Day: September 4, 2018

A Bitcoin wallet with BTC 111,114, worth around USD 800 million at current exchange rates, had been lying dormant since 2014 but recently became active according to an analysis from a Reddit user. A whole range of theories as to who is behind this wallet is cropping up. Some people think it’s Satoshi, others say it’s a wallet connected to the Silk Road. It’s possible this wallet is connected to Mt Gox or perhaps it’s just an anonymous whale investor.

From this old mega wallet, a total of USD 115 million was sent to crypto exchanges. Clearly, whoever owns this wallet has decided to cash out some of these Bitcoins or might be starting to actively trade. At the time the wallet was created four years ago, the Bitcoins were worth USD 71.5 million.

It has been speculated that around 4 million Bitcoins have been lost forever, and that sort of analysis usually just looks to see if wallets have been dormant for many years. This makes it questionable how many Bitcoins are really lost, since all of the big dormant wallets could just be people laying low and waiting for the right time to sell.

There is some speculation that the sudden re-activation of this wallet could cause a market downturn. However, there are billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin trading volume every day worldwide, and even if the Bitcoins from this wallet were all sold in a day it wouldn’t have a dramatic impact on the market. In reality, these Bitcoins are being sold slowly and many of them are still being held, so this will have no noticeable impact on the market.

This is a good example of how robust the Bitcoin market is. The Bitcoin market can easily handle the sale of a billion dollars in Bitcoin since there is tremendous worldwide demand.

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Bitcoin’s weekly MACD indicator has risen above zero for the first time since January, confirming a long-term bearish-to-bullish trend change.

Although many risk-averse individuals are hesitant to venture into the nascent cryptocurrency industry, there are some that are willing to take the plunge, including a multitude of former institutional investors, analysts, traders, and executives.

Japanese Trader Joins FXCoin As Senior Strategist

Since the inception of Bitcoin, talented individuals have flocked to crypto and blockchain startups in a bid to get in early on the next big industry.

Mike Novogratz, CEO of the crypto-centric Galaxy Digital, commented on the matter in an interview last year. The former institutional investor, who has also become a well-known cryptocurrency proponent, stated:

“I’m sure that Joe Lubin, the guys at Consensus, us at our hedge fund, and [firms] all over the place (cryptocurrency industry) have their pick of hiring people. The young people see this as the next grand opportunity.”

And even though prices have plummeted in the aftermath of 2017’s jaw-dropping bull run, there still seem to be some forward thinkers who are still ready to dive headfirst into the 21st century’s greatest invention.

Most recently, former capital markets trader Yasuo Matsuda has downed the red pill, as he took his first steps into the cryptosphere over the past few days. As reported by Bloomberg, Matsuda, who formerly worked as a Deutsche Bank foreign-exchange dealer, has been picked up by crypto exchange startup FXCoin. The Japanese trader will reportedly take up a senior strategist position and will provide reports on the daily movements of the crypto market from this month onwards.

This isn’t FXCoin’s first time poaching talent from traditional markets, as the startup, headed by CEO Tomoo Onishi, has hired over 15 individuals from established financial institutions in the past 8 months. Speaking with Bloomberg about the hope for his brainchild, Onishi revealed that along with offering trading support, he intends to build FXCoin into a go-to place for investors to keep up-to-date with the cryptocurrency industry, adding:

“Investors won’t be able to take action unless they know what happened in the market when they were asleep.”

Although the team behind the exchange undoubtedly has promise, it is important to note that the exchange side of FXCoin’s business has still not received the green light from the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA). But as per a report from The Japan Times, the FSA has recently made move to double-down on its efforts to screen prospective crypto exchanges, which evidently isn’t a good sign for FXCoin.

The Japanese regulatory body, which is essentially the equivalent of the U.S. SEC, revealed that it intends to protect consumers by tightening the registration process for exchange license applicants. More specifically, insiders noted that the FSA has plans to bolster the difficulty of the questionnaire given to applicants and to require startups to submit board minutes.

Following this announcement, analysts noted that they expect for many applicants to drop out of the licensing race. But seeing that FXCoin is backed by a group of more than competent individuals, there is a high possibility that the startup will eventually be able to jump through the proper regulatory hoops to open its exchange to the public.

