Turkish authorities will soon be going after crypto exchanges operating in the country, local media reported. Although the trading platforms are not the prime target of a new push to increase budget receipts, they will be placed under close examination. The news comes as a military escalation with Syria and the coronavirus outbreak in the region increase demand for alternatives to the national fiat currency.

Also read: Australian Court Accepts Cryptocurrency Exchange Account as Security for Legal Costs

Turkeys Financial Crimes Investigation Board (Masak) will conduct the checks as part of its offensive against what Turkish regulators regard as illegal betting and gambling in the virtual space. Online gaming, unless organized by the government, has been prohibited for over a decade, but many Turks continue to play on the internet.

In an interview with the state-run Anadolu Agency, Masak Chairman Hayrettin Kurt revealed that illegal bets and games of chance will be treated as crimes under a draft legislation that has been filed in the Turkish parliament. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) will block local and foreign websites that facilitate them. The head of the board added that most of these platforms are based abroad and Turkish regulators are working in cooperation with international counterparts on the issue.

Masak has so far established that the annual revenue from Turkey of these gambling platforms amounts to 350 400 million Turkish lira (up to $64 million). Following the measures undertaken by the board in 2018, the state revenues from the sector increased by around 10 billion liras in 2019, or approximately $1.6 billion.

Hayrettin Kurt emphasized that the Financial Crimes Investigation Board will continue its efforts to prevent the tax losses. Working closely with other administrations, Masak has registered an increase in the proceeds from fines its imposing for online betting and gambling. They currently range between 10,000 and 43,000 liras (almost $7,000) per violation.

Discussing further how online gaming works, the Masak official pointed out that various alternative payment tools are often employed, including cryptocurrencies. Thats why the board intends to check digital asset trading platforms, which will be closely examined in the near future as part of the efforts to suppress what Turkey views as illegal business. Quoted by the crypto news outlet Muhabbit, Hayrettin Kurt stated:

We have recently prepared a very serious action plan. We will conduct a serious investigation on the accounts that use cryptocurrency exchanges which act as intermediaries.

The Masak chairman also made it clear that the Turkish state has already obtained the means to track gamblers and online gaming platforms, even on the deep web, and warned that offenders will not escape government penalties. The investigative body has discussed the attractiveness of cryptocurrencies for participants in the black economy and explored the experience of other nations in the sector. Hayrettin Kurt remarked that while some governments prohibit their use in payments or are developing their own digital currencies, others have adopted regulations for crypto assets and exchanges.

Cryptocurrencies in Turkey, with its inflation-stricken economy and political instability in the past few years, have become an attractive investment for ordinary citizens. According to media reports, the demand for cryptos and foreign fiat currencies is now rising in the country, this time on the backdrop of a recent military clash with Syrian forces and tensions with Russia, as well as the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the region. Almost 320 BTC have changed hands only on the BTCTurk exchange in the past 24 hours, with the price per coin reaching a high of close to 55,000 liras ($8,800).

The importance of the Turkish crypto market has been highlighted by global leaders in the space establishing presence there. Among them are crypto exchange Binance, which introduced support for the lira through a partnership with a local payment processor, and the major crypto exchange in Eastern Europe, Exmo, which registered a Turkish subsidiary last year. In early January, news came out that Turkish authorities are stepping up efforts to increase oversight in the crypto space.

Online betting and gambling has seen significant growth with the development of internet and mobile technologies, and not only in Turkey. Cryptocurrencies have contributed to the trend as well with the utility they bring to electronic payments and their privacy-oriented features. Online gaming platforms, like Bitcoin.coms Cash Games for example, accept cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH). Besides, not all countries facing socio-economic challenges have a negative stance on this type of gambling. Venezuela, for example, recently authorized the opening of a crypto casino in the landmark Humboldt Hotel in Caracas.

Whats your opinion about the measures Turkey plans to take against online gambling and cryptocurrency exchanges? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Did you know you could win big with bitcoin gambling? Choose from a range of BCH games including BCH poker, BCH slots, and many more. All games are provably fairgood luck!

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Bulgaria. Quoting Hitchens, Lubomir says: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. International politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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Turkey to Inspect Cryptocurrency Exchanges as Part of Government Offensive Against Online Gambling - Bitcoin News

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged actor Steven Seagal for unlawfully promoting a cryptocurrency investment scheme claiming to be the next generation of bitcoin. Seagal failed to disclose that he was being compensated in cash and crypto by Bitcoiin2gen, or B2G, for marketing its token offering, such as on Twitter and Facebook.

Also read: Bitcoin, Tesla Stock, Tron: How Warren Buffett Got His First Bitcoin

The SEC announced Thursday that it has settled charges against Hollywood actor and producer Steven Seagal over his promotion of a cryptocurrency investment product. The SEC explained that Seagal touted on social media a security that was being offered and sold in an initial coin offering (ICO) without disclosing that the issuer was paying him for the promotions. The offering was conducted by Bitcoiin2gen, also known as B2G. Noting that the actor violated the Securities Act, the Commission elaborated:

Seagal failed to disclose he was promised $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of B2G tokens in exchange for his promotions, which included posts on his public social media accounts encouraging the public not to miss out on Bitcoiin2gens ICO and a press release titled Zen Master Steven Seagal Has Become the Brand Ambassador of Bitcoiin2gen.

The SECs order finds that Seagal violated the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws. Without admitting or denying the SECs findings, Seagal agreed to pay $157,000 in disgorgement, which represents his actual promotional payments, plus prejudgment interest, and a $157,000 penalty. In addition, Seagal agreed not to promote any securities, digital or otherwise, for three years, the agency clarified.

Steven Seagal earned his net worth as a big action movie star of the 1980s and 90s. He appeared in more than 50 films, including Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Out for Justice, Under Siege, and Out of Reach. Seagals net worth is now $16 million, according to celebritynetworth.com. The 67-year-old currently lives in Moscow, Russia. President Vladimir Putin presented a Russian passport to him in 2016.

According to the SECs order, from about Feb. 12 to March 6, 2018, Seagal touted the B2G cryptocurrency investment opportunity on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. At the time, he had approximately 107,000 followers on Twitter and 6.7 million on Facebook. While he was not running the ICO, Seagal allowed his pictures to be used on Bitcoiin2gens official website and marketing materials. He additionally received payments for participating in a webinar with potential investments.

Bitcoiin2gen described its B2G tokens as the next generation of bitcoin, the SEC wrote. Its marketing materials say Bitcoiin 2nd Generation. Bigger and better than the original. The company claimed that the funds raised would be used to build an ecosystem that would allow users to trade B2G tokens, provide wallet staking, and trade altcoins and fiat currencies, all on a secure, comprehensive platform,' the SEC described, noting:

Participants in the ICO invested bitcoin, U.S. dollars, euros, or made payments via credit card in exchange for B2G tokens.

The SEC further pointed out that Bitcoiin2gens press release included a quote from Seagal stating that he endorsed the token offering wholeheartedly. Noting that these promotions came six months after its DAO Report warning that cryptocurrencies sold in ICOs may be securities, the SEC emphasized that in accordance with the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws, any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion. Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Divisions Cyber Unit, clarified:

These investors were entitled to know about payments Seagal received or was promised to endorse this investment so they could decide whether he may be biased. Celebrities are not allowed to use their social media influence to tout securities without appropriately disclosing their compensation.

What do you think of the SEC charging Steven Seagal for promoting a cryptocurrency investment scheme without disclosing compensation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, CNN, and Bitcoiin2gen.

Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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SEC Karate-Chops Steven Seagal Over Promoting Cryptocurrency Touted as the Next Gen Bitcoin - Bitcoin News

Brad Garlinghouse. Source: a video screenshot

California-based fintech company Ripple would not have been where it is today without the monthly selling from its massive holding of XRP tokens, an admission from its CEO suggests.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday, Ripples CEO Brad Garlinghouse was pressed on Ripples financial situation and revenue sources, but appeared hesitant to give clear answers with regards to XRPs role in funding Ripples operations. The article said:

When pressed on Ripples own profitability, Mr. Garlinghouse noted that Ripple, the company, was cash flow positive. How much of that cash flow was coming from service provision as opposed to sales of pre-existing XRP stock was less clear.

Pressed further about XRPs specific role as a revenue source for Ripple, Garlinghouse said:

Well XRP is one source. I dont know how to answer that because if you took away our software revenues, that would make us less profitable. If you took away all our XRP, that makes us less profitable. So I dont think about it as one thing, the CEO said, while adding later: We would not be profitable or cash flow positive [without selling XRP], I think Ive said that. We have now.

A popular trader and analyst Luke Martin, reacted by tweeting: Dumping XRP on you is how Ripple stays alive.

Also, Martin Walker, a director of banking & finance at industry organization Center for Evidence-Based Management, noted that even XRP users such as remittance company MoneyGram, co-owned by Ripple, sell the token whenever they get it, implying that the more professional users XRP attracts, the more tokens will be sold on the open market:

In the same article by the FT, MoneyGram confirmed that it is compensated by Ripple in XRP for developing and bringing liquidity to foreign exchange markets, facilitated by the On Demand Liquidity platform: We refer to this compensation as market development fees.

Watch the latest reports by Block TV.

As reported in January, Ripple reduced sales of XRP from its escrow fund last quarter when it secured USD 200 million in funding. In September 2019, Garlinghouse confirmed that Ripple is selling XRP to some of their institutional clients at a discount.

The company has long been under suspicion for exercising a great deal of control over XRP, while also using the token mainly as a funding vehicle for its own operations. Although this would imply that Ripple has a vested interest in keeping the price of XRP up, the asset is still down by more than 90% from its all-time high in early 2018. Bitcoin, by comparison, is currently down about 55% from its all-time high.

As of press time on Monday (10:50 UTC), XRP is up by 0.6% over the past 24 hours to a price of USD 0.234. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) were up by 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively.____Learn more:The USD 500bn Card Didn't Help Ripple, XRP 'Stays in the Crosshairs'Ripple is Like Amazon In Its Early Days, Says Brad Garlinghouse

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Ripple Would Be Unprofitable Without XRP Sales, CEO Admits - Cryptonews

Stocks have seen two days of steep losses amid concerning new reports about the spread of coronavirus to countries like Italy, Iran, South Korea and Switzerland. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell by more than 1,000 points on Monday, its worst day in two years. On Tuesday, stocks fell again, for two-day losses of more than 1,800 points.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had a brutal two days as well, calling into question a popular pitch some crypto believers push: that cryptocurrencies are a safe haven, an asset class that offers stability and wealth preservation during periods of heightened uncertainty and market volatility.

Amid the rout in equities on Monday afternoon, bitcoin (BTC) was down by more than 3%, ether (ETH) was down 3%, XRP was down 5% and bitcoin cash (BCH) was down by nearly 7%, creating a sea of salmon-pink on our Yahoo Finance cryptocurrency heatmap, which displays the entire crypto market as a series of color-coded boxes, with the color reflecting each coins movement in the past 24 hours and the box size representing each coins market cap.

On Tuesday, coins fell again, with bitcoin down more than 3% and ether, XRP, and bitcoin cash each down by nearly 6%.

Yahoo Finance crypto heatmap as of 4:30pm EST on Feb. 25, 2020, at the time of the stock market closing bell. (Cryptocurrency markets never close.)

Of course, two down days do not make or break a market trend theory, and bitcoin believers argue that bitcoin has proven itself as a store of value over the longer run.

Even after Monday and Tuesday, bitcoin is up 34% in 2020 so far, and it is up 640% in the last three years. Bitcoin skeptics, on the other hand, will always compare the asset to its all-time-high of nearly $20,000 at the end of 2017, a level it has not neared since.

The coronavirus is exactly the kind of health crisis that should, in theory, boost the value of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In the past, bitcoin has risen during bank crises in countries like Greece, a sign that people without access to the banking system do see it as an alternative option.

Even before coronavirus, news out of China was already a major driver of cryptocurrency trends in the past six months as Xi Jinping has made clear his aim for China to develop a state-backed cryptocurrency, something that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has warned about and that even Fed Chair Jay Powell has been watching.

SHANXI, CHINA - FEBRUARY 24: (CHINA MAINLAND OUT)The bank workers sanitize the cash to kill the novel coronavirus on 24th February, 2020 in Taiyuan,Shanxi,China.(Photo by TPG/Getty Images)

Bitcoin is often called digital gold, but the price of gold rose this week while stocks and bitcoin fell. It might be most correct to conclude from the last two days that crypto looks uncorrelated to equities, but the jury is still out on whether it is a safe haven asset.

This is still a very nascent, volatile asset class, says Frank Chapparo of bitcoin news site The Block. If Im an investor and I want predictability in my portfolio, Im not going to be outsized allocating to bitcoin and other digital assets. Now, that doesnt mean that this narrative of bitcoin being a hedge against global economic insecurity or political insecurity [is wrong]. Thats still something that could play out over the next ten, fifteen, twenty years.

Story continues

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Bitcoin tumbles along with stocks amid coronavirus, questioning 'safe haven' theory - Yahoo Finance

The addition of the Futures market for cryptocurrencies has allowed many investors on the sidelines to jump into the field. Perhaps, the first perpetual contract by BitMEX started it all. Now, as of 2020, there are multiple exchanges offering such products, including Binance, FTX, and Deribit, etc.

These products have clearly contributed to the onboarding of institutional investors and they have hence, helped in improving Bitcoins price discovery.

Binances Futures platform was launched six months ago and it has since recorded a considerable increase in trading activity. In fact, over the past six months, more assets have been added to this market.

Binances latest monthly report outlined the performance of Futures for the month of January and showed that Bitcoins market value jumped by 29.89%. Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and others also recorded a notable rise in their Futures activity.

However, as seen in the attached chart, Bitcoin Cashs performance was the best of the lot i.e. 84.80% in January.

Bitcoin Cash, the fork of Bitcoin closely affiliated to Roger Ver, registered a major spike in its spot prices. The fork of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, also saw a similar surge in its price. The surge for both of these coins can be attributed to the approaching halvings.

Another common reason attributed to the surge in Futures volume by Binance read,

Many market analysts believe that one of the reasons behind the strong performances of altcoins was due to its low valuation. As prices bottomed in late 2019, mid to small-cap altcoins presented a value-driven opportunity for investors.

Further, the fall in the dominance of Bitcoin also opened a window of opportunity for a brief altcoin surge aka the alt season which stopped midway. Bitcoin Cash has surged by a whopping 148% in 2020. The price hit a peak of $497.53 on 14 February, following which it collapsed.

Futures or other products offered by Bakkt, CME, and Deribit help in discovering the price of the underlying assets. The common narrative with the Futures market is that it helps in price discovery. In fact, this narrative was suggested by many analysts before its launch and the same still holds true.

Additionally, regulated markets like the CME and Bakkt will help bring in institutional money and hence, deepen the liquidity. This may pave the way for the much-awaited ETF for Bitcoin.

