The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a video explaining what cryptocurrency is. Besides suggesting that cryptocurrency could completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills, the video states that it could be the next step in the evolution of money.

The IMF tweeted a video explaining what cryptocurrency is on Sunday that instantly went viral. Referring to cryptocurrency as a special currency, the two-minute video attempts to outline its benefits in payments, such as by removing middlemen, lowering costs, and increasing transaction speed. It also warns of what it sees as risks, such as anonymity and volatility. The video has garnered more than 523K views at the time of writing; it has been retweeted 5.5K times, liked 8.2K times, and received 807 comments. The video ends with:

If we can counter the risks, then this new technology or some variation of it can completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills. And who knows, this could be the next step in the evolution of money.

The video references the IMFs F&D (Finance & Development) magazine, June 2018 edition, entitled Money, Transformed The future of currency in a digital world. When that magazine edition came out, the organization posted the above video on its Youtube channel, which received little interest at the time.

Many people in the crypto space view the IMFs video as bullish. Tweets such as IMF learning fast. Global adoption is on its way, This is a big deal, and They are finally understanding blockchain and cryptocurrency are not going away flooded Twitter. One user wrote: I still cant believe I see this. IMF shills cryptocurrencies, of course, not bitcoin yet, but that time will come too.

Since the IMFs crypto explainer video does not mention any specific cryptocurrency, many commenters took the opportunity to promote their favorite coins.

Some people, however, criticize the content of the IMF video, saying that the information is misleading and omits many important points, including mining. Many also believe that bitcoin should have been mentioned. Nothing about why people choose to store their wealth in a scarce currency like bitcoin instead of fiat currencies that are benign constantly debased by banksters and cantillionaires, one user tweeted. You forgot one fundamental difference between fiat and bitcoin. Fiat is printable by centralized entities like government & banks, whereas BTC is decentralized and has a limit cap to its supply where only 21 million will ever exist in this universe. All powered by blockchain, another wrote.

Some questioned who the bad guys in the video are supposed to be and frowned upon it referring to private keys as passwords. Some say the video gives the appearance that all cryptocurrencies share the properties of bitcoin, and some suspect that the IMF is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency. One user noted that this video is set up like a Prelude to their own crypto coin that will come out at some point fixing all the problems with crypto that the IMF has outlined in this video.

What do you think about this IMF video? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, IMF, Twitter

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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IMF Publishes Cryptocurrency Explainer, Saying It 'Could Be the Next Step in the Evolution of Money' | News - Bitcoin News

The rising value of the digital currency Bitcoin has helped fuel the growth of a South Florida Bitcoin ATM company and a statewide association that is working to create a friendly business environment for financial technology firms.

In 2016, Lee Hansen and his business partner Lennart Lopin started ByteFederal, a Venice-based company that manufactures and operates Bitcoin ATMs where people can trade the currency for cash.

CEO Mr. Hansen, 48, has worked as a financial advisor and software engineer. The companys chief technology officer, Mr. Lopin, 42, is also a software engineer with a special interest in computational linguistics and artificial intelligence.

ByteFederal now operates 125 ATMs in 15 states, with 38 locations across Florida. The companys website allows you to search for local businesses that host its ATMs, such as Fire Vape Smoke Shop in West Palm Beach, Friendly Market in Naples, Down T Liquor in Fort Myers, and PGI Liquors in Punta Gorda.

A ByteFederal Bitcoin ATM. The company manufactures and operates Bitcoin ATMs across Florida and in 14 other states at local businesses such as Down T Liquor in Fort Myers, Fire Vape Smoke Shop in West Palm Beach, Friendly Market in Naples and PGI Liquors in Punta Gorda. EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

In 2018, Samuel Armes and Mr. Lopin co-founded the Florida Blockchain Business Association. Blockchain is a digital architecture that allows Bitcoin to work by keeping a public ledger of all transactions, but it has potential applications across many other industries.

Mr. Armes serves as president of the association. He and other members have supported two bills signed in to law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The first created a 13-person Florida Blockchain Task Force, which held its first meeting last September in Tallahassee. The second, signed by Gov. DeSantis in July, created a fintech sandbox for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

According to the Blockchain Business Association, this fintech sandbox creates an environment where companies that disrupt the status quo are provided regulatory flexibility to operate and provide new types of products and services.

It allows the Office of Financial Regulation to waive certain licensure requirements for FinTech companies to offer innovative services in Florida while ensuring OFR has sufficient authority to protect consumers.

VERLEY

Overall, the fast-rising value of Bitcoin has helped lift business efforts. But at the same time, Bitcoin is still widely considered a volatile, high-risk form of currency in which investors should be prepared to lose their money.

The price of Bitcoin quickly recovered since losing half its value as investors initially fled in a flash crash during the beginning of the pandemic. But in recent weeks the price continued to rise from a low this year of below $5,000 to upwards of $12,000, suggesting that more investors see this form of digital currency as a safe haven not unlike gold, say Bitcoin industry professionals and enthusiasts.

Bitcoin is often called digital gold because only a finite number of Bitcoins, about 21 million, will ever be created. It is by far most popular form of cryptocurrency, though there are others. The idea and design of the Bitcoin system was created by an anonymous person in 2009 using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Over the last five years, its value went on a rollercoaster ride from about $400 per coin five years ago to an all-time high of $19,665 in 2017 before coasting down below $4,000 in 2018 and then rising again above $11,000 in 2019, according to CoinDesk.

ByteFederal makes money on transaction fees at its ATMs, and businesses where the ATMs are placed get a cut of the fees.

Starting a business based on cryptocurrency in a system its designed to disrupt was an uphill battle, Mr. Hansen and Mr. Lopin said. They interviewed with more than 400 banks before finding one that would take them on.

It took us years, Mr. Lopin said. It was a very, very difficult journey just to get a bank account.

As a financial services company they are also monitored by the Financial Crime Enforcement Network, a division of the Treasury.

Once they began, though, their business grew along with the price of Bitcoin. Now, the pandemic appears to have had a positive effect on business.

Weve seen a significant uptick in transaction volume throughout the entire process, Mr. Hansen said.

He attributes that to a renewed interest for many people in Bitcoin as a potential safe haven for money and a possible future alternative to central banking.

For those interested in exactly how Bitcoin works, its many implications or its mysterious history, Mr. Lopin recommends what he calls an instant classic in the world of Bitcoin called The Bitcoin Standard. There are also numerous YouTube videos explaining it. Bitcoin is touted as an alternative to our current system in which we trust a central banking system to handle our transactions and make sure we dont cheat.

The major innovation behind Bitcoin was to create a monetary system that can be trusted without any central authority. This decentralized system relies on computers throughout its network to provide checks and balances and keep a public ledger on every transaction. The ledger is managed within a digital architecture called a blockchain.

It is all still relatively new technology, Mr. Lopin points out. And Bitcoins volatile price, like the stock market, can reflect many factors including inflation, hype, media influencers, political events, pandemics, and how many people use it.

Other members of the Blockchain Business Association that Mr. Armes started are pursuing their own projects in South Florida.

A liaison for the Association in Palm Beach County and an SEO and digital marketing consultant, Lenny Mauricio started an initiative to convince businesses along Clematis Street, a shopping and entertainment destination in West Palm Beach, to take Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from customers as a payment option.

He hopes to have 20 or more businesses signed up over the next sixth months with an app that allows them to use the digital currency system. After the system shows success along Clematis, he plans to take it to other cities such as Miami.

Were not trying to eliminate the current financial system, all were trying to do is give them an alternative, he said.

Mr. Armes worked for a lobbying firm before deciding to start his own crypto lobbying firm, which grew in to the Blockchain Business Association.

Now age 23, Mr. Armes recalls being introduced to the world of Bitcoin when a friend bought him some in high school about seven or eight years ago.

How is that investment doing now?

Its doing pretty damn good, he said, though he didnt name an exact figure.

A Southwest Florida cryptocurrency enthusiast, as well as a filmmaker and photographer, among other activities, Justin Verley, 24, delved in to Bitcoin as an investor starting in 2016. He has worked as a Bitcoin miner people in the cryptocurrency system who record transactions on a public digital ledger and are thereby rewarded with a fee for doing so. He plans to go back to school to further study blockchain and its applications.

