Becoming The Best Version of Yourself with Eric Jemielita – Yahoo Finance

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2020 / Most people get started in the business industry usually in their mid-20s, others even later than that, but one such Eric Jemielita started at the very young age of 18. 16 years later, Eric is now the President and CEO of Jemielita Group. Not only that, but the man also owns Genesis Financial, a financial company that specializes in helping families understand basic financial concepts that were never taught at school or in any other typical institution. Eric assists his clients in making, saving, and investing their money to help their money grow and ensure a better future.

Eric Jemielita is also a highly sought-after public speaker with topics that mostly focus on personal development, entrepreneurship, leadership, and life-coaching. Eric and his team have helped thousands of families achieve financial independence through their state-of-the-art financial products, or by providing them with an opportunity to jumpstart an amazing part-time or even full-time business.

The American-based entrepreneur is broadening his horizons and expanding his reach across the United States, having opened not just one but several offices as of late, namely in San Francisco, Irvine, and Walnut, California, as well as an office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Eric is fully committed to endeavors that help thousands of people achieve financial independence through their first-class business platform. He wants to inspire people to become the best versions of themselves and surpass their own limits.

The biggest thing that separates Eric's company from the rest is the unique offering of starting on a part-time basis for clients, which is traditionally unheard of in the insurance and investment industry. This gives them the edge among his competitors and greatly helps his clients. This enables cases such as, a single mom who works full time 9-5 job who's looking for an opportunity to earn more money, to start availing of the services provided by Genesis Financial, becoming proficient at business within two to three months with their easy-to-learn system, and forge her own path into replacing her full-time income with a minimal upfront start-up cost.

Another great thing about their company that puts them on a league of their own is that they show people how to maximize their tax-advantages on investments, as well as offering to protect them with cutting-edge insurance products that most people need but don't have.

People who want to get started on a business and are thinking about their future are greatly encouraged to partake in the services of Eric Jemielita's companies. Usually, people at the age of 25 who feel a certain level of responsibility that they must uphold, meshes with the financial concepts that Eric provides. There is also the case of people over the age of 50 who typically have assets that they need to secure and protect through Genesis Financials insurance and annuity programs. Maybe it actually doesn't come with age, Eric started at 18, maybe it's all about ambition and wanting to become better, and Eric definitely welcomes these clients and give them the opportunities they need.

With the right amount of hard work, ambition, and dedication, the best version of yourself is at a moment's reach. And there is no one else that recognizes that other than Eric Jemielita. Helping individuals from all across America achieve their goals with results that speak for themselves, Eric is making his mark on the world and helping others make theirs. If you want to know more about how to become financially independent and be in sole control of your life, you may reach him through this email address: thegenesisedge@yahoo.com.

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Becoming The Best Version of Yourself with Eric Jemielita - Yahoo Finance

Amazon Sued by Author Claiming to Have Spawned ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ – TMZ

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Amazon's hit series, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," is ripped straight from the pages of a 6-year-old book with an eerily similar and struggling character ... at least according to the author.

Jodi Parmley just sued Amazon Studios for allegedly jacking several different creative elements from her 2014 book, "F.I.F.I. Financial Infidelity F**k It: The Mistress of the New Millennium" ... and applying them, nearly beat for beat, to their show.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jodi says she wrote this book, and then adapted a screenplay from it. She says she shopped it around to lots of different studios and execs who were supposedly interested.

Jodi doesn't specifically say she met with Amazon's bigwigs, but it seems like she's implying word eventually got around to them. Once she saw 'Marvelous' debut, Jodie claims she was a carbon copy of her own work.

She claims Amazon ripped off the plight, stand-up routine, general plot points and character traits the Amazon's Miriam Maisel lives out -- like seeking financial independence, leaving her crappy hubby, etc.

As a result, she's suing ... and, naturally, wants the profits Amazon made off the show -- which has garnered critical praise and gone on to win several awards.

We've reached out to Amazon ... so far, no word back.

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Amazon Sued by Author Claiming to Have Spawned 'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' - TMZ

Finance firm shuns Government handouts and sets up fund to support charities – The Business Desk

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Salford Quays-based investment platform AJ Bell has vowed to shun any government handouts to tackle the coronavirus crisis, and has set up a fund to help charities helping those affected by the pandemic.

Led by founder Andy Bell, the finance firm says many businesses will be judged by how they reacted, once the pandemic has subsided.

And Mr Bell and fellow executives have committed to donating their salaries for April, May and June into the AJ Bell Wage War on COVID Fund, with many of their staff pledging to also make donations.

Mr Bell said: We are seeing individual acts of bravery, selflessness and kindness on a daily basis that should give us hope that the coronavirus will leave behind some positive legacies.

Business leaders and our businesses have their parts to play in taking a socially-responsible approach.

We will all be held accountable as to how we react during the COVID-19 crisis.

Customers, staff, suppliers, investors and wider stakeholders will all make their own judgements and already the court of public opinion is opining on the actions of certain businesses to a positive effect.

He added: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all and will impact our society in ways that we can only imagine at this stage. Many people will lose their jobs, their financial independence or, sadly, their loved ones.

Businesses need to have a social conscience if we are to get through this crisis.

In reacting to the crisis, AJ Bell said its priority is to ensure the health, safety and well-being of its staff and their families.

The firm revealed that all its staff have also been assured that their jobs are safe and every member of staff will continue to be paid as normal throughout the crisis.

And Mr Bell said he will not call on any of the Governments financial support packages.

No staff will be furloughed. Whilst we have identified a number of staff who could have been furloughed, we believe that the Governments Job Retention Scheme should be preserved for those companies that need it most.

He added: We will not be claiming benefits from any of the other financial support schemes available to employers eg we will be not be deferring our VAT bill.

In addition, the AJ Bell Wage War on COVID Fund, under the umbrella of the AJ Bell Trust, a UK registered charity, is now open to donations, and all proceeds will be distributed to charities supporting the COVID-19 efforts, or directly to those in need as a result of the virus.

The aim is to distribute all of the funds raised quickly, over the coming months, with a back stop date of the end of this calendar year.

The AJ Bell Trust has kick-started the fund raising by allocating 50,000 of its charitable reserves to the fund.

Mr Bell said: I, along with other board directors and senior management, have donated our April, May and June wages into the fund.

I am immensely proud that a number of our staff have already signalled their intent to donate part of their wages over the same three month period and Im sure many more will donate now the fund has launched.

He explained the reasoning behind the firms stance: Businesses with a social conscience will assess the various support schemes through the lens of need and not entitlement.

Every pound claimed under one of the Governments financial support schemes is a pound that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back.

He acknowledged that many businesses hit hard by the crisis need these support schemes to survive, but he said: Society will not react well to businesses that take Government aid whilst they make large profits, pay out large bonuses to executives or pay dividends to shareholders.

CEOs and business leaders are in a unique position to determine their business approach to the crisis and we should all lead by example.

Click here to donate to theAJ Bell Wage War on COVID Fund.

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Finance firm shuns Government handouts and sets up fund to support charities - The Business Desk

Forget the tweets, read the contract – Chatham House

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That Donald Trump transformed himself from property developer, reality television star and owner of the Miss Universe franchise into the 45th president of the United States seems no less bemusing more than three years on than it did on November 8, 2016.

Since he entered the presidential race in 2015, the Trump zeitgeist has shaken up the political establishment in both the Republican and Democratic parties, and left US policy watchers, foreign leaders and international market traders scratching their heads. His pronouncements via Twitter have done little to clarify matters.

Following his presidential triumph, anticipating how he might behave, what policies or actions he might prioritize next, has become a primary occupation for many of us. Yet in his fourth year, he is still behind his Oval Office desk and has managed to do many of the things he promised to do when a presidential candidate.

Now, in the midst of the global coronavirus crisis, he faces the most important test yet of his presidency, one which no candidate would have predicted.

