Man Sentenced for Illegal Money Transmission Services on LocalBitcoins

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<br /><br /> <br /><br /> U.S. citizen Morgan Rockcoons has been sentenced to fines and prison time for running unlicensed money exchange services on LocalBitcoins.Advertising himself on the peer-to-peer bitcoin trading network, Rockcoons made more than 1,000 transactions with hundreds of different users. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) pursued him on charges of not registering his business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).Rockcoons’ sentencing marks the end of a somewhat protracted legal battle, following his arrest in February 2018. Rockcoons attempted to sell 10 BTC to an undercover law enforcement officer for $14,500 in cash after the officer explicitly told him that the money was acquired through the production and sale of controlled substances.The DoJ released information on this case on May 28, 2019, claiming that Rockcoons is to spend “21 months in prison for wire fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business,” in addition to forfeiting over $80,000 in profits.This marks the continuation of a trend from the U.S. federal government as it ramps up prosecution of bitcoin traders. In April 2019, the DoJ sentenced Joseph Burrell Campos to prison time and an $800,000 fine for similar charges. FinCEN itself began directly pursuing cases of this sort only a week later, levying civil damages against Eric Powers.As in the Campos case, the DoJ claims that the charges against Rockcoons fall under Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) jurisdiction. Another similarity between these two cases is that the DoJ explicitly named LocalBitcoins.com as the mechanism by which both defendants advertised their illegal services. With the site shutting down all operations in Iran in late May 2019 to comply with U.S. sanctions on the country, the site’s operators seem aware of the possibility that legal action could be taken against the service itself.The DoJ report added that, in this particular case, Rockcoons pled guilty to more than just the unregistered trading of bitcoin. While out on bail in 2018 for the original crime of selling bitcoin without registration, he offered parcels of land for sale in bitcoin. Rockcoons claimed that hundreds of square acres of barren Nevada desert constituted the upcoming real estate development of “Bitcointopia” where bitcoin would be legal tender. Rockcoons did not actually own any of this land.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: Bullish Market Structure Upheld Following Strong Sell Off

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<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br />Summary:Although we saw a strong sell off yesterday, the bullish market structure has yet to be violated. The weekly support has been confirmed for the time being and our parabolic advance is still intact.We are currently failing to hold support in the $8,500s for our intraday market structure. As we test the failed support we have yet to confirm if it has new found resistance. If we fail to regain the level we can expect to see an intraday retest of our weekly support level in the $8,100s.If the $8,100 level fails, it is entirely possible that we will be visiting the mid $6,000s before buying pressure picks up to push the price. However, if we can sustain support on our weekly $8,100 level, we could ultimately see a test of our monthly and weekly resistance in the low $9,000 level before any meaningful, macro correction takes place.Trading and investing in digital assets like bitcoin is highly speculative and comes with many risks. This analysis is for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice. Statements and financial information onBitcoin Magazine and BTC Inc sites do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BTC Inc and should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation to buy, sell or hold. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Puerto Rico Bank to Crowdfund on Circle, Crowdcube

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Puerto Rico Bank to Crowdfund on Circle, Crowdcube

A financial entity with a license from Puerto Rico could soon be operating for US crypto startups, if it can raise capital on Circle’s SeedInvest and Crowdcube according to CoinDesk.

Arival Bank is now waiting for Puerto Rican regulators to issue an International Financial Entity (IFE) license before it can launch a crowdfunding campaign simultaneously on the US and UK based platforms. It has a target of USD 3 million, according to SeedInvest associate Samuel Lawson.

Arival Bank CFO Jeremy Berger explained the thought process behind this move:

“It’s important for us to get the public involved, not just as investors but supporters of our vision. We need their feedback to drive the way we flesh out our tech, for example. It builds a real word of mouth presence and we hope it’ll bring significant impact on customer acquisition.”

