By Harold Vandelay on Feb 07, 2019 07:38 pm
Google has announced that it is currently working on a new tool to enable users to search transaction information through more efficient searches of blockchains for specified data. However, the tool is seen by some as a double-bladed sword, for example revealing that Bitcoin Cash is not as well distributed as thought nor is it used for its heralded suitability for everyday transactions to the degree that advertising might imply. The tool is already being considered by governments for its ability to reveal private information or data that individuals would like to keep to themselves. The tool is called Blockchain ETL (extract, transform, load) a technology built on Google’s big-data analytics platform, BigQuery. Its developer Allen Day focuses on the less intrusive elements of ETLs, suggesting that if cryptocurrencies fall into mainstream use, then “it will require having some trust in knowing about who it is you're actually interacting with”, requiring a search technology capable of harnessing the huge store of blockchain data. The tech is in current use analyzing data on cryptocurrencies and establishing which of these may be legitimate for making everyday purchases, also which exchanges might be creating fake volume as an advertising ploy. ETL and BigQuery currently analyze Bitcoin and Ethereum but plan to add Dash, Litecoin, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic and Dogecoin in the future. An example of how the tech works is explained by Leon White of Dash Core using the cryptocurrency Dash as an example. He says that while the cryptocurrency encourages the separation of large balances into wallets of 1,000 Dash each, it still has a relatively low Gini coefficient; ETL reveals that: “Gini coefficient of Dash is excellent compared to other cryptos, even considering masternodes. A low Gini coefficient indicates a more equal distribution of wealth in the data set. So it provides some evidence (but not definitive evidence) that Dash is more fairly distributed than other major cryptocurrencies.” Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Pixabay The post Google Works on New Blockchain Dissecting Tool appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Harold Vandelay on Feb 07, 2019 05:07 pm
The Formula One (F1) racing team Aston Martin Red Bull are to partner the cryptocurrency company FuturoCoin, making this the first of such projects in the history of the world’s top tier of motor car racing. Aston Martin Red Bull has an illustrious history as the sixth-most-winning car constructor in F1 racing. FuturoCoin’s branding will now appear on the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 F1 cars of drivers Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly. FuturoCoin founder Roman Ziemian has long been a lover of motorsport so the deal comes as no accident. He said, “I’m a huge fan of motorsport and F1 has always intrigued me. The sponsorship is an exciting new chapter for our company and will be a global platform for us to drive awareness of FuturoCoin.” The coin (FTO) was co-founded along with Stephan Morgenstern in 2017 offering a maximum supply of FTO 100,000,000. The coin is reportedly based on the same code as DASH, claiming to provide users four-second transaction times and low fixed fees. Red Bull Aston Martin Racing Team Principal, Christian Horner was clearly happy with the deal, commenting: “In recent years, the rise of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies has been truly remarkable, and we're delighted to be the first Formula One team to embrace this, through our partnership with FuturoCoin… Secure digital currencies are on the leading edge of technological development and we are very excited to be part of this revolution.” The deal will cover both the 2019/2020 F1 seasons. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing won the F1 constructor’s and driver’s world championships in four consecutive years between 2010 and 2013 with its total Grand Prix wins currently standing at 59. The 21-round 2019 season takes off with the Australian Grand Prix on 14 to 17 March. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Pixabay The post Formula One Gets First Digital Asset Firm Sponsorship appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Peter on Feb 07, 2019 02:33 pm
Buyer attempts to change the situation on the market and start the growth on 29 January failed. After two attempts to break through the price zone of USD 3,560-3,580, buyers simply ceased to try to change the situation and gave the rudder to the sellers. This is clearly visible in the volumes: The last attack of buyers was in order to transfer the initiative which the sellers successfully took into their own hands. In one hour, sellers destroyed all attempts and achievements of buyers which were built over three days: Now the price has stopped in the range of USD 3,440-3460. Sellers could not break through this price zone for the first time. The last high-volume candle showed the local weakness of the sellers. Pay attention to the previous candle with a large volume. It looks confident, big and practically without a shadow. The next candle has a slightly larger volume but it shows us that in this price zone there were buyers who are ready to keep the price. This fact confirms the schedule of marginal buyers positions. Pay attention