With the US presidential and congressional elections now only seven months away it is a good time to separate the man from the myth and work out what solid achievements he has made behind the bluster.

Allow me to demystify Trump. If you want to know what Trump is going to do, just listen to what he says. In particular, listen to what he has said he intended to do since he was a presidential candidate. A good place to start is with his Contract with the American Voter, released in October 2016. In the document, which is readily available online, Trump and his team outlined a 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again.

Considered against the backdrop of Trumps first 100 days in office, the contract seems gimmicky. When viewed as a roadmap for Trumps first term, however, it becomes hard to ignore how closely he and his administration have worked to tick items off this list.

On domestic policy, Trump committed in the contract to reducing regulation. By the White House account, for every new rule it has enacted the Trump administration has cut eight and a half regulations, reducing regulatory costs by an estimated $50 billion.

Trump also promised to lift restrictions on the production of US energy reserves, and in office he has rewritten the Clean Power Plan to stimulate the coal industry and offered plans to ease methane emission limits, roll back offshore drilling safety restrictions and expand offshore drilling. Trump committed separately to restarting the Keystone Pipeline and similar energy infrastructure projects, which his administration has taken steps to advance.

Trump also proposed various actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law. To restore security, Trump committed to various immigration reforms including cancelling all federal funding for sanctuary cities, which he did by a January 2017 executive action that has been challenged in the courts.

He also pledged to remove illegal immigrants and suspend immigration from terror-prone regions, a measure enacted through the 2017 travel ban which was extended in 2020. He also announced his intention to build a border wall with Mexico, more than 90 miles of which were reported to be completed by December 2019, and which the Trump administration repeatedly appropriated funds for.

On restoring the constitutional rule of law, Trump vowed to cancel Barack Obamas unconstitutional executive actions and has since rolled back a number of Obama initiatives including those on climate change and protections for transgender individuals in the military. He has also nominated Supreme Court justices from a list of anti-abortion candidates prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation: Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Finally, Trump pledged changes to the tax system which included a reduction in the corporate tax rate, decreases in the number of individual tax brackets and deductions for childcare, all measures incorporated into the 2017 tax overhaul.

On foreign policy, Trump laid out plans to: withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he did almost immediately upon taking office; cancel payments to the UN climate change programmes he withdrew from the Paris Agreement in June 2017; renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement Trump signed the revised USMCA trade deal in January 2020; and rebuild the military and end the cap on spending Trump has overseen increased defence spending, including in his fiscal year 2021 budget.

Unsurprisingly, Trumps contract extensively covered trade, the linchpin of his America First foreign policy. In it, he promised to direct the Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator, something carried out in August 2019 and subsequently reversed in January 2020 before the two parties signed their Phase One trade deal.

Trump also committed to identifying all foreign trading abuses affecting US workers and take action to end them.

Between the global tariffs on solar panels and washing machines and later steel and aluminium, the Section 301 investigations imposing tariffs on an increasing range of Chinese goods, or proposed tariffs on Mexican imports, Trump has aggressively pursued perceived trade abuses and imbalances.

Whether one agrees with Trumps policies or not, his administration has accomplished much of what it set out to.

And Trump knows this. His re-election campaign as previewed in his State of the Union Address on February 4 will be this: Trump has kept his promises and the economy and the country are all the better for it. In fact, his re-election website is promisekept.com where the headline has changed from Making America Great Again to Keeping America Great.

When trying to anticipate what Trump will prioritize next, the obvious place to start is with what is left to be ticked off that October 2016 contract list.

At home, this looks like: additional immigration reforms continuing to build the southern border wall with Mexico, further visa restrictions and asylum curbs; more environmental deregulation; movement on his long-delayed 2018 infrastructure proposal; educational reforms; a proposed Restoring Community Safety Act targeting crime reduction; and perhaps taking another shot at repealing Obamacare.

On foreign policy, what is left on Trumps list includes more trade action, particularly pursuing more bilateral trade deals. This potentially includes a US-UK free trade deal, which Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, indicated was a priority when speaking at Chatham House in January, as well as an agreement with Europe. These will probably be phased deals, similar to the Phase One trade deal with China.

With any movement on trade arrangements, the administration will probably rely on another standby of Trumps presidency, executive action, including on tariffs and sanctions. This could include raising the volume on Twitter on car tariffs in the run-up to potential US-European trade negotiations. Similarly, threats of World Trade Organization action or tariffs on British goods are likely to increase as part of any US-UK trade negotiations, especially if Britain imposes a technology tax similar to Frances.

Longer-term objectives such as a sweeping infrastructure overhaul or a Phase Two China deal will be left until after the November elections, if Trump is returned to office.

What matters most for him in the run-up to his re-election bid is the strength of domestic economic indicators such as jobs and unemployment levels, GDP growth rates, the stock market and wages. All of these have been thrown into the air by the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.

Given the outsized role that the health of the economy will play for his re-election, the potential economic, health and collective fallout of a protracted outbreak of COVID-19 in the US is the type of low probability, high impact event that could pose a real challenge to Trumps re-election.

Polling in March suggests that Americans remain split on the Trump administrations handling of the outbreak; even as cases of coronavirus continue to rise unabated, the Dow Jones Industrial Average vacillates daily after ending its longest ever bull market, presidential primary elections are postponed, hospitals and households face supply shortages, and all aspects of life go virtual.

Whether appropriate or not, comparisons with 9/11 have been frequent. In the aftermath of the devastating terrorist attacks in 2001, George W Bush saw his approval rating spike to as high as 90 per cent.

Now, in 2020, after an initial slow response that sought more to downplay the risks from the virus than to take action to contain its spread, the governments emergency economic stimulus plan will be the largest in US history at US$2 trillion.

How effective and effectively implemented these measures are including direct cash handouts, small business support, aid for airlines and other severely distressed industries as well as funds for election security will determine whether Trump sees his own rally-around-the-flag effect or whether the political toll of the coronavirus outbreak costs Trump his re-election. The advantage of being an incumbent president in US politics is real, however. During the period from 1788 to 2004, the in-office party has retained the White House two thirds of the time when running incumbent candidates.

The coronavirus crisis aside, one other aspect of Trumps Contract with the American Voter cannot be ignored. In it he committed himself to six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC. These measures proposed both a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government and a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

Yet it was the administrations involvement of a foreign government in the electoral process that lay at the heart of the move to make Trump only the third US president to face impeachment. US officials in and around the Trump administration including Trump himself lobbied the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for compromising information on Joe Biden, the former vice president and Trumps likely rival in the November presidential election, and withheld US military aid that had already been authorized by Congress.

In the final analysis, what Trump has done politically cannot be divorced from how he has done it.

While assessing Trumps actions on trade or immigration or deregulation, we cannot ignore his modus operandi of expansive executive authority, erosion of institutions, blurring of lines between the executive and judicial branch and deep questions about Americas reliability as an ally and its continued engagement in the world.

Trumps decision in February to pardon or commute the sentences of a number of individuals imprisoned for fraud and corruption, is just the latest, revealing example.

We may be able to demystify Trumps priorities by listening to the messages he has sent since he was a presidential candidate. Whether this provides any comfort will depend on how one feels about his objectives and the ways he crosses them off his list.

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Forget the tweets, read the contract - Chatham House

Blockchain technology: Redefining trust for a global …

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a longer version of this blog post is available on the MIT Media Labs Digital Currency Initiative platform

With Google Trends data showing that searches for the word blockchain have exponentially increased, we may be entering the peak of the hype cycle for blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

But heres the thing: the blockchainisa major breakthrough. Thats because its decentralized approach to verifying changes in important information addresses the centuries-old problem oftrust, a social resource that is all too often in short supply, especially amid the current eras rampant concerns over the security of valuable data. It turns out that fixing that can be a boon for financial inclusion and other basic services delivery, helping to achieve the global objectives laid out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sorting out hype from reality may depend on how well we identify where institutions that have until now played a role in mediating trust between people are falling short, especially in the key area of money. Deploying the blockchain in those settings to generate secure, decentralized trust could achieve great strides in inclusion and innovation.

