RAIN CAN NOW OPERATE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

On Wednesday, Rain, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by BitMEX, announced that it gained a crypto coin module license from the Central Bank of Bahrain that allow them to provide crypto coin trading services in the area.

Before the crypto exchange acquired the license, the exchange worked under the central bank’s supervision for 2 years. Notably, Rain is also the first crypto exchange to gain this type of license in the region.

Crypto trading is increasingly more required in the Middle East and the news that Rain gained a license also attracted new investors. On the other hand, the exchange also got funded USD 2.5 million in a crowdfunding held by BitMEX and Blockwater.

The Chief Executive Officer of BitMEX stated that BitMex is focused on promoting crypto trading access everywhere around the world as crypto coins become more and more popular. Rain, being the first licensed crypto exchange in the Middle East, has a great potential to grow and facilitate the advancement of cryptocurrency trading in the region.

He also added that Rain with its professional team and great offering can bring change to trading in the region. The funds gained from the fundraising will be used expanding the platform and putting money into new technologies.

 

 

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ZILIQIA PARTNERSHIP WITH CHAINLINK

On July 31 2019, Ziliqia announced its new partnership with Chainlink.

Ziliqia is a blockchain-based platform that is both scalable and safe. Notably, Ziliqia is among the first crypto platforms that have applied sharding, a database architecture that separates large data into small parts. By using this method the platform manages to perform 2,828 transfers in a second.

Ziliqia also uses the Proof of Work algorithm in preventing cyber attacks and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance for consensus. However, the team of the platform stated that the Proof of Work algorithm may be replaced one day.

On the other hand, Chainlink is aspiring to solve issues concerning smart contracts. In their mind, the fact that smart contracts can not integrate with external systems is an issue for the technology. Chainlink aims to create a decentralized network of nodes that connect the smart contracts to the outside world.

The two companies are cooperating to create a network of smart contracts that are driven by data. This partnership will give Ziliqia the opportunity to source data from different places and send them to the Ziliqia network.

The president of Ziliqia stated that the company has a vision to encourage developers. The newfound partnership will offer a great solution to smart contract users.

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POMPLIANO DISCUSSING CRYPTO ADOPTION

Anthony Pompliano, the Co-Founder of Morgan Creek Digital was interviewed by CNBC, along with Meltem Demirors, the CSO of Coinshare. Morgan Creek Digital is a subsidary of Morgan Creek Capital Management that specializes in crypto asset investment.

Pompliano said that jurisdictions are slowly but surely embracing crypto coins and those that do will be leaders of a large global movement. After that, other countries will try to enter the race.

As Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole are gaining users and interest, regulations and negative opinions on the digital currencies by authorities intensified. Regulators are intensively started to go harsh on cryptocurrency. The wave of scrutiny came after Facebook’s announcement of its new crypto project, Libra, last month. The United States authorities even went as far as saying that crypto coins were a national security issue.

Pompliano assured that large counties at some point are going to adopt crypto coins and they will compete with each other strategically in order to benefit from the technology the most. In addition, Pompliano brought up countries like Singapore that accepted the new technology and made a step to regulate cryptocurrency in the country.

On the other hand, Demirors stressed the importance of the United States finally regulating Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. These regulations will protect investors that utilize exchanges for crypto transactions.

 

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Diversity among crypto holders increasing, 1 in 5 are female

Diversity among crypto holders increasing, 1 in 5 are female

Vienna, 31st of July 2019 – Bitpanda partnered with GlobalWebIndex to produce the most in-depth survey on European cryptocurrency holders with research across 17 European countries. The objective of the report was to draw on a wide set of data points to paint a holistic picture of European cryptocurrency investors. The goal was to provide an insight into the attitudes and behaviours that set them apart from the average investor.

Key findings of the research report include:

• Cryptocurrency holders tend to be young, highly educated, high-income males working in European financial centres in IT, engineering or finance.
• This stereotype is challenged by increasing diversity. 1 in 5 cryptocurrency holders are women, and 40% are over the age of 35.
• European cryptocurrency holders have technical knowledge, higher disposable income, and they tend to lean towards risk-taking.
• They pursue novelty and have a strong sense of economic empowerment.

“We wanted to demystify the people that shape the cryptocurrency industry. I’m hoping this report will help everyone to better understand who these people are, what their attitudes are, as well as their lifestyle, finance & investment behaviours.”, says Eric Demuth, CEO at Bitpanda.

The report confirms that cryptocurrency holders are more likely to be risk-takers, value the latest technological products and try to protect their privacy. But while most cryptocurrency holders are men, one in every five cryptocurrency owners are female, challenging other surveys showing gender distributions that were more than 90% male.

Jason Mander, Chief Research Officer at GlobalWebIndex, comments, “When it comes to attitudes, there’s very little difference between men and women. The slight differences pale when we compare cryptocurrency holders to the general public”.

About Bitpanda

Bitpanda is a fintech based in Vienna, Austria founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. The company is a firm believer in the innovative power of cryptocurrencies, digitised assets and blockchain technology. Bitpanda’s mission is to tear down the barriers to investing and bring traditional financial products to the 21st century. Today, Bitpanda has more than 1 million users and 120 team members. With a PSD2 payment service provider license, state-of-the-art security and streamlined user experience, Bitpanda has grown into a popular trading platform for newbies and experts alike. Users can currently trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and over 20 other digital assets.

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CHINA REVEALS NEW RANKING OF CRYPTO

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China relieved a list of crypto projects based on ranks. There were totally thirty seven projects included in the list as two were added after the last update of it.

The ranking was done by the Center for Information and Industry Development and the evaluation was made based on the technology, viability as well as creativity. The top three crypto projects are EOS, Ethereum and, last but not least, TRON. This blockchain-based project entered the list in February 2019, where it was ranked second. However, in the updated list Ethereum took the place of TRON.

Currently, Bitcoin is ranking eleventh and is up by one since the last list. In addition, Bitcoin Cash improved its position and went up three spots ranking twenty sixth.

The two crypto projects that were added to the list were Cosmos and Ziliqa. Cosmos has a unique architecture being a network where different blockchains can co-exist and interact with one another. Right now, it ranks tenth in the list right after STEEM.

On the other hand, Ziliqa utilizes a smart contract language called Scilla in order to make their platform more secure. The project currently ranks twenty four after Stratis.

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CIRCLE CEO RELEASES TESTIMONY FOR CONGRESS

The co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Circle, Jeremy Allaire, will give his testimony before the United States Congress soon. Allaire will be a representative of The Blockchain Association, which is a organization aiming to increase transparency, safety and trust through the Blockchain Network.

The CEO of Circle will testify in a hearing session named “Examination of Regulatory Frameworks for Cryptocurrency and The Blockchain Technology” before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

On July 29 2019, Jeremy Allaire released his testimony, in which he stated that he was willing to talk about numerous issues concerning the crypto market. The topics include privacy, security, identity as well as both national and international regulations. In addition, he is willing to discuss the future of the blockchain network in the financial sector.

He also encourages the United States authorities to make specific laws regarding cryptocurrency. He claims that the Congress should establish cryptocurrency as an asset class creating rules and exemptions for it. To do this, regulations are required that will transform the United States financial sector. As a result of these regulations, the innovative technology of blockchain and cryptocurrency will experience further progress.

