Category: Uncategorized

Key Highlights

• Ripple price is slowly recovering and is currently trading above $0.4500 against the US dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line in place with resistance at $0.4680 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
• The pair is likely to break the $0.4680 and $0.4700 resistance levels to make a nice upward move.

Ripple price is facing tough barriers against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD may perhaps break the $0.4700 resistance to move into a bullish zone.

Ripple Price Resistance

There were solid gains in bitcoin price above $8,000 recently, but Ripple price faced many challenges against the US Dollar. The XRP/USD pair traded a few points higher above $0.4500, but it struggled to gain momentum. A swing low was formed near $0.4400 before the price moved above the $0.4600 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There was also a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.5242 high to $0.4290 low.

However, the price is currently facing a major resistance near the $0.4700 level. There is also a major bearish trend line in place with resistance at $0.4680 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. The 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.5242 high to $0.4290 low is also near the $0.4660 level. Therefore, there are many resistances around the $0.4700 level for buyers. Should there be a close above $0.4700, the price may accelerate gains towards $0.5000.

Looking at the chart, the price is likely to break the $0.4680 and $0.4700 resistance levels. If not, there is a risk of a downside move towards the $0.4500 support and the 100 hourly SMA. Below this, the next support is near the $0.4400 level.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is about to move back in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently placed above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.4500

Major Resistance Level – $0.4700

The post Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD Sighting Break Above $0.4700 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are often considered to be the backbone of this budding ecosystem. These platforms provide convenience when it comes to accessing Bitcoin and altcoins. Every now and then, certain cryptocurrency exchanges exhibit very odd behavior, and WEX is among them.

The WEX Exchange Is Behaving Oddly

Cryptocurrency exchanges often temporarily display incorrect prices. Such blips occur on a regular basis, yet they can often be written off as temporary issues. In the case of the WEX exchange, it has gone off the rails for several hours on end now. None of its current prices seem to make any sense, primarily due to a lack of trading volume.

Even so, these prices will attract a lot of speculators. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was priced at $9,289. That was well above the current market average, and it seems trades are actually going through at this rate. On the USDT front, however, that same Bitcoin is valued at just $5,220. Such a wide spread would, in theory, allow for large arbitrage opportunities.

The same applies to a fair few other currencies on this exchange. None of its prices seem to add up at this time, as Ethereum is valued more than $100 above the global market average. Things only get weirder when looking at other fiat currency pairs supported by this exchange. It remains unclear what is going on exactly or why anyone would be trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at such prices.

The bigger problem users will have is getting money in and out of WEX. More specifically, a lot of exchange users are complaining about WEX locking their wallets, which means they cannot withdraw any money at this stage. This seems to be affecting all fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, which means there’s been zero opportunity to take advantage of these price changes.

There are a lot of concerns that WEX may be slowly trying to pull an exit scam. It is still way too early to say this for sure, even though one cannot deny that this is all looking incredibly suspicious. Considering that the platform only recently resurfaced after BTC-E was shut down, it seems this “new” platform will not see much success.

Whether or not these issues will be resolved remains to be seen. It is evident that the WEX team has a lot of explaining to do, yet it seems they are incapable of addressing the current issues. This does not bode well for the future of this exchange, and it will hurt cryptocurrency’s reputation. One can only hope that not too many people have lost money because of these developments.

Crypto exchange WEX continues to see prices well out of step with the rest of the market amid the continuation of a near-total freeze on withdrawals.

Google is set to announce its latest DLT developments at today’s Google Cloud Next ’18 conference in San Francisco.

The company has a 50-minute session planned at the conference to discuss its so-called ‘Distributed Ledger Technology Partnerships on Google Cloud’, the title of the session.

Both Google and Microsoft have invested in blockchain technology and both companies recognize the importance of its development alongside their respective technological breakthroughs. According to a report by CBInsights, Google was only just behind SBI Holdings between 2012 and 2017 in terms of active investment in blockchain technology, making it the second largest corporate investor in the field.

Earlier this year, three ex-Google executives broke away to form their own xGoogler Blockchain Alliance (GBA). One of the xGooglers, Andy Tian of Ethereum-based gifting platform Gifto, commented earlier this year:

“Google has always been in the forefront of new technologies worldwide, from Android to AI. As Googlers, we can bring our unique experiences to expand blockchain’s influence, to everyone, everywhere.”

Google itself suggests that customers can explore ways they might use DLT frameworks on GCP with launch partners including BlocApps and Digital Assets, which also is providing its own blockchain platform through Google Cloud. Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset explained:

“We’re partnering with Google Cloud to provide developers with a full stack solution so they can unleash the potential for web-paced innovation in blockchain… This will reduce the technical barriers to DLT application development by delivering our advanced distributed ledger platform and modeling language to Google Cloud.”

Unnamed sources suggested earlier this year that Google is working on a third party usable blockchain tech of its own, which will be followed by a “white version” that companies can run on their own servers.