If all goes well, a more traditional Series A funding round is in the works. The co-founders, Slava Solodkiy, Igor Pesin and Berger, all said that the slowness with which banks serviced crypto startups inspired Arival:

“We want to serve clients who are getting rejected by traditional and even digital banks: crypto-related businesses (our first target audience), charity organizations, freelancers from co-working spaces, expats, refugees, residents from e-residency program in Estonia.”

Lawson revealed that it was this specific business model that made SeedInvest see Arival as a natural partner, since the platform does due diligence on startups before listing their equities.

He further explained that SMEs and crypto-based enterprises were still severely underbanked and does not see traditional banks provide solutions for this growing sector of the global economy: “Further, by taking a global approach and working to acquire an international banking license, the company fits well into the decentralized crypto model.”

Last month, Bitcoin News reported on a new bank for crypto traders in Puerto Rico, the San Juan Mercantile Bank & Trust International (SJMBT).

 

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Coinbase Announces Support for EOS: Growing List of Crypto Assets

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EOS

Coinbase has announced that from today, EOS will be supported by its custodial wallet. Coinbase users can now buy, sell, receive, convert, and store crypto on the platform as well as exchange it against fiat currencies that are supported. EOS is currently among the top cryptocurrencies, and it is ranked fifth largest in terms of circulation.

EOS Now Available on Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase tweeted that it is launching EOS on its website as well as in the Android and iOS Coinbase apps, so users will need to update their apps for them to be able to ...

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Is Nobody Spending Bitcoin? Chainalysis New Data Reflects Rally

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Chainalysis

Bitcoin is closing out the month near $8,500 USD. Surging more than 60% since the beginning of the month, its revival has caused a global stir. However, in the midst of the excitement, blockchain researcher Chainalysis is discovering a problem that perhaps most of us already know: hardly anyone is actually spending it.

Chainalysis Inc Chimes In

Data from New York-based Chainalysis is showing that “only 1.3% of economic transactions came from the first four months of 2019, little changed over the boom and bust cycles of the prior two years.”

Further, that “hardly ...

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Australian Government Publishes Update on Cryptocurrency and ICO Rules

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<br /><br /> <br /><br /> The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has published an update on how it intends to regulate crypto-related businesses and initial coin offerings (ICOs).In this guideline, the financial regulator outlines requirements that need to be followed for cryptocurrency businesses to be compliant with the ASIC Act.This update is noteworthy as the country continues to battle crypto scams, losing almost $4.3 million in 2018.Going forward, companies issuing crypto assets deemed to be financial products will be required by law to procure an Australian Financial Services (AFS) license. On the flipside, for crypto assets which aren’t financial products, promoters must ensure that they don’t engage in any form of deceptive advertising.According to the Corporations Act, an ICO could be a financial product if it&#x27;s a &quot;managed investment scheme, security, derivative or non-cash payment (NCP) facility,&quot; ASIC explains.Exchanges that manage and offer trading of these assets would also be required to follow the new guidelines, including holding an Australian market license, unless covered by an exemption.In instances where miners could be considered as a part of the clearing and settlement processes for financial products, Australian laws will apply.In part, the release notes, “Businesses offering crypto-assets, or offering services in relation to crypto assets, need to undertake appropriate inquiries to satisfy themselves they are complying with all relevant Australian laws.”Crypto wallet and custody service providers would need the appropriate custodial and depository authorizations to operate, while crypto asset payment and service providers involved in non-cash payment facility require an AFS license.The agency pointed out that it would be enforcing know-your-customer and anti-money laundering standards on all crypto assets. These cover assets managed within and outside of the country&#x27;s borders in tandem with the Australian Consumer Law.ASIC Commissioner John Price said, “Australian laws will also apply even if the ICO or crypto-asset is promoted or sold to Australians from offshore. Issuers of ICOs, crypto-assets and their advisers should not assume the use of these structures means that key consumer protections under Australian laws do not apply or can be ignored.”<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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ARK Releases Revolutionary Free-to-use Blockchain Creation Tool, the ARK Deployer

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ark

Following ARK’s vision for a blockchain fueled future, is the launching of its widely applauded ARK Deployer. The event will be a game changer in the field of blockchain creation and adoption by mainstream services. ARK, is set to establish a unique and less complex process made readily available for individuals or entities wanting to harness the power of blockchain technology.

