Month: August 2018

Bitcoin (BTC)

At press time, bitcoin is trading for about $6,985. This is a significant rise from yesterday’s fall to $6,800, and bitcoin is once again expected to strike the $7,000 mark.

The Satis Group – which advises businesses on initial coin offerings (ICOs) – just released a new report that suggests bitcoin could surge to $96,000 within the next five years. In addition, it states that the cryptocurrency market will reach $3.6 trillion, and that specific altcoins – like Monero and Decred – will spike to unprecedented numbers.

Representatives claim:

“Currency and privacy networks will be the largest beneficiaries, as the most fundamental value will stem from a store of value use cases.”

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is currently trading for about $283. This is nine dollars more than where it stood yesterday afternoon.

The biggest story in the Ethereum space comes by way of CBOE, which states it will launch Ethereum futures by the end of the year. The only thing the team is waiting on is further clarification by way of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). To help expedite the process, CBOE is basing all upcoming ether futures on a platform offered by Gemini, the New York-based digital exchange brought to fruition by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

CBOE president Chris Concannon has often said that the company would not stop at bitcoin, and that it would add further cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and bitcoin cash.

Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is currently trading for about 33 cents. This is roughly one cent less than where it stood just a few days ago.

Satis Group – which predicted a massive boom for bitcoin in the next five years – believes that Ripple’s XRP is due for a monster crash, and that the currency will be trading for one cent by the year 2023.

Satis Group cites three distinct problems with Ripple’s infrastructure that could bring the price down. Authors of the latest report say that XRP is marketed in a misleading manner; that it is not needed within its own network and is a centralized currency.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Bitcoin cash is trading for about $545. That’s roughly $12 higher than where it stood last week.

Digital currency payment platform Bitpay has recently made it possible for merchants to receive payments and settlements in BCH. Customers can take advantage of this new system by utilizing their built-in wallets on the Bitpay platform.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is trading for $61. Last week, LTC was stuck hovering at the $55 mark, and its break of the $60 line is seen as a positive sign of maturity.

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee says that during bear markets, it’s always smart to purchase a little crypto for one’s portfolio using money you can “afford to lose.” He comments:

“With the price depressed, I think it’s a good time for people to sit and have their heads down and work and get stuff done, and that’s what I’ve seen in the past few bear markets, actually.”

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Asia and Australia

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

Japan

Actress takes role with Tokyo police to fight crypto fraud and cyber crimes: Japanese singer and celebrity actress Rie Kitahara has appeared in a public awareness campaign against cyber crime and crypto fraud in the country.

The campaign was an event that included 1,700 guests and focused on cyber crimes like phishing and fake websites. The police department is currently cooperating with big exchanges in the country including SBI Virtual Currencies, Bitflyer, Bitpoint Japan, GMO Coin, Bittrade, Quoine, Bitbank, Btc Box, Money Partners and Coincheck.

South Korea

Government hosts blockchain awareness hackathon: The South Korean government has announced that it will be holding a Blockchain Grand Hackathon Challenge in partnership with Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA) and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The hackathon challenge announced last week is a chance for blockchain developers to create solutions for social issues, distributed apps and create innovations for public and private industries. Participants will have until 28 September to sign up for the hackathon. The tournament also has a prize pot of KRW 100 million (USD 90,450).

North Korea

Government to host Pyongyang blockchain conference: The North Korean government in a first, is expected to announce a blockchain conference in the capital of Pyongyang later this year.

While North Korea is usually in the crypto news for the wrong reasons, the government has probably decided it is time to start opening up the country in anticipation of ending of tough sanctions against the country. There is little news regarding the event overall and its agenda, however.

India

Government considering rupee-backed digital currency to combat rising fiat cost: The Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India are deliberating the introduction of a rupee-backed cryptocurrency in the country to lower the burden of printing paper money and coins that is creating a crisis.

According to Financial Services company EY India’s Manesh Makhia:

“The idea of a central bank-issued digital currency is very promising though issues around digital counterfeiting will need to be addressed.”