He pointed out that using Bitcoin is relatively germ-free compared to money and that Bitcoins price has gone up in correlation with the federal government printing massive amounts of money to help with the pandemic economic downturn.

If anything, Id say COVID-19 is a driving force for Bitcoin in terms of price and usability, he said.

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Bitcoin's presence in South Florida is growing - Key West Florida Weekly

What Is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a completely decentralized digital cryptocurrency. Unlike US dollars that you can hold in your hand (or in your bank account), there is no central authority or centralized payment system controlling Bitcoin. Instead, Bitcoin operates in a peer-to-peer network that allows anyone in the world to send and receive Bitcoin without any middleman (like a bank, central bank or payment processor).

Although there are thousands of cryptocurrencies ranked on CMC today, Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency ever created. On Oct. 31, 2008 a person (or group of people) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published the now-world famous Bitcoin white paper.

The first line reads: A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash, which would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

The Bitcoin network then launched on Jan. 3, 2009, marking the start of the cryptocurrency revolution.

Bitcoin is a purely decentralized digital currency, which makes it unlike any other asset that came before it.

Before the digital age, everyone transacted in physical forms of currencies, from livestock and salt, to silver and gold, and finally to banknotes. Only in recent times was money digitized allowing bank accounts to exist online, as well as creating the many online payment processing platforms, such as PayPal and Square, that you often use today without thinking about it.

However, all of these digital transactions require a centralized system to operate. Your bank, or financial services like PayPal, needs to ensure that all of their users accounts are constantly updated and tallied correctly. These systems represent the centralized form of digital money.

Bitcoin revolutionized digital money by decentralizing this accounting process. Instead of a central figure that is responsible for making sure that their users transactions were always adding up, Bitcoin works by sharing the account balances and transactions of every user across the globe in a pseudonymous form. In simplest terms, this means that anyone can download and run the free and open-source software required to participate in the Bitcoin protocol.

As a Bitcoin user, all you need to know to send Bitcoin to someone else is their Bitcoin address (a series of letters and numbers, not their name or any personal information!). By sending your Bitcoin to an address, what you are doing is broadcasting your transaction (Hi, Im Alice sending 1 BTC to Bob!) across the Bitcoin network using blockchain technology (more about that below). Since the Bitcoin network has the most up-to-date ledger tracking Alices wallet balance, the system checks her wallet balance (i.e., Alice has 2 BTC in her wallet, so a transaction of 1 BTC to Bob is valid), and then completes the transaction.

In summary, Bitcoin works by ensuring that this shared ledger always tallies up, and that new Bitcoin transactions (Bob sends 2 BTC back to Alice. Go Alice!) are validated, recorded and then added to the ledger in order. That is the heart of blockchain technology, where new blocks of information are added to the chain of blocks that already exist.

Mining refers to the act of adding new blocks to the blockchain. In simple terms, Bitcoin miners dedicate significant amounts of computing power to solve a cryptographic problem, which is basically a very complex puzzle. The successful miner that solves the puzzle before all the other miners gets rewarded with a block reward, which is an allocation of a predetermined number of Bitcoin. In some cases, the block rewards are awarded to mining pools, when miners group together to share resources.

Once the puzzle is solved, the block is confirmed, and it is added to the blockchain. This new information is sent to all nodes, aka participants in the Bitcoin protocol, and the shared ledger is updated once again.

As Bitcoin's price rises, the block reward becomes increasingly more attractive. This incentivizes more miners to join in the competition to mine for blocks. In return, the more miners there are in the system, the more secure the network is. In addition, the increased competition also means miners are continually investing in newer hardware to ensure their computing power remains relevant for the fight for block rewards.

To ensure that the value of Bitcoin is not compromised by an infinite supply, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in a halving event that happens every 210,000 blocks. When Bitcoins network first began, Bitcoins block reward was 50 BTC per block mined. This was halved in 2012, at block #210,000, where the block reward became 25 BTC. The second halving was in 2016, at block #420,000, and the block reward became 12.5 BTC.

This process will continue every 210,000 blocks, until the total supply of BTC (21 million BTC) has been reached. It is estimated that the final block reward will be paid in 2140! For more information on the Bitcoin halving, check out our Bitcoin Halving page and blog post!

There are many different ways of storing your Bitcoin heres just a few:

There are many Bitcoin different exchanges all over the world. All of these exchanges allow you to sell Bitcoin for other cryptocurrencies (altcoins) or government currencies (USD, EUR, GBP etc.) At the same time, these Bitcoin exchanges allow you to store your BTC with them, which means that the burden of keeping it safe is on them. Do note that incidents have occurred when exchanges have been hacked or lost their customers BTC, so do your own research when youre looking for an exchange thats safe to hold your cryptoassets. For the latest list of exchanges and trading pairs for this cryptocurrency, click on our market pairs tab.

Instead of keeping it on a Bitcoin exchange, you could keep your Bitcoin in a Bitcoin wallet instead. Wallets come in two forms hot and cold. Hot wallets are software that stays connected to the internet, aka storing your Bitcoin online. It is more convenient to transact via a hot wallet, but they logically are more susceptible to being attacked, as they stay connected to the internet.

Cold wallets are wallets that are not online. They are less prone to attack, as hackers cannot access this type of cold storage via the internet, but they are also a lot less convenient for the user as they may be cost-prohibitive and require more technical understanding to operate. Examples of cold wallets are hardware wallets and paper wallets.

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Bitcoin price, charts, market cap, and other metrics ...

All eyes are on Bitcoin (BTC), crypto's largest coin by market cap, and Tesla, a future-centric car company run by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk, thanks to a standout year for both assets.

Tradable equity in Tesla, under the ticker TSLA, has captured more of the American public's attention than any other investable asset, according to July figures from financial charting platform TradingView, posted on Aug. 13. Bitcoin held the spotlight as the second most popular asset charted on the platform.

TradingView also pointed out that Bitcoin interest is on the rise specifically in Washington, California and Oregon. "The west coast loves crypto the most," the article said. "Boeing was the third most viewed stock and American Airlines the 10th," the article added, detailing the airline sector an industry that saw the brunt of COVID-19 restriction consequences.

Bitcoin and Tesla earned their spots in the limelight as both have rallied tremendously in price over 2020. Bitcoin hit a low near $3,800 back in March as COVID-19 fears were ramping up. The asset recovered fast, however, flying up past $12,000in the following months, tallying a radical comeback.

Looking back on a similar story, TSLA's price fell down near $350 in March before flying up past $1,750 by July, as if riding one of its CEO's SpaceX rockets.

Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is no stranger to the crypto space, although he reportedly onlyowns 0.25 BTCas of May.

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TradingView Confirms It: People Love Bitcoin And Tesla - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin yet to clear $12,000 hurdle

Ethereum Gas prices skyrocket

Small-cap cryptos shine

Watch the Bitcoin and gold correlation

This week, the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market roared into Monday like a lion only to end the week more like a lamb. Going into the weekend, lets take a look at the major developments that have shaped the past week and what can be expected for the price of Bitcoin during the weekend.

Bitcoin (BTC) price tested its year-to-date high, briefly surging past $12,000 only to fall back down into the same mid-$11,000 range it has been stuck in for the better part of the past couple weeks.

Ether (ETH) also surged, along with Gas fees, largely on the back of DeFi growth and speculation. But the big story was a previously unknown token that shot astronomically higher only to fall back to earth almost as quickly.

Moving over the $12,000 hurdle was always seen as the key to Bitcoin retesting all-time highs. Overcoming the gauntlet of resistance levels between the $12,000-14,000 level would be followed by a vacuum all the way to record highs, some analysts believe.

Heading into the week, Bitcoin made a run at the $12K key psychological barrier. But despite leveraged interest, the lack of follow-through resulted in Bitcoin falling back below it. In turn, the market was forced to try again, in part helped by flat to minor positive perpetual funding rates.

