Youre readingFirst Mover, CoinDesks daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team and edited by Bradley Keoun, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You cansubscribe here.

Price Point

Bitcoin was down early Thursday to about $11,250, extending Wednesdays sell-off and falling to its lowest price since early August.[Update: At press time prices had slumped further to around $10,850.]

The cryptocurrency tumbled 4.4% on Wednesday, the most in a month, leading to a heightened level of margin calls and position liquidations. Prices appeared to fall in sync withgold and silver prices, which tumbled as the dollar reboundedfollowing a recent slide.

Failure to hold at the $12,000 level has turned the milksour, the crypto trading firm Diginex wrote in a note to clients. Leveraged longs have been forced to drink it.

Market Moves

With stocks soaring to new records after a decade-long climb, traders in traditional markets are asking how much higher theycango in the midst of a global pandemic, openly discussing whether the market is justpropped up by government stimulus checks and Federal Reserve money injections.

The conversation around bitcoin is very different. The assumption among many digital-asset investors is the cryptocurrencys price will definitely, inevitably go higher, much higher. Its only a matter of time.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who run the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, wrote last week thatbitcoin prices could reach $500,000, in an extensive analysis that somehow relates to adatabase of 600,000 asteroids.

Nobody really knows if any of that will pan out, of course. Whats clear is a lot of investors have bought bitcoin because they see it as a deep out-of-the-money option (with no expiration date) on financial Armageddon, severe currency debasement or at the very least an inflation rate well above the Federal Reserves 2% annual target. According toCoinDesk Researchs monthly review published this week, bitcoins price appears to be rising whenever the dollar falls in foreign-exchange markets.

Bitcoin costs $11,200 now, and it might be possible to lose it all, but it also might be worth $500,000 at some point. Thats the general gambit anyway.

Invented just 11 years ago, bitcoin is exceedingly difficult to value partly because it has such a short track record. Similar to gold and many other commodities, the cryptocurrency offers no yield,so bond math wont work. Bitcoin has no earnings or dividend, so stock analysis wont work either.

Philip Bonello, director of research for the money manager Grayscale (owned by CoinDesk parent Digital Currency Group), says his favorite chart for thinking about bitcoins price trajectory might be one showing holders versus speculators. A holder in this case is defined as a bitcoin that has not moved for one to three years, while a speculator coin has moved in the past 90 days.

An increase in holders is considered likely bullish, while an increase in speculators is likely bearish, according to arecent Grayscale report. The idea is that its positive for the market if more investorsappear to be holding the cryptocurrency for the long term, versus those who merely appear to be in it for a quick volatility ride.

Right now, the chart shows holders increasing and speculators decreasing. According to Grayscale, its a similar structure to that of early 2016, just before bitcoin went on a bull run toward its all-time high around $20,000.

Its reassuring, Bonello said Wednesday in a phone interview, that the sentiment of the investor base is growing day by day. The holders appear to have been unfazed by the volatility witnessed in March, when the spread of the coronavirus quickly sent bitcoin prices swooning from above $9,000 to below $5,000. Its probably unlikely that theyre going to sell right now at $11,000, Bonello said.

All of this might mean nothing for the future price of bitcoin. It just shows that a growing number of investors are holding onto their tokens in a bet that the cryptocurrencys price will or even that it might eventually go up. By a lot.

Bitcoin Watch

Token Watch

Ether (ETH):Open positions in Deribits ether options hitrecord high above $500 million.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH):Proposed changes by development team couldreduce rewards for miners, splitting community support.

OKB (OKB):OKEx CEO says foundation burned 3.8 million of its utility tokens, just over 1% of total supply, deepening commitment to deflation at time when central banks around the world are ceaselessly printing money.

Theta Network (THETA):Decentralized streaming network says DeFi could be used to pay content providers who arejust starting out, with few followers.

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First Mover: As Bitcoin Falls for Second Day, Long-Term Holders Probably Won't Care - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Debating the opportunity costs of earning on your Bitcoin.

Crypto Twitter, like many Twitter-spheres, is as full of self-affirmation and choir preaching as it is of internal holy-wars (not too unlike those described on this post). We can characterize two camps within the crypto/digital asset space. This is a gross oversimplification to be sure, but paints a picture of the space where there are a spectrum of competing ideas.

One group is financial and technically more conservative; this group wants the hardest monetary policy, extremely high levels of computational security, and the ability to self-verify everything. They might see the benefit of more complex functionality, but think this functionality must be built on top of a highly reliable and trustworthy base layer. These folks value minimizing attack vectors, self-auditing, backwards compatibility, and privacy. The Bitcoin Maximalists fit into this group.

The second group is more liberal; they are interested in rapid innovation, maximal flexibility and functionality, and often have higher risk tolerances. While they still value security and decentralization, they are comfortable with a larger set of concepts and designs. There is substantial internal diversity among the members of this group, but many of them envision a future with many successful interconnected projects (rather than a single base layer).

As an example, we recently watched the Bitcoin Maximalists spar with the Ethereum community over issues such as cost to run a full node and auditing a networks total supply in a debate dubbed #supplygate (1, 2).

What if you could benefit from additional functionality without compromising on security?

There is a middle ground forming under the term Bitcoin Centrist. The centrist understands the benefits of both camps ideologies.

Putting Your Crypto to Work

DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, is arguably the hottest subject of 2020 within the crypto space. This new buzz word describes the broad set of protocols which enable decentralized financial product/service applications (acknowledging that there isnt complete consensus on what fits into this category). I aggregated and parsed unique documents mentioning the keyword DeFi using NTerminal in Splunk. We can see an increase in buzz over the course of 2020:

Sentiment Analysis for the Keyword "DeFi"

People are interested in DeFi both for its potential in Reinventing Global Finance, and as a way to make massive investment returns. DeFi applications include systems such as automated market making, derivatives, and lending. Yield Farming is the process of utilizing DeFi protocols to generate yield on ones digital assets.

YFI (the token for Yearn Finance), for example went from trading around $4,000 at the start of the month to a price of over $36,000, surpassing $1 billion in marketcap:

YFI-USD Reported Price & Volume on FTX and NLP mentions by Sentiment

These protocols, of course, are far from being risk-free, and this market activity does not appear to be sustainable. In some ways the DeFi craze mirrors what we saw in 2017 with the ICO boom, when projects were pulling millions of dollars before anyone had time to find the associated white paper.

Yam Finance Marketcap Aug 11-17

Yam Finance (with the symbol YAM) was an unaudited project started in just 10 days (start to finish according to them) which was launched on Aug 11th. According to Coingecko, it hit a market cap of almost $60 million on Aug 13th. Then, a bug was discovered which locked up ~ $750,000 in Curve y tokens and the price immediately plummeted.

But what about tokenized Bitcoin?