to the aggressive increase in buyer positions, precisely at the attempt to break the price zone of USD 3,440-3,460: However, if buyers do not try to organize at least a rebound to USD 3,500, sellers are more likely to break consolidation down. The mood of sellers also shows their willingness to increase their margin positions. During the attempt to break the price zone of USD 3,440-3460, sellers also actively began to increase positions. The difference between the positions of buyers and sellers lies in the fact that with the continuation of the fall the near-term prospects for buyers to close positions, and for sellers vice versa: Now, buyer expectations for growth are much smaller than at the end of January. At the next attempts to fall, buyers will be closing their positions in disappointment. Sellers on the contrary. The positions of sellers confidently closed from 17 December. Then, began strong and sure growth. Now there is a chance to continue the fall and sellers at the earliest opportunity will increase their positions. Therefore, our main scenario remains unchanged. We continue to expect a price range test of USD 3,230-3,330 , where we will closely monitor whether buyers will have the strength to keep this price zone and start a new wave of growth. According to the wave analysis, wave Y continues to complete the correction, which began on 24 December. Wave Y consists of 3 waves: a, b, c. A wave c looks like a wedge, which usually indicates the end of the movement. Inside the wedge the 5-wave structure is clearly visible and at the moment, there is not the 5th wave – one more impulse down to complete the correction: The bottom line of the wedge coincides with the price zone of USD 3,230-3,330 and only confirms our scenario which we talked about in the previous analyses. If buyers manage to keep USD 3,230-3,330, we expect the first stop growth at the price of USD 3,770. But this is the second step. First, let’s see how buyers will cope with the first and whether they will keep the price zone of USD 3,230-3,330. Globally, if you look at the chart, then the fall attempt which started yesterday does not look aggressive nor does it seem as a new impulse down. The volumes are consolidating and we hope that soon the price will find strong support, where it will be clear to all that the fall has come to an end and in the near future we are expecting green days: Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Bitcoin News The post BitcoinNews.com Bitcoin Market Analysis 7th February 2019 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Harold Vandelay on Feb 07, 2019 12:04 pm
The Philippines is about to set its new regulations for the cryptocurrency industry in the South East Asian county, overseen by the regulatory body, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). The new rules, which require all operators of cryptocurrency firms operating in the country to submit more thorough documentation, will be called Digital Asset Token Offering (DATO) regulations; an exchange will be specifically launched to ensure the new guidelines are adhered to. The Offshore Virtual Currency Exchange [OVCE] will oversee the industry on behalf of CEZA which has now published three discrete tiers of digital assets offerings. The CEO of CEZA, Raul Lambino commented: “We aim to provide a clear set of rules and guidelines that will boost innovation while also ensuring proper compliance by actors in the ecosystem. We hope that these set of regulatory innovations will promote blockchain and crypto adoption by institutional investors and the financial system.” CEZA’s first tier will cover projects with crypto-assets whose value does not exceed USD 5 million, whereas the second tier covers projects between USD 6 million to USD 10 million. The final tier targets projects with assets over USD10 million. The Asian Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association (ABACA) will also create a code of conduct and work closely with CEZA, reporting any activities which step outside the required set of acceptable operating procedures as outlined in the new laws. CEZA has already given the green light to 19 exchanges to commence operating. The official body has expressed a desire for innovation to flourish in the Cagayan Economic Zone, but under regulations which have been introduced in order to control what is seen by the Philippines government as a volatile industry. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Pixabay The post Philippines Sets Out Digital Asset Token Offering Regulations appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By BitcoinNews.com Reviews on Feb 07, 2019 11:03 am
