Cryptocurrency News for 31 Aug 2017

 

Bitcoin Price Might Exceed $1 Million, More Millionaires in World Than Bitcoins

 

While sources differ on the number of millionaires in the world, Credit Suisse estimates the number at about 35 million. This figure accounts for all “financial and nonfinancial wealth,” including assets, collectibles, and homes.

This is a remarkable number when compared to the total number of Bitcoins that will ever exist. While there are roughly 35 million millionaires in the world, there will only ever be a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins. That’s right--there will never be enough Bitcoins in existence for every millionaire in the world to own even a single one.

While you let that thought sink in, let’s consider what gives Bitcoin its value. Granted that there are numerous features we could cite, including a global network, an immutable Blockchain and a means to transfer wealth from one person to another without ever involving a middleman.

These are all fine features, to be sure. But what really makes Bitcoin valuable are two properties: scarcity and authenticity.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xiBMH3

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Cryptocurrency's Total Market Cap Has Risen Nearly 800% This Year

 

The total market capitalization (market cap) of cryptocurrencies has surged almost 800% this year, as the broader asset class continues to draw robust inflows.

This market cap reached $158.5 billion today, roughly 795% higher for the year, according to CoinMarketCap.

Cryptocurrencies attained this new market cap during a weekend when the price of both Monero and Litecoin surged to fresh, all-time highs.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xtNq1T

Source: Forbes

 

Ronnie Moas Predicts Bitcoin Will Hit $20,000 Within Three Years

 

Standpoint Research founder and analyst Ronnie Moas has projected that Bitcoin will reach a value of $15,000-$20,000 by late 2020. The cryptocurrency has continued its upward trend, several times flirting with the $4,500 level. This makes a single Bitcoin worth about three ounces of gold.

According to Moas, the total market capitalization of all virtual currencies will soar from today’s $150 billion to $2 trillion in the next 10 years. He also compared the exceptional performance of the digital currency market to the “dot-com boom” of the 1990s.

“I am not any more concerned with Bitcoin being at a record high than Amazon or Google investors were concerned when those share prices jumped hundreds of percent and hit $100 and $200 many years ago. Today, both of those stocks are above $900. The question is not where we are at — it is where are we going? I do not think we are in a bubble.”

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xtMwCx

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Burger King has launched its own cryptocurrency in Russia called ‘WhopperCoin’

 

Burger King has waded into the cryptocurrency market with the launch of its own virtual coin called "WhopperCoin" in Russia.

With each purchase of the burger chain's signature Whopper sandwich, customers can receive WhopperCoin tokens via a digital wallet.

Bitcoin traders have previously gotten a lot of flak in Russia, with reports last year suggesting users could even face jail time under proposed legislation.

However Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has since shown support for cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Russian media organization RBC, he said: "I am a supporter, a cryptoround (sic) must exist."

Full story at http://cnb.cx/2xu97iy

Source: CNBC

 

Swedish Programmer Becomes Rich After 2013 Bitcoin Investment

 

Swedish computer programmer Alexander Bottema has multiplied his life savings over one hundred fold in the last four years. He first invested in Bitcoin in 2013, when the digital currency was priced at only $30. Bottema realized that Bitcoin had huge potential and sold all his stocks and liquidated his savings in order to purchase as much of the digital currency as possible.

Bottema has not sold any of his holdings, even as the price of Bitcoin has flirted with $4500 in recent days. In an interview with Business Insider, the Bitcoin investor says:

”I consider it a retirement insurance. I’m not thinking about buying any more, since I can never get the same return on investment again. I could consider selling some of my assets should the price hit 100,000 dollars.”

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xu8BAX

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

How Blockchain and Digital Tokens Can Disrupt Money Transfer Business

 

In Q2 2017, the global average for remittance prices in the world was 7.32 percent. In Q1 this figure was 7.45 percent. This is according to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide report.

Ironically, banks which have a wide network in the form of SWIFT remain the most expensive way of sending money around the world, with the cost averaging 10.99 percent.

Surely there has to be a better way for both senders and receivers of money?

Considering that a lot of beneficiaries of these remittances are family members in poor countries, the high percentage fee charged by money remittance companies is a big issue.

An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) from Transmission, a system of money transfer which promises ‘revolutionary changes to the traditional principles of existing currencies transfer and conversions’ is all set to raise money from the public. 