The amount of Bitcoin locked on Ethereum has exploded over the last month. The USD value locked in WBTC and RenBTC, the two leading methods of locking your BTC into Ethereum transactions have outpaced the production of Bitcoins earned by miners:

Total Value Locked (USD) in WBTC

Total Value Locked (USD) in RenVM

Each of these methods carry a unique set of risks. WBTC is an ERC20 token backed 1:1 with BTC which involves a custodian, and the KYC that comes with it.

The renBTC token uses the Ren Virtual Machine to mint BTC to an Ethereum smart contract. This method avoids the counterparty risk, but could be void of any way of retrieving trapped funds.

In addition to counter party and/or smart contract risks, users must pay outrageously high gas prices on their transactions (which could fail), navigate the various platforms which enable the minting of these tokens, and make sure they avoid scams and user errors along the way.

Conceptually, locking your assets into smart contracts which allow you to put your money to work is great. If it is possible to generate income without compromising the financial sovereignty offered by permission-less and censorship-resistant money like Bitcoin, it would benefit both the Maximalists and Yield Farmers alike.

Today, however, Bitcoin (as well as Yams and Sushi) still abides by the same rules as cake. While there are now various ways of putting your digital money to work, there are important risks and trade offs associated with them. I expect the Bitcoin Centrist camp to grow as these trade offs are reconciled by developers and users.

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Can You Have Your Bitcoin And Eat It Too? - Forbes

Bitcoin has declined sharply this week, losing over 5% in under 24 hours and causing traders to nervously eye the psychological $10,000 per bitcoin level.

The bitcoin price lost $1,000 in a matter of hours, falling under $11,000 per bitcoin on Thursday morning with the U.S. stock market posting its biggest sell-off since June by the close of play as stocks retreated from all-time highs, led lower by tech giants.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market watchers, who have enjoyed a prolonged bull market since the March coronavirus crash, are now focused on the $10,000 line, with a bitcoin futures trading gap set in late July still open just below it.

The bitcoin price lost almost $1,000 per bitcoin in under 24 hours, sparking fears among bitcoin and ... [+] cryptocurrency traders of a wider sell-off.

Bitcoin's 2020 bull market, which has seen the bitcoin price surge from around $4,000 to $12,000, could be brought to an abrupt end if the price moves lower than $10,000 per bitcoin.

"Moving forward, it is important to keep an eye on the last zone of defense between $10,000 and $10,500," Joe DiPasquale, the chief executive of San Francisco-based bitcoin and crypto hedge fund BitBull Capital, said via email. "As long as this range is respected, bitcoin is unlikely to see a prolonged bearish spell."

The bitcoin price fell as low as $10,455 per bitcoin on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange on Thursday before somewhat rebounding.

The open trading gap, set on July 27, saw bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) open higher after the weekend close, something some analysts think causes a disconnect with the underlying market and appears to have set bitcoin on its path to recent highs of around $12,000. Technical analysis shows that 90% of such trading gaps are eventually closed, with the price sooner-or-later retracing back to the gap.

Elsewhere, bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange data suggests there could still be "sell pressure to work through," according to Philip Gradwell, chief economist at blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis.

"Bitcoin inflows to exchanges were 92,000 yesterday, highest in 37 days, as people rushed to sell at near $12,000 prices of September 1," Gradwell said via Twitter. "Trade intensity, how many times the inflowing bitcoin was traded, is low, suggesting there were not many buyers to match the sellers."

Meanwhile, bitcoin miners, those who secure the cryptocurrency's network in return for bitcoin rewards, "are moving unusually large amounts of bitcoin," according to analysts at data provider CryptoQuant, suggesting miners are looking to cash out their bitcoin rewards.

"The big level that everyone is watching is $10,000," Mati Greenspan, the founder of Quantum Economics, wrote in his popular daily newsletter, pointing to a U.S. dollar comeback as the reason for the recent move lower.

"The crypto market has broken a few psychological levels. When we broke above that level in late July, it was with such force that we never really got to test it as support. Well, this may just be our chance," Greenspan wrote, adding, "if things get really bad we may just get another chance to buy bitcoin below $10,000."

The bitcoin price has lost almost 6% over the last 24-hour trading period, with the bitcoin market ... [+] capitalization falling under $200 billion.

However, many in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community remain upbeat despite the recent bitcoin price fall.

"$10,000 is the new $1,000," Charles Hayter, chief executive of bitcoin and cryptocurrency analytics platform CryptoCompare, said via email, adding: "2020 has seen leaps and bounds in terms of infrastructure, regulation and resilience across the ecosystem as it has evolved over the last three years."

The current bitcoin market is "similar to the first half of 2017," according to Hayter, who thinks "the perpetual dilution of fiat currencies is being challenged by bitcoins hard code cap" of 21 million bitcoin tokens.

Bitcoin, along with the wider cryptocurrency market and global stock markets, has been boosted this year by massive stimulus measures and unprecedented money printing that's carried out by the world's central banks, led by the U.S. Federal Reserve, in order to offset the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

"For most of 2020, short-term bitcoin price moves have been highly correlated to U.S. stocks," Cory Klippsten, the chief executive of bitcoin buying app Swan Bitcoin, said via Telegram, adding he expects "any dips under $10,000 to be bought up voraciously."

"Bitcoin has proven to be uncorrelated over the longer term. At a minimum it is a hedge against fiat inflation, but it also functions as a call option on a new global monetary system."

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If Bitcoin Crashes Below $10,000 Its All OverHeres Why - Forbes

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets have been dominated by decentralized finance, often shortened to DiFi, over recent months.

The bitcoin price, up around 40% since the beginning of 2020, has been left in the dust by the gains made some DeFi project tokensincluding yearn.finance (YFI) that's up a staggering 3,500% in just a little over a month and has surged past bitcoin's late-2017 $20,000 all-time high.

Bitcoin remains the biggest cryptocurrency by total value with a market capitalization of over $200 ... [+] billion, however, individual yearn tokens are now worth far more than single bitcoins.

The price of yearn.finance tokens have soared from under $1,000 per YFI since it was created in mid-July to over $30,000 this weekend, passing the bitcoin price on Friday. The yearn.finance price came close to $40,000 on some bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges before falling back.

YFI is the governance token of DeFi protocol yEarn, designed to aggregate yields from other lending protocols. DeFi is the idea cryptocurrency technology can be used to recreate traditional financial instruments such as loans and insurance.

YFI holders can use their tokens to vote on proposals for network upgrades and it can be earned by putting cash into yEarn, a practice known as yield farming.

"The yearn.finance coin has become the altcoin star recently," Alex Kuptsikevich, FxPro senior financial analyst, said via email.

"In a month it has shown twentyfold growth, living proof that 'unicorns' still exist, at least in crypto. The rapid growth of the coin also reflects the popularity of the decentralized financial sector. The creators of the project decided to follow the bitcoin path, limiting the issue of only 30,000 YFI coins. Such limited supply spurs rapid price growth."

