Bitcoin was in for a surprise plunge this Monday as investors assessed the situation in a worrisome oil market.

The benchmark cryptocurrency fell by 4.30 percent to circa $6,748 per token shortly after the US oil futures price slipped into negative territory for the first time. The two assets remain non-correlated, but bitcoins growing correspondence to the stock market amid the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic might have led its prices to decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.4 percent to 23650.44 on Monday, taking cues from the oil market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, too, plunged by 1.8 percent and 1 percent, respectively, showing that investors continued to seek safety away from risk-on assets.

Bitcoins intraday fall did not stop its prices from holding its prevailing uptrend. The cryptocurrency plunged right into what appears like its interim support before attempting a minor pullback heading into the Asian session Tuesday.

Bitcoin finds support inside the Ascending Channel | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase

As shown in the Coinbase 1D chart above, bitcoin tested the upward sloping support trendline of the saffroned Ascending Channel. The cryptocurrency bounced back weakly by 1.01 percent to hit an intraday high near $6,925, expressing its likelihood to consolidate further in the current resistance range defined by $6,800-lows and $7,500-highs.

Meanwhile, the price located converging support in the blue 50-daily moving average wave. Bulls attempted to maintain bitcoins interim upside bias near these support levels, confirming that they still have a technical advantage against a dwindling macroeconomic outlook.

People say bitcoin is wild, commented Frank Chapporra, a former Nasdaq reporter. Throughout this [coronavirus] crisis, weve seen spine-tingling equity volatility, Treasury yields hit record lows, oil prices fall below zero, unprecedented Fed printing and bond purchasing. Right now, bitcoin might be more stable than anything else.

Bitcoins growing proximity with the US stocks remains one of the most alarming downside catalysts. The oil shock could send equities further down as the week matures. Meanwhile, investors looking to neutralize their losses could start selling the first profitable thing they see for cash.

That is troubling for bitcoin, which has surged 77 percent from its cycle low. Bulls next objective is to maintain support above $6,800. The floor could lead the prices as up as $9,000, as predicted in one of Bitcoinist earlier analyses.

Photo by Delphine Ducaruge on Unsplash

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Bitcoin Tanks After Oil's Colossal Collapse, but the Bull Case Remains Strong - Bitcoinist

Researchers from the Bank for International Settlements are finding that cryptocurrency markets actually react positively to news of clear regulations.

Per a working paper released by the Dallas Federal Reserve Banks Globalization Institute on April 18, crypto prices are more responsive to regulation than their reputation suggests. While news reports of government bans on cryptocurrencies resulted in price dips, markets jumped when the regulation was clear.

The paper suggests, at the current juncture, authorities around the globe do have some scope to make regulation effective. Categorizing different news and their effect on Bitcoins price, the researchers found.

Source: Auer and Claessens

In analyzing why cryptocurrencies that operate on borderless blockchains would see price action in response to governmental actions, the authors of the paper suggest that fiat on- and off-ramps, as well as traditional institutions remain important to crypto users:

Why do news events about national regulations have such a substantial impact oncryptoassets that have no formal legal homes and are traded internationally? Part ofour interpretation is that cryptocurrencies rely on regulated institutions to convertregular currency into cryptocurrencies.

The authors of the paper, Raphael Auer and Stijn Claessens, are both researchers within the Bank for International Settlements monetary and economic department. Auer is the principal economist in the innovation and the digital economy unit while Claessens is the head of financial stability policy.

Earlier in April, the BIS called for countries to work on issuing central bank digital currencies in response to a number of payment issues that have come into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic. In February, the Bank appointed new leadership at two of its hubs for fintech research.

Cointelegraph reached out to the authors of the paper for further clarification but had received no answer as of press time. This article will be updated with those responses if they come in.

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New Research Says Bitcoin Price Jumps in Response to News of Clear Regulation - Cointelegraph

Monday marked a historic moment in traditional markets, with the price of West Texas Intermediate oil futures going into negative territory for the first time ever.

Contracts for May delivery, expiring on Tuesday, collapsed below -$40 per barrel at one point. In other words, sellers were willing to pay as much as $40 to people to take a barrel off their hands. Excess supply in the midst of a massive global downturn has led to a storage problem for crude. Some traders are even making $2 offers per barrel on the spot market.