ARK Deployer is a freely-available tool designed for both professional users and technical novices to utilize. The Deployer eases the creation of entire blockchain systems from start to finish, enabling users to quickly build their own blockchain in a few clicks. ARK Deployer’s features include three customization levels with built-in presets; Basic, Intermediate or Advanced, and an advanced configurations option. Users can select from whatever options they prefer to quickly customize, and deploy their own blockchain.

ARK Deployer paves the path for the global adoption of blockchain technology, from small time developers, to leading businesses cooperatives across the world, anyone can easily leverage the features to customize cryptocurrency allocation, fees, block time and reward program, among many other preferences they may have for their blockchain. For less technically savvy individuals, ARK Deployer offers detailed explanations of each step from start to finish, along with a support guide.

Chief Strategy Officer at ARK, Matthew Cox, believes it is time people gain access to simpler methods of configuring blockchain. As more and more people are beginning to wake up to the security offered by blockchain, there has been a growing a demand for the technology. In his words:

“Developers are crying out for tools to significantly reduce the time and effort needed to utilize blockchain technology. With the ARK Deployer, users will quickly be able to create their own scalable, efficient and decentralized blockchain network based on ARK’s code but customized to their specific requirements. This means users can focus on building their own ideas, projects or applications, safe in the knowledge that they will have a solid and secure blockchain foundation as part of the ARK Ecosystem.”

ARK vision is to empowers the masses regardless of technical background, giving them a chance to enjoy the technology’s benefits as a secure, decentralized, immutable, and transparent option for their individual needs.

Ki Foundation’s CEO Réda Berrehili sees the point, and further noted on how ARK Deployer will help accelerate time and resources, he says:

“Creating our own ecosystem utilizing ARK’s technology as a starting point means that our organization is able to progress quickly and efficiently. We’re able to focus on developing our business-specific applications while ARK’s open source technology is providing us with a free, efficient and scalable blockchain foundation.”

The free-to-use blockchain creation tool is solely available on ARK.io website, prospective blockchain deployers can click here to begin the possibility of anything on the blockchain.

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University of Pennsylvania Latest Ivy Leaguer with Crypto Course on Offer

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University of Pennsylvania Latest Ivy Leaguer with Crypto Course on Offer

The University of Pennsylvania has become the latest prestigious university to join a growing list either launching into blockchain or cryptocurrency via education centers and course.

Students will now be able to participate in an online program on financial technologies, including digital currencies at the university’s Wharton School. The new course, Fintech: Foundations and Applications of Financial Technologies, covers crypto essentials including DLT and crowdfunding and other related topics.

US Ivy League Universities have been in the crypto news over the past year with both Columbia and Stanford opening blockchain research centers in 2018, hot on the trails of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Add to these, Miami University in Ohio, Montclair State University, and now the University of Pennsylvania’s online course amongst others, and the direction of blockchain education in the US is very clear; there is no way but up.

Wharton online director Anne Trumbore, who formed the research project Stevens Center targeting fintech, said that the university was keen to add cryptocurrency as part of its holistic attitude to fintech. As part of the new online course, Penn students will be able to benefit from access to speakers from within the industry, such as payment processor Square, as well as university lecturers.

It is not just universities now taking an interest in the industry. For many, the main route into the burgeoning fintech space has now become via a growing range of courses being offered by business schools around the world. Courses are now on offer from far and wide whether it be in the Scottish Highlands or in sunny Cyprus.

 

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Bitcoin Buys Profitable in 122 out of 125 Months

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Bitcoin Buys Profitable in 122 out of 125 Months

A Twitter user called Bitcoin Birch, as reported by NewsBTC, has pointed out today that out of the 125 months of Bitcoin existence, there have only been 3 months where Bitcoin buys would be in a losing position today at its current price of USD 8,300.

