Day: September 4, 2018

Abra’s CEO is expressing confidence that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the first Bitcoin ETF later this year.

In the past few months, news regarding the approval and denial of Bitcoin ETFs have dominated the cryptocurrency community’s discussions, and many people see the potential approval of the CBOE VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF as the next major catalyst for a Bitcoin bull run.

Bill Barhydt, the CEO of Bitcoin payment processor, Abra, explained to CNBC that the SEC has been slow to approve any Bitcoin ETFs due to the applications not fitting the financial model that the SEC is used to.

While speaking to the hosts of CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Barhydt explained his views:

“I think the issue with the SEC, quite frankly, is that the people who are doing the applications don’t fit mold of who the SEC is used to approving…I used to work for Goldman Sachs, but if you look at how I’m dressed you probably wouldn’t know it. So I probably, unfortunately, couldn’t go like I am here to a meeting at the SEC to say I’m applying for the ability to issue an ETF.”

SEC Discerning on Which Bitcoin ETF to Approve

The SEC has yet to show any signs of approving a Bitcoin ETF, first declining the reapplication for the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF and since declining several other Bitcoin ETFs. The CBOE VanEck/SolidX ETF is the most anticipated one, as many analysts see it as the most likely to be approved.

The markets saw a rapid downturn following news that the SEC was postponing their decision on the VanEck/SolidX ETF until later this month, signaling that regulators need more time to reach a conclusive decision. Many cryptocurrency advocates believe that the approval of a Bitcoin ETF will lead to unprecedented institutional investments, which could lead to a major rally.

While speaking about which ETF application will be approved, Barhydt explained that it will take an applicant that “looks, feels, and smells” the way the SEC wants them to. He added that a reputable, trusted, financial institution will likely be the first to garner the SEC’s blessing.

Recently, CBOE’s president and CEO, Chris Concannon, expressed that he is convinced that their application will receive approval, adding that the SEC may need to alter their rules and expectations before approving any applications.

While speaking to Bloomberg last month, Concannon said:

“As we chip away at their issues to make them less concerned, at some point they’ll be comfortable with an ETF… Having the underlying futures come to market first, prior to an ETF, I think you have a healthier, more mature market. The problem with a futures-based ETF is, what is the right level of liquidity? It’s never been tested before.”

Abra’s Barhydt importantly noted that he would “bet” that the first Bitcoin ETF will receive approval within the next year. He said, “it’s going to happen in the next year, I would actually make a bet on it. There is too much demand for it.”

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Cointelegraph

Bitcoin Seals Further Gains in a Mostly Green Market as Ethereum Fails to Break $300 Cointelegraph Having reclaimed the $7,000 price point August 31, Bitcoin has seen a solid upwards trend and is now pushing $7,400. The top coin is trading an impressive $550 higher than its low on its weekly chart, with its 7-day rolling gains at almost 7 percent ...

Cato Institute (blog)

Why Bitcoin Is Not an Environmental Catastrophe Cato Institute (blog) The environmental impact of cryptocurrencies looms large among the many concerns voiced by sceptics. Earlier this year, Agustín Carstens, who runs the influential Bank for International Settlements, called Bitcoin “a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi ... Announcing Crypto Blue ChipsSeeking Alpha all 32 news articles »

Partnerships play an integral role in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Projects focusing on innovative concepts need to gain mainstream traction if they want to survive in the long run. The IOTA team has been actively working on forging key partnerships with some of the biggest companies which come to mind. The following examples are ranked in terms of perceived long-term potential.

#6 Luxoft / St. Petersburg Polytechnic

Creating a partnership with software giant Luxoft has been a major milestone for the IOTA project to date. Through this collaboration, IOTA aims to optimize its Tangle protocol and unlock new features along the way. This partnership also encompasses the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, which is one of the few academic institutions to focus its attention on IOTA at this stage.  

#5 Innogy

It is not uncommon for energy firms to focus their attention on blockchain technology. Through the Innogy Innovation Hub, the team is exploring IOTA technology to unlock the “Machine Economy“. This method of approach can turn any component into an economically independent machine. For regular consumers, this collaboration may not yield any real commercially viable products in the near future, but it will still help advance the overall development of this ecosystem.

#4 Alpha Venturi

Partnering with healthcare providers is always an option worth exploring for any cryptocurrency or blockchain firm. IOTA opted to forge an alliance with Alpha Venturi to form a new distributed ledger-based technology research network. This is one of the long-term projects IOTA is involved in at this time. It will take advantage of the advancing digitization of medical records and technology.

#3 SatoshiPay

Micropayment systems with a focus on cryptocurrency can always benefit from adding new partners to their list. Collaboration is key in any industry, and cryptocurrency is no exception in this regard. Through this joint venture, SatoshiPay has taken the bold step to step away from Bitcoin technology and favor a more scalable solution. Settling micropayments often requires technology different for Bitcoin, primarily due to costs and efficiency concerns.