What do we mean by decentralized trust? The concept is unfamiliar in part because its converse -- centralized trust is something that we often take for granted, at least while its working. But if we look at the history of transactions since the early barter systems to modern-day digital money exchanges, we can see how differenttrust protocolsfor keeping track of our exchanges of value have evolved and how, in each case, centralizing trust within particular institutions has periodically caused problems.As strategies for dealing with this challenge evolved and as the complexity and frequency of transactions grew, differenttrust bearersemerged. We went from relying on the memory and discretion of tribal leaders, to central governments issuing currencies in the form of precious metals, to commercial banks acting astrusted intermediariesand issuing their own bank notes, to central banks managing a hybrid system in which sovereign fiat banknotes circulate alongside a debt/credit form of money managed by regulated banks and internal ledgers.

We are now at another moment when societys trust in the trust bearers is being challenged again. The cause: the 2008 crisis best viewed as a breakdown in publictrustin the banks role as ledger-keepers and the constant reports of hacking attacks at financial institutions. The difference is that this time the entire notion of centralized trust is being questioned.

This is where the blockchain and distributed public ledgers come in. We now have the prospect of supplanting those risk-ladentrust bearerswith a more robust, decentralized model. This kind of ledger, shared among a network of autonomous computers, which confirm and validate its content by following a unique algorithm that compels them to act in the common interest, and secured with powerful cryptography, is essentially tamper-proof. Its the nearest thing weve ever had to an immutable ledger.

Currency exchanges are the first use case for this technology. But the topics discussed at this past weeksBlockchain Summit on Necker Island reveal a dizzying array of non-currency applications as well. The blockchains disintermediating potential is being tried out for securities settlement, property titles, digital rights, trade finance, supply chains, auditing, voting, solar microgrids, notary and legal services, and the big one, digital identity. Much of this has the potential to leapfrog billions of people into a new era in parallel to the way that mobile phones helped them leapfrog over landlines.

As with all early-stage technology, there are challenges. The underlying infrastructure needs to be scalable and more versatile, but achieving consensus to make such changes is difficult in an open-source work environment. Theres a garbage-in risk that inaccurate information gets permanently inserted into a blockchain. Also, the immutability and irreversibility of transactions might make it harder for individuals and firms to arbitrate solutions whenever theres a dispute. Meanwhile, a vivid debate continues over what kind of blockchain communities should use and when: a public, permissionless blockchain like bitcoin, or a private blockchain in which only permissioned actors maintain the ledger, such as those which various banks are developing. Theres a big public interest in answering these questions.

Amid the rapid pace of open-source fintech innovation, its hard to imagine that distributed ledger technology isnt coming, one way or another. When it arrives, the impact on society could be profound. It is therefore critical that governments engage their citizens and each other in serious discussion about the underlying trust infrastructure of 21st century digital society.

Its too early to know the answers. Thats why its incumbent upon all of us to study and understand how to maximize the benefits of this technology to attain better development outcomes and reach the SDGs. The World Bank and MIT Media Lab could help foster this understanding. With serious research, we can discover the best ways to use this technology to lower costs and increase access to financial services while protecting the social capital thats vital for economic development. Within this, we must keep in mind the unprecedented competition and challenges facing incumbent financial institutions and regulators. If we get this transformation right, and do so in a collective, collaborative manner, it could provide a vital building block for achieving the global communitys SDGs.

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Blockchain technology: Redefining trust for a global ...

Cryptocurrency Review: Bitcoin, Ether and ‘Digital Gold’ – CoinDesk

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Will bitcoin (BTC) move beyond "digital gold"? Is ether (ETH) viable as money? In 24 charts, CoinDesk Research shows what happened to crypto assets in Q1 2020 and examines what may emerge in the future. Download our Q1 analysis here, and join us on April 15 for a webinar discussing our findings and other relevant cryptocurrency research.

The CoinDesk Quarterly Review provides research-based insights on how the narrative has changed for blue-chips such as bitcoin and ether. We look at which assets outperformed on returns, and how the participants in crypto markets are shifting in the wake of Q1s defining event, the March 12 plunge.

Bitcoins digital gold narrative grew up in a bull market in everything. Bitcoin as gold 2.0, a hedge against inflation and a safe haven in an eventual crash, was a meme investors readily understood.

Now, weve seen an economic crisis cause dislocation in crypto markets and push bitcoins price downward in tandem with stocks. Gold and Treasury bonds appeared to have failed to live up to safe haven expectations. If golds narrative is being debated, do we still know what digital gold means? At the very least, the events of the past month have put to rest the notion that bitcoin today can be a haven.

How March 12 shook crypto markets, and how it didn't

The crash shook participants in crypto markets. Open interest in bitcoin futures and perpetual swaps fell off a cliff in March. These markets are used by traders large and small to speculate on bitcoins price, and as a temporary hedge against positions in the spot market. Futures volume spiked and settled at a higher baseline, as it did in spot markets. The increased activity is taking place in a shrunken market. About $1.6 billion of traders positions were liquidated over two days in March. The sharks are eating each other in a smaller pool, as it were.

At the very least, the events of the past month have put to rest the notion that bitcoin today can be a haven.

Bitcoin's long-term holdings, however, remained unmoved. Hodlwaves use Bitcoin timestamps known as UTXOs to measure how long each bitcoin has been held. Tracking time between transactions is a useful measure of long-term buy-and-hold activity. That activity is consistent with bitcoins use case as digital gold, a putative store-of-value. Note that long-term holdings (180 days or more) did not change perceptibly during the March 12 crash. Balances held between 90 days and 180 days shifted abruptly. Were bitcoin sellers concentrated among three- to six-month holders? Or were exchange balances, which shifted on these dates, concentrated in that band?

Alternative user narratives: Return of payments?

Some of bitcoin's long-term holders are surely hoping in time it will prove itself as a haven or store of value. But events such as the March crash open the door to new narratives. The flagship crypto assets next meme will set the adoption curve for verifiably scarce digital assets. Will payments re-emerge as an avenue to adoption?

Since launch, the number of computers running the Lightning Network has increased on average 53 percent every quarter. Lightning is a layer two payments system built on top of the Bitcoin network. The value held within Lightning payment channels has also increased.

New importance for bitcoin and ethereum technical road maps

It's possible a new user adoption narrative will be something quite different from what long-term investors in bitcoin have contemplated to date. Will Bitcoin developers add capabilities like Schnorr signatures, with their privacy and programmability that lead to its adoption as digital financial infrastructure?

The technical road map emerges from Q1 2020 with increased importance for ethereum, as well. Ether evangelists have spread the meme ETH is money" in the belief that it has potential as the base currency of a decentralized, digital banking system, dubbed decentralized finance" or "DeFi." The failure of flagship DeFi systems during the March 12 crash have raised questions about that narrative. Now more than ever it seems to be dependent on a relatively uncertain road map for ETH 2.0, an improvement designed to allow more transaction throughput.

On March 12, total ETH locked in DeFi applications increased as expected, then crashed amid a crisis in DeFis programmatic governance. If ETH is money," wed expect to see the amount locked in DeFi and the ETH price grow in tandem, long-term. For the near term, a recovery to previous levels would indicate a restoration of confidence in DeFi systems.