Allaire also said that if the US does not take appropriate actions, the country will most likely fall behind in the race for the new technology.

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BITSTAMP ADDS GBP AS A FUNDING OPTION

The centralized crypto exchange BitStamp is adding the British Pound (GBP) as a funding option.

The crypto exchange, in cooperation BCB Group, a financial services enterprise, in order to enable customers to deposit as well as withdraw funds in the British Pound. Based on the company’s statement, this feature will be released by the end of 2019.

BCB Group operates according to Financial Conduct Authority regulations and had the ability to open separate customer accounts for the exchange. Before BitStamp, other large crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken as well as Coinfloor have also adopted the British Pound.

A representative of the financial group stated that the reason why BitStamp is focused on the Euro and the United States Dollar as their markets have higher liquidity compared to the British Pound. However, as the British Pound is gaining liquidity, institutions start to take more interest in the currency. As a result, crypto exchanges also start adopting the currency.

The Chief Executive Officer of the financial enterprise stated that they deeply value their new collaboration with BitStamp. This helps citizens of the United Kingdom to make transactions with Bitstamp onshore.

However, this still doesn’t mean that the exchange is adding trading pairs with British Pound. This is a way for the company to expand internationally.

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THE IRS IS GOING AFTER CRYPTO INVESTORS

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delivered a statement saying that crypto investors that brought over USD 20 thousand worth of crypto coins from 2013 to 2015 received warning letters. In the letter, it was stated that those who have not reported their taxes do that as soon as possible.

Based on the announcement by the Internal Revenue Service, 3 different types of letters were sent to crypto investors. What was written in the letters is unknown, however, there are some possible options.

There were 10 thousand people selected to receive these warning letters. Yet, it is still not clear how they chose these people. It is safe to assume that the information could only be found from Coinbase since it is practically the only exchange that has been operating since 2013.

The company has worked hard to protect the privacy of its customers and even persuaded the court that demanding such information from trading platforms is unconstitutional.

Chuck Rettind, an Internal Revenue Service Commissioner said that the investors that received the letters should take them extremely seriously. The recipient should examine their tax filings and possible change past returns repaying the taxes. The agency is going to efficiently to their job with the help of chain analysis companies.

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FACEBOOK SAYS THAT LIBRA MAY NOT LAUNCH

In its second quarter report the social media giant, Facebook, mentioned that there is a possibility that Libra will not be launched next year. This is due to numerous factors that are negatively affecting the launch.

The company understands that the adverse reaction of regulators to their new digital currency is important. This pushback began right after Facebook’s announcement in June of this year.

The company stated that Libra attracted much unfavorable attention from jurisdictions and central authorities and the company believes that this treatment will continue. On the other hand, the reaction of the market to Libra can be very unpredictable. Hence, it is not certain whether Libra will be launched on time or not, if it ever does.

Facebook is not experienced in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain so developing and marketing the final product might be an obstacle for the team.

The leader of the project, David Marcus, stated that Libra is a convenient alternative tool for monetary transactions for those that can not afford the traditional methods. Facebook received scrutiny after revealing its plans for Libra in both the United States and overseas.

David Marcus already gave his testimony before the United States Senate Banking Committee as well as the House Financial Services Committee.

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RECENT CRYPTO MARKET MOVEMENTS

The crypto market is very shaky currently. As prices experience small erratic shifts, Bitcoin (BTC) price is sitting around USD 9,500.

Following a rapid decrease in price on July 28, the first crypto coin rose to USD 9,590 by 0.5 percent in twenty four hours. Bitcoin lost nearly 7 percent this week in price and 20 percent in a month.

The high of this year for the first cryptocurrency was USD 13,739 and, despite the current confusing price shifts, analysts are still hopeful about the future of Bitcoin price this year. The experts rely on the upcoming Bitcoin mining and its technicals.

The second biggest cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), gained around 1.3 percent and, at the time of writing, is sitting at USD 212. On the weekend, Ether price, along with Bitcoin, dropped hitting USD 201. Even though the coin is slightly down by only 2.6 percent, in the last month, Ether experienced a drop of a whopping 35 percent.

Another top altcoin, XRP, shows price decreases as the weekly chart shows a fall of 3 percent and 27 percent on the monthly chart.

In the TOP 10 cryptocurrencies, Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are green. On the other hand, Binance Coin (BNB), Tether (USDT), EOS, Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Stellar Lumens (XLM) are all red.

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AUSTRALIA REGULATES CASH BUT NOT CRYPTO

The Department of Treasury of Australia released a new group of guidelines for the amount of traditional currency payments. The draft suggests that there should be a payment limit of AUD 10 thousand for goods and services. If the amount of money surpasses this limit than the transaction needs to take place through electronic payment systems.

This notion was proposed last year by the Black Economy Taskforce which stated that restricting payment transactions would considerably decrease illegal activities and tax evasion.

However, the draft also contained certain exceptions under which the payments aren’t subject to the new guidelines. The list contains private payments, payments that are required to be reported, payments that involve keeping or collecting the cash and payments that include digital currency.

It is interesting that crypto coins are not to be closely regulated in Australia like in most other countries. Since crypto payments are required for reporting crypto coins fall under the exceptions category.

The Department of Treasury stated that crypto coins are an evolving market in the country and do not have a determined set of rules to follow. This is why applying the guidelines to cryptocurrency would be hard.

Meanwhile, in Australia crypto coins are not generally used to enable black economy. Due to this, the authorities made the decision to keep cryptocurrency out of these regulations.

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RIPPLE CEO RELEASES LETTER TO CONGRESS

Brad Garlinghouse, the Chief Executive Officer of Ripple Labs Inc., along with the co-founder of the company, Chris Larson, released an open letter to the Congress of the United States.

The letter was published on July 28, 2019. In the previously mentioned letter, the two crypto businessmen said that Ripple, along with other companies involved with crypto coins and the blockchain network are responsible and respect and follow laws both in the United States and abroad.

In addition, most crypto companies including Ripple, want to cooperate with authorities and financial institutions to use the novel technology for good. Lastly, Ripple perceives crypto coins as supplements to traditional centralized currencies not as a replacement.

They also encouraged the U.S. Congress to examine crypto coins and understand that not all of them are equal and to promote regulations which enable crypto coins and blockchain to operate in a responsible way.

The letter was released two days before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the United states holds a hearing concerning cryptocurrencies. The hearing will be about regulations on crypto coins and the blockchain technology.

Jeremy Allaire, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Circle, a crypto company, will be the witness during the hearing and will testify on account of the Blockhcain Association.

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MONEX GROUP IS JOINING LIBRA?

Monex Group is rumored to join the Libra Association, a non-profit membership association that operates to develop the Libra network. Monex Group requested a role as a node operator.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Oki Matsumoto, made a statement about this decision throughout the Group’s Second Quarter meeting. The president of the group, was extremely positive about the future of Libra, even though Facebook had received backlash regarding their project from jurisdictions, regulators and other entities.

Based on the CEO’s words, Facebook’s new crypto coin will open new opportunities, particularly with regard to financial inclusion and improved international transactions. The application that Monex Group presented is going to be considered this summer and the final decision will be made in fall. In case, Monex Group gets accepted, the company will have to pay an entrance fee of USD 10 million in order to become a part of the Libra Association.

