Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

The Koreas|Economy|East Asia

After an early wave of public enthusiasm, South Koreas government is taking steps to regulate crypto assets.

South Korea is considering legislation to bring cryptocurrencies into the mainstream and mulling whether to tax crypto assets.

When Bitcoin was created in 2009, the idea of a cryptocurrency was new and a largely unregulated field. As more cryptocurrencies have been developed there has been a growing push to regulate the industry internationally and in key markets such as South Korea.

South Korea first took steps to regulate cryptocurrency in 2017, when rising prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum raised concerns about disruptive financial speculation, along with growing concerns about fraud and illicit activities.

At the time, South Koreans were among the initial cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with one-in-three salaried workers investing in cryptocurrency and local exchanges Bithumb, Coinbit, and Upbit among the top exchanges by volume in the world. As recently as June of this year, the South Korean won was the third most used fiat currency to trade in Bitcoin, accounting for 6.5 percent of transactions.

To clamp down on speculation and improve security, South Korea moved toward requiring real name accounts and introducing a ban on initial coin offerings in 2017 that remains in place.

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Despite increasing regulation in recent years, South Korea continues to be an important market for cryptocurrency. Though Bithumb, Coinbit, and Upbit are no longer among the top exchanges by volume and South Korean blockchain startups are increasingly listing their cryptocurrencies abroad, the South Korean won remains the fifth most utilized national currency by cryptocurrency exchanges for Bitcoin and South Korea is among the top 10 countries for total exchanges.

However, in recent years there has been growing scrutiny of cryptocurrency internationally as well as domestically in South Korea.

In June, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued guidelines on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers relating to their obligations to take steps to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. These include enforcing the travel rule requiring financial institutions to provide customer information when transferring more than $1,000 to another financial institution. The FATFs guidelines help to create regulatory harmony across different financial jurisdictions and an auditable record for the enforcement of sanctions and investigations after terrorist attacks.

In response, the South Korean National Assembly is taking steps to provide a legal foundation for virtual assets. The legislation will require firms to register with South Koreas Financial Services Commissions Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which would also have regulatory authority for cryptocurrency exchanges. At the moment, the FIU only indirectly regulates cryptocurrency exchanges through its oversight of South Korean banks. The change would allow bring cryptocurrency exchanges into the financial regulatory framework and allow the FIU to directly develop new regulations for the exchanges.

The legislation would also help bring cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea in line with the FATFs requirements to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing by setting ground rules for transactions and requiring firms to adopt greater accountability.

For the moment, South Korea is unable to tax crypto assets such as crypto currency. The Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) has indicated that profits from cryptocurrency trades cannot be taxed under current law. Not all forms of capital gains are taxable in South Korea and there are currently no references to cryptocurrency in the current tax codes. In order for South Korea to tax crypto assets something government officials have expressed an interest in doing it will need to develop a definition of crypto assets, determine which type of assets should be taxed, and decide how crypto exchanges should report tax liabilities to the government.

If South Korea moves forward with revising its tax law to cover cryptocurrency, it will not be alone. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia all tax cryptocurrency as an asset. There has been some concern expressed about South Koreas ability to define cryptocurrency, but if tax authorities decide to tax cryptocurrency as an asset it will have other models to look to for how to handle crypto transactions based on capital gains.

Get first-read access to major articles yet to be released, as well as links to thought-provoking commentaries and in-depth articles from our Asia-Pacific correspondents.

While cryptocurrency began as an effort to conduct financial transactions outside of the traditional financial system, if it is to grow to be more than a speculative asset there will need to be regulation to protect consumers, ensure transparency for tax purposes, and to protect against its illicit uses. If South Korea has seen a short-run decline in cryptocurrency transactions as a result of regulation, the focus on establishing a proper regulatory structure should place South Korea in position to benefit from new regulated markets in the long-run.

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South Korea Works to Bring Cryptocurrency Into the Mainstream - The Diplomat

On Friday, December 27, 2019, Chinese regulators issued a joint regulatory warning on the rise of virtual currency trading activity in the country. The Beijing Local Financial Supervision Bureau, the People's Bank of China Business Management Department, the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, and the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau noted that the uptick in activity is the result of the promotion of blockchain technology.

Indeed, on October 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a statement for Chinese companies to seize the opportunity offered by blockchain technology. The markets reacted with a surge in the price of bitcoin and an increase in internet searches for the term blockchain on WeChat. The positivity on blockchain coming from Chinas leader is not new as he has in the past referred to blockchain as ten times the importance of the discovery of the Internet.