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Bitcoins fork coin led the Futures market on Binance for January - AMBCrypto

Alex Liegl, CEO of Layer1 Technologies, a US-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company that recently announced its intention to repatriate 30% of Bitcoins hash power by 2022, has described Texas as offering miners the cheapest power in the world, at scale.

Less than two weeks ago, Layer1 commenced mining operations at its facility in western Texas, bringing multiple 2.5-megawatt container rigs online.

Texas is the largest producer of wind power in the United States, outproducing the second, third, and fourth-largest producers combined. If Texas were an independent nation, it would be the worlds fifth-largest generator of wind power worldwide.

Despite the cheap electricity, many miners have avoided the Lone Star state due to its heat with temperatures regularly exceeding 90 degrees for half of each year. To combat the heat, Layer1s mining apparatus comprises 20-by-8 shipping containers filled with miners that are suspended in a non-conductive liquid.

If they were air-cooled, the processors would burn up," Liegl told Forbes.

During October 2019, Layer1 raised $50 million for its venture capital investors, led by Peter Thiel alongside Digital Currency Group and Shasta Ventures.

The cash infusion funded Layer1s acquisition of an electric substation capable of generating 100 megawatts situated on 30 acres in western Texas and rose the companys value to $200 million.

Layer1 also plans to take advantage of skyrocketing summer electricity prices and selling its power to the grid, with Liegl stating: We can stabilize the grid by selling capacity for curtailment at the push of a button.

During January, Whinstone, a subsidiary of Frankfurt-based mining company Northern Bitcoin, announced that it had inked partnerships with Japanese internet provider GMO and financial services company SBI to process transactions at its forthcoming facility in Rockdale, Texas.

Whinstones facility is slated to launch with a capacity of 300 megawatts, with the company to expand to 1 gigawatt before 2021.

When constructed, Whinstones facility will have three times the capacity as Bitmains mining site in Rockdale which is held to currently comprise the largest mining operation in the world.

Read more here:

Peter Thiel-Backed Startup Says Texas Is the Best Place to Mine Bitcoin - Cointelegraph

Billionaire investor, Paul Singer, is pushing for the removal of Jack Dorsey as CEO of Twitter. According to a CNBC article dated Feb. 28, the Elliott Management founder and activist investor is concerned about Dorseys time being split between two $5 billion-plus companies, and his desire to move to Africa.

The $40.2 billion hedge fund managed by Singer took a major stake in the social media giant recently and has already nominated four replacement directors to Twitters board according to reports.

Dorsey has previously faced criticism for his role as CEO of two publicly listed companies; Twitter and Square, both of which have market valuations of over $5 billion. Singer is also concerned about Dorseys plan to work up to six months a year in Africa.

Dorsey is a long time supporter of Bitcoin and was instrumental in implementing an easy Bitcoin onramp into his company, Squares, Cash App. As Cointelegraph reported this week, a full half of Cash Apps revenue now comes from Bitcoin-related revenue.

Square has also invested in Square Crypto, a team funded by Square, tasked with improving the overall Bitcoin ecosystem. Square Crypto made a number of hires in 2019, including its first hire, Steve Lee, who clarified his position in a tweet recently:

I don't work for Square, I work for Bitcoin. Square pays me so I can spend all my time and energy working on Bitcoin.

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Jack Dorsey Should Be Replaced as Twitter CEO, Investor Proposes - Cointelegraph

The government of Hong Kong has decided to airdrop about $9 billion in free money to an estimated 7 million residents in the troubled Chinese territory. From a global perspective, this can be seen as a desperate move to stimulate the local economy while the coronavirus outbreak is hitting markets hard all around the world. At the same time, the move can also be seen as part of the governments efforts to stop the persistent protests in the city.

Also Read: HSBC Closes 2 Branches Following New Protests in Hong Kong

In December 2018, an infamous 24-year old Chinese crypto influencer, Wong Ching Kit, made headlines around the world after he was arrested for throwing stacks of HK $100 bills from the roof of a building in Hong Kong and causing mass hysteria. The self-proclaimed bitcoin millionaire stated at the time that the stunt made him feel as if he is god as he was raining money on the people of one of the poorest areas of the city. Now another guy is planning a similar stunt on a much bigger scale, but dont expect him to be arrested anytime soon.

I have decided to disburse HK $10,000 to Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above, with a view to encouraging and boosting local consumption on the one hand, and relieving peoples financial burden on the other, stated Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday. With 7 million people who are estimated to fit the criteria set by Chan, this will total about HK $70 billion, which is almost US $9 billion.

This free money airdrop is the central part of a stimulus package totaling over $15 billion announced by the government. Other steps in the plan include helping poor families with a free month of public housing rent and helping struggling businesses with lower taxes and subsidized electricity.

The main reason given for the need to stimulate the local economy is the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which has dealt a severe blow to economic activities and sentiment in Hong Kong according to Chan. The pandemic originating in mainland China, interrupting many global supply chains, has hurt the regions tourism industry especially hard and the plan includes specific measures to address this.

Another tough problem for the local economy is the unending protests in the city against what many in Hong Kong see as the loss of their freedom to Beijing. The demonstrations started in June 2019 over a plan to allow extradition to mainland China which many feared will undermine the territorys judicial independence. The controversial extradition bill was dropped in September, but the repeated police violence kept fueling the protest movement.

Social unrest and turbulence have revealed deep-seated conflicts in our community, which cannot be resolved overnight, Chan said. We need to address these conflicts patiently and carefully as they have a far-reaching impact on the stability and development of Hong Kong in the future.

While this free money airdrop by the Hong Kong government is part of a stimulus package, it is important to note that the implementation is quite different from similar plans in other parts of the globe. Hong Kong has long been considered as having one of the most fiscally conservative establishments in the world and this doesnt appear set to change. There is no money printing involved and no borrowing is needed. The plan is easily financed by the Hong Kong governments massive fiscal reserves of HK $1.1 trillion.

Far from being created out of thin air, to be given away, Hong Kongs planned cash handouts have already been paid for, in full, by its taxpayersand with plenty to spare, explained George Selgin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Georgia. The handouts are nothing more than a government income-redistribution scheme, with no monetary policy implications whatsoever. Those looking for a test of the theory of helicopter money, or for an outbreak of Hong Kong hyperinflation, will have to wait longer for them. With a little luck, theyll wait forever.

What do you think about the government handing out cash to everyone in Hong Kong? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.

Avi Mizrahi is an economist and entrepreneur who has been covering Bitcoin as a journalist since 2013. He has spoken about the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at numerous financial conferences around the world, from London to Hong-Kong.

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Government to Airdrop $9 Billion in Free Money to 7 Million Hong Kong Residents - Bitcoin News

The Bitcoin Cash price line exhibits another bearish movement for the better part of the 26th of February.

The cryptocurrency fell towards the $310 mark, following Bitcoins downtrend like other altcoins. The trading view analyst Alirezaark believes that go trading pair expected to go show a long position if the ongoing downtrend comes to an end.

Bitcoin Cash Price Chart by TradingView

The Bitcoin Cash price mark gradually moved to the $360 mark before the end of the day on the 26th of February. After this, the cryptocurrency saw more rapid bearish movements. The coin fell below the $310 level after the 16:00 GMT.

The cryptocurrency has stayed between the $310 and $320 marks from after 06:00 GMT on the 26th of February. Currently, the Bitcoin Cash / US Dollar trading pair stands at the $321.460 mark.

The 20-Day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) closed at the $319.385852 mark. The 50-Day Moving Average (MA) was placed at the $320.472600 level, at the time of writing. Thelast technical indicator, the Relative Strength Index (RSI), stood at the 55.83 marks.