Despite this positivity towards Facebook’s new project, companies such as MasterCard, Visa and Uber, have not yet confirmed their involvement with the Libra project.

Alfred F. Kelly Jr., the Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc., stated that the members of the Libra Association have signed non-binding letters of collaboration. The final decision relies on how Libra will handle the issues with regulators.

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CRYPTO FRAUD OF $7 MILLION IN THE US

The Justice Department of the United States charged John Barry Thompson, the principal of Volantis Market Making, with crypto fraud schemes involving more than USD 7 million. The company is a crypto coin escrow.

Based on the press release, the principal of the company made false statements about the company and deceived two other companies into giving him the money.

Thompson was captured and charged on Thursday.

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Barnes, stated that Thompson persuaded investors to participate in crypto transfers through Volantis Market Making assuring that the transaction system would eradicate the potential of losing funds.

Yet, Thompson’s customers understood that he was making false claims and the money that they gave him was long gone. It does not matter what kind of currency is involved in the transactions, the security of customers should always be guarded.

The offender also declared that Volantis Market making reduces settlement risks. Thompson took around USD 3 million in a month from one customer and did not deliver the promised crypto coins. In addition, he demonstrated customer untrue account statements. The principle of the company obtained USD 4 million from another customer who also failed to receive the Bitcoins or a refund.

The offender believed that the companies would not seek their money as they had trust in him.

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TRON IS SUFFERING AFTER SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

After Justin Sun, the current CEO and founder of Tron, infamously canceled his lunch with Warren Buffett, a chain of reactions was set in place. A day before, the young entrepreneur tweeted an apology for drawing too much attention to the lunch and deleted the tweet soon after.

On the other hand, even though the Sun stated that he was in a hospital recovering after a kidney stone attack, there were speculations that he had certain issues with the Chinese authorities.

The native crypto token of the TRON platform, Tronix (TRX), is having a rough time too. The price of the coin has been decreasing recently currently sitting at USD 0.0225 with almost a 5 percent loss in the last 24 hours.

At the same time, the founder of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, claimed that Sun did not hold his end of the deal. BitTorrent was purchased for USD 140 million by Justin Sun in 2018.

A member of the TRON Foundation, Roy Liu, came forward saying that the money that Cohen mentioned wasn’t actually Sun’s. In addition, he said that the release of the payment was signed.

Neither the TRON Foundation nor Justin Sun have addressed the accusations.

As a result of these allegations, the value of TRX is dropping and it is currently among the top losers among the biggest crypto coins.

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Bitpanda surpasses 1 million users milestone

The Vienna based fintech Bitpanda continues to grow. Ahead of the launch of the Bitpanda Global Exchange, the trading platform has surpassed 1 million users.

Vienna, 25th of July 2019 – Since the launch of their cryptocurrency broker platform in 2014, the Bitpanda community has been growing steadily. With the looming August launch of their professional trading platform – the Bitpanda Global Exchange, the company is determined to expand their reach worldwide. Right now, they see steady growth in user signups, with 90% coming from Europe. This is expected to shift towards worldwide expansion. Bitpanda’s broker platform records a 10-figure annual trading volume, with Bitcoin, Pantos and Ethereum being the top traded assets. The Bitpanda Android app has been downloaded over 120,000 times and has recently been climbing the Play Store charts thanks to positive user reviews.

“We’re excited to have reached the 1 million users milestone. Our continuous growth is proof that we are on the right path. Currently, we are in the final stages of launching the Bitpanda Global Exchange. With our first global product, we are aiming to grow even faster. Plus, our users can expect more innovative products and features in the future that will make our mission of democratising the world of investing a reality,” says Bitpanda’s CEO Eric Demuth.

Bitpanda is currently in the middle of their first Initial Exchange Offering, the BEST IEO, which is already the most successful in Europe. So far, they have raised €28.9 million and these funds will be used to further develop the Bitpanda Ecosystem: the broker platform and the Bitpanda Global Exchange, which will launch on the 7th of August 2019.

About Bitpanda

Bitpanda is a fintech based in Vienna, Austria that was founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. The company is a firm believer in the innovative power of cryptocurrencies, digitised assets and blockchain technology. Bitpanda’s mission is to tear down the barriers to investing and bring traditional financial products to the 21st century. Today, Bitpanda has around 1 million users and more than 120 team members. With a PSD2 payment service provider license, state-of-the-art security and streamlined user experience, Bitpanda has grown into a popular trading platform for newbies and experts alike. Users can currently trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and over 20 other digital assets

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HUOBI IS EXPANDING: NEW OFFICE IN THAILAND

Huobi Group, a cryptocurrency exchange, gained licenses to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform in Thailand. This is the 5th time that an exchange acquireS a license. The Huobi Thailand exchange will be officially launched later this year.

As reported by the company, the new exchange will provide trading pairs in not only crypto-crypto but also crypto-fiat.

Huobi Group was founded in 2013 in China, however, it moved after the cryptocurrency exchange ban in 2017. The company is currently based in Singapore and has offices in Japan, THE US and Hong Kong. It is also listed in the TOP 20 cryptocurrency exchanges on coinmarketcap.

Huobi Group received the license from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand. The approval of this agency became mandatory for crypto exchanges operating in the country in 2018.

The CEO of Huobi Thailand stated that the company is among the biggest crypto exchanges globally by volume and it has been offering secure cryptocurrency trading services for six years already. The company aims to ensure a secure trading environment in Thailand and is looking forward to cooperating with the authorities and domestic businesses.

Huobi is certainly trying to expand its influence to new markets. The company entered the US market in April 2019, Russia in 2018 and lately also established an office in Turkey.

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BINANCE AND KYBER NETWORK COLLABORATION

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges globally, integrated the Kyber Network protocol enabling a number of decentralized exchanges to use the exchange’s Trust Wallet. On July 2019, the news was officially announced to Cointelegraph.

Kyber is a blockchain-based liquidity protocol that can be used by anyone for inter-token exchanges. It operates as an alternative to traditional centralized exchanges.

The Trust Wallet was purchased by Binance in 2018 as the platform allowed the storage of Ether and tokens based on the coin’s platform. The wallet is decentralized and open source. It was launched on the Binance Decentralized Exchange platform in June.

Because of the collaboration with the Kyber Network protocol, most of the Decentralized Exchange Ecosystem became available for platform users. Transactions between different decentralized exchanges become easier too.

Binance disclosed its plans on their new wallet in the Spring of this year. The exchange noted that the Trust Wallet will only support crypto coins and tokens operating by the proof of stake algorithm. The wallet will also integrate the Lightning network as well as provide staking services.

Platforms that are built in a way to operate with others are becoming increasingly popular. For instance, NEO has cooperated with Ontology to develop a worldwide open-source platform that operates across different blockchains.

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BITMEX IS EXPERIENCING LIQUIDITY ISSUES

Bloomberg, the New York-based international news agency, released a piece about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investing BitMEX. According to crypto enthusiast Spencer Noon, after the news broke out the exchange lost USD 85 million in Bitcoin in less than a day.

At the same time, crypto coins worth over USD 12 million were withdrawn as the total loss reached USD 73 million. The average amount of money withdrawn from BitMEX’s wallet tripled demonstrating how users are leaving the exchange.