Alongside the technical price rejection, it is worth noting that Ethereum transaction fees began to creep ever so higher and, in fact, over the subsequent day, the rise was such that transaction fees reached $6.04 on Wednesday night, the highest since 2015.

Ethereum network fees. Source: Etherscan

Various network upgrades are supposed to solve this issue or, at the very least, alleviate the immediate pressure, but these developments are believed to be months away.

Still, despite the aforementioned price swings, the in-vogue DeFi sector continued to grow from strength to strength and the total amount locked across the ecosystem remained largely unaffected by the swings in the secondary market.

In turn, this resilience and the appetite to take on risk to experiment with DeFi, AMM, and yield farming, as evidenced by the ongoing surge higher in the total amount of value locked across the DeFi ecosystem, pointed to strong dip-buying interest.

Total value locked in DeFi (USD). Source: DeFi Pulse

Strong dip-buying interest was subsequently confirmed over the following days when the initial unwind of bullish price expectations in the options market, as seen by the evolution of Bitcoin and Ethereum front-end options skew, was gradually retraced.

ETH 25d skew and implied volatility. Source: skew.com

Whats more, this was driven by the front-end of the futures curve, while the back end held largely steady. A much more significant development, rather than profit-taking, would result in a much more significant and broader market repricing.

However, while the media focused on yet another round of price swings by Bitcoin and ETH, the real movement was in small-cap tokens, which outperformed large-cap counterparts by a ratio of 3:1.

The fast-growing world of DeFi is not without its risks and as well documented by CoinTelegraph earlier in the week, Yam Finance, an experimental DeFi protocol, made major headlines.

The Yam protocol initially gained steam as the second purely decentralized DeFi project after Yearn Finance. It deployed a decentralized governance model that enabled YAM holders to have a say across the protocol. Within 24 hours, nearly $500 million worth of capital was locked in only for it to soon crash back down to zero after the discovery of a rebase bug.

Initially, Yam opened staking pools for Compound, Aaves Lend, Chainlinks Link, Wrapped ETH (WETH), YFI, Synthetix (SNX), Maker (MKR), and Uniswap V2 LP tokens.

But most of the tokens that were used in Yam staking pools crashed after the bug occurred. Despite the harsh lesson and reminder of the high risks that are involved, the market staged a strong recovery.

Bitcoin was able to gradually recover into the $11,500 zone, but the total value locked on DeFi tracked near record highs.

On a macro level, the one-month correlation between Bitcoin and gold has begun to grow closer by the day, climbing all the way to 68% before a slight correction.

However, caution is warranted before extrapolating the thesis from the above, as the more prudent measure, the three-month correlation coefficient currently sits at 15%.

It is also worth noting that while gold has advanced past $2,000 per ounce in the wake of rising uncertainty surrounding the ongoing monetary policy easing stance by the Federal Reserve and other central banks, continued uncertainty will make the correlation worth keeping an eye on for the foreseeable future.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Will Bitcoin Break $12,000? 4 Things to Know Heading Into the Weekend - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin went through a significant price surge in the past month, jumping from $9,000 to about $12,000. By heading into five-digit price territory, this 33% increase has many people speculating that the primary cryptocurrency may be too expensive, and the train has left the station.

However, looking at Bitcoins pre-programmed deflationary mechanism and several macroeconomic factors, the assets price may actually be (still) cheap.

Before we begin, lets face some sizing facts. As of writing these lines, Bitcoins total market cap is approximately $220 billion, whereas the entire crypto market cap is $370 billion. The all-time high was over $800 billion in the peak of the crypto bubble of 2017.

In contrast, all Gold existing worth $12 trillion (55x Bitcoins), whereas the worlds 2000 billionaires alone worth $8 trillion. The stock market value is roughly $100 trillion.

Some would still say that Bitcoins market cap is overvalued; however, keep the above figures when thinking how tiny this market is compared to other types of investments.

While examining BTCs relatively short history of just over a decade, one could spot several main outtakes. For instance, its volatile Bitcoin has seen double-digit percentage moves in a matter of hours and sometimes even minutes.

Despite multiple substantial price dives, however, the increases are much more evident, and Bitcoin became the best performing investment asset throughout the past decade with an ROI of 8,900,000%.

Aside from vigorous short-term price movements, BTC also tends to move in more extensive cycles. According to one theory, the primary cryptocurrency moves in so-called expanding cycles. Meaning, each cycle is longer than the previous one. So far, there have been three completed, and the last one coincided with the end of the 2017 bull run when Bitcoin topped at nearly $20,000.

Then came a prolonged bear market as the largest cryptocurrency plummeted to $3,100 a year later. However, that massive dip has initiated the fourth and current expanding cycle, which will supposedly end in late 2022. This theory suggests that when it ends, BTC could be as high as $100,000. As such, the current price doesnt seem all that expensive.

Since supply and demand are the factors that arguably weigh in the most in pricing an asset, its worth outlining some of BTCs features. As it was created during the last financial crisis in which world governments initiated large-scale money printing, the creator(s) Satoshi Nakamoto decided to base its supply in precisely the opposite manner.

Instead of having an unlimited supply, Bitcoin has a pre-programmed number of coins ever to exist 21 million. Moreover, the rate in which the new tokens are created is also pre-determined and doesnt rely on a central authority (like a government or a central bank). After an event called Bitcoin halving that occurs roughly every four years, the network slashes the number of new coins created in half.

By doing this, Bitcoins supply actually decreases over time, which ultimately reduces the inflation rates. At the same time, as the world witnessed during the COVID-19 crisis, governments can print excessive amounts of fiat currency, which not only depreciate its value against other currencies and asset classes but could increase the inflation rates.

Simultaneously, banks provide 0% interest rates on deposits and even go into negative territory in some countries. According to experts, this is another bullish factor for Bitcoin, hinting that the price could still be cheap. Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki recently said that only the rich would be able to afford Bitcoin once they realize BTC grows more valuable as the Fed prints trillions of USD.

Although Bitcoin has increased its value by over 60% since the start of the year, the asset also experienced some of the aforementioned significant price drops. In mid-March, during the most intense days of the COVID-19 pandemic, BTC plummeted by almost 50% to below $4,000.

Such vigorous price developments could scare away investors and hodlers or provide alluring opportunities to buy the dip. Nevertheless, knowing that this is indeed a dip and being able to time it ideally to maximize the best possible entry point is rather challenging, to say the least.

Consequently, applying the popular dollar-cost average strategy might be the best solution. DCA allows investors to average the entry price by purchasing specific portions at a specific timeframe. For instance, one can decide to buy $100 worth of BTC on the same day of every month.

Time has proven DCA as a successful strategy. According to a recent research, even if the investor started to DCA $1 per day from the $20,000 top in late 2017, his position would be over 60% up today, despite the price being 40% down from the ATH.

As mentioned above, you cant time the market properly. Another strategy to keep in mind is the HODL methodology. Those who believe in Bitcoin insist that it will increase over the long-term.

Hence, they are holding it ( the simple explanation of the verb HODL), and not selling despite the stages of the market cycles. After all, most of us were not born traders and especially crypto traders. And if youre HODLing, this means that the funds are not accessible. So if you plan on using those funds to pay the mortgage do not invest them in Bitcoin.

Only invest amounts you afford to lose completely. Bitcoin might go to zero (as it might go to $1 million). If you arent able to sleep, thinking that your crypto investment is down 80% youre investing too much.

During times of economic uncertainty, investors start looking into possible, and sometimes untraditional, assets to protect and even enhance their savings. While central banks are printing lots of cash and risk raising the inflation levels, Bitcoin offers a pre-programmed deflationary approach with its maximum cap of 21 million and supply cut every four years.

The primary cryptocurrency indeed seems to move in cycles, and its merits are working in contrast with the rest of the market. In theory, this should increase the demand in the following months and years. Adding the decreasing supply due to the halving, this could (again in theory) spike its price up, thus making Bitcoin seem like a bargain to buy today.

Or, as Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss recently put it its still the bottom of the first inning.