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xj79BB

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

 

 

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Cryptocurrency News for 30 Aug 2017

 

Bitcoin Going Away Is ‘Delusional’ Thinking: Finance Advisor To Investors

 

A traditional asset manager has said it is “delusional” to think Bitcoin is a “fad”, as interest from investors snowballs.

Speaking to the Financial Advisor, Neil Waxman, managing director of Capital Advisors, said that the investment community requires “education” on virtual currencies as a financial opportunity.

“Anyone who thinks this is a fad is deluding themselves – clients really need to be educated on this topic,” he told the publication.

Virtual assets are still in the midst of multiple metamorphoses, with US regulators ironing out the legislative landscape for coins and tokens while Bitcoin faces challenges of its own.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xymrlN

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Telegram Founder Believes Bitcoin Will Undermine US Hegemony

 

According to the site, the founder, Pavel Durov, said: “For the first time in 70 years, the global financial system has a chance to escape from the hegemony of the United States, which imposed its national currency as a reserve on the whole world and since then, in fact, has been collecting tribute from all the countries paying its debts with endlessly printed dollars and buying assets worldwide with them.”

In other words, central planners print money at will and earn profits from manipulating the currency supply. Bitcoin changes this dynamic by introducing a fairer money into the economy. The fact that bitcoin’s supply is set to 21 million units means no entity can manipulate the supply for their own gains. This allegedly throws a wrench into the gears of the banking system. It allows countries to escape debt cycles perpetrated by US banking.

The founder took his praise of bitcoin a step further. He also criticized Russian considerations on heavily regulating bitcoin. According to the article, he implies their idea of only allowing “qualified” investors to get involved in bitcoin is restraining. It may harm the individual investor. It may even inhibit bitcoin growth.

“Instead of taking the chance to make the world more balanced and together with Japan and other Asian countries to recognize the status of new cryptocurrencies, which are replacing dollar, the Russian government is voicing ideas ‘to ban and restrict [use of cryptocurrencies].’ There is an impression that Bitcoin imposed sanctions on Russia.”

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xxvLqj

Source: Bitcoin News

 

$160 Billion: Cryptocurrency Market Sets New All-Time High

 

Investment in cryptocurrencies continues to increase.

Spurred by increases in investment, the total value of the more than 800 publicly traded cryptocurrencies and crypto assets pushed past $160 billion for the first time ever, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.

With the move, the figure is now up 1,500 percent from the $10 billion observed at the start of the year.

Notably, the new high was set even as bitcoin, the market's largest asset, continued its recent pattern of sideways trading, hovering in the $4,400-range, or about 1% below its all time high of $4,522.13 on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xyhee2

Source: CoinDesk

 

Bitcoin Price Hits New All-Time High, Industry Expects $5000

 

Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high of $4580 as prices shoot up a further six percent in 24 hours.

Data from Coinmarketcap shows averaged exchange trading values at $4576 as of press time Tuesday, a clear $130 higher than the previous all-time high on Aug. 15.

Reacting to the news, industry commentators were quick to praise previous bullish price forecasts from figures such as John McAfee and Max Keiser, who are confident $5000 per coin is an imminent occurrence.

There’s been similar action for Ethereum (ETH), which has grown upwards to challenge its own previous highs this week. Meanwhile, Litecoin is also charting new territory, capping 1400 percent yearly gains.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xvAiJy

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

How To Use Luno Exchange For Bitcoin In South Africa

 

When venturing outside of my comfort zone into the world of Bitcoin at the end of 2015 two Exchanges were available (to my knowledge they are still the only options).

When considering cryptocurrency trading it is easier to have some coins on hand and ready to trade when the price is right. So I purchase my bitcoin at Luno and use Bittrex exchange for smaller cryptocurrencies.

Ice3X (ZAR and Naira) trade in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Offering BTC/ZAR, LTC/ZAR and ETH/ZAR or BTC/NGN and ETH/NGN.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xtMwT3

Source: Steemit

 

Citi Speaks: State-Backed Cryptocurrency Key to Blockchain Adoption

 

State-backed cryptocurrencies are key to the adoption of blockchain technology, according to an executive at investment banking group Citi.

In an exclusive interview with CoinDesk, the bank's recently appointed head of core cash management for Asia-Pacific, Morgan McKenney, positioned its new CitiConnect blockchain project within a larger context – one in which the ultimate success of distributed ledger technology depends on the advent of fiat currencies issued on a blockchain.