The CoinDesk Quarterly Review lays out a Q1 analysis of what happened to crypto assets in the quarter. It begins to examine what will emerge now that the digital gold story has been shaken. Download it here, and join us April 15 for a webinar discussing our findings.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Cryptocurrency Review: Bitcoin, Ether and 'Digital Gold' - CoinDesk

Bitcoin’s Bull Case Strengthens After Breaching Price Hurdle at $7.1K – CoinDesk

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After multiple failed attempts, bitcoin (BTC) has finally broken above key resistance, bringing a boost to the short-term bullish case.

The top cryptocurrencyby market value closed (UTC) well above $7,100 on Wednesday, marking an upsidebreak of the 200-period moving average on the three-day chart.

The breakout could now invite stronger chart-driven buying, as a move above the long-term technical line is often considered a confirmation of a bearish-to-bullish trend change.

The 200-period average had repeatedly capped upside in the final days of March. Now that the hurdle has been convincingly crossed, buyers who entered the market earlier this month may also be more comfortable in holding their positions. All in all, the move is a good signal for prices.

The risk-on action seen in traditional markets is also supportive of further gains for bitcoin. Major European indices like Germanys DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE are currently reporting slight gains. Asian stocks also rose early on Thursday following an overnight surge on Wall Street.

The sentiment seems to have been buoyed by reports that the U.S. and European nations are discussing plans to reopen their respective economies at the start of May.Most countries imposed lockdowns of varying degrees of severity in March in order to contain the coronavirus outbreak, negatively impacting commerce.

At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $7,340, representing a 0.80 percent increase on a 24-hour basis., according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index. That's well above the 200-period average at $7,093.

The cryptocurrency has recovered by more than $3,400 from the low of $3,867 reached during the early Asian trading hours on March 13 and is now just $700 short of levels near $8,000 seen ahead of the price crash seen March 12.

Three-day chart

Bitcoin repeatedly failed to cross the 200-period average hurdle in the three weeks to April 5, weakening the immediate bullish case and raising the odds of a price pullback.

However, the breakout confirmed by the previous green candle, representing price action for April 6-9, indicates that the rally from lows below $4,000 has resumed.

The MACD histogram, an indicator used to identify trend strength and trend changes, has crossed above zero, signaling a bearish-to-bullish trend change. Further, the Chaikin money flow index is hovering above zero a sign buying pressure is outweighing selling pressure.

All in all, there is a strong case to believe bitcoin will test psychological resistance at $8,000 in the short-term.

Daily chart

Bitcoin is trapped in an ascending price channel, as seen above.

Mondays green marubozu candle, which marked a breakout above $7,000, points to bullish market sentiment. The five- and 10-day averages are trending north, indicating strong upward momentum.

The only cause for concern for the bulls is a decline in trading volumes. A low-volume rally often ends with a notable price drop.

That said, the bias will turn bearish only if prices drop below $6,773 (horizontal line). That would invalidate the marubozu candle created on April 6 and open the doors for a pullback to $5,856 (March 30 low).

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin's Bull Case Strengthens After Breaching Price Hurdle at $7.1K - CoinDesk

Bitcoin Price Ignores $2.3T Fed Cash as Pundit Warns of Sucker Rally – Cointelegraph

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Bitcoin (BTC) braved less volatile but choppy trading on April 9 as the United States Federal Reserve flooded markets with trillions in dollars.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD still keeping within a tight $400 corridor between $7,100 and $7,410 as the week continued.

A sudden dip to $7,110 formed the most volatile feature of the past 24 hours. At press time, Bitcoin traded at around $7,325.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The largest cryptocurrency appeared broadly unfazed by the announcement of a fresh stimulus package from the Fed worth $2.3 trillion.

In a press release, the central bank said that its aim was to support the economy as the U.S. coronavirus death toll reached 14,800.

Board Chair Jerome H. Powell said:

The Fed's role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible.

The cash injection comes just weeks after a giant $6 trillion liquidity tsunami from the Fed, a sum so large that it equals the entire U.S. GDP from 1990. Earlier on Thursday, Cointelegraph reported that U.S. national debt was at a historic high of $24 trillion.

While markets were also buoyed by the potential for a cut in oil production after Thursdays OPEC+ meeting, among Bitcoin analysts, the mood was overwhelmingly bearish.

Despite rising around 8% in a week, Bitcoin, like traditional markets, was unlikely to sustain its trajectory, Cointelegraph Markets Michal van de Poppe warned.

The price of $BTC is slowly grinding upwards, but volume is decreasing, he wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday.

The $6,900 shorters got stopped out & flipped long, while the $7,700-8,000 shorters are waiting. More and more people turning bullish, giving me indication that liquidity is beneath us. Lets see.

Popular commentator Looposhi was more damning, writing:

I just think it's cute how some of you about to burn their account over some textbook sh*t. Let me be very clear. THIS IS A #Bitcoin SUCKER RALLY!

Meanwhile, U.S. jobless claims totaled over 6 million for a second week, van de Poppe agreeing with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, that coronavirus would create the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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Bitcoin Price Ignores $2.3T Fed Cash as Pundit Warns of Sucker Rally - Cointelegraph

3 Options for Traders as Bitcoin Price Is on the Verge of a Breakout – Cointelegraph

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Bitcoin price (BTC) is currently in a sort of stasis, unexcitedly trading in the expected range and over the past 48-hours dropping to the former rising wedge trendline at $7,150 and again to the $7,200 support before rebounding to the low $7,400 region.

Crypto market daily price chart. Source: Coin360

For the time being, the price is consolidating within the $7,200 to $7,460 range. The next thing bulls will be looking for is for BTC price to push above the recent high to set a higher-high above $7,663 before launching a move toward $7,992, where the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement currently resides.

BTC USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

Anyone taking a quick glance at crypto Twitter will notice analysts calling for traders to go short from $8,000-$8,100 as the 100 and 200 day-MA are in this zone and expected to function as stiff resistance levels.

This is possibly due to the fact that since March 13 Bitcoin price has gained approximately 95%. But before any of this can be achieved Bitcoin needs to turn the $7,350 to $7,400 region to support.

For the time being, traders continue to buy on the dips and a glance at exchange order books show traders are quite interested in buying at prices below $7,200.

BTC USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The 4-hour timeframe shows that while the price consolidates, the volume is tapering off and this is a hint that Bitcoin is beginning to lose momentum. The moving average convergence divergence histogram has also turned negative and the relative strength index has dropped slightly below 60. The ailing volume and sideways price action also increase the chance of BTC/USD falling below the $7,200 support to $6,900, then $6,750.

Bitcoin price is now facing a few outcomes, with the bias currently tilted towards bears. Simply put, an increase in purchasing volume is needed to break through the current range and rise toward the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $7,992.

The alternate scenario involves Bitcoin losing the $7,200 support and as the price drops to retest lower supports investors will have no choice but to see if the interest currently represented in the orderbook manifests into buying at key support levels to prevent a drop to $5,800.

3 day BTC USDT MACD chart. Source: TradingView

Taking a look at the higher time frames gives some encouragement. On the 3-day chart, investors will notice that the MACD line is about to pull above the signal line and the histogram is just now printing a green bar above 0.

Weekly BTC USDT MACD chart. Source: TradingView

On the weekly timeframe, the MACD is slowly beginning to curve up toward the signal line and although the histogram remains negative, the color of the candles has shifted from red to pink. The weekly RSI is also rising above 46 but it is not yet in bullish territory.

More importantly, we can see that the price is drawing closer to an important pivot point and the same can be said for $8,100.

BTC USDT 1-week chart. Source: TradingView

In summary, at the moment theres not much chop to trade for day traders as the risk seems greater than the reward right now. Traders will likely wait for one of the following three scenarios:

Another thing worth remembering is that Bitcoins halving is about 35 days away but with the coronavirus pandemic and current state of global economic affairs it's possible that the halving will be something of a disappointment particularly, when it comes to short-term price action just like the Bitcoin Cash halving was on Wednesday.

Whatever trade you choose, be sure to use a stop-loss.