BEIJING, Nov. 7, 2019 -- Jing Xiandong, CEO of Ant Financial, introduces the blockchain platform of ... [+] Ant Financial during the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 7, 2018. (Photo by Chen Yehua/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Chen Yehua via Getty Images)

The approach of being tough on virtual currency trading platforms while encouraging blockchain technology might seem at first to be complicated - particularly if public platforms such as Bitcoin or Ethereum are used that has a native token or cryptocurrency used as an essential part of the blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Of course, for China, with the imminent release of a Central Bank Digital Currency, and its wish to maintain control over the types of digital or cryptocurrencies traded similarly to the way it has controlled the spread and use of the Internet, a policy coming down hard on cryptocurrency trading platforms makes sense.

Many in the United States have noted the focus should not be on cryptocurrencies, but rather blockchain technology. Indeed, the cryptocurrency and blockchain community seems to swing like a pendulum. When Bitcoin goes up, its all about the cryptocurrency and the focus on blockchain gets blurred. When Bitcoin goes down, the industry and developers are quick to note that finally, there can be a focus on the real gem in all of this technology - a distributed ledger technology that will fundamentally change the way people, processes, and organizations operate.

Indeed, a recent Forbes article noted how Chinas approach to Blockchain was winning and notes the U.S. should pay attention. The U.S. has similarly started to pay attention, more as the result of Project Libra, that forced Congress to pay attention to both cryptocurrency and blockchain at the same time. While many Members of Congress became quickly adept at some of the finer distinctions in the marketplace, cryptocurrency and blockchain still seem to be words quickly conflated, where an increase in blockchain is the same as an increase in cryptocurrency, and so the U.S. runs a much higher risk than China in stopping cryptocurrency trading and also significantly impacting the development of blockchain technology in the country.

The notice from China harped on how the virtual currency trading platforms were creating the potential for investor harm in a variety of ways. As stated in the joint risk release, They launch zero-interest loans, dual currency financial management and other projects through digital currency mortgages. In other words, Decentralized Finance or DeFi, meet the Peoples Republic Of China.

And therein lies the issue for China - which is that there is very little interest in decentralization, and much more interest in seeing the development of blockchain technology and its central bank digital currency as a way of spreading its influence around the globe to push its own agenda.

Meanwhile, for the virtual currency trading platforms, The release, seriously warn institutions and personnel in Beijing that carry out related activities. They must not publicize and promote relevant virtual currency projects or platforms, they must not conduct virtual currency business sales or transactions, they must not engage in virtual currency transactions or disguised trading operations with investors, Acting on domestic and overseas virtual currency issuance and trading activities, financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions within its jurisdiction shall not provide services for any virtual currency transaction.

HONG KONG - 2019/04/06: In this photo illustration a cryptocurrency electronic cash Bitcoin logo is ... [+] seen on an Android mobile device with People's Republic of China flag in the background. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Thus, the seriousness of this warning makes it clear virtual currency trading is not welcome in China, and finishes by noting that investors should, maintain rationality ... beware of being deceived, and promptly report relevant clues about violations of laws and regulations. So, investors are then part of the regulatory structure as well in China, encouraged to provide tips to authorities if violations in the marketplace are noticed.

So, as China continues to pour money into the blockchain technology and prepares the release of its central bank digital currency, the country continues what was likely the inevitable, which is to push back on any other virtual currencies that might compete with its national currency.

The U.S. should take note, at a minimum, of the level of proficiency and understanding regulators in China have regarding cryptocurrency and blockchain, particularly in its ability to note how the promotion of blockchain technology can lead to cryptocurrency schemes as a result.

See more here:
Chinas Dichotomy Between Cryptocurrency And Blockchain - Forbes

On Wednesday, Google restored Ethereum app MetaMask, after it mistakenly removed it from its Play Store.

Earlier this week, Google backtracked on its ban of Ethereum ETH app and wallet MetaMask after removing it from its Play Store just a week earlier. The wallet app conveyed the U-turn in a tweet on New Years Day.

MetaMask was banned last week after the Big G reportedly believed that the app was mining cryptocurrency. If youre not up to speed on Google Play Store terms of use, mining apps arent allowed on the platform.

However, MetaMask doesnt mine cryptocurrencies, rather it serves as an cryptocurrency and token wallet to allow users to interact directly with Ethereum dapps.

Google has had a tumultuous past when it comes to cryptocurrency apps and its Play Store.

Back in July 2018, it banned cryptocurrency mining apps from its Play Store. A report from Ars Technica in 2017 found that malicious cryptocurrency mining malware installed on phones could physically damage devices if left to run for too long.

Indeed, by banning mining apps Google was, in part, working in the interests of its users. However, 30 days after the initial ban, the Play Store still featured numerous apps that contravened its policy update.

Once Google is made aware of apps that break its rules, it usually acts relatively swiftly to remove them. For MetaMask though, it looks like Google was a little too quick to the draw.

Published January 3, 2020 09:00 UTC

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Google lifts ban on Ethereum wallet app it thought was mining cryptocurrency - TNW

Those who held Bitcoin Cash (BCH) during its meltdown in the latter half of 2019, there may still be time to generate enormous gains.

