Day: September 9, 2018

As the ICO epidemic continues to spread around the globe, many proponents of pure, PoW-issued crypto claim that the tokens issued via public funding rounds aren’t fit to be called bona fide decentralized blockchain-backed assets.

Bobby Lee: ICO-Issued Tokens Are Comparable To Blockchain Investments, Not Crypto

The debate between proponents of “pure” cryptocurrencies and ICO-issued utility tokens has raged on, with Bobby Lee, the former CEO of the BTCC exchange, recently speaking with reporters from Cheddar, an up and coming fintech news outlet, to discuss his opinions between the two individual classes of crypto assets.

Discussing the matter, the longtime Bitcoin proponent, who was attending the Crypto Finance Conference in California, stated:

“People, companies or investment firms can invest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, [which are] native digital assets. And then there are things like tokens that are issued by groups, teams or projects that are supposed to back certain projects, certain development effort, certain applications. So those are more like securities, even though they call themselves utility tokens.”

As you are likely aware of, unlike Bitcoin, tokens issued via an ICO are minted and distributed by a central authority, with a single group of entitled individuals holding the responsibility of divvying up said crypto assets. Taking this into account, as the BTCC executive alludes to, these so-called “utility tokens” aren’t decentrally distributed, with ICOs essentially rubbing salt in the wound that is situated right at the heart of diehard decentralists.

Additionally, Lee, who also holds a position on the board of the original Bitcoin Foundation, claimed that these utility tokens are often misclassified, and should be likened to equity investments into a project or team and are “very different” from “native digital assets.”

So although Lee doesn’t seem to hold an overtly negative stance towards ICO-focused projects, he added that he is bullish on Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum, compared “to tokens that represent a company’s efforts and business models.”

Decentralized V.S. Centralized, Bitcoin V.S. XRP

Driving the conversation regarding this topic forward, the reporter brought up Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s claim that the discourse between centralists and decentralists is a drawn-out “religious war” that doesn’t hold much merit. Rebutting this statement, Lee noted:

“Well, I think he has a bit of a bias on that front… Ripple (XRP) has the reputation of being centralized, even though some (XRP) proponents claim that it is decentralized. So I do think that it is important because the world up until Bitcoin’s invention has never seen some that is digital that is also decentralized. In the real world, things are decentralized, like water, air, gold — that’s decentralized. Whereas everything else is centralized, so in a digital world everything has been centralized up until Bitcoin.”

The Bitcoin Foundation board member added that the fact that firms and individuals are misusing “decentralized” for centrally-issued tokens is “dangerous, and is a waste of a great terminology.”

What he’s alluding to is the ideology that ICO projects claiming to be “decentralized” may cast “native” cryptocurrencies in a bad light, or in other words, “Bitcoin maximalism.” While critics would say his opinions are nothing more than senseless “FUD,” some Bitcoin veterans would beg to differ, including Blockstream’s Samson Mow, who recently claimed that diversification would have “thoroughly rekt” your portfolio.

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Key Highlights

• Ripple price corrected higher recently, but it failed to break the $0.2900 resistance against the US dollar.
• There is a key bearish trend line in place with resistance at $0.2850 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair is currently moving lower and it remains at a risk of more losses below the $0.2650 support.

Ripple price is declining once again against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD could even break the $0.2650 support to test the $0.2500 level in the near term.

Ripple Price Resistance

Recently, Ripple price retested the $0.2650-80 support area against the US Dollar. The XRP/USD pair found a strong buying interest and later started an upward move above the $0.2750 level. The price even broke the $0.2800 resistance and the 50% fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.3044 high to $0.2685 swing low.

However, the upside move was capped by the $0.2900 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Furthermore, the price failed to clear the 61.8% fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.3044 high to $0.2685 swing low. More importantly, there is a key bearish trend line in place with resistance at $0.2850 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair was clearly rejected and it is currently moving lower towards the last swing low at $0.2680. It seems like sellers could make an attempt to clear the $0.2680 and $0.2650 levels. If they succeed, the price might drop back towards the $0.2500 support zone.