The issues started with demonetization in the country that resulted in 99.3% of the money being returned to the bank with just over INR 100 billion left in the market. A rupee-backed cryptocurrency will surely solve many solutions for the country according to reserve bank officials.

Cambodia

Oxfam to trial blockchain app to help Cambodian farmers with pricing rice: Oxfam International has said that it is piloting a blockchain-based farming project that aims to help rice farmers get a fair price for their produce.

There are over 50 rice farmers already on board for the project which is dubbed Blocrice. Oxfam aims to pilot test the project and then introduce it across the country.

Malaysia

Crypto Expo Asia to be held in Malaysia: The “mega event” Crypto Expo Asia will be held in Malaysia this year, bringing blockchain professionals from across the world in the Southeast Asian nation.

The event is being organized by FINEXPO, an influential fintech company in the area and aims to bring a real show. Over 30,000 crypto enthusiasts, investors, traders, innovators and pioneers are expected to attend the event.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong looking for blockchain professionals: Hong Kong is increasing its support for blockchain development and innovation in the country and is on the lookout for more industry professionals to focus on the DLT side of things.

A talent list issued by the government of Hong Kong lists DLT skills as new professions that it needs for future development of vital industries.

Australia

Government may develop nationwide blockchain platform: The Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) announced that a data consortium has been launched with the help of IBM and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills for building a nationwide blockchain smart contracts platform for Australian businesses to collaborate and do business with.

The platform will be called Australian National Blockchain (ANB) and is being presented as a future game-changer in the future. The pilot project will start using the IBM Blockchain.

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In the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency, events and conferences play an increasingly important role. During the month of September, there will be some appealing events to attend, assuming one can afford to do so. The following events are ordered by date.

#6 BlockchainConf

Residents of the United States may want to mark September 5-7 in their agendas. The BlockchainConf event will take place in Atlanta and run for three full days. It is an event focused on blockchain developers, as there is a growing demand for specialists in this particular industry. As such, the event will offer two full days of presentations and one full-day workshop involving blockchain technology.

#5 Blockchain Practitioner Conference China

Some people may think it is odd to see China pay attention to blockchain given their negative stance toward cryptocurrencies. Even so, the government is convinced blockchain is the right way forward. On September 18th. the yearly Blockchain Practitioner Conference will take place in Shanghai. It is expected there will be several dozen startups displaying their  technology, as this event is usually attended by over 1,000 individuals from all over the world.

#4 International Blockchain Summit

The International Blockchain Summit is not a new event, although it will be hosted in Moscow of all places. Russia is a country with conflicting opinions on cryptocurrency, but the general consensus indicates blockchain is the next big thing. On September 25th, the International Blockchain Summit will host dozens of speakers who share their expertise on blockchain technology and how it will evolve in the years to come.

#3 Blockchain Live

Although London is the financial capital of Europe, there are still concerns as to how the blockchain industry will affect that situation. During the Blockchain Live event on September 26th, thousands of attendees and dozens of exhibitors will share their visions on the blockchain with the world. It is an event which caters to people from all strides of life, albeit it will lean toward investors and developers first and foremost.

#2 Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Baku

Azerbaijan has been a relatively quiet country when it comes to both blockchain and cryptocurrencies. During this event on September 27th, that situation may come to change. It is not the only event organized under the Blockchain and Bitcoin Conference banner this year, but it is one that stands out primarily because of its location. Numerous speakers have already confirmed they will attend this event, which should make for a great showcase.

#1 DevChain Conference London

This one-day event organized on September 28th, will primarily focus on the development side of blockchain technology. It is evident this is an event for developers first and foremost, and there will be various talks and workshops to get a more hands-on experience. It will take place at Canary Wharf, which is the financial heart of London. An interesting and promising event developers will not want to miss.

As the price of Bitcoin remains stuck between $5,500 and $8,500 for three months now, the Bitcoin trading community wonders when the spell will break and in which direction.

Kevin Lu, the director of quantitative research at Element Digital Asset Management, a full-service advisor for the digital asset economy, said the Bitcoin market is in a reflexive state and its range trading is due to being dominated by short-term market participants.