This price growth was not something planned by the YFI creator, however. Yearn.finance tokens were described as "completely valueless 0 supply token," by its creator Andre Cronje.

The yearn price has jumped by 26% in just the last 24 hours, adding to massive gains through August ... [+] and leaving the bitcoin price in the dust.

"We reiterate, it has 0 financial value," Cronje wrote in a Medium post last month outlining the project.

"There is no pre-mine, there is no sale, no you cannot buy it, no, it wont be on uniswap, no, there wont be an auction. We dont have any of it."

But this warning hasn't stopped some of the biggest personalities in bitcoin and crypto from making outlandish predictions about the YFI price.

"One YFI [equals] $100,000," Arthur Hayes, the chief executive of the Seychelles-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, said via Twitter, forecasting the yearn.finance price would continue to climb and hit $100,000.

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A Radical New Crypto Just Blew Past The Bitcoin Price All-Time HighUp A Shocking 3,500% In Just One Month - Forbes

Many in the crypto and digital assets markets have been claiming that institutions are moving into this space and are now banging down the digital door to get access to this asset class. They may finally be onto something.

By many measures, the market for digital assets is growing at a pace that appears primed for broader adoption by more sophisticated players in the markets like private capital, pensions funds, endowments, traditional hedge funds, and banks.

The crypto derivatives market is a leading example of this. It has been growing faster than the spot market over the past three years and is now estimated to be 40% of the top global exchange volume according to CryptoCompare in their July Exchange Review Report.

"In the last two years we have seen traditional pension funds likeFairfax Countys Virginias Police Officers Retirement System, traditional banks like JP Morgan, Signature Bank, and multiple billion dollar family offices across the country holding and investing in Bitcoin and other crypto currencies," says Kavita Gupta, visiting scholar at Stanford University.

Institutions often cite regulatory uncertainty as one of the main reasons for not allocating to crypto and digital assets, and they have a point. Most tokens and coins fall under a legal grey area that has yet to be clarified by most major securities authorities. Derivatives are a different breed.

The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is considered one of the planets toughest regulators, and they have approved several crypto futures contracts for trading like CME's Bitcoin Options, NYSEs Bakkt, and LedgerX. This approval comes despite their refusal to approve a Bitcoin ETF as they judge the spot market as unreliable and manipulated to a much higher degree than most people realize.

The widespread availability of these derivatives has led to private capital and institutions allocating to them, seemingly setting or matching new records with each passing month. Open interest in Bitcoin contracts hit an all time high of $2.1 billion on July 31st and then nearly matched that mark with the August expiry that passed just last week.

In the U.S. alone, anyone with a TD Ameritrade or Robinhood account can invest in crypto options just as easily as buying a share of Apple AAPL or Tesla TSLA , and this has likely contributed to the explosive growth seen in options trading volumes this year. The rumour in the professional COVID-19 work at home community in the global financial services sector is that the vast numbers of new homeworkers has contributed to the retail volume of derivative trading.

It helps to have traditional heavyweights like the CME and NYSE behind these contracts, and while growth started slowly and intermittently, it is now moving at a steady pace. According to a recent research report by Tokeninsight, derivatives trading volume is rising steeply, up 100 percent from the same period one year ago as spot volumes have seen a drop, down 18% in Q2 but still have yet to pass spot trading volumes.

There are also venues like Huobi, Bitmex, and Deribit, and investors are flocking to them not only because they are seen as safer by some, but also because of the flexibility and creativity found in derivatives markets.

Denis Vinokourov, head of research for digital assets prime broker Bequant, recently commented in CoinTelegraph, Options are a very efficient way to hedge exposure to the underlying product, be that Bitcoin or Ethereum spot or even futures/perpetuals. In addition, it is easier to structure products that would offer yield, and it is this that has been particularly appealing to market participants, especially in the wake of sideways market price action.

Crypto assets are growing and the markets are maturing at a remarkably fast pace given their relative infancy. Bitcoin is increasingly gaining mainstream awareness as public companies and central bankers discuss it with stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and the Digital Yuan, increasingly as a prolonged economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic looks increasingly likely.

Last month a publicly traded company MicroStrategy MSTR became one of the single biggest individual holders of Bitcoin when it bought about $250 million worth of BTC because it is a reasonable hedge against inflation that is superior to cash.

This led to a short-lived rally, but this was less important than the initial indications that larger firms are now starting to seek out alternatives to the US Dollar, and in this case, one was confident enough in Bitcoin to convert nearly all of its cash reserves into the cryptocurrency.

This phenomenon is global with Asian companies not to be outdone. This weeks announcement by the Singapore Exchange about its entry into digital asset products is a telling barometer for institutional interests globally.

This is no surprise as Asian institutions make up the lions share of trading volumes in spot, futures and derivative products, said James Harris, at CryptoCompare, expect more to come, especially in the Asia Pacific region, and soon.

A number of larger exchanges around the world are also long on digital assets including the London Stock Exchange Group, Nasdaq and the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX-Group) who is building a full digital exchange, SDX, in partnership with R3 and are also exploring platforming the Swiss National Banks (SNB) digital currency.

Spot markets have since rallied sporadically but are struggling to stay above $12,000, trading mostly in a narrow range between $11,300 and $11,800 while DeFi coins like YFI have surged in unprecedented parabolic runs that have made instant millionaires overnight only to see some of those lose all their gains almost as quickly, as in the case of YAM.

A likely contributor to this tentative price action is the weariness traders have that another storm cloud is often on the horizon. Ethereum Classic (ETC) had three 51 percent attacks last month alone. This week saw South Korean regulators raiding the offices of BitThumb, one of the worlds largest crypto exchanges, over allegations of fraud related to an IEO and a potential buyout offer.

Bitcoin fell nearly five percent and other digital assets were dragged down with it. In an orderly market, circuit breakers would be triggered. Trading would be suspended, and investors would have been protected.

These measures dont exist in digital asset spot markets and flash crashes lead investors of all types to incur losses they otherwise wouldnt in traditional, fully regulated markets. Until the risk of this unpredictability can be better managed, it might be a while before more sophisticated investors look too far beyond traditional derivatives markets which are, after all, notionally the largest market in the world.

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Private Capital And Institutions Are Piling Into Bitcoin And Other Digital Assets But You Need To Know Where To Look - Forbes

Youre readingFirst Mover, CoinDesks daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team and edited by Bradley Keoun, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You cansubscribe here.

HOLIDAY NOTICE:First Mover will publish next on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Happy Labor Day to our U.S. readers.

Price Point

Bitcoin (BTC) was up in early trading to $10,500, rebounding after Thursdays 11% tumble, the biggest single-day declinesince March.