Google has notably softened its stance on cryptocurrencies over the past few weeks, adding Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) to its online currency exchange converter, although rates are not the same as those on CoinMarketCap, the investor’s go-to crypto app.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin rather embarrassingly admitted this month that he had been mining Ethereum with his son, this after Google had put a ban on crypto advertising, which still stands.

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Expert cryptocurrency investor Mike Novogratz said during a speech at Blockchain Week Korea that “a herd of institutional investors” is moving into the crypto space. His opinion is shared by other experts, like Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson who says tens of trillions of dollars will be invested into crypto from institutional investors. If this is accurate, it could lead to the biggest crypto rally in history by far since the total crypto market cap is still below USD 300 billion as of this writing on 23 July 2018.

It is believed that proper infrastructure, like licensed and insured cryptocurrency custodians, a Bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF), official Bitcoin price indices, Bitcoin futures, and mature cryptocurrency regulation will usher institutional investors into the crypto space. Before this infrastructure was set up, it was too risky for institutions to make serious crypto investments. Now, most of the necessary infrastructure is finally falling into place.

The Street interviewed Novogratz after the speech, when he said, “I think institutional investors are slowly coming to the realization that blockchain will be Internet or Web 3.0 and they’ll want to participate just like they want to participate in the Web. Their first way of participating is going to be through venture-capital funds. Many of them are already participating because they’ve invested in Sequoia or Polychain or Benchmark or many of the other VC funds that invest in this area. The second step for them will be buying the coins and/or the ICOs themselves, but many of them are participating in the ICOs already through their venture investments.”

He predicts that if any major companies like Google or Amazon issue their own cryptocurrency, they would see explosive price increases. Additionally, he is the biggest investor in EOS and says it is the first blockchain ideal for commercial applications but admits there are some reasonable centralization concerns.

Novogratz is in charge of Galaxy Digital, which has pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into crypto startups, with USD 325 million set aside for EOS projects. Additionally, other institutional investment firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Ventures, Benson Oak, Autonomous Partners, and Grayscale Investments are making large investments into crypto.

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The rather uneasy situation across all cryptocurrency markets continues unabated. With Bitcoin still soaring, altcoins continue to struggle for any real momentum at this stage. The Ethereum price has finally found some support and is slowly bouncing back after a few rough days. Successfully maintaining the $470 price level will not be easy.

Ethereum Price Attempts to Stabilize

All altcoins are going through a very rough period as of right now. One would expect the increasing Bitcoin price to result in favorable altcoin momentum. While that has been the case on a regular basis in the past, things are very different during this bull run. It is not the first time Bitcoin’s value rises and altcoins struggle to keep up with this trend.

In the case of the Ethereum price, the past few days have been relatively interesting. Although the price momentum hasn’t been all too positive, it is a matter of time until the situation turns around in favor of alternative currencies. For the Ethereum price, that turnaround is already forming thanks to a minor 1.15% increase in value over the past 24 hours.

While this Ethereum price increase is not spectacular by any means, it is better than what most market speculators had predicted or expected at this stage. A current Ethereum price of $470 may not be sustainable for long, although it will heavily depend on how the trading volume evolves in the coming hours and days. With sufficient volume, it should be easy to slowly push the Ethereum price higher again.

Speaking of the Ethereum trading volume, things are looking rather promising at this point in time. Almost $2bn worth of Ether has changed hands in the past 24 hours, which further seems to indicate there is a genuine demand to buy and sell this popular altcoin these days.  This trading volume is made possible thanks to an overall bump in crypto volume, as that figure has surpassed $17.5bn once again.

OKEx maintains its control on the Ethereum trading industry, for the time being. Its USDT pair trumps Binance’s BTC market and Bitfinex’s USD offering. Huobi and Binance add two more USDT pairs to the top five. A bit more fiat currency support would be more than beneficial to Ethereum in this regard, but given the overall increase in volume, the current pairs should be sufficient to keep things going for a while.

As is always the case when the Ethereum price rises, this may only be a temporary trend first and foremost. Since the ETH/BTC ratio is still down by 2.47% over the past 24 hours, it is evident the coming hours and days will remain subject to a steep uphill battle. Even so, the current Ethereum price momentum seems promising, but nothing is ever guaranteed in the cryptocurrency world.

The 37-year old BitFunder founder has pleaded guilty to federal charges on defrauding investors and obstruction of justice

Bitcoin (BTC) has split off from other top cryptos and shows more resilience in holding on to gains won in the major upswing that started last week

Podcasts are great for helping people learn new things, connect to new subject matter, and access perspectives otherwise difficult to find. Yet not all podcasts are available to everyone. CastBox aims to change that.

