Day: September 7, 2018

The greatest shadow cast over the crypto market this week was from the hulk of investment banking, Goldman Sachs, which was reported to have put its crypto trading desk on the backburner, only to refute the claim. 

Africa and the Middle East

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.

Africa

South Africa

Gold-backed interest-free crypto launched in South Africa: A gold-backed interest-free cryptocurrency was launched in South Africa recently called the OneGram and is Sharia-compliant, primarily to attract investment from the Muslim community.

The move was started a year back by a local company that aimed to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and precious commodities markets. Muslims and other members of the public who believe that currency should be backed by gold or any other asset of value may be interested in the commodity. It is worth mentioning that the Muslim community is divided on the matter.

Ibrahim Mohammed, the founder of the project said:

“Our approach to OneGram was to create a bridge between commodities and crypto using physical gold and package it together using innovative blockchain technology. This way we are able to give our users the best of both worlds and provide a degree of certainty around the notoriously fickle cryptocurrency market.”

OneGram was founded in Dubai, UAE last year and completed a successful coin offering but it remains to be seen whether the company can deliver on its promise because asset-backed cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy.

Nigeria

Financial exclusion being tackled through blockchain technology: US-based software development company HashCash has announced that it is collaborating with Nigerian banks to solve the lingering issue of financial exclusion.

Financial exclusion is a chronic problem present in many parts of the world including Europe and the Americas. It is a problem through which a sizeable chunk of the population remains unbanked and devoid of electronic means of payment and bank accounts.

HashCash is looking to use the power of the blockchain technology to solve the problem that has plagued the development of many countries and hampered growth.

Zimbabwe

Bitcoin ATM inoperational despite sky-high demand for Bitcoin: Despite high demand for Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies, Zimbabwe’s only Bitcoin ATM is not in operational condition.

Back-breaking inflation has reportedly motivated many Zimbabweans to look to cryptocurrencies as a way to circumnavigate the whole situation. Increased activity on Golix, a popular local crypto exchange, is proof of that but the only ATM installed in Harare by the company is inoperational, as a result of its ongoing legal tussles with the banks.

Still, Golix hopes that the crypto trading ban will be reversed and the ATM will start working again.

Kenya

Economic institute to hold public forum for crypto: The Institute of Economic Affairs of Kenya (IEA-Kenya) has announced that it will hold a series of public hearings, forums and other activities regarding cryptocurrencies to devise public policy proposals in the country.

While the growth of cryptocurrencies is being witnessed in the country, a lack of regulations and resulting regulatory unclarity has made things difficult. Since blockchain and cryptocurrencies are complex issues, the private think tank IEA-Kenya believes public forums could further discussion around them.

The Middle East

Turkey

Turkish stock exchange develops blockchain-based customer database: Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange has announced the development of a blockchain-powered customer database and resource center.

The stock exchange became operational back in 2013 after a merger of Istanbul Gold Exchange and Turkish Derivatives Exchange (TurkDex) and has a total market cap of USD 133 billion. The recent development was done in customer databases of Borsa Istanbul, Istanbul Clearing, Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank), and the Central Securities Depository of Turkey (MKK).

Turkey has demonstrated overall positivity to adopt blockchain technology in recent years.

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The post Africa and the Middle East: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 31st August to 6th September 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

A French flight attendant who lives in Abu Dhabi took out a USD 100,000 loan for crypto trading after some previous success but ended up getting burned due to the sudden crash in crypto prices near the beginning of 2018. His tale is a cautionary tale for crypto investors; it is essential to do thorough research and to fully understand the crypto markets before investing.

The flight attendant first heard about crypto on his company’s WhatsApp channel, prompting him to buy some crypto in September 2017. He made quick 300-400% profits during the biggest crypto rally in history, giving him confidence in his trading abilities and a desire to invest even more.

He applied for a bank loan and showed them his profits on his crypto investments and his plans to make money on the loan by investing in Stellar Lumens (XLM), Neo, Ripple, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Shockingly, the bank gave him an AED 367,000 loan, worth USD 100,000 at the time.

His first big mistake was investing completely in altcoins and nothing in Bitcoin. Even the most ardent altcoin developers typically believe that Bitcoin is the most stable of cryptocurrencies, which are extremely volatile in nature. Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin, suggests traders keep most of their investment in Bitcoin. It has the most infrastructure, liquidity, and demand, and will be the most stable and profitable crypto for the foreseeable future.