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Is Bitcoin Still Considered Cheap In 2020? - CryptoPotato

Canadian miner Hut 8 Mining Corp has reported that second quarter revenue tumbled 67% to $6.9 million from $21.2 million a year ago, as Bitcoins supply cut in May forced production to decline.

The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company extracted just 795 bitcoin (BTC) in the April to June quarter, compared to 1,165 BTC in the preceding three-month period.

However, Hut 8 posted a net profit of $2.1 million thanks to the revaluation of its bitcoin holdings, which generated $7.6 million.

Still, Q2 net earnings show a decline of 91% from the $22.7 million reported a year earlier. The firm said profit from mining activities came in at $440,000, down from $13.4 million the year before.

Altogether, Hut 8 ended the review quarter with 2,954 BTC on its balance sheet.

Management blamed the decline in profits to the Bitcoin third halving event of May 11, which slashed miner rewards by 50% to 6.25 BTC per block.

The network difficulty decreased subsequent to the halving by 15%, but quickly returned back to levels prior to the halving, said the company, in its earnings release on August 13.

This posed a difficult challenge to many bitcoin miners as they saw the bitcoin block reward drop by 50% with similar network difficulty rates meaning that revenue dropped by nearly 50% for all bitcoin miners, including Hut 8, it added.

During the quarter, Hut 8 raised $6.2 million from a share sale. The funds have been used to buy new mining hardware, which is expected to add 275 petahash per second to the companys existing mining capacity.

Shares of Hut 8 rose 4.4% to $0.89 in Toronto trading Friday. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has reached a low of $0.38 and a high of $1.98.

What do you think and Hut 8s second quarter earnings? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Miner Hut 8 Reports Q2 Revenue Plunged 67% to $6.9 Million Due to Bitcoin Halving - Bitcoin News

During the last few months, crypto proponents have focused their attention on Iran. The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani initiated a new mining strategy last May, and the government-licensed 14 bitcoin mining farms in July. According to the Chinese mining operation Lubian, it claims to operate one of these regulated bitcoin mining farms in the oil-rich nation.

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index or Bitcoin Mining Map attempts to visualize the geographic distribution of global Bitcoin hashrate. Iran is the sixth most powerful country in terms of global hashrate.

Of course, China consumes a vast amount of the global hashrate and Chinese miners also have a strong relationship with the oil-rich nation of Iran. Back in April 2019, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Chinese miners migrating to Iran for cheaper electricity rates.

At that time, it was difficult for the bitcoin miner, Liu Feng, to get his ASIC mining rigs into the country. However, when miners got into Iran, they had access to extremely affordable electric prices ($0.006 per kilowatt-hour).

However, the Iranian government caught wind of these unlicensed operations when certain subsidized organizations like mosques were caught mining bitcoin with near-free electricity.

The government then mandated licensure for mining farms and the electric rate was upped to fluctuating export prices depending on the season. More recently, President Hassan Rouhani initiated a bitcoin mining strategy and the government is focused on bolstering the industry.

The Chinese mining operation Lubian.com recently told the financial columnist Vincent He that the company operates one of the largest regulated farms in Iran.

Lubians cofounder Liu Ping detailed that it has a partnership with a power facility in Iran and the investors are both Iranian and Chinese. Power companies in Iran are now allowed to house bitcoin mining operations. Unlike the Chinese miner Liu Feng who had an awful time dealing with customs getting ASIC mining rigs across the border, Liu Ping said his firm has no problems with clearance.

We have our own customs clearance channels as we have the experience of establishing the logistics company, Liu Ping stated. And we have good local resources in Iran, and we have maintained good relations with the Ministry of energy, the Ministry of foreign affairs, and even the army in Iran, the miner added.

Lubian is a relatively new mining operation and more recently it was the sixth most powerful mining operation in terms of hashrate. Today, Lubian has around 3% of the global hashrate or around 3.86 exahash per second (EH/s).

This puts the firm in the eleventh position among a number of mining pools and giant operations like Poolin, F2pool, and Antpool. Liu Ping said that the Iranian farm is housed in containers within the power plants property lines.

The Chinese miner also said the operation pays the power company in shares of bitcoin (BTC), as well as traditional means of payment.

Compared with traditional industries, crypto mining is a profitable business, Liu Ping concluded. Apart from the mining pool business, at present, there is no other crypto financial service business conducted by Lubain.com. At present, their purpose is only mining and accumulating Bitcoin.

At the time of publication, the BTC hashrate has been high at around 135 EH/s and there are 18 mining operations mining the BTC chain.

What do you think about Lubian.coms cofounder statements about mining bitcoin in the oil-rich nation of Iran? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Chinese Bitcoin Miners Develop Strong Relationships and Crypto Mining Facilities in Iran - Bitcoin News

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rejected the $12,000 resistance level for the second time in the past 10 days. Traders are generally optimistic about the short-term trend of BTC, following its extended consolidation below a critical resistance level.

When an asset stays relatively stable near a major resistance area, it typically suggests a bullish continuation is likely. It shows that sellers do not have enough pressure to push BTC down to a pivotal price point. Many traders seemingly anticipate the price of Bitcoin to remain in the $10,500$12,000 range. If BTC does not drop below a key support level at $10,500, technical analysts say that the bullish market structure will remain intact.

The confluence of a positive global macro backdrop and a robust market structure are just some of the encouraging sentiments around Bitcoin, but investors have also expressed concerns about some short-term roadblocks facing it.

The primary factor behind predictions for a bullish continuation of Bitcoin in the near term is its long-term market structure. Analysts say that the high time frame charts of BTC, like the monthly chart, indicate a clear breakout, with BTC escaping a prolonged price range that often leads to an extended rally, especially if the breakout occurs on a high time frame chart. Raoul Pal, CEO of Global Macro Investor, stated:

Super early days for what is likely to be a very big move as institution finally follow what retail BTC investors have known all along that this is the future and its wildly under priced.

Since its peak in 2017, when it almost achieved the $20,000 mark, BTC has ranged within a multiyear price range, bottoming out at $3,150 in 2018 while seeing a local high of $14,000 in July 2019 and establishing a three-year range. But when the price of Bitcoin recently surpassed $11,500, it confirmed on the weekly and monthly charts that the dreaded range has been broken. Various market data could also supplement the uptrend of Bitcoin over the longer term.

Kyle Davis, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, hinted that there is a small gap between $14,000 and $20,000 in the options market. Citing data from options exchange Deribit, Davis said, $BTC air above $14k up to $20k, which suggests that a breakout above $14,000 could fuel the next BTC rally.

Some Bitcoin traders also emphasized that the current market structure of Bitcoin is highly optimistic. Scott Melker, a cryptocurrency trader, said that the absorption of Bitcoins dips shows that the trend of BTC is bullish: Its dip buying season and that any chance to grab a higher low is welcome. This is a bullish chart, period.

In the four-hour price chart of Bitcoin published by Melker, Bitcoin recorded four higher lows, or four local low points that are higher than previous lows. A higher low pattern in technical analysis is considered a positive formation because it demonstrates strength from buyers. Every dip in the past 10 days was bought by Bitcoin buyers.

The positive technical factors surrounding Bitcoin have been complemented by encouraging on-chain data points. According to on-chain market data provider IntoTheBlock, the number of Bitcoin HODLers has substantially increased:

The HODLING trend for #Bitcoin continues. As can be seen in the graph below the number of $BTC hodlers has increased by almost 4 million within the last twelve months. As of August 9, a total of 20.47 million addresses were holding 11.51m BTC for over a year.

In the short term, Bitcoin faces two obstacles: first, a historically relevant fractal, and second, a slight drop in liquidity. Both factors could impose selling pressure on Bitcoin in the near term, but compared to a few weeks ago, the overall sentiment around BTC remains positive.

Nik Yaremchuk, a cryptocurrency trader, said that historical fractals hint at a short-term pullback. He compared the current price action of Bitcoin to that seen in May. Three months ago, BTC also saw a similar trend where the price looked to break out and then recorded a correction: We now have a fractal since May 2020, where we have been in range for a while, I do not think that we are here for long, but it seems to me that we will get another dip.