As reported by Ethereum World News, the trading daily volume also rapidly dropped validating the other statistics. As the volume decreased by 50 percent, it was clear that the platform wasn’t of interest anymore.

A prominent crypto expert, Alex Kruger, commented that these quick price drops are a result of the low liquidity issue in the crypto market. On the other hand, a successful crypto trader mentioned that recently the market has been very sensitive due and the price movements are becoming increasingly erratic. This left many traders very anxious.

Kruger also believes that the liquidity issues of the exchange may have been stimulated by the recent outrage for crypto regulations and President Trump’s Tweets on cryptocurrency. Even though a cryptocurrency ban isn’t a likely possibility, crypto exchanges and other crypto businesses will operate under new guidelines.

 

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JOHN MCAFEE IS FREE ONCE AGAIN

John McAfee, crypto-enthusiast and businessman, has been freed after getting arrested in the Dominican Republic days after declaring that the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States was after him.

The billionaire was released on Wednesday based on the pictures of him that were circulating in social media. In the pictures, he is seen with some unknown men some of which were identified as law enforcement agents because of their uniforms.

McAfee commented that he was treated kindly and that the agents were helpful and friendly.

The billionaire along with his spouse and friends was detained during a boat trip and kept in confinements for less than a week. Their yacht, as well as some weapons, were seized by authorities.

The fact that John McAfee was absent for so long stirred up speculations that the United States authorities really did collect him. McAfee had claimed that was wanted by the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion after he rejected paying taxes stating they were unconstitutional.

The magnet has also been accused of murder, yet, wasn’t charged with anything. According to him, these were just rumors meant to negatively impact his image.

McAfee had threatened members of the government saying that he had proof that would bury them if he were to get arrested.

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RIPPLE Q2 REPORT: XRP SALES UP 50%

According to a report by the company, in the second quarter of 2019 Ripple the sales of the platform’s native token, XRP have increased by almost 50 percent reaching 251 million USD.

Notably, institutional sales increased by more than 70 percent, rising from 61 million USD to 107 million USD.

Ripple reported that they are planning to withdraw from large exchanges and move to ones with lower liquidity, which may negatively affect the direct institutional investments. The trading volume of the company has decreased to 429 million USD to $595 million USD by 28 percent.

The company’s trading volumes benchmark has altered last month after the company in cooperation with CryptoCompare eliminated some exaggerated statistics.

The Chief Executive Officer of CryptoCompare, a worldwide crypto market data provider, stated that the company does not use amplified data. Hence, as Ripple began working with this company, it is hard to compare the new report to previous ones as they have been measured with different metrics.

If the company measured this quarter’s value with previous metrics it would display an increase of almost 200 percent as the volume would be 1.8 billion USD.

On the other hand, XRP grew by 25 percent and the company released a billion coins each month in the second quarter. Ripple also spent 900 million for Xpring projects and their collaboration with MoneyGram.

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IRAN IS MAKING CRYPTO LEGAL AGAIN

According to Press TV, the Minister of Economy and Finance of Iran, Farhad Dejpassand stated that a meeting about cryptocurrencies, their legality and regulations will be held soon. Dejpassand hopes that a bill approved earlier this year will be turned into law after it is submitted to the cabinet session.

During an appointment with members of the Iranian Parliament, the Finance Minister said that as the bill gets approved the ban that was placed on cryptocurrencies last year will be destroyed.

Dejpassand believes that crypto regulations should help citizens of the country utilize the benefits of the new technology to the fullest.

Two weeks earlier Abdolnaser Hemmati, The Governor of the Central Bank Iran (CBI), declared that the authorities are planning to legalize the mining of crypto coins. Yet, the governor did not clarify whether the bill would make cryptocurrency trading legal or the Central Bank of Iran would recognize them as legal tender.

In late 2017, cryptocurrency and other related activities in Iran were banned because of money laundering concerns. Businesses and banks around the country were warned to stop the use of crypto coins and crypto mining businesses were shut down.

the Governor of the Central Bank, as well as the Finance Minister, has suggested that crypto mining would be allowed only with specific licenses and if the large electricity bills are paid for.

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BITCOIN MARKET: IS IT GOING DOWN?

Recently, the Bitcoin market has been floating around $10 thousand. The value is currently sitting at $9,714 and it has dropped over 3 percent in the last twenty four hours.

Even though the value of Bitcoin is more than 5 percent higher than its monthly low of $9,150, it still sparks worry in investors that Bitcoin is in a dangerous zone. Yet, there are still many indications that the market is bullish.

One of the famous crypto analysts Twitted that Bitcoin is approaching the regression curve and will rapidly decrease in price int hat case. If the first crypto coin drops more the situation will become extremely unfavorable for investors.

Another analyst suggested that as the highs and lows drop, next week the crypto coin will hit $8975. Losing $9 thousand is going to start a chamber of negative price shifts.

However, the move toward $9 thousand had already been predicted. After Bitcoin failed to reach $14 thousand it was forecasted that the coin would reach $9 thousand and go below that. The analyst also said that the currency would most likely decrease to $7.5 thousand.

Bitcoin is in a small bull market moving upwards since April 2019. Although Bitcoin is showing negative signs the market will most likely fall in the upcoming days and then gain momentum right after.

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SENATE HOLDING A HEARING ON CRYPTO

Next week the Senate Banking Commission of the United States is going to have a thorough discussion on cryptocurrency, the blockchain technology and their regulations.

According to an official announcement the hearing will be held next Tuesday, 10 AM Eastern Standard Time. The Chief Executive Officer of Circle Jeremy Allaire, along with law professor Mehrsa Bardaran, is going to testify as a witness. Allaire, is going to talk on the behalf of Rebecca Nelson, a specialist in international trade and Finance. Nelson also works at the Congressional Research Service.

The hearing was scheduled right after the meeting on Libra, the new crypto coin of Facebook. Facebook was thoroughly questioned about its cryptocurrency by the Banking Committee of the United States Senate focusing on potential issues such as trust, regulations and privacy.

Two members of the committee further stated that data security is an issue that should be solved in the United States as soon as possible. The government needs an extensive approach to the regulations.

During a United States House Financial Services Committee hearing, the Chief Executive Officer of Calibra was asked if regulators could have trust in a company that had such issues with privacy before and was fined five billion USD.

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G7 FINANCE MINISTERS ARE DISCUSSING CRYPTO

During the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting this year, many participants openly criticized Facebook’s Libra crypto coin and stated that stablecoin along with other financial tools, should not be established by large technology companies and they also are a matter of concern for governments and regulators worldwide. These problems should be resolved prior to the beginning of the project.

This is very similar to Bruno Le Maire’s statement concerning the topic in which he declared that the development of Libra is a major issue as it endangers the sovereignty of counties.

The German Minister of Finance called into question whether or not the company knew about their new coin’s potential influence on the financial sector and its stability as well as specifically discussed issues about data security. Only recently, The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Facebook with $5 billion for data security problems.

The counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering regulations for these currencies should be extremely strict in order to ensure the security of the customer and stability of financial institutions.

Libra is scheduled to launch next year with over two billion potential customers from Facebook and it’s other social media networks.