Looking at the chart, ripple price is trading in a bearish zone below the $0.2900 and $0.3000 resistance levels. If buyers need to gain traction, they have to push the price past $0.3000.

Looking at the technical indicators:

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

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is now well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.2680

Major Resistance Level – $0.2900

The post Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD Could Break $0.2650 Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency exchange operators in South Korea can now be insured against hacks through an insurance firm that offers cyber-insurance to cover cryptocurrency losses.

Crypto-Insured

A typical cyber-insurance product compensates for the loss of personal information. However, a South Korean firm is taking the concept a step further by offering an insurance policy for money lost by cryptocurrency exchanges.

The ‘hack’ cover is from a local insurance firm known as ‘Hanwha Insurance’, and it will provide domestic exchanges with an added layer of protection.

A representative from Hanwha Insurance said: “We plan to start negotiations with individual exchanges for insurance starting next month.” He further added that “It is not a product that has to be compulsory, but it can be outlined if we discuss how much demand there will be. Even if the exchange wants to join, it will require as much coordination as the insurance and reinsurance companies need to meet in order to get insurance.”

A report from Asia Time further notes that some of the most prominent exchanges in South Korea and the world have been insured, including Bithumb for USD $5.3 million, Upbit for USD $4.5 million, Coinone and Korbit for USD $2.7 million.

The cryptocurrency industry is no stranger to theft. The hacking of exchanges and wallets has become an area of concern for governments, industries, and consumers. This has invariably led to several innovations in crypto-storage and security, as well as turning the space into a ‘high-risk’ area.

Reluctance

In 2018 alone, losses due to crypto-theft have surpassed USD $1.73 billion, more than half of the total recorded losses since 2011.

On the 20th of June 2018, Bithumb, the sixth largest exchange in the world and South Korea’s largest exchange, announced that it suffered a costly USD $31 billion hack. At that time the exchange ceased all cryptocurrency and fiat withdrawals, customers were also told not to deposit any cryptocurrencies due to Bithumb moving all its assets into cold storage.

A week later, with the help of other crypto-exchanges Bithumb had managed to recover just over a third (USD $14 million) of its losses. However, deposit and withdrawal services were reopened on August 4th, 2018.

Earlier in the same month that Bithumb was hacked, a lesser-known South Korean exchange CoinRail (90^th in the world), also fell victim to a cyber attack which saw 30% of its traded coins stolen.

After the Bithumb hack, insurers were skeptical of cryptocurrency exchanges. One insurance industry official told Business Korea on June 25th, “The Korea Blockchain Association emphasized a stronger internal control system and security at the earlier sessions. But we cannot trust it as even the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea was exposed to cyber attacks.”

The Korea Blockchain Association had begun discussions in June 2018 with another insurance firm as well as Hanwha to see how exchanges could take out a crypto policy. According to the association it has been in negotiating with insurers since April 2018.

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Australia’s New South Wales government is adopting blockchain in a state-wide test of a driver license digitalization program slated for November.

Key Highlights

• ETH price started a short term upside correction after trading as low as $185 against the US Dollar.
• There is a crucial bearish trend line in place with resistance at $205 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is facing many strong resistances near the $205, $213 and $215 levels.

Ethereum price is slowly correcting higher against the US Dollar and bitcoin. ETH/USD must break the $215 resistance to recover nicely in the near term.

Ethereum Price Resistance

This past week, we saw a major downside break below the $210 support in ETH price against the US Dollar. The ETH/USD pair traded as low as $185 and later started a minor upside correction. It moved higher and broke the $200 resistance. There was also a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $234 high to $185 low.