The fractal coincides with a slight decline in the liquidity of Bitcoin. Market research firm Glassnode said that while the overall transaction rates of BTC are healthy, they declined slightly in the past week:

Liquidity also saw a slight decrease, losing 3 points due to a drop in the transaction liquidity subcategory. This, in turn, was caused by the above-mentioned decrease in the number of on-chain transactions over the past week. However, overall transaction rates remain high relative to pre-bull market levels.

Still, speaking to Cointelegraph, Denis Vinokourov, head of research at exchange and brokerage platform BeQuant, said that Bitcoin being rejected at $12,000 is not necessarily bad. The pattern of an upsurge followed by consolidation stabilizes the market and provides investors some breathing room:

Price discovery and consolidation following a strong run up is an indication of a healthy two way market flow. Price rejection is not necessarily a bad development, as it gives market participants an opportunity to take stock of the situation and look to align the interest of both leveraged/speculative flow and those of long-term holders.

In the upcoming weeks, there are several variables that could affect Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. The most prominent factor that might impact Bitcoin is likely the upward run of altcoins.

In recent weeks, altcoins, especially in decentralized finance, have gained substantially against major cryptocurrencies. Band Protocols native BAND token and Chainlinks LINK, for example, rose by 348% and 88%, respectively,from Aug. 1 to their monthly highs.

In the near term, whether profits from altcoins will flow into Bitcoin remains in question. Vinokourov noted that the willingness of the market to take on additional risk with altcoins demonstrates a positive market sentiment:

Interestingly, year-to-date (YTD) the MVIS 100 small caps index is up 74.51% and large caps index is up 74.23%. Markets willingness to take on more risk, as evidenced in capital flow into small cap assets is a net positive overall.

The combination of a favorable high time market structure and positive on-chain data has lifted the sentiment around Bitcoin in the longer term. But in the short term, some predict a minor pullback, which would make the market less overheated.

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Bitcoin Price Keeps Rejecting $12K Heres What Can Happen to BTC - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin has been pushed back into the spotlight thanks to its recent rally and renewed interest from Wall Street and big-name day traders.

The bitcoin price, jumping over $12,000 per bitcoin late Sunday evening, has added 30% in the last monththough some smaller cryptocurrencies have made far bigger gains.

Chainlink's link token has now added 120% to its price in the last month, climbing to over $13 per token, and building on gains of around 500% during the last yearwith some investors saying link is still "wildly undervalued."

Traders have sent the price of Chainlink's link token sharply higher over recent months, dwarfing ... [+] bitcoin's latest rally.

"Chainlink is on track to function as [the decentralized web3's] de facto security layer for any and all transactions of meaningful value," Michael Anderson, co-founder of Framework Ventures, the largest private holder of link tokens outside of the core team and bitcoin and crypto exchanges, said via email.

"We believe the value of link will track the value of the smart contract platform it is securing, meaning the long term market cap of link will eventually be larger than ethereums current market cap today."

Chainlink, an ethereum-based token that powers a decentralized network designed to connect smart contracts to external data sources, currently has market capitalization of just under $5 billion compared to ethereum's $45 billion.

Chainlink, up 65% in the last week alone, has has been boosted in recent months by a surge of interest in decentralized finance (DeFi)the idea that blockchain entrepreneurs can use bitcoin and crypto technology to recreate traditional financial instruments such as loans and insurance.

"As it stands, blockchains are unable to speak in a trustless way with real world data, meaning they require some sort of blockchain abstraction layer that lies between the blockchain and the outside world," said Anderson, adding Chainlink's importance has "become more apparent as billions of dollars have been locked up in DeFi products reliant on smart contracts."

Since early June, the total value locked in DeFi protocols has risen from around $1 billion to almost $5 billion, according to data from DiFi Pulse.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency token of a Chainlink competitor, band, the native token of Band Protocol, has also soared in recent weeks. Band, ranked 43rd on CoinMarketCap's list of most valuable cryptocurrencies compared to link's 6th, has added almost 5,000% since its rally began in early April.

Over the weekend, trading of Chainlinks link token surged, knocking bitcoin off the top spot on the largest U.S. bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, to become the most traded cryptocurrency on the popular platform over a 24-hour period.

Links 24-hour trading volume on Coinbase Pro climbed to $163 million, some 70% higher than bitcoins trading volume of $96 million, according to data from bitcoin and crypto analysis firm Messari.

However, around the world, link's 24-hour trading volume of just over $3 billion is still just a fraction of bitcoin's $17 billion.

The price of Chainlink's link token has more than doubled in value over the last month, far ... [+] outpacing bitcoin's 30% rally.

Despite link's massive rally and suggestions link's price could be a swelling bubble about to pop, Anderson is confident the link price will continue to climb, pointing to Chainlink's ambitions to work with smart contracts "for any transaction that requires real world data, events and payment" and plans to for so-called staking, meaning "users will be able to stake their link as collateral with Chainlink nodes, allowing them to earn a passive income stream when said nodes complete jobs by providing useful data to smart contracts."

"A correction is possible in the short term, but even if the link price were to double tomorrow, wed still think it's wildly undervalued in light of the long term vision," Anderson added.

"If they achieve even a fraction of what theyve set out to do, the implications for enterprise, banking, derivatives, insurance and more will be enormous."

Link's surge over the last week has been put down to a massive short squeeze in the futures market, according to reports, leading some to warn its rally may not hold.

"Chainlink can be a very bubbly asset and it looks very bubbly now," cautioned chartered alternative investment analyst and manager at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, Timothy Peterson, via Twitter.

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With All Eyes On Bitcoin, Another Crypto Is Up 500% In The Last YearAnd Its Still Soaring - Forbes

Coinbase will allow U.S. retail customers to borrow fiat loans against as much as 30% of their bitcoin holdings in the fall, the San Francisco-based exchange announced Wednesday.

Coinbase is one of the largest and most regulated crypto exchanges to get into the lending business, and the exchange is setting conservative parameters on the product, capping credit lines at $20,000 per customer and offering an interest rate of 8% for bitcoin-backed loans with terms that are a year or less.

Customers will need to fill out a brief application but wont have to go through a credit check, however, and borrowers will be able to receive their loans in two to three days.

Customers may use bitcoin-backed loans in different ways depending on their financial needs, including for large expenditures like home or car repairs, financing major occasions like a wedding, or helping to manage higher-interest personal loans or credit card debt, Max Branzburg, head of product at Coinbase, said in an emailed statement.

The product is available in only 17 states but Coinbase is pursuing licenses in other states and countries to be able to expand its lending service, he said. A waitlist opened Wednesday afternoon, including the tagline:

Have you ever needed cash for something urgent, like a car or home repair? In the past, you might have sold Bitcoin to cover it and incurred a taxable gain or loss. Now you dont have to.

Adding a lending product can be a way for exchanges to keep customer funds at the exchange instead of moving them elsewhere, said Joseph Kelly, CEO and co-founder of crypto lender Unchained Capital. Squares bitcoin-friendly Cash App also announced this week that it is testing a lending product that will offer customers short-term loans of between $2 and $20.

Coinbases low interest rate will also allow it to operate in many states that would otherwise require additional licensing to avoid usurious lending practices.

Its a good bull-market product when customers have excess capital theyd like to do something with, Kelly said. Weve almost never seen a monopoly lending market Id expect other exchanges to follow suit.

The new Coinbase product is only available in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Nebraska, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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Coinbase to Offer Bitcoin-Backed Loans to US Customers - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

During the first week of July, Bitcoin.coms Wallet added a number of new features including a portfolio breakdown and honestcoin (USDH) swapping abilities. With the latest update this week, Bitcoin.com Wallet users can now store the SLP-based stablecoin tether (USDT) in their wallets as well.

Tether (USDT) is the most popular stablecoin in the crypto ecosystem to-date and Bitcoin.com Wallet users can now store, send, and receive the stablecoin at any time.

News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on how the firm Tether Limited utilized the Simple Ledger Protocol technology in order to issue over 6 million SLP-based USDT. Today there are 6,001,007 SLP-based tethers in circulation according to statistics provided by Simpleledger.info.