#2 Evernym

In this day and age, online identity systems are becoming a lot more popular. One unified identity to be used across different services and platforms can make life a lot more convenient for companies and consumers alike. IOTA and Evernym have partnered up to explore options pertaining to Tangle technology in this regard. Creating a new digital identity system will take a lot of time, but more competition is more than welcome in this space.

#1 Volkswagen

The biggest partnership for IOTA to date comes in the form of collaborating with Volkswagen. The automobile company has shown a key interest in the Internet of Things, as well as blockchain technology. IOTA offers the best of both worlds in this regard, thus it makes a lot of sense for firms such as Volkswagen to explore the options available to them.

Tron’s TRX currency is now trading for just over two cents. While it’s higher than it’s been over the past few days, momentum for TRX does seem to be falling slightly, and the bull behavior that’s somehow graced Tron’s presence is losing its strength.

In the long run, bearish behavior is expected in Tron’s future per technical charts, and this will likely continue until Tron breaks current resistance. Once that occurs, the coin could go as high as three cents in the coming weeks. Present support sits at $0.0223, though if the bulls aren’t careful, things could soon fall to about one cent for TRX.

In other areas, things are looking much more positive for Tron, and mainstream acceptance could be right around the corner. All-in-one wallet and digital exchange Abra has announced a new program that will allow European countries to buy, sell and trade three new digital currencies: Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT) and – you guessed it – Tron.

CEO and founder of Abra Bill Barhydt explains:

“With users from over 70 countries globally, and a greater demand for the ability to invest in cryptocurrencies from any bank account, it is really important to give investors the opportunity to fund their Abra wallet directly from any bank account. This new feature is helping to change the way people invest, adding to a brighter future for the cryptocurrency market around the world.”

Every user in Europe will now be able to fund their Abra wallet directly through an EU-based bank account. They can then use the funds to invest in any of the 28 cryptocurrencies Abra has to offer. Thus, Tron is experiencing newfound exposure to a whole new continent.

Prior to this announcement, Abra wallet were primarily funded using both wire and bank transfers in the U.S. along with Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards. Europe’s bank transfer for Abra will occur via SEPA guidelines, which allows users to deposit either euros or their national fiat currency into their bank accounts. Some of the countries that now have official access to Abra include Greece, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Portugal and Cyprus.

Barhydt further states:

“As we continue to expand our capabilities, we are constantly looking for efficient and secure on-ramps that will enable our users to easily invest in cryptocurrencies. Ease, efficiency and effectiveness are paramount for us in helping our clients invest.”

The Abra wallet is unique in the sense that it is 100 percent peer-to-peer, thereby cutting out the middleman and heightening the security and privacy of its customers. Thus, nobody but the customer ever has access to their funds.

Tron Charts by TradingView

Forbes

Bitcoin Reaches 1-Month High As Crypto Markets Rally Forbes Bitcoin prices have been rising lately, hitting their highest in roughly one month earlier today. The cryptocurrency reached this level as the broader digital currency markets enjoyed gains. The price of Bitcoin rose to $7,389.26 at 12:00 UTC (8:00 a.m ...

More blockchain pilot projects for the public sector will receive support from the South Korean government in 2019

Cointelegraph

Bittrex to Delist Bitcoin Gold by Mid-September, Following $18 Million Hack of BTG in May Cointelegraph Crypto exchange Bittrex will delist Bitcoin Gold (BTG), a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC), by September 14 following an $18 million hack of the BTG network in May, The Next Web reported September 3. Founded in 2007, the hard fork cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold ... Bitcoin Gold delisted from major cryptocurrency exchange after refusing to pay hack damagesZDNet Bitcoin Gold (BTG) To Be Delisted from Bittrex after Refusing To Pay Hack CompensationsCryptovest Bittrex Waves Goodbye To Bitcoin Gold (BTG) After $18M HackEthereum World News (blog) newsBTC -TNW -SiliconANGLE News (blog) -Bitcoin Gold all 38 news articles »

The Mayor of Naples, Italy, Luigi de Magistris, has announced a three-pronged plan that would make the City of Naples more independent. The first part of the plan is to announce a concrete manifesto via the legislature that would make the city autonomous. The second part of the plan is to cancel unfair debts, particularly from earthquake recovery and waste management. The third part of the plan is to launch an independent currency, likely a cryptocurrency.

Although there is no mention of cryptocurrency in the post announcing this three-pronged plan, in June 2018 the City of Naples under the guidance of the mayor created a special focus group to develop and implement a municipal cryptocurrency. De Magistris thinks cryptocurrency can help create a new economy for Naples and is considering launching the municipal cryptocurrency with an initial coin offering (ICO).

The mayor derided the euro, saying, “We don’t have to pay them with their own putrid currency”, in reference to the tremendous debts imposed on Naples by the Italian government based in Rome. He believes northern Italy is discriminating against Naples and southern Italy in general, and is sucking the resources out of southern Italy. He pledges that large euro debts will be completely deleted from Naples’ budget.