However, the upside move was capped by the $208 level. More importantly, there is a crucial bearish trend line in place with resistance at $205 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The same trend line is acting as a strong resistance near $205-206 and is capping upsides. Above the trend line, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last slide from the $234 high to $185 low is at $210. Above this, there is an important resistance formed near $213-215 zone. The stated $215 zone was a support earlier and now it could act as a resistance. Finally, the 100 hourly simple moving average is positioned near the $216 level.

Looking at the chart, ETH price is clearly facing a lot of hurdles near the $205 and $215 levels. As long as the price is below $215, it remains at a risk of more losses back towards the $185 level in the near term.

Hourly MACD – The MACD is about to move back in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI is currently near the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $185

Major Resistance Level – $215

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD Facing Key Resistance Near $215 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Results from a recent study show that the number of Australian citizens with some form of crypto asset holdings has tripled since the beginning of 2018.

The survey was conducted by cryptocurrency trading brokerage HiveEx, which found the number of Australians ‘hodling’ crypto assets to have increased from 5% in January to 13.5% when it was reviewed in August. The survey further revealed that 50% of these individuals had these crypto holdings for investment purposes, whereas 34% said it was due to FOMO, and 26% replied that they were saving for retirement. Over a third of the respondents said that they planned to use cryptocurrency to pay their tax bill, and 80% claimed that they would be happy to use it in their day to day spendings if it were easy to do as in the case of local fiat.

The responses from Australian citizens who did not own any cryptocurrency were not as positive. While 65% of them said this was because they did not understand it or how to use it, one in five said they thought it was either a scam or a bubble.

Growing crypto infrastructure in Australia

One of the country’s youngest self-made millionaires and entrepreneur Fred Schebesta does not think the year’s relatively poor market performance has deterred investors. As a co-founder of HiveEx, he said that interest in cryptocurrency is actually far higher now than during the bull run in the latter part of 2017.

“At its core, you’ve got to remember, just because the price of bitcoin has gone down and people feel angry, that doesn’t reduce the interest,” Schebesta said speaking to a local news outlet. He continued on to compare Bitcoin to gold, speculating that it will continue to be a valued resource, standing the test of time.

Similar to the internet in 1996, Schebesta believes interest levels are ”100% growing.” To help provide for the growing sector, he plans to build what he calls a ”crypto bank of Australia” and offer custodianship, cold storage, escrow and exchange services.

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Tron and Neo weren’t the only crypto projects interested in acquiring BitTorrent; in fact, CoinDesk has learned, five others were tempted to buy too.

Crypto mining in Russia is becoming a big industry on an individual level, but more importantly for the government at an industrial scale also. This is now driving operators towards locally run Russian mining pools.

The Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain (RACIB) claims that there are now over 400,000 people employed in the sector. 70,000 enterprises operate hundreds of thousands of mining rigs, with an increase in one-man operators working from their homes. The agency has made it clear it would like to see the complete legalization of cryptocurrency mining in the country.

The industry is creating new jobs; and calls for electricians, engineers, and IT specialists are on the rise as a result of crypto mining by large-scale enterprises. In an effort to regulate the industry and set higher standards, RACIB’s director Arseniy Shcheltsin wants to focus on large-scale professional mining and find solutions to better equip the industry.

A majority of these larger facilities currently work with Western and Asian mining pools, increasing the need for Russian firms to work within the restriction imposed by overseas pools often including prohibitive tax regulations.

As a result, the RACIB has linked up with Crypto Universe company to develop two mining pools under the project name “Mine Russia”. Each of the pools is speculated to support 3000 units, mining a range of cryptocurrencies. One of the main aims of the project is to cut back on the amount of Russian money going towards foreign enterprises through crypto mining. RACIB’s president has vowed that there will be no hidden fees for the transfer of assets or connecting the mining equipment to the new network.

Russia has become popular with overseas companies due to its low energy costs, with another recent drop in electricity rates recently from 5-7 rubles to 4-5 rubles in the last year. Prices are half that amount in some areas, making the country one of the lowest in the world for energy.