At first, the flight attendant made tremendous profits: USD 30,000 in just ten days. However, this was the end of the crypto rally and crypto markets went from rally into crisis mode. The flight attendant said, “But I did not cash out then. I had no experience in the stock market and just thought the money would grow.”

If the flight attendant had done proper research, he would have seen in past data that cryptocurrency tends to pump and dump. Cryptocurrencies can rise incredibly fast, turning the market into an unsustainable bubble, and then the bubble pops at an unpredictable time and the market crashes.

Now, he is forced to pay back AED 8,000 per month to the bank, two-thirds of his AED 12,000 salary. He says he is holding onto his crypto long term though, which has depreciated to AED 110,000, worth USD 30,000.

Ultimately, this loan disaster tale may end positively for this crypto trader, since Bitcoin tends to go up by an order of magnitude (1,000%) every three years or so. There’s no guarantee that will happen for this flight attendant, especially since he is holding altcoins but history suggests it is possible.

Regardless, the obvious lesson here is that crypto traders need to do thorough research and understand the market before investing. Once the proper amount of research is done, it becomes obvious that taking out a bank loan much larger than your life savings to invest in altcoins is incredibly risky.

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Development wise, prospects of lightning Network and Casa should boost prices. This comes at a time when Litecoin has been agitating for mass adoption by forming strategic partnerships with payment providers, news of a one-in-all solution that simplify LN node set up and channel transactions further reflect the divergence between fundamentals and price technicals. Regardless, bears are yet to breach $50 and it doesn’t matter when but once they do, LTC would be available for cheap allowing enthusiasts and coin believers to accumulate this under priced digital asset.

From the News

CoinBase remains one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading in the world if not the most influential. The clout might be because of location, it’s in the US so regulatory oversight is top notch, their custodial exchange type and warm crypto laws makes the crypto exchange attractive to investors or consumers across the sphere. Talking of trading and CoinBase Pro, the trading interface which was rebranded from GDAX on May 23 and given a face lift has begun offering support for a couple of coins as LTC/GBP. Though the path towards full trading support is in lock steps, traders can at least deposit directly to their GBP wallets without the need of conversion as before. What this means is that UK traders, though contributing less than one percent of the global trading volumes would have an easy time making same day deposits and withdrawal.

On the development front, Litecoin’s foundation plan of a widespread global adoption is definitely on course. Though the foundation had to content with lack of GitHub inactivity since their partnership with Wirex back in April, news of CASA Lightning node set for Q4 of this year should be steeling for coin supporters. Lightning Network being a layer two solution meant to scale the network, the introduction of CASA—an all-in-one solution allows one to run a full node and transact on the LN network, will further simplify node set up spurring adoption.

Litecoin (LTC) Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

Litecoin Weekly Chart by Trading View

On a weekly basis, LTC is down nine percent according to data from popular coin trackers. And this translates to a bearish market in contrary to our expectations same time last week. Then, LTC bulls were on a high and testing $70, a level of interest in our analysis. At the moment, the deep decline in price means bears are back in trend and likely to melt through $50. In this case and considering erosion velocity, we suggest taking shorts in line with the abnormally high market participation. Risk off trader can trigger shorts at current prices. In the flip side, conservatives can wait for solid breakaways. That’s probably below $50 before selling on pull backs with first targets at $30.

Daily Chart

Litecoin Daily Chart by Trading View

Basing our trade decision on previous LTC highlights, our trade plan seems to be right on track. As it is, bears are commanding this trend. They are following through Sep 5 high volume depreciation and rejection of higher highs right at $70. That ceiling did confirm the end of the retest phase and the beginning of the bear trend resumption phase with triggers set by Aug 7 bear candlestick. Because of this, we suggest selling at spot prices with stops at $60 and targets as mentioned above.

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice and views represent that of the author. Do your own research before making an investment decision.

The post Litecoin (LTC) Price Analysis: CASA Litecoin Lightning Nodes Could Increase LTC Demand appeared first on NewsBTC.

South America

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.

Brazil

First educational center integrating blockchain to verify professional certification: Impacta group based in Brazil has announced the integration of a first blockchain-based educational certification verification program in the country.

The blockchain which is the creation of a Dubai-based startup called Educhain is being widely used in Dubai already but this is the first overseas application of the technology.

