2018 in Hindsight: Do Not Forget Where the Cryptocurrency Market Was When 2017 Began
This is the last day of cryptocurrency trading for 2018, and it has been a wild year, with Bitcoin dropping from over USD 20,000 on 17 December 2017 to less than USD 4,000 today. The other major cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Dash, Monero (XMR), and Dogecoin (DOGE) have followed Bitcoin into the bear market. Further, increasing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement has made initial coin offerings (ICOs) effectively illegal in the United States, which has brought the ICO market and the numerous cryptocurrencies involved to a standstill. The total cryptocurrency market cap has declined from USD 830 billion to USD 127 billion during 2018, an 85% crash.
That being said, the price of Bitcoin on New Year’s 2017 was less than USD 1,000, and the total cryptocurrency market cap was merely USD 18 billion. The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets have more wealth and value than 2 years ago, on the order of hundreds of percent, and people lose sight of this fact because of the severity of the 2018 bear market. Aside from increased cryptocurrency prices and market caps, there are many more blockchain and cryptocurrency companies than 2 years ago. In reality, the cryptocurrency market is looking better than ever despite the overall negative sentiment in the public and mainstream media.
Bitcoin Outlook for January 2019
The price of Bitcoin has been showing weakness in the last days of December 2018, with numerous ‘red candles’ on the Bitcoinwisdom.com 2-hour chart, which are large sell orders dumping at price lower. The biggest event at the end of December was the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin futures expiration on 28 December. The price of Bitcoin crashed from USD 3,750 to USD 3,550 right before the expiration, likely the result of ‘banging the close’. Essentially, when Bitcoin futures traders on CME take out a short position for the month, it is common for them to manipulate the market lower right before the contract expires to increase their short profits, and this is called banging the close. A strong correlation between Bitcoin’s market behavior and the CME futures expirations has been noted throughout 2018.
Generally, during the first week of a futures trading month, the reaction of Bitcoin’s price is a good indication if the market will go up (long) or down (short) during the contract period. The red candles during the first several days since the contract expiration are not a good sign, but it is too early to tell if CME Bitcoin futures traders have collectively decided to go long or short.
The stock market may play an active role in determining Bitcoin’s fate during January. Bitcoin was created in 2009, and the stock market has been consistently in a bull market until the last few months of 2018, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declining about 4,000 points since October.
It has long been theorized that Bitcoin can be used as a safe haven asset if the stock market ever entered a bear market, since Bitcoin is independent of the stock market. However, Bitcoin has been an unneeded safe haven for its entire existence, since stocks were performing strongly from 2009 through October 2018.
It will be important to watch the stock market over the next week. If the stock market goes down further and solidifies fears of a bear market, then Bitcoin should experience upward pressure. This could lead to CME Bitcoin futures traders taking up long positions for the month. If the stock market recovers during the next week, then that could lead to CME Bitcoin futures traders taking up short positions for January.
Ethereum Constantinople Fork Approaching
As for the rest of the cryptocurrency market, major cryptocurrencies including XRP, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Stellar, Litecoin, Monero, and Dash are down 2-3% today. The stock markets just opened and the DJIA is up 200 points as of this writing. If today’s stock rally strengthens, the losses on the crypto market could intensify.
Ethereum is currently at USD 137 with a market cap of USD 14.3 billion. Ethereum will be having a fork in the middle of January, code-named Constantinople, and this should be the driving factor for the Ethereum market. A conflict could break out between Ethereum miners and Ethereum developers, since block rewards will be slashed from 3 Ether to 2 Ether, and ASIC mining will possibly be blocked. Ethereum miners have already been struggling during 2018 due to the decline in Ethereum’s price from USD 1,400 to lower than USD 100 during part of December. This slashing of the block reward could be the nail in the coffin for many Ethereum miners. A blockchain split that results in a new version of Ethereum that is favorable for miners is possible.
Despite the potential contention, it is possible that Ethereum’s price will rise relative to other cryptocurrencies pre-fork, due to excitement about the new features coming to Ethereum and the lowering of the inflation rate. This sort of price rise was observed before the Bitcoin Cash fork, despite it being obvious that a major conflict would break out when the fork finally came. Therefore, perhaps Ethereum will rally during the first half of January, but it also depends on the overall crypto market situation. If the crypto market continues to be bearish, then an Ethereum speculative rally could be negated. If the crypto market moves into a strong rally due to falling stocks and CME Bitcoin futures traders taking up long positions, then the Ethereum rally could be amplified.
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Listen to the 30 December 2018 BitcoinNews.com Daily Podcast below.
On this edition of the BitcoinNews.com Daily Podcast, we discuss how the stock market is beginning to have a bigger correlation with the crypto market. That being said, the crypto market is showing some weakness as December ends, and it is uncertain which way the market will move during the beginning of 2019.