So similar to having the ability to hold any SLP token, the Bitcoin.com Wallet now allows users to store, send, and receive SLP-based tether (USDT). It is important to note that tether (USDT) is minted on a number of different blockchains. ETH-based tethers or other types of USDT coins not minted with the Simple Ledger Protocol, will not be compatible with the Bitcoin.com Wallet software.

The Bitcoin.com Wallet offers a method for people to obtain the SLP-based tethers by using the in-app swap features.

The Bitcoin.com Wallet allows users to swap coins by leveraging the Sideshift.ai application. The process is intuitive and it only takes a few minutes to swap coins using Bitcoin.coms client. Users can swap bitcoin cash (BCH), bitcoin (BTC), honestcoin (USDH), and tether (USDT) using the wallet software.

In order to swap bitcoin cash for SLP-based tethers, simply tap the swap button on the bottom of the wallets home screen and it will direct you to the in-app swapping window.

From here you can select which coin you want to trade, and the other day our newsdesk swapped $6 worth of BCH for 6 tethers. The swapping feature shows a live exchange rate for BCH and the price per tether as well.

We simply chose BCH and USDT swap and selected the receiving wallet, which displays the wallets Simple Ledger Protocol address. The minimum of bitcoin cash (BCH) needed to complete a swap is 0.003934997 BCH. After selecting the amount of tether, simply press confirm and swap to initiate the process.

The software lets you know that the swap is taking place on the Sideshift application, and the wallet also sends a message to you via the notifications section. Sideshift gives you an invoice number and the notification lets you know the process started.

After the funds are confirmed on the BCH blockchain, the tokens are sent to the SLP-token address. From here the USDT tokens will be accounted for in the portfolio balance section under stablecoins, and tallied up with the total value of all the crypto assets held in the wallet.

Bitcoin.com has always provided top-notch products and services that give people lots of exposure to the innovative crypto ecosystem. Allowing users to hedge stablecoins and swap BCH or BTC for coins like USDT and USDH with ease, gives users far more control over their investments.

What do you think about the ability to swap coins for SLP-based tether (USDT) using the Bitcoin.com Wallet? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bitcoin.com Wallet

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.com Wallet Reveals USDT Support - Users Can Swap and Store SLP-Based Tether | Promoted - Bitcoin News

Chainlink, an ethereum-based cryptocurrency token that powers a decentralized network designed to connect smart contracts to external data sources, appears unstoppable.

The price of Chainlink's link token has soared by almost 80% over the last seven days, adding to gains of 120% this month and a staggering near-600% rise over the last year.

Chainlink has now knocked bitcoin cash, an offshoot of the original bitcoin, from the top five cryptocurrencies by value, according to CoinMarketCapwith its total value now an eye-watering $6 billion.

Cryptocurrency traders have sent the price of Chainlink tokens to over $17 per link, with the ... [+] cryptocurrency knocking bitcoin cash out of the top five cryptocurrencies by value.

"Its been pretty wild," Thomas Kuhn, an analyst with money management company Quantum Economics, said via Telegram, pointing to Chainlink's role in the "trinity"along with bitcoin and ethereumof tokens required for the "effective execution of smart contracts" as compelling.

Kuhn also thinks current sky-high equity valuations are forcing investors to look for elsewhere.

"With tech stocks at all-time-highs and without yield to be found, I think that we are seeing renewed institutional interest in digital assets, especially in those trading higher when bitcoin is weak or down on the daythese have been DeFi assets."

The price of Chainlink's link token has soared amid a flurry of interest in decentralized finance (DeFi)using crypto technology to recreate traditional financial instruments such as loans and insurance.

Chainlink's blockchain network can be used by DeFi and broader projects to connect external data sources, APIs, and payment systems.

Chainlink is "one of the more accessible ideas," related to DeFi, according to Kuhn.

"On the micro level, the asset has an incredible community, born in 4chan meme culture," Kuhn said, referencing a group of highly vocal Chainlink supporters on Twitter and other social networks, as well as messaging apps such as Telegram, that have become known as Link Marines.

"A major aspect of pricing in link is the question of whether it will be used as an escrow asset for smart contracts," Kahn added.

"If it is, large values would be needed to be held in escrow for contract execution which would reduce velocity as well as act as an upward price pressure."

Elsewhere, Chainlink is rumored to be close to offering "staking"something that will allow link holders to earn passive income from the tokens.

The chainlink price has more than doubled over the last month, adding to massive gains over the last ... [+] year.

Last week, Michael Anderson, the co-founder of one of the largest private holders of link tokens, Framework Ventures, said Chainlink was still "wildly undervalued" and predicted the cryptocurrency's total value could eventually eclipse ethereum's near $50 billion price tag.

Meanwhile, other DeFi related projects have also soared in recent months. The price of Tezos' XTZ tokens has almost doubled since early July and the two-day-old DeFi project Yam soared to around $60 million over the last two days only to crash to zero after a last-minute attempt to fix a bug in its code failed.

See the article here:

Surging Chainlink Pushes Bitcoin Cash Out Of The Crypto Top Five As Wild Value Tops $6 Billion - Forbes

Wyre creates the payment APIs that make many a crypto app tick, with partners such as MetaMask, MakerDAO, Compound, Coinlist, and OpenSea on its extensive list of allies. And soon, you may see those apps offer savings sub-accounts to earn you interest on your cryptocurrency holdings.

Today, the firm announced the launch of the Wyre Savings API, which makes it possible to establish a savings sub-wallet within your main Wyre wallet within partners apps. Should partners enable the API, their users can deposit cryptocurrency into the sub-wallet and begin earning interest on the funds.

Wyre has been focused on lowering the barriers to entry for Fintech entrepreneurs around the world, and now we want to help our partners be prepared for the next market cycle, reads a post about the new API. When the next bull market hits there will be a huge influx of new users and speculators. Theyll come for the speculation, but we want to make sure were giving them a reason to stay.

Out of the gate, the Wyre Savings API supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, DAI, and USDC, with the company working with both centralized and decentralized finance (DeFi) partners to deliver the best-possible interest rates. While the company will source rates from numerous partners, the post says that Wyre aims to stay consistent rather than have rates fluctuate wildly.

The current interest rates offered are: 2.431% for BTC, 2.401% for WBTC, 3.374% for ETH, 5.873% for USDC, and 5.788% for DAI. Theres no fixed term needed for the funds to stay in the wallet to earn interest beyond the initial 24-hour period. Funds can be added and withdrawn at any point.

Wyre didnt name any specific partners that have agreed to add savings functionality, but if the API is as easy to implement as the firm claims, then its hard to believe that partnered app makers would resist the ability to offer users interest on their crypto holdings.

The firm is also a regulated Money Service Business in the United States and some other countries, which Wyre used in its blog post to claim an advantage. While the crypto space has been relying on the goodwill of hackers to return funds, Wyre is placing security as a top priority, it reads, while pointing to a story about Aprils dForce hack.

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A new way to earn interest on Bitcoin, Ethereum from crypto apps - Decrypt

The 2020s have drawn comparisons to the 1920s for several reasons. The roaring 20s was a tough time for the world, but what came out of it was prosperity and a technological renaissance. If the same happens again as analysts predict, it could be a major boost to Bitcoin adoption. Heres why.

Before the pandemic hit, there was nothing but positivity going into 2020. But just as people prepared roaring 20s parties on New Years Eve, an outbreak was unfolding across the globe.

But the themes were correct in concept: everything about the 20s thus far has been roaring. The stock market, crypto, and gold prices have been booming, and so have citizens in protest all across the world.

Back in the 1920s, the world had just been hit by a similar pandemic: the Spanish flu in 1918. At the end of the decade, the stock market also experienced a significant crash, much like what we witnessed on Black Thursday this past March.

RELATED READING | ECONOMIST WARNS OF 1929-LIKE SECOND LEG DOWN; WILL BITCOIN FOLLOW?

In 1929, it was dubbed Black Tuesday, and it kicked off the Great Depression. And while a similar economic depression may be ahead, analysts claim there are still enough years left to close the decade out in prosperity.