The sell-off,which took prices as low asabout $10,000, coincided with a rout in U.S. stocks, rekindlinglong-simmering discussionsover whether the largest cryptocurrency was a safe haven like gold or merely another risky asset. Prices for ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, slid 13%, potentially a sign of anunwind of the recent fervor in decentralized finance, or DeFi. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell and the dollar gained in foreign-exchange markets, indicating a flight to safety by traditional investors.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of the cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund BitBull Capital,told First Mover in an email that $10,000 still stands as a strong support and has absorbed selling pressure fairly well in the last two instances.John Kramer, a trader at crypto over-the-counter firm GSR, told CoinDesks Daniel Cawrey that many investors will see this as an opportunity tobuy the dip.

Market Moves

Afteryears of debatingwhether tether (USDT) is fully backed 1-for-1 with U.S. dollars, thestablecoins critics and defenders alike can now put their money where their mouths are.

Opium, a derivatives exchange, has introduced credit default swaps (CDS) for USDT. The product, launched Thursday, insures the buyer in the event of default by Tether, the issuer of the worlds largest stablecoin andfifth-largest cryptocurrency overall.

As Opiums blog points out, USDT is the lifeblood of theborderless cryptocurrency marketplace. The oldest stablecoin, USDT remains the largest such cryptocurrency by market cap and a top-five coin overall with$13.8 billionin issuance.Traders often use it to move money in and out of exchanges quickly to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities.

You can use it to protect yourself against (or speculate on) a systemic failure of the most widely used stablecoin in crypto, Opium said of the new CDS contract, in a blog post to be published Thursday.

There are nagging questions about the issuers creditworthiness. The firm behind USDT isunder investigationby the New York Attorney Generals office for alleged misappropriation of funds, andTetherrevealedin April 2019 that only 74% of USDT was backed by cash and cash equivalents.

Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Tether, said through a spokesman: Tether is solvent. Therefore, this solution is not really interesting to us or our community.

The solution might be interesting to traders who just want a little extra assurance.

Bitcoin Watch

Bitcoins options market has flipped bearish with the cryptocurrency registering its first double-digit decline in six months on Wednesday. Prices fell to a low of $10,006 before recovering to $10,500.

Token Watch

Ether (ETH):Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, released an improvement proposal to address soaring transaction fee ratesas network congestion rises.

Bitcoin (BTC):Supercycle thesis from Stack Funds predictsbreach of $14K in next 100 days.

Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC):Stablecoins are theclosest thing to digital cash that exists today, Castle Islands Nik Carter writes for CoinDesk.

Chainlink (LINK), Tezos (XTZ):BitMEX plans futures on LINK and XTZ, thefirst new coins to appear on the exchange in over two years.

Gnosis (GNO):Investment firm Arca calls for tender offer of prediction markets tokens asmarket value trades at 0.3% of projects treasury balance, the Block reported.

CoinDesk Researchs latest Monthly Review features 15 charts that highlight bitcoins performance relative to macro assets, its relationship to the dollar and other fiat currencies, and Ethereums growing congestion problem. Download the report.

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First Mover: Buying Bitcoin's Dip, Betting Against Tether and Weighing the Jobs Report - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:

Many of you are familiar with my teams advanced study of Fibonacci Price Theory and our use of our proprietary Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arc indicators. This technical analysis theory is a combination of Nikola Teslas Mechanical Resonance theory and traditional Fibonacci Price Theory. We believe the innate frequency of price action (once found), can be used to identify future critical inflection points in price. In this case with Bitcoin, three unique Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arcs aligned within 5 days to present a very real price inflection point. The recent collapse in the price of Bitcoin may be inherently related to the frequency of price from past peaks and troughs using our advanced Fibonacci Price Theory.

We found it interesting that Bitcoin prices stayed below $10k through most of June and July, when other Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arcs crossed price, then began to move higher after the last Price Amplitude Arc completed near July 20, 2020. After that Fibonacci Arc completed, the only Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arcs present in the future were the Triple Fibonacci Arcs shown on this Daily Bitcoin chart (below).

Our team also believes that once Bitcoin cleared the previous Fibonacci Arcs, a bit of a reprieve took place in price where a moderate upside price rally too place. As we neared the Triple Fibonacci Arcs, price activity muted and reversed. Could it be that price reacts to frequency levels we are not seeing on the charts?

The Weekly BitCoin chart, below, highlights many of the origination points (peaks and troughs) of the Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arcs. We anchor them to price peaks or troughs as a way to use and study them, measuring critical price waves (up or down) using Eclipse drawing tools, then drag them and anchor them to current or past peaks or troughs. Then we study the levels to determine if the frequency of price validity is accurate or not. If we believe we have drawn a Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arc that is valid, well keep in on the chart for future reference.

We believe this current Triple Fibonacci Arc pattern may be present in other symbols given how the US stock markets have reversed recently. It may be that these critical price inflection points operate across major indexes like tides in the ocean work across multiple ports and harbors. When a big or critical Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arc hits, we believe it results in a broad market reaction.

If this breakdown in Bitcoin Continues, the $8k level would be the next downside price target. Beyond that, possibly $7k and maybe as low as $6k. We will have to see how Bitcoin reacts to this Triple Fibonacci Price Amplitude Arc and how deep price corrects at this time. It is very likely that Bitcoin price levels will fall below the May through July levels, near $9k in an attempt to identify new support levels.

We also believe Gold and Silver will move lower as a price collapse in Bitcoin suggests general market fear it hitting all global assets. The US Dollar may attempt to form support as well because of this move. As other assets decline in valuation levels, some primary currency will likely be viewed as the strongest alternative asset this will likely be the US Dollar. Eventually, after what we believe could be a moderate downtrend in Gold and Silver, precious metals will begin to move dramatically higher as foreign currency and Bitcoin prices continue to fall. Capital will always seek out the best, least risky, investment solutions at times of chaos and risk. If Bitcoin becomes highly volatile and continues to fall, then alternate assets present very real opportunities.

Isnt it time you learned how I can help you better understand technical analysis as well as find and execute better trades? If you look back at past research, you will see that my incredible team and our proprietary technical analysis tools have shown you what to expect from the markets in the future. Do you want to learn how to profit from these expected moves? If so, sign up for myActive ETF Swing Trade Signalstoday!

If you have a buy-and-hold or retirement account and are looking for long-term technical signals for when to buy and sell equities, bonds, precious metals, or sit in cash then be sure to subscribe to myPassive Long-Term ETF Investing Signalsto stay ahead of the market and protect your wealth!

Chris VermeulenChief Market StrategistTechnical Traders Ltd.

NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: Our free research does not constitute a trade recommendation or solicitation for our readers to take any action regarding this research. It is provided for educational purposes only.