Famous crypto analyst DonAlt on Friday discussed the bullish prospects of the fifth-largest blockchain project by market capitalization. The trader said he expects the BCH-to-dollar exchange rate to hit $380 in 2020, revealing that he would open a long position towards the said upside target.

The statements followed BCHs impressive gains in the spot market during the Friday session. The cryptocurrency soared by up to 11.11 percent, or $21.66, as the US killed a top Iranian military official,Qassem Soleimani, in an airstrike. The event sent investors looking for haven assets, which pushed the prices of gold and oil higher.

The upside sentiment further crept into the crypto market. Eight hours after the US attack, top cryptocurrency bitcoin registered 6 percent gains. So it appears, other altcoins merely tailed bitcoin, with its forked cousin Bitcoin Cash bringing maximum profits home.

DonAlt stressed that Bitcoin Cash could attract a considerable capital from the neighboring Bitcoin market. He noted that the BCH-to-BTC exchange rate is forming an inverse head and shoulder pattern on the daily charts. Traditionally, it is a sign of a bearish reversal.

Bitcoin Cash testing the neckline of its inverted H&S pattern | Source: DonAlt

The trade should play out like this: A break above the red neckline signals a sharp move higher if further confirmed by a spike in volume. The ideal bullish target for a jump is equal to the distance between the inverse H&S bottom and neckline. So it appears, that distance is close to 3,947 satoshis, or 0.003947 BTC.

Considering the red neckline is coinciding with 0.029 BTC, the ideal upside target for long positions is circa (0.029+0.003947) BTC (or 0.032 BTC).

The BCH/BTC chart is an absolute beauty, said DonAlt.

Part of Bitcoin Cashs gains could come on the backs of a more extensive altcoin rally.

Market analystBeastlyorion in November predicted that bitcoins dominance, which measures the share of the cryptocurrencys market capitalization relative to that of the broader market, could break below 66 percent. He added that such a move would have traders exchange their bitcoin holdings for altcoins.

Meanwhile, other analysts think that bitcoin, in the long-term, will eat the market cap of altcoins. The sentiment follows speculation about bitcoins adoption among institutional investors. The involvement of Wall Street firms like Fidelity and Bakkt in the cryptocurrency has already upped the scenario.

Link:
Why a Technical Analyst Believes Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Will Surge by 80% - newsBTC

Facebooks Libra, Twitter, Nation-Backed Digital Currencies, China and Other Macro Trends

Lets look at some macro trends circling the esoteric inner core of this ongoing technological revolution. First up theres Facebooks Libra, which currently is a swirling mass of confusion. Its clearly become a major part of the worlds biggest social media giants roadmap and theyre throwing a lot of resources at it. For crypto generally, its a huge affirmation of the technology and has been utterly out of the realms of expectation just a few years ago. As expected, however, with an entity as big as Facebook, Libra got the worlds major power structures hot under the collar, given that a global stablecoin, accessible to billions of people around the world, goes straight after governments grip on monetary policy, which is effectively like trying to wrestle away the ultimate superpower of state.

The major nation state in question, the US, responded by calling those responsible to a hearing where officials, that clearly never read the briefing on what Libra is trying to be, shouted totally irrelevant questions to the treasonous upstarts, betraying the true aims of these hearings, which is to do nothing more than grandstand and bang a drum along party lines. If that wasnt enough, they then fired off breathtakingly threatening letters to members of the Libra association with the clear intention of performing audits, which worked just as intended, with Visa, MasterCard, eBay and Stripe all quickly stepping away from their previous intention to join Facebooks Libra network. In 2020, we will see this dance begin to intensify, most likely not only with Facebook but many other powerful players in different regions, think Uber, Grab in South East Asia, possibly Softbank in Japan, the already existing payment networks of WeChat and Alibaba in China and well also see nation-states joining in the competition. Soon after this things will come to a head, perhaps in 2021 when Facebook and others will be forced to launch outside of the US, in smaller jurisdictions as pilot programs. This will hamper their ability to gain strong network effects and end up being the perfect talisman for why decentralisation, in the face of entrenched power structures, is the only way to proceed if the intent is to provide a new means of transacting value globally inclusive of the whole world.

What superpowers like the USA seemingly misunderstand is that although Facebook has lots of users, many more than Bitcoin, their power is already being whittled away by the very fact that permission-less, decentralised digital currencies, for the first time in history, provide a new option and choice for people to exit from centralised fiat currencies that have an average life expectancy of 27 years. It may take decades, but that paradigm shift is not going back in the bag. Jack Dorsey at Twitter has a much better grip on that power boiling away in the background and has just announced hes set up a research team to investigate how to decentralise the entirety of his platform, Twitter as the decentralised protocol. Validation once again?

