Crypto News

Stephen Pair, the CEO of BitPay, declared that speculation is a substantial Bitcoin price driver, while “actual utilityâ€� is not. The CEO of crypto merchant platform BitPay Stephen Pair stated that speculation on future adoption drives Bitcoin’s (BTC) price more than “actual utility,” in an interview on CNBC Dec. 13.Speaking on the reasons behind Bitcoin’s current value, compared to its historic price highs, Pair told reporters:“A very big component of the [Bitcoin’s] price is certainly speculation. It’s investors that are speculating on the future usage and adoption of this technology. I’m sure a small component of that price is the actual utility.”When asked about a Bitcoin ETF’s potential to stimulate a price rally, Pair argued that “not just ETF adoption or ETF launches” could be catalysts for price movement, but that “adoption will push the prices higher,” adding optimistically:“I do think we’ll see those kinds of prices at some point in the future, if history is any guide.”Answering a question about blockchain-based currencies’ use in daily transactions, the BitPay CEO told CNBC that he expects such adoption to occur on a mass scale in under half a decade, stating that:“I used to say 10 years, but now I think it’s more like 3-5 years until you can go into a restaurant, a retail establishment, and just everybody’s going to expect that that store will be able to accept a blockchain payment.”Pair then further noted that he was not just referring to “Bitcoin or the various tokens that we see today…Read More

Cryptocurrency data website Coin Dance revealed on Friday the team’s revamped Bitcoin Cash protocol development tracking page. Interested proponents can get a comprehensive look at all the completed BCH developments, proposals, ideas that are being discussed, and concepts that are currently under development. Also read: Markets Update: Bears Continue to Drag Cryptocurrency Prices Down The […] The post Monitor Bitcoin Cash Development With the Coin Dance Tracking Page appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Top cryptocurrencies report moderate losses and Bitcoin briefly dips under the $3,200 mark in the past 24 hours. Saturday, Dec. 15: the top 20 cryptocurrencies report a mix of moderate gains and losses, with Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dipping under $3,200 before climbing back above the price mark by press time.Market visualization from Coin360Bitcoin started the day around $3,228, but after a mid-day high of $3,275, it fell back to the current price of $3,232, after touching its lowest point of $3,191 earlier today.At press time, Bitcoin is down a fraction of a percent over the last 24 hours. On the weekly chart, the prices in the past two days have been the lowest, down from a weekly high of $3,600.Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCapRipple (XRP), the second largest crypto by market capitalization, lost 1 percent in the last 24 hours. It started the day at $0.286 and is currently trading around $0.284 after a mid-day high of $0.292. On the weekly chart, the current price is the lowest, seven days ago Ripple was worth about $0.32.Ripple 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCapEthereum (ETH) remains the third cryptocurrency by market cap, losing just a under half a percent of its value in the last 24 hours. At press time, ETH is trading at $84.33, after having started the day around $84 and trading sideways during the day.On the weekly chart, the current ETH prices today are the lowest. Seven days ago Ethereum was trading at $87, but then shortly peaked at…Read More

How blockchain is feeding an appetite for transparent food supplies. 2018 has witnessed a steady increase in the number of food manufacturers and retailers using blockchains to enhance their operations. From tracking the quality of food to facilitating international trades in grain, blockchain technology has been turning up repeatedly in recent months; and while many deployments of such tech have been conducted on a trial basis, a growing number have been implemented permanently.However, as much as it now seems that blockchains are becoming a familiar feature of the food industry, they aren’t an infallible solution to every problem it faces. Even though many blockchains will provide an ‘immutable’ and ‘trustless’ record of the distribution of certain foods, this doesn’t mean we don’t have to trust the parties that first registered these foods on them. And similarly, even though such multinationals as Carrefour are using solutions offered by the IBM Food Trust, they don’t use blockchains in the original sense of the term.Tracking and transparencyIn the vast majority of cases, blockchain tech is used by the food industry for tracking purposes, so that customers can be assured that a particular item is what it’s claimed to be. Most recently, France-based multinational Auchan revealed that it would permanently implement blockchain-based food tracking in five of the countries it operates in: France, Italy, Senegal, Spain, and Portugal. This announcement followed a successful 18-month trial in its Vietnam branch, which has been using the tracking system in conjunction with some 6,000 companies.Auchan’s system works…Read More