Since Bitcoin’s inception little over 10 years ago, the world’s most recognized cryptocurrency has resulted in over 194 million per cent returns and continues to be the best performing asset of any class this year.

Those three months happened in a continuous stretch too, smack in the middle of the massive bull run that was witnessed at the end of 2017, when incredible amounts of speculative investment poured into Bitcoin, with most newcomers buying the digital asset without truly understanding what it really was or what it meant.

This led to a hyperbolic obsession about Bitcoin, driving prices much higher than true valuations and an eventual burst of the bubble, whereby Bitcoin proceeded to decline in price, losing 85% of its value from an all-time high near USD 20,000 to a 2019 low of USD 3,100.

Altcoins fared much worse, falling between 80% and 99% across the board.

Bitcoin buys fared the worst when made in December 2017 during the peak of the hype, but even those who bought in January 2018 and February 2018 are still in losses today. Of course, price did crash to USD 6,000 in February 2018 so not all buyers in that particular month are in the red today.

Another Twitter user puts things in even more convincing perspective, showing that Bitcoin price technical analysis has only shown two red candles in its entire 8-year history of trading on the market.

The lesson to be learnt, however, is that the longer Bitcoin is around, the fewer months there are in its history that will make you a losing buyer.

 

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Paxful CEO: From Homeless in New York to Building Homes in Africa

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Paxful CEO_ From Homeless in New York to Building Homes in Africa

Bitcoin News has been following the fortunes of peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful since covering Africa in our Humanitarian Blockchain series published last year. One Crypto Briefing interviewer was lucky enough to catch up with company founder Ray Youssef to discuss the ups and downs of the company’s Africa project.

From co-founding the company in 2015 with Artur Shaback, after pushing Bitcoin as an alternative payment system on the back of classified advertising website Backpage’s successes as a crypto marketplace directory, to piloting numerous projects in Africa, the company has moved from strength to strength.

However, it wasn’t always like that as in the early days living in New York Youssef was made homeless after being unable to pay his rent. The company has had its dissenters too, just months ago coming under scrutiny after being accused of defrauding thousands of Nigerian clients of funds accumulated from online trade in digital currencies. Nigerians now using the platform has risen to over three million.

Youssef argues that Paxful, looking into cases of fraud on its platform at the time, was forced to freeze the related accounts of traders who were using the platform in order to scam users.

The company has gained popularity on the African continent, principally due to P2P becoming the preferred trading method and also the multitude of ways cryptocurrencies can be purchased on its platform. It is for Paxful’s humanitarian projects in building schools in Africa that the company has become known for.

Paxful has a busy 2019 ahead with numerous projects already in the pipeline. The company announced it wasn’t prepared to stop at its first BTC donation but now had plans to expand on the two completed schools in Rwanda to fund and build a further 100 schools across the African continent. With Bitcoin donations and academic scholarships the prize for socially supportive projects, Paxful is fast becoming a humanitarian face of blockchain.

 

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Bitcoin Taps $9,000 but Falls 10% After Rejection

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Bitcoin Taps $9,000 but Falls 10% After Rejection

After finally flashing past USD 9,000 briefly, Bitcoin, profit taking resulted in a sudden pullback that left Bitcoin at USD 8,025 after three hours, before recovering to its current levels at USD 8,250 as Europe markets open for trading at 6:00 am UTC (CoinDesk).

For an entire 10 hours during Asian trading, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency steadied at and above USD 8,700, until a sudden spike just as London ended Thursday business time, when it hit a new 2019 high of USD 9,084. Obvious profit-taking took place however, triggering further sell-offs that crashed Bitcoin by over 10% in 3 hours after a strong rejection from the USD 9,000 range.