Perhaps another global institution thats seen the light is the ECB, having set up a Digital Currency Taskforce where doubtless they will spend most of 2020 eyeing Libra from afar, writing tomes on how fiat currency can work alongside digital decentralised currencies and how theyre going to create their own special crypto recipe to try and stem the ever-growing tide of permissionless stablecoin usage. This is no doubt what Christine Lagarde means by saying they plan to get ahead of the curve but in reality, to really get ahead, theyd have to decentralise themselves and thats a tad hopeful perhaps.

The year 2020 will see yet more strange antics from the worlds most populated country. China is at the very heart of the Bitcoin ecosystem because the mining world, that secures the Bitcoin network with massive computing power, relies on cheap energy and a major percentage of the Bitcoin networks mining farms find endless amounts of close to free energy, by camping out around the many nuclear power plants that service Chinas massive ghost cities. But thats not all! Its going to get even stranger, as we watch Chinas government battle with two sides of the same coin. Theyre clearly enthralled by the prospect that a state run blockchain could bring a paradigm shift in its intent on surveilling its populace, but their desires to harness the technology might by necessity usher in a swathe of decentralised technologies that even the great firewall couldnt keep at bay. Perhaps this technology is the ultimate trojan horse? Tune in for the next episode in 2020 when they release their state run DCEP cryptocurrency, take the vast spending data theyll capture and add it into their citizen points scheme database and then triangulate all of this in real time with their pervasive facial recognition systems and hey presto, they go from 2020 to 1981 at the flick of a switch.

Now lets explore what the future looks like through the lens of each of the main areas of the blockchain ecosystem. As we at KR1 see it, the areas of most interest are Bitcoin as a digital store of value, macro trends including Facebooks Libra and other corporate or nation-state-backed currencies, the flourishing Ethereum ecosystem especially in Decentralised Finance (DeFi), specific competing projects to watch closely and the wonderful world of non-fungible tokens.

As the Bitcoin narrative still forms the backdrop to the ecosystem, both in terms of new participants entering into the space and price action, lets begin there. Were at a critical stage in Bitcoins price trajectory. We had a parabolic rise from 2016 through to the end of 2017 with the price peaking at just under $20,000, followed by a 54 week bear market which saw close to an 87% retracement in price down to a value of $3200. This was the 4th such retracement since the birth of Bitcoin in 2009.

Between March and July 2019, we saw the pendulum swing back, with Bitcoin reaching just under $13,000, signalling an end to the bear market. Since then however weve had six months of sliding prices back to a low of $6,300 and this could well continue down to the $5,000 area towards the middle of January 2020. However, we think that with the clear over-enthusiasm that signalled the end of the bear market, combined with the strong fundamentals behind the scenes such as hashing power, transaction volume and new Bitcoin wallets being created, Bitcoin will most likely bounce back strongly from a steep dive in price and return to the $7,500 mark and then move higher into the middle of 2020. Its important to understand that Bitcoins issuance model, with the halving coming up in May 2020, combined with a strong digital gold narrative and the dominant hard money philosophy of the asset, which maintains a very powerful set of strong hands will create many boom and bust cycles, you could say theyre somewhat baked into the protocol by design.

Away from nation-state superpowers and Bitcoin, diving a little deeper into the technology, the area causing the most commotion and interest is Decentralised Finance (DeFi) on the Ethereum blockchain. The DeFi movement essentially is a suite of flourishing financial applications that allow for seamless interaction and interoperability with each other. It seems there is a new project launching every other day that is building on the composability with previously launched projects. As an example of the flow available to people who hold digital assets, you could use a token swap exchange such as Uniswap to exchange the volatile Ethereum (ETH) asset to a stablecoin, that is pegged to 1 USD by market forces such as Makers DAI, send it to a smart contract lending platform like Compound, where you can lend your assets and stablecoins out for a yield and then you could cover the value held in the lending platform smart contract with an alternative insurance provider such as Nexus Mutual. In essence, this is not dissimilar to using a peer-to-peer lender to loan out money you have and earn interest in return, plus a decentralised stock market where one can exchange unlimited amounts of assets and a digital and decentralised alternative to a specific insurance contract all in one.

All of this can be achieved in very little time, were talking seconds or minutes here, without any paperwork permisionlessly and at very little cost. As a testament to the growing use of that network, the USD value of assets locked up in Ethereum-powered DeFi applications crossed an all-time high of $700 million USD recently, despite the depressed market sentiment especially regarding Ethereum. We do not expect this trend to halt any time soon, in fact we foresee major uplifts in use as the underlying systems gain trust, the applications boost their numbers, improve their offerings and become more accessible to wider audiences. We look forward to watching 2020 continue to be the year where money legos connect together to build a financial fortress.