Linkedin has published its 2018 “Emerging Jobs Report” for the United States, in which it names “Blockchain Developer” as the most rapidly emerging employment position of the past year. According to the report, the position saw growth of 33x on Linkedin’s platform during 2018. Also Read: Pantera Capital Braces for SEC Action Against 25 Percent of […] The post Linkedin Names ‘Blockchain Developer’ Top Emerging US Job of 2018 appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

The current crypto bear market is dragging on, with billions in cryptocurrency wealth wiped out in 2018. The trading volume of six year-old Coinbase has hit a yearly low. Despite the crypto winter, the company is continuing to raise funds and has reached an impressive valuation of $8 billion. But is this figure justified and […] The post Will Coinbase Hit Its 2018 Target of $1.3 Billion in Revenue? appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations Section 5: Saving the World Through Anarchism Chapter 11, Part 9 From Drugs to Gold and Prostitution, the Blockchain Minimizes Violence The most obvious objection to relying on self-defense…and restitution to prevent and rectify rights violations, is that these measures will be inadequate to deter criminals…Most people […] The post Wendy McElroy: From Drugs to Gold and Prostitution, the Blockchain Minimizes Violence appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Malware that uses infected hardware for mining crypto without authorization has become the top cyber threat in certain countries. Cryptojacking, the unauthorized use of another’s hardware to mine cryptocurrency, has become the biggest cyber threat in many parts of the world, Bloomberg reported Dec. 14.According to research from cyber security research firm Kaspersky Lab, cryptojacking overtook ransomware as the biggest cybersecurity threat particularly in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. In Afghanistan and Ethiopia over one out of four detected malware are cryptocurrency miners, according to Kaspersky’s data.As cited by the Bloomberg, Kaspersky’s research “shows crypto mining attacks have risen almost fourfold in the region, from 3.5 million in 2017 to 13 million this year.” The cybersecurity firm reportedly also claimed that cryptojacking incidents are “likely to continue given the increased use of digital currencies.”A report released by Kaspersky in November declares that the reason for the rise of cryptojacking malware compared to ransomware may “be due to the fact that people from developing markets are not so eager to pay a ransom.”Not only PC but also smartphone users are targeted by unauthorized mining software — from the 2016-2017 period to the 2017-2018 period, these kinds of attacks reportedly increased by 9.5 percent.Fabio Assolini, Kaspersky’s Senior Security Researcher, told Bloomberg that “the [Middle East, Turkey, Africa] region is becoming more appealing to cyber-criminals, with financial and malicious cryptomining attacks taking center stage.” Assolini also claimed that such attacks are becoming increasingly popular because they are “less noticeable” than ransomware.Still, the…Read More

The Financial Services Agency of Japan has resolved to refer to cryptocurrencies as “crypto assetsâ€� in order to prevent confusion with legal tender. Also in The Daily, the Justice Ministry in Moscow has confirmed that it classifies digital coins as “other property.â€� Finally, according to a recent report, stablecoins have seen significant growth over the […] The post The Daily: Japan Calls All Coins ‘Crypto Assets’, Russia Defines Cryptocurrency as Property appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Increasingly frequent action taken by the SEC against initial coin offerings is expected to lead to more cryptocurrency projects being forced to refund investors. Among those expected to be affected is the first U.S.-based cryptocurrency investment firm, Pantera Capital, with the company bracing to receive refunds on a quarter of its ICO investments. Also Read: BTI […] The post Pantera Capital Braces for SEC Action Against 25 Percent of ICO Investments appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

The Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) has published its December 2018 “Exchange Volumes Report,” claiming that only two of the top 25 cryptocurrency exchanges by reported volume on Coinmarketcap pairings accurately report their trade volume. The report also asserts that wash-trading is estimated to comprise 99 percent of the purported volume for 12 of the top […] The post BTI Claims Only Two of Top 25 Crypto Exchanges Accurately Report Volume appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Gab, a social network dedicated to preserving freedom of speech, has announced that its store now accepts BTC directly after banks and payment processors denied the platform service. “Literally no one can no-platform our new crypto shop,” Gab announced. The platform integrated Btcpay Server after it was refused service by Coinbase and Bitpay. Also read: Indian […] The post Free Speech Social Network Gab Starts Accepting BTC appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Telecoms conglomerate AT&T is seeking a patent for a blockchain-based system that would create a “mappingâ€� platform for content on social media networks American telecoms giant AT&T is seeking a patent for a blockchain-based social media history “map.” The patent application was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Dec. 13.AT&T’s patent application describes a blockchain-powered system that may include a transaction history controller to store subscribers’ data, which may be used for various purposes. The file outlines a number of particular cases, such as creating and sharing information, ideas, and career interests through virtual communities and networks.Broadly speaking, by deploying the system users could purportedly track “micro-culture transactions,” like tracing current trends at a particular time or place, or behavior of their friends. That ability, per the patent application, “may have enormous value in e-commerce, marketing, and targeted advertising.” The document further states:“The social media history map platforms described herein may take advantage of the immutable and permanent nature of blockchain records to store, and provide access to, data representing online transactions that occur on multiple social media applications.”Per the filing, content creators would keep ownership of their data on the “mapping” platform:“However, instead of passing ownership of blocks or data between users, a social media account owner maintains primary ownership of his or her online transaction data. What passes from the social media account owner to other users of the social media history map service, such as followers of the social media account owner, is a…Read More

Ethereum-based mobile app Status is laying off 25 percent of its staff following the crypto market crash. Ethereum (ETH)-based chat platform Status is laying off 25 percent of its staff due to the recent cryptocurrency market decline, according to a post published Dec. 11.Founded in 2017 in Switzerland, Status is an open source Ethereum-based mobile app that enables its users to chat, transact, and access decentralized applications (DApps).In the announcement, the startup’s co-founder Jarrad Hope said that Status is “much larger than we can sustain” in the environment of the declining market, wherein the company was not prepared for scenarios of ETH dropping over 80 percent since August.“This was compounded by not having solid banking partners due to the difficulty in opening banking accounts for crypto projects until Q2 of this year, and have been hedging since then accordingly,” the announcement further reads.According to Status, 25 percent of its staff is “non-essential” to the company’s long-term growth projects, and are therefore being laid off. Remaining employees have been asked to take a paycut and will purportedly be given a sum of Status’ native virtual currency SNT “to help offset the cut and align with the network’s success.”In order to set up a “runway measured in years,” Status is going to tap into its remaining fiat money and “large” ETH holdings. The startup has also asked remaining employees to actively contribute to the development of its two priority projects, which are to “deliver on white paper promises” and get the app…Read More

Bitcoin bull Thomas Lee continues to be confident in BTC, insisting that its current price is wrong and should actually be closer to the $15,000 mark. Along with a number of other bulls, Lee has made several overly hopeful predictions this year.  Also read: Markets Update: Bears Continue to Drag Cryptocurrency Prices Down Fair Value […] The post Bitcoin Bull Thomas Lee Claims Market Is Wrong and BTC Should Be Much Higher appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