Bulls will only take this as a temporary setback, now understanding that much sterner resolve will be required for another attempt, but there will be plenty of speculators who shorted Bitcoin just above USD 9,000. Altcoin holders, who only yesterday enjoyed a rally to hit 10-month highs, will also be disappointed that altcoins took a nosedive following Bitcoin’s reversal.

The road to the promised land of USD 10,000 has stretched that much longer, but the weekend approaches, and if anything is to be learned from the past two months, it’s that Bitcoin moves the most positively and aggresively when traditional markets are closed for business.

 

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Top Irish Banks Take to Blockchain to Validate Employee Credentials

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Ireland's 3 major banks incorporate Blockchain to verify employees' credentials

In an attempt to maintain the regulatory standards of the Central bank of Ireland, three of the “Big Four” banks are collaborating on a new education-based blockchain platform aimed to validate their employee credentials. The announcement was made during Blockchain Ireland week, hosted by government agencies and tech firms.

As reported by Irish Times, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank are teaming up with accounting firm Deloitte. The platform was built on the Ethereum blockchain by Deloitte’s EMEA Blockchain Lab which is based in Dublin.

Minister of Finance Pascal Donohoe said:

“[The Government] fully supports the development and adoption of new technologies like blockchain, as a way to encourage digitalization and foster innovation.”

All the employees of the banks will be provided with digital wallets which will contain their credentials. This will help them in conforming to the regulations of the Central bank of Ireland for maintaining a certain degree of standard when it comes to senior employees.

Mary O’Dea, Chief Executive of the Institute of Banking, said:

“(It’s) all about sustaining the highest professional standards for the benefit of the customers who are served by the financial services industry,”

Ireland’s Institute of Banking comprises 23,500 employees, and the project is expected to run till the mid-2020s.  The use of blockchain-based technology for verification of qualifications and credentials is experiencing growing popularity.

In another instance, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission took to Blockchain to set up a better verification model to evaluate the government department. In 2018, the Malaysian education ministry developed a blockchain-based platform to eliminate all kinds of fraudulent degrees. Similarly, back in 2017, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) issued Blockchain based digital certificates to implement verification of these certificates by potential employers and other parties.

 

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Altcoins on the March Hitting 10-Month Peak

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For those that might have given up on altcoins as they watched them tumble last year, now might be a good time to take a second look, as it appears that many investors are doing exactly that with values latching on to Bitcoin’s latest wild ride and moving in the right direction.

‘Altseason’ is the latest tag floating around now that crypto winter has finally moved into spring and the momentum is clearly with them. As one CEO put it yesterday, Bitcoin “definitely has a center of gravity that many other cryptocurrencies and coins benefit from”, and this is clearly reflected in the recent movement of altcoins over past weeks.

With markets heading for a new 2019 high and total market capitalization reaching a ten-month high at USD 280 billion, undervalued coins are getting some attention and purchases are cranking up. ZCash (ZEC) is one of these, spiking almost 12% to USD 85 along with the 16% growth of the EOS coin.

With prices reverting to 2018 July-August levels for the likes of TRON (TRX), EOS (EOS) and Litecoin (LTC) Alts are more often in the green than the red, a scenario some thought they would never see again, pinning their hopes purely on Bitcoin as the market struggled.

With Ethereum reaching a 10-month high and Bitcoin bouncing back to end of July 2018 levels before the big fall market players are hoping for a total of reversal of what happened after that.

 

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North Korea Crypto Hacks Motivated by US Sanctions

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North Korea Crypto Hacks Motivated by US Sanctions

US intelligence have apparently blamed economic sanctions enforced by the US on North Korea as the primary motivations behind the cryptocurrency-related cybercrimes blamed on North Korean hackers, as reported by local English daily Korea Herald.

Authorities from the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) reportedly said on Voice of America that the cryptojacking and exchange hacks have been carried out by North Korea to circumvent the sanctions that prevent the country from developing its economy properly. They were at a conference hosted by Aspen Institute, a civil liberties think tank, and blamed North Korean hackers for the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014, the Bangladesh bank robbery in 2016 and the WannaCry ransomware events of 2017.