Follow the Bitcoin News Daily Podcast on Anchor, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Breaker. We broadcast a new episode every day, covering the most important topics in the crypto, Bitcoin, and blockchain world!
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A class action lawsuit has been filed against the high-end GPU manufacturer Nvidia after it claimed a decline in business was relative to cryptocurrency mining.
Schall Law firm announced the lawsuit a week ago in a press release, and has called out to investors who purchased Nvidia stocks between “10 August 2017” and “15 November 2018” – tagged the “class period” – and lost over USD 100,000 as a result of the plunge in Nvidia’s stock price. The affected investors are encouraged to contact the firm before February 19, 2019.
According to the press release, Nvidia allegedly violated subsections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The complaint quoted the company as claiming to be “masters at managing” their channel, and that they “understand the channel very well,” and that these claims were “false and misleading.”
However, amid a downturn of cryptocurrency market dynamics, Nvidia quoted in its financial results for Q3 2019 published on 15 November: “Our near-term results reflect excess channel inventory post the cryptocurrency boom, which will be corrected. Our market position and growth opportunities are stronger than ever.”
While the earnings were on the positive sides, a contrasting view of the company stock which plunged by about 17% may have been due to “crypto hangover”, a report by Yahoo Finance reads.
In August, Nvidia had already decided to quit the crypto mining business. CFO Colette Kress said that “We believe we’ve reached a normal period as we’re looking forward to essentially no cryptocurrency as we move forward.” It was clear back then that the company did take a hit from cryptocurrency mining fallout.
Nvidia was further quoted as saying that “any drop off in demand for its GPUs among cryptocurrency miners would not negatively impact the Company’s business,” boasting in the demands by the gaming market. Upon market revelation, the class action reads that investors “suffered damage,” and therefore the initial statements made by the company were “materially misleading” throughout the class period.
This year has seen a fair share of the decline in mining activities as companies such as GMO and Bitmain struggled through the terrains of the bear market. While many reports attributed the fall in Nvidia’s shares price to the decline in cryptocurrency mining relative to the decline in demand for high-end computer graphic cards, others were of the opinion that the stock price may have been impacted by other rivalry factors to include competition from other chip makers.
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In what could be the most ironic case for cryptocurrency investors in 2018 Wells Fargo, the third largest bank in the US has been hit with a $575 million settlement after scamming its customers over a period of 15 years.
The settlement will be of particular interest to cryptocurrency investors who have been repeatedly told by the banking giant that customers couldn’t use their credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies due to them being a risky investment. In a statement, Wells Fargo cited the “multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.”
“Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency,” a bank rep said in a statement. “We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.”
After a nationwide investigation, it has been revealed that Wells Fargo employees opened unauthorized credit cards and bank accounts using customers names between 2002 and 2017. The fraud occurred according to employees as they were worried about losing their jobs if they didn’t meet Wells Fargo sales targets.
The result was that many bank clients were illegally charged for financial services they didn’t receive, having not actually signed up for them, including life insurance and protection insurance on millions of auto loans. California attorney general Xavier Becerra commented on the company’s violation of consumer protection standards:
“Instead of safeguarding its customers, Wells Fargo exploited them, signing them up for products — from bank accounts to insurance — that they never wanted.”
The settlement is to be distributed amongst all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, followed by a restitution review to ensure all customers illegally charged for services are reimbursed.
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It has been revealed that cryptocurrency startups paid out over $878,000 in bounty to friendly hackers for solving bugs in 2018.
The so-called ethical hackers were hired due to a variety of vulnerabilities in start-up platforms’ cybersecurity protocols. About 60 percent of the 2018 total was paid out by Block.one, the company behind EOS, with a sum reported to be around $534,500. The EOS token offering originally raised nearly $4 billion.
Cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase paid for white hat hacker services, parting with $290,381 in bounties. Tron also paid out $76,200 to tech problem solvers, demonstrating that even some of the larger, more secure companies still remain vulnerable. Altex, a smaller cryptocurrency firm was also bug stricken in August, although the company has not revealed the amount of funds lost. This was suggested to have been due to Monero code base related bug.
In July, SlowMist, a Chinese cybersecurity firm, claimed that an anonymous user managed to double spend 694 Tether (USDT), gaining credit for 694 USDT on an exchange without sending the funds. The founder of the Omni Protocol, which Tether is based on, wrote:
“It appears that what happened here is that an exchange wasn’t checking the valid flag on transactions. They accepted a transaction with valid=false (which they should not have), and then the second “double spend” transaction had valid=true, which they also accepted.”
The need for such support and fixes illustrates the degree to which the cryptocurrency industry still has much work to do to build failsafe protection for startups and cryptocurrency related companies.