According to Marcelo Botelho, Operating Director at Impacta: “Each issued digital certificate gives rise to a single authentication code with the open badge pattern – in addition to a hash code in the blockchain network.”

The certification of the courses can be shared through social media networks and even in the signature of emails.

Mining farm catches fire: A Brazilian crypto mining farm caught fire in the southern part of the country. The farm had almost 70 GPUs installed for mining purposes and was in the process of another expansion.

While there were no human losses reported in the incident, the entire mining operation’s valuable equipment was lost to the fire. Safety issues are often reported, yet neglected in mining operations around the world.

Blockchain investment increasing in Brazil: A recent study by the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES) shows that the blockchain industry is growing steadily in the country along with other parts of the expanded IT industry.

According to the study’s projections, investments in the blockchain-based products will reach USD 9.2 billion by 2021, a ten-fold increase from USD 945 invested in 2017. The projection for 2018 is set at USD 2.1 billion.

The study ranks the US as the top blockchain market but the fastest growth figures will be recorded in Latin America and Japan.

Renault, Eurofarma use Brazilian blockchain to monitor garbage disposal: A Green platform launched by a Brazilian startup is being used by big names like Renault and Eurofarma to help track garbage disposal activities.

The company donates the software to any municipality with more than 500,000 inhabitants.

Argentina

Startup sells virtual land for $120,000: A recent blockchain initiative in Argentina sells virtual land to decentralized inhabitants for a shared living.

The unusual proposal is one of the unorthodox applications of blockchain technology in the world and is viewed by the political scientists as part of a decentralization process called Uberization of the assets.

Number of Bitcoin ATMs increasing in the country: The number of Bitcoin ATMs in Argentina is increasing at a rapid pace as the latest figures show. The country is facing remarkable growth in the region outperforming conventionally strong markets like Brazil.

In 2017 alone, 200 ATMs were installed across the country and the number is likely to increase manifold in the future. A CEO of a Bitcoin ATM company says that a total of 4,000 ATMs may be installed across the nation in the next few years.

Venezuela

Government confirms Petro doesn’t yet exist: An announcement by the Venezuelan government says that Petro is still in development and is not yet available for exchange and general use despite assurances by the President that it will be adopted by banks and the public alike.

While clouds of uncertainty and reports of corruption were present behind the scenes in the creation of the state cryptocurrency, the government always maintained that Petro was a solid cryptocurrency and was forcing banks to adopt it. The latest statement pours cold water into the application of the currency in the near future and raises doubt about the whole process.

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Ripple’s general counsel Brynly Llyr has stepped down from her post after almost two years of serving at the firm

Blockchain labs are becoming increasingly more prevalent in the industry for research as a backbone to a sound strategy of strong blockchain development.

In the current climate, companies are searching for solid foundations on which to build projects. Research and development projects created in the labs are beginning to offer startups this security. Labs can highlight the opportunities available and long-term potential of a given project prior to companies diving into the deep end untested.

The lab trend is growing. Cardano, for example, is one platform which has been established with a research-based approach. Blockchain development firm IOHK, led by Charles Hoskinson, launched Cardano last year using its peer-reviewed academic research driven base to consider the needs of both users and regulators. Funding will be utilized to finance research staff, PhD studentships and a virtualized blockchain environment moving into the future.

As reported last month by Bitcoin News, even the Russian military has announced its own blockchain lab, this time targeting cybercrime in the country’s military infrastructure information systems. The ministry has initiated a program to enhance cybersecurity by setting up a special unit using a unique research laboratory at the Anapa-based ERA technopark, in order to track the origins of cyber assaults. The unit will now use blockchain technology to improve the systems database security.

In June, the National Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Science Centre at the Chinese Academy of Sciences created the Big Data and Blockchain Lab, in a partnership with Beijing Tai Yun Technology Company. This new laboratory aims to explore blockchain technology with mathematics in order to make critical improvements.

Again in China, the Digital Currency Research Lab of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has announced that it is to expand its blockchain research efforts, by launching a new fintech center in Nanjing, in Jiangsu Province, with other cities yet to be announced, also located outside of the capital Beijing.

The goal of these labs is to develop programs to trial in banks and academic institutions such as PBoC’s Jiangsu branch, the Bank of Jiangsu and the University of Nanjing.