FBI cyber readiness, outreach and intelligence branch deputy assistant director, Tonya Ugoretz, was quoted:

“Sanctions are having an economic impact, so cyber operations are a means to make money, whether it’s through cryptocurrency mining or bank theft.”

Erin Joe, director of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center under the US Director of National Intelligence, revealed that US intelligence bodies were cooperating to prevent Borth Korea crypto hacks, which were considered a new type of crime:

“There is a huge effort in the FBI, and also several other entities across government, looking at ways to stop malicious activity (surrounding) cryptocurrency… “It’s relatively a new thing, and it comes with a variety of issues that we need to learn more about and figure out so we can stop malicious behavior related to cryptocurrency and currency going to places where it should not or it’s not supposed to.”

The conference, themed ‘The Challenge of Deterrence in Cyberspace’, had also brought to discussion cyber threats from traditional political opponents of the US, including China, Iran and Russia.

 

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A Closer Look at Satoshi Nakamoto: Facts, Fictions, and Identities

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Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto is the alias used by a person or group who authored the Bitcoin whitepaper. Satoshi is the creator of the first release of the Bitcoin protocol and blockchain database. The alias was used in email and forum correspondence from August 2008 through April 2011.

History

Satoshi’s first appearance in the world was the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper to several mailing lists on October 31, 2008. Beginning in 2007, Satoshi wrote the initial codebase for Bitcoin and released it on Sourceforge on January 9, 2009. On January 3, 2009, Satoshi created the ‘Genesis Block’ ...

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Exploring Illegal Mining Camps in Western China

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<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article was originally published by 8btc and written by Vincent He.Although China has shut down bitcoin trading platforms and deemed them illegal, its attitude toward bitcoin mining is still ambiguous. Now, 70 percent of the world’s bitcoins are produced in China, while 70 percent of China’s “stock” are in Sichuan, a western province of China, especially along the Dadu River, where there is plenty of hydropower.As bitcoin mining requires a lot of electricity, China’s bitcoin mining camps are often located in remote areas with low electricity charges, such as Xinjiang, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and other regions. As a saying goes, “Sichuan is the natural ‘mining capital’ of bitcoin.”Due to the fact that nearly 50 percent of the revenue from bitcoin mining is used to pay for electricity, miners have turned to direct power supplies from power plants.“The cost is very low for the direct power supply of the power station, for it does not need to be integrated into the state grid,” said a senior miner. “Many mines are built directly in or near the power station, and they build their own substations.”A Chinese bitcoin mine’s factory building cannot be approved, nor can environmental assessments and construction reports. Mines may be suspected of illegal construction and power plants’ direct sales also violate electricity laws.The shortest factory building is on the Dadu River embankment, only a few meters away from the river surface. The newly built cement wall is isolated from the office building of the power station and connected with a transformer unit separated from the wall of the power station.Entering the factory building, the water mist emitted from the power plant drifted in and the staff jokingly said, “This is natural cooling water.”The walls of the buildings in the mine are equipped with large fans running at high speed. In front of the fans in the workshop are dense mining machines. In front of some vacant machines, many workers are busy installing machines.According to the staff, the mining machines here come from all over the country, mostly from Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shenzhen and other regions. The owners keep their own mining machines in the mine camp. They pay the electricity fee, the deposit fee and wait for the coins.“During the flood season, the mining machines return to Sichuan one after another,” Xiaowu said. Just like migratory birds, the mining machines migrate to Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang in winter and return to Sichuan and Yunnan in summer, where electricity prices are lower.A mine owner revealed that, because of the slow signing of the power supply agreement with the power plant, building the plant cannot include an environment assessment or construction reporting in advance.The Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources said that they had known the illegal construction of bitcoin mining camps occurs along the Dadu River. At present, a working group led by the Credit and Economic Bureau has been set up, which is conducting a thorough investigation.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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FT: “Level 10” Bitcoin FOMO Is on Its Way

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FT_ “Level 10” Bitcoin FOMO Is on Its Way

Financial Times journalist Adam Samson has proclaimed that we are headed straight for “Level 10” FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in the Bitcoin market, referencing earlier talks of Bitcoin FOMO by Fundstrat crypto analyst Tom Lee.