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On January 3, 2009, a decade ago, an American, an Irishman or perhaps a Finn, or a possibly a group of innovative computer programmers and mathematicians created the first 50 bitcoins known as the Genesis Block.
How such an abstract concept without an identified founder became a $100 billion market in just a decade is now common history.
As for the creator, always known as Satoshi Nakamoto, many have subscribed to the idea that a code so impressive must have been written by multiple sources. The creator or creators’ goal was simple; to create a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”
Although this goal has somewhat lost some of that simple significance over the past decade, it still remains the digital currency’s raison d’etre essentially. Since 2009 it has a come a long way and fortunes have also been won and lost. From its first physical manifestation in a Bitcoin ATM at a Vancouver coffee shop in 2013, it is now viewed by struggling economies from the Middle East to Americas to Central Russia as a way out of financial chaos or international sanctions.
Loved by some, hated by others, how then will the world celebrate Bitcoin’s 10 years of impact on the financial status quo around the globe? Will Bitcoin be viewed as the “mother or father of all scams and bubbles,” or the basic infrastructure for a whole new way of looking at how society pays for what it needs?
As we move into 2019, there are governments around the world who clearly have no desire to see Bitcoin moving into the public domain as Satoshi intended back in 2009. The concept of a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” as stated in Bitcoin’s initial white paper in these countries is a long way from becoming a reality.
In South East Asia, so often called the Bitcoin’s heartland has South Korea and Japan leading the charge in adoption rates in the region, whereas China, Thailand, and Taiwan have either banned or restricted its use as an alternative currency. Further West, India’s current crypto ban has become common knowledge.
In Europe, where tiny Switzerland has become the region’s blockchain hub and allows Bitcoin payments in a multitude of both practical and innovative situations, there are nonetheless detractors to any idea that public use of Bitcoin may be seen as a future possibility. Both Russian and German legislators have no desire to see Bitcoin used as Satoshi intended, although both countries are integrating digital currency into their banking systems.
Where then is Bitcoin’s heartland on Jan 3, 2019? The site 99Bitcoins lists the world’s most accommodating Bitcoin space as being none other than the tiny UK Isle of Man. An unlikely location perhaps, but one that Satoshi would be proud of. The P2P goal is alive and well on “Mann” as locals call it. On the tiny island, in the Capital of Douglas, for years now, customers have been able to drop into a range of coffee shops, pay in Bitcoin, then on to the pub. Bitcoin accepted?… of course. Hire a car using BTC and see the sights.
Again, without really leaving the UK, another jurisdiction which has been developed as a Bitcoin hub is the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar on the tip of Spain’s Iberian Peninsula. Like Mann, it has become a hotbed of start-up activity and has developed a positive attitude towards Bitcoin, supported by crypto-friendly legal frameworks.
Malta, Switzerland and neighbouring Liechtenstein will all be celebrating 10 years of Bitcoin with sound regulation supporting thriving crypto communities. Those others developing the Satoshi dream through continued innovation and commitment to pushing cryptocurrency adoption, often under challenging opposition to Bitcoin as a P2P public currency, continue to be leaders such as Slovenia, Canada, Netherlands, the US, South Korea, and Japan.
What then will the internet have to say about the 3rd January 2019, with the market still reeling from the strains of the 2018 downturn in Bitcoin’s fortunes. As usual, the pundits will be making their bets; the latest range gaining popularity, published by UK newspaper the Independent, hedging in the extreme, cites Bitcoin between $0-$33K by year’s end, a prediction clearly lacking imagination and aimed at appeasing its readership.
Wherever one is located on the planet, anniversary memorabilia will abound via the internet, such as Hublot’s Big Bang Blockchain timepiece with the cool price of $25,000 BTC equivalent; only cool if you happened to be on the right side of Bitcoin’s 2018 fortunes. The Meca-10 P2P watch is said to celebrate Satoshi’s “epochal invention including the fact that only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist in this world.”
Another piece of, perhaps more useful, memorabilia, given the subject of the celebration, is Ledger’s Limited Edition Nano. This one offers considerably more general interest, not to mention relevance to the occasion, given it is boxed to include a miniature edition of Satoshi’s whitepaper, with a Sgt. Pepper’s style historical line-up of characters on the cover including cryptography greats such as much misunderstood and acclaimed codebreaker Alan Turing. Retailing for just under $100 this would have been a steal, although, is now probably unattainable.
Of course, there will be anniversary coins such as South Korea’s myGeNomeCoin (GNC) offering coins through a snapshot of Bitcoin UTXO at 2019 0.00 UTC on Jan 3rd. Addresses that contain bitcoins at that point in time can claim the same number of myGeNomeCoin for every bitcoin they hold.