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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3 Options for Traders as Bitcoin Price Is on the Verge of a Breakout - Cointelegraph

Former Hedge Fund Billionaire Picks Bitcoin Over Gold, Treasuries And The Dollar – Forbes

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Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors are feeling bullish after a rocky start to the year.

The bitcoin price, trading more-or-less flat for 2020 so far, had rocketed in the first few months of the new decade but its rally was halted in its tracks by the coronavirus crisis.

Now, as bitcoin bulls eye the upcoming bitcoin halvingamong other major developments on the horizonformer hedge fund billionaire-turned crypto investor, Michael Novogratz, has bet that bitcoin will outperform almost every other market over the next few months.

Michael Novogratz, a Wall Street veteran, has become one of bitcoin and cryptocurrency's richest ... [+] people in recent years, making a name for himself as an outspoken bitcoin bull.

"Ill make a bet for dinner anywhere in New York City that bitcoin outperforms both [gold and treasuries] over the next three months," Novogratz said via Twitter, replying to a report that all major currencies are outperforming bitcoin since the stock market peak, with gold and treasury bonds doing even better.

Tech investor and founder of bitcoin and cryptocurrency news and analysis website The Block, Mike Dudas, responded he is on the same side of that bet as Novogratz "with more of [his] net worth than would make any sane person comfortable."

"Give it a few months ... And I like gold," Novogratz added.

Bitcoin has so far failed to act as a so-called safe-haven asset during the coronavirus crisis despite hopes it had begun to do so over the last year.

Traders and investors usually turn to "safe" assets such as gold and the Japanese yen during times of perceived risk.

Last month, Novogratz warned confidence in bitcoin and crypto "evaporated" due to the coronavirus crash, potentially leaving bitcoin and crypto vulnerable.

Earlier this year, Novogratz said he expected the bitcoin price to soar by almost 50-fold over the next ten years, meaning he thought one bitcoin will be worth a staggering $400,000 by 2030and giving bitcoin a market capitalization of around $8 trillion.

Meanwhile, many bitcoin and cryptocurrency supporters have voiced concerns thatthe massive stimulus and quantitative easing unleashed by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve will weaken the dollar and the U.S. economy.

Extraordinary measures have been put in place by countries around the world to prop up markets and try to spur economic activity as they scramble to contain the coronavirus COVID-19.

The bitcoin price has treaded water for 2020 so far despite swinging wildly along with traditional ... [+] markets due to the coronavirus crisis.

In the aftermath of the coronavirus-induced market crash, some of the biggest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world have reported an uptick in both new users and trading volume.

Some have suggested surging bitcoin demand could result in a bull run to rival bitcoin's epic 2017 rallythat saw the bitcoin price climb from under $1,000 to around $20,000 in less than 12 months.

Ahead of the world going into shutdown to try to contain the coronavirus, bitcoin investors were upbeat at the beginning of the year,a survey of high-level bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange users showed last month,with most expecting the bitcoin price to soar to over $20,000 per bitcoin in 2020.

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Former Hedge Fund Billionaire Picks Bitcoin Over Gold, Treasuries And The Dollar - Forbes

This Visa Card Gives Bitcoin Rewards on Dollars Spent – CoinDesk

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The startup behind the bitcoin-friendly shopping app Fold just joined the Visa Fast Track Program to issue a card that offers bitcoin rewards instead of traditional reward points.

Fold founder Will Reeves said an email poll of roughly 30,000 Fold users revealed 90 percent said they would switch spending away from their existing card for a card with bitcoin (BTC) rewards for dollars spent. The waiting list is now open for the Fold card that starts shipping in July.

You manage everything within [the Fold app], your card details, your rewards, Reeves said in an interview. Were able to send out to your [bitcoin] wallet of choice. You dont have to wait to accrue too much of it [bitcoin].

There are already several companies offering Visa cards so bitcoiners can spend cryptocurrency as dollars, including Coinbase, and options for shopping on desktop with most cards for bitcoin rewards, with the browser-plugin Lolli.

Both Lolli and Fold App have seen a dramatic increase in online shopping for essentials and home equipment since the coronavirus crisis hit the United States. Fold users are buying more gift cards for Amazon and Target, while Lolli shoppers are spending more at Sams Club, Vitacost, Best Buy and Newegg, according to Lollis head of communications, Aubrey Strobel.

Weve seen an uptick in volume the entire month, Reeves said of the 24,000 transactions by Fold users in Q1 2020. That represents a 110 percent increase over Q4 2019, with thousands of new users. Across the board, companies that help retail users accrue bitcoin have generally performed well during the broader market turndown.

The goal of this new card is to meet consumers where theyre at, Reeves said, giving users the ability to accrue and use bitcoin in their daily lives.

Fold investor Meltem Demirors once owned one of the first bitcoin-affiliated cards, a Shift debit card for spending bitcoin. She said Folds new product is unique because the card enables people to earn rather than spend bitcoin.

The capital gains [taxes] for [spending] are just such a pain, Demirors said. Ive been spending [dollars] nonstop with Fold.

Users can already shop directly through the app and earn rewards for using the Lightning Network option, for example, while they wait for the Visa program to roll out later this year. Users can choose to spend bitcoin with this feature, but most seem to prefer spending dollars for bitcoin rewards. The average transaction size in Q1 2020 was $55, according to Reeves.

Fold certainly wont be the last team to explore bitcoin-related credit cards. When asked if the exchange Kraken was exploring a Visa card program like Coinbase or Fold, Kraken bitcoin strategist Pierre Rochard answered, Were always looking to better serve our customers.

NFL player and Fold investor Russell Okung said in a press release the Fold Visa card now represents a significant step towards mainstream adoption of Bitcoin. In the press release, Visa Global Head of Fintech Terry Angelos said Fold joined a program that offers unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, and resources.

Update (April 9, 15:21 UTC): The new offering from Fold isnt a credit card. Its a debit card but has the rewards levels youd expect from a credit card, Fold CEO Will Reeves said after publication of this article.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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This Visa Card Gives Bitcoin Rewards on Dollars Spent - CoinDesk

Bitcoin, Stock Markets Rally on Signs of Hope in Pandemic – CoinDesk

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The new and now often-cited connection between bitcoin (BTC) and global equities doesnt just mean they fall together.

Sometimes, it means they rally on potentially good news. And that seems to be the case on Monday, as positive data on the war on the coronavirus offer hope to the markets that better days may come soon.

The price of bitcoin is at $7,145 as of 13:45 UTC (8:45 a.m. Eastern time), a 5 percent gain from the previous 24 hours. The move began during Asian equity market trading hours as Japans Nikkei index moved up 4.2 percent. Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average also had some sunshine around then, indicating a more than 700-point gain when New York traders heard their opening bell.

Part of that optimism in stock markets and in cryptocurrencies stems from a few glimmers of hope on the coronavirus front.

Looks like we're piggybacking on equities with some data possibly indicating virus peaking coming out of a few of the European countries, said Dave Vizsolyi, head of trading at Chicago-based proprietary crypto trading firm DV Chain.

To be sure, cryptocurrency markets often gyrate with little rhyme or reason, and an original selling point of bitcoin was as a non-correlated asset, indifferent to movements in traditional markets. However, during the recent crisis, the bellwether digital asset has tended to track the incumbents.

Daily new cases are slowing in places like Italy, where they have stayed in the 4,000 range since March 30; at its peak on March 21, over 6,500 new cases were reported. New York, the hardest-hit state in the U.S., saw a slight drop in coronavirus-related deaths; 4,159 lives were lost in the Empire State so far, but Sunday saw the first daily drop in fatalities since the crisis began.

Thats not to say the week promises to be easy on the UnitedStates, where there are more than 300,000 cases, a quarter of the worlds total.