Blockchain Labs has graduated its first blockchain projects from its Incubation Program. Binance Labs, the venture wing of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has released its first “batch” of blockchain projects from its Incubation Program, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 14.Binance Labs is an initiative that seeks to help early-stage blockchain and digital assets projects and entrepreneurs through direct investments and technical assistance. The Binance Labs Incubation Program is an onsite program that was launched in August 2018.Following a try-out tour with over 500 applicants, Binance Labs selected only eight projects, each of which received $500,000 in seed funding and access to necessary resources and mentors. Over the course of the 10-week program, seven projects have shipped working products and signed on users, while three of those teams have paying customers.Among others, the eight projects selected by Binance Labs include hardware wallet SafePal, fictionless logins for decentralized apps (DApps) Torus, Internet security project Nym, and market prediction startup Deaux.In an “Ask me Anything” (AMA) session on Reddit in June, Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs, said that decentralization is “the core value of Bitcoin and blockchain,” stating that the company had launched a number of initiatives in this direction.In the beginning of October, Binance Labs reportedly invested millions of dollars in decentralized digital content ecosystem Contentos. The startup is set to develop a decentralized ecosystem, which will offer transparency and monetization of content, without third-party censorship or removal of content.Last month, Binance launched an analysis…Read More

The CEO of Romanian crypto exchange Coinflux was reportedly arrested for alleged fraudulent activity. The CEO of Romania’s largest crypto exchange Coinflux was reportedly arrested on a warrant from the United States for fraud, organized crime, and money laundering, local news outlet Mediafax reported Dec. 13. Coinflux has subsequently stopped all digital currency exchanges.Founded in 2015 in the Romanian city of Cluj, Coinflux is an online digital currency trading platform, with reportedly more than 200 million euro worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ripple (XRP) in transactions.Vlad Nistor, the CEO and founder of Coinflux, was supposedly arrested on the territory of Romania upon the request of U.S. prosecutors. Nistor is accused of alleged fraudulent activity, organized crime and money laundering. The issue of extradition of Nistor to the U.S. will reportedly be heard by the Appeals Court of Bucharest.Following the purported arrest, Coinflux published an announcement saying that the exchange has temporarily suspended all digital currency exchanges, while the company’s bank accounts have been frozen. Coinflux states that the ongoing investigation has also restricted its access to some parts of the platform.In July of 2018,  the Ministry of Finance of Romania released a draft Emergency Ordinance, which regulates the issuance of electronic money (e-money). Per the document, any legal entity looking to issue e-money must have a share capital of no less than €350,000 ($395,000), while its members are subject of approval by the Romanian National Bank (BNR).While the first Bitcoin automated teller machine (ATM) in the…Read More

The Orion Span project has plans to launch a space station that will be used as a luxury hotel. Its Aurora space station is set to launch in early 2022 and a 12-night stay on the craft will set you back $9.5 million. The space hotel says it has sold out its first six months of […] The post Cryptocurrency Enthusiasts Can Pay $10 Million for a 12-Night Stay in Space appeared first on Bitcoin News.Read More

U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase enhances its services, introducing cash balance withdrawals to PayPal. Major American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has introduced free of charge cash withdrawals to online payment system PayPal, according to an announcement published Dec. 14.From now on, Coinbase’s United States-based customers are able to withdraw their cash balances to Paypal. The service for other countries will reportedly be rolled out some time in 2019.Coinbase and PayPal previously integrated in 2016, when Coinbase added support for the payment platform in addition to major credit cards. At the time, Coinbase users were able to sell Bitcoin (BTC) and have their fiat funds deposited to a PayPal wallet. The integration was subsequently terminated due to technical difficulties.With this move, Coinbase has enhanced its range of services, which has been actively expanding over the past several months. This month, the exchange began “exploring” the possibility of providing trading support for 31 cryptocurrencies. Potential new additions include Ripple (XRP), EOS and Cardano (ADA). Coinbase “will be working with local banks and regulators to add them in as many jurisdictions as possible.”As Cointelegraph reported in September, Coinbase announced a new process that will purportedly allow it to list more digital assets faster. Issuers who want to submit tokens at Coinbase via the newly adopted process will have to use a special form, which will subsequently be evaluated by the exchange team against their digital asset framework.In November, Coinbase launched over-the-counter (OTC) trading for institutional customers. Christine Sandler, head of sales at Coinbase, revealed that…Read More