Boring Bitcoin Market Stuck Between Day Traders and Lack of Narrative

Bitcoin has been challenging the $7,000 handle since Tuesday, but a definitive break above it hasn’t been on the cards as of yet.

The trading of the number one cryptocurrency in the market, with 53.4% dominance according to CoinMarketCap, has become boring. That opinion has been shared since late April 2018 as DataTrek expert Nicholas Colas said “it needs a new narrative”.

As August comes to an end and the trading industry returns from summer holidays, Bitcoin traders grow anxious as the market remains stable following one of the most volatile price fluctuations seen in history. This has pushed the cryptocurrency to the $20,000 area and the Bitcoin market to over $330 billion in value.

Behind the still waters is the dominance of short-term traders, wrote Thejas Nalval, portfolio director, and Kevin Lu, director of quantitative research at Element Digital Asset Management.

“Within our own team, we tend to believe the market is in an ultra reflexive state currently. It moves within a range in response to seemingly every bit of news […] This is likely the result of trading having been dominated by short-term players that are using structured derivative vehicles with leverage to express intraday speculation.”

Nalval’s report compared Bitcoin trading to Brick Breaker, a video game in which the player must smash a wall of bricks by deflecting a bouncing ball with a paddle.

While day traders could be responsible for the ranging market Bitcoin is stuck in, the cryptocurrency may need something big to reactivate the long-term trend. Sam Doctor, a data analyst at New York-based Fundstrat, argued that, as an effective hedge of the financial markets, Bitcoin may prove itself when other markets start to fall.

“One of the reasons to own cryptocurrencies is because they are an effective hedge. Until something happens to disprove that thesis, you aren’t looking to sell them so long as other asset classes are falling.”

The cryptocurrency market is printing gains on Friday, with Bitcoin trading +1.15% higher (24-hour change), according to CoinMarketCap.

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Mozilla Firefox intends to add a function to block cryptomining scripts on websites by default in one of its upcoming releases.

At press time, the father of cryptocurrency is back in the high $6,900 range and is trading for just shy of $7,000. After a minor dip that brought it down to about $6,800 yesterday afternoon, the asset is showing signs of recovery and moving back up the financial ladder.

The brief fall comes from buyers’ inability to find support, though now bitcoin has found a stable base at $6,900. For the currency to move ahead, it must break the $7,000 line, and any fall below $6,800 could potentially cause bitcoin to drop as low as $6,400 or even $6,000 granted buyers aren’t careful.

Technical charts suggest the bears are still in control, though the bulls have indeed gained their footing, and volatility is averaging out. Right now, the price of $6,985 is expected to hold, though bitcoin is still classified as “oversold,” meaning the bears control most of the coin’s present movement.

Thejas Nalval – portfolio director of quantitative research at Element Digital Asset Management – explains that short-term traders in the crypto space are largely responsible for the fluctuations witnessed in bitcoin’s price. He states:

“Within our own team, we tend to believe the market is in an ultra-reflective state. It moves within a range in response to seemingly every bit of news. This is likely the result of trading having been dominated by short-term players that are using structured derivative vehicles with leverage to express intraday speculation.”

This kind of triangle breakout has analysts like Alexander Kuptsikevich of FX Pro convinced that bitcoin will never break the $7,000 mark and could potentially fall to new lows by the end of the year. He comments:

“The inability of bitcoin to grow above $7,000 seems to be a serious caution. The technical analysis teaches us that the movement with such a triangle often ends up with a breakdown of support and a sharp impulse to decline. In this case, bitcoin has a serious chance of reaching the level of $3,000.”

He further states that bitcoin’s support near the $6,000 mark could create potential bearish signals.

By contrast, Satis Group – which advises businesses on initial coin offerings (ICOs) – believes that bitcoin is set to surge to $96,000 within the next five years, and that the cryptocurrency market will strike $3.6 trillion by 2028. In other words, crypto will be a big deal. The company is also predicting substantial growth in the prices of various altcoins such as Monero and Decred.