Not mentioned so far, were seeing huge interest recently launched or soon-to-launch competing layer-1 blockchains, especially in the interoperability or application-specific blockchains ecosystems. In opposition to Bitcoins energy and computing-intensive Proof-of-Work, most of these platforms are Proof-of-Stake networks, where participants guarantee their truthful behaviour by putting up a financial deposit that is at risk instead of wasting computer resources and energy. Staking will be a major trend in 2020 and weve already seen Coinbase and Binance, the worlds largest exchanges move directly into the space. By staking assets, the process where tokens of value are used as collateral or deposit that is at risk, in return for securing the network and agreeing on transactions that happened, stakers are receiving a healthy yield. This system has become a core use case for digital assets in many projects but especially underpins two projects that we will see break new grounds over the next year, Cosmos and Polkadot. Both are providing interoperability for application-specific blockchains while increasing throughput by some order of magnitudes. As of writing, Cosmos is live with a strong community of developers and validators that form the backbone of the staking ecosystem. The key feature of Cosmos, which aims to allow for the seamless transition of tokens between different chains, is IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol), which is due to come online in the next year and should showcase the true potential of the protocol. There are currently lots of developer teams that are building on the Cosmos technology stack (including Binance) but thus far those networks are still isolated. With IBC properly enabled well see all of these sovereign networks starting to communicate and interact with each other through the Cosmos Hub network.

Polkadot is an equally powerful system that, with a different digital architecture, aims to both allow cross chain data and token transmission while also radically increasing throughput. Polkadot lies at the core of a new vision for the internet, the Web 3.0, where data sovereignty, property privacy protections and permissionless applications become a new internet for the world. Currently a canary network Kusama is live, which aims to test many of the systems already put in place by the Parity development team, who is in charge of bringing the Polkadot network to the world. We expect to see a full roll out of Polkadot in the first half of next year and hope it will be a leap forward for the whole ecosystem.

Other technologies that deserve a notable mention for what they will achieve next year are mesh networks like Althea Mesh that bring faster and more private community-based internet to areas of the world that need it most. For example, in parts of Africa people are now getting high speed, low cost internet access when they didnt before, all enabled by Althea and the blockchain ecosystem.

There will also be clear excitement next year for tBTC, brought to us by the Keep Network, which enables a trustless bridge to move Bitcoin as an asset onto Ethereum or other networks like the previously mentioned Cosmos and Polkadot. Considering the strong DeFi trend currently, there will be those with major positions of Bitcoin that will jump at the chance to get their wealth working for a return in the rapidly expanding DeFi ecosystem.

Layer-2 scaling technologies will again be at the forefront of the space, including Matter Labs ZKsync implementation and other solutions like optimistic rollups. Counterfactual and Connexts efforts are continuing to gain traction with their state channel technology allowing developers to enable instant, low-cost Ethereum transactions in their wallets, browsers, and applications. With the complete scope of the release of Ethereum 2.0 still some time away, layer-2technologies performing settlements on the main Ethereum 1.0 blockchain will become far more prominent next year and beyond. We will also see far greater interest in privacy focused technologies such as the Nym project, who are looking to bring mixnet technology back from the computer science labs of the 1980s. Theres an opportunity for network layer privacy projects such as Nym to form a major layer in the forthcoming Web3 stack. Another project tackling this area is HOPR, who are building an incentivised data transmission system that rewards nodes for passing on messages anonymously as they Hop from node to node, before finding their true destination. When combined with an endless flow of cover traffic through the network, privacy can be fully achieved.

Lastly, a look to next year wouldnt be complete without mentioning the rising star of Ethereum adoption charts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Digital scarcity is no better represented than through one-off unique tokens that represent in-game items, collectibles and even art works. All areas are gaining adoption by the day with games, market places, galleries and more all appearing at an astonishing rate. Next year we will see this go into overdrive as some of the big names in the entertainment business begin to experiment with issuing their own NFTs.

Theres plenty to be excited about, far more than current prices would reflect. Were only just beginning to understand the vast breadth of use cases unlocked by programmable money, assets and scarcity in the digital realm. Each year brings new and exciting opportunities and 2020 will be no different.

Mid 2020: $7,500

End 2020: $20,000+

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Forget Brexit, Think Blockchain and Cryptocurrency - FXStreet

Bitcoin Is Now 11 Years Old

Today is January 3rd, 2020. And if you know anything about the history of Bitcoin, you know that this means the worlds first cryptocurrency and its respective blockchain has turned 11 years ago, with this being the date that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous coder-hacker behind the project, mined the Genesis Block of Bitcoin.

In it, the creator encoded a headline regarding the Great Recession of 2008, cementing the idea that he launched the project to counteract banks and governments in the minds of many.

Since then, Bitcoin has seemingly been on an unstoppable rise, with the price of the asset, which many say is the best measure of its success, rising by literal millions of percent, making it the best-performing asset, well, ever. Thats not to mention that the cryptocurrency has accomplished this all in a decades time, effectively irrelevant on a macro scale.

The project has also been successful on a transactional basis. Cryptocurrency research firm TradeBlock found that the cryptocurrency has had a record 2019 with transaction count, transaction volume (USD equivalent basis), and hash rate reaching new all-time highs this past year.

All this has made some of the worlds most prominent people talk about it.