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Bitcoin Down Almost 10% Today, You'll Be Surprised to Hear What's Next - FX Empire

POLAND - 2020/06/15: In this photo illustration an Ethereum logo seen displayed on a smartphone. ... [+] (Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Since last Friday, Ethereum has increased by over 20% further padding its 2020 gains. Ethereum has been one of the brightest stars in the current bull market for digital assets, gaining 261% in 2020 compared to 65% for bitcoin.

https://www.coinbase.com/price/ethereum

The principal driver for $ETHs growth has been the enormous boom in decentralized finance (DeFi) given the majority of the DeFi networks are built atop the Ethereum platform. For example, the alphabet soup of hot tokens $YFI, $YAM, and $SUSHI (to name a few), have experienced meteoric price increases, 107,761%, 446%, and 1,358%, respectively.

Most importantly, the DeFi boom has accrued value to Ethereum via greater developer interest, i.e. building the the next unicorn DeFi token on Ethereum rather than competitors. This dynamic can be visualized by the Total value locked-up (TVL) on DeFi, which has dramatically increased from less than $1 billion to over $9 billion in 2020.

https://defipulse.com/

Josh Olszewicz, Market Analyst at Brave New Coin, notes that the aforementioned dynamic is identical to the initial coin offering (ICO) boom in terms of organic demand driving $ETH price. For example, in 2017 if you wanted to launch an ICO, you needed to buy $ETH to do so, similarly with DeFi token launches today. Thus, until the speculative frenzy for DeFi cools, $ETH price could conceivable rise back to 2017 levels.

Additionally, former Quant Trader, Qiao Wang, notes since DeFi tokens are largely illiquid and traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) with $ETH as a trading pair when speculators take profits, they sell DeFi token $X and buy $ETH, thus boosting price.

The question for bitcoin is whether DeFi can find a legitimate use case for synthetic $BTC ($WBTC), i.e. bitcoin wrapped in a way to be compatible on the Ethereum blockchain?

https://twitter.com/QWQiao/status/1300410024632766469

If so, then bitcoin could begin to benefit from the same feedback loop as Ethereum, thus an additional boost to price beyond its current store of value utilization.

It is too early to state, but TVL trends of $WBTC in 2020 suggest that this process is already underway, thus a potential boon for bitcoin price could be in the making as long as the music continues to play for DeFi.

Glassnode.com

Disclosure: Author owns bitcoin and ethereum.

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Ethereum Soars 10% Overnight Implications For Bitcoin - Forbes

In the nearly four months since it underwent a major downgrade in the incentive it offers miners, Bitcoin has seen its price rise nicely, but holders of the digital currency have not yet, at least, witnessed the wild upswing that followed the last such adjustment.

Bitcoin was trading at $10,483 as of Friday, according to CoinMarketCap.com, yielding a substantial 20% increase in price since May 10. On that day, the Bitcoin miners reward was cut in half from 12.5 Bitcoin to 6.25, the third such halving event in the digital currencys history.

The halving event is programmed into Bitcoins code and occurs every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. The object is to help manage the flow of new Bitcoin into circulation by reducing the miners reward. The total supply of Bitcoin is programmed to cap at 21 million.

Previous halvings have led to huge surges in price. In the year following the last event, which occurred July 9, 2016, Bitcoins price surged fully 384%, according to data compiled by Coindesk, a newsletter that follows cryptocurrency. That surge then led to an epic collapse.

Time will tell whether the more modest rise since the May halving will yield a less traumatic outcome for investors. For users of the currency, merchant acceptance remains sparse. But the median fee users pay miners to enter transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain has softened somewhat over the summer. After climbing from $1.15 on May 10 to $3.92 on May 20, the fee stood at $2.79 on Sept. 3, according to BitInfoCharts.com.

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So Far, a Nice Rise But Not a Wild Runup for Bitcoin Since the May Halving Event - Digital Transactions

Bitcoin and ether can be used to pay taxes in the Swiss Canton of Zug starting next tax season. Zugs crypto valley is home to many cryptocurrency businesses, and by accepting bitcoin and ether for tax payments, the canton aims to promote and simplify the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life.

Switzerlands Canton of Zug announced Thursday that it will start accepting cryptocurrency for tax payments. The Zug Department of Finance is collaborating with local company Bitcoin Suisse to offer tax settlement with cryptocurrencies, starting in the upcoming tax season which begins in February next year. The announcement details:

Beginning in 2021, taxes in the Canton of Zug can be paid using the cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ether.

Companies and private individuals can use BTC or ETH to pay their tax bills of up to CHF 100,000 ($109,900). Partial payments are not accepted. A pilot will take place in the coming weeks to ensure that everything is ready for the upcoming tax season.

Anyone wanting to pay their tax bills with cryptocurrencies may contact the cantonal tax office. They will be provided with the QR code for payment. Zugs Finance Director Heinz Tnnler clarified: We do not take any risk with this new payment method, as we always receive the amount in Swiss francs, even if payment is made in bitcoin or ether.

Founded in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse is a regulated Swiss financial intermediary that offers prime brokerage, custody, crypto payments, collateralized loans, staking, and other crypto-financial services for private and institutional clients. The company is currently in the licensing phase for the Swiss and Liechtenstein banking licenses.

Director Tnnler opined:

As the home of the Crypto Valley, it is important to us to further promote and simplify the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life. By enabling the payment of taxes with bitcoin or ether, we are taking a big step in this direction.

In January, Zermatt, a Swiss municipality known for its ski resort, announced that it started accepting bitcoin for government services, including payment for local taxes. Meanwhile, the Chiasso municipality started accepting bitcoin for tax payments since January 2018.

Do you think all governments should accept bitcoin for taxes? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin Will Be Accepted for Tax Payments in Swiss Canton Zug Next Year | Taxes - Bitcoin News

From humble beginnings in 2008 to its 2017 price peak, Bitcoin has taken investors and the world for quite the

From humble beginnings in 2008 to its 2017 price peak, Bitcoin has taken investors and the world for quite the ride. In just over a decade, its spiked and crashed and rallied and fallen again.

Bitcoin is following principles of economics and principles of market efficiency, says Hemang Subramanian, assistant professor in Florida International Universitys business information systems department. It is an asset that is not controlled by a central entity, that is secure, international and fungible, liquid and is available in a limited supply for trade. This demand at near-constant supply has caused prices to go up disproportionately in a short period of time, attracting more investors.

Some would say Bitcoins raucous journey has paved the way for the thousands of other cryptocurrencies used for financial and investing activities today, he says. Heres how Bitcoin did it.

When Did Bitcoin Start?

The idea behind Bitcoin was introduced to the world on Oct. 31, 2008, at the depth of the financial crisis by a pseudonymous person called Satoshi Nakamoto, says Chetan Chawla, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, who studies cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Nakamoto posted a message on a cryptography mailing list titled, Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper. In it was a link to a white paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Both of these are still available online.