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The post Deutsche Bank Veteran Jumps Ship, Joins Japanese Crypto Exchange appeared first on NewsBTC.

All cryptocurrencies are on the verge of noting some interesting gains over the next hours and days. The Bitcoin momentum remains firmly in place, yet it is the Monero price which is getting everyone’s attention as of right now. A very strong increase has pushed its value above $138 again, particularly when looking at some of the recent ecosystem developments.

Monero Price is on the Rise

These past 24 hours have been relatively interesting for most of the cryptocurrencies on the market today. Fueled by an increase in Bitcoin’s value, it would appear all of the altcoins will see their fair share of upward momentum as well. Albeit top currencies are still a bit behind the curve in this regard, the Monero price is going on another bull run. It is the third time in the past week and a half strong gains are noted in quick succession.

It would appear this current market sentiment is fueled by a new development. More specifically, it is now possible to buy anything online with Monero, courtesy of a service known as The Big Coin. It enables similar functionality for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dash. Adding Monero to this short list of supported currencies shows there is a growing demand for spending XMR in a convenient manner on everyday purchases.

There is also a recent Youtube video which discusses some of the recent Bitcoin price predictions uttered by John McAfee.Although that seemingly has nothing to do with Monero directly, McAfee touches upon this privacy and anonymity-oriented cryptocurrency in a positive manner. As the industry has seen in the post nay positive remarks by McAfee have the potential of making prices go up accordingly.

Last but not least, it appears a new Monero-only mining operating system is in development. Known as Pickaxe Mining OS, is it a forked version of Linux which immediately miens Monero when it is booted up. This solution supports both CPUs and GPUs alike, and seemingly requires no further setup whatsoever. An interesting solution which can be toggled through the plug-and-play method on demand.

Thanks to all of these developments, it seems the recent Monero price increases are rather easy to explain. A strong 13.53% gain has been recorded over the past 2 4 hours, which is fueled by only $70m in 24-hour trading volume. Although that volume is not nearly as impressive as some of the other altcoins on the market, it is more than sufficient to keep the Monero price going at this stage.

Cryptocurrencies need to keep growing and evolving to remain competitive. This is especially true when it comes to privacy and anonymity, as there are numerous projects tackling these aspects at this stage. For Monero, it seems things are finally coming together rather nicely, albeit there is still a lot of work to be done to convince most everyday people on the street.

Line Corporation, the Japanese subsidiary of South Korean internet giant Naver Corporation, announced last Friday that they will be issuing their own cryptocurrency this September. It now appears, however, that Japanese and US based customers will not be able to use the new cryptocurrency due to licensing requirements.

The upcoming cryptocurrency – called LINK – will not be issued through an ICO, but will rather be a reward for users that use certain features on the Line messaging app. It will be made available for trading on Line’s cryptocurrency exchange, BitBox, in which users can trade “Links” that they acquire by using the app.

Line explained the issuance process on their website, saying:

“Unlike other cryptocurrencies or digital tokens, LINK will not make an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), but instead utilizes a reward system that gives users LINK as compensation for using certain services within the LINE ecosystem. For example, a user who has joined and participated in one of the decentralized app (dApp) services related to LINK can receive LINK as incentive. That LINK can then be used as payments or rewards within the dApp services that will launch soon, and for service categories like contents, commerce, social, gaming, exchange and more within the LINE ecosystem.”

Line’s BitBox Exchange yet to Receive Licensing from Japanese Authorities

Because 75 million of Line’s monthly active users are based in Japan, many investors feel that the ban on Japanese customers from using Link could undermine the utility of the cryptocurrency. This could change, however, in the near future if Line’s cryptocurrency exchange, BitBox, receives proper licensing from the Japanese Financial Services Commission (FSA), who has yet to inspect and approve the exchange.

The FSA has been clamping down on cryptocurrency exchanges following the $500 million Coincheck hack that occurred earlier this year. The hack highlighted the need for greater regulatory scrutiny on exchanges by authorities. Since then, the FSA has significantly increased their requirements for exchange licensing and are now conducting on-site inspections of applying exchanges.