Finally, given that the art world and Bitcoin has forged somewhat of a marriage over recent years, it would seem fitting that a decade of Bitcoin should have some kind of artistic representation to mark the event. Bitcoin Art (r)evolution was held in Paris in October which according to the organizers attempted to create a “unique opportunity to decode the potential upheavals that cryptocurrency and blockchain can cause in the world of art.”
The public attending the event were able to purchase pieces using Bitcoin and three other cryptocurrencies. As a tribute to Bitcoin, artists were asked to hide images of the hallmark cryptocurrency in their submitted pieces.
Bitcoin remains an enigma, if only in the sense that its fortunes have been all but impossible to predict. But it has covered a huge distance from concept to reality in just 10 short years, with governments and private institutions transfixed by where it may be going, hesitant, but at the same time acknowledging its presence as a factor on the financial landscape.
Whatever Bitcoin’s fortunes are in 2019 the team at BitcoinNews wishes all its readers a very happy 2019 and a positive January 3rd.
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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.
Lawmakers Looking to Revisit Definition of Cryptocurrencies to Favour Cryptocurrencies: Two Congressmen in bipartisan legislation are aiming to ease restrictions of cryptocurrencies in the country by aiming to revisit one of the oldest securities definition in the country.
A new bill presented in the House of Representatives introduced what is called the Token Taxonomy Act that reiterates support for cryptocurrencies by declaring that they do not fall under the securities law. The bill was co-sponsored by Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and Darren Soto (D-Florida).
According to Congressman Davidson:
“In the early days of the internet, Congress passed legislation that provided certainty and resisted the temptation to over-regulate the market. Our intent is to achieve a similar win for America’s economy and for American leadership in this innovative space,”
It is yet to be seen how the bill will fare in the House as support is polarized for cryptocurrencies right now due to lack of knowledge and consensus among lawmakers.
Government Believes Drug Money Moving Via Crypto: The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has recently stated that Mexican cartels are using cryptocurrencies and Asian banking channels to shift funds across the country. The DEA announced these latest developments in a recent hearing in the US Capitol on Drug money and Mexican drug cartels.
Despite the extraordinary claim by the DEA, it is believed that cryptocurrencies still facilitate a tiny portion of the $2 trillion worldwide illegal drug business and its associated money laundering activities. The total cryptocurrency market cap is less than $150 billion and that shows that fiat channels are still working overtime to serve this illicit trade.
Government Working to Undercut Iranian Cryptocurrency Usage: After banning several bitcoin addresses allegedly connected to Iranian authorities, the American government is now looking to introduce new regulations to stop any Iranian plans for launching its own borderless cryptocurrency.
A new bill called Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act has been tabled in the House and aims to block any foreign nationals involved in the support and development of the alleged Iranian cryptocurrency project. The move comes after Iran announced earlier that its sanctions-defying cryptocurrency project was ready to be deployed.
Ripple Looking to Gain Foothold in Mexico: Ripple is working to increase the outreach of its cryptocurrency and have the Mexican market well within its sights. According to Ashish Birla, a senior executive at Ripple’s Product Development Team, the foray into the Mexican market will result in on-demand liquidity on an instant basis in the country. Birla is currently working on xRapid platform developed by Ripple for this purpose.
According to Birla:
“That’s such a big deal is because you don’t need to have the expensive capital tied up in Mexico. You can use xRapid for on-demand liquidity, instantly sourcing liquidity and delivering your payment into Mexico. One of the really exciting things about xRapid is that not only did we get the product launched not technically but we got it live in Mexico. We gotta live in the Philippines as well.”
Birla believes that increased regulatory clarity and its launch into more specific corridors will help customers in adoption and benefit the overall Ripple network in its quest for developing a blockchain ecosystem across the world.
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An article in US Magazine Time has cited Bitcoin’s real value as being a liberating financial tool for the future.
Time claims that such quality has been overridden by “speculation, fraud, and greed in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, overshadowing the real, liberating potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention.”
The current situation in Venezuela, is according to the magazine, a case in point. Cryptocurrency has become the go-to method for circumnavigating the all but worthless currency of the Latin American country following the collapse of the local economy. With over 2 million refugees crossing into Columbia since the economic crisis began, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dash have been Venezuelans only viable and usable method of purchasing daily necessities.
The Time article points out that not only has Bitcoin become a tool to protect certain countries against fiat inflation, such as its potential in both Venezuela and Iran and parts of the African continent but that it also has huge potential in avoiding mass surveillance. This was disputed recently by US whistle-blower Edward Snowden however, who suggested Bitcoin was far from being an optional tool for such needs.
The paper also sees an advantage in Bitcoin’s extra level of security from being frozen out by government regulations, although earlier this year WikiLeaks’ Coinbase account was suspended due to a terms of service violation. Despite this, Wikileaks still continues to receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations due to the control of its own private keys, recently adding support for Zcash in August 2018.