So far, the 2020s has started with the pandemic, but there are plenty of years left for the prosperous 1920s to become a precedent for the current decade, says Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research.

Yardeni points out that the 1920s eventually led the United States to become the economic superpower it is today. It also began a technological revolution, that if repeated, could be the boost Bitcoin has needed.

Yardeni also calls attention to the similarities between the two decadesreaching a similar point of technological revolution.

The roaring 20s gave way to a historic transformation in technology-driven productivity. There was an enormous boost to electrical infrastructure, and through that, new methods of manufacturing and transportation came to be.

The Ford Model T was produced during this time, making a prime example of the sudden growth in the adoption of new technologies. In 1900, just 8,000 motorcars were registered in the US. By the time 1920 rolled around, there were 9 million and by 1929 the number rose to 23 million.

Today, all those infrastructures are in place. Any revolution will be in microtechnologies powered by these existing processes. Yardeni specifically points to technologies like blockchain, 3D printing, AI, robotics, and more.

RELATED READING | HOW PICTURE PERFECT MACRO UNCERTAINTY WILL KEEP GOLD, BITCOIN TRENDING

In a prior book, Yardeni was quoted as saying, economics is about using technology to increase everyones standard of living. A technology-driven future where the economics increase everyones standard of living sounds a lot like Bitcoins ultimate goal.

The assets decentralized network was designed to make it better money for all, unable to be counterfeited, cryptographically protected, and completely non-sovereign. Times of technological prosperity, as the Ford Model T has shown, can create a perfect storm for technology to be adopted.

If the 20s do continue to roar, it could be the boost to Bitcoin adoption that the budding technology needs.

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How a Repeat of the Roaring 20s Could Boost Bitcoin Adoption - Bitcoinist

Bitcoin smart contracts are a tricky beast to tame, but a new language is making them easier to write, democratizing them in a sense.

Smart contracts can (among other things) allow users to set extra rules on their bitcoin, requiring these rules be met before the funds can be unlocked. Minsc, created by Bitcoin developer Nadav Ivgi, is a new programming language that makes it easier for developers to create these kinds of contracts so they can build them into bitcoin wallets and other apps more smoothly.

One of the goals of Minsc is to make smart contracts more accessible to more people, Ivgi told CoinDesk. That means both developers and users alike are able to take advantage of tools built by developers.

Related: First Mover: As Wall Street Goes Topsy-Turvy, Crypto Traders Are Bullish as Ever

Smart contracts were first described by Nick Szabo in the 1990s. He theorized a way of automating legally binding contracts made between people.

Typical examples of smart contracts on Bitcoin include not allowing 0.1 BTC to be spent until 2021, or requiring more than one person to sign off on a transaction before the money can actually move. Smart contracts also power second layers on the Bitcoin protocol, such as the Lightning Network, which could help Bitcoin expand to reach more users.

Thus far, Bitcoin Script is the language that makes these contracts possible.

The problem is its tricky to work with Bitcoin Script. It is unlike other, more popular programming languages developers are used to, making it harder to wrap their heads around and compose in. This lack of understanding also makes it easier to make a mistake, potentially putting Bitcoin at risk.

Related: CME Rises in Bitcoin Futures Rankings as Institutional Interest Grows

The unwieldiness of Bitcoin Script was one of the factors that led Vitalik Buterin to design the Ethereum platform in the first place. Solidity, Ethereums first smart-contract language, was designed to be much easier for developers to read and thus use. And it has paid off: Ethereum has grown to become the go-to platform for smart contract developers.

Story continues

Read more: How Do Ethereum Smart Contracts Work?

Miniscript, released in 2019 by Pieter Wuille, Andrew Poelstra and Sanket Kanjalkar at Blockstream Research, chips away at this issue for bitcoin.

Read more: Pieter Wuille Unveils Miniscript, A New Smart Contract Language for Bitcoin

One reason that were not anywhere close to using Scripts full potential is that actually constructing scripts for nontrivial tasks is cumbersome. Its hard to verify their correctness and security, and even harder to find the most economical way to write things, Wuille and Poelstra wrote in a blog post introducing Miniscript in September of last year.

Miniscript offers a language thats easier to understand than Script, with built-in security guarantees.

Additionally, if there are two different ways of writing the same contract in Script, Miniscript is able to assess which one is more economical.

The computer eventually compiles (or converts) Miniscript to Bitcoin Script, which is what the code ultimately needs to be written in to successfully lock up real bitcoin with these extra restrictions.

Minsc is the third tier of the cake. It builds on top of Miniscript, taking advantage of its security properties but creating a language that is even easier for developers to read and think about than Miniscript.

Minscs focus is on usability and making it easier to express, comprehend and reason about scripts, using a simple and familiar syntax. It adds additional convenience features and syntactic sugar,' Ivgi told CoinDesk.

Syntactic sugar is a programming term for adding into a language another easier, shortcut way of executing a task that is usually harder to write.

So Minsc doesnt add anything new to Script, it just makes it easier to use.

It doesnt let you do anything that Miniscript doesnt already, similarly to Miniscript itself in relation to Bitcoin Script, Ivgi said.

Minsc could make it easier for developers to add support for various smart contracts. The main intended target audience is developers looking to build apps that utilize Bitcoin Script in interesting, advanced ways, Ivgi added.

Read more: RIF Launches Layer 3 Network to Scale Bitcoin-Based Smart Contracts, Tokens

If more developers can eventually add support for these smart contracts, more users will (perhaps even unknowingly) be able to use these more-complex contracts as well.

Initially, however, I anticipate the usage to be primarily experimental and educational. Minsc can be a great tool for people looking to gain a better understanding of Bitcoin Script, as well as for educators teaching the technical aspects of Bitcoin, Ivgi said.

Ivgi is still in the process of adding other features to the language. Bitcoins smart contracting abilities are likely to expand even further, such as with Taproot, a likely upgrade on Bitcoins horizon. Minsc will be there to make these contracts easier to create.

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Writing Bitcoin Smart Contracts Is About to Get Easier With New Coding Language - Yahoo Finance

Goldman Sachs GS , along with Wall Street banking rival JPMorgan JPM , has a mixed history with bitcoin.

After cheering bitcoin's epic 2017 rally to around $20,000 in 2017, Goldman Sachs "betrayed" bitcoin believers in May this year when the bank's top analysts revealed a Buzzfeed-style "five-reasons-why" they didn't think bitcoin and cryptocurrencies should be considered an asset class in a much-hyped investor call.

Now, Goldman Sach has appointed a new global head of digital assets and, following in JPMorgan's footsteps, is reportedly exploring the possibility of creating its own blockchain-based answer to bitcoin.

Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street stalwart, has had a turbulent history with bitcoin and ... [+] cryptocurrencies.

"We are exploring the commercial viability of creating our own fiat digital token, but its early days as we continue to work through the potential use cases," Goldman Sachs' new digital assets boss Mathew McDermott told CNBC in an interview this week.

McDermott has poached JPMorgan's head of digital assets strategy, Oli Harris, CNBC reports, who helped the bank develop its JPM Coin. Unveiled last year, JPM Coin was the first digital coin from a major bank and is intended to speed up and lower the cost of international payments by using bitcoin's distributed ledger blockchain technology.

"The honest answer is, of course, with any technological advancement, there will be a disruption to the existing status quo," McDermott said, pointing to his plans to use blockchain to upgrade the repo market, credit and mortgage markets, and create forward-looking crypto and blockchain industry consortiums, adding it "feels like there is a resurgence of interest in cryptocurrencies."

"Weve definitely seen an uptick in interest across some of our institutional clients who are exploring how they can participate in this space."

Earlier this week, research from bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain data company Chainalysis revealed Wall Street giants are increasingly moving even larger transfers of bitcoin and cryptocurrency as institutional investors in North America pile into bitcoin and cryptowith the trend thought to be just getting started.

The bitcoin price is flat on this time 12 months ago but has ricocheted wildly, along with most ... [+] other assets, due to the coronavirus crisis.

While the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community has broadly applauded Wall Street's emerging interest in digital assets, there's concern institutional adoption is doing the opposite of what some people think crypto was originally designed.