Even though during the summit finance ministers agreed upon the inefficiency of international transaction networks, they also noted that currencies such as Libra are dangerous and should be treated with caution.

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UK BITCOIN SCAM EMAILS

Scammers are once again trying to fool unaware people by emails relating to crypto coins in the UK. The fraudsters posed as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom, a financial regulatory body that preserves honesty in the financial market of the country. The agency was founded in 2013 and works separately from the country’s government.

Reportedly, the email contains the logo of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority. The subject of the email is “Ensured Opportunity to Make Money” and contained a message reading that the value of Bitcoin (BTC) is going to greatly increase in a year.

It was stated in the email that even though the price of Bitcoin had decreased greatly since its all-time high of December 2017, the coin will most probably rise higher in the next year. The people who received the email were told to click a button that also had the logo of the Financial Conduct Authority.

The body denied sending the email and claimed that it found out about the scam from a financial adviser that wrote about it on Twitter. His email is thought to be a virus and the FCA encouraged receivers to not respond to the email.

A similar incident took place in Belgium when scammers tried to appeal to crypto investors with illegitimate accreditation. In Britain, citizens lost around thirty four million USDs to crypto frauds in 2018.

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JUSTIN SUN CANCELS LUNCH WITH WARREN BUFFETT

Justin Sun rescheduled his dinner with Warren Buffett due to medical reasons and, later on, he was accused of participating in illegal crowdfunding campaigns and money laundering.

Sun issued a statement denying the accusations and declaring that he had never taken part in such activities and that TRON follows all the rules set by the government of China.

After the entrepreneur canceled his meeting with Warren Buffett, the news sparked a series of debates on the internet. It was suspected by many that the CEO of Tron used this as an opportunity for marketing.

However, Sun stated that the reason for this sudden change of events was a kidney stone attack. He is currently in a stable condition in the hospital. Sun refused any interview offers.

The auction that Justin Sun won in June was a charity event and the funds would be donated to the Glide Foundation, a US-based charity organization that aims to eliminate poverty and marginalization. Justin Sun gave over four million USDs to the charity for the lunch scoring an all-time high.

Although many people have expressed their concern over Sun’s health saying that it is the most important thing. Yet, many people were skeptical about the whole ordeal pointing out that Sun created big noise about the lunch and also was the first person to break an appointment with the business Magnate.

Justin Sun is a blockchain entrepreneur as well as founder of TRON and Chief Executive Officer of BitTorrent Sun is considered to be among the best young businessmen in China and his crypto coin Tronix (TRX) ranks among the TOP ten cryptocurrencies with a market cap of over one billion USD and aims to transform the entertainment industry.

Warren Buffett is a Nebraska-based US investor and businessman. He is one of the most successful investors of all time and he is currently worth over eighty billion dollars. In a CNBC interview in 2018, the investor expressed his concern over the Bitcoin mania saying that crypto coins will have a bad end.

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CIVIC WALLET WITH BITGO TECHNOLOGY IS LAUNCHING SOON

Civic Technologies partnered with BitGo to create the Civic wallet for digital currencies which will be released by the end of the year.

Civic Technologies is a company founded in 2015 in California with an aim to help people gain governance over their digital identities. Civic is securing the transfer of personal information. After an ICO fundraising in 2017, the company launched a blockchain-based online market for identity verification services. The mission of the team is revolutionizing identity.

BitGo was founded by Mike Belshe in 2013 and is focused on helping institutional investors to enter into the crypto space by providing them high-security wallets. The company’s purpose is bringing responsibility and trust into cryptocurrency.

The companies are moving toward a new era for digital wallets by moving the identity data and crypto coins into smartphones. The new crypto wallet is highly convenient for storage and exchange of cryptocurrency.

The chief executive officer of Civic Technologies said that this collaboration is a pathway to a better ecosystem of identity and finance. The Civic Wallet is the future of cryptocurrency storage and it will open an opportunity to use crypto coins for those who aren’t experienced with technology.

By using the unique technology of BitGo the Civic Wallet facilitates the control of their own data and currencies by users. The wallet’s Private keys are kept in the phone and numerous systems guarantee that in case something happens to the phone, the coins are not lost. The technology will also help to restore coins and accounts.

The blockchain network is utilized to create a well-trusted and transparent system. After signing up, the customer is authenticated as a real person by the technology that the wallet operates on. However, the company manages to do this without sharing the information. The wallet users will be able to share their identity with third parties only after verifying it. For instance, this will be useful when buying age-restricted goods or services.

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Lunar registry called Diana is launched

A new blockchain-based project has released a lunar registry called Diana.

The project launched on July 19. According to its white paper, the objective of Diana is “to decentralize ownership through group registration of citizens and an issuance of a Cosmic crypto currency to actualize the citizens’ movement for the Moon.”

A lunar registry aims to secure access to the moon as governments will more likely exploit space for its resources. It’s stated that the project is intended to clearly determine the possible society rights to the Moon, giving higher possibility of ownership disputes through joint registration.

White paper of the project also notes that the agreement doesn’t point out private ownership of the moon, enabling the exploitation of the celestial body. In some way, Diana will avoid the private ownership and theoretical exploitation of the resources of the moon by hegemonic actors by dividing and tokenizing the surface of the moon into 3.8 billion pieces.

Diana issues 2 ERC-20x and ERC-20 standard tokens: DIA registration token and MOND transaction token. DIA has the role of a certificate showing the state of registration. MOND is 1:1 with the US dollar as a transaction token. Total amount of tokens that will be issued is 3,874,204,892.

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CRYPTO COINS ARE CHANGING THE US FINANCE

The chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis stated that crypto coins are shifting the financial system of the United States by promoting unlawful activities and price volatility.

He also added that the existing situation demonstrates a move against a steady currency and towards an unstable currency such as crypto in the United States. However, it is most likely that regular consumers and businessmen will not gravitate towards such currencies. This is because in the crypto space a variety of crypto coins are used together in the same market while having different prices.

Although different currencies can be traded at the same time and this can lead to freer trades, in reality, these transfers may be considered unlawful.

Even though unknowingly, crypto coins may be guiding users by the wrong path by attempting to settle a crucial social issue that is the most efficient way to encourage monetary transactions in the market.

These remarks were made at a time when the government of the United States in trying to find the best method for responding to the new wave of crypto coins developed by large private corporations.

The Current Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, also commented on the situation earlier saying that Facebook’s plans to launch Libra, a new stablecoin, will not advance until the Government of the country receives answers for questions and possible issues. Both of these comments resulted in negative attention towards crypto coins and, subsequently, to price changes.

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CRYPTOCURRENCY TRANSACTION SYSTEM BY JAPAN

The government of Japan is leading a worldwide movement for an intercontinental cryptocurrency transaction system. This system will have many similarities to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) used by most banks globally.

The Japanese government intends to develop and launch the network in the next couple of years in collaboration will other jurisdictions. Reportedly, this project is supposed to combat activities such as money laundering.

The Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body designed to encourage anit-money-laundering and anti-terrorist-funding regulations, is going to manage the creation. However, it is still unknown how the new crypto transfer network will operate.

The project was approved in 2019 by the Financial Action Task Force and was suggested by the Financial Service Agency and Finance Ministry of Japan. Yet, both entities refused to comment on the situation.