According to McKenney, every payment method has an environment in which it's best suited, and to fully unlock the project's potential – and any number of blockchain environments – cryptocurrency is the most suitable payment method.

But in spite of current limits that have been placed on the $187 billion bank's research into the technology, she explained how atomic swaps could be further empowered if any number of cryptoassets could be purchased with a blockchain-based fiat currency.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xxBXyx

Source: CoinDesk

 

 

 

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Cryptocurrency News for 29 Aug 2017

 

New Bitcoin.com Charts: The Bitcoin Ecosystem at a Glance

 

The bitcoin environment is quite vast, and many people and organizations like to study the data that’s tied to this innovative ecosystem. Charts like these show a graphical representation of the various facets involved with Bitcoin. The most popular types of analytical data people like to research include price, circulating supply, mining data and much more. 

Now our visitors can drop by charts.Bitcoin.com to check out a myriad of charts that cover the broad constellation of Bitcoin data. The new section covers market statistics, block details, activity & usage, mining data, economic measurements, and an advanced section with more technical particulars. Our chart section was designed by our Senior developer, Clark Moody, an early bitcoin enthusiast and programmer who built the first real-time exchange data site for the bitcoin ecosystem. 

For instance, market statistics has charts that show Bitcoin price, market capitalization, the current money supply, and chain value density. If a user toggles a certain chart, they can change certain aspects like the time period setting, changing the value scale to linear or logarithmic, a night & day setting and much more. At charts.Bitcoin.com there’s also an economic section that shows a variety of data collected measuring Bitcoin’s economic health. In this section, visitors can collect data on BTC’s inflation rates, Metcalfe’s Law, and the velocity of money.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xu2rAW

Source: Bitcoin News

 

Cryptocurrency Market Cap Up Nearly 800 Percent In 2017, Bitcoin Accounts for Half

 

While Bitcoin holds top spot in terms of market capitalization, the broader asset classes of altcoins have seen the market cap of all cryptocurrencies expand by nearly 800 percent to date.

That growth equates to a market cap of $158.5 bln as it stands, which is currently 795 percent higher for the year. This market cap sees cryptocurrencies larger than many national currencies, as well as other major payment networks.

Bitcoin, as the most well know of the digital currencies, has seen huge growth recently with the successful implementation of SegWit. However, while Bitcoin’s market cap accounts for just under 50 percent of the total, it is the general interest in a broad array of altcoins that is pushing the cap higher.

In fact, some coins are seeing such sharp rises that it is astounding many in the community. The likes of Dogecoin, which started as a joke, has a market cap close to $200 mln.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xuudNx

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies Online Course (12 Lectures)

 

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies provides a comprehensive introduction to the revolutionary yet often misunderstood new technologies of digital currency. Whether you are a student, software developer, tech entrepreneur, or researcher in computer science, this authoritative and self-contained book tells you everything you need to know about the new global money for the Internet age.

How do Bitcoin and its block chain actually work? How secure are your bitcoins? How anonymous are their users? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? These are some of the many questions this book answers. It begins by tracing the history and development of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and then gives the conceptual and practical foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network as well as to integrate ideas from Bitcoin into your own projects. Topics include decentralization, mining, the politics of Bitcoin, altcoins and the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the future of Bitcoin, and more.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xtYDja

Source: Steemit

 

How Bitcoin is making waves in the luxury market

 

(CNN) - When Bitcoin and a subsequent raft of cryptocurrencies first landed in the early part of the decade, many people -- including noted economists and finance experts -- dismissed them as a fad.

These new forms of digital money were viewed as little more than capitalist Tamagotchis, currencies with no value to anyone except those looking to buy illicit items.

The raft of coffee shops selling lattes for Bitcoins have gone some way to disprove these negative perceptions, but the availability of luxury items like jewelry, cars and even fine art have really stated cryptocurrencies' case for permanence -- nearly a decade after they first came about.

"Many economists dismissed it as a flawed form of money, something that could never achieve the level of adoption that it has," said Dr. Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.

"Today we estimate 5 to 10 million unique active users of cryptocurrencies, and in my opinion that's nothing short of a minor economic miracle."

Full story at http://cnn.it/2xtKSRo

Source: CNN

 

Bitcoin Miners in Russia ‘In Talks’ To Get Spare Energy From Energy Firms

 

In a further twist to Russia’s complex approach to cryptocurrency, power plants have begun selling excess capacity to Bitcoin miners.

