Ransomwares Year-End Thank You Note To Bitcoin – Law360

Law360 (January 9, 2020, 5:30 PM EST) -- If ransomware attackers were to write a year-end thank you note to Bitcoin, it would probably look something like this:

Thank you, Bitcoin. We now have a powerful way to orchestrate extortion schemes with little risk of ever getting caught. You have breathed new life into our wares, ushering in a golden era of strength and vitality for our innovative and devastating virtual blackmail conspiracies. Even more exciting, we can now stage-mange our shakedowns from anywhere on the planet with ease, efficiency and speed. Meanwhile, our legion is not just growing in size, but we have also dramatically expanded the scope...

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Ransomwares Year-End Thank You Note To Bitcoin - Law360

Bitcoin Just Got Rejected at $8,400, And It Means a Big Fall Ahead – newsBTC

Bitcoin is showing first signs of a weakening upside momentum as traders adjust their sentiments near key resistance areas.

The benchmark asset on Wednesday plunged by up to 3.15 percent in what appears to be a corrective action. The move downhill prompted it to establish an intraday low of $8,202.57 on Coinbase. It also escalated the possibilities of an extended downside action as the market heads into a perceivably relaxed US session.

So it appears, investors are betting that the Iranian missile attacks on American stations in Iraq would not extend the conflict in the Middle East. The perception alone helped oil prices and global stock markets stabilize. Investors now await President Donald Trumps statement on the matter after his all is well comment last night.

Bitcoin rose majorly because speculators believed global demand for the cryptocurrency would increase amid the rising US-Iran conflict.

On the day a US-sponsored airstrike killed Qassem Soleimani, head of Irans Quds force, the cryptocurrency surged in tandem with other haven assets. It almost formed a lagging correlation with gold and oil, eventually topping to register a two-month high of $8,469.39 today.

The US stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday in the aftermath of Irans attacks and Trumps relaxed response to them.

Futures for the S&P 500 index were up 0.17 percent as of the time of this publication while Nasdaq delivered an equally attractive 0.16 percent gains. Nevertheless, Dow Jones looked constrained owing to the aftermath of aBoeing Co. jet crash in Tehran on Wednesday. Its futures were up by just 0.1 percent.

Dow Jones Futures weakest in an otherwise stable US index market | Source: TradingView.com

The visible yet interim correlation could be one of the reasons why bitcoin rejected a potential price rally above $8,400. It gets further validated with the performance of Gold. The yellow metal plunged by 0.12 percent to trade at $1,572.40 an ounce.

From a technical perspective, bitcoins latest correction formed what appears like a traditional Bull Flag pattern.

Bull flag formation on Bitcoins hourly chart | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase

In retrospect, a Bull Flag formation is a continuation pattern that indicates that the underlying asset would resume its uptrend. That said, bitcoin has a likelihood of continuing the price rally purely from a bulls standpoint.

Nevertheless, larger timeframes such as the weekly one show a crucial resistance area capping bitcoins upside attempts. As long as the cryptocurrency stays below it, its likelihood of revisiting the local bottom of $6,400 is high.

Bitcoin rebounds after testing 20-weekly MA | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase

The oranged 20-weekly moving average, coupled with the upper trendline of the greened Descending Channel, is behaving as an ideal resistance area for traders to exit their long positions for small profits. More likely, the price would extend the pullback and retest $7,280 as its interim support.

All eyes on how Trump plays out Irans latest attack.

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Bitcoin Just Got Rejected at $8,400, And It Means a Big Fall Ahead - newsBTC

Why Proof of Reserves Is Important to Bitcoin – Nasdaq

Bitcoin is a movement founded on individual monetary sovereignty, transparency and peer-to-peer auditability enabled by a breakthrough in technology. It launched at a time when trust in the worlds financial institutions was at an all-time low and struck a chord. Bitcoins success has led to profits, which has, in turn, led to complacency. Today, people are once again placing their trust in new crypto institutions, some of which have done very little to earn that privilege. Over $4.4 billion was lost as a result of crypto exit scams and thefts in 2019 alone and billions more are likely at risk right now.

The technology to provide auditability and transparency for bitcoin held in custody has been inherent to the protocol from its inception. However, the industry has been slow to incorporate these features for end customers. As once-siloed companies bid to broaden their offerings (exchanges adding custody, lending, etc.), complexity will increase and transparency on proof of reserves (allowing customers to confirm that the service they are using does in fact hold their bitcoin, on-chain) will become even more important. The ability to offer proof of reserves will become a tool to earn and retain customer trust.

While the idea of proving that bitcoin sent to a particular service or company is still held by such company might seem trivial to some, there are about as many ways to structure custody and interaction with customers as there are altcoins in the crypto universe.

Some services like cold-storage vaulting allow for relatively straightforward implementations while others, like trading on exchanges, can be more complex. Beyond the technical challenges, it is important to highlight some of the business reasons.

Many exchanges are structured in a hot-warm-cold wallet security framework. In this setup, the hot wallet manages a limited balance and is used for inbound and outbound transactions. The warm wallet is a whitelisted bridge between the cold and hot, and the cold, as the safest, holds the majority of the assets. This setup allows for quick withdrawals, improving customer experience as well as operational efficiencies through transaction batching, and at the same time, be able to benefit from the safety of cold storage.

Some services offer periodic audits of their cold, warm and hot wallet balances. They have used increasingly clever ways for customers to verify that their balances were indeed included in the audit. (This has to be done openly while at the same maintaining customer privacy). Although the audit verification methods to date are still somewhat cumbersome for customers (given they are not real-time), they are a step in the right direction.

Contrary to what some may think, there is an enormous supply of bitcoin looking to be lent to earn a yield. In fact, the rates to lend and borrow bitcoin are lower than those to lend and borrow cash and equivalents (USD), meaning that (currently) there is an oversupply of bitcoin in the market (in comparison to the demand for borrowing bitcoin).

While this phenomenon has been primarily led by the increasing popularity of bitcoin interest accounts, competition is bringing new players into the space looking to monetize bitcoin that is in their custody. Presently the market is becoming flush with digital assets looking for yield and it shows no sign of stopping. As the allure of holding fractional reserves of assets increases, proof of reserves can act as a way for end customers to keep the platforms levels of fractional lending in check or verify whether their funds are there or not.

Irrespective of the type of asset or industry, aggressive lending practices eventually leads to trouble. In order to prevent a credit bubble from occurring, transparency on funds is paramount. Lets try to build the right tools and educate the Bitcoin community on the importance of transparency before another QuadrigaCX or Mt. Gox happens.

And it can be profitable! In an industry with such low switching costs and a growing user base, transparency can be the winning differentiator for people looking for a new service provider for their digital asset needs and a good reason to remain there.

Bitcoin has given us the tools to build a new financial system that is transparent and open to the world an opt-out of an existing system full of unknowns as Satoshi described. Let's keep the ethos of Bitcoin alive as we build financial services for it lets not recreate the world we had to escape. Services that give customers the information they need to make good decisions will win in the long run.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Why Proof of Reserves Is Important to Bitcoin - Nasdaq

Bitcoin Accepted: This Rapper Welcomes BTC Payments and HODLs – newsBTC

Its always refreshing to hear that a company or individual is prepared to accept Bitcoin in exchange for goods and services. Its even more refreshing when they actually know enough about the cryptocurrency to want to hold it.

British rapper Zuby announced earlier that he not only accepts Bitcoin payments, but that he doesnt intend to convert them payments immediately to fiat currency. Demonstrating that he has at least done a little homework, in true Bitcoiner lingo, he claims hed rather HODL than sell it straight away.

NewsBTChas reported on numerous previous occasions about high profile Bitcoin acceptance stories. Some pretty massive companies, such as AT&T, have recently started to allow customers to pay for goods or services using the digital asset.