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A majority of investors in a new survey from SharesPost plan to increase their crypto holdings over the next 12 months

A single day of BTC dip was enough to wreck havoc in altcoins valuations. It’s because of that, that most coins under review as EOS, Cardano, Stellar Lumens, Tron and IOTA will end up bearish and likely resume a trip to new 2018 lows throughout this month. The only stand out in this red is Stellar Lumens. Jed MacCaleb’s coin might reject lower lows and print higher more so if buyers reverse Sep 5 losses closing above 25 cents. It even gets better. Recent reports indicate that Australians are accumulating even as sellers step up.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

EOS Price Analysis

From the News

It’s true that in EOSIO, users have to pay for an account—and that’s a deal breaker especially in a platform that wants to go global. Block One through its CTO have been looking for innovative solutions to rid this problem especially now that some block producers have been accused of hoarding network resources. At the moment, Block One is trying to circumvent this by slashing the cost of account creation and offering free 1400B of RAM. Two months ago, Dan had talked of a game changing development to potential bring an end to this. Needless to say, there has been no progress and/or update of the same.

Technical Analysis

EOS Daily Chart by Trading View

In an otherwise steep market, EOS prices are stable and fluctuating between neutral to bearish. All in all, we retain a bearish outlook and in line with our EOS trade plan, we recommend shorts on every high in lower time frames. That’s all because of Wednesday’s high volume, wide trade range bear candlestick rejecting higher highs and collapsing from $7 triggering the next phase of a bear break out pattern set rolling by Aug 7 bear candlestick.

Cardano (ADA) Technical Analysis

Cardano Daily Chart by Trading View

From neutral point of view, ADA is in some sorts of consolidation and that’s when we take into account that conspicuous dark cloud cover of early this week. While there is extra liquidity due to Bittrex addition of ADA/USD pair, we might as well see ADA print new lows. The best approach right now is to tow in and trade with the bear break out pattern set in motion by Aug 7-8 bears. In that case therefore, we consider recent near retest of 12 cents as a completion of a retest phase just like in EOS and Sep 5 collapse as resumption of bear trend. That’s why selling at spot price with stops at around 10 cents and targets at 7 cents is modest if not safe.

Stellar Lumens Price Analysis

Stellar Lumens Daily Chart by Trading View

Contrary to most altcoins, our previous Stellar Lumens trade plans are solid despite the obvious volatility. According to our last trade recommendation, traders—risk off and on, can short at spot prices with stops at around 25 cents and first targets at 18 cents and later 8 cents. This is when we project a situation where sellers press on the gas pedal as they trade according to the set momentum of Sep 3.

In that line of thought, sell pressure would gain enough momentum to clear the 18 cents and 2018 lows and hit our targets with increasing volumes. On the reverse side though, our stops at 25 cents acts as a caution now that prices were in accumulation mode in the second half of Aug. Should prices spike, traders can mitigate losses and get a chance to trade with the trend.

Tron (TRX) Price Analysis

From the News

• After Ledger Nano S, Tron has announced its support for Ledger Blue

$TRX now supported on Ledger Blue! @LedgerHQ https://t.co/jeAx1nWXpp

— TRON Foundation (@Tronfoundation) September 7, 2018

Technical Analysis

Tron Daily Chart by Trading View

As expected, periods after rapid gains or losses are followed by a slow down. That’s happening to TRX right now. Even if Tron Foundation is padding the way for future mass adoption, prices are not responding—at least at current valuation. Regardless, we expect fundamentals to be the impetus behind TRX revival and before that happens; selling at current prices with stops at around 2.2 cents is safe. Our ambitious targets at Jan 24 lows still hold true.

IOTA (IOT) Price Analysis

IOTA Daily Chart by Trading View

Like TRX, IOTA did break below the past two week’s bull flag reversing those gains in the process. As they did, bears poured back into trend cancelling our previous bull proposals and instead triggering the wave of sellers which we recommend selling every time IOTA prints higher in lower time frames. So, with a one percent lose in the last day, we expect IOTA to end bearish this week setting the stage for trend resumptions below 50 cents.

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice and views represent that of the author. Do your own research before making an investment decision.

The post EOS, Cardano, Stellar Lumens, Tron, IOTA Price Analysis: Price not a Worry, Australians Are Buying In appeared first on NewsBTC.