If approved, the Singapore based exchange will be able to open its doors to Japanese Line users, who will be able to buy and sell their Links. Currently, however, those residing in Japan will still be able to gather a Link alternative, called Link Point, which will be exchanged to Link once BitBox receives licensing.

Line explained how Link Point will work:

“For residents in Japan, LINK Point will be received as rewards for activities in dApp services instead of LINK. Japanese users can use LINK Point within dApp services or change it for LINE Points. However until LINE gets authorization for cryptocurrency trading and exchanges by the regulatory authorities in Japan, LINK Point cannot be deposited, withdrawn, transferred, traded or exchanged at cryptocurrency exchanges, including BITBOX.”

There will be a total of one billion issued Links, 800 million of which will be available for user reward payouts, and 200 million of which will be kept in Line’s reserve, and gradually released based on how the ecosystem develops.

Link will be used to pay for content on Line’s various platforms, like music, videos, as well as for commercial purchases. Users will also be able to send Link between one another for rapid peer-to-peer transfers with no fees.

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Canada’s government has effectively put the release of new cryptocurrency regulations on hold until 2020 instead of updating them this fall.

The federal government in Canada is preparing for the 2019 general election which has caused it to delay the release of the regulations until after this has taken place, and with a 12-month waiting period for new regulations to go into effect, they will not be active until 2020.

Mixed responses

A draft version of the regulations was shared with the public in June in which stricter controls on the cryptocurrency industry were outlined. Some have taken the delay as a positive sign that the government may be looking to review what they interpret as unfavorable conditions, while others have shared concerns that the decision may harm Canada’s competitive edge in the growing industry.

The Blockchain Association of Canada (BAC) spoke to Bitcoin Magazine, saying that this should be perceived as a good thing for the Canadian blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors, and shared its confidence in the government’s agenda. ”It may be best to observe and intervene as little as possible,” BAC’s Executive Director Kyle Kemper added.

Several participants have reportedly said that the vast amount of quality feedback to the June draft halted the government from implementing the bill before making amendments. A number of the country’s blockchain companies and organizations were part of a discussion with Finance Canada officials in which they were able to vocalize their own opinions of the drafted regulations.

The Toronto-based Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) shared a report with government officials that included input from 70 industry participants, calling for a ”middle ground” on regulations. While they recognized a substantive regulatory framework was required in order for Canada to remain competitive, too strict governance could well stifle innovation from the sector.

If input from key industry figures has been the main factor in causing the delay, local blockchain businesses should rest assured the next draft should reflect changes in their favor.

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The South Korean government is literally doubling down on its efforts to trial blockchain in the public sector for 2019.

Key Points

• Bitcoin price stayed above the $7,200 support and made another upside attempt against the US Dollar.
• There is a short-term bullish trend line in place with support at $7,240 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair is facing a solid resistance near the $7,325 and $7,330 levels.

Bitcoin price is trading in a range above $7,200 against the US Dollar. BTC/USD must clear the $7,325 resistance for more gains in the near term.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

Yesterday, we discussed that bitcoin price could correct lower from $7,300 against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair did correct lower and moved towards the $7,200 support. However, sellers failed to push the price further lower towards the $7,130 support area. A swing low was formed at $7,186 later the price traded above the $7,300 level. The price made a few attempts to clear the $7,325 level recently, but buyers failed to gain traction.

There was a downside reaction and the price moved below the $7,250 level. There was also a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $7,186 low to $7,324 high. However, declines were once again protected by the $7,200 support area. Moreover, the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $7,186 low to $7,324 high acted as a support. At the outset, there is a short-term bullish trend line in place with support at $7,240 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The pair is holding the trend line and it seems like it could make another attempt to clear $7,325.

Looking at the chart, bitcoin is clearly struggling to break the $7,325 resistance. Therefore, it will either break $7,325 for more gains or decline below $7,200 to test the $7,130 support.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is slightly in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is currently above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $7,200

Major Resistance Level – $7,325

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Facing Crucial Resistance Near $7,325 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• Ethereum classic price surged higher this week and traded above $14.00 against the US dollar.
• There is a crucial bullish trend line formed with support at $13.55 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair (Data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is currently testing a major support area near $15.50 and it could bounce back.