Trezor One is a hardware wallet used for securely storing cryptocurrencies. Launched by SatoshiLabs in 2014, the Trezor wallet was the first of its kind. Supporting a wide range of cryptocurrencies for an affordable price, it can be used as both a secure cold storage solution and for every day hot storage. In this Trezor One review, we will go through all the things you need to know before deciding to order this key-sized peace of mind. Setup and initialization The setup process can take up to 10-15 minutes, but it’s pretty straight-forward and easy to follow. After you complete the whole process, your assets will be secure and their wallets safely offline. To start the initialization process, the first thing you need to do is to connect the device with your computer by using a USB cable. There are a few ways to connect your device with the wallet. SatoshiLabs recommends using the Trezor Bridge — a tool used to ease the connection between the wallet and your browser (such as Firefox and Google). After installing the latest firmware and creating a new wallet, the next step is to create a backup. The device will create a set of words (recovery seed) for you that is randomly generated and used for recovery purposes. You should write them down and use them in case your wallet gets damaged or lost. However, make sure you store your recovery seed in a safe place, because if you lose it, there is no way you can recover your wallet, and your bitcoins will be lost forever. During the initialization process, a PIN code is also created by the user using the device. The maximum PIN length is 9 digits and is required to manually confirm transactions on the device. Security Trezor wallet is one of the most secure wallets in production for a good reason. To begin with, the package comes with a holographic tamper-proof sticker on it. If you notice any damage to the protective foil, you should not use the device, and contact their support services instead. The PIN code is entered by clicking on a pad in your browser. The pad shows dots instead of numbers, and the layout should match the position of numbers (1-9) shown on the wallet’s display. The layout changes every time you are using the device. This way, a hacker with remote access to your computer won’t be able to steal your PIN or see what you are entering. When using the device, every time you type in your PIN wrong, the wait time between attempts is increased, and after 15 attempts the device wipes itself completely. The recovery seed contains 24 words that are randomly generated. For security reasons, these words are generated offline by the device, which keeps them isolated and free from digital threats. You must store this seed offline, so it can’t be compromised. When the Trezor wallet is delivered, you will get a piece of paper with it where you can write the seed down. In case you need something more durable, you can use Cryptosteel — a stainless steel vault designed to keep your recovery seed, private keys or passwords unaffected by fire, flood or other disasters. Ease of use As we mentioned earlier in our Trezor One review, this wallet can be used as a cold wallet or a hot wallet. However, Trezor One is designed to store a substantial amount of money and should be rather used as a vault. You will need it only when you want to send coins as you will need to manually confirm each transaction on the device but to receive coins you don’t need to confirm anything. Transactions can be approved within minutes with minimal interaction with the wallet. All you have to do is to enter a PIN code and confirm each transaction on the device. Trezor supports more than 500 coins including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash and ZCash. Trezor One review summary This 12g device works as described. Although the initial setup process might require a bit of work, your latter interaction with the wallet should be minimal. One drawback is that many users are disappointed with its physical appearance as it’s made of plastic and looks cheap. Another issue for many is that Trezor One does not support Ripple. However, SatoshiLabs has taken this criticism on board and have addressed these problems with the new Trezor T model. Overall, Trezor lives up to its name and besides those minor issues mentioned above, it’s definitely worth your attention. Trezor One is available in white and black with its price hovering at around EUR 80. We are hoping that this Trezor One review has cleared any doubts you had, and if you are interested in purchasing it, you can do so here. Disclaimer: BitcoinNews does not provide any warranties towards the accuracy of the statements in the above Trezor One review. Any content on this site should not be relied upon as advice or construed as providing recommendations of any kind. It is your responsibility to perform your own research of the wallet. Trading and investing in cryptocurrencies involves considerable risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: SatoshiLabs The post Trezor One Review: Things You Need to Know Before Buying appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Harold Vandelay on Feb 07, 2019 09:33 am
Some blockchain firms have survived the so-called crypto winter, although many have been less fortunate but one blockchain-focused company thinks it has at least part of the answer to finding success in a bear market. Celsius Network, an industry-leading cryptocurrency lending and borrowing platform, was created to leverage cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to create a community which had the interests of the depositor at its heart, according to its CEO and founder Alex Mashinsky. He says he is achieving this through what he calls MOIP (Money Over Internet Protocol). Clearly, he has found a successful formula, recording over USD 630 million in cryptocurrency loans in just six months, but he claims that “unbanking” should become a greater focus for depositors who are using the conventional banking system. The company’s approach is similar to the banks in only one aspect; it allows customers to take out loans or deposit