Ali Rezaark highlights the price breaking trend line for BCHUSD. The cryptocurrency analyst explains that if the cryptocurrency is able to return from its downtrend situation by breaking this trend line, then the cryptocurrency will show a long and profitable position.

Bitcoin Cash Featured Price Chart by TradingView

Below the ongoing trend line, the next support line lies at the $303 mark. While the next level of support is found at the $270 mark and below that at the $252 mark.

Caution is advised in making trading decisions as always to ensure the best trading decisions.

Featured Image byJimmy Ofisia.

Disclaimer: The information provided is not trading advice but an informative analysis of the price movement. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability towards any investments based on the information provided on this page.

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Bitcoin Cash price is headed to $310 - Cryptopolitan

Bitcoin dropped by a total of 11% over the past week as the cryptocurrency broke beneath previous support at $9,550 and plummetted beneath support at $9,000. It continued to decline until reaching the current support at the 200-days EMA, which is bolstered by the .5 Fib Retracement at around $8,600. The momentum is certainly on the bearish side, and we should continue to expect further declines this week within the market.

Once the rising trend line is broken, support is found at the downside 1.618 Fibonacci Extension level priced at $8,550. This is followed by support at $8,400, $8,250, and $8,200 (.618 Fib Retracement). If it continues beneath this, added support lies at $8,100 (downside 1.272 Fib Extension), $8,000, and $7,900.

Toward the upside, resistance lies at $8,800 and $9,000. Above $9,000, resistance lies at $9,150 and $9,400.

The Bitcoin price decline also caused a major downturn in Ethereum as it dropped by 16% this past week. The cryptocurrency broke beneath the $255 support as it continued to drop toward the current support at $220. Likewise, the momentum is within the bearish territory, and we could potentially see ETH reaching $200 over the following days.

If the sellers push lower, the first level of support lies at the rising trend line at around $210. This is followed by support at $205 and $200. If the bears push beneath $200, support lies at $195 (100-days EMA), $190 (200-days EMA), and $185.

Against Bitcoin, ETH has held relatively well as it drops just by 8%; however, the momentum for the sellers is starting to increase. It has recently dropped into support at 0.0256 BTC, but it is looking likely that this will be broken.

Toward the downside, support lies at 0.025 BTC. This is followed by support at 0.0242 BTC (.382 Fib Retracement), 0.0239 BTC, and 0.0231 BTC (.5 Fib Retracement). Beyond this, additional support is located at 0.0225 BTC and 0.022 BTC (.618 Fib Retracement).

If the buyers do rebound and push above 0.026 BTC, resistance lies at 0.027 BTC and 0.0278 BTC.

XRP also saw a 16% price fall this week as it drops beneath support at the rising trend line, the 200-days EMA, and the 100-days EMA to reach the current support at $0.227, provided by a .886 Fibonacci Retracement level.

If the sellers break beneath here, support lies at $0.22 (downside 1.414 Fib Extension), $0.21, $0.20, and $0.019. Toward the upside, resistance lies at $0.245, $0.25 (100-days EMA), and $0.26.

Against BTC, XRP penetrated the previous support at 2820 SAT to drop much lower by reaching support at 2600 SAT. It rebounded from here but has run into resistance at 2710 SAT.

If the bulls can break 2710 SAT, resistance lies at 2750 SAT, 2800 SAT, and 2850 SAT (100-days EMA). Toward the downside, support is located at 2640 SAT, 2600 SAT (.886 Fib Retracement), and 2550 SAT (downside 1.618 Fib Extension). This is followed by additional support at 2525 SAT and 2500 SAT.

Bitcoin Cash witnessed a drastic turn around after reaching resistance at $500. It rolled over and dropped by a total of 40% over the past 13-days of trading to reach the current support at $305, provided by the .618 Fib Retracement and the 200-days EMA.

If it drops beneath the 200-days EMA and $300, support can be expected at $290 (downside 1.414 Fib Extension), $280, and $255 (.786 Fib Retracement). If it can rebound from here, resistance is located at $330 (100-days EMA), $340, and $380.

BCH has also been struggling against BTC after it rolled over at the 0.0477 BTC resistance and dropped to reach the current support at 0.035 BTC, provided by the 200-days EMA and a .618 Fib Retracement.

If we break the aforementioned support, we can expect 0.034 BTC and 0.0335 BTC to provide additional support moving forward. Beneath this, support lies at 0.032 BTC (.786 Fib Retracement) and 0.0314 (downside 1.618 Fib Extension). On the other side, resistance lies at 0.038 BTC, 0.040 BTC, and 0.042 BTC.

Compared with other coins on this list, LINK has done pretty well by only dropping by 10% over the past week. The cryptocurrency rolled over from the 2019 price high at $4.80 during mid-Feb as it started to decline. It dropped as low as $3.10 before rebounding higher over the past 3-days to reach the current price of $3.82.

If the buyers continue to push LINK higher, resistance is located at $4.20, $4.60, and the 2019 high of $4.80. If they can create a fresh 2020 high above this, resistance lies at $5.00, $5.20, and $5.40 (1.272 Fib Extension). Toward the downside, support lies at $3.75, $3.40, and $3.20. This is followed by support at $3.00, $2.90 (100-days EMA), and $2.75.

Against Bitcoin, LINK dropped from resistance at 0.00046 BTC and fell into support at 0.00036 BTC. It then rebounded from here to return above 0.0004 BTC and reach 0.00044 BTC. LINK is holding very strong against BTC, especially when compared with other altcoins.

If the buyers can break the strong resistance at 0.00046 BTC, we can expect higher resistance at 0.00048 BTC and 0.00049 BTC (1.618 Fib Extension). Following this, resistance lies at 0.0005 BTC, 0.000522 BTC, and 0.00054 BTC. Toward the downside, support is located at 0.00042 BTC, 0.00040 BTC, and 0.000363 BTC (.5 Fib Retracement).

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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency chartsby TradingView.

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Crypto Price Analysis & Overview February 28th: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Chainlink - CryptoPotato

Yesterday, we discussed the chances of more losses in bitcoin below the USD 9,200 and USD 9,000 support levels. BTC/USD did decline heavily and broke many supports near USD 9,000 and USD 8,850 level. It tested the USD 8,550 support area and it is currently (09:00 UTC) correcting higher.

Similarly, there were significant losses in most major altcoins, including ethereum, XRP, litecoin, bitcoin cash, BNB, EOS, TRX, ADA, and XLM. ETH/USD broke many supports near USD 220 and tested the USD 210 level. More importantly, XRP dived below the USD 0.232 support before the bulls appeared near the USD 0.222 level.

Total market capitalization

In the past two days, bitcoin price saw a steady decrease below the USD 9,000 support level. BTC/USD even declined below the USD 8,850 support level and tested the USD 8,550 level. It is currently correcting losses and trading above the USD 8,700 level. On the upside, the first resistance is near the USD 8,850 level, above which the bulls may struggle to clear the USD 9,000 barrier.On the downside, the bulls are likely to find and protect the USD 8,650 and USD 8,550 support levels in the near term.

Ethereum price declined below the USD 232 and USD 230 support levels. As a result, ETH/USD broke the USD 220 support and even spiked below USD 210. It is currently correcting higher, but the previous supports near USD 230 are likely to act as resistances.If there is no upside break above the USD 230 and USD 232 levels, the price is likely to resume its decline below USD 215 and USD 210. The main support is near the USD 200 handle.