However, there is a problem with this. When a big company claims to accept Bitcoin, more often than not, they dont. In the example of AT&T, the company used the controversial payment processing company BitPay to facilitate payments.

When someone pays AT&T with Bitcoin, BitPay acts as a middleman. The company immediately converts that money to fiat currency and sends the funds to the telecom firm. The payment is no longer peer-to-peer and it isnt censorship resistant, as the Hong Kong Free Press discovered last year. Political pressure can force BitPay to censor a payment, which runs at odds with what drew many people to Bitcoin to begin with. Had BitPay been involved with WikiLeakss now famous Bitcoin funding raising efforts, the website might have received no donations whatsoever, instead of the almost $3 million it managed to generate.

Another issue with using such a payment processor is that the payment immediately creates selling pressure since the company needs to exchange the Bitcoin for fiat to pay the intended recipient. Although British rapper, author, and podcaster Zuby is working with Coinbase Commerce to facilitate payments for his goods and services, he does claim to be a holder, rather than an immediate seller:

In response to the above tweet, a Twitter user asked Zuby if he kept them or instantly converted them to fiat. The singer replied simply:

HODL

Another user recommended that he consider switching to the open source cryptocurrency payment processing platform BTCPayServer. The service is championed by many of those critical of the likes of BitPay. Zuby responded that he would indeed look into using BTCPayServer going forward.

Zubys welcoming of Bitcoin, as well as his apparent willingness to hold the crypto asset and use services supportive of the ideas underlying the industry, appears to have impressed at least one follower. Shortly after the rappers announcement today, Twitter user Caleb Gregory quickly became the first person to pay for Zubys merchandise using the cryptocurrency.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Plunges to $7,900; Can Bulls Save the Day?

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Bitcoin Accepted: This Rapper Welcomes BTC Payments and HODLs - newsBTC

Bitcoin Bull Run: 3 Reasons Why BTC Will Continue to Surge – Bitcoinist

Bitcoin (BTC) awakened from its post-holiday slump, breaking easily above $8,000. A combination of geopolitical tensions and renewed appetite for trading led BTC as high as $8,360.

The most recent price move also shifted the analysis of technical indicators, signaling bitcoin may be ready to follow a bullish scenario. Three technical indicators suggested a new upward drive may be possible. Bitcoin price managed to bounce off the years-long trend of higher lows. The second technical factor was a small head-and-shoulders pattern.

Following those two completed chart moves, bitcoin has the chance to enter a six-month appreciation channel, though this move is not yet certain and depends on closing levels in the coming days.

The renewed predictions based on current chart action also match the expectations bitcoin may continue to rally for the first half of 2020. The price moves also mean BTC made its local lows at around $6,500 in December, avoiding the scenario of a dip to $5,000.

Bitcoin price has once again entered a period of active spot trading, based on a cant afford not to hold it attitude. Trading activity expanded to above $30 billion in the past day, as the price broke through milestones above $8,000.

In January, BTC now continues with a new set of support levels at $7,800-$7,900, and further potential for price development.

The current price move also sees bitcoin generally in a longer-term bull market, which started off from lows of $3,200 in December 2018. Despite the temporary fluctuations, BTC has remained above $6,000 for most of the time, with still a preserved trend for a slow climb.

The other matter remains the timing of an altcoin season. For now, the spotlight is on bitcoin, which has expanded its market cap dominance to 69.1%. But there is also a possibility the higher BTC prices may trigger altcoin speculation.

The renewed rally also reignited the narrative that the halving is not priced in yet, and may lead to a new price range.

The bitcoin bull rally also impacted Litecoin (LTC), an asset that moved in unison, adding around 14% in its first week of 2020.

For the leading asset, the current price is taking it closer to its 200-day moving average, however a Golden Cross is still a while away.

What do you think about the most recent BTC price move? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @KevinSvenson @Cryptopatel @PeterLBrandt

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Bitcoin Bull Run: 3 Reasons Why BTC Will Continue to Surge - Bitcoinist

Bitcoin Flashes Signs of Starting a Massive Bull Run, But One Key Hurdle Remains – newsBTC

Bitcoins meteoric uptrend over the past several days and weeks has allowed BTC to smash through multiple resistance levels that were previously hampering its price action, and yesterdays break above $8,000 led to a sense of euphoria amongst the cryptocurrencys bulls.

Analysts are now noting that Bitcoin could currently be caught within the early stages of the next major bull run, but it is important to note that how it responds to this one key price level could be the single factor that validates or invalidates this incredibly bullish possibility.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down roughly 1% at its current price of $8,020, which marks a notable decline from its daily highs of just under $8,400 that were set at the peak of the recent rally.

It does appear that in the near-term Bitcoin could be on the verge of breaking below its key support at $8,000, although each slight dip below this level over the past couple of hours has been quickly absorbed by buyers.

HornHairs, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he is closely watching to see how BTC responds to $8,000 for insight into which direction it will go next, as it could be the determining factor for whether or not this recent rally marks a long-term trend shift.

May be jumping the gun here but Im willing to hop back in if we see another solid bounce & recovery at this demand. On the other hand a close back below the range high would make me flip my bias & short a retest. If this does trend higher this will be an entry worth holding, he explained.

Peter Brandt, a renowned analyst, spoke about Bitcoin in a recent tweet, explaining that it is currently attempting to break above the upper boundary of a multi-year descending channel, but bulls need to continue to maintain their buying pressure in order for this to be confirmed and in order for BTC to enter the early stages of its next bull market.

Has a new bull market began in #Bitcoin $BTC? 1. Market held support at lower boundary of multi-yr channel 2. Small H&S bottom on daily chart 3. Pending penetration of 6+ mo channel If enough cryptocultists have been shaken out since Dec 17, then yes If not, then no, he said while referencing a chart showing the aforementioned channel.

The next few hours may shine a light on the validity of this pending channel breakout, as a dip below $8,000 could spark a larger sell-off that puts the crypto firmly back into the middle of this wide trading channel.

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Bitcoin Flashes Signs of Starting a Massive Bull Run, But One Key Hurdle Remains - newsBTC

Can digital gold Bitcoin ever be mined in India? – ETCIO.com

Bitcoin has gained tremendous popularity since its launch in 2009, sending ripples across major economies of the world. The cryptocurrency witnessed massive interest among investors, so much so that the price shot up to a whopping $20,000 apiece in 2017, thereafter plummeting and rallying around $10,000 in 2019. The prices saw extreme rallies owing to a strong combination of global investor interest and pure speculation. The block-chain powered currency has sparked several controversies with respect to the lack of global regulation, legality, and potency of misuse.

However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was quick enough to pick the red flags before the Bitcoinbubble burst. The biggest problem with Bitcoin, also popularly known as digital gold is that it has no collateral-backing, which essentially means that the intrinsic value is zero and the prices are purely based on speculation. Moreover, there are no guidelines or regulations governing the trading and use of the virtual currency as a legal tender.

The Indian central bank sent out multiple public warnings and caution notices regarding the risks associated with Bitcoin and eventually enforced a ban on Bitcoin trading in India vide a notification on April 6, 2018. Thereafter, a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies was planned with a draft policy Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019 and is under process.

ETBFSI had earlier reported that the RBI had called for a banking restriction on all financial institutions offering services to cryptocurrency exchanges, that led many Indian startups Bitcoin India, Koinex, Zebpay to close operations or moved outside India or launched P2P platforms to sustain.

Does the virtual currency need regulatory support rather than an outright ban? The use of virtual currency can bring a sea change in the way transactions take place in an economy. The advantages seem to outweigh the risks associated with the use of virtual currency when brought under a regulatory framework of the RBI and SEBI. The blockchain technology would allow secure P2P transactions and could be easily monitored by the regulators. On the other hand, SEBI regulated virtual currency exchanges may be established to regulate the market movements and trading activities associated with the crypto-currencies. Further, the use of virtual currencies would lower transaction costs and could potentially eliminate the need of paper currency, thereby boosting efficiency in the monetary system.