In February, Elon Musk co-founder of PayPal, chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, founder of the Boring Company, among other titles said in a podcast that the cryptocurrency has an underlying structure that is quite brilliant, adding that he thinks maybe Ethereum and maybe some of the others might have technological merit. The renowned technologist concluded by stating that he thinks without a doubt that crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper.

While Bitcoin has done absolutely stellar in its 11-or-so years in existence as laid out earlier in this article, analysts and industry executives are optimistic that the following decade for the leading cryptocurrency and its ilk will just not good, if not better.

Andy Bromberg told Bloomberg that we are seeing a level of building that has happened in 2019 [which makes it feel like] were in the moment of everyone is putting on their jumpsuits, ready to take off. Bromberg added were seeing crypto-related innovation hasnt been seen since 2017, boding well for prices in the future.

And Changpeng CZ Zhao, the prominent chief executive behind cryptos top firm, Binance, was recently quoted as saying that he thinks that the long-term trajectory for the Bitcoin and crypto market remains decidedly positive:

Bitcoin is still a small market cap instrument so there will be high volatility in the short term. However, if you look at the fundamental technology, the longer-term view, about a 5-year or 10-year horizon, were very confident that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

The rest is here:
Why Analysts Are Bullish On Cryptocurrency As Bitcoin Turns 11 - Ethereum World News

From outrageous price predictions to the future of altcoins, crypto analysts and industry leaders are placing their bets on the fate of digital assets in 2020.

Here are seven forecasts predicting some major shifts in the year ahead.

1. Twelve months ago, Bob Loukas, a Bitcoin trader and analyst, accurately predicted what the price of BTC would be at the end of 2019. Now, he thinks Bitcoin is headed for its all-time high near $20,000 by the end of 2020.

In the absolute bear case, after a 6-month downtrend, expect a counter-trend move towards $10k-$11k before another big downtrend. If you think you will FOMO buy $10k then buy it now instead.

Bob Loukas (@BobLoukas) December 26, 2019

2. Mike Novogratz, the CEO of crypto investment giant Galaxy Digital, is also bullish on BTC, saying he expects the king coin to end the new year above $12,000.

2020 prediction #1. @realDonaldTrump loses by more than 10mm votes. #2 $btc finishes over 12k. #3. @USAWrestling wins 3 golds in Tokyo (MF). #4 @tomhanks wins the Oscar for Mr Rodgers. #5 @reform and its partners help shrink the supervised population from 4.5mm to 4mm or <

Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) December 28, 2019

3. Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, thinks numerous governments around the world will experiment with blockchain and their own digital assets.

Says Zhao in an interview with Global Coin Research,

I think in 2020, we will see different experiments tried by many different governments around the globe for adoption. Some will work, some may not, but overall, they will have a tremendously positive effect for crypto adoption.

4. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predictsthat 10 of the 20 largest banks on the globe will begin to actively hold and trade digital assets in 2020 as fiat currencies go digital.

Hes also predicting that at least one G20 currency becomes fully digitized by 2021.

5. Decrypt columnist Matt Hussey echoed Zhao and Garlinghouses sentiments, predicting numerous nation states will roll out their own digital currencies this year.

6. Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin educator, thinks BTC dominance will be at more than 75% by the end of the year. He also predicts lots of altcoin delistings.

2020 Predictions Part 1:

* Bitcoin dominance will be 75%+ at end of year* Taproot will be activated without much controversy* Bitcoin price will have a bottom to top difference of at least 100%* Halving will be the big narrative

Jimmy Song () (@jimmysong) December 30, 2019

2020 Predictions Part 2:

* Lots of altcoin delistings* IEOs will lose steam* Some coin will be 51% attacked and cause an exchange to lose lots of money. Coin will go down less than 20%.* More coins will change to be merge mined with Bitcoin.

Jimmy Song () (@jimmysong) December 31, 2019

7. And last but not least, John McAfee now has only one year left to see whether Bitcoin reaches his sky-is-the-limit, dick-on-the-line forecast.

When I predicted Bitcoin at $500,000 by the end of 2020, it used a model that predicted $5,000 at the end of 2017. BTC has accelerated much faster than my model assumptions. I now predict Bircoin at $1 million by the end of 2020. I will still eat my dick if wrong. pic.twitter.com/WVx3E71nyD

John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 29, 2017

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7 Big Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2020 - The Daily Hodl

XRP was once the best-performing crypto assets of all-time, peaking near the $3 price point at the top of the previous bull market on the back of retail FOMO, perpetuated by those saying that the cryptocurrency was on the verge of being adopted by the worlds largest banks and financial institutions.

But since then, the price of the third-largest cryptocurrency has absolutely fallen off a cliff, collapsing from the heights above $3 to $0.192, where XRP sits as of the time of writing this.

Some say it is only a matter of time before the cryptocurrency rips higher to revisit its all-time highs.