Bitcoin cash price gained bearish momentum below the USD 340 and USD 320 support levels. BCH/USD tested the USD 300 support area and it is currently correcting above USD 320. On the upside, there are a few key hurdles visible near the USD 340 and USD 350 levels.Litecoin failed to stay above the USD 65.00 support area and extended its decline below USD 60.00. LTC/USD found support near USD 58.00 and it is currently correcting higher above USD 60.00. However, the previous key support near the USD 65.00 level is likely to act as a strong resistance for the bulls.XRP price struggled to stay above the main USD 0.235 and USD 0.232 support levels. The price even broke the USD 0.225 level and tested the USD 0.222 support. Currently, the price is recovering and trading above USD 0.232.

In the past three sessions, many small-capitalization altcoins declined more than 8%, including SXP, BCN, CKB, ETC, WAVES, RLC, MIOTA, XZC, CRO, AE, and SEELE. Conversely, AION, WAXP, and LSK are up more than 10%.

Watch the latest reports by Block TV.

To sum up, bitcoin price extended its decline below USD 8,850, but it found a strong support near USD 8,550. If BTC/USD continues to rise and recovers above USD 9,000, there could be a decent comeback above USD 9,200._____

Excerpt from:

Bitcoin and Altcoins Show Post-Crash Recovery Signs - Cryptonews

Bitcoin Cash(BCH/USD) stalls its recovery just shy of the 458 threshold, having witnessed a sharp pullback from near an eight-month peak of 496.96 clocked last Friday. The bulls lack follow-through, as they takecues from a similar tone seen across the crypto space this Sunday. Over the last hours, the price has entered a consolidative mode near the 450 level, reporting 2.20% gains on a daily basis while down 8.50% over the last 24 hours. The market capitalization for BCH/USD stands at $8.16 billion.

No. 5 coin is teasing a bearish flag breakdown on hourly sticks, with the hourly Relative Strength Index (RSI) flattening below the mid-line.

An hourly close below the rising trendline support at 446.58 is needed to confirm the bearish continuation pattern.

Bears would target Saturdays low of 421.30 on a bear flag breakdown.

On the flip side, the bulls need to regain the bearish 21-hourly Simple Moving Average (HMA), in order to revive the recovery momentum.

The next resistance awaits at the horizontal 200-HMA of 461.40, above which the rising trendline resistance will be tested at 463.80.

Read the original here:

Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: Path of least resistance appears to the downside - FXStreet

2019 was an interesting year for darknet markets (DNMs) and a number of marketplaces closed for a variety of reasons. Despite the closures, crypto payments on DNMs doubled for the first time in five years. Moreover, statistics from the blockchain analytics provider 1000x Group show digital currencies like bitcoin cash (BCH) have joined BTCs dominant role within the deep web.

Also Read: BCH Merchant Directories Now List 4,300 Bitcoin Cash-Accepting Businesses

Theres been a number of reports on DNM usage last year and action on the invisible web continues to be interesting in 2020 as well. Just recently, the blockchain surveillance firm Chainalysis published a report that showed DNM payments doubled for the first time since 2015. Not only did the value of BTC sent to DNMs increased by 70%, but Chainalysis also noted that DNMs will likely accept cryptos with a focus on privacy like monero (XMR).

News.Bitcoin.com looked further into darknet payment statistics by leveraging analytics from the provider 1000x Group between January 7, and February 4, 2020. The organization 1000x Group monitors crypto adoption to look for early signals of long term value creation. 1000x Groups dashboard shows data from 15 different markets and ten of them accept BTC only. This includes markets like Silk Road 3.1, Hydra, Wannabuy RDP, Sipulimarket, Escobay, and Jokers Stash. The DNM Monopoly accepts monero (XMR) only and during the four-week time span, there were four DNMs that accepted coins like BCH, LTC, and XMR in addition to BTC. The four DNMs included Cannazon, Empire, Darkbay, and Apollon. However, the darknet market Apollon allegedly exit scammed five days ago.

The four-week time span measured on 1000x Groups dashboard shows XMR, LTC, and BCH were used on Monopoly, Cannazon, Empire, Darkbay, and Apollon. Monero represented 56% of vendor acceptance on DNMs between that time. LTC captured 29% and BCH saw 12% of vendor acceptance during the time frame ending on February 4. While Monopoly, Darkbay, Empire, and Cannazon all accepted XMR, Darkbay and Empire processed payments in litecoin (LTC) as well. Monopoly is a monero (XMR) only marketplace on the deep web.

The marketplace Apollon accepted BTC, XMR, LTC, and BCH during the four-week time span and grew popular due to its multi-coin acceptance. In fact, before Apollons alleged departure, the DNM was probably one of the most active markets on the invisible web. Data scrapes from four researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) indicate that Apollon started small, but had since exponentially grown in size. Apollon grew larger after Dream Markets soft exit in the summer of 2019. The multi-currency DNM showed 4,500 listings and Apollon admins claimed it had more than 30,000 registered users.

One interesting fact about 1000x Groups payment data shows the increase of bitcoin cash (BCH) vendor acceptance between January 7, and February 4. BCH development during the last year has seen a significant increase in privacy methods applied to the coin. Proponents of BCH believe that the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency has even better privacy enhancements than most coins that exist today. During the last year, the BCH ecosystem has seen the basics of Schnorr Signatures added to the chain and the Schnorr protocol was enhanced again during the last upgrade.

In March 2019, Electron Cash developers unleashed the official iteration of the Cashshuffle protocol and so far BCH users have shuffled 209,490 BCH to-date ($94 million). BCH users also saw privacy push in June, when Bitcoin.com launched its peer-to-peer BCH marketplace. Users from all around the world can trade bitcoin cash in a private manner and leverage encrypted chat and a secure blind escrow system.

Beyond all that, BCH has also seen the introduction of Cashfusion, which has given the decentralized asset a much higher set of anonymity. Not only are BCH proponents using Cashfusion, but the privacy-enhancing software is making waves with BTC proponents as well. The creator of Wasabi Wallet complimented Cashfusion after he listened to Mark Lundebergs recent interview with Naomi Brockwell and he made some positive remarks about the protocol in another tweet as well.

Typically, the publication Bitcoin Magazine doesnt cover Bitcoin Cash topics, but the news outlets Aaron van Wirdum wrote an objective article on the new privacy protocol for BCH. Not too long after that article, data analyst James Waugh also commended Cashfusions privacy advances in a recent Medium post. Waugh disclosed he queried a number of transaction inputs and outputs and realized that its not possible to establish a concrete link between them. Essentially, Cashfusion in Waughs opinion is far more practical than other Coinjoin protocols.

Its quite possible that the increased use of BCH on prevalent DNMs is attributed to the added privacy benefits BCH offers to everyday users. With 44,737 shuffles using Cashshuffle to-date and close to $100 million transactions shuffled, the protocol has gathered a lot of traction. Additionally, at 94,574 accounts on Local.Bitcoin.com since the peer-to-peer platforms launch, data indicates theres significant interest in trading privately. There have also been 2,250 fusions so far using the Cashfusion protocol since November 28, 2019, and theres been 10,103 BCH fused to-date ($4.5 million).

Its a shame that a DNM like Apollon is likely out of the picture, as it was the one marketplace that was popular for offering multi-currency support. As time progresses, its still quite probable that other DNMs will support BCH going forward, due to all the privacy-enhancing benefits that stem from recent BCH development.

What do you think about the data from DNMs from 1000x Groups blockchain analytics data between January 7, and February 4, 2020? Do you think the addition of things like Local.Bitcoin.com, Cashshuffle, Schnorr Signatures, and Cashfusion is the reason why BCH use on DNMs saw increased exposure? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, darknet markets, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, accounting or any advice. It has also been noted in the report above that the DNM Apollon is accused of exit scamming and readers should be aware of that situation. The data determined in this article reflects payments on February 4, 2020 and the four weeks prior. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, 1000x Group, stats.devzero.be/#/, Fair Use, and Pixabay.