Japan is trying to boost the security of these digital coins in order to use the market to provoke financial prosperity. In 2017, the country became the first one worldwide to set in place centralized crypto exchange regulations.

Its not certain how cryptocurrency users and the public will react to this new system, if you take into account that the unregulated nature of crypto coins is among its most sought-after characteristics.

 

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Wozniak: “Efforce is a Unique Business Model”

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has invested in a new blockchain-based energy saving company called Efforce which is headquartered in Malta, The Malta Independent reports.

As stated by Wozniak, Efforce is “a unique business model” and they are able to hugely affect the business. He said that the willingness of the government to invest in blockchain technology has become an essential factor in the decision to choose Malta.

Efforce provides the 1st blockchain-based platform which has a target to invest in energy saving. The main objective of the company is to become the 1st and leading platform in the world for tokenized energy efficiency.

Recently, Wozniak shared his opinion on how blockchain can help effectively decrease the effects on the environment by the society, at the same time, there will not be a need for people to change their habits.

Jacobo Visetti, who is the other co-founder of EFFORCE since January, 2018, mentioned that his explorations of the area and the implementation of the energy saving plans to blockchain technology have started several years ago. He underlined that besides being a favorable business investment, it is good for environment as well.

Speaking about choosing Malta, Visetti said: “It was the most open minded country we could find in the world in terms of new technology.”

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AFRICA’S XPHONE BLOCKCHAIN MOBILE PHONE

In Singapore, a technology company called Pundi X formally released a smartphone called XPhone that is motorized by Blockchain. It is stated that XPone is the first mobile phone that is blockchain-based.

The leading manager of the company called Zac Cheah said that the phone will let people make calls through blockchain.

During his speech, Cheah invited the host of the event on stage to show how to make the first blockchain call with blockchain mobile.

XPhone is different from the mobile phones that are based on IOS, Android or Windows systems because XPhone is made with a blockchain system, FX (Function X).

Pundi X reports what a blockchain mobile actually is. It’s a phone that can use the technology powering a lot of things such as Bitcoin, medical notes.

Everything that XPhone users do, like making calls, taking photos, messaging, all these actions are linked to the blockchain and transferred through it.

By the method, participants become aware of personal information and control it.

Blockchain is especially famous as a finance service, But it is developing and becoming popular day by day as many innovative applications are being created.

Blockchain powers the world’s most famous cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum. It allows people to possess digital currencies and negotiate with each other without any central institutions or middlemen.

For XPhone there isn’t any central service either. This makes it safer as users can manage their personal information.

XPhone offers open access for everyone. This means any individual willing to establish services or apps can do it without troubles.

XPhone users can easily make transactions within the common Android form and the blockchain.

It is said that the company is going to create 5000 XPhones in 2019 and that the company would work with telecommunication organizations to create additional blockchain phones.

 

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New Free Data-Based Trading Signals by Coinbase

New Free Data-Based Trading Signals by Coinbase

San Francisco-based digital currency exchange Coinbase stated about the release of the free trading data signals for the users, the official blog writes.

Coinbase offers 3 new trading signals – top holder activity, typical hold time and popularity, and price correlation. The data is exclusively accessible on the exchange and is intended to allow the users develop and control their individual crypto-asset strategy on their own.

Top holder activity signal tells how the major crypto owners on Coinbase have lately traded. This information will be updated about every 2 hours. The typical hold time and popularity signal presents the average quantity of days that a particular crypto is held before being moved through new transaction and the amount of users who hold a certain crypto coin. Price correlations enables to evaluate the portfolio’s historic diversity and possible risk exposure.

The exchange notes that the main purpose of these signals is to deliver proper target measurements of how crypto coins are used on the basis of the summed anonymous activity of the exchange’s millions of users.

As reported by Coinbase, these signals are the 1st of their kind in cryptocurrency sphere and will be provided with already available traditional market data.

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IS FACEBOOK’S LIBRA WORTH TRUSTING?

On June 18 Facebook announced that in 2020 it is going to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra. This announcement surprised regulators and shocked everyone that were afraid of cryptocurrency adoption. Since then all those politics and financiers have been criticizing the company.

It is thought that the users of Facebook about 3 billions can overturn the financial system.

In his speech, Sherrod Brown, a Senate member, mentioned that the release and approval of the new Libra don’t worth to be trusted and it’d be illogical to allow the company to make attempts with people’s bank accounts.

Before Facebook had announced their idea of digital money, it was already getting negative criticism.

David Marcus, the company’s head controls the activity and he has presented issues of how Libra can effect the universal financial system as lawmakers have many concerns about it. He believes that it’s a matter of time to be legally accepted but later Marcus made an attempt to relieve those by promising that Libra won’t be offered until law affairs are handled.

Lawmakers were doubtful about the security of customer’s cash and info, like how they can be sure that their transactions will not be revealed by Facebook.

Marcus knows that this system takes a considerable time to get public trust.

Many critics are angry that this project could move forward such an innovative program with very high potential, without open access for policymakers in the case that it has already appeared in the center of their attention.

A small part of Facebook’s employee works on this plan, for example, Kevin Weil works for the Libra’s leadership. One of the former team members informed about the under cover working method of the company and that only the involved staff were fully aware of it. Others didn’t even know that it was working under Libra’s name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IBM Triples Blockchain Patents Since Last Year

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has increased the quantity of blockchain patents secured in the United States by 300 percent since the previous year.

As specified by the tweet of Yuval Halevi, co-founder of GuerillaBuzz, currently IBM boasts 108 active patent families which is far above other remarkable organizations. This includes several principal tech organizations, such as Bank of America (52 blockchain patents), MasterCard (43 blockchain patents), and Intel (35 blockchain patents).

In just 1 year the number of IBM blockchain patents has grown by 300%. When one of the largest companies in the world (366,000 employees) spends so much of their resources on developing a blockchain department, this tells a lot about the market potential #blockchain #IBM #Growth pic.twitter.com/wY3q6DOKHR

— Yuval Halevi (@Yuval_Halevi) July 15, 2019

However, as reported, IBM has international competition as at the present, China is outpacing the U.S. and the world with the quantity of blockchain patents. The leading Chinese giant in blockchain patents is Alibaba, having 25 blockchain patents.

It’s not news that IBM is bullish on the potential of blockchain technology. The tech giant already runs World Wire, it is as well the top employer of blockchain-related vacancies based on the number of offers currently listed online, with 335 job openings related blockchain.

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CRYPTOCURRENCY BECOMING MAINSTREAM WITH LIBRA

Since 2009 cryptocurrencies, especially Libra has been fighting to develop as a means of payment, for daily purchases, services, and goods.

According to the Facebook’s latest news about its new coin Libra, there is a question whether Libra can be so unique among all cryptocurrencies and have the necessary speed to become the means of payment in use.

Libra like other cryptocurrencies faces many difficulties that should be overcome. International control bodies have become more informed about cryptocurrencies and they develop worldwide strategies and card system restrictions and they intend to bring them under the control of appropriate offices.

Libra is having troublesome pressure from such authorities as they find Libra’s activity as a legal financial service too dangerous. At the same time, The US Congress finds it possible but only after the company’s activity be investigated by lawmakers.