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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.
Tax Collection Service Publishes Guidelines for Private Cryptocurrency Holders: The UK Tax Service has published a new set of guidelines regarding cryptocurrency transactions for private holders following a prolonged consultation process. The new guideline titled Cryptoassets for Individuals will help private investors who buy/sell and even get paid in cryptocurrencies in the country.
After months of speculation, the detailed guideline covers every aspect of the taxable crypto income that the citizens need to report to the government. The latest information is endorsed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC). Cryptocurrency traders will be required to file for Capital Gains Taxes or Income taxes depending on the amount of transactions involved. If employees receive money in cryptocurrencies, they will also be required to pay for national social security contributions known as National Insurance (NI).
Samsung Seeking Trademark for Cryptocurrency Wallet: World’s biggest smartphone manufacturer Samsung maybe seeking a new trademark in the country for a cryptocurrency wallet according to a last week’s filing in the UK Intellectual Property Office.
In the Classes and Terms section of the new trademark application, Samsung cites:
“Computer software for use as a cryptocurrency wallet; Computer software for cryptocurrency transfer and payment using blockchain technology; Computer application software for smartphones, namely, software to allow users to transfer cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology and pay via 3rd party’s application software.”
The company is reportedly planning to launch a cold storage-based wallet on Samsung S10. It has also filed for various other patents in European Union Trademark offices as well.
Parliament Refuses to Ease Taxation for Cryptocurrency Owners: The French lower house has initially rejected proposed amendments to the 2019 Finance bill that would have eased cryptocurrency taxation in the country according to local business daily.
All in all, four amendment proposals relating to cryptocurrencies were rejected by the lawmakers including one involving differentiating between regular and occasional cryptocurrency transactions and a proposed increase in minimum taxable amount for cryptocurrencies.
France’s whirlwind affair with cryptocurrencies and blockchain continued in 2018 with the president Emmanuel Macron looking to promote the new sector while certain regulatory and tax-related roadblocks continued to hamper the development.
Stuttgart Stock Exchange Lists Support for Popular Cryptocurrencies: Borse Stuttgart, one of the top stock exchanges operating in the country has now announced support for popular cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.
A new trading app for this purpose will also be launched named the Bison app which is developed by Sowa Labs, a subsidiary of the stock exchange. Bison App confirmed trading of these popular cryptocurrencies and also announced that more cryptocurrencies will be added later on.
Governments of Malta and Italy Issue Joint Statements Against Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Exchange: Maltese and Italian governments have jointly warned their citizens regarding an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange operating in their jurisdictions. The exchange named OriginalCrypto first came to the attention of the Italian authorities when they believed it may not have the required license to operate in the area.
Malta remains one of the most progressive countries when it comes to cryptocurrencies but even it has a basic robust framework and regulatory process that the exchanges and other companies must fulfill. The parent company of the exchange SolutionsCM Ltd has come under increased scrutiny from both governments and it is believed that charges may be filed against it in the near future.
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A press release from the Kuwait Central Bank (NBK) details a new financial product that utilized RippleNet to enact cross-border payments.
The central bank of the middle eastern nation of Kuwait has joined forces with blockchain banking network Ripple to provide a more efficient international payment solution.
The product, “NBK Direct Remit,” will initially serve payments to Jordan, although, additional countries are scheduled to follow suit. It boasts to provide a quicker, cheaper alternative to the current services. The “fast remittance service” will be available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week for all NBK clients.
NBK is the country’s largest financial institution, claiming the highest credit rating among regional banks according to leading credit rating agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
Ripple is well recognized for being a cryptocurrency that, unlike Bitcoin, operates harmoniously alongside banks and the traditional financial sector.
Observers have noted that modernizing banking networks in ways such as NBK Direct Remit does, will help stimulate income-generating activities, something particularly valuable for oil-dependent middle eastern nations. Dubai officials have also been outspoken advocates of the potential benefits of blockchain banking, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE are reported to be launching their own cross-border payment window.
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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here, we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.
Paxful Reports Increase in Cryptocurrency Usage in Africa: African countries including Ghana and Nigeria are reporting a considerable increase in cryptocurrency trading activities according to data from Paxful with both of these countries ranked among the top ten in the world for crypto adoption. In some parts of the continent, the crypto adoption increased two-folds with increased enthusiasm among the younger sections of the population.
It is expected that next year will be bigger and better for the cryptocurrency scene in the continent where microfinance has a big future and many people are underbanked with no access to mobile accounts.