This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of mostAmericans lives, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams saidon Fox News over the weekend. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment,our 9/11 moment, only its not going to be localized. Its going to behappening all over the country.

However, his commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, took a more glass-half-full approach, proclaiming in all-caps LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL on his preferred method of communication, Twitter.

Nonetheless, some in the crypto markets arent sold on the idea that the worst is behind us.

Paxos exchange CEO Chad Cascarilla warned of a grim picture on Patrick OShaughnessys podcast, Invest Like the Best, if fiscal and monetary stimulus prove too little, too late.

Cascarilla sees about a 25 percent chance the U.S. would need a bank holiday similar to what happened in the Great Depression and even some nationalization in its financial sector.

It looks likely that were in a depression for at least aquarter or two, Cascarilla said. If youre in that for more than two quarters,I think you need to have bank failures. The market would have a really hardtime digesting that. If we need to fill a $6 trillion hole, Im not sure we cando that in time before the feedback loops kick in. And then you can end up witha bank holiday and nationalization.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin, Stock Markets Rally on Signs of Hope in Pandemic - CoinDesk

Wealthiest Man in Bitcoin (BTC) and Crypto Is Now Worth $3.2 Billion Heres the New Rich List – The Daily Hodl

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Forbes 2020 list of global billionaires, which names Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the worlds wealthiest person, includes five cryptocurrency pioneers with ties to Bitcoin (BTC) and the digital assets industry: Bitmain founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Square Crypto founder Jack Dorsey.

Zhan is the wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion. He was ousted from Bitmain, the largest maker of cryptocurrency-mining computers, in October of 2019, but remains the largest shareholder of the company.

Chris Larsen is the second wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion. He sits as executive chairman of global payments network Ripple. He also co-founded the online mortgage lender e-Loan and peer-to-peer lender Prosper.

Wu is the chairman of Bitmain and owns 20% of the company. In 2019, he co-founded crypto financial services startup Matrixport. His estimated net worth is $1.8 billion.

Armstrong is the chief executive of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. His personal worth has reached an estimated $1 billion.

Dorsey co-founded Twitter and Square. With an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, he launched Square Crypto last year, transforming Square and its popular Cash App by facilitating sales of Bitcoin, which he believes can become the internets native currency.

Although Changpeng CZ Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is not included on the Forbes list, he ranks number one among crypto billionaires in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 released earlier this year.

Trailing Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the top Forbes 2020 billionaires are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

In ninth place, Walmart heiress Alice Walton is the worlds richest woman and the only female billionaire in the top 10, with an estimated net work of $54.4 billion. At age 22, Kylie Jenner tops the list of the worlds youngest billionaires with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/tankist276

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Wealthiest Man in Bitcoin (BTC) and Crypto Is Now Worth $3.2 Billion Heres the New Rich List - The Daily Hodl

Crypto Today: Bitcoin bulls get ready for a weekend run to $8,000 – FXStreet

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Markets:

BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,380. The coin has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Thursday as the bullish momentum has faded away on approach to $7,400. Currently, BTC is moving within a short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $170.90. The second-largest coin recovered from the Asian low of $168.42, though it is still 1.3% lower from the start of the day. ETH/USD is moving in a short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

XRP/USD is hovering below critical $0.2000, down 1.2% since the beginning of the day. The coin is mostly range-bound with short-term bullish bias.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Gold (BTG) $9.94 (+17.6%), Seele (SEELE) $0.0747 (+13.9%) and Aave (LEND) $0.0253 (+13.5%) are in the green zone. The day's losers are Maker (MKR) $326.9 (-4.7%), Synthetix Network Token (SNX) $0.7399 (-4.3%), HedgeTrade (HEDGE) $1.84 (-3.25%).

Chart of the day:

ETH/USD, 30-min chart

Markets

Ripple's co-founder and former chief technical officer Jed McCaleb received 63.7 million XRP tokens worth $12.3 million under the agreement between McCaleb and Ripple. According to the data provided by the Whale Alert Twitter service, the tokens were transferred by McCaleb's former employer.

Also, the experts of the service noted that the coins transferred under this agreement are usually sold for fiat. If the theory is correct, XRP may experience a selling pressure in the nearest future.

Industry

Bitcoin Association Switzerland launched Bitcoin backed token tzBTC on Tezos blockchain. The company says that the new coin will allow to use Tezos blockchain features with Bitcoin.

Today, the Bitcoin Association Switzerland (BAS), together with the involved companies, announces yet another way to use Bitcoin: tzBTC, a token on the Tezos blockchain-backed 1-1 by Bitcoin. With Bitcoin being the de facto reserve-currency of cryptocurrencies, tzBTC is one of the first examples of tokenization on Tezos. It enables the use of the Tezos blockchain features with Bitcoin.

Notably, Tezos Foundation is one of the largest Bitcoin holders, which makes its blockchain a natural choice for Bitcoin-backed token.

Four cryptocurrency gurus made their way to Forbes List of Billionaires. Micree Zhan, the head of Chinese mining company Bitmain, is the richest crypto entrepreneur with $3.2 bln in his coffers. He is followed by former Ripple's CEO Chris Larsen ($2.6 bln) and Jihan Wu from Bitmain ($1.8 billion).

80% of Swiss cryptocurrency startups went bust due to the coronavirus crisis, according to a survey conducted by the Swiss Blockchain Federation. The report says that the Swiss blockchain industry has been having rough times even before COVID-19 became an issue.

The industry does not qualify for the financial aid promised by Swiss government, which puts may companies on the brink of extinction. over half of them said that they had already laid off staff, while 90% admitted that lay-offs are inevitable in the nearest future.

Regulation

Justice Gendall in the High Court of New Zealand declined creditor claims and confirmed that the digital assets on the balance of the liquidated cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia belong to the customers of the exchange.

Today, 8 April 2020, Justice Gendall delivered his judgment finding firstly, cryptocurrencies are property within the definition outlined in s2 of the Companies Act 1993 and secondly, that account holders' cryptocurrency was held on multiple trusts, separated by individual crypto-asset type. This means that the cryptocurrencies are beneficially owned by the account holders and are not assets of the company.

Effectively, those digital assets cannot be classified as a loan and be included in the bankrupt assets.

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Crypto Today: Bitcoin bulls get ready for a weekend run to $8,000 - FXStreet

Travelex paid $2.3M in Bitcoin to get its systems back from hackers – The Next Web

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Travelex paid hackers $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin BTC to regain access to its computer systems after a devastating ransomware attack on New Years Eve, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The London-based company said it decided to pay the 285 BTC based on the advice of experts, and had kept regulators and partners in the loop throughout the recovery process.

Although Travelex, which manages the worlds largest chain of money exchange shops and kiosks, did confirm the ransomware attack when it happened, it hadnt yet disclosed aBitcoin ransom had been paid to restore its systems.

Travelex previously blamed the attack on malware known as Sodinokibi, a Ransomware-as-a-Service tool-kit that has recently begun publishing data stolen from companies that dont pay up.

Travelex operations were crippled for almost all of January, with its public-facing websites, app, and internal networks completely offline. It also reportedly interrupted cash deliveries to major banks in the UK, including Barclays and Lloyds.

At the time, BBC claimed that Travelex attackers had demanded $6 million worth of Bitcoin to unlock its systems.

Investigations into the identity of the attackers continue, spearheaded by Londons metropolitan police.

Published April 9, 2020 17:01 UTC

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Travelex paid $2.3M in Bitcoin to get its systems back from hackers - The Next Web

Just One Major Cryptocurrency Is Outperforming Bitcoin Right Now And Its Climbing Fast – Forbes

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Bitcoin has rebounded this week, climbing along with gold and other safe-havens as major stock markets struggle.

The bitcoin price is up just over 2% over the last weekmaking strong gains yesterday as investors search for somewhere to put their cash.