Besides those negative attitudes, there are countries, such as Malta, Estonia, that are searching ways to accept crypto but for example, regulators will start to follow these innovations if Facebook manages to create a worldwide demand for its digital coin.

Besides the lack of trust that regulators and lawmakers have towards the working method of the company, there are other reasons worry them too. They don’t understand how it works, another worrying point for them is that cryptocurrencies can lower local currencies. Many authorities don’t like that transactions are not transparent.

Currently, Facebook has more than 2 billion users all over the world, let alone WhatsApp and Messenger that are the company’s platforms. It has a self-regulation method so whatever happens, it is possible that in the future the industry will find Facebook’s production necessary.

Including Facebook into the crypto world brings many advantages. This will add more potential crypto users. It’s likely, that other big companies will also join, like Apple which already has its fixed payment, the ApplePay but it’s only a matter of time to join.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ron Paul: Cryptocurrencies Are A Great Idea

Ron Paul: Cryptocurrencies Are A Great Idea

Former Republican congressman from Texas and presidential candidate in the libertarian movement Ron Paul expressed concerns about crypto coins, as well as blockchain technology in a “Squawk Alley” interview on CNBC.

Ron Paul: Cryptocurrencies Are A Great Ideahttps://t.co/AA464GTMpE pic.twitter.com/KbUSuM6Oph

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) July 15, 2019

As said by Paul, who is a long-time supporter of gold and precious metals, crypto coins are an excellent idea and governments should regulate the crypto sphere to avoid fraud:

“I do not know what is gonna happen to cryptocurrencies. What I want to do is legalize the freedom of choice, absent blatant fraud.”

Ron Paul mentioned that traditionally governments always should have a monopolistic control over money and credit and this is the reason the Federal Reserve exists.

At the same time, former congressman also drew parallels between crypto coins and gold. In his opinion, there is a similarity between crypto coins and gold – the competition with traditional currencies. He mentioned that governments are not consistent of competition and even of using the Constitution to contest with the traditional money dollar.

Previously, in 2014, Paul raised concern about backing of BTC and crypto coins all in all mentioning that dollar or any other traditional currency will not last forever and “they all self-destruct.”

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Bitpoint Finds $2.3 million in Stolen Cryptocurrency

Crypto exchange Bitpoint Japan Co. stated about finding over 250 mln yen ($2.3 mln) worth of crypto coin, which is a part of $32 million stolen digital assets in a previous hack, The Mainichi writes.

The Mainchi also reports that Bitpoint found the stolen crypto coins on Bitpoint Japan trading system using foreign exchanges. The exchange told that it suspended all transactions and services after it was hacked for 3.5 billion yen. In addition, it said that this finding reduces the crypto coin loss from 3.5 billion yen ($32 mln) to 3.02 billion yen ($28 million).

The Tokyo-based exchange was hacked on July 12. There was stolen 3.5 billion yen, 2.5 billion yen (worth 23 million in USD) of which belonged to customers and 1 billion ($9.2 million) belonged to the company. The five different kinds of crypto coins that have been stolen during the hacker attack were Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.

It is worth noting that Bitpoint was 1 of the companies to receive a business improvement order from Japan’s finance watchdog, the Financial Services Agency, in June of the previous year. Among the primary issues was the compliance of exchanges with Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer requirements.

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Fold Enables Payments With Bitcoin

Fold Enables Payments With Bitcoin

The Fold payment platform introduces the Lightning Network protocol, which will allow customers to make purchases with BTC at Starbucks, Whole Foods, AMC, Uber and Southwest Airlines.

Although clients will transfer BTC, payments will be made in any currency chosen by the seller. This will avoid the risk of crypto-asset volatility for sellers, whereas increasing the amount of potential customers willing to implement transactions with Bitcoin.

Will Reeves, CEO of Fold Inc, stated that the protocol integrates with ongoing payment systems at point of sale, directly dealing with prepaid programs, such as gift cards, store credits, or other methods that vendors are used to.

Fold is not be directly connected to none of the big sellers. Transactions are displayed on the company’s financial balance as a gift card purchase or in another way, depending on the way Fold integrates with a certain outlet. This integration doesn’t require any effort from the part of the seller and also there is no need for installation of new software or hardware.

Reeves sees Lightning transactions as a technique to attract people to use crypto-assets not only as a means of preserving capital, yet also as a method of payment.

Reeves said: “Customers navigate to the Fold app, where they are presented with a list of available merchants. Then they select the denomination and how much they want to spend.”

Fold doesn’t require a deposit and allows customers to manage any wallet of their choice. After filling out the invoice, it instantly displays a bar-code or other payment system, which is created using own gift card API of the seller. The whole process takes about 30 seconds.

What’s more, Fold won’t charge any fees for service and plans to get a percent from sellers for attracting new clients. Reeves also notes that the organization has a profit source and doesn’t depend on venture capital investments.

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LIBRA TRANSFORMS MOBILE MONEY

Libra, Facebook’s infamous crypto coin, will be a great tool for everyone. It will empower people to make instant micropayments which are impossible in the case of mobile monetary transactions.

Libra globally increases arouse many issues around the globe. Libra, like most crypto coins, will operate on the blockchain network. Taking advantage of that fact, regulators can force higher transparency, if they decide to attack the Libra’s structure. Presently, there doesn’t exist high transparency with mobile  monetary transactions, because the legal structure has never demanded it.

Users will have the opportunity to transfer money very easily and quickly just like sending a photo from your phone. It is possible that Libra will interrupt the use of mobile money, and be a better and more convenient method of transfers: faster and cheaper.

Financial rules will be changed everywhere around the globe, however, Libra will not supply the exact scale of “liberation” like Bitcoin.

Libra will have a strong influence on the balance of payments and central banks should take this into account. For instance, car transactions will take place in Libra and they won’t be controlled by central banks.

It is possible that mobile monetary transfers and deposits in bank accounts may experience cuts. In the face of such changes, central banks will react harshly, they can even try to ban Libra or the use of any other crypto coin. But such an approach will be unreasonable as cryptocurrencies cannot be banned fully.

There is a major difference between Facebook and central banks. Facebook has 2 billion users and if Libra gains success, central banks will argue on the effects of the vast acceptance by users.

It is expected that Facebook is going to gain the attention of Libra users since the coin will be supported by “low-risk securities” and “basket of currencies” will require holding funds in a central bank or other financial institutions.

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ECB: Bitcoin is not a currency, it rather is an asset

ECB: Bitcoin is not a currency, it rather is an asset

The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again confirmed its position on Bitcoin, refusing to recognize it as a currency.

The ECB said that Bitcoin is rather an asset than a currency, underlining its quite high volatility.

Lane: No. Bitcoin is not a currency, it rather is an asset and it is very volatile #AskECB https://t.co/XQ9Mqdm5rU

— European Central Bank (@ecb) July 9, 2019

Not once the European Central Bank and its representatives have expressed their opinion about Bitcoin. In May, François Villeroy de Galhau, a French central banker, Governor of the Bank of France, stated that stable coins have more potential than Bitcoin. In the spring of this year, the ECB President called crypto coins a “dubious investment” and stressed that crypto coins are not significant enough to affect the economy at macro level. A similar point of view was previously expressed by his colleague Yves Mersch, a Luxembourgian jurist and lawyer, stating that the cryptocurrency market is not large enough to threaten financial stability.