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Can digital gold Bitcoin ever be mined in India? - ETCIO.com

Bitcoin Starts Corrective Decrease But Bulls Not Out Of Woods Yet – newsBTC

Bitcoin price started a downside correction after rallying to a new 2020 high near $8,460 against the US Dollar. BTC corrected $500, but the price is still above many key supports.

This week, we saw a strong rise in bitcoin price above the $8,000 resistance against the US Dollar. BTC traded to a new 2020 high near $8,460 before it started a downside correction.

The bears were able to push the price below the $8,300 and $8,200 levels. During the decline, there was a break below a key bullish trend line with support near $8,040 on the hourly chart.

Besides, the price failed to stay above the $8,000 support area. Finally, it traded as low as $7,867 and is currently consolidating in a range. On the upside, there are initial hurdles near $8,000, and the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $8,426 high to $7,867 low.

The first key resistance for bitcoin is near the $8,145 level. It represents the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $8,426 high to $7,867 low.

If there is a clear break above the $8,145 and $8,200 levels, the price is likely to resume its upward move. The next major resistance is at $8,280, above which the bulls are likely to aim a new 2020 high.

On the downside, there are a couple of key supports for bitcoin near the $7,800 level. More importantly, the 100 hourly simple moving average is near $7,800.

Therefore, a successful bearish close below $7,800 might invalidate the current bullish view. In the mentioned case, the price is likely to revisit the $7,500 support.

Looking at the chart, bitcoin price is clearly under stress below the $8,000 and $8,100 levels. In the short term, there could be a downside extension, but the price is likely to bounce back as long as it is above $7,800.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD The MACD is slowly reducing its bearish slope.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is currently well below the 50 level.

Major Support Levels $7,860 followed by $7,800.

Major Resistance Levels $8,000, $8,145 and $8,200.

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Bitcoin Starts Corrective Decrease But Bulls Not Out Of Woods Yet - newsBTC

Bitcoin (BTC) and Federal Reserve Have One Thing in Common, According to CNBC’s Guy Adami – U.Today

As reported by U.Today recently, Justin Sun has set up a channel on YouTube where he intends to post short videos to tell the community about himself, the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent. He did it despite the fact that just recently, YouTube briefly banned all crypto-related videos from both prominent and little-known bloggers.

This came to be known as crypto purge and Justin Sun, along with Binances CZ and other top crypto community figures urged bloggers to join such platforms as VibraVid, DLive (both powered by Tron),BLive (running on BitTorrent), etc. Still, it seems that good old YouTube has a much bigger audience and is best for shilling cryptocurrencies and blockchain project so far.

In his recent YouTube video shared by Justin Sun on Twitter, he says that DLive, which started migrating to the Tron chain on December 30, is a platform used bythe worlds famous streamer PewDiePie. He has 102 mln subscribers on YouTube and over 65,000 followers on Twitter.

Sun shows a part of a stream, in which PewDiePie talks about BitTorrent and Tron chain and it looks like a clear promotion.

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Tron-powered VibraVid offers rewards in BeatzCoin. BLive allows users to reward their favourite content makers with BTT. When Justin Sun first teased the announcement of the future DLive migration to Tron, he mentioned that this acquisition would be also good for TRX.

Therefore, perhaps, later on the Tron community may expect TRX rewards circulating on DLive as well.

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Bitcoin (BTC) and Federal Reserve Have One Thing in Common, According to CNBC's Guy Adami - U.Today

Bitcoin (BTC) Compared to Tesla (TSLA) by Prominent Investor. Elon Musk Won’t Like It – U.Today

While everyone is fawningover Tesla and its stock that continues to set new all-time highs almost on a daily basis, there is one naysayer who is not amused by Elon Musk's "NSFW" dad-dance.

Mark B Spiegel,an investor at Stanphyl Capital, recently lambasted Tesla (TSLA) and Bitcoin on Twitter. He states that BTC is used by criminals while the leadingelectric car maker is actually run by one.

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TSLA has had an incredible run for the past six months, surging by more than 100 percent, which definitely rubbed the famous short-seller the wrong way.Spiegel was convinced that its shares would be trading below $200in January and actually put his money where his mouth was by buying a bunch of $200 put options contracts. However, this most likely resulted in a humongous loss with Telsa's highflying stock surging above $490 for the first time.

To top that off, Tesla also became the most valuable automaker in the US history. Its market value has surpassed $85 bln, dwarfing Ford and General Motors (GM).At the same time, TSLA is known as one of the most shorted stocks in the US. Elon Musk, who has no shortage of passionate fans, also has plenty of critics who believe he should be locked in cuffs.

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In his series of tweets,Spiegel compares trading TSLA to gambling. Notably, he has the same take on Bitcoin.

Spiegel claims that the pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrency, which has a penchant for volatile price moves,is only good for gambling and money-laundering. In order to become useful, BTC needs to become stable.

As reported by U.Today, Bitcoin accounts for 95 percent of all illegal crypto-related transactions.

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Bitcoin (BTC) Compared to Tesla (TSLA) by Prominent Investor. Elon Musk Won't Like It - U.Today

The Recipe that Causes Bitcoin to Rise: Economic and Geopolitical Uncertainty – newsBTC

As the world anxiously watched the turbulent events in the Middle East this week, investors have turned to the known safe havens for times of crisis. Throughout history, gold has been a proven investment vehicle during similar tumultuous times, from wars to crises to economic depressions. Yet, over the last week, we saw a notable development that should be carefully analysed. The increasing heat within the Middle East fueled an event that many anticipated, which allowed the digital heir of gold to demonstrate its intensity and power for (almost) the first time. Who is this heir? Bitcoin, of course.

The assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and the Iranian missile attacks on US forces in Iraq gave rise to aggressive statements by both the US President and Irans leaders and raised genuine concerns regarding potential escalation crossing into other parts of the world. Third World War headlines were even spotted in certain media outlets. The response of investors was short and sharp: the global stock markets fell, and everyone rushed for financial cover, many to buy Bitcoin.

Throughout history, the acknowledged destination for investment in such situations has been Gold: a scarce asset that retains its value and is detached from the possibly harmful influence of governments and the ordinary markets. And indeed, this week Gold hit a seven-year high (together with a hike in oil price, also directly related to the events in the Middle East).

A far less predictable result was the sharp leap of Bitcoin by more than 20% over only a few days; from less than $7,000 US up to $8,350 US. With every new devastating headline, Bitcoin soared yet further. The very fact that along with gold it has since slightly declined, as the news from the US-Iran front became more relaxed, only reinforces the fact that Bitcoin has demonstrated its role as a digital safe haven for investors.

Bitcoin has significant advantages over gold, thanks to its digital and decentralized nature, which promises a smarter and more up-to-date alternative for investors. It enjoys the uniqueness of gold as an investment tool with the characteristics of a perfect store of value, thanks to its scarcity, with a maximum supply of 21 million coins. On top of this, and significantly unlike gold, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be transferred across the world, within minutes or hours, without censorship or intervention of any kind by a third party.

Recent years have shown growing evidence that Bitcoin is a useful and active investment vehicle in distress situations around the world. Investors are looking for ways to keep their money separate from the unknown impact of governments and the negative situation in the ordinary capital and consumer markets. For example, Bitcoin is increasingly used in countries in severe economic crises, such as Venezuela.

The trade war between the US and China is still casting a shadow over the global markets. The growing pile of debt of trillions of dollars and the weakening of the traditional money are raising fears of a coming financial and monetary crisis. And if that isnt enough, the fragile economic growth even in the strongest countries isnt promising a bright future. Under such conditions, it could be expected that the search of investors for alternative assets, such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be even stronger in the coming future.