However, one major cryptocurrency has outpaced bitcoin's gains over the last week and is still rocketing higher.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors have been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis but the bitcoin ... [+] price has begun to climb again this week--outpaced by just a handful of smaller cryptocurrencies.

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency monero, currently ranked as the 11th most valuable cryptocurrency on data site CoinMarketCap with a total value of just under $1 billion, has added almost 5% in the past weekbeating bitcoin's gains.

Monero, which masks the identity of users better than the likes of bitcoin, is up by over 6% over the last 24-hour trading period, soaring as the broader cryptocurrency market climbed.

The precise reason for monero's sudden surge wasn't immediately clear, though there have been a number of positive developments for the bitcoin rival over recent months.

Monero developers recently rolled out an update to its Carbon Chameleon software, designed to improve transaction execution and how the cryptocurrency works with the privacy networks Tor and I2P.

Monero and privacy coins have also recently gained support from some high profile figures in the tech and crypto industry.

"I think well also see privacy integrated into one of the dominant chains in the 2020s," Coinbase's chief executive Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post back in January.

"Just like how the internet launched with HTTP, and only later introduced HTTPS as a default on many websites, I believe well eventually see a privacy coin or blockchain with built in privacy features get mainstream adoption in the 2020s. It doesnt make sense in most cases to broadcast every payment you make on a transparent ledger."

The monero price has surged over the last week, beating out bitcoin itself as the broader ... [+] cryptocurrency market bounces back.

John McAfee, the controversial and outspoken antivirus software developer and curve-ball U.S. presidential candidate, named monero as his cryptocurrency of choice earlier this year.

McAfee, who has reneged on his promise to "eat [his] own dick on national television" if the bitcoin price didn't hit $500,000 per bitcoin by the end of 2020, praised monero, along with ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin.

McAfee made similar allusions to monero's technological superiority over bitcoin.

"Bitcoin was first. It's an ancient technology. All know it," McAfee said via Twitter before recommending monero to cryptocurrency users.

"Newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more. Bitcoin is our future? Was the Model T the future of the automobile?"

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Just One Major Cryptocurrency Is Outperforming Bitcoin Right Now And Its Climbing Fast - Forbes

Trillions in Coronavirus Stimulus Brings Out the Bitcoin Bulls – CoinDesk

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"It's exactly why bitcoin (BTC) was created," Michael Novogratz, CEO of the cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Galaxy Digital, told CNBC last week.

It's a common refrain heard these days from bitcoin bulls:The U.S. dollar and other currencies will eventually be debased by the injections of trillions of dollars of coronavirus-related aid and monetary stimulus bygovernments and central banks. That should, theoretically,strengthenthe case for bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency, as a hedge against inflation.

You're readingFirst Mover, CoinDesk's daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, 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 can subscribe here.

Such predictions might eventually come true, but for now bitcoin investors are stuck in a holding pattern: The cryptocurrency pushed above $7,000 on Monday, but for the past couple weeks it has struggled to hold that level, whichit hasn'treliably traded above since early March.

"Anice recovery from the lows leaves investors hopeful," cryptocurrency analysis firmArcane Research wrote Friday in a report. "However, this is not yet reflected in the market sentiment."

Any inflationstemming fromfiscal and monetary stimulus could take a while to appear partly because of higher unemployment and a drop-off in economic demandcould relieve upward pressure on consumer prices in the near term. In the U.S. alone, roughly 10 million new unemployment claims were filed during the last two full weeks of March, and JPMorgan economists predictthat a report this week will reveal another seven million claims were filed last week. Bank of America says the lack of an effective policy response to control the spread of the virus will push 2020 global growth to a contraction of 2.7 percent, instead of an expansion of 0.3 percent.

Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of the blockchain analytics startup CoinMetrics, wrote last week for CoinDesk that the devaluation of money "does not happen immediately, but over time."

The 2008 financial crisis prompted the Federal Reserve to doubletotal assetsin a matter of weeks, and then doubled the size of the balance sheet again to more than $4 trillion over the next few years. But it took the money supply, as measured by M2, more than 12 years to double, at least partly because of low demand for loans in the years after the crisis.

The bitcoin market's tepid reaction thus far to the Federal Reserve's announcement of essentiallyunbounded quantitative easingmight disappoint some bitcoiners who are looking for a faster pump.

Sylvain Saurel, author of the blogIn Bitcoin We Trust, wrote last week that a separate move by U.S. regulators to reduce bankreserve requirements could lead to new money creation "ad infinitum."

"This unprecedented currency devaluation in such a short period of time has been decided by the Federal Reserve in a totally arbitrary manner," Saurel wrote. His conclusion,essentially, was that people should buy bitcoin.

Jay Hao, CEO of the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, wrote last weekin a blog postthat "more proactive measures" would be needed beyond "QE infinity." Those could include anew "super-sovereign currency" to address trade and economic imbalances created by the U.S. dollar's dominant role in global finance.

"At present, bitcoinpossesses the characteristics of a super-sovereign currency," Hao wrote.

The investment narrative that bitcoin is a "harder" currency than U.S. dollars and is getting additional traction from next month's "halving" on the bitcoin blockchain the once-every-four-years occurrence by which the pace ofissuance of new units of the cryptocurrency gets cut in half.

Traders are expected to get a chance this week to observe how prices oftwo bitcoin-offshootcryptocurrencies, Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH),perform as they go through their own quadrennial halvings.

Someanalysts said last month that bitcoin was trading in syncwith U.S. stocks. That was seen as a sign thatsome investors were selling the cryptocurrency as part of anindiscriminate flight to safety into dollars.

Olga Feldmeier, CEO of the digital-asset exchange Smart Valor and a self-described "outright bitcoin maximalist," says bitcoin's price plunge earlier this year undercuts hopes that the cryptocurrency would serve as a safe-haven assetin times of market turmoil. She instead recommended "tokenized gold" digital tokens like the Pax Gold (PAXG) that offer a crypto-friendly way of investing in the yellow metal, long seen as a reliable inflation hedge.

Kraken, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, noted in an April 4blog postthat the volume of PAXG trading on its platform surged to $13 million in March, a six-fold increase from February levels.

"Kraken clients appear to see PAXG as a safe haven of late since it is backed by gold, which typically acts as a safe haven amidst economic uncertainty," according to the post.

But there are some indications that bitcoin might be trading more like gold in recent weeks. VanEck, a money-management firm that offers a bitcoin trust to qualified institutional buyers, saysbitcoin's price correlation with gold jumped to 0.47during the last couple weeks of March, from an average 0.03 over the past eight years. (A correlation of 1 implies perfect synchronicity.)

The next couple months could prove pivotalfor bitcoin as the U.S. suffers theworst stretch of thepandemic's health crisisand moves into the economic-recovery phase. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, told CNBC last week the recently passed $2 trillion aid packagewould not be enough. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wouldask Congress for more moneyif a $350 billion pool for small businesses runs out.

"More bazookas needed," executives for the Wall Street dealer Jefferies wrote Friday in an open letter to clients and colleagues.

Is bitcoin the real digital gold? With more financial "bazookas" getting hoisted into position, cryptocurrency markets will serve as theproving ground.

"Many Bitcoin advocates think it will prove to be a better long-term store of value than gold," according to the Kraken blog post. "Only time will tell."

Tweet of the day

Editor's caveat: No idea if this $20 "Bitcoin Logo V2 Neck Gaiter Face Mask" is real. If so the free publicity heredoes NOT representan endorsement. It seems like a high price for a mostly polyester bandana. But itcertainly isa sign of the times.

BITCOIN WATCH

Bitcoin is again looking to establish a strong foothold above $7,000, having tested dip demand with a pullback to $6,600 over the weekend. The cryptocurrency printed a high above $7,100 early Monday and is currently changing hands around $7,090.