As local news outlet Daily Storm reports Monday, the country’s largest energy providers Gazprom and EuroSibEnergo are currently “in talks” with “tens” of miners looking to take advantage of cheap electricity prices.

“No contracts have been finalized so far, but the company (EuroSibEnergo) is not declining partnership opportunities,” reports state.

An interactive map shows around 70 “potential” locations miners could use to benefit from spare capacity.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xu8Bkr

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Kim Dotcom Teases Micro-tipping App Bitcache for Youtubers

 

Kim Dotcom has been teasing his new product for quite some time, and news.Bitcoin.com recently reported on his last announcement that Bitcache was coming this August. Well, Dotcom hasn’t released the platform yet, but revealed a new video of the Bitcache application that’s aimed at Youtube content creators. From the video, the app looks like a plugin similar to Protip,where users can add a tipping extension to their browser and tip Youtube content creators microtransactions paid in bitcoin.

The video shows the application’s user interface that features a content creator setting a desired amount of mBTC for tipping. Moreover, the Youtuber can toggle between multiple hosting venues like Google Drive, Dropbox, One Drive, Creative Cloud and more. When looking at a Youtube page from the viewer’s side, a Bitcache download button appears on the page, where fans can donate the set amount of mBTC to their favorite channels.

Much like many of Dotcom’s previous teases, the Bitcache video is short, only 49 seconds long. The entire teaser doesn’t show much of the platform’s interface but quickly shows a few key elements. We do know the platform will operate with microtransactions by utilizing an off-chain technique. Dotcom explained last year, “In order to provide a service that works with bitcoin, we had to come up with our own payment solution. The bitcoin basically enters the Bitcache wallet system off the chain.”

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xtN6QV

Source: Bitcoin News

 

 

 

Donation:
If you appreciate the things I share, consider making a contribution
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Cryptocurrency News for 28 Aug 2017

 

Vietnamese PM Approves Plan to Authorize Bitcoin As Form of Payment

 

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has reportedly authorized a plan that could lead to the official recognition of digital currencies like Bitcoin as a form of payment in the country by 2018.

Based on a report by regional news services VNA, the prime minister has ordered the country’s central bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Safety to study and draft a legal framework to regulate virtual currencies.

The assessment process is due for completion in August 2018. The preparation of legal documents needed for the recognition of cryptocurrencies under a regulatory framework should also be finalized by the end of the year.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xpUwER

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

Monero Price Up 15% as World’s Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange Prepares Integration

 

For many years, Monero has been regarded as one of the few cryptocurrencies that is highly legitimate, backed by an experienced and talented development team. It had no pre-sales or controversial mining deals for its miners. The Monero development and community have shown unity since it forked off from Bytecoin, with almost all of its hard forks executed without any contention amongst developers, community members, industry and miners.

Yet, it has struggled to see an increase in its value. It was pushed out of its top 10 largest cryptocurrency spot and was overtaken by Dash, another anonymous cryptocurrency. A large factor of Monero’s struggle in obtaining an active consumer base and trading market has been the lack of support from large-scale trading platforms and wallets.

Dash for instance, despite its controversial pre-sale and negative reputation, was remained as the world’s seventh largest cryptocurrency for many months due to the support from Jaxx and leading exchanges.

This week, Bithumb, South Korea’s leading bitcoin exchange and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is about to provide the push Monero has long needed. Bithumb is set to list Monero in its cryptocurrency trading platform tomorrow, on August 27. Because it handles around $700 million worth of trades on a daily basis, the integration of Monero by Bithumb is expected to be an immediate and drastic increase in liquidity for Monero traders, users and investors.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xpXRni

Source: NewsBTC

 

Bitfury Mines Segwit Block Larger Than 1MB as Bitcoiners Wait for Network Relief

 

Segregated Witness (Segwit) is now live on the bitcoin network. During the first 24-hours of activity, some individual bitcoiners and companies began testing Segwit transactions. On August 24 some businesses like Trezor, Ledger Wallet and Openbazaar announced their wallets were “Segwit ready.”

Then on August 25, software developer Justin Camarena, announced he crafted a transaction that led to a mined block over the 1MB block size limit. Block 481947 was 32KB larger than 1MB and confirmed 2164 transactions worth over $9M. Camarena works for the merchant Bitrefill and says the company sends these types of transactions all the time. He says if more businesses jumped on board with Segwit transactions people would see a difference.