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The Recipe that Causes Bitcoin to Rise: Economic and Geopolitical Uncertainty - newsBTC

Heres What Must Happen for $9K Bitcoin Price in the Coming Months – Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) made a sudden jump of 8% yesterday and is currently hovering at around $7,300. As the price bounced from $6,900, a higher low is presenting itself on the chart, but does this mean that the bottom is there?

Crypto market daily performance. Source: Coin360

BTC USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The price of Bitcoin is still moving inside this downwards channel since last years high of $13,900. Remarkably, the price corrected towards the Golden Pocket Fibonacci area (0.618-0.65 level) and is currently showing a potential higher low.

The green area is also a significant area from 2018, as that was the zone the price of Bitcoin bounced on for 6-months.

Given that the price bounced from $6,900 to $7,400, theres buying pressure shown from this area, indicating that the price might be bottoming inside this range.

BTC USD 1-day linear chart. Source: TradingView

The linear chart shows similarities with the log scale chart. However, theres more of a falling wedge construction rather than a channel. Meaning that the price is gathering strength for a breakout through the coming weeks, marking this level as a bottom area.

The chart is also showing a bullish divergence, which marked the temporary low at $6,500. Generally, bullish divergences mark a trend reversal (also seen in the December 20118 low at $3,100).

If price maintains this red box as new support and a higher low is established, then Bitcoin could face a rally towards $9,000 over the coming months.

Total market capitalization 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Similar signs show the total market capitalization chart, which has retraced to April 2019 levels. A test was confirmed by a sharp bounce upwards, followed by a potential higher low construction as we speak. Aside from these signals, a substantial bullish divergence potentially marked the bottom of this retracement.

This retracement is currently hovering around the 0.618-0.65 Fibonacci level as well (similar to Bitcoin). If market capitalization can maintain this higher low and consolidate on this level, a breakout to the upside of this falling wedge looks more likely than further downside momentum.

Crypto fear & greed index. Source: Alternative.me

Usually, when an asset is marking a temporary top, the sentiment is euphoric and greed becomes palpable. The opposite effect is the case around bottoms. People are usually scared and depressed as they are expecting further downwards momentum. The Fear & Greed Index has been showing fear for the last weeks, indicating that the overall market sentiment doesnt expect a breakout to the upside.

The price is still moving south, which means that some fear is warranted in the market. However, as the price is trying to bottom here, it would be interesting to look at potential upside momentum rather than further downwards. The same can be spotted on altcoins, for example, Ethereum (ETH).

ETH USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The ETH chart is showing a similar wedge formation as the Bitcoin and total market capitalization charts, meaning that a breakout to the upside is likely to occur in the next month. Aside from that, the price bounced from a support area here and is potentially making a bottom formation.

ETH BTC 2-day chart. Source: TradingView

On the BTC chart, many altcoins are facing a long term downtrend. Ether, for example, is in the midst of a 2-year old downtrend that it must break out of. Interestingly, the months of January/February have historically seen Ether price significantly increase and/or breakout of downtrends.

During 2016, a similar breakout was shown, after which 2017 repeats the same move. First, a bottom formation includes a bullish divergence. After this, a higher low is marked, followed by a breakout to the upside.

In 2018 and 2019, a significant move to the upside was seen in the ETH/BTC pair as well, though no breakout of the general downtrend occurred. This time its possible, however, as Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are already breaking their downtrends that have been in place for two years.

So what must Bitcoin price do now to generate such a breakout to the upside?

BTC USD bullish scenario. Source: TradingView

As discussed previously in the article, the price needs to maintain the blue area as a higher low and not drop below it. As long as that level is sustained as support, a breakout to the upside is likely to occur. This would cause the 6-month old downtrend to break to the upside, which potentially means the end of the downward momentum.

The targets based on previous support/resistance and Fibonacci levels first include $8,000. If thats broken, the price is ready to aim for $9,100-9,500, which would typically shift the sentiment from fear to neutral.

BTC USD 1-day bearish scenario. Source: TradingView

A bearish scenario can be warranted through the opposite of the bullish scenario and is pretty basic. If the price of Bitcoin is not able to hold the blue area as support, the bullish divergence is not confirmed, and the price is ready to continue downwards.

In that regard, a potential retest of the $6,900 level would grant an excellent short opportunity, and then the next support zones can be found in the $6,200-6,500 area.

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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Heres What Must Happen for $9K Bitcoin Price in the Coming Months - Cointelegraph

These Factors Signal that Bitcoin is Just Taking a Breather Before Another Rally – Ethereum World News

Bitcoin has had a rough past two days, with its recent rally to highs of $8,400 resulting in yet another strong rejection that appears to have sparked another downtrend.

This downtrend has forced BTC back below $8,000, and it appears to be on the cusp of seeing significantly further losses as bulls go on the defensive and struggle to generate any further upwards momentum.

There are a couple key factors, though, that may signal that this latest selloff is simple a short-term event that will soon be followed by a continuation of the cryptocurrencys recent uptrend.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down just under 4% at its current price of $7,870, which marks a notable decline from its daily highs of just under $8,200, and an even further decline from its multi-day highs of $8,400 that were set at the peak of the recent rally.

Most analysts had anticipated that Bitcoins break above $8,000 would mark a turning point for the cryptocurrency, as it was able to find enough buying pressure above this level to hold it there for several hours.

Its strong and swift rejection at $8,400, however, signaled to analysts that this latest rally could have been a bear trap.

HornHairs, a popular crypto analyst on Twitter, spoke about this in a recent tweet, noting that a weekly close on Sunday below $7,870 will mean that BTC could retrace all the way to $6,000.

$BTC We got the breakout, which was a good start, but as the weekly chart stands, it looks like a bull trap. If we close below $7870 on Sunday, my expectations will be a move down to $6k. Very important next few days. Nothing conclusive until Sunday, he said while pointing to the below chart.

In spite of this, there are two factors that could signal that Bitcoin will soon see significantly further upwards momentum with BTC flashing some bullish divergence on its RSI, and low conviction amongst sellers.

$BTC: On the less negative side, the potential hidden bullish divergence with RSI is still intact on the 4 hour chart and volume has been decreasing with price since the top. Thats a sign of consolidation price and volume are not in agreement. Low conviction selling so far, Scott Melker, another popular crypto analyst explained in a recent tweet.

If Bitcoin continues to grind lower without incurring any significant buying pressure, it could soon retrace all of the gains it incurred throughout the past couple of weeks.

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These Factors Signal that Bitcoin is Just Taking a Breather Before Another Rally - Ethereum World News

Why Analysts Think Bitcoins Surge to $7,450 is Just the Beginning – newsBTC

Over the past few hours, Bitcoin (BTC) has begun to gain momentum once again, pushing past $7,400 after remaining trapped under that level for the past two-odd days. As of the time of writing this, the leading cryptocurrency is trading for $7,470 registering a 2.22% gain in the past 24 hours. Altcoins have followed suit, posting similar slight gains across the board as bulls are stepping in.

Although already a strong performance, analysts expect Bitcoins gains to continue into next week, with some even going as far as to say that the cryptocurrency could top $9,000 by the end of the month, maybe sooner.

Cryptocurrency and forex trader Livercoin posted the below tweet on Saturday, showing that he believes Bitcoin has been trading like a textbook Wyckoff Reaccumulation-esque pattern over the past few days.

The textbook pattern, should BTC follow it to a T, suggests that BTC will break higher and higher in the coming days, in an upward move that will bring the asset back to the high-$7,000s.