Experts Believe Cryptocurrencies can Boost Economy in the Country: Experts based in Africa’s biggest economy believe that cryptocurrencies have the ability to transform the economic landscape of the country. They made their views known in a recent Luno Conference in the country that hosted some of the top professionals in the sector.
According to Lucky Uwakwe, the CEO of Blockchain Solutions Limited, cryptocurrency awareness was increasing in the region and he thought the country should step up in the market because cryptocurrencies are the future. Nigerian blockchain expert Owenize Odia believes that the right regulation is needed in the country to help cement trust and lend authenticity to the sector.
Dash to Increase Merchant and Exchange Integrations: Digital currency Dash is making new inroads in Nigeria as the privacy and crowdsourcing-centric cryptocurrency has added two new merchants and is offering discounts for paying with the cryptocurrency through these merchants.
The two stores are Qualymart and CryptoStorez, both Nigerian e-commerce solutions. Qualymart is offering a whopping 20% discount on Dash payments while Cryptostorez offers 5%.
Bitcoin’s Popularity is Growing: Bitcoin’s trading volumes have soared up to 37% in Turkey since October this year despite the eventual lifting of sanctions after a diplomatic deadlock ended in recent months. The increased usage of LocalBitcoins.com and other P2P cryptocurrency trading platforms mean that people are interested in the new digital class and are willing to invest in it to circumnavigate the effects of inflation in the country.
The millennial population is the one most prone to investing in the new sector.
Government Looking to Introduce New Crypto Regulations by early 2019: The government of UAE is looking to introduce comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation in the country by the first half of 2019, according to local media reports. The new regulations will introduce common sense regulations for the industry and will look to make the country the most dominant player in the Arab world and even across the globe.
According to Hans Fraikin, the CEO of Libra Project:
“The UAE is perfectly positioned to be a global leader in the ICO space. If they succeed as planned, they will be at the forefront of this new burgeoning global securities sector.”
ICOs are also expected to be allowed in the regulation and will result in major coin-related businesses coming to UAE’s shores.
American Government Looking to Counter Iran’s Efforts of Using Cryptocurrencies: The US is stepping up its efforts to enforce further sanctions on Iran by blacklisting its new cryptocurrency projects and suspicious wallets. A new bill presented in the House of Representatives by Mike Gallagher (Wisconsin) aims to prevent Iran from creating a new cryptocurrency.
The Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act will enable the US administration of Donald Trump to take further action on enforcing sanctions.
According to the proposed bill:
“All transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in Iranian digital currency by a United States person or within the United States are prohibited.”
The US unilaterally withdrew from a Nuclear deal with Iran and has since come out on the offensive against the Middle Eastern country whose population is opening up to cryptocurrencies as a way to circumnavigate the imposed sanctions and their economic effects.
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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here, we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.
Government Swamped with New Exchange Applications as Year’s End Approaches: Top Japanese financial watchdog Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has announced that it has received over 190 applications from potential exchanges in 2019 alone with many of them being filed in the recent months.
The move happened after the FSA gave the local cryptocurrency exchange union called Japanese Virtual Currencies Association (JVCEA) the authority to self-regulate the industry. The agency also stepped up in the classification of different tokens being traded on the market and distributed them into three categories; 1. Virtual currencies with no issuers (Bitcoin, etc), 2. Virtual currencies with issuers and 3. Currencies with issuers who also distribute profits among the investors.
Japan is currently among the most innovative and open countries when it comes to cryptocurrencies and blockchain development. One of the reasons why Japan is progressing so well is its flexible laws that are currently enforced on the industry.
Cryptocurrency Exchange Acquitted by South Korean Court: Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has been cleared of all charges by a Korean court in a case filed by one of its affected users whose assets were stolen in one of the biggest crypto hacks of the current year.
According to the lawsuit, the user alleged that the exchange and its below-par security features were to be blamed for the hack that resulted in almost $355,000 worth of stolen funds from his account. The lawsuit was dismissed because the judge ruled that the company had fulfilled its obligation by sending confirmation messages to his phone. Still, this might not be the end of Bithumb’s legal issues.
Business School Reportedly Offering Crypto and Blockchain MBA Program: A major South Korean business school will now reportedly offer a cryptocurrency focused business degree program with crypto-specific courses including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Smart contracts, Game Theory, and App Development.
The new program will help the development of valuable human resource needed in the sector.
40% Chinese Willing to Invest in Cryptocurrencies: A recent survey in China shows that over 40% of the public would still be interested in investing in cryptocurrencies despite the price slump of 2018 that may well go into the year 2019 too.
According to a recent survey by a Chinese cryptocurrency media outlet PANews, out of 4980 participants, around 40% believed that they would still invest in cryptocurrencies. Astonishingly, 14.2 % had already invested in cryptocurrencies despite the blanket ban in mainland China. More than 98.2% of the populace had already heard about cryptocurrencies.
