earnings may not be what one would expect at first. However, a bit of hard work can go a very long way in this regard.

1. Token.Ad

One of the newer cryptocurrency advertising networks goes by the name of Token Ad. It allows users to benefit from the most efficient ad format to make advertisements blend in with normal website content. Advertisers will need to bid for available ad space, which should be rather beneficial to publishers. This platform lends itself to many different purposes, including generating buzz for crypto events or ICOs.

Multinational investment and financial services bank, Bank of America has applied for a patent that covers a cryptocurrency storage system for use by custodians.

Specifically, the application describes a computing device that can manage blockchain encryption tags and handle a substantial number of daily transactions.

The US Patent & Trademark Office published details of the application on Thursday following its initial filing in April. It outlines a system of entrusting cryptocurrency accounts’ secured private keys to a custodian third party such as a bank. It appears to anticipate a future where the general public has mass adopted cryptocurrencies and require traditional banking services for their assets.

Describing its place and necessity in the future of financial services, the application reads: ”As technology advances, financial transactions involving cryptocurrency have become more common. For some enterprises, it may be desirable to securely store cryptocurrency.” The Bank of America began its development of this online cryptocurrency vault system in 2014.

Don’t Take This as a Pro-Crypto Stance

While Bank of America may have applied for dozens of blockchain patents (several including cryptocurrency solutions) and invested substantially in blockchain research, top executives at the firm have open criticized Bitcoin on multiple occasions. The chief technology officer called it a ”troubling” payment system due to what she referred to as the lack of ”transparency” that makes it more challenging to catch wrongdoers in the system.

Clients of the bank have been barred from using its credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies. Bank of America’s latest annual report references cryptocurrencies as a threat to its business model; apparently, it sees the way to combat this is as to get ahead of the game and monetize cryptocurrency use cases via patenting innovations.

The report warns of concerns that people will turn to alternative investment methods outside of its jurisdiction, reading: ”clients may choose to conduct business with other market participants who engage in business or offer products in areas we deem speculative or risky, such as cryptocurrencies.”

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Cryptocurrency trading is a business which has gained a lot of popularity over the past few months. Recent price spikes and declines have sparked a lot of interest in this new form of money. Unfortunately for traders, there are a lot of so-called “fat finger” trades taking place as well. Below are some notorious examples in chronological order.

5. The Mysterious BTC-e Bug

Back when BTC-e was still the name of the exchange in 2015, someone successfully caused the Bitcoin price to briefly drop from $280 all the way down to $55.12. At that time, $280 was considered to be a relatively high value for Bitcoin, even though it is peanuts compared to today’s prices. There is still no official explanation as to what triggered this sell-off exactly, although it is a good example of fat-fingering trades.

4. Gemini’s Bitcoin Pump

Most people tend to forget the Gemini exchange has been around for several years. In the early days of the platform, the Bitcoin price surged to $2,200 due to a fat-fingered trade. Although this was only a brief spike, going from $245 to $2,200 in one major trade shows how important it is to place one’s zeroes in the right position. Human error is a lot more common than most traders assume, although these major spikes are not too common, thankfully.

3. GDAX Crashes the Ethereum Price

Even though GDAX is no longer operating under that name, the platform has a bit of an interesting history with Ethereum trading. In June of 2017, the Ethereum price experienced a major flash crash on this platform alone, causing the value to bottom out at $0.1. Falling from a value of $319 to such low numbers is very unusual, and the incident cost a lot of traders a lot of money.

It is evident this was not a fat-fingered trade, but rather an issue with the GDAX platform at the time. Although the initial blame was placed on a multimillion-dollar market sell order, it eventually caused low buy orders to be filled after stop loss and margin traders got liquidated in very quick succession. Thankfully, the Ethereum price rebounded fairly quickly afterward, and such an incident never occurred on GDAX again.

2. Binance’s Viacoin Orderbook

When it comes to trading alternative currencies, things can go from bad to worse fairly quickly due to these cryptos’ lower liquidity. On Binance, one trader managed to trigger a 9,000% increase in the Viacoin price by nearly buying up the entire order book. Rumors surfaced regarding this being a hacking attempt, although the exact explanation was never made public.

1. The $90,000 Bitcoin Price

The year 2018 has been interesting for cryptocurrency in many ways. On one of Thailand’s smaller exchanges, the value of Bitcoin briefly spiked to $90,000 several months ago. It is very likely this was another fat-finger trade, although achieving an ROI at such a price seems to be nearly impossible for the foreseeable future.

As the world of cryptocurrency continues to grow, more and more of the general population are exposed to and interested in purchasing Bitcoin and other altcoins. Despite the massive growth of the space over the past year, methods for first purchases are still limited and largely confusing. Bitcoin of America is seeking to change this, as their Over-the-Count Bitcoin exchange enables citizens throughout the US to purchase Bitcoin seamlessly.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

For veterans in the cryptocurrency space, the notion that your first crypto purchase is still tedious and convoluted may seem asinine. However, a recent video exemplifies just this, for the general population (especially those in the US), cryptocurrency purchase are hard. That’s where Bitcoin of America comes in. Bitcoin of America is arming the population with a simple, secure, and straightforward service for exchanging Bitcoin.

Three Ways to Play

Bitcoin of America offers three methods for exchanging Bitcoin. The first method of exchange is a bank-to-bank wire transfer. Account creation with Bitcoin of America will enroll you in the banking functionalities offered by the service. You are able to wire money from traditional banking accounts to Bitcoin of America, alongside a Bitcoin address, to receive BTC. On first transaction, the service will confirm that you are prepared to make the transaction and all variables are correct, so that no slip ups may occur.

The next way to exchange Bitcoin is through Bitcoin of America’s Bitcoin ATMs. Coined Bitcoin Teller Machines, BTMs allow for Bitcoin exchange 24/7 in just minutes. Although Bitcoin of America is based in Chicago, there BTM coverage currently spans 9 locations in major cities throughout the US, and is continuously expanding. Customers can exchange Bitcoin with cash, credit, or debit card at any of the BTMs.

Lastly, Bitcoin of America’s services span to 1,900 store locations throughout the US. Through their Bitcoin of America account, users can place BTC orders that they later fulfill in store. Orders are time stamped so the exact rate of exchange is locked in. After placing the order, users simply make their payment at the store location closest to them in order to receive their BTC.

Utmost Ease

The three ways to exchange offered by Bitcoin of America allow users to purchase Bitcoin in whichever manner is easiest and most comfortable for them. In addition, Bitcoin of America offers live customer support 24/7. Articles and guides are often dated, confusing, and overall not entirely indicative of the problems faced by users. Bitcoin of America’s live support means that any issue that comes up can be addressed directly and in the best approach possible. Beyond this, same day settlement options means there is no wait for the eager to get involved with cryptocurrency exactly when they are ready to!

To get in touch with Bitcoin of America, check out their website and follow them on Twitter.

Virtually all of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are in the green today, with Bitcoin pushing $6,750, Ethereum at $280, and all of the top 10 coins seeing growth of 1-4 percent