Another analyst echoed this optimism, posting the below chart. In it, he notes that if BTC can break the neckline of the inverse head and shoulders pattern formed over the past five weeks, which it did, a 15% move to hit $8,500 could be had in the coming weeks.

Seeing that Bitcoin has broken past the neckline over the past few hours and may see an end-to-end Ichimoku Cloud move, the cryptocurrency could begin to act on this pattern, surging higher to the aforementioned target.

Also, Su Zhu, the chief executive officer of forex and crypto fund Three Arrows Capital,recently remarked on Twitter that he believes Bitcoins price outlooking heading into 2020 is looking rather bullish. The prominent commentator specifically cited his analysis of the BTC/USDT trading pairs and their premiums to BTC/USD markets and the overall price action, which shows there are clear signs of accumulation and money flow back into risk.

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Why Analysts Think Bitcoins Surge to $7,450 is Just the Beginning - newsBTC

How Dropgangs and Dead Drops Are Transforming Darknet Practices – Bitcoin News

Since the creation of the Silk Road, authorities have waged a war against the online drug trade with a wave of surveillance and enforcement. However, crypto-anarchists are developing new ways to evade the states tentacles as the next technological phase started to emerge in late 2017. On Monday, the Cypherpunk Bitstream podcast discussed the evolution of darknet markets as new ideas like dropgangs and dead drops proliferate into the next decade.

Also read: Why the Counter Economy Is Necessary to Bitcoins Survival as a Disruptive Currency

At the end of 2019, the publication Vice highlighted the fact that since 2014 the number of users buying illicit narcotics on darknet markets (DNM) has doubled. Vice columnist David Hilliers report underlines the fact that DNMs have increased since the Silk Road, but the growth of Snapchat dealers and other instant messenger service drug operations has multiplied. For instance, Hillier cites a report called DM For Details which explains that in 2019, 24% of young people said they see illicit drugs advertised for sale on social media. 56% of the drugs being sold are on Snapchat, 55% of ads are seen on Instagram, and 47% leverage Facebook Messenger. The report detailed that cannabis is the most popular drug advertised 63% of the time, while cocaine was the second most popular drug.

Meanwhile, the podcast Cypherpunk Bitstream hosts Jonathan Smuggler Logan and Frank Braun published an episode which discussed the advancement of the online drug trade and Smugglers nine-page article Dropgangs, or the Future of Darknet Markets. Smugglers research studied how DNMs have evolved since they were first advertised on the clearnet and migrated to the deep web via the Silk Road (SR). When SR was seized by global law enforcement, dozens of new DNMs popped out of the woodwork with mega-markets like Dream and Alphabay.

However, in 2017, police forces shut down Alphabay and operated Hansa undercover for more than 30 days before closing it. Smugglers editorial notes that the loss of darknet markets led to severe disruption of client-merchant relationships.

Identities and reputation being lost, previous marketing efforts being negated often leading to temporary or even permanent collapse of merchant business, he added. Despite the cat-and-mouse game of surveillance and evasion, Smugglers research notes:

The problems of darknet markets have triggered an evolution in online black markets.

On January 6, 2020, Smuggler conversed about the topic of dropgangs on episode 0x04 of the podcast Cypherpunk Bitstream. Smuggler talked about the premise of his article with Frank Braun and defined what a dropgang is for listeners. Dropgangs are organizations that distribute contraband by using mostly messenger services, often cryptocurrencies, and dead drops.

Smuggler also gives an example of a dropgang that leverages messenger services like Telegram. Basically you text on Telegram, agree on a price, and the dealer sends coordinates to a secret location where you can pick up the goods. [Darknet markets are] not the end of development when it comes to the distribution of contraband, Smuggler emphasized on the podcast. One of the tendencies of [DNMs] is that they appear, theyre used and then they go away. And in between, you have a lot of people that are arrested.

Smuggler notes that in Eastern Europe and throughout the Balkan States, theres another end of the spectrum of the online drug trade where DNMs have evolved. In a lot of Eastern European countries, the dominant model is different to a centralized DNM website that simply sells product. This is because vendors from these regions started using dead drops early, Smuggler told Braun during the podcast. Braun agreed and said that this was because the postal system in that area of the world was never really trustworthy. The dead drop method allows the vendor to drop the product at a secret and random geographical location that only the two parties are aware of. This idea skips the global mail systems and customers can remain anonymous and dont have to reveal an address.

During the mid-section of the episode, Smuggler and Braun go into great detail on how the postal service flags and tracks suspected contraband dealers. Smuggler highlights the global mail systems flagging infrastructure and sorting equipment is digitally augmented. Some things are augmented so far that the letters get a tracing code printed on it and people dont notice it, Smuggler says. If a package or letter is found suspicious, the hidden tracing code is added which flags all letters posted in the same container and allows investigators to track origins and create heat map-like data points. Smuggler insists that over time, the heat map tracking system is perfected and you get a map with a statistical overlay. The podcast host says this kind of mail inspection gives investigators a really good indication about where the sender is from and the frequency of mail the vendor ships.

The issues tethered to centralized DNMs and the postal service mail inspection process make Braun and Smuggler stress the importance of evolving black market practices. In addition to the discussion about dropgangs, dead drops, existing DNMs, and the postal service, the two hosts talk about the idea of drone mix networks that could leverage drones and hard-to-trace communication mixes.

Cypherpunk Bitstreams episode 0x04 also touches upon concepts like sneakernet. Rather than transmitting information via connected computer networks, individuals leveraging the transfer of data via physical devices can greatly improve privacy. For instance, a person could create a BCH bearer bond instrument by using an optical disc, USB flash drive or external hard drive loaded with BCH and pass it along a network of individuals without the transactions ever being seen on a public block explorer. Sneakernet crypto trading might be essential after the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) and the updated FATF Travel Rule take effect this year. Four years ago, before bitcoiners became infatuated with institutional interest, a few decentralized marketplace ideas emerged.

On August 30, 2015, Reddit user miracle-max_ described a decentralized marketplace layer written on top of the BTC chain called the Drop Zone Protocol. The system was originally tested on BTCs testnet and the author of the concept released a paper on the cryptography mailing list. The paper called Drop Zone: An Anonymous Peer-To-Peer Local Contraband Marketplace describes the systems properties. It featured concepts like anonymous and encrypted communications with built-in reputation controls. Additionally, contraband markets can be open and anonymous, Miracle Max wrote at the time.

Another concept similar to Maxs Drop Zone is Voluntary Labs project Bitmarkets, an idea that leveraged Bitmessage for listings and buyer/seller communications and runs on Tor by default. Both Bitmarkets and Drop Zone never really materialized and people remained mostly dependent on centralized DNMs up until 2017. Since the fall of the major DNMs in 2017, the peer-to-peer application Openbazaar has been used lightly to facilitate contraband deals, mainly with narcotics like cannabis. Centralized DNMs have been a mess over the last two years and several of the most popular marketplaces went under in 2019.

The recently published Cypherpunk Bitstream podcast is over three hours long, but gives a comprehensive overlook of where things are headed within the modernized online drug trade. Law enforcement seems to be leading the cat-and-mouse game but the podcast shows that evasion schemes are growing stronger in certain regions. Readers who are interested in this subject can read Smugglers article published last year, and listen to Smugglers podcast in its entirety via the link below.

What do you think about the evolution of DNMs and ideas like dropgangs and dead drops? Let us know what you think about these topics in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the subject matter written above. 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 ideas, software, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitmarkets, Openbazaar, Twitter, Wiki Commons, Fair Use, and Pixabay.

Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here.

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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How Dropgangs and Dead Drops Are Transforming Darknet Practices - Bitcoin News

New crisis in the Middle East: Good for bitcoin, bad for the world – Decrypt

At approximately 02.30 GMT today a US drone strike killed senior Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani at Baghdads international airport. The event triggered a dramatic escalation in tensions in the region, with oil prices surging on the news. Bitcoin was not far behind; bouncing back from under $7k, the cryptocurrencys price proceeded to jump over six percent within hours of the attack.