Representatives claim:

“Currency and privacy networks will be the largest beneficiaries, as the most fundamental value will stem from a store of value use cases.”

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Ivan Duque, who recently took the office as the president of Colombia, promises to relieve crypto and blockchain businesses in the country of rent taxes for as long as five years

Finding new use cases for the blockchain industry is not necessarily the biggest challenge. Ensuring those use cases can be commercialized is something else entirely. In the medical sector, a fair few companies are looking to introduce blockchain technology. The following companies are listed alphabetically, and have enjoyed various degrees of success in bridging the gap between the two ecosystems.

#6 Chronicled

Although the company is not necessarily focusing its attention on building new medicine, tackling the supply chain side of things is equally as important. Chronicled combines blockchain with IoT to improve traceability and accountability of the medical industry as a whole. Especially when it comes to time-sensitive delivery of vaccines, blockchain can introduce some key advantages not found in other technological solutions.

#5 Doc.AI

California appears to be an interesting place for blockchain-based healthcare startups, as this is the second company in the state on this list. Doc.AI aims to combine natural language processing and computer vision with blockchain technology to generate understandable insights based on medical data. Most of this information is incomprehensible to consumers. There is a lot of work to be done in this industry.

#4 Guardtime

The staff of Guardtime is very different from what one would expect. The Estonian fir employs cryptographers, security architects, and cybersecurity experts. Its goal is to bring blockchain technology to healthcare in terms of securing health records of all Estonians. Given the number of data breaches affecting this industry, that is not an unnecessarily luxury in this day and age.

#3 Medicalchain

Building a decentralized distributed ledger platform to store health records is becoming a competitive industry. Medicalchain is one of the ventures active in this industry, and they support telemedicine services as well. As such, patients can directly communicate with their doctors through the online medium at their disposal. It is evident this venture has a lot of potential, and its partnership with The Groves Medical Group will go a long way in this regard.

#2 Nebula Genomics

Perhaps the most ambitious project of them all comes in the form of Nebula Genomics. This particular venture will allow consumers to order up their entire genome for a more than affordable price. Ensuring this information can be accessed and stored in a secure manner will be done through blockchain technology. Enhanced genomic data protection is a worthwhile business model.

#1 Patientory

Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts will have come across the name Patientory before. It is a blockchain platform to secure health data for all parties, including patients and providers. There is also a mobile application to let patients create a profile so they can track their own health history. It is intent on becoming a one-stop solution for all one’s medical needs and purposes. Living up to these expectations will be challenging, for obvious reasons.

According to new figures provided by the US Energy Information Administration and obtained by Cleantechnica, an energy-focused publication, renewable energy sources surpassed nuclear energy sources in 2018, which could have a profound impact on the global crypto mining sector.

For many years, especially in December of 2017 during the peak of the cryptocurrency market, major publications and government institutions have heavily criticized the energy intensive nature of public proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

But, a Phys.org article entitled “Stop worrying about how much energy bitcoin uses” initiated a new discussion on the actual energy consumption of Bitcoin on whether the consumption of electricity by cryptocurrencies can be justified.

Katrina Kelly-Pitou, a clean energy researcher, wrote:

“I am a researcher who studies clean energy technology, specifically the transition toward decarbonized energy systems. I think that the conversation around bitcoin and energy has been oversimplified. New technologies – such as data centers, computers and before them trains, planes and automobiles – are often energy-intensive. Over time, all of these have become more efficient, a natural progression of any technology: Saving energy equates to saving costs.”

Sources of Energy

Cryptocurrency mining facilities are incentivized to establish their centers in regions that have naturally cold climate, which include China, Norway, Chile, and many European nations. These regions, especially China, Norway, and Chile, have enormous amounts of clean energy in abundance due to the advancement in solar power plants.

At one point last year, the government of Chile produced too much energy through its solar power plants that the spot price of solar energy reached 0, which meant that individuals, households, and businesses were able to rely on a renewable energy source without any cost.