Miner Hit with $3 Million Power Theft Scandal: A Taiwan-based miner has been charged by the police for mining $14 million worth of cryptocurrencies from $3 million worth of stolen power. Known only as Yang, the miner will face charges in a local court.
According to police sources, Yang used rewiring to reroute electricity for mining purposes which is illegal and considered theft of essential commodity.
New Indian Committee may be Favourable to Bitcoin: India may have banned cryptocurrencies in the latest move but a new governmental committee in the parliament may have pro-crypto leanings according to latest reports.
According to a member of the committee, the government may be looking to partially legalize cryptocurrencies because there is a general consensus that cryptocurrencies cannot be deemed as completely “illegal” as the central bank has declared them to be.
Anti-Encryption Bill May Affect Operations of Blockchain Companies: A new law passed by the Australian parliament may affect the blockchain startups operating in the country.
The new bill named Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Assistance and Access Bill 2018 will tighten the laws on privacy and will give government sweeping powers that they can use at their will. The move is similar to the law passed in the US named “Warrant Canary” that gave more powers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here, we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news, continent by continent and country by country.
Exchanges Looking for Mergers/Acquisitions due to the low price index of Bitcoin: Brazilian exchanges that mushroomed during the cryptocurrency boom of 2017 are looking for mergers and acquisitions with other exchanges to keep afloat due to the falling Bitcoin price index. Even though the number of investors in the cryptocurrency scene is more than the number of stock market investors in the country, the 79+ exchanges operating in the sector is quite a lot and are thus feeling the pressure.
Top executives from two big exchanges operating in the South American country – CEO of Braziliex, Luiz Calado and the Legal Director of Foxbit, Natalia Garcia, share this opinion. They believe that exchanges are rethinking their business models, considering layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. According to Garcia: “There is a lot of brokerage for sale or in search of mergers.”
Cryptocurrency exchanges are also looking for mergers to be in compliance with the newer and tougher trading laws being enacted in the country.
Crypto Awards Ceremony to Recognize Best Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Companies in the Country: A new event being organized by Criptomoedas Facil will give out awards to the best-performing cryptocurrency startups and businesses operating in the country. The competing categories will include best cryptocurrency exchange, best encryption (apart from Bitcoin), most innovative Brazilian startup and the best YouTube channel from the sector.
The winners will be selected in two stages. The first stage will include a popular vote by the Brazilian community and they can vote here. One vote can be cast for each category. Top five in each category will then be shortlisted for a more technical assessment by a specialist jury. The final announcement of the prizes will be made in the 2nd annual CriptoFacil event to be held on 23rd March 2019.
Federal Revenue Service Participating in Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency-related Event at Stanford: The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service’s (RFB) representatives will take part in a blockchain conference being organized at Stanford University, California in 2019. Their goal will be to present the government’s initiatives for reducing money laundering efforts through cryptocurrencies.
The RFB is also working on several blockchain applications for this purpose. The panel discussion will be spearheaded by Ronald Cesar Thompson, General Coordinator of Information Technology at the RFB. It will provide valuable insight into how cryptocurrency regulations are shaping up across the world in addition to the US.
Central Bank of Brazil Wants to Reduce Debts through Distributed Ledger Technology: To remove debt-related issues, the Bacen (Central Bank of Brazil) is looking to use blockchain technology. Brazil already has one of the highest interest rates in the world with the rate rising to as much as 35% in the country due to rampant inflation statistics.
Bacen is now working on 12 projects shortlisted from 79 initiatives to help reduce this considerable debt trap in the country with blockchain and Artificial Intelligence playing a big role in the proceedings.
Country Sees Biggest Spike in Trading Volumes on Localbitcoins.com: The worsening humanitarian crisis brewing in the South American country is seeing bitcoin trading volumes increase on Localbitcoins.com with an 11 percent rise witnessed this week alone, according to data from the world’s biggest P2P bitcoin buying/selling website.
The data is far from encouraging for the local Venezuelans as inflation reached a record 1 million% in the country. Inflation in the US alone is just 2.2 percent itself.
Country Gets 8 New Bitcoin ATMs in 2018: Despite the government’s promises of thousands of new Bitcoin ATMs in the country, Argentina could only get 8 new ones during the outgoing calendar year. This is a sizable improvement but not at the level the government claimed it was going to be in the country. The country is now one of the fastest growing bitcoin ATM destinations in the continent.
Three new machines are expected to be installed in January of next year bringing the total number of Bitcoin ATMs to 11. However, the government has promised thousands of new Bitcoin ATMs in the country to bring it out of inflation in the near future.
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The bullish Bitcoin predictions for 2018 may have fallen rather flat with Bitcoin standing at USD 3,870 at press time, but many experts insist 2019 will be the year institutional investors enter the space and prompt for far better performance.