The breathtaking crash in oil prices was taken as a warning sign to U.S. stocks and bonds: a recovery, where demand for energy would put those stockpiled barrels to use, appears to be further in the distance than anticipated. The S&P 500 index slipped 1.7 percent while safe-haven U.S. Treasury bonds saw an influx of dollars that pushed two-year yields down to 5 percent. Bond yields fall as prices rise.

Gold also gained on the day. On Monday, the precious metal climbed 0.86 percent to $1,713.40 per troy ounce.

Oil also took its toll on the FTSE 100 index toward the end of its trading day Monday. Though the British equity index closed up less than a percent, it started off with strong gains but started to tumble in afternoon trading on concerns about the energy sector.

Several hour earlier in Asia, the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.15 percent. The dip arrives as Japans Ministry of Finance reported poor trade numbers, with exports declining by more than 11% while imports dropped by 5% in March.

Crypto markets

Bitcoin prices merely shrugged at the turmoil in the oil markets, slipping 4.4 percent over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesks Bitcoin Price Index as of 21:35 UTC (5:35 p.m. EDT) Monday.

The price for 1 BTC fell below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages at 11:00 UTC (7 a.m. EDT), with trading dropping below $7,000, eventually dipping to around $6,920 levels on exchanges such as Coinbase.

The worlds oldest cryptocurrency was then able to return to the $7,000 level before large amounts of selling volume at 18:00 UTC (2 p.m.PM EDT) pushed prices down to around the $6,830 range.

Most major digital assets are primarily in the red on CoinDesks big board for the day.

Ether slipped 5.8 percent. Large losers include dash (DASH) dropping 8.9 percent, bitcoin gold (BTG) down 7 percent and bitcoin sv (BSV) dipping 6 percent. One notable winner today is stellar (XLM), in the green 1.3 percent.

Tether breaks $7 billion

The market capitalization of tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency markets, surpassed $7 billion this past week, well more than double where it was a year ago. As tether is pegged at roughly 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, its market cap is a reflection of how much is believed to be held in assets against each coin.

With an additional 120 million printed on April 18, USDT currently has a circulating supply of 6,992,102,061 USDT. Due to USDTs slight price premium above the U.S. dollar, the current market cap is around $7 billion, according to data from aggregator Nomics. Tether says it has $7.1 billion in assets as of Monday.

Tethers price is often more than a dollar because of the convenience it provides some of its owners, according to Vishal Shah, a crypto options trader and founder of derivatives exchange Alpha5. Tether trades at a premium to USD and highlights a capital flight situation in which there is limited access to hard currency, he told CoinDesk.

Some 74 percent of all bitcoins traded on major exchanges are done against tether, according to data site CryptoCompare.

USDTs ubiquity on cryptocurrency exchanges offsets concerns traders may have about the stablecoin, Shah noted. Tether is the most easily accessed USD-proxy stablecoin, and arguably has a more colored background than some of its direct competitors.

Indeed, that background includes questions about provenance of the assets backing USDT.

Competing stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) have independently audited financial statements showing custody accounts with dollars backing blockchain-based stable assets, the idea being redemption of one USDC equals one dollar from Centre, the group that issues the stablecoin backed by Coinbase and Circle.

Customers holding USD Coin and who open accounts with a Centre member issuer are always able to redeem 1 USD Coin for $1 USD, said Josh Hawkins,vice president for communications at Circle.

USD Coin holders also gain the assurance that the funds are fully reserved, as the Centre Consortium requires that issuers be regulated financial institutions, and also that reserves backing USD Coin are always held at 100%, he added.

In comparison, Tethers terms of service explicitly state that holders of USDT could experience redemption in some other security or asset than dollars should the stablecoin become illiquid.

With the growth of banking-friendly USDC, its clear regulatory issues surrounding stablecoins will come to a head, says David Johnston, Managing Director of Yeoman's Capital. Johnston is concerned that solvency could be a problem in the future with Tether, a problem that plagued early bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, the aftermath of which is still an ongoing legal affair.

USDT is going the way of Mt. Gox, if they don't become either fully decentralized or a regulated extension of the central banks, Johnston told CoinDesk.