In these papers, Nakamoto laid out the concept for Bitcoin as a decentralized, digital currency. Being decentralized means there is no single administrator but rather a public ledger of transactions that anyone can store on their computer, says Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com. Coins can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer Bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.

[Read: What Is Return on Equity: The Ultimate Guide to ROE.]

On Jan. 3, 2009, the blockchain was launched when the first block, called the genesis block, was mined. The first test transaction took place about one week later.

For the first few months of its existence, it was obtainable only by miners validating the Bitcoin blockchain, Chawla says.

At this point, Bitcoin had no real monetary value, says Mark Grabowski, an associate professor at Adelphi University who teaches a course on Bitcoin and author of Cryptocurrencies: A Primer on Digital Money. Miners computers that solve complex math problems to uncover new bitcoins and verify previous bitcoin transactions are legitimate and accurate would trade Bitcoin back and forth just for fun.

It would take more than a year for the first economic transaction to take place, when a Florida man negotiated to have two Papa Johns pizzas, valued at $25, delivered for 10,000 bitcoins on May 22, 2010. That transaction essentially established the initial real-world price or value of bitcoin at 4 bitcoins per penny, Grabowski says.

Fast forward to today, and that same transaction would have a value of $114 million, says Peter C. Earle, economist and research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. In honor of this pivotal moment, cryptocurrency fans and supporters call May 22 Pizza Day.

In the early days, the first transactions with Bitcoin were negotiated on internet forums with people bartering for goods and services in exchange for bitcoin, says Garrette Furo, partner at Wilshire Phoenix, a New York-based investment management firm. The value of bitcoin was originally arbitrary.

Then, in 2011, miners and coders started to build other networks like Ethereum and Litecoin and began to improve the code behind Bitcoins blockchain, adapting it for different uses, Furo says.

This wider base of applications brought in more individuals, which contributed partly to the increase in Bitcoins perceived value, he says. There was also an increase in the use of Bitcoin as currency once select businesses began to accept the asset alongside traditional currency.

Once Bitcoin became available on exchanges in 2010, it became easier to buy, sell, trade and store. Thanks to these exchanges, bitcoin could also be priced against the U.S. dollar, Chawla says. From a low of a few cents in 2010 to the all-time high of late 2017 when each bitcoin touched U.S. $20,000, Bitcoin has come a long way and continues to dominate the cryptocurrency markets.

Bitcoin Price History

Bitcoins history is largely one of astronomical growth punctuated by a few severe price retrenchments, Earle says.

In February 2011, bitcoins price crossed the $1 threshold. For its first few years as it grew, its price was under $2, Marszalek says. In June 2011, it hit its first bubble, rocketing to around $31 before sinking back down to the single-digit range.

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Almost two years later, in April 2013, Bitcoin reached $200. By the end of November that same year, it was worth more than $1,000. It then rose tenfold to $10,000 in November 2017.

Bitcoins highest price was about $19,650 in mid-December 2017, Earle says, noting there were different peak prices on different exchanges. It then fell tremendously over the next few years.

The 2017-2018 bubble was primarily led by a boom in initial coin offerings, or ICOs, Furo says. Some market veterans compare the Bitcoin bubble to the internet boom at the end of the 20th century.

Everyone from your next-door neighbor to the wealthiest hedge fund managers was talking about Bitcoin or some altcoin, new network or protocol, Furo says. The ICO craze brought in billions of dollars into the crypto space. Investors saw the value of coins fall dramatically in the early months of 2018 as prices crashed amid uncertainty, fraud and a lack of belief among other psychological and technical factors.

After the fall of bitcoins value, what you could call a more mature market arose around the cryptocurrency. Fidelity entered the custodian space (and) national banks were given permission to custody digital assets, Furo says. Today, Square offers Bitcoin trading in all 50 states.

Because of these developments, the market for Bitcoin has become relatively mature, he says. Smart and efficient exchanges exist, and core institutional-grade players are adopting the necessary measures to create a sustainable and viable market for the trading and investing of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The 2020 global pandemic has also been a boon for the digital currency, reflected by its current price of more than $10,000, Marszalek says.

Bitcoin Today

Today, one bitcoin is worth a little less than $12,000. Its a far cry better than its post-peak lowest price of just more than $3,000.

To this day, no one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is or was, Earle says. Its a subject not only for debate, but speculation and perhaps inevitably conspiracy theories.

These theories abound, from Bitcoin actually being a skunk work, or advanced and often secret project of Google or an intelligence agency like the National Security Agency, Earle says. Others believe that its a trapdoor project which, when it gets big enough, a malevolent party which has been lying patiently in wait for over a decade will suddenly seize control of.

[SEE: What Is a SPAC? 6 Best SPACs to Buy.]

To Earle, more important than Bitcoins price history is its testimony to two long-disputed views: First, that money is a good like any other, (and) second, that money can come about as a result of a market process.

While BItcoin is still growing into its role as a store of value and unit of account, cryptocurrencies, and especially Bitcoin, have largely buried the idea that money somehow isnt money unless it is accepted as payment for taxes, Earle says. (The IRS does not accept bitcoins.)

Bitcoin Tomorrow

So what is in store for Bitcoins future? No one can tell for certain, but Furo sees it being a bright and exciting place. Investment vehicles that are innovative, cost-effective and transparent are nearing reality and will help make investing in cryptocurrency even more accessible, he says. This access would rival that of traditional markets.

Just bear in mind that no investments particularly frontier investments are without risk. If there is one lesson to be taken from Bitcoins history, it is that what goes up can also come down, and it can come down fast.

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The History of Bitcoin - WTOP

The race for blockchain interoperability was very much a trending topic during the bull market of 2017. Back then, we witnessed the birth of very promising projects like Fusion and Wanchain. Then the bear market started, and interoperability was no longer as hot as it once was, similar to every other topic related to blockchain development. However, these two projects continued to develop their respective ecosystems; they were even joined by a third project in this same niche, Ren.

However, there is still no single project that can be considered as the leader of the interoperability niche, and which links all blockchains and facilitates their communication despite the architectural differences between them. Needless to say, sooner or later, the blockchain space will need such a project!

This need arose even more during the recent DeFi boom, where the majority of the tools and applications used were limited to the Ethereum blockchain, with the involvement of only a small portion of Bitcoin (somewhat above 0.1% of the circulating BTC). At the same time, the other giant blockchains like Ripple and Litecoin are almost totally absent. Billions of dollars are locked in these blockchains and they cant be used in the DeFi space.

In this article, we will review Fusion, Wanchain and Ren, three potential projects that could solve these DeFi limitation issues, and take this space to the next level. The projects will be compared based on essential criteria and other aspects, then we will determine which project has the highest chance to become the blockchain that connects all the blockchains. But before that, lets just first explain why these three projects in particular were picked.