“We’re a merchant, we have these [types of transactions] all the time,” explains Camarena. “Very similar to exchanges, except they have more outputs depending on how they do it. But yeah, if only a few more moved to segwit we’d get the ball rolling.”

"We received all those as incoming payments, and I aggregate them to another wallet in low fee periods. All further aggregations at Bitrefill.com will be with Segwit as will all incoming payments."

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xqaXRB

Source: Bitcoin News

 

Jihan Wu of Bitmain Confident that Bitcoin Will be Valued $100,000 in 5 years

 

A possible future global currency, Bitcoin has gained a lot of attention recently. Because of its exceptional price performance and the improving regulatory landscape, more high profile individuals and corporations are taking note.

Bitcoin is created by a process called mining. Miners attempt to solve complex math problems through brute-force guessing, and if successful, they earn the right to add a new block to the Bitcoin Blockchain. They also get paid 12.5 Bitcoin every time they successfully mine a block.

Mining Bitcoin can be quite profitable, particularly in areas with cheap energy and low-cost labor. Founded in 2013, Bitmain is one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies in the world. Bitmain uses ASIC chip technology to produce specialized Bitcoin mining computers.

The company started with a product called the Antminer S1 and now offers a line of more advanced miners. This is important, since as hardware improves, so does the difficulty of solving the mining puzzles. Miners must run more advanced mining ASICs in order to keep up. Jihan Wu, the co-founder of Bitmain, runs a mining pool called Antpool in addition to his hardware manufacturing operation. Antpool is currently the top mining pool in the world.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xpOX9a

Source: CoinTelegraph

 

South African Officials Consider National Cryptocurrencies “Too Risky”

 

During a recent keynote address at the 2017 Strate GIBS Fintech Innovation Conference, Deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Francois Grope, has describedthe possibility of developing a national cryptocurrency as “too risky”.

During his address, Grope acknowledged the immense disruptive potential of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and the transformations that contemporary fintech technologies are driving upon traditional banking processes. “We are witnessing the disruption of financial services”, Grope stated. “Over the past decade or so, fintech’s attention and publicity has continued to intensify and increase. It is continuing to usher in completely new ways of banking. Developments in the fintech space are part of an evolutionary process driven by innovations… Virtual currencies have the potential of becoming widely adopted. However, for the central bank to issue virtual currencies or crypto-currencies in an open system will be too risky for us. This is something that we really need to think about.”

The statements come at a time of increasing development of national cryptocurrencies and blockchains, particularly on the part of authoritarian governments. In recent months, Belarus, Singapore, Russia, and China have taken significant steps toward the development and issuance of state directed virtual currencies.

Last month, the central bank of Belarus announced the implementation of blockchain technology into its banking sector, and unveiled plans for future applications for blockchain in the nation’s financial system. Belarus’s central bank revealed that blockchain technology will initially be used as the basis of transnational information transfers. “The new mechanism of maintenance of the register of bank guarantees will ensure the mutual access of the economic entities of the states being members of the Eurasian Economic Union [Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia] to the procedures of the government procurements of goods (works, services).” From there, Belarus intends to utilize blockchain technology as the basis for the issuance of securities and the development of the centrally administered national smart contract network. Belarus’s central bank has explicitly stated that it does not intend to utilize the national blockchain for virtual currency transfers.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xpY9u8

Source: Bitcoin News

 

Bitcoin QA: Why developers are leaving banks

 

Banks are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the blockchain ecosystem, training tens of thousands of developers to build things that won't work. The future role of banks in the economy. Horse carriages in Central Park did not completely disappear because of cars. They will be used for legacy applications. "Centralised blockchains" are a contradiction in terms because the purpose of a blockchain is to allow for/ increase decentralisation. Banking as an institution is obsolete; it may take 20-30 years before you see that ripple through the world, but it will. I'm hoping the best of the best of these developers take a couple of years getting bored doing proof-of-concept on reinventing spreadsheets, and then use their Christmas bonus to fund a start-up that will compete against their former employer who taught them how to do this. I've talked to people from these banks who've done this. Competition will determine the outcome in the market, and if you continue to build horse buggies in the age of the automobile, you go out of business. The dinosaurs will survive but they will change and lose enough power until they become chickens. That's what happened to the dinosaurs, and we have their children for breakfast every morning.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2xpQYCr

Source: Steemit