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Podcasts Were Not Always Easy To Find

Podcasts are supposedly easy to find. Just go onto Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud or any other number of apps and find your favorite topics from your phone, tablet or laptop. Yet what happens when your favorite podcast isn’t featured on your device’s native app store or podcast app? Or, perhaps your favorite podcast is only available in the language of the non-English speaking foreign country you may be traveling in (which you might not happen to speak). At this point, it becomes a matter of scarcity: do you risk settling for a diminished digital experience, or worse, diminishing the quality of your trip? Renee Wang was traveling in Japan when she realized her favorite trilingual podcast was no longer available on her podcast app. Unfortunately, the app she was using was the only one her podcast was available on. After being unable to find a solution on the internet, she decided to build her own.

Then Renee Wang Built CastBox

Renee and her co-founder Xiaocong He have built Castbox, a discovery app hailed as the Youtube of podcasts, an all-in-one solution to the problem of both having to hunt down disparate podcast channels, apps, and stations to find the podcasts you want. Replete with foreign language and multi-platform accessibility, as well as personalized recommendation features, CastBox is essentially a blockchain-enabled podcast aggregator that not only allows individuals to discover new podcasts tailored to their interests, but also allows other users to see what others are listening to on the app, and personalize their podcast recommendation and search preferences as such. One of the greatest ways Castbox adds value to users’ podcast experience is through its in-audio search feature: the app transcribes entire podcasts and then allows users to search for them based off of just one sentence or body of text within it, after which CastBox then shows their search result in addition to giving contextualized recommendations to similar podcasts. The app also includes audiobooks and on-demand radio to its list of offerings.

Progress

CastBox has so far completed four funding rounds for a total funding pool of about $30 million after their recent Series B, with IDG Capital, SIG Capital, Zhen Fund, and Qiming Ventures participating. The app’s success is credited to its blockchain-powered business model, improving content monetization for podcast hosts by connecting them directly to users through their open-source blockchain, and incentivizing creators to create and users to listen with CastBox’s ContentBox blockchain. Powered by its BOX token, ContentBox launched last week and enables CastBox to incentivize users and broadcasters with their BOX token, which can be exchanged for Ethereum and Bitcoin on Huobi Global.The platform’s incentivization feature enables broadcasters to improve their monetization, more widely diversifying podcast access by connecting users directly instead of making them rely on content distribution platforms like Youtube or Tidal. This allows creators and broadcasters to earn money directly from users, instead of earning less due to high distribution costs, as is the case now.

Successes and Obstacles

CastBox is rated a 4.7 out of 5 on the Google Play store and has been downloaded over 7 million times. And, while Apple Podcasts controls 60% of the podcast market, Castbox almost Google Play’s list of podcast apps off of the search term “podcast”, at #4. Castbox has come far but still needs to overcome a few key challenges, namely how best to improve user privacy alongside usability, scale packets per second to accelerate throughput–a widespread problem across blockchains and blockchain use cases–and create new business partnerships to improve revenue sharing and scale content offerings. If CastBox can overcome these challenges, it may come to top podcast lists across app marketplaces. Their top obstacle to market dominance will be Apple if this happens. Only time will tell whether their preparation and success thus far has primed them for that most supreme of challenges.
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What do you think about CastBox using blockchain to open up podcasts across borders and language barriers? Post in the comments below and let us know!

“DEX” is a hot buzzword in crypto trading, but the current models actually offer a spectrum of technologies with varying degrees of centralization.

There are a lot of different projects which aim to disrupt the traditional concept of cryptocurrency exchanges. Expanding upon this business model by adding other financial vehicles can make it more appealing. Dimensions Network is going down such a path, as it aims to become the next-gen exchange of the future.

The Dimensions Network Concept

Launching a new exchange with a focus on cryptocurrency is always an interesting decision. The Dimensions Network team aims to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance. This will be achieved by allowing users to trade cryptocurrency, options, futures, and much more. This could in turn attract a wide range of users.

Under the Hood

Offering such a wide range of tradeable vehicles is an important first step. The Dimensions Network team, however, has a lot of other options to explore in the near future. An Exchange Aggregator will be introduced to offer buyers the best prices for these tradeable products. Providing this functionality in a convenient decentralized environment will pose a lot of new challenges.

The purpose of Dimensions Network is to provide all of this functionality in a decentralized environment. This will greatly improve the liquidity provided on the platform. Moreover, the team is developing a multi-blockchain platform that will focus primarily on BTC, ETH, and USDT pairs.

An exchange such as Dimensions Network won’t serve much of a purpose without fiat currency support. Implementing this functionality has proven to be challenging, but the team will integrate fiat funding and withdrawals soon. This will be achieved by the company’s global banking licenses, which still need to be ironed out.

The DST Token

As has become customary in the world of blockchain technology, every exchange and project gets its own token. In the case of Dimension Network, the DST token will grant users 15% of the platform’s trading fees as dividends. These earnings will be distributed to users’ Ethereum or Dimensions Network wallets.

The Road Ahead

Projects on the scale of Dimensions Network will not be completed overnight. The coming months will be spent on developing the decentralized platform, introducing fiat support, and offering a mobile application. The launch of the decentralized platform won’t happen until early 2019. More competition among trading platforms can only be considered a good thing.