Why Fusion, Wanchain and Ren?

It is true that there are many projects that specialize in the interoperability niche, but having considered several factors like technology, a teams experience, a projects quality, its development, and its community; these three projects stand out as the main potential projects that could become the internet of blockchains.

Many people in the crypto space think that projects like Cosmos or Polkadot specialize in interoperability, while in fact, they use a compatibility model. The main difference between interoperability and compatibility is that the communication between parachains in the compatibility model is made possible through a central Hub which forces a certain standard, and other chains have to stick to it in order to be part of the ecosystem. It seems that the top priority of these two projects is more to replace Ethereum and attract new chains and projects to build on their platforms than it is to connect the different blockchains.

Fusion, Wanchain and Ren on the other hand, use a true interoperability model based on cryptographic concepts. These three projects aim to create ecosystems that facilitate a trustless decentralized communication between different blockchains.

These cryptographic solutions aim to use a decentralized technology for custody. The process of cross-chain communication is similar to existing models such as WBTC (minting assets with 1:1 ratio on other blockchains). However, unlike WBTC which keeps your original assets in a centralized entity (BitGo) and requires KYC, the three projects in our comparison use very advanced solutions to hold your assets in a fully trustless and decentralized way.

Fusion

Fusion is a fully decentralized smart contracts platform. The primary goals of the project are to become an ecosystem that links the different blockchains, allowing them to communicate with each other, and to connect global finance to blockchain technology. Fusion was founded by DJ Qian, one of the pioneers in blockchain research and mining in China.

The main component of Fusions technology is the DCRM Decentralized Control Rights Management. It uses the private key sharding concept to secure users assets. Fusion has also introduced the Time-Lock function. It is the first blockchain to use the concept of time in its smart contracts. This will open the door to complex financial transactions involving time such as derivatives, loans and mortgages.

The Fusion ecosystem is growing fast, with new projects joining the DCRM Alliance and decentralized applications being launched on the platform, such as WeDeFi and Anyswap.

WeDeFi: It is an easy-to-use wallet that is available on Android and iOS. It allows users to store and manage their assets. WeDeFi offers a no-loss lottery where users can deposit their FSN coins and participate in the lottery. They will get back their coins no matter if they win or lose.

Anyswap: It is currently the only swap protocol in the blockchain space that can carry out cross-chain transactions. Anyswap has its own automatic pricing and liquidity systems, and it uses Fusions DCRM as a cross-chain solution. Therefore, it will support all the coins and tokens that the DCRM technology can integrate, including: BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, ADA, ERC-20 tokens and many other coins and tokens. Anyswap introduced its governance token ANY and has recently added USDT to the platform and announced a strategic partnership with Hotbit.

Wanchain

Wanchain is another smart contracts platform project specializing in blockchain interoperability. It allows the exchange of data and value between private, consortium and public blockchains. The platform supports private transactions based on ring signatures.

Wanchain uses secure multiparty computation and Shamirs Secret Sharing concepts to ensure the safety of users assets. This cross-chain solution has already integrated Bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS blockchains into its ecosystem, with future plans to create direct bridges between these different blockchains.

Earlier this year, two projects built on Wanchain were launched:

Rivex (RVX): It is an interoperable and scalable layer-2 solution that aims to combine the strengths of public and side chains to empower the next generation of decentralized applications.

FinNexus (FNX): It is a DeFi focused project specializing in building open finance protocols. FNX has released its first product which is a decentralized options protocol powered by a single liquidity pool on both Ethereum and Wanchain.

Ren

Ren is a protocol that enables permissionless and private transfer of values between different blockchains. The core product of the project is the virtual machine RenVM, a trustless custodian that brings interoperability to DeFi on Ethereum.

Cross-chain communication is handled by RenVM. It holds the assets that users want to transfer, and mints an ERC-20 wrapped token to be used within the Ethereum blockchain. RenVM allows the minting of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Zcash on the Ethereum blockchain, with future plans to mint coins on the Polkadot blockchain.

For example, if you want to use BTC in the Ethereum blockchain: You hand it to RenVM, it holds it and mints that BTC as an ERC-20 token (RenBTC) on Ethereum with 1:1 ratio. This process is secured by youve probably guessed it Shamirs Secret Sharing and secure multiparty computation.

RenVM can be used as a plugin for decentralized applications built on Ethereum. Once integrated to a smart contract, users will be able to benefit from cross-chain liquidity provided by Ren.

Ren cryptocurrency is an ERC-20 token. It is used to run the dark nodes that are entirely governed by code.

Comparative Analysis

Fusion, Wanchain and Ren are three projects that are focused on connecting siloed blockchains using cryptographic interoperability. However, there are some fundamental differences between these projects, starting with their nature.

Fusion and Wanchain are infrastructure projects. In addition to their interoperability components, each project has its own mainnet and its own smart contract platform for dApps development and token issuance, while Ren is an interoperability protocol built on Ethereum.

In addition to its cross-chain solution based on the DCRM technology, the Fusion team developed unique concepts to create a convenient ecosystem for DeFi. For example, the Time-Lock function allows users to perform complex financial transactions that involve time by using the Multi Triggering Mechanism, which is considered as the next generation of smart contracts. Fusion offers many other DeFi-oriented features such as quantum swap and USAN swap. Currently, there are two projects that are built on the Fusion platform. WeDeFi, and Anyswap.

Wanchain is also an interoperability project, it has already integrated Bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS blockchains into its ecosystem. So far, two DeFi projects have been built on Wanchain: FinNexus and Rivex.

Interoperability and Decentralization

Now lets talk about the interoperability of these three projects!

Through DCRM, Fusion has created an ecosystem that supports the integration of blockchains that have ECDSA (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc) or EdDSA (Cardano, NANO, Stellar, WAVES, and even Facebooks Libra!) as signature algorithms. This means that almost every blockchain out there could be integrated into Fusions ecosystem.

DCRM has currently around 45 working nodes. Once a user locks-in his assets in the Fusion blockchain, these nodes will only receive shards of his private key, and will never have access to other shards, so assets are completely safe. The majority of DCRM nodes do not belong to the Fusion Foundation. Fusions cross-chain solution is therefore fully decentralized.

Wanchain is another blockchain that aims to create an ecosystem to connect all the blockchains. The process is somewhat slower, and blockchains are integrated one by one. However, according to the roadmap released recently, Wanchain started working on direct bridges between blockchains, and will launch their first two-way bridge later this year.

Wanchain interoperability uses storeman nodes (equivalent to Fusions DCRM nodes). These nodes still belong to the Wanchain foundation, but their decentralization is under testing and the full storeman nodes decentralization is planned to be finished in 2021.