But while a surge in bitcoins price would normally be an occasion for celebration among bitcoin maximalists, todays news met with a muted response on crypto twitter, and even denial. If the unwelcome prospect of another war in the Middle East is the price of bitcoins success, is it one crypto enthusiasts are willing to pay?

Political instability is often seen as a bellwether of crypto price, although economic stability remains the most important factor; the viability of bitcoin as a safe haven in the face of catastrophe is a common argument.

Today, it was given some credence. Gold prices climbed to a four-month high. Oil, meanwhile, shot up over 4 percent amid concerns of disruption to supplies.

There's a clear flight to safety among traditional assets with stocks declining (about 1.5%) across the globe and safe havens like gold and the Japanese Yen have seen minor gains as well, wrote crypto analyst Mati Greenspan in his daily newsletter Quantum Economics.

The surge in crude oil is to be expected, the surge in bitcoin is a total surprise, he added.

The blue line represents the price of crude oil, which reacted quickly to this morning's news, contrasted with BTC across various exchanges. IMAGE: Mati Greenspan.

Nevertheless, some doubted that the strike, and the political instability it unleashed, bore any responsibility for the surge.

Bitcoin maximalist and talk show host Peter McCormack quickly decried US President Donald Trumps action.

Others saw the rally as short lived, before business as usualor an overblown reaction. Yet the threat of war is very real.

The Pentagon had accused Major-General Soleimani, Irans highest ranking military official, of orchestrating attacks on US forces in Iraq, and says it acted in self defence.

Iran, meanwhile, has vowed to take action in response. US citizens have been told to leave Iraq, US military bases are on high alert and officials in the region told the Financial Times that they were braced for Iranian retaliation across the Middle East. From Israel to Saudi Arabia and even India and Pakistan, the entire region is on high alert.

"Certainly Iran is going to retaliate in some way. Theyre not going to confront the US directly but they will perhaps attack Saudi tankers again, maybe Saudi oil refineries," John Tirman, executive director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies, told Al Jazeera.

Part of bitcoins appeal is that, up to now, it has been uncorrelated to other, non-crypto safe haven assets such as gold, Matthew Graham, chief executive of Beijing-based Sino Global Capital, told Decrypt.

This history is not consistent with being a safe haven for geopolitical risk, he said. However, in our view, as bitcoin matures, its correlation with other assets is likely to increase. As part of this process, geopolitical and macroeconomic factors are likely to have increasing influence on bitcoins price.

He added that for similar reasons, in the long-term, bitcoin is likely to become more positively correlated with the price of gold, and there is already evidencesome in the past 24 hoursfor this view.

Following this logic, some speculated that Iranians could be buying up Bitcoin to counter the prospect of further sanctions. Others even suggested that the rising price could be due to cryptotraders speculating that Iranians are buying bitcoin.

Its clear that many crypto traders are closely watching events in Iran, Graham told Decrypt. In our view, its possible that this geopolitical risk factor impacted bitcoins price in combination with other factors, including a short squeeze. Overall, its important to not overstate the case, he added.

Greenspan held a similar view: The Iranian market in and of itself is likely too small and slow to have caused this move single-handedly. More likely, one or several players have been waiting on the side for a good buying opportunity below $7,000 per coin and it seems one has presented itself, he wrote.

There may be further cause for concern. Bitcoin itself is a concern for the US, as far as Iran is concerned

Almost a year ago, the New York Times reported that bitcoin is helping Iran to undermine US sanctions. These have cost Iran $200 billion in foreign-exchange income and investment, the countrys President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday.

Iran is moving to regulate Bitcoin, and mining was reportedly legalized in the country in August. Iran has also dangled the prospect of a national cryptocurrency over the world since February 2018. In December, Rouhani called on Islamic countries to create a Muslim cryptocurrency to fight US economic dominance.

But in the short term, as tensions escalate in the Middle East once again, bitcoin looks set to play its partwhether for sanctions busting or as a foil for speculation. And conflict could combine with global recession to increase the demand for bitcoin, gold and oil alike.

The good news? Even bitcoin maximalists are in tune with the old Edwin Starr hit:

War, huh, good god. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Lets hope we dont get to find out whether that applies to bitcoin anytime soon.

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New crisis in the Middle East: Good for bitcoin, bad for the world - Decrypt

This Company Sets Out to Prove Crypto Mining Has a Place in Your Home – Bitcoin News

Hotmine, a company based in Ukraine which engineers home appliances for crypto enthusiasts, is not new to mining equipment development. But sometimes it takes the right time and the right technology to be able to create and offer solutions that consumers would be willing to buy and use. Thanks to tech progress and proper market conditions, cryptocurrency mining at your home is once again becoming an option to support your budget with some satoshis or save on utility bills.

Also read: Bitcoin Emits Less Carbon Than Previously Claimed, New Study Finds

Cryptocurrency mining has passed through different stages since the invention of Bitcoin and Oles Slobodenyuk, the owner of Hotmine, was willing to explain why he thinks that after a period of industrialization, the minting of digital coins can once again return to living rooms and garages. And it can not only bring households some additional crypto income but also heat air and water without affecting the noise comfort of a home.

Hotmine produced its first hashboards using 55nm chips and developed a system to utilize the thermal energy emitted by the hardware in September 2013. In October the same year, 10 hashboards with 12 chips each were capable of mining three bitcoins a day. A complete module had 80 hashboards and a total of 960 chips. This equipment was exploited for a few years until it was eventually replaced with a more productive hardware. Hotmine can change the hashboards, which act as the heating elements in its systems, with new ones based on 16nm, 10nm, and 7nm chips.

In the early days of Bitcoin, a period Hotmine CEO describes as Mining 1.0, a miner was a full-fledged cell of the crypto community, he pointed out. Later, when the first video cards, ASICs, and mining pools appeared, having an account on a pool was enough and the mined bitcoins were often immediately withdrawn to an exchange. Eventually, hardware manufacturers started mining themselves. Creating 20-40-100 MW datacenters became much more profitable than working on small-scale solutions, Slobodenyuk noted referring to that industrial era as Mining 2.0, when the minting of coins became noisier. Speaking to news.Bitcoin.com, the entrepreneur further elaborated:

Plugging your equipment as soon as possible became a priority. It all turned into an arms race. No one was thinking about complex infrastructure projects with beneficial use of the generated heat.

Advancements in technology are now making it possible for crypto mining to decentralize and return to private homes. The Mining 3.0 period will see mining equipment being used in home applications again, like powering water boilers and heating radiators. Hotmines new product, the Prometheus smart heater, mines cryptocurrency to allow users to save up to $0.064 per kWh of spent electricity, the company claims. So if you pay 12 cents per kWh, for example, Prometheus can help you save approximately 50% on your electricity bill, Slobodenyuk insisted. According to its website, Hotmine has already produced its first batch of 60 heating convectors in late 2019.

The Ukrainian company decided to construct a silent miner-heater in August 2018 using 57 J/Th, 16nm Bitfury Clarke chips. The power consumption of their device is between 550 and 900 Watts per hour with a productivity of 8 11 Th/s. The convector is linked to the internet via wifi. The first prototypes appeared in April 2019, with a regular configuration (0.5-0.7 kW) mining at up to 11 Th/s and a mini version (0.1 kW) at 1.5 Th/s. Both modules rely on fanless cooling which allows them to utilize the excess heat without producing noise, making them suitable for home application.