Per previous reports from Ethereum World News, popular trader and long-termXRP bull Credible Crypto remarked in November that those getting impatient about the XRP price are missing the big picture, and will miss out on the gains that are sure to come. Elaborating on why this is, he noted that XRP only started running nearly 2 years after the BTC bear market low was put in in 14-15 and that too, only afterBTCbroke prior ATH.

The implication in this Twitter message, of course, being that theres a rather high likelihood the cryptocurrency will surge higher in a move that will bring it to orders of magnitudes above where it started.

Though a prominent and respected cryptocurrency analyst has branded XRP but a moonshot investment, meaning that it has dramatic upside potential, but a low likelihood of that potential being fulfilled.

Mati Greenspan, a former senior analyst at eToro and the founder of Quantum Economics, released his startups latest newsletter on Friday morning. In it, the prominent cryptocurrency analyst took a moment to touch on XRP, specifically in regards to the narrative spreading on Crypto Twitter that the cryptocurrency will be used as a bridge currency for the world.

Should XRP become the worlds bridge currency, meaning that it will effectively be used as a form of liquidity by all banking institutions, the price would likely go sky-high, surging past the previous all-time high in a short period of time.

While possible, Greenspan noticed that it does seem more likely that a coin created by banks, for banks, would be favorable to most large financial institutions, before adding that some competitor or central bank digital currencies may become widespread and efficient. This risk factor led him to the conclusion that XRP is just a moonshot investment in his eyes.

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Top Analyst Brands XRP a Moonshot Investment; Heres Why - Ethereum World News

Ian Balina, a native of Uganda, Africa, is the founder and CEO ofToken Metrics, is Kiana Danials guest today on Invest Divas Diva on the Block.

Ian Balina someone who lost 2.5 million dollars while streaming live on youtube, is one of the most recognized and probably the most controversial personalities in the crypto community. He left behind his data analytics and IT jobs at companies like Deloitte and IBM to become a full-time crypto investor and researcher.

In this episode of Diva On The Block Ian and Kiana talk about:

His journey from Uganda, to the US Why he quit his secure job at IBM to work full time in crypto Why he focuses on ICOs and how he manages his risk His thoughts on transparency How he and his team are using AI, machine learning and data analytics to create investment strategies, and whether hes just using these words as a buzz word, or theyre actually using it I also chat with him about his upcoming project, Token Metrics, an investment, research, and media platform to take cryptocurrency investing mainstream.

After you watch the video,go to the comment sectionand let me know what you think of my discussion with Ian Balina and his new mission with Token Metrics.

Ian immigrated to the United States with his family at eight years old. He attended middle school and high school in the USA and would go on to attend The George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. on an academic merit scholarship. He would graduate GWU with a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Engineering.

Title:Influential Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Investor, Advisor, and Evangelist, and the Founder/CEO of Token MetricsWebsite:https://ianbalina.com/Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianbalina/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ianbalina/Twitter:https://twitter.com/DiaryofaMadeMan(138.5k followers)Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/diaryofamademan/

While at GWU, he got the entrepreneur bug and founded his first startup, Leximo, the worlds first social dictionary. After working on Leximo, he went on to work as an independent software developer, then as an IT consultant for Deloitte, the worlds largest consulting firm.

Ian later joined IBM as an Analytics Tech Evangelist, where he helped evangelize and sell the IBM Cloud and Big Data Analytics Portfolio in North America. Ian helped drive revenues in the millions of dollars per year. He was recognized as one of IBMs top employees by being a member of the IBM Hundred Percent Club, due to achieving more than 100% of his million-dollar sales quota. After four years with IBM, he retired from the corporate world to become a full-time cryptocurrency investor.

Ian Balina is also an influential Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Investor, Advisor, and Evangelist. He has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, Huffington Post, The Street, INC and Entrepreneur Magazine for his work in analytics, cryptocurrencies, and entrepreneurship.

According to TheRichest.com, Mr. Balinas net worth is $6 million dollars

Ian started Diary of a Made Man, his video diary of his journal in life and in crypto investing. He became one of the worlds most prolific ICO influencers in 2017 while growing his portfolio from $37,000 to $5.36 million by January 2018. In April 2018, Ian Balina fell off his perch after sustaining a hack of his personal wallets in which he lost almost $2.5 million.

Ian is a founder and General Partner at 100X Advisors, a global blockchain investment and advisory firm,. The firm has made 15 investments in 15 different countries in the last year. He has brought a data-driven, money-ball approach to investing in blockchain startups, called Token Metrics.

Token Metrics is a data-driven cryptocurrency investment research platform that helps retail investors leverage analytics and machine learning to become better investors.

The BTC/USD pas remained below the dailyIchimoku cloud. It now appears to have bottomed out just above the key support level of $6,406.

The pair may even be in the process of forming aDouble Bottom bullish reversal chart pattern.

However, the bearish momentum still appears to be strong. A break below this key support level could open doors to further declines. Could Bitcoin reach the $4,000 again?