Ren does not offer an ecosystem where it can connect all the blockchains. Instead it offers interoperability through its core product, RenVM. This virtual machine is used to create direct bridges between different blockchains. Currently, RenVM brings liquidity from BTC, BCH and ZEC to Ethereum applications, with possible support for ECDSA blockchains. Ren has future plans to bring liquidity to the Polkadot blockchain.

Currently in Mainnet SubZero, RenVM cross-chain technology is still centralized. The team claims to offer a semi-decentralized solution due to the fact that no KYC is required, however, Ren nodes (called Darknodes) are run by the Ren team and other partners from the Ren Alliance.

Another important point to mention is that Fusion and Wanchain code are open-source, and can easily be accessed. On the other hand, some important parts of Rens code are closed-source, and a lot of questions are being asked about the reasons behind this decision. No clear answer has been given by the team.

The use cases of a certain token are definitely an important factor to estimate its real value. Markets are not always rational, but sooner or later, tokens usually end up reaching their real value depending on the quality of the services they provide to users.

Fusion coin (FSN) has many use cases within Fusions cross-chain DeFi features and applications. FSN is used to pay network gas fees and to run DCRM nodes. It can be used in the different Time-Lock transactions: such as borrowing, lending, loans, etc. FSN holders can also stake their coins and earn passive income.

FSN coin can also be used within Fusion dApps. WeDeFi allows coin holders to use their Safebet no-loss lottery and to borrow Time-Locked FSN. The other dApp on Fusion is Anyswap, and Fusion coin was the only way to get its governance token ANY.

Wanchain coin (WAN) has similar use cases to FSN, it is used to pay gas fees for network transactions including Rivex and FinNexus transactions. It can also be used in the different dApps of Wanchain. Wan holders can stake their coins to earn passive income, or run nodes as validators. Wancoin will also be required to run the upcoming cross-chain storeman nodes.

Ren is a protocol, not a platform, therefore, Ren token has much less use cases than FSN or WAN. The main use case of the Ren token is to run a Darknode. Around 100k Ren tokens are required to run a node, this large number has been chosen to increase the amount of locked tokens, and the effect it could have on token price.

Speaking of price, lets take a look at the current prices and market caps of the three projects and determine which coin or token offers the best buying opportunity right now.

Of the three projects, Ren is the one that has been in the spotlight during the DeFi boom. Mainly because the DeFi space has been limited to Ethereum, a blockchain to which Ren provides liquidity. The current market cap of Ren is around $ 400 M, Wanchains market cap is around $ 54 M, and surprisingly, the market cap of Fusion is only around $ 26 M.

Yes, Fusion, the decentralized cross-chain platform that offers unique DeFi features such as Time-Lock, and dApps like WeDeFi and Anyswap is the one that has currently the lowest market cap. It is without a doubt the most undervalued project of the three, but even beyond our comparison, it is one of the most undervalued cryptocurrencies in the whole market. According to CoinStats, Fusion has the second highest adoption score in the crypto space. It is a score that compares the adoption of a certain project to its market cap, it helps investors to find the projects that could potentially take off at any moment.

Fusion, Wanchain and Ren are three interesting projects working on a fully decentralized cryptographic interoperability. The other solutions that are currently available in the market include centralized custodians such WBTC, or hub and zone models such as Cosmos and Polkadot that force new chains to adopt a certain standard.

The three projects in this comparison have a lot of features in common, but they are also different in some important aspects. Fusion and Wanchain are smart contracts platforms, they both have their own blockchains, and allow issuance of tokens. Ren is a protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, with RenVM as a core product.

Fusions cross chain solution is based on the DCRM technology, it offers more integration possibilities. It is currently the only fully decentralized technology out of the three cross-chain solutions. The adoption of Fusion is increasingly growing after the launch of decentralized applications and platforms such as WeDeFi and Anyswap, and the implementation of convenient features for decentralized finance such as the Time-Lock function.

Surprisingly, Fusion has the lowest market cap out of the three projects. This can be seen as an excellent opportunity to invest in a project that offers a better technology than some of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

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Why Fusion's DCRM is The Best Option for DeFi Users | Sponsored Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Wasabi Wallet users need to upgrade to the latest version if they want to continue using the CoinJoin feature to keep their Bitcoin transaction histories private.

Thats because those running older iterations of the wallet can no longer use this feature to mix their coins with users who have the newest version.

The Wasabi Wallet team hard-forked the wallet Thursday to address a vulnerability discovered by a team member at Trezor, a leading maker of hardware wallets. A hard fork is a code change that makes older versions of a software incompatible with newer ones.

The flaws discovery is another example of the open-source communitys camaraderie and cooperation. Developers are constantly tinkering to improve their peers software, and many vulnerabilities have been responsibly disclosed during these processes to patch flaws before they can be exploited by bad actors. (Sometimes, however, the disclosures by rival teams are less-than-cordial, as evidenced by the long-running tensions between Wasabi and rival Samourai Wallet.)

According to a Wasabi Wallet blog post, Trezor hardware wallet developer Ondej Vejpustek responsibly disclosed the potential denial-of-service (DoS) attack to the Wasabi team on May 10 (a DoS attack entails an attacker spamming a network or protocol with the hopes of stymying its operations, hence denial of service).

Vejpustek has been very cooperative since the beginning and left us total freedom on how to manage the disclosure, both in terms of time and communication. This demonstrates the importance of proper communication between security researchers and dev teams. This is how a responsible disclosure should be, Wasabi Wallet contributor and marketing strategist Riccardo Masutti told CoinDesk, adding that Vejpustek was paid a bitcoin bounty for his efforts.

This hypothetical DoS attack, which Wasabi Wallet assumes has never been carried out, would have interfered with the wallets implementation of CoinJoin, a privacy protocol that allows users to mix their bitcoin with others to obscure the coins transaction histories.

Wasabi WalletsCoinJoin implementation requires each participant to take out as much as they put in. If, for instance, 10 participants join a mix for 0.1 BTC, then each user must send exactly that amount (plus a miner fee) and must receive that exact amount for the mix to be successful and to retain CoinJoins privacy protections. Mixing coins makes it harder for blockchain snoops and nosy parkers to pin bitcoin transactions to known addresses and their owners identities.

The disclosed DoS vulnerability would have halted the mixing process. The attacker would register bitcoin for a mix without that bitcoin being signed (verified) by the mixs coordinator, while at the same time submitting a real, verified transaction to the mix.

The result would be an incongruity between the total value of inputs made to the CoinJoin and the value of expected outputs. As a result, the coordinator would unwittingly build a transaction that cant be valid, since the sum of all inputs is less than the sum of all outputs, according to Vejpusteks analysis.

If the attack were pulled off, it would foil the CoinJoin, though it would not have given the attacker the ability to steal any coins nor could they deanonymize any peers in the mix.

Wasabi Wallet patched the fix with the hard fork deployed Thursday. This upgrade was applied to v.1.1.12of the wallet, which was released on Aug. 5.

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