In his Tweet, referencing the Fundstrat graph, Samson points at the Bitcoin price of USD 8,900 that “Level 5” FOMO was triggered, and was the equivalent of Bitcoin achieving a USD 3,200 valuation back in 2017. In his chart, Level 1 FOMO was a “baby level”, while current FOMO was only “medium” at Level 5. Level 10, according to him, means full-blown FOMO.

The chart was a major part of a Fundstrat study that attempted to categorize the FOMO levels of the Bitcoin market. Ranging from 1 to 10, a higher price represented growing sentiment that Bitcoin valuations were on the precipice of adding significant value.

Lee himself responded almost immediately to the Tweet, saying that the chart only served to point out that “real” FOMO would only begin at USD 10,000 as that price level would only represent 3% of all days recorded in Bitcoin’s decade-long market history.

He also corrected the estimation of the equivalent to the previous bull run, saying that today’s price was only “mathematically equivalent to exceeding $BTC USD4,500 in 2017”.

 

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The Most Common Misconceptions About Bitcoin: Breaking the Mold

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Bitcoin misconceptions

Most people from around the world that hear about Bitcoin are confused. It is completely normal to feel like that. Bitcoin is relatively new. It appeared in 2008 as a white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, an alias of a person that nobody knows. Then, the official launch as a currency took place in 2009.

Nowadays, there are numerous articles written online about cryptocurrencies, and countless websites that cover other options, like stablecoins. However, there is no denying the fact that Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency out there. Even so, there are many misconceptions associated ...

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Initial Exchange Offering: A Newcomer in the Blockchain Evolution

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You’ve heard of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), but have you heard of an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO)? If not, don’t worry—today we’re taking a closer look at IEO.

What Exactly is an Initial Exchange Offering?

An Initial Exchange Offering and an Initial Coin Offering have the same goal—to raise funds. The key differentiating factor is that while an ICO is launched by a startup on an ICO platform, an IEO is conducted by an exchange on behalf of the token issuer.

An Initial Exchange Offering is every startups’ best friend. Why? Imagine you are ...

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Ripple (XRP) Records 5-Month High: Trading Volumes Continue Increasing

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Ripple

When Ripple (XRP) was created, the developers had in mind a platform that could support financial and banking institutions. Almost a decade later, the company has started to see success, and although it’s not quite at a rate that was expected, there is some visible progress.

Ripple Growing Relationship with Institutions

The company has already established an excellent working relationship with a number of central banks such as the Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority, the central bank of Saudi Arabia. According to former Chief Market Strategist Cory Johnson, the company also has an open communication relationship with ...

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Institutional Crypto Investment Could Initiate 244% Rise in Bitcoin Value

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Institutional cryptocurrency investment could Initiate a 244% rise in Bitcoin’s value, so says Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner of blockchain investment firm Kenetic Capital.

The influencer is predicting BTC poised for leap taking cryptocurrencies Ripple and XRP, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tron, Stellar, EOS, and Cardano along for the ride, suggesting a Bitcoin price of USD 30,000 is not beyond the realms of possibility.

He points to major media players such as Facebook entering the space in order to invest in alternative technologies as a way of moving forward and capturing further public interest in cryptocurrency. He commented:

“What people are really seeing now is that cryptocurrency is not going away. And you don’t have to take my word for it. It’s Facebook, it’s Jamie Dimon, it’s Rakuten, it’s Fidelity – all who are getting in the space either in building infrastructure or providing services.”

He also suggests that Bitcoin’s upcoming halving is a further driving factor which will push the price even higher towards his USD 30,000 prediction, adding that it is not all about Bitcoin despite admitting that the hallmark cryptocurrency “definitely has a center of gravity that many other cryptocurrencies and coins benefit from”.