Did you know you can buy and sell BCH privately using our noncustodial, peer-to-peer Local Bitcoin Cash trading platform? The local.Bitcoin.com marketplace has thousands of participants from all around the world trading BCH right now. And if you need a bitcoin wallet to securely store your coins, you can download one from us here.

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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Bitcoin Cash Captured More Than 10% of Darknet Vendors Last Month - Bitcoin News

Bitcoin ABC developerAmaury Schet recently published an updated version of the miner Infrastructure Funding Plan (IFP) that was first introduced by BTC.TOP founder Jiang Zhuoer.

It will be implemented in the forthcoming 0.21.0 release of the Bitcoin ABC software that is expected to take place on May 15.The protocol change has to be activated by miners viaBIP9.

Must Read

The major difference in his proposal is the reduction of the developer tax to 5 percent (the original amount was 12.5 percent). The rationale behind taking a sizeable chunk of miner rewards is the necessity to develop the software infrastructure of Bitcoin Cash.

"As a project, Bitcoin ABC believes that stable funding of Bitcoin Cash software infrastructure is vital to the success of the project."

Those funds will goan opaque list of whitelisted projects, which might be the second most controversial thing after the tax itself.

Must Read

According toPeter R. Rizunof Bitcoin Unlimited, Schet plans to modify the protocol to mint coins for himself, calling his proposal "a poison pill."If exchanges move forward with his plans, the coin could be "captured" by third parties.

There are community membersthat go as far as calling this proposal "a robbery" and urge exchanges not to support it.

Read more here:

Bitcoin Cash to Add Dev Tax in New Software Upgrade. Will Crypto Exchanges Stop This Takeover? - U.Today

Bitcoin fell by 4.2% on Saturday. Reversing a 1.1% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,900.9.

Bearish throughout the day, Bitcoin fell from an early morning intraday high $10,373.0 to a late afternoon intraday low $9,800.0.

Bitcoin fell through the first major support level at $10,166.33 and the second major support level at $9,997.67.

Steering clear of sub-$9,800 levels, Bitcoin bounced back to an afternoon high $10,087.0 before sliding back into the deep red.

The reversal saw Bitcoin fall back through the second major support level at $9,997.67.

The near-term bearish trend, formed at late Junes swing hi $13,764.0, remained firmly intact, however, in spite of the current upward trend.

For the bulls, Bitcoin would need to break out from $11,000 levels to form a near-term bullish trend.

Across the rest of the top 10 cryptos, it was a bearish day for the crypto majors.

Bitcoin Cash SV (-13.96%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (-11.63%), EOS (-11.38%), and Trons TRX (-10.56%) saw double digit percentage losses.

Binance Coin (-8.32%), Cardanos ADA (-9.23%), Ethereum (-7.35%), Litecoin (-7.92%), Ripples XRP (-8.42%), and Stellars Lumen (-9.50%) also saw heavy losses.

Moneros XMR fell by 6.65%, faring better than the pack on the day.

Through the current week, the crypto total market cap fell to a Tuesday low $279.65bn before rising to a Thursday high $308.04bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $295.21bn.

Bitcoins dominance slipped back through the week from 63.7% to 61.6% at the time of writing.

Trading volumes were on the rise, however, jumping to $195bn levels on Thursday before easing back. Volumes had stood at sub-$130bn levels in the early part of the week. At the time of writing, 24-hr volumes stood at $172.87bn.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.88% to $9,988.1. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $9,860.00 to a high $10,037.0.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Elsewhere, it was also a bullish start to the day.

Bitcoin Cash ABC (+3.21%), Cardanos ADA (+3.23%), Litecoin (+4.00%), and Trons TRX (+3.38%) led the way early on.

Binance Coin (+2.26%), Bitcoin Cash SV (+2.25%), Ethereum (+2.50%), Ripples XRP (+2.42%), Stellars Lumen (+2.17%), and Tezos (+3.00%) also found strong support.

EOS trailed the pack, up by just 1.17% at the time of writing.

Bitcoin would need to move back through to $10,025 levels to bring the first major resistance level at $10,249.27 into play.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from the morning nigh $10,037.0.

Barring an extended crypto rally, resistance at $10,000 would likely leave Bitcoin short of the first major resistance level.

In the event of another breakout, Bitcoin the first major resistance level would likely pin Bitcoin back from a return to $10,400 levels.

Failure to move back through to $10,025.00 levels could see Bitcoin hit reverse.

A fall back through the morning low $9,960.00 would bring the first major support level at $9,676.27 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should steer clear of the sub-$9,800 levels on the day.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers 16/02/20 - Yahoo Finance

The charity sector is notoriously slow to react to transformative technologiesin the Charity Digital Skills Report 2019, only 12% of UK charities are considering how technological innovations like AI could change their charity. And in the 2019 Global NGO Technology Report, only 34% of NGOs worldwide admitted to understanding blockchainthe lowest stat relating to emerging technologies like the Internet of Things and augmented reality.

Among small charities, though, a revolution is brewing. Spurred on by challenges around infrastructure and dealing with authoritarian states, some forward-thinking organisations are already using cryptocurrency to receive donations. Theyre hoping that big charities will catch on, too.

With the highest rate of inflation in the world, soaring crime and a shortage of basic goods, Venezuela is an extremely difficult country to live in. Its also extremely difficult to get money into.

In February 2018, Venezuelan brothers Jose and Gabrielboth longtime users of cryptodiscovered Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a fork of Bitcoin. After Jose was quizzed online by friends about the situation in Venezuela, the brothers decided to set up EatBCH, a nonprofit food drive using Bitcoin Cash.

EatBCH in Venezuela (Image: EatBCH)

Jose, who doesnt like to reveal his identity due to a fear of reprisals in the increasingly authoritarian state, told Decrypt that, We were receiving questions from people on Reddit about Venezuela, such as: Is it really that bad?, Are people really starving or How do you manage?

One person told me to send him a [Bitcoin Cash] address so he could send $5 that I could either keep, or use to buy food for kids on the streets.

Jose and Gabriel used that $5 to buy a meal for a family and then some 40 more people.

They then started asking for charitable donations on Twitter and provided a BCH address to receive the money. The BCH was then sold, used to buy food from local food vendors. The two then posted photos mainly of children theyd given food to as proof the cash was being used to feed starving Venezuelans.

In a country where it is thought a generation of young people will never meet their full physical or mental potential due to malnutrition, the result of a crippling economic crisis, the donations continued to come flooding in.

To date, EatBCH has received thousands of donations and bought hundreds of meals. They operate in 23 locations around Venezuela and have just launched in South Sudan. Last year they were invited to Washington DC to talk about their strategy with a think tank.

The initiative is also being noticed by businesses who wish to donate to charity. US-based food startup Crazy Calm, which sells CBD instant coffee, has been donating $5 per order to EatBCH. It is transparent, efficient charity, said co-founder Matt Aaron. We love that EatBCH is using the power of cryptocurrency, borderless cash to feed people in need.Our customers love the fact that they can see via the block explorer a link to the donation made on their behalf.

Jose added: When we started this project we said maybe we can accept regular donations in fiat with bank accounts as an alternative. But we simply couldnt, and cryptocurrency was the only solution.

Because of international sanctions, Venezuealans are locked out of traditional payment methods and providers like Western Union and PayPal, he explained. There is no chance of opening a US bank account so I can receive payments from outside, Jose told Decrypt. We are simply locked out of the international world. So our only solution is cryptocurrency.