The bulls have repeatedly failed to keep gains above the $7,000 mark over the last three weeks, forcing investors to question the sustainability of recovery rally from the March 19 low of $3,867.

Even so, the bias remains bullish, as a pennant breakout confirmed April 2 is still intact. As a result, the cryptocurrency remains on the hunt for a test of the descending 50-day average, currently at $7,522.

If the upside break of $7,000 resistance again proves to be short-lived, the immediate bullish outlook would be neutralized. The bias would turn bearish if prices fall below support at the weekend low of $6,610.

That would open the doors to the higher low of $5,856 created March 30.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Trillions in Coronavirus Stimulus Brings Out the Bitcoin Bulls - CoinDesk

Tim Draper: Pandemic Could Be The Tipping Point For Bitcoin – Cointelegraph

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The global spread of the coronavirus played a major role in the dramatic 2020 stock market crash. The bailout bill for saving the worlds economy is $7 trillion and rising fast. Bitcoin bull Tim Draper believes this confluence of factors may be the tipping point that allows innovations such as Bitcoin and smart contracts to flourish.

In an interview on April 6, the global venture capital investor said he was skeptical about the governments infinite money printing bailout plan and said it would take years before that money permeates the global economy.

They are gonna be printing all this money to try to get the economy back after they've basically tanked it, he said. They are going to flood it with a bunch of money, and that money is going to be worth less, and less, and less.

Draper believes people will start turning to Bitcoin as it has a fixed supply, in stark contrast to fiat which is being printed in the billions by central banks:

This is going to be a really interesting time where people say well, why dont I just use Bitcoin? I know there are only 21 million of them and we dont have to worry about whether a government is diluting their currency by printing tons of it, we can instead just use a currency we all agree on and its all a part of the economy and its already frictionless and open and transparent and global.

Although there is debate about whether coronavirus may end the trend towards globalization over the past 25 years, Draper believes digital financial innovations like Bitcoin, smart contracts and artificial intelligence will force governments to compete among themselves at the virtual level to bring better services at lower cost to attract talents.

This in return will empower people with more choices to move freely and live in a loving and nicer new global world. He added that:

It doesnt matter whether you are from the U.S, China or Russia or India or Europe or whatever, we are an open world and then the geographic borders are going to mean less and less.

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Tim Draper: Pandemic Could Be The Tipping Point For Bitcoin - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin Flips Bullish But Heres Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K – Cointelegraph

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Bitcoin (BTC) price has gained more than 10% in the last week, giving bulls some hope that the road ahead is a bright one for the leading digital asset.

However, despite an effort to blast through the critical resistance level of $7,200 as mentioned in last weeks analysis, there was a huge rejection bringing home the reality that perhaps it may be a little too soon to be expecting a miraculous bounce back to the $8,000+ levels.

Daily crypto market performance. Source: Coin360.com

BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

I think its safe to assume that Bitcoin has settled back into the descending channel that formed in the second half of 2019. As Bitcoin has now not only bounced off support on the daily, leaving nothing but a wick, but it has now done exactly the same with the resistance.

To me, this validates the channel even more so than before, as the price is currently following a path marked I marked out in yellow, on a video I published to YouTube on March 31. This was one of three scenarios I was waiting on, and the one I felt that was most likely.

As such, since Bitcoin cannot seem to break out above $7,200, it seems probable that bears might be about to regain control ahead of the much-anticipated halving event, and this puts $5,500 as the critical price to hold before cheap corn is back on the menu.

However, many key indicators are contradicting this sentiment.

BTC USD weekly MACD chart Source: TradingView

During sideways market periods, it is easy to get chopped up and spat out when working off lower time frames, and often a glance at a higher time frame can help validate your bias. However, one such indicator that isnt good for bears right now is the weekly moving average divergence convergence (MACD) indicator, as this is now mooing to the herd.

As can be seen from the chart, the MACD is already starting to pinch towards the signal line. Since we have had a relatively bullish week, we should see this move in even more so when the weekly candle closes, bringing us closer to a bullish cross, which typically results in a sustained uptrend, which almost always lasts over a month if not several.

However, right now, there are bigger things happening in the world that may invalidate this as a possibility, and my concern is that we will begin to see a significant reduction in retail buying power due to the rise in unemployment resulting from the coronavirus lockdowns.

While the worldwide quarantine is in the early stages with many believing it will only last a couple of weeks you only need to look at China to see that this will last a lot longer, so who exactly would be buying?

The answer may lie in the Relative Strength Index, which could be enticing smart money into crypto.

BTC USD weekly RSI chart Source: TradingView

The last time Bitcoin approached oversold territory on the weekly, it experienced a 300% price increase within six months as can be seen on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator. This is based on the Dec. 10, 2018,pivot from 29.07 on the RSI scale.

However, Bitcoin had already experienced a bounce on the RSI on March 9, 2020, when it was 33.37 on the RSI scale, and even with the colossal dump on March 12, the RSI is still trending upwards. This brings to light two pertinent questions:

But perhaps another clue as to what can be expected from Bitcoin over the coming weeks can be found in the mining difficulty charts?

BTC mining difficulty. Source: BTC.com

The Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by a monstrous -15.95% the biggest since 2011 on March 26, an adjustment that helped ease miners concerns surrounding profitability. This time last week, it looked as if the mining difficulty would drop by a further -14%.

However, as the week has progressed the adjustment estimate has dropped to just -2.2% and with three days left to go, this could end up closing as a positive adjustment.

You only have to look at the impact the positive adjustments had on the price of Bitcoin this year to see what this could be yet another bullish indicator.

All the indicators are bullish, so why does it feel bearish? Right now we are at the top of a valid channel, as such a breakout could well be imminent. For this to happen Bitcoin would need to flip $7K resistance into support and from here $8,200 looks like the next level of resistance we would encounter.

The price of Bitcoin has already doubled since its recent bottom, as such a pullback to $5,500 over the next week would be completely reasonable to expect.

If this level fails to hold, then it opens up $3,900 as a possibility. If bulls dont step in then, Id be very surprised.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of @officiallykeith 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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Bitcoin Flips Bullish But Heres Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin Trading Scam Claims to Involve Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – Cointelegraph

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A Bitcoin (BTC) trading scam has claimed the involvement of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry Charles Albert David and his wife Meghan Markle.

According to an April 9 report by the Mirror, the royal couple was featured in a fake BBC article where they praised a Bitcoin trading scheme.

The fake news piece claimed that the pair talked during a television show about a wealth loophole that can transform anyone into a millionaire within three to four months.

According to the fake article, the scheme would play a role in the couple's very real intentions to step back as senior Royal Family members and become financially independent. The report praises the well-known Bitcoin scam Bitcoin Evolution:

What's made us successful is jumping into new opportunities quickly and without hesitation, and right now our number one money-make is a new cryptocurrency auto-trading program called Bitcoin Evolution. [...] It's the single biggest opportunity we've seen in our entire lifetimes to build a small fortune fast. [...] We urge everyone to check this out before the banks shut it down.

The article leads potential victims to the scam's website, which features a red banner and a countdown clock, warning that registration will close soon because of high demand. As the Mirror explains, this is a strategy meant to motivate potential investors to fall for the scam. The website also claimed that members usually earn at least $1,300 daily while working an average of 20 minutes per day, adding:

Your profits are unlimited within The Bitcoin Evolution. Some members earned their first million within just 61 days.

In order to gain credibility, promoters of cryptocurrency scams often claim to involve well-known public figures. As Cointelegraph reported in late March, Janet Jacksons billionaire ex-husband, Wissam Al Mana, was also featured in such a scam promotion on Facebook. He later demanded that the social media platform reveal the identity of the promoter.

Also in March, the cryptocurrency community spotted a bogus YouTube account impersonating Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of the firm behind XRP Ripple.

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Bitcoin Trading Scam Claims to Involve Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - Cointelegraph