The so-called ‘King of crypto’ and founder of NASDAQ Private Market, Barry Silbert, believes 2019 will be the year Bitcoin really makes it into mainstream finance. He told CNBC that 56% of funds raised through his digital currency investment fund Grayscale came from institutional investors, meanwhile, a year or two ago, their involvement was almost non-existent. While he acknowledged that there was still a need for institutional-grade custody solutions, he firmly trusts that hedge funds are eagerly looking to get involved in the cryptocurrency market early, but want to be second, not first and not late into the game.
Silbert’s fund management firm has a stake in the top five cryptocurrencies, the rest he says, ”are going to zero” next year or soon after.
Never one to shy away from a bold cryptocurrency prediction, seasoned investor Mike Novogratz sees the first quarter of 2019 bringing Bitcoin’s price to “new highs,” thanks to the same institutional investors. The bitcoin bull retracted his prediction of a USD 10,000 end of year value, instead, he said that everything in the cryptocurrency space is taking “longer than expected.”
Novogratz trusts that Goldman Sachs’ crypto custody solutions currently in the works, as well as Fidelity Investment’s announcement of a “world-class custody solution,” will be enough to convince the investor class into the market early next year.
Just last month, standing by a now near impossible USD 15,000 2018 year-end price prediction, head of research at Fundstrat Tom Lee sees Bitcoin mining as being the biggest proponent of an expected price increase. “We believe the current path of hash power growth supports a BTC price of about $36,000 by the 2019 year end, with a $20,000 – $64,000 range,” Fundstrat shared in May this year.
Mining was expected to influence the price in this way, particularly due to the next generation of hardware rig that could extend hash power growth. However, 2018’s bear market has had a significant negative impact on the mining industry with reports suggesting that miners are struggling to break even in recent times. The Bitcoin hash rate has now finally succeeded in climbing once again after a four-month downturn.
Management consultancy group AT Kearney released its 2019 price prediction, defending Bitcoin against claims that it is trending to zero and the whole cryptocurrency market to be “post-crash.” The report labels Bitcoin as an asset that is still maturing, although, it will “lead the consolidation and maturation” of altcoins.
The approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a general improvement to market transparency were cited as factors that will propel the value of Bitcoin, while AT Kearney says there is only one path to survival which involves “acceptance by the international financial system that Bitcoin once sought to defeat.” With this in mind, AT Kearney predicts 2019 will see the Blockchain Association lobby in favor of cryptocurrency in US politics.
The consultancy additionally predicted Bitcoin to reclaim close to two-thirds of cryptocurrency market capitalization even by the end of 2019, sensing a growing aversion to altcoins by investors created by an increased perception of risk. Bitcoin’s current market capitalization stands just over 50%, after recovering from a loss in January 2018 that saw it fall to just 33%.
With Bitcoin’s market performance this year disappointing many investors, its market fluctuations have prompted many cryptocurrency enthusiasts to look into alternative store-of-value opportunities. Particularly, operations reliant on Bitcoin for their business model have faced recent economic hardships. The trending option of stablecoins can theoretically be used as a way to preserve funds in a far more ‘stable’ way without having to cash out into a strong fiat currency. For example, the largest stablecoin by market cap, Tether (USDT), claims to hold an equivalent value of the USD.
Head of research at Blockchain.com and co-founder of Mosaic, Dr. Garrick Hileman, in November said that stablecoins have become the fastest growing category in the blockchain ecosystem since the rise of interest in distributed ledger technology (DLT) in 2015. His analysis is largely based on the enormous levels of venture funding the crypto-asset category has raised, currently standing at over USD 50 million, a total that surpasses all other categories.
Stablecoins became more prominent in the latter half of this year and, as the technology behind them is still being finetuned, the impact they will have on cryptocurrency market is still unclear. If a large enough percentage of Bitcoin-reliant business models or investors choose to switch to stablecoins for a perceived improvement of economic stability, this could prove to be a struggle for Bitcoin’s performance in 2019.
Some pundits are happy to throw around numerical guesses of where Bitcoin will find itself next year, but others are more cautious in doing so, especially with the failings of nearly all predictions in 2018.
Lisa Cheng, the founder of the Vanbex Group thinks that the lack of cryptocurrency fundamentals ultimately lead to unsophisticated analyzers who are responsible for bad predictions. Additionally, she has pointed out that the early Bitcoin investors still account for a large share of the market and have incentives to swing the price by publicizing forecasts, as do others who are betting long or short on the value.
While it is difficult to put a price on Bitcoin for the coming year, there are certain things that can be assumed to play out and effect adoption, such as institutional involvement, stablecoins, and a greater understanding of cryptocurrency fundamentals as the market matures.
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