He added: I think cryptocurrencies are a better choice than regular financial methods for donating to charity.

And Jose is not the only one who thinks that.

Other projects looking to shake up the charity sector by using cryptocurrency are starting to pick up momentum.

One such project is Giveth, which aims to re-engineer charitable giving, by creating an entirely free, open-source platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. Giveth claims that their system cuts out bureaucracy and provides donors with a high level of transparency and accountability.

Unlike most things, with crypto you can get financial privacy, but you also get transparencyand you get that by default, said Giveth founder Griff Green.

There is no real use for crypto in just transferring money around

Griff Green

Just being able to transfer money around is not the be all and end all, he added. There is no real use for crypto in just transferring money around. Whats more interesting, he said, is the ability to create economies.

Still, there is one challenge for crypto projects looking to overhaul the charity sector, Green said: The biggest problem that people run into is that no one in the charity space uses crypto; only nerds use crypto.

One organisation busily engaged in creating economies with crypto is Grassroots Economics, a non-profit foundation based in Kenya. Grassroots Economics works to provide vulnerable communities with alternative currencies, via the blockchain and mobile payments, so that they can take an active role in their own economies.

Grassroots Economics founder, physicist and economist Will Ruddick, moved to Kenya over a decade ago from California. He told Decrypt that the charity sector in Africa currently wastes a lot of money with little effect. The charity sector has a huge impact problem, which has led toward cash transfer or Cash and Voucher Assistance as an emerging modalityessentially dumping cash on vulnerable communities, he said. This has opened up the charity sector to faster and more efficient forms of digital vouchers using crypto.

Grassroots Economics has most recently partnered with the Red Cross and digital wallet provider Sempo to create Community Inclusion Currencies (CICs). CICs enable communities to develop their own media of exchange that can connect to other communities in regional markets and provide a gateway to national currencies via a push button feature phone. As many as 1,000 businesses adopted them in a single week in Kenya.

Blockchain gives communities the ability to define and manage a shared financial commons which fundamentally strikes at the heart of poverty, said Ruddick.

Though it seems big charity may take a while to fully latch onto using crypto be it for donations or for creating informal economies things are moving in the right direction.

For me, for the nonprofit sector and for public goods funding in general, cryptocurrency is the bees knees, said Green.

Link:

How charities are using crypto to feed the world - Decrypt

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology were meant to liberate the oppressed, bank the unbanked and democratize countries with opaque authoritarian governments. Whether or not the crypto sector has actually achieved these goals remains a topic of debate, but it is fair to say that a surprising number of crypto startups, initial coin offerings and blockchain companies have either missed the mark or proven to be outright scams.

But Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been unassailable in his mission to build the World Computer. Since piecing together a revolutionary white paper in 2013, the soft-spoken genius behind the Ethereum project and Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency has been a steady advocate for the democratizing capacity of decentralized networks.

Born on Jan. 31, 1991, Buterin lived the first six years of his life in the Russian city of Kolomna roughly 62 miles away from Moscow before he and his parents relocated to Canada in search of better employment opportunities. Buterin performed well in school, attending The Abelard School in Toronto and displaying an uncanny aptitude for mathematics and science. Buterin finished one year at the University of Waterloo before dropping out in 2013, as his passion for blockchain technology could not wait for finishing his studies.

Although Buterin had been an active participant in the Bitcoin community since 2011, as a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine, he is better known as the man responsible for the seminal Ethereum white paper.

As an active participant and contributor to numerous Bitcoin communities, Buterin frequently proposed building a more fluid version of the Bitcoin core network that would support the swift creation of decentralized apps without functionality-layering procedures. Eventually, after a succession of failed proposals, Buterin decided to develop a new blockchain with built-in support for smart contracts; and the rest is history.

Initial coin offerings, made possible in large part by the ERC-20 token standard, came to the end of their era after the 2017 hype. The Ethereum project at times seemed to have lost its way, and both average observers and Ether advocates will likely agree that the development team is more focused on network upgrades and hard forks than stabilizing the value of the altcoin. For some speculators, that could be a negative, but most of Ethereums true believers would say the explicit desire to focus on the networks functionality instead of Ethers price is a net positive in the long term.

Recently, the network successfully implemented the Istanbul hard fork the eighth to date and the developers still intend for the network to shift to ETH 2.0, dubbed Serenity, in 2020.

What sets Vitalik Buterin apart from some of his peers is his approach to decentralization and his desire to preserve democratic principles in the crypto space. According to Buterin, the future of cryptocurrency is diverse and pluralist, and during times when the networks decentralization has come under question, Buterin has stepped in to espouse the value of ensuring that all perspectives are heard and the collective desire is acted upon.

In August 2018, Buterin told Forbes:

Recently, I am spending a lot of time working on the proof-of-stake and sharding protocols. This is what the Ethereum research community is focusing on more than anything else at this point. We think that proof-of-stake and scaling are both really important and there has been a lot of progress on improving the algorithms and the development of multiple limitations over the last couple of months. Ive also been looking at the economic analysis of transaction fees and how transaction fee algorithms can be improved to basically cut fees down and make the protocol alignment centers better and more efficient.

Buterin further explained that cryptocurrency needs to be easy enough to use that one could walk into a convenience store, get a card, pay $5 and get $5, minus some small fee of like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, etc and start using it.

Now that 2020 is underway, the general focus within the crypto space has shifted to the upcoming Bitcoin reward halving as well as the maneuvering of large institutional investors into cryptocurrencies. Rather than obsessing over Etheruems valuation in its Bitcoin and USD pairings, Buterin is deeply focused on pushing the network toward its transition to Ethereum 2.0.

If implemented successfully, many in the sector believe the network upgrade will have a significant impact on the entire sector, including other networks like Tron, Cardano, EOS and Ontology all of which claim to be superior to Ethereum.

Ethereums status as the most popular smart contract platform underlies the significance of the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. Proof of the networks popularity is shown by the frequent overloads, where transaction times slow to a snails crawl and transaction fees rise to the point of rendering the networks use less than sensible.

This congestion shows that demand for the network is steady, and if Ethereum 2.0 successfully launches, the network would be in even higher demand. According to Buterin, Ethereum 2.0 would stand as a serious competitor to other networks, and once fully implemented, transaction times could drop from minutes to approximately three seconds.

As Buterin said during the first sharding workshop in Taipei in 2018:

Ethereum 1.0 is a couple of peoples scrappy attempt to build the world computer; Ethereum 2.0 will actually be the world computer.

Vitalik Buterin is ranked #5 in the first-ever Cointelegraph Top 100 in crypto and blockchain.

The rest is here:

The Mind Behind the World Computer: Ethereums Vitalik Buterin - Cointelegraph

Research has shown that government paper money is a hotbed for bacteria and that, at least in the U.S., most bank notes in circulation are tainted by cocaine. Now you can also worry about a new threat possibly sticking to your fingers when you handle a bill a deadly virus coming out of China.

Also Read: China Stocks Plummet Despite 1.2 Trillion Yuan Injection to Mitigate Effects of Epidemic

The Peoples Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, has announced that it has taken a number of actions to fight the spread of COVID19 the novel coronavirus infecting the country. In a press conference on Saturday, February 15, it was revealed that commercial banks have been ordered they must take out of circulation used notes and disinfect them.

The disinfected fiat cash will also need to be kept in quarantine for a period of 7 to 14 days before it can be reintroduced to the public, with the length of time bills are kept in isolation varying from region to region according to its level of infection with the virus. Moreover, the Guangzhou branch of the Peoples Bank of China claimed on Saturday that all used cash notes coming from hospitals, wet markets, and public transportation buses will simply be annihilated as soon as possible. And according to reports from the area, stacks of cash are now being stockpiled in warehouses waiting until they can be eliminated.