coins, but there is a difference, as this banking alternative sees 80% of the income generated given back to the depositor every week. Mashinsky explains: “When banks make a profit, they give it back to themselves or the shareholders, but nothing goes to the depositor. We are doing exactly what banks are supposed to do, but for the depositor rather than the shareholders.” Now with over 16,000 registered users from over 100 countries the company claims to have paid Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) interest to all its depositors every week since its launch. His hope for BTC is positive with quite a different spin on 2018 blockchain development statistics, arguing: “And even after being down 80%, Bitcoin still proves to be the best performing digital asset class in the past decade. While 2018 was dominated with the dropping baton, Bitcoin continues to be adopted and new blockchain developers in 2018 have doubled.” Mashinsky sees the future of Bitcoin in the hands of millennials, citing the swell of interest in South Korea with 90% of the country’s young already becoming cryptocurrency holders. He sees this future aided by the launch of a killer app which would attract the next 100 million people to crypto because, as he argues, “too many speculators have jumped in and there are not enough real users and institutions to get us to the next level of adoption and price”. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: bitcoinnews.com The post Crypto Lender Completing $630 Million in 6 Months says Bitcoin Needs Killer App appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Manuel on Feb 07, 2019 06:32 am
US-regulated derivative platform LedgerX has announced the launch of a new class of Bitcoin derivative based on block-halving dubbed the LedgerX Halving Contract (LXHC). So far, the larger part of cryptocurrency trading is based on financial instrumentation similar to those of the traditional market. However, as the blockchain and the underlying asset classes are an entirely new class of economic streams, developing new types of derivatives are expected, especially with the type introduced by LedgerX leveraging on the uniqueness of block formation and reward halving. Bitcoin’s code has been programmed to halve block rewards every four years. So far, two block-halving events have occurred since the genesis block was created. The first was in 2012 when the block reward was halved from 50 Bitcoins to 25 Bitcoins per block at block height 210,000; the second was in 2016 when it dropped to 12.5 Bitcoins per block. In total, about 33 block halving events are expected with the last one expected to occur in the year 2141. The aim of this derivative contract is to allow enthusiasts and gamblers bet on the date when the next block halving to 6.25 bitcoins per block will happen. Accordingly, this is estimated to occur at block height 630,000 and sometime in April 2020. According to the blog post, the excitement is in the exact date when the halving will occur, it said: “The date the actual block will occur will also intrigue speculators and liquidity providers”, which will have a huge consequence on the dynamics of Bitcoin’s price should it become widely used. So far, such derivatives as futures, options, and swaps are common within the industry, as has always been the case with traditional financial assets as well. However, the introduction of this derivative class increases the level of risk and uncertainty as a new determinant is introduced – block halving – and no one knows the precise date when it will occur, unlike the counterpart derivatives and this essentially makes its binary a fundamental economic risk. If this is readily adopted by the crypto community en masse, it may as well “materially impact planning for investments and operations”, LedgerX suggests. Intriguing enough, this may be another attempt to lure in sophisticated investors with a higher inclination towards binary options. However, for risk-averse investors, the sidelines may be cramped to see how Bitcoin survives the tempest, as this is likely to raise the volatility index for Bitcoin if it is adopted. It’s been observed that with a new Bitcoin derivative class introduced, the cryptocurrency market takes a jolt. This may as well introduce another bull as with the case of CME and CBOE’s introduction of futures contracts in 2017 – which was first of its kind, and it saw Bitcoin reaching highs of USD 20,000. Moreover, last year saw price fluctuations when the community expected Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to become a norm within the crypto community. However, when expectations were cut short elucidated by nine rejected ETF applications by the SEC, conversely, the market took a hit. The onramp towards complex markets continues on the rise, with each provider targeting the institutional class of investors which are perceived to be pivotal to the next uptrend in the crypto market. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @BitcoinNewsCom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Pixabay The post LedgerX Introduces Binary Wager on Bitcoin’s Next Halving Date appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Harold Vandelay on Feb 07, 2019 03:31 am