French stock market regulator AMF blacklisted four crypto-related websites for unauthorized investment offerings. The French stock market watchdog, the Financial Markets Regulator (AMF), has blacklisted four crypto-related websites for unauthorized investment offerings, according to an official statement published Friday, Dec. 14.The AMF announcement notes nine companies that are allegedly operating without necessary regulatory approval, including four crypto-related firms.In the announcement, the stock market regulator warns investors about the increasing number of unregistered investment projects, claiming that “new unauthorized actors appear regularly.”The recent blacklist includes such crypto-related websites as iminage.com, elos-patrimoine.com, infoconso.info, and live-crypto.com.net. Elos-patrimoine claims to offer “risk-free” crypto investments, promising “professional support” powered by a “long experience in all areas of investment.” Introducing itself as a “manager of European heritage for 15 years,” the Elos-patrimoine purported to guarantee monthly minimum returns of 3-5 percent.The other websites blacklisted by the AMF included four businesses relating to the wine industry, and one website offering investments in diamonds.The AMF is an independent public institution that is responsible for protecting investors and maintaining orderly financial markets. In late November, the AMF participated in a joint initiative with France’s central bank to warn the public about the risks associated with the “speculative” nature of crypto assets.Earlier in November, the AMF released a report claiming that the initial coin offering (ICO) industry in the country represents a small part of the overall global ICO market. According to the study, the global ICO market accrued 19.4 billion euros ($21.8 billion) since 2014, wherein France accounted for…Read More

Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire believes that crypto valuations will increase, and BTC will be worth “a great deal moreâ€� than it is now. Jeremy Allaire, co-founder of crypto finance company Circle, told CNBC in an interview Friday, Dec. 14, that Bitcoin (BTC) will be worth “a great deal more” than it is now.When asked about the Bitcoin price in three years, Allaire told Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin that he does not make “significant price predictions,” while adding, “I think it is certainly going to be worth a great deal more that it is today.”Allaire also stated that while Bitcoin is attractive as a non-state store of value, a slew of other tokens will enter the space, and the bases of their valuations will be diverse. He further explained:“I do not think it’s a winner-take-all [situation]. We have the phrase ‘the tokenization of everything,’ and we think cryptographic tokens are going to represent every form of financial asset in the world. There will be millions of them in years.”Allaire claimed that the crypto sphere needs clearer regulation, while noting that the United States already has “more regulatory clarity than almost any other market in the world.”The Circle co-founder cited the need for clarification of whether crypto assets are currencies or commodities, and which crypto assets should qualify as securities. Furthermore, he believes the industry needs to define whether it needs rules for secondary trading of digital securities or a “kind of commodity spot market supervision for the crypto space.”Earlier this…Read More

The Swiss Bundesrat has called for specific adjustments of existing financial laws in relation to the blockchain industry. The Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat) has said that existing financial law in the country suits the blockchain industry, but needs specific adjustments. The government suggested several amendments in an official statement by the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) published on Friday, Dec. 14.In a meeting on Dec. 7, the Bundesrat adopted a report on the legal framework for blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the financial sector. The report analyzes relevant framework provisions, outlines the need for measures and proposes concrete steps for developing the necessary legal conditions in the blockchain sphere.Specifically, the report recommend the development of a new and flexible authorization category for blockchain-based financial market infrastructures. It also advocates for better legal clarity for rights holders of digital registers, and ensuring that decentralized trading platforms are subject to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Act.The Federal Council also mentioned the results of a cross-departmental working group on the money laundering and terrorist financing risks of cryptocurrencies. The recent report is based on the work of the blockchain/initial coin offering (ICO) working group by the Federal Department of Finance that was reportedly set up in January 2018.Following the report adoption, the Bundesrat has instructed the FDF and the Federal Department of Justice and Police to prepare an adjustment plan for the first quarter of 2019. The Bundesrat has also commissioned the FTF to research whether money laundering law should be reconsidered…Read More