Oles Slobodenyuk believes there is a place for his convectors in every home. In order to bring down the manufacturing costs to around $450 $550 per module, however, he has estimated that Hotmine has to assemble and sell 100,000 smart mining units or more. The company has a road map to achieve that and hopes to manufacture 1,000 smart convectors and 2,000 smart water boilers in 2020, gradually increasing the numbers in the next few years until it reaches its goal. At the same time, Hotmine also hopes to expand its community of users and supporters which can improve sales and ensure funding.

We can quickly develop new equipment, R&D is our strong side, but we are yet to learn how to better advertise and promote our products. Our initial strategy was to look for clients and investors on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform but we also realized that success comes with creating a community, said Slobodenyuk. His team is currently working to increase the number of Hotmines followers on social media and takes every opportunity to present its products at conferences and other events in the crypto space. Volunteers are currently testing some of the Prometheus smart heaters, the company founder revealed.

Slobodenyuk believes Hotmine has two options for its future development. One is to organize mass production of mining modules in China and arrange distribution around the world. The other is to find partners in export markets and start assembling the mining rigs in each country. In any case, building a successful business with crypto mining home appliances will not be an easy task, not least because of increasing competition from other contenders in the niche like Qarnot or Comino, as Hotmines management acknowledges. Nevertheless, the continuing crypto market recovery that made mining profitable again certainly opens new possibilities before all these companies.

Do you think crypto mining can be successfully integrated in home heating systems? Share your opinion on the subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any third party 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.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Hotmine.

Did you know you can earn BTC and BCH through Bitcoin Mining? If you already own hardware, connect it to our powerful Bitcoin mining pool. If not, you can easily get started through one of our flexible Bitcoin cloud mining contracts.

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Bulgaria. Quoting Hitchens, Lubomir says: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. International politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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This Company Sets Out to Prove Crypto Mining Has a Place in Your Home - Bitcoin News

The Blockchain: What It Is and Why It Matters – Brookings

New TechTank Blog Posts Are Available Here

Chances are that youve heard of bitcoin, the digital currency that many predict will revolutionize payments or prove to be a massive fraud depending on what you read. Bitcoin is an application that runs on the Blockchain, which is ultimately a more interesting and profound innovation.

The Blockchain is a secure transaction ledger database that is shared by all parties participating in an established, distributed network of computers. It records and stores every transaction that occurs in the network, essentially eliminating the need for trusted third parties such as payment processors. Blockchain proponents often describe the innovation as a transfer of trust in a trustless world, referring to the fact that the entities participating in a transaction are not necessarily known to each other yet they exchange value with surety and no third-party validation. For this reason, the Blockchain is a potential game changer.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or group of people credited with developing bitcoin, released a whitepaper describing the software protocol. Since then, the network has grown and bitcoinhas become a recognized unit of value around the globe. Bitcoinis extremely important because it provides a mechanism for accessing the Blockchain but its not the only application that can leverage the platform.

Bitcoin has also been on the receiving end of some bad press, such as around the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange earlier last year. The Mt. Gox story is not necessarily an indictment of bitcoin. For the purposes of this post, simply remember this: bitcoin is just a mechanism for transacting on the Blockchain and the Blockchain is the key innovation.

The Blockchain enables the anonymous exchange of digital assets, such as bitcoin, but it is not technically dependent on bitcoin. The elegance of the Blockchain is that it obviates the need for a central authority to verify trust and the transfer of value. It transfers power and control from large entities to the many, enabling safe, fast, cheaper transactions despite the fact that we may not know the entities we are dealing with.

The mechanics of the Blockchain are novel and highly disruptive. As people transact in a Blockchain ecosystem, a public record of all transactions is automatically created. Computers verify each transaction with sophisticated algorithms to confirm the transfer of value and create a historical ledger of all activity. The computers that form the network that are processing the transactions are located throughout the world and importantly are not owned or controlled by any single entity. The process is real-time, and much more secure than relying on a central authority to verify a transaction.

There are many analogous concepts both ancient and modern. Technology has and will continue to transfer power and control from central authorities and distribute them to the masses. For example, time used to be determined and communicated by large clock towers that were expensive to build and maintain. Engineering innovations ultimately decentralized the quantification of time to the individual. Likewise, WhatsApp, a popular cross platform messaging app, cut the transaction cost of sending messages globally and cut profits for the carriers. The central authority (phone carriers) lost to the application (WhatsApp) built on a decentralized network (i.e. the Internet).

Similarly, third parties that currently verify transactions (the central authority) stand to lose against the Blockchain (the decentralized network). As such, the Blockchain essentially disintermediates these third-party transaction verifiers: auditors, legal services, payment processors, brokerages and other similar organizations.

While you may not be convinced that exchanging bitcoin is an invaluable service, there are many other examples of value transfer that are critical and currently very slow and expensive. Consider the exchange of property: numerous intermediaries are currently involved in this process, such as a third-party escrow service that works for both parties to ensure a smooth transfer. The escrow service, like other services built solely on trust and verification, collect fees that would be mitigated by performing the transaction on the Blockchain as would wire transfer fees, third party financial auditing, contract execution, etc.

The use case of the Blockchain enabling a decentralized currency exchange such as bitcoin is well defined and will likely be the dominant use case near term, however there are a multitude of innovative and disruptive use cases. Companies are already building their own Blockchains for various applications such as Gridcoin that leverages the Blockchain to crowdsource scientific computing projects. Gridcoin uses its own protocols that require much less computing power and electricity to manage than traditional bitcoin networks.

The Blockchain is a foundational technology, like TCP/IP, which enables the Internet. And much like the Internet in the late 1990s, we dont know exactly how the Blockchain will evolve, but evolve it will.

Similar to the Internet, the Blockchain must also be allowed to grow unencumbered. This will require careful handling that recognizes the difference between the platform and the applications that run on it. TCP/IP empowers numerous financial applications that are regulated, but TCP/IP is not regulated as a financial instrument. The Blockchain should receive similar consideration. While the predominant use case for the Blockchain today is bitcoin currency exchange that may require regulation, this will change over time.

Had we over-regulated the Internet early on, we would have missed out on many innovations that we cant imagine living without today. The same is true for the Blockchain. Disruptive technologies rarely fit neatly into existing regulatory considerations, but rigid regulatory frameworks have repeatedly stifled innovation. Its likely that innovations in the Blockchain will outpace policy, lets not slow it down.

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The Blockchain: What It Is and Why It Matters - Brookings

National Governments Around The Globe Look To Embrace Blockchain – Forbes

The logo of the "Petro" is displayed next to images of Venezuelan late President Hugo Chavez (L) and ... [+] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a building in downtown Caracas, on September 21, 2018. - Six months after Venezuelan cryptocurrency petro, with which the government of Maduro seeks to evade financial sanctions from the US, started selling to the public, it still can not be exchangeable for money, goods or other cryptocurrencies as the bitcoin. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP) (Photo credit should read FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)

In spite of the original philosophy behind bitcoin, a tool to protect and empower sovereign citizens worldwide against oppressive regimes and predatory financial institutions, more and more nations are finding legitimate value in endorsing cryptocurrency.

Established nations like the United States and China are taking a nuanced approach in applying the tech to various departments, and smaller alternatives like Malta and the Virgin Islands have looked to crypto as a means to bolster and expand their local economies. Heres whats happening in the world right now.

The United States

With a regulatory stance on crypto typically seen as archaic and lethargic, the USA doesnt typically come to mind as a champion of blockchain. However, there are many government departments actively exploring and deploying applications that leverage the blockchain for various uses.

For example, the United States now employs a private blockchain through which yearly grants are awarded to different departments, through a project called GrantSolutions. This initiative creates a centralized record of grants, whilst also improves the ease with which recurring grants can be renewed and distributed each year.