At the end of the previous year, Ardo Hillar Hansson, an Estonian economist, the Governor of Bank of Estonia, stated that “the cryptocurrency bubble is ready to burst.”

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LIQUID EXCHANGE ADDS NEW PAIR

The worldwide famous Liquid cryptocurrency trading platform has reported its new trading pair: BCH/USDC.

This new pair will allow all users of the platform to exchange Bitcoin cash for the famous USDC stablecoin. Besides, soon Liquid users will have the chance to link their accounts to Bitcoin.com’s new application, called Bitcoin Cash Register and directly get USDC. Now, users can exchange Bitcoin cash for Circle’s USD linked to the USDC coin.

Liquid was founded in 2014 by Mario Gomez Lozada and Mike Kayamori, it has been a well-known exchange for a while. In one year, Liquid has had transactions worth over $50 billion.

BCH/USDC helps to include Liquid into Bitcoin.com’s Bitcoin Cash Register app. As soon as it is included, users will have to opportunity to receive BCH fees and change into USDC through Liquid.

As traders get the chance to receive BTC and USDC, it will offer sellers a new opportunity. Connecting the application to the exchange will take only a couple of seconds. The Liquid team announced in details that the future cooperation with the Bitcoin Cash Register app will be controlled by Liquid’s fast exchange, which enables crypto investors exchange one coin for another quickly.

The USD supported stablecoin was launched in 2018 and has been a famous vehicle for investment since then. USDC is also backed by other crypto foundation suppliers as well as other apps that provide coins via ERC-20 model.

Users are very pleased that Liquid added BCH/USDC pair since it is fast, cheap and trustworthy. Everyone can join this platform and start trading BCH for USDC whenever they want. By signing up for the Liquid exchange platform users can stay updated, they can check the seller’s app with their BCH address and receive cypto coins at their retail location.

The new Liquid BCH/USDC pair provides more cash flow and promotes higher liquidity in the platform.

 

 

 

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Binance Hackers Move $8 Million Worth of Stolen Bitcoin

Binance Hackers Move $8 Million Worth of Stolen Bitcoin

More than 8 million USD worth of Bitcoin that had been stolen from crypto exchange Binance has suddenly moved.

707.1 Bitcoin, were transferred from the Bitcoin wallet of one of the hackers to a separate pair of addresses. Whale Alert, which is a twitter-based transaction monitor, detected 2 transfers, for 706.1 Bitcoin ($8 mln) and 1 Bitcoin ($11,384) respectively.

706.1 #BTC (8,038,240 USD) of stolen funds transferred from Binance Hack May 2019 to hack wallet

Tx: https://t.co/m7YnabMrrQ

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) July 8, 2019

Source: https://twitter.com/whale_alert

Apparently, hackers have decided to make money on the growth of BTC price. According to Coinfirm company data, in June, hackers transferred 7,000 BTC to seven wallets.

After hacking in May, representatives of Binance stressed that the attack was well organized, and the time was chosen very well. Hackers used several initially unrelated accounts, and the transaction was structured so that it passed all security checks. The security system raised the alarm after the withdrawal.

At the same time, Binance stated that all losses would be covered from the reserve fund of the exchange. At that time, the cost of 7,000 BTC was about $41 mln.

Last month, BTC stolen from Bitfinex in 2016 also started moving for the first time. In a series of transactions, 172.54 BTC (about $1.37 million) were transferred from the wallet in which they were previously located.

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Andy Xie: Cryptocurrency will never be recognized as legal currency

Economist Andy Xie insists that crypto coins will never become a full fledged currency due to the volatility, and only a few exchanges will be able to make money on fluctuations in rates, The Korea Times reports.

“Many people believe that Bitcoin can replace fiat currency. However, because of the high volatility, this is impossible.”

Xie also stated that bitcoin is a popular way to gamble among Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

Andy Xie previously worked as an economist at Morgan Stanley. He is known for his accurate forecast of the Asian currency crisis of 1997–1998. Xie believes that the formation of Bitcoin as the official currency will cause huge financial damage to many governments.

Xie noted that crypto can not become an official currency as the authorities of the countries will not be able to issue the bonds on it and as a result of the high volatility, many countries will go bankrupt.

Speaking about Facebook’s Libra, Andy Xie noted that this is a smart plan aimed at attracting users to the company’s products. However, it will have a negative effect on Bitcoin, as it will increase the supply of crypto substitutes. At the same time, he mentioned that people will realize that crypto coins are becoming more legitimate and this is a positive point.

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Bitpanda raises €10 million in private sale for its coin BEST and launches public sale

Bitpanda raises €10 million in private sale for its coin BEST and launches public sale

Vienna, 9th of July 2019 – Vienna-based fintech Bitpanda have today launched the public sale of their own ecosystem token. BEST (Bitpanda Ecosystem Token) is the coin of the globally expanding investment platform, Bitpanda. It will play a vital part in the company’s growth and will increase customer loyalty even further. BEST will offer a wide range of benefits to 1 million Bitpanda users.

• BEST (Bitpanda Ecosystem Token) IEO public sale is live from July 9th 1pm CET until August 6th 1pm CET
• Up to 500 million out of 1 billion BEST are for sale
• BEST available for €0.09 per token during the first week of the public IEO
• 25% trading fee discount when paying fees with BEST (Q4 2019)
• Priority access to the upcoming Bitpanda Launchpad
• Simple investing process with every supported digital asset on the platform
• BEST trading starts on August 7th 2019 as part of the launch of the Bitpanda Global Exchange

Bitpanda, the Viennese fintech with 1 million users and more than 120 employees, have today launched the Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) for the Bitpanda Ecosystem Token. BEST is the coin of the Bitpanda ecosystem and offers its users a wide range of benefits. For example, users will get a reduction of 25% on Bitpanda trading fees and gain priority access to the upcoming Bitpanda Launchpad, which will be available later and will allow the launch of third-party IEOs. Prior to the start of the public sale, the company has successfully raised more than €10 million in its private sale (20% of the total amount for sale), which means that BEST is already the most successful central European IEO.

“BEST is the fuel of the Bitpanda ecosystem, which means that the Bitpanda platform, the Bitpanda Global Exchange and future products, like the Bitpanda Launchpad, will make heavy use of incorporating BEST. It will play a vital role in Bitpanda’s global expansion and in making our vision of democratising personal finance a reality”, says Bitpanda CEO Eric Demuth.

On August 7th 2019, Bitpanda will also launch the Bitpanda Global Exchange, a digital asset exchange for experienced traders, professionals and institutions. Bitpanda’s first global product will allow fiat-to-crypto as well as crypto-to-crypto trading and has been developed 100% in-house over the course of 2 years.

About Bitpanda

Bitpanda is a fintech based in Vienna, Austria founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer. The company is a firm believer in the innovative power of cryptocurrencies, digitised assets and blockchain technology. Bitpanda’s mission is to tear down the barriers to investing and bring traditional financial products to the 21st century. Today, Bitpanda has around 1 million users and more than 120 team members. With a PSD2 payment service provider license, state-of-the-art security and streamlined user experience, Bitpanda has grown into a popular trading platform for newbies and experts alike. Users can currently trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and over 20 other digital assets.

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