Ethereum classic price climbed higher recently against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETC/USD is currently correcting lower, but dips remain supported above $13.50.

Ethereum Classic Price Support

During the past few sessions, there was a solid rise in ETC price from the $12.40 low against the US dollar. The ETC/USD pair surged higher and broke the $13.00 and $13.80 resistance levels. There was even a break above the $14.00 level and the price traded as high as $14.53. Later, the price started a downside correction and traded below the $14.00 level.

There was also a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last leg from the $13.01 low to $14.53 high. However, declines were well protected near the $13.50 level, which acted as a support earlier as well. Additionally, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last leg from the $13.01 low to $14.53 high stopped declines. More importantly, there is a crucial bullish trend line formed with support at $13.55 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair. The pair is currently consolidating above the $13.50 support. As long as the price is above the trend line and the $13.50 support, it could resume its upside move.

The chart suggests that ETC price is placed nicely in an uptrend from the $12.40 low. If the $13.50 support holds, it could bounce back above the $14.00 level in the near term. If not, there is a risk of an extended correction towards the $13.20 level.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETC/USD is currently in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETC/USD is currently below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $13.50

Major Resistance Level – $14.20

The post Ethereum Classic Price Analysis: ETC/USD’s Dips Remain Supported appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

Markets are creeping up; Monero, OmiseGO, VeChain and Neo improving.

Crypto markets are still a little sluggish this morning but the good news is that they have not fallen back again. Very minor gains have been made on the day keeping total market capitalization above $235 billion.

Bitcoin has yet to make a move and is still trading around the same level, up half a percent to $7,280 at the moment. BTC has slowly been moving higher from its double bottom reversal pattern. Ethereum really is having a hard time at the moment and has fallen back again, down 1.5% on the day back to $285 where it has been for over a week.

The altcoins are mixed this morning with little movement in either direction. The top ten is showing Litecoin with a 2.6% rise on the day to $66 but Monero is the biggest gainer with an 11% jump to $135. XMR has made good progress over the past week climbing 30% since last Tuesday. A recent bullish endorsement and price prediction by Satis ICO Advisory Research has boosted Monero which is the top coin in the top twenty.

Other altcoins performing well today include VeChain up 10% on the day and Neo climbing 7%. Nem has made 6% and Dash 4% so the altcoins are outperforming Bitcoin at the moment. OmiseGO is on a roll today with a 12% push to $4.85. OMG has suffered heavily in the last month or two crashing over 50% since mid-July. The team is constantly working to improve their product and reach roadmap goals and Omise is actually working with a number of banks and companies across Asia. Some long needed momentum has finally arrived for this altcoin as the eWallet development continues;

Weekly tech check-in, this week from the eWallet team:https://t.co/gBsVHXEflZ

— OmiseGO (@omise_go) September 3, 2018

Huobi currently has the most OMG trade with over 30% and volume has jumped $10 million in the past 24 hours, surging 230%;

OMG/BTC up +6.89% in the last hour!
Volume has changed 231.70% $OMG $BTC
Use me On Telegramhttps://t.co/kcXD8GYxIR pic.twitter.com/W1JldRLtPv

— HIGH IQ WHALE (@CryptoWhalebot) September 4, 2018

In the top one hundred Komodo and Holo are performing well with over 16% gains and Bitcoin Dark has surged into the charts with 352% on the day though this could be more market cap manipulation. Today’s double digit losers are MOAC and Bitcoin Private, both dropping over 10%.

On the day total crypto market capitalization has made less than one percent and is currently at $237 billion. Buyers are playing the slow game but things seem to have been relatively stable over the past week which has seen $12 billion come back into crypto.

More on OmiseGO can be found here: https://omisego.network/

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 30 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Update: OmiseGO Volume Surges 230%, Price Spikes 12% appeared first on NewsBTC.

With lightning speeds and zero fees, EOS blows other blockchains out of the water for user experience. For developers, though, it’s proving costly.