In general, a cryptocurrency has the potential to drastically improve the economy of Naples, since if it’s designed correctly it will address inflation. Right now, Naples uses the euro, which has 2-3% inflation per year due to money printing. A correctly designed cryptocurrency won’t have money printing and will hold value long term, ending the outflow of money from Naples due to money printing by the European Central Bank. If this experiment is successful perhaps more cities will launch their own cryptocurrency, or simply adopt Bitcoin.

 

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Bittrex will delist Bitcoin Gold by September 14, following an $18 million double-spend hack of the cryptocurrency in May

Numerous gaming efforts have been created on top of the Ethereum blockchain over the years. EtherDerby is one of the latest projects to be added to this growing list of game-related ventures. It is a relatively simple concept, which primarily focuses on digital horse racing gambling. This is another interesting example of how dApps focusing on gaming can get more people excited about this underlying technology.

The EtherDerby Concept

As is usually the case when Ethereum gaming dApps come to market, there is an initial interest in projects like these. EtherDerby is no exception, as it offers something relatively new to users from all over the world. It is a game in which four horses compete against one another to carry the most carrots. These “races” last for four full hours, after which the stage is reset altogether.

How Does it Work?

The gambling aspect of EtherDerby is relatively simple to explain. Ethereum users can buy carrots for the horse they expect to win the race. If they guessed correctly, they will receive their investment back as well as a portion of ETH spent on buying carrots for the losing horses. Should users decide to purchase carrots and keep them in their vault, they will be eligible for dividends based on future race winnings.

One thing users need to keep in mind is the price of individual carrots. As more carrots are purchased, the price per item will increase. Depending on how long it takes for one’s Ethereum transaction to be confirmed by the network, users may not necessarily receive the expected amount of carrots. There is nothing the game creators can do about that fact as it will mainly hinge on how the Ethereum blockchain behaves at that time.

The winnings of each race will be distributed based on the amount of carrots players purchased for the winning horse. As such, it is pertinent to make smart investments, even though it is not advised to buy too many carrots for a specific horse either. If that horse ends up losing, players will not see their money back. All winnings are paid out to users’ individual EtherDerby vaults after the race has concluded.

The Road Ahead

Considering how the EtherDerby platform is already up and running, it seems unlikely any real changes will be introduced in the near future. adding more horses can make things more exciting, although it will heavily depend on how the community responds to this project in the first place. The horses’ names will undoubtedly cause many chuckles, as FlyMeToTheMoon is racing against the likes of SatoshiLite and OfficialMcAfee.

Next Monday will witness an eagerly anticipated debate between two of bitcoin’s leading figures. Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver and Bitcoin Core developer Jimmy Song will go head-to-head aboard a blockchain cruise on the Mediterranean. The debate promises to be one of the highlights of the three-day event, watched by 2,500 delegates aboard Coinsbank’s chartered vessel.

Also read: 21,000 New Locations Across Canada, Europe, Australia to Purchase Bitcoin Cash

Roger Ver and Jimmy Song Will Talk Bitcoin in Ibiza

On Friday September 7, Coinsbank’s Blockchain Cruise will depart from Barcelona with 2,500 cryptocurrency enthusiasts on board. Among those present will be a number of the industry’s leading figures including such mavericks as John McAfee and Brock Pierce. On September 10, the cruise liner will dock in Ibiza, where one for sure highlight of the trip is scheduled to take place.

At 1pm, Roger Ver and Jimmy Song will face one another in a debate that has been framed as Cash vs Core. Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver is a passionate advocate of Bitcoin Cash and its low fees, on-chain scaling, and focus on real world adoption. Jimmy Song, on the other hand, is a proud Bitcoin Core evangelist. Through his writing and development work, he has been a tireless source of support for all things Bitcoin. Both men were preaching the gospel of Bitcoin before it was cool, and remain staunch proponents to this day.

Two Bitcoin Heavyweights With a Lot to Discuss

While Roger Ver and Jimmy Song have huge respect for one another, it would be fair to say there are certain matters where they don’t see eye-to-eye. It is likely that such topics as Lightning Network and Bitcoin’s classification as a store of value or medium of exchange will crop up, with each debater bound to give no quarter. Variously billed as the “Row on a Boat” and “Bitcoin Battle on a Boat”, Roger Ver and Jimmy Song’s head-to-head debate is sure to be filled with pithy soundbites and talking points.

Following the pair’s heated debate, passengers can cool down on land at the Cafe del Mar party that commences at 6:30pm on the island of Ibiza. At this stage, the Blockchain Cruise will dovetail with Futurama’s Blockchain Innovators Summit that will be getting kick-started. Futurama delegates will have a chance to party with Coinsbank passengers on the Monday night before commencing their own three-day event the following morning. For those fortunate enough to be in attendance, Roger Ver and Jimmy Song’s debate will cap a voyage that will be filled with memorable highlights.

Who do you think will have the upper hand in Roger Ver and Jimmy Song’s debate? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Images courtesy of Coinsbank.

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Mobile trading app Robinhood is rolling out candlestick charts to “better inform” users when trading or tracking cryptocurrencies and other offerings.