“But in truth, many of the different applications that back the cryptocurrencies in their own right are developing on their own story and developing utility. So these are the other altcoins that have their own large market caps, like Ether, which is coming up to its own on-year highs.”

On a note of positivity, which would be welcomed by ETF hangers on, Chu suggests that SEC endorsement of such funds would not be “central to the success of the industry”.

 

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$180,000 CoinJoin Bounty Awarded to Wasabi and JoinMarket

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$180,000 CoinJoin Bounty Awarded to Wasabi and JoinMarket

A 20 BTC (USD 180,000) bounty for the CoinJoin privacy implementation for Bitcoin has been awarded to privacy-centric Bitcoin wallet Wasabi and CoinJoin solution JoinMarket.

The bounty, co-held by Bitcoin core developers Gregory Maxwell, Pieter Wuille and bitcointalk.org owner Theymos, was awarded in a joined Bitcoin transaction earlier today to “several individual contributors directly as requested by the winning projects…”.

In his public announcement of the award, Wuille posted in the CoinJoin discussion thread on bitcointalk:

“this is to announce that we’re awarding:
* 10 BTC to JoinMarket, for the first practical CoinJoin solution, and continued research into progressing this domain.
* 10 BTC to Wasabi, for building a more end-user accessible solution and larger adoption.

The remainder of the funds is left for future solutions with more ubiquitous impact on the ecosystem.”

Theymos posted the first response to the announcement, citing JoinMarket was a pioneer of “a lot of CoinJoin science” and a comprehensive wiki article on privacy). He also credited Wasabi as “the first wallet that implements CoinJoin in both a highly-usable and sound way”.

Wasabi is one of the leading Bitcoin wallets that implements the CoinJoin method to increase privacy features of Bitcoin use. In summary, it joins a Bitcoin input in a transaction with many other different inputs, making it more difficult to identify spenders and recipients, therefore increasing Bitcoin privacy. It has seen increased use over the past year and is touted as a good alternative to centralized “mixers” or “tumblers”, services that “mix” inputs with random ones to obfuscate transaction trails.

Theymos also notes that default fungibility for Bitcoin was the end goal of technologies like CoinJoin, and personally hoped to see future research and development focus on improvements to the Wasabi wallet for more user-friendliness, integration with other wallet clients such as Bitcoin Core, ConJoin with more decentralized methods, and usable products for improving privacy in Bitcoin daily use.

 

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LiteLink Technologies Signs MOU with InstaPay to Offer Freight Factoring to 1SHIFT Logistics Customers

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LiteLink Technologies Inc. (“LiteLink”) (CSE:BAXS) (FRA: C0B) , a leader in logistics, artificial intelligence and digital payment solutions, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with InstaPay Flexible LLC (“InstaPay”) to offer freight factoring to 1SHIFT customers.

The deal will see InstaPay offer factoring services to 1SHIFT Logistics customers in order to ensure shipments managed through the platform are promptly settled.

1SHIFT will automatically forward qualify loads with proof of delivery to InstaPay, who will, in turn, advance payment ...

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LiteLink Technologies Signs MOU with InstaPay to Offer Freight Factoring to 1SHIFT Logistics Customers

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LiteLink Technologies Inc. (“LiteLink”) (CSE:BAXS) (FRA: C0B) , a leader in logistics, artificial intelligence and digital payment solutions, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with InstaPay Flexible LLC (“InstaPay”) to offer freight factoring to 1SHIFT customers.

The deal will see InstaPay offer factoring services to 1SHIFT Logistics customers in order to ensure shipments managed through the platform are promptly settled.

1SHIFT will automatically forward qualify loads with proof of delivery to InstaPay, who will, in turn, advance payment ...

Get latest cryptocurrency news on bitcoin, ethereum, initial coin offerings, ICOs, ethereum and all other cryptocurrencies. Learn How to trade on cryptocurrency exchanges.

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