What do you think about Ian Balina and his controversial background? Do you think hes a scammer out there to get people? Or do you think he truly has the best interest of people in mind?

Go to thevideos comments sectionand let me know.

This article was originally published on InvestDiva.com.

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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Ian Balina, The Controversial Face Of Cryptocurrency - Nasdaq

While cryptocurrency mass adoption in the Middle East may still take a little more time to take place, there are several countries in the region that are truly taking notice.

From the UAE to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Lebanon, some private and public entities are willing to take the risk by embracing the new technologies earlier than the others. However, there are also other countries that decided to crack down on anything involving cryptocurrency.

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That being said, one of the focal points that should be taken into consideration when analyzing the nascent industry is that adoption in this region is mainly driven from the top down. Government agencies and traditional banks, though historically known as the slowest technology adopters, are the main players diving right into crypto transformation.

The region boasts some of the wealthiest nations in the world, with GDP per capita, ranges from $50,000 to $130,000 in the Gulf states, thanks to large reserves of oil and other lucrative natural resources. However, the spending on the digital economy and its share of Arab countries GDPs is a mere low single-digit. Conventional sectors, such as real estate and stocks, are still monopolizing private investments, spending, and conversations.

So it could be a bit frustrating for crypto enthusiasts to watch the slow pace at which Arab investors are reacting to the crypto phenomenon.

But with such a hype surrounding cryptocurrencies, the virtual asset class may have enticed retail investors, with many utilizing cryptocurrency as a speculative asset to take advantage of price fluctuations.

All in all, the innovation and private investments in the crypto space have been and will remain lagging far behind other regions, including emerging nations, as in fact, they are nowhere. However, regulators, caught up with the much-hyped vision of crypto, have likewise others begun to investigate blockchain and cryptocurrency technology. And while they are expected to continue to push ahead with regulations, this may ultimately wake up the wealthy investors base to the opportunities that the new business offers.

Various countries in the Arab world have emerged as early adopters, and theyre poised to become even more influential in the near future.

Currently, at the frontier of Fintech adoption, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have announced plans to launch a digital currency to serve both countries. Dubbed Aber, it was announced in November on an experimental basis to facilitate financial settlements between the two Middle Eastern nations, which have a combined economy of over $1.2 trillion.

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The government of Dubai has also revealed details of its own digital currency, called emCash, which will be used to pay for government and private services in the city.

Ripple, a US-based crypto payments company, is already working with Saudi and Emeriti banks to legitimize cryptocurrencies further. It has inked partnerships with Saudi Arabias de facto central bank to pilot instant cross-border payments. According to Ripple, more than fifty financial institutions in the Middle East revealed their interest in its solutions that enablecross-border money transactionsin a faster and cheaper way than the current systems allow.

Regardless of the regulatory stance, policymakers in the Middle East are aware that the adoption of the cryptocurrencies appears inevitable. Those going bigger on this track are wary of the combination of the potential benefits and risks, as well as factors that determine policy openness or aversion.

The UAE has already taken steps to regulate the way that blockchain start-ups are raising money initial coin offerings though the nations regulators continue to warn of the many risks involved. The watchdog proposed a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework that effectively recognizesdigital tokens as securities.

Under the guidelines, startups wishing to execute anICOmust approach the SCA to see if it falls under the bodys regulation. Also, market intermediaries and secondary market operators dealing with ICOs must be approved by the regulator. ICO operatorswill have to publish a prospectus, just like a firm would for an IPO on the stock market. And if an ICO has the characteristics of a security, such as giving a person ownership of shares in a company, then the SCA will regulate it.

In addition, Abu Dhabis financial regulator granted approval for Arabian Bourse, which allows the startup to operate a full-fledged crypto-asset exchange and digital custodian in the emirate.

Bahrain is also establishing itself as a blockchain pioneer in the region. Indeed, the smallest Middle Eastern nation isnt too far behind with its numerous initiatives to attract cryptocurrency business. On the one hand, Bahrain Central Bank has approved the crypto-asset exchange Rain Crypto Exchange to go live, post their partnership with global exchange Bittrex. Rain received its node after a two-year regulatory sandbox process under the central banks supervision.

Other countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait are also said to have taken notice.Their regulators have drafted different bills allowing central banks to issue rules regulating cryptocurrency activities and blockchain-based finance. The new rules reflect a U-turn from last years crackdown that said that cryptocurrencies are an entirely non-sharia compliant business.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of debate on the use ofvirtual coins as a legitimate formof currency and investment as Islamic law emphasizes real economic activity based on physical assets and without pure monetary speculation.

All economic activity in Islamic finance must be compliant with Sharia law, which has stringent rules to ensure certainty and immediacy of transactions. Islamic law also prohibits the acceptance of interest or fees for loans of money.

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Cryptocurrency in Arab World: Clock is Ticking, But Pace is Slow - Finance Magnates