"Whats exciting and innovative about cryptocurrency is that it creates opportunities for people from every walk of life to acquire wealth," Catherine Coley, chief executive of Binance.US, said via email.

"The time is ripe for mass adoptionthe past weeks rise in the price of bitcoin, the expansion of this industry during a lockdown that caused strain on nearly every other sector of the economy," Coley said, pointing to the founder of the Barstool Sports blog, Dave Portnoy's, recent invitation to cryptocurrency exchange founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to explain bitcoin to him.

"By purchasing large amounts of bitcoin, [mainstream newcomers] too are preparing for a future where users take control of their finances."

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After Bitcoin Betrayal, Goldman Sachs Is Suddenly Betting Big On Crypto And Blockchain - Forbes

Stellar Lumens (XLM) has retraced against Bitcoin over recent days, failing to follow other leading altcoins higher. Indicators suggest the altcoin may soon outperform Bitcoin a sentiment in line with those shared by crypto traders.

Stellar Lumens has been bleeding out against Bitcoin over recent days as the leading cryptocurrency has pressed higher. This price action can be seen in the chart below, which shows XLMs underperformance of BTC on the right side of the chart.

The coin is purportedly due to bounce, a Tom Demark Sequential analysis indicates. The sequential is an indicator that forms 9 and 13 candles when an asset undergoes a technical inflection point in its trend.

In XLMs case, a buy 9 candle was just formed. This suggests that Stellar will recover against Bitcoin in the coming days. The Tom Demark Sequential has had quite the strong performance on calling XLM price action in recent months, predicting local lows in April, late May, and early July.

Other analysts are also bullish on Stellar Lumens.One trader shared the chart below last week, writing the following on why the asset is poised to go parabolic in the weeks ahead:

$XLM is still one of my favorites.

For altcoins to outperform Bitcoin, some analysts think that the leading cryptocurrency must maintain its consolidation in the $10,500-12,000 range. One historically accurate crypto trader wrote on the matter, referencing the chart below:

BTC. 11500-11700, then down to test the 10400-10500 support zone, which should hold for a while. Looking for longs above that level and shorts below it. Altcoins should perform very well as long as BTC stays above 10.5k -> $EOS, $XTZ, $XRP, $XLM (Stellar)

There are some, unfortunately, that dont think Bitcoin is still in a bullish state.

One trader noted that since Bitcoin keeps on failing to surmount $12,000, it could retrace towards the $9,000s. This same trader, though, noted that altcoins may hold up rather well for the time being (Stellar Lumens was not specifically mentioned).

Read more here:

Stellar Lumens (XLM) Is Poised to Bounce Against Bitcoin: Heres Why - newsBTC

The Fed thought it had it all worked out when it came to digital currencies. There are account-based digital currencies, where systems verify accounts (like inter-bank transfers) and currency-based systems, where vendors verify currencies, like dollar bills or Fortnites V-Bucks.

Then Bitcoin came along and muddled everything up, economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York complained in a blog post yesterday.

Bitcoin and the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies that use public-key cryptography constitute both an account-based system and a token-based system. This is problematic, grumbled the Fed economists.

First, Bitcoin is an account-based system. The account is a Bitcoin address, and the private key is the proof of identity needed to transact from that account. Every time a Bitcoin user wants to spend Bitcoin, that user must verify their identity by using their private key. Thats just like bank transfers, which rely on the banks ability to verify the identity of the account holder.

Second, its also a token-based system: When someone wants to spend a Bitcoin, the protocol verifies its validity by tracing its history. The current transaction history is used to verify the validity of the object being transferred. Just like cash, which is only valid if it is genuinely issued from the central bank. Or like Fortnites V-Bucks, issued by the games publisher, Epic Games.

The Feds minds, upon realising this, blew up. The distinction is often raised when discussing how to create a state-rolled digital currency, also known as a central bank digital currency or CBDC. But Bitcoin proves that two seemingly-contradictory ideas can be true at once; the rules that guide those conversations are broken. Kaput.

If a digital currency can be both token-based and account-based, then the classification loses its power to meaningfully distinguish between new and existing methods of digital payments, they said.

They implored that clinging on to the distinction may slow down progress when understanding different digital payment technologies. In a huff, they concluded: Perhaps these terms should be retired to avoid further confusion.

Visit link:

Bitcoin confounds the Fed's understanding of digital currencies - Decrypt

During the last six months, the Simple Ledger Protocol has grown immensely and theres been 9,604 SLP tokens created since the infrastructure launched. Just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on mistcoin, the mineable SLP token that can be mined with a CPU. Now software developer Chris Troutner has invoked tokens called PSF, which are the first SLP tokens that leverage UTXO coin-age for staking on Bitcoin Cash.

During the first week of July, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Permissionless Software Foundation (PSF), an organization that aims to foster the growth of open-source software and growing adoption of Bitcoin Cash across the globe.

This week software developer Chris Troutner discussed the PSF project with our newsdesk as the project has invoked the first SLP token that can be staked based on UTXO coin-age. People who are interested in reading about the PSF staking process can check out the groups grants page.

Individuals can also read about the SLP tokens staking incentive by reading the groups business plan. The grants page states:

The next airdrop of funding tokens is set to take place on October 15th. To be part of this funding token airdrop you will need to stake your PSF tokens, by not moving them for two months. This means you must not move your PSF tokens after August 15th. Funding tokens are an important part of the governance mechanism for the PSF community. As described in the business plan, stakeholders receive periodic funding tokens.

Discussing the subject with the projects head janitor, Chris Troutner, he summarized the staking process with our newsdesk and said that the process was quite simple.

The biggest hurdle to understanding it, is understanding UTXOs, Troutner emphasized. As most crypto proponents are aware that UTXOs are the thing that is spent. UTXOs are consumed as inputs to a transaction, and new UTXOs are generated as the output of a transaction. Every time a UTXO is generated, it contains a block height. Troutner added:

So staking of the PSF token is based on the block height of the UTXO. The block height, which is part of the UTXO, represents its age or coin-age. unlike Ethereum staking, the tokens are not locked in a smart contract. The UTXOs remain completely under the control of their owner. All they have to do is just not move their tokens. Moving or spending their tokens would destroy the UTXO and generate a new one, which would destroy the coin-age.

So essentially, Troutner says that staking is basically not moving the PSF tokens or spending them for a period of time. Simply moving PSF tokens from one wallet to another will interfere with the coin-age, so Troutner recommends storing with a paper wallet.

Its really easy for newbies to destroy their coin-age, by simply moving the tokens between wallets, or a wallet might do it accidentally in the background. Thats why I recommend people stake their token by sending them to a paper wallet, the software engineer stated.

According to Simpleledger.info, there were 730,883 PSF tokens created and 160,048 PSF tokens burned which shows a circulating supply of 570,834 today. We talked about the exchange rate for PSF as the token does have value according to the website, but PSF is currently not listed on an exchange.

At the time of publication, a single PSF is worth $0.439 USD per token or 0.0014475 BCH per token. Using todays BCH exchange rate, people can get more than 690 PSF for a single BCH. Troutner explained to our newsdesk how the PSF value is currently derived.

The token-liquidity app maintains liquidity between the BCH and the PSF tokens, the developer explained. Its an automated market maker. It was inspired by the original Bancor whitepaper. The token-liquidity app is a JavaScript program with its own BCH wallet. It has an equation that it follows to determine the exchange rate. Its constantly adjusting its exchange rate based on the balance of BCH and PSF tokens in its wallet.

The Permissionless Software Foundation plans to leverage the funding tokens in order to bolster the concept as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

In addition to Chris Troutner, the host of the developers monthly video series, David R. Allen is also working with the project. PSF also plans to deliver a white-label bitcoin cash (BCH) and SLP wallet as well.

The Permissionless Software Foundation will also act as a consulting firm. Further, the team is looking into a vending machine concept that represents SaaS applications.

What do you think about the PSF token and its ability to be staked by coin-age? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Permissionless Software Foundation

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PSF Token Invokes the First Coin-Age Staking Protocol on Bitcoin Cash | Technology - Bitcoin News