This year in the US, renewable sources of energy took nearly 20 percent of the market share, surpassing nuclear energy which produced 19.867 percent of the country’s electricity. While renewable sources of energy included biomass, geothermal, hydropower, wind, and solar, the report from the government specifically revealed that solar and wind produced the most amount of electricity, expanding by 27.6 percent since last year.

In contrast, coal, which energy enthusiasts resort to when criticizing Bitcoin’s energy consumption, generated nearly 27 percent of the nation’s electricity, a level that could be easily surpassed by renewable sources of energy given that they expand at the current rate throughout the years to come.

“According to EIA data, coal only contributed 26.93% to the country’s energy mix, well down on traditionally historical trends. In fact, when adding up all fossil fuel sources, they only account for 60% of domestic electrical generation — where only five years ago the figure stood at 68.6%,” Cleantechnica reported.

Bitcoin and Energy

Cryptocurrencies are a new asset class and the cryptocurrency sector is still at its infancy. The global mining industry is dominated by one institution called Bitmain and as the industry grows, more efficient and practical ways to produce cryptocurrencies will be discovered, possibly through the manufacturing of devices that can mine cryptocurrencies with less energy.

More to that, if renewable energe sources can continue to contribute to major regions like the US and China at the current rate, then the burden on national electric grid operators will be reduced, making electricity less of an issue pertaining to cryptocurrencies.

As Kelly-Pitou explained, it is also crucial to acknowledge that the energy consumption of Bitcoin relative to the traditional finance sector that is based on the fiat system is low.

“Electricity is 90 percent of the cost to mine bitcoin. As such, bitcoin mining uses an exorbitant amount of power: somewhere between an estimated 30 terrawatt hours alone in 2017 alone. That’s as much electricity as it takes to power the entire nation of Ireland in one year. Indeed, this is a lot, but not exorbitant. Banking consumes an estimated 100 terrawatts of power annually,” she said.

Developers agreed to reduce ethereum issuance from 3 ETH to 2 ETH in an upcoming hard fork, Constantinople.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) is planning on launching Ethereum futures trading, pending approval from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The futures are projected to launch by the end of 2018, and will be based on Ether’s price on the Gemini exchange. This would make it the only cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin to have official futures trading in the United States.

CBOE is one of two exchanges that offer Bitcoin futures trading, the other exchange being the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Bitcoin futures trading launched in December 2017 and has become a popular crypto investment mechanism, with billions of dollars of Bitcoin futures contracts traded on CME every month.

Ethereum is probably the only other cryptocurrency that has any chance of getting approved for futures trading by the CFTC. This is because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared Ethereum is not a security since it is sufficiently decentralized and, therefore, falls under CFTC jurisdiction as a commodity. Out of the thousands of different cryptocurrencies, only Bitcoin and Ethereum have been officially given the green light to be traded without SEC approval.

Additionally, Ethereum has the second highest crypto market cap at USD 28.6 billion as of this writing on 31 August 2018, versus Bitcoin’s market cap of USD 120.7 billion. Ethereum has trading volume in excess of USD 1 billion per day, making it liquid enough to support institutional investment, a key factor for being compatible with futures trading.

The launching of officially-regulated Ethereum futures has both a downside and an upside. The upside is that this will give institutional investors a way to invest in the cryptocurrency on major stock trading platforms, and could generate positive speculation in the Ethereum market.

The downside is that Ethereum futures contracts will be derivatives that are backed by cash and settled for cash, instead of being backed by actual Ether, effectively making them paper Ethereum. When institutional investors buy contracts, it won’t increase spot demand or price, and actually will divert money away from the spot Ethereum markets long term. Therefore, Ethereum’s price long term will probably be lower than it would be if this paper Ethereum on the CBOE futures market didn’t exist.

This isn’t the first time paper Ethereum has been issued however, BitMEX recently began offering Ethereum derivatives trading. This could be worse than anything possible on CBOE since BitMEX traders can short Ethereum and even leverage their shorts 100x. The CEO of BitMEX ominously called Ethereum a shitcoin and says it will crash to below USD 100, from its current position near USD 300. He said this right after BitMEX listed Ethereum.

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