Additionally, Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the Chinese central bank, said Saturday that commercial banks have been instructed to give out new banknotes to clients instead of used ones if they can. For this purpose the Peoples Bank of China made an emergency issuance of four billion RMB in new notes to the most severely effected region, Hubei province, right before the recent Lunar New Year holiday. These steps are meant to secure the publics safety and health when using cash, Fan said.

Over 1,660 people have died from the COVID19 outbreak so far and almost 70,000 cases have been confirmed. Besides the heavy human cost, the spread of the virus has also had a strong impact on the Chinese economy. With cities under lockdown and civilians discouraged from leaving their homes, many businesses have taken a massive hit as both employees and customers have stayed away. The local stock markets have also taken a pounding and GDP growth numbers will probably need to be revised downward.

The recent moves to disinfect used fiat bills point to the need to consider this outbreak might have long lasting consequences for the usage of government paper money in the giant Asian country too. China was already a world leader in the use of mobile payments apps, with Alipay and Wechatpay allowing users to shop almost anywhere in the country and pay directly to anyone using QR codes. If many people in China will associate cash with the risk of catching deadly viruses they might dump it altogether.

Beyond China, this crisis might also be used by governments in different parts of the world that want to transition to a cashless society to justify their actions. They might introduce a ban on fiat paper cash as a public safety measure instead of just a way to ensure total surveillance on citizens economic lives. However, it is important to remember that fiat money was always dirty, not just as a concept, and research has shown that a random bill in New York can be home to hundreds of bacteria and up to 80% of USD notes in circulation contain traces of cocaine. Bitcoin Cash solves all this.

What do you think about China scrubbing paper money to stop the spread of the virus? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Bitcoin.com Markets, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.

Avi Mizrahi is an economist and entrepreneur who has been covering Bitcoin as a journalist since 2013. He has spoken about the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at numerous financial conferences around the world, from London to Hong-Kong.

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China Is Scrubbing Cash Notes to Stop Virus Spreading so Its Government Paper Money Won't Kill You - Bitcoin News

A comprehensive study analyzed 2 years worth of Bitcoin buying and selling data. The findings were pretty surprising. The research took a look at the average weekly market cycle to find the best day of the week to buy, and also to sell.

Longhashs study took a look at the Bitcoin hourly price data over a two year period and noticed some very interesting patterns regarding price action and trading volume. The data for their study was provided by CryptoDataDownload.

The methodology behind the study was to find an average price for open, close, high, and low for every hour of every week. So, for example, they took the high price on every Monday at 6 am and found the average to come to a mean price. They did this for every hour of every day of the week for a two-year span. It must have been a lot of work!

The researchers found that the average lowest price for Bitcoin was at 6 am UTC time on Fridays. This means that this is on average, is the best time to take a position, in a long trade.

Obviously, the BTC market is very volatile and may not always conform to an overall average, so dont take these findings as gospel. It isnt investment advice, its simply market analysis.

The researchers also found that on average, on Mondays & Tuesdays around midnight UTC, the Bitcoin price averaged 170 dollars higher than on Fridays.

This means that Monday or Tuesday statistically is the best time to cash out your Friday long or take a short position to cash out on the subsequent Friday when the price is statistically lower.

To be frank, nobody really knows, although the researchers in the study above speculated that due to Monday/Tuesday midnight UTC time, it may be that because of timezone overlap, more active traders are online at this time. Asian, European and American traders are all active at this time.

The researchers did note, that the trading volume isnt especially higher during this time, that it doesnt exactly correlate. Researchers did note a correlation with the lower prices on Fridays, with lower trading volume, however, lending credence to their findings for lower prices.

Mondays could be reflecting higher price points due to institutional investors taking positions at the beginning of the week. Many OTC desks do their best to make large buy orders and sell orders invisible to the retail trading market to prevent front-running.

That would also support the lower prices on Friday evenings as traders cash out for the week on the positions they took on Monday/Tuesday. This is purely speculation, of course. Either way, kudos to the researchers who conducted the study and revealed the interesting results.

What do you think of this bitcoin price study? Let us know in the comments below!

Image via Shutterstock

See more here:

Should you Buy Bitcoin on Fridays and Sell on Mondays? - Bitcoinist

On February 13, the IOTA network came to a screeching halt and the IOTA Foundation reports that $1.6 million worth of the native currency was stolen. The following day, the IOTA network status page still shows the mainnet is not operational and the development team has found an exploit related to the Trinity Wallet.

Also Read: IOTA, EOS, XLM, ADA 4 Bitcoin Contenders With Zero Use Cases and Barely Any Infrastructure

The IOTA network is a hot topic within the cryptocurrency community right now, with people discussing the networks recent outage. At the time of publication, IOTAs network status page says Mainnet (1341599), Not operational, TPS: 0.6500. Alongside this message are multiple status updates from the core development team. At first, the team heard several reports of theft and decided to warn people using Discord and Twitter.

The developers also said: As a precaution, we ask you to keep your Trinity wallet closed for now. Following the initial investigation, IOTA programmers decided to turn off the coordinator to make sure no further theft can occur until we find out the root cause of these thefts. Since the initial announcements, the topic has been trending among the crypto community across social media. The team also warned the community on Twitter and explained that law enforcement were involved. The official IOTA Twitter account stated:

Currently, IOTA is working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to investigate a coordinated attack, resulting in stolen funds. To protect users, we have paused the coordinator and advise users not to open Trinity until further notice.

Despite this message, the Twitter account still has a pinned Twitter post that explains the Trinity wallet is secure. After the warning tweet and update message that disclosed the team shut off the IOTA Coordinator, many people on Twitter asked what they meant by the phrase paused the Coordinator? Commentator Eric Wall discussed the IOTA fiasco on Twitter where hes well known for calling out the vulnerabilities tied to the IOTA network. Wall stated:

A question that keeps me up at night: Is it possible to create a rubbish coin based on advanced bullshit, build a community of misguided fans nevertheless, run it centralized for 5 yrs, hard fork-copy the design of a real working project, keep the community and become a success?

IOTA developers noted in another update that the IOTA Foundation has been working around the clock to investigate the matter. Most evidence is pointing towards seed theft, cause still unknown and under investigation, the IOTA status page noted. Victims (around 10 that identified with the IOTA Foundation so far) all seem to have recently used Trinity, the developers added.

On February 14, the IOTA team gave the public another update which said they had found the exploit and are now working on resolving the issue. IOTA engineers insisted that the exploit was definitely related to the Trinity wallet and stressed the IOTA core protocol is as already communicated before not breached. IOTA team members further disclosed:

We know that you would like to understand more details, but ask you to refrain from questions towards the community moderators due to the parallel ongoing coaction with law enforcement. The teams are currently developing a mitigation strategy. We will share all details about the exploit in due time and (of course) publish a complete incident analysis as well.

The discussion regarding IOTAs lack of decentralization is at the heart of the conversations on social media. The leadership at IOTA seems to be extremely fragile according to a recent blog post and the chain stopped working for 15 hours during the last week of December 2019 as well. Despite all the craziness surrounding the IOTA project, the market has remained the 21st largest blockchain by market capitalization. IOTA has gained 1% this week despite the paused Coordinator.

What do you think about the issues with IOTA during the last 24 hours? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Twitter, Fair Use, and the IOTA Status Page.

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Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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IOTA Network Still Down: How the Next Bitcoin Killer Screeched to a Halt - Bitcoin News