Rhetoric about Bitcoin’s environmental impact just became too much for one CCN correspondent recently, who wrote an editorial in an attempt to put the record straight; or at least bring some balance to the argument. A recent Bitcoin News article recently tried to address the same debate after the much-publicized Alex de Vries article last year in Science Direct, forecasting that Bitcoin mining would comprise 0.5% of total global electricity consumption by the end of 2018, and was consuming 2.5 gigawatts (GW). It was the first scientific peer-reviewed paper on Bitcoin mining energy usage and caused much consternation in cryptocurrency circles at the time. This was combated by a Coin Shares research analysis which claimed that Bitcoin mining consumes 35 TWh annually, 0.14% of global capacity and less than the energy consumption the tiny European nation of Luxembourg. Alex de Vries was then accused of an overly simplistic approach to his calculations. Too much for CCN’s Wes Messamore, who had to take to task the seemingly “multiple articles castigating Bitcoin as a harbinger of environmental degradation and destruction”. Messamore accused the mainstream media of painting Bitcoin as “one of the four horsemen of the environmental apocalypse”. He cited one editor’s accusation that mining contributed “20 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere a year—as much as the whole Republic of Ireland?” as a clear error given that, as Messamore pointed out, “a megaton is not a measure of the mass of a compound like CO2, it’s a unit of explosive energy”. What the writer should have written was a metric ton, not megaton, possibly? Another interesting comparison to Bitcoin’s atmospheric destruction. Google estimates that it released 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2010, with Facebook’s annual carbon emissions in the 300,000 range, using its own figures. Banks don’t fair to well either, the CCN writer points out: “Using all of the publicly available information about the global banking system, a very conservative calculation will yield an estimate that the institutional banking uses 100 terawatt-hours of electricity per year while the Bitcoin network’s annual electricity consumption is less than a third of that amount.” Back to the drawing board; time to get the facts right regarding Bitcoin’s impact on the environment. There’s bound to be another claim along in the not too distant future. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: bitcoinnews.com The post Unpacking Hostile Media Narratives About Bitcoin's Environmental Impact appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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By Manuel on Feb 07, 2019 12:36 am
On Tuesday, interested parties were present at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court for the hearing of the plea for creditor protection by the insolvent Vancouver-based cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX. The exchange’s CEO died late last year with access to what was thought to be the only means to recover over USD 190 million of cryptocurrency belonging to over 115,000 of its users and possibly some of its reserve funds as well. Bitcoin News reported on how the CEO Cotten died suddenly in India of Crohn’s disease and was allegedly the only one who had access to funds stored in the cold wallets on behalf of users of the crypto exchange. As attested by Cotten’s widow earlier in an affidavit, the exchange had no physical office, and Cotten was the sole operator in terms of moving funds between the exchange and the cold wallet, which he did from his laptop – implying that his laptop was the workstation and possibly where the cold wallet details were most likely stored. QuadrigaCX reported that it was unable to access the cold wallet as well as fiat funds that were stored with custody due to certain legal matters. However, a ray of hope seems to have appeared when experts opined that with the right tools, the lost funds may be recovered from Cotten’s laptop, given that it contained the private keys. However, what little glimpse of hope was quickly extinguished when it was later established that the private keys to the cold wallet weren’t on Cotten’s laptop. Moreover, according to Manie Eagar, CEO of Vancouver-based DigitalFuture, if the private keys aren’t in the laptop, recovering the funds will be practically impossible as the wallet’s encryption is beyond what a regular cracking attempt could achieve with existing computers. Things had been looking pretty bad for QuadrigaCX for a while now, even before the mishap. In October last year, the exchange came under siege by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), which seized USD 28 million from the exchange. While the situation has been dire for those involved, a petition has been made to appeal to cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to take over the exchange and its operation and help salvage the situation. At this point it remains unknown what specific action is to be taken in terms compensation to the users, however, Kraken has offered to help with the investigation. Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @BitcoinNewsCom Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here. Image Courtesy: Pixabay The post Access to Late QuadrigaCX CEO’s Laptop May Help Recover Lost Funds appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.
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Recap - Day in Crypto - BitcoinNews.com for 02/07/2019