Although, Russia is still vehemently anti-crypto in terms of legislation, at least at the street level. Mining, on the other hand, is favored for its obvious economic attributes and is propped up by legislators. Cryptocurrency bills are going through the State Duma for a second reading later this year.

Overseas, the Russian New Mining Company is investing 125 million USD into a massive Bitcoin mining operation in Alvdal, Norway. This is a 20-minute drive from Tynset, Norway where Trident Juncture will begin on 5 October 2018. Trident Juncture will be the largest North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military exercise in Norway’s history.

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From a top down approach, it’s clear that sellers are in charge as BTC is down a massive 11 percent thanks to Sep 5 selling spree. Regardless, there is optimism for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin in particular stemming mainly from bullish fundamental developments. This divergence means there is potential for BTC to recover in coming days. Because of yesterday’s double bar reversal pattern right at $6,000, a foundation for a potential recovery above this descending wedge is probable.

From the News

Around this time last year, Bitcoin and China were synonymous. Fast forward and the situation is so out of tune thanks to the Chinese radical interpretation of cryptocurrencies and their enforcing a blanket ban on Bitcoin trading, ICOs and exchanges in their bid to “protect the economy and the fledgling Yuan”.

Though the country’s media indicate that the government has been successful with crypto trading volumes dominated in Yuan is under one percent, the hammer hasn’t completely stamped out Bitcoin trading. To circumvent the ban, off shore exchanges are implementing different tricks as automatic changing of domains and setting up smaller exchanges through proxy companies allowing Chinese citizens to trade.  A stand out though is the proliferation of peer to peer trading often done over virtual private networks and Tether. The latter has been successful because trade execution isn’t reliant of the middle man and cold storage run supreme among coin owners.

Nonetheless, China remains a key player in the crypto space and with Bitmain dominating in the manufacture of ASIC chip sets–the industry is undoubtedly earning the country billions of dollars in export.

In the meantime, CoinGate, the four year Lithuanian payment processor said customers can now pay at any of their 4000 merchants using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. As expected, the processor charges are low—one percent—but all payments must be effected from Bitcoin LN supporting wallets as Bitcoin Lightning Network wallet or Éclair.

Bitcoin (BTC) Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

Bitcoin Weekly Chart by Trading View

After last week’s event, it’s clear that bears are in charge. Fact is, on a weekly basis, BTC is down 11 percent. That’s mostly due to  that double bar bear reversal pattern eroding Week ending Aug 26 and Sep 2 gains. The result is that dark cloud cover with Bitcoin sellers jumping in right at the influential eight month resistance trend line near the apex of a descending wedge.

From history, it’s around this area that a break out might happen. Judging from market sentiment, many expect a break and close below $6,000. However, a candlestick specific characteristic paints a different story. First, notice that the lower wick is longer than the upper wick hinting of buyers jumping in. Secondly, $6,000 has been successful in rejecting lower lows and the same might happen this time round only that a break out about the eight month resistance trend line might happen triggering an influx of buy pressure.

Daily Chart

Bitcoin Daily Chart by Trading View

To reiterate, Bitcoin seems to be finding support. While this is contrary to how the trend is developing from a top down approach, BTC might find reprieve today. It’s easy to see why. After yesterday’s bulls, prices steadied. What we have is a double bar bull reversal at important support levels. This is printing and confirming projected series of higher highs relative to June 2018 lows. It’s contrarian but still, I suggest taking small size buys at spot rates with stops at $6,000. Targets remain at aim Sep 5 highs at $7,200 for a nice 1:2 risk reward ratio.

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

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: 6 TIMES—The Number of Times Bitcoin Has Retested $6,000 in the last Three Months appeared first on NewsBTC.

Listen to the 10 September 2018 Bitcoin News Radio Show below.

Follow the Bitcoin News Radio Show on Anchor, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Breaker. We broadcast a new episode every day, covering the most important topics in the crypto, Bitcoin, and blockchain world!

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