Per the previous report, the US Government is additionally building out an encrypted healthcare data exchange through the INFORMED incubator program, allowing citizens to leverage their personal healthcare data and sell their data to researchers.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff has also embarked on a pilot that utilizes the blockchain to communicate 3D printing files to military bases. As it can be quite difficult to replace older equipment, the military is increasingly relying on 3D printed parts to repair weapons and vehicles. The blockchain enables the communication of these files in an encrypted manner that cannot be intercepted by unwanted eyes.

China

Global headlines have emphasized a recent shift in Chinas stance towards blockchain technology. Recently, a series of statements by Chinese President Xi Jinping has indicated that the Peoples Republic of China plans to dive head-first into blockchain integration in a number of areas.

Chinas aggressive use of surveillance on its population and controversial developments such as the social credit system, which assigns a reputation to each citizen for their behavior, suggests that their blockchain endorsement may be a means to further surveil and restrict their almost 1.4 billion citizens.

Integral properties of cryptocurrency include transparency and immutability. A state-backed cryptocurrency means that government officials could have complete and unrestricted access to the entirety of every citizens financial history and dealings. This could potentially be further expanded to blacklist and reverse unwanted activity in the eyes of the government.

Of course, future adoption by China is largely regarded as speculation, until more comprehensive developments have come to light. However, this would not be the first time a regime looked to blockchain to improve monetary control: North Korea and Russia have both been involved in similar projects.

Venezuela

In 2018, Venezuela launched its oil-backed petro cryptocurrency as a token on the NEM blockchain. The purpose of the central currency is to improve liquidity to the countrys oil reserves and implement a more stable alternative to a national VEF crippled by hyperinflation.

Additionally, the petro was seen as a mechanism for Venezuela to circumvent sanctions and alleviate difficulty to conduct foreign trade. However, it is unclear whether its oil-backed coin has seen significant acceptance by international business partners.

Malta

Despite interest from bad actors, the overwhelming use of blockchain by national governments has been to stimulate their economies and improve their infrastructure. A majority of the first national cryptocurrency adopters were small nations looking to gain an edge and accelerate national growth.

Malta, in particular, has seen huge growth through its blockchain-friendly legislation. With the explosion of the space in 2017, a number of recently formed and massively growing cryptocurrency startups moved operations to Malta.

The most notable of these is seen through the relocation of Binance HQ, a leading exchange valued at over US$2 billion. With a national GDP of less than US$13 billion in 2017, this single instance represents a significant boost to the islands economy and a major proponent for further prosperity.

The British Virgin Islands

A recent adopter of cryptocurrency as a cash-alternative is found in the British Virgin Islands. BVI has recently emphasized an intention to focus its efforts on the emerging Financial Technology sector, and as an aspiring FinTech leader, the archipelago is looking to digitize its economy with the help of a central digital currency.

On December 3, BVI hosted its Digital Economy symposium to educate and strategize with 100 stakeholders across the islands private and public sectors alike. The symposium included a presentation by Lifelabs on the ongoing BVI life project. The project is developing a central cryptocurrency that is backed 1:1 by USD to address hurdles between cross-island business and consumption.

The initiative also encompasses a Rapid Cash Response (RCR) system that will quickly provide ample funds in response to any potential future disasters. 2017s Hurricane Irma spawned over US$3 billion in damages and untold trauma for citizens, and the lack of liquid funds inhibited sufficient clean-up for months afterward.

What does this really mean?

Well, as modern society transitions to a global, digital economy, blockchain represents a key tool for third-world and developing economies to transition to digital in pace with established and first-world counterparts. This benefit is particularly impactful to areas currently dominated by fiat that are hindered by an inadequate or nonexistent banking infrastructure.

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National Governments Around The Globe Look To Embrace Blockchain - Forbes

TraSeable’s blockchain-based traceability technology overcomes challenges in the Pacific – SeafoodSource

In the Pacific, adoption of seafood traceability technology faces hurdles at multiple stages of the supply chain.

Records frequently start on paper, which can be lost or damaged. Internet coverage is often spotty. Tags with QR codes have to be durable in harsh ocean conditions. Customs and habits are hard to change. And by the time the product is ready for the market, not everyone actually wants fully traced and transparent fish.

The Fiji-based traceability company TraSeable has piloted its blockchain technology in the region, and says about a half-dozen companies are using it, with some 50,000 fish tracked so far. But implementing end-to-end traceability and convincing companies to sign on for it is taking time.

"You're talking about the Pacific Ocean, where the boats are at sea and they don't have internet connections and can't send out data in real-time," TraSeable Founder and Managing Director Kenneth Katafono told SeafoodSource. "It's still going to be a while before people start recording on a tablet and stop using paper."

TraSeable offers a tablet-based application that allows fishermen on boats and regulators on shore to input data directly into the system. All the players in the supply chain need to be connected to TraSeable's system, including the fishing companies and the processors, who can onboard their clients. The software is also designed so regulatory authorities can connect and use it to provide third-party verification. Customers can opt to pay extra for TraSeables blockchain feature, which is built on the Ethereum platform.

"The companies that we work with, I think they think blockchain will revolutionize supply chains. They're thinking of that aspect and trying to get ahead and adopt early," Katafono said. Some might seek to use it as a marketing point.

Starting in 2017, TraSeable was part of a tuna-tracking pilot project with the World Wildlife Fund, blockchain company ConsenSys, and Sea Quest Fiji a seafood company the first project of its kind in the Pacific.

The project demonstrated blockchains potential for the region, but Katafono quickly realized that the enterprise-level systems ConsenSys offered would be too expensive for fishermen and seafood companies in the region. So he built a blockchain integration on top of his companys existing digital traceability system.

"The whole idea was to make traceability affordable, because if it's not affordable, seafood operators aren't going to pay for it, unless it's regulated, Katafono said.

Sea Quest has piloted TraSeables technology, achieving proof of concept, and has implemented it in the factory. The company has conducted about five trials with a customer in Europe, where demand is higher than in the United States. Sea Quest expects to start sending blockchain-tracked shipments to them in the coming year, according to Sea Quest CEO Uttam Kumar.

"European customers are very anxious and eager to receive traceable and tagged fish, but we have yet to see that kind of thing happening in the U.S.," Kumar told SeafoodSource.

Improving traceability is a long process that requires convincing workers at each stage of the supply chain to follow new protocols a tough sell when monetary incentives are lacking.

"To get to this stage has been a lot of goodwill from the guys on the boats who are prepared to do this extra work," Sea Quest Owner Brett Blu Haywood told SeafoodSource. "We're in a transitional period where we're going from the old, what was done in the last 20 or 30 years with a pen or a pencil to now digitally entering the catch reports This is all a change of mindset for fishermen."

The simplicity of the tablet-based application helps, with easy data entry for fish type, estimated weight, and other factors.

"All this information goes into the tag and is captured at the point of landing," Haywood said.

Haywood believes that blockchain technology will help squeeze out the bad actors. Producers will be able to record on the blockchain the boat, the captain, and even a photo of the freshly-caught fish on the blockchain giving each fish a story.

Blockchain technology offers the potential for a world where data is not tied to a particular computer server and anyone can access the immutable record of transparent information. Such radical transparency might not suit some players in the seafood supply chain, while other companies already embrace it, according to Katafono.

But at the global level, blockchain technology is now hampered by its own overabundance. The many existing protocols cant communicate with each other, and TraSeables Katafono thinks its out of the question for global businesses to narrow on just one protocol. Instead, emerging standards will need to govern how different systems communicate with each other, achieving what technology experts call interoperability a process that will take years.

"The product data will be more transparent throughout the supply chain because that data is added to a blockchain that is publicly available," Katafono said. "That's where we see things moving. [But] it's still an emerging technology. There are still a lot of things that need to happen for it to gain traction in the supply chain world."

Photo couresy ofSashkin/Shutterstock

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TraSeable's blockchain-based traceability technology overcomes challenges in the Pacific - SeafoodSource