The European Parliament has called for an increase in the adoption of blockchain technology in trade in a new resolution. The European Parliament has called for measures to increase the adoption of blockchain technology in trade and administration with a provisional resolution published on Dec. 13.The resolution, dubbed “Blockchain: a forward-looking trade policy,” generally considers blockchain “as a private, permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT)” but also admits that “various case studies and industries will derive different utility from a mixture of private/public, permissioned/permissionless blockchains.”The resolution notes that Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the EU are underutilized — only 67 percent of EU exporters and 90 percent of EU importers make use of the preferential tariffs — and that blockchain could help improve these trade policies.The authors of the resolution state that “exporters could upload all their documents to a public authority application underpinned by blockchain, and demonstrate their compliance with preferential treatment granted by an FTA.”The parliament also states that blockchain technology has potential in “providing trust in the provenance” of products and assisting and enabling customs authorities to obtain the required information for customs declarations.Overall, the resolution proposes that DLT technology is as a way to “increase the efficiency, speed and volume of global trade by limiting the costs associated with international transactions.”The document concludes by calling on the European Commission to “follow developments in the area of blockchain”  and develop “a set of guiding principles” for its applications. It also urges the commission to set up an advisory…Read More

While total market cap threatens to break below $100 billion, new research shows that the amount of crypto users doubled by Q3 2018. Does this signal a recovery in the future? The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange.A lot of crypto investors have lost a staggering amount of money this year. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is threatening to break down of the $100 billion mark. Unlike the traditional assets, there is no set standard to arrive at a fair value for cryptocurrencies. Various experts have proposed many different methods to determine the valuation.One of the most popular Bitcoin advocates and a co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Thomas Lee, believes that the fair value of Bitcoin is between $13,800 and $14,800. He expects the price to rebound if the asset class is widely embraced and its user adoption increases.After this year’s bear market, one would expect the hitherto existing owners to abandon the asset class. However, a study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance shows that the number of ID-verified cryptocurrency users has doubled in the first three quarters of this year — from 18 million to 35 million. Does this signal a likely recovery in the near future?Let’s look at the charts and try to forecast whether the…Read More

Atletico Mineiro, a Brazilian premier league soccer club, is launching its own fan token “GaloCoinâ€� based on Ethereum blockchain. Brazilian premier league soccer club Atletico Mineiro has launched a fan token dubbed “GaloCoin,” Cointelegraph Brazil reports Friday, Dec. 14.The GaloCoin is named after Atletico’s mascot, a rooster (“galo” in Portuguese). It is based on Footcoin — a platform that allows to launch utility tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The GaloCoin is tied to the national fiat currency exchange rate and is equal to one Brazilian real.Atletico’s token will allow fans to purchase game tickets, official apparel, as well as participate in discount programs. To use the club’s cryptocurrency token, one has to buy at least 50 GaloCoins (equivalent to approximately $13).Utility tokens are steadily increasing in popularity among soccer teams. In September, one of the best-performing French clubs Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) partnered with the blockchain platform Socios.com to launch its own Fan Token Offering (FTO).One of Italy’s most famous clubs, Juventus soon followed PSG’s example and announced “Juventus Official Fan Token,” also in partnership with Socios.com. The coin is set to launch in early 2019.Moreover, seven United Kingdom premier league clubs — Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City, Leicester City Football Club, Newcastle United and Southampton — have partnered with local crypto trading platform eToro to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrencies in soccer stadiums.As Cointelegraph reported in August, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has implemented a blockchain-based ticketing system. The association has already conducted a…Read More