He also mentioned the 2019 draft report on stablecoin risks from a G7 working group as an indication stablecoin regulation could soon be on the way. USDT has existed in the gray area between centralized and decentralized. With these new recommendations from the Financial Stability Board it's clear that this gray area will soon no longer exist, Johnston said.

Requests for comment from Tether or Bitfinex executives were made but not returned as of press time.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Market Wrap: Oil Futures Plunge, Bitcoin Dips and Tether Has a $7B Day - CoinDesk

Bolstered by the new coronavirus pandemic, scams continue to be rampant in the cryptocurrency world. From malware to fake investment programs and even fake donations to health organizations, scammers are known for taking advantage of desperate times and desperate people. One of the most prominent scams in the industry, PlusToken, has come under the spotlight again after rumours emerged that the March crash was caused by its operators selling their stolen Bitcoin (BTC).

According to research by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, PlusToken did not cause the Black Thursday sell-off of March 12. In a recent webinar, Chainalysis sought to bring clarity to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cryptocurrency markets by analyzing key points in on-chain data such as exchange inflow and more.

During the presentation, Philip Gradwell, the chief economist at Chainalysis, addressed a somewhat common opinion that the crypto market crash that happened March 12 to March 13 was caused by PlusToken liquidating the Bitcoin acquired through its Ponzi scheme, which came to around $2.9 billion, according to Chainalysis. In the webinar, Gradwell stated:

We can also dispel another theory that has been going around, that PlusToken [...] selling triggered the price decline. We actually dont think thats the case because PlusToken had largely cashed out before early March.

According to Chainalysis data, PlusToken movements to exchanges decreased severely before the crash, which indicates funds were already cashed out. A noticeable amount of 12,423 Bitcoin, worth $123 million at the time, was moved to a mixer or cold wallet on Feb. 12, followed by a similar amount in early March. Its possible that the Bitcoin was cashed out immediately to avoid exchanges freezing funds.

PlusToken may still have 61,229 Bitcoin, currently worth around $420 million, according to a report released by OXT Research on March 10. While some Bitcoin has been sold after the crash, low prices seem to discourage those behind PlusToken from selling, if they are still in fact holding such large quantities of Bitcoin. Its possible that the PlusToken operators may be waiting for the Bitcoin halving to capture a higher price.

According to Chainalysis, volumes prior to and during December 2019 were much higher than those observed in 2020. The accentuated inflows were discussed in another Chainalysis report where it took another stance on the PlusToken and Bitcoin price relation, stating that at the time the sell-offs from PlusToken were keeping Bitcoin prices down.

Although PlusToken has largely cashed out, there is still a chance it will continue to affect Bitcoin. According to Kim Grauer, the head of research at Chainalysis, a large sell-off by PlusToken could bring down the price of Bitcoin in the future, especially if liquidations are executed irresponsibly. She told Cointelegraph:

We found in the past that large inflows to exchanges, such as those from PlusToken last year, tend to increase the price volatility on exchanges. This problem can potentially be exacerbated by trading bots that pick up on those on-chain movements and execute trades, not to mention the highly leveraged positions on derivatives exchanges that can get liquidated rather quickly. But overall, prices tend to bounce back quickly from those one-off events.

PlusToken, now known as the biggest cryptocurrency exit scam in history so far was a 2019 Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $2.9 billion in cryptocurrency assets by posing as a South Korea-based crypto wallet project that offered depositors interest in crypto, a practice that has become fairly common in decentralized finance applications, centralized banking applications and exchanges offering margin trading.

PlusToken explained that its high interest payments would be generated by exchange profits, mining and referral programs. Shortsighted by the promising gains, over 3 million users registered with PlusToken.The scheme even announced that it expected to grow to 10 million users by the end of 2019, shortly before it exited with depositors money.

Related: Crypto Exit Scams How to Avoid Falling Victim

In China, PlusToken was quickly exposed as a Ponzi scheme when six individuals were arrested by Chinese authorities in June 2019, with reports connecting them to the PlusToken project. Cointelgraph reported on the incident at the time, but it was in August 2019 that the cybersecurity firm CipherTrace released its second quarter Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report that confirmed the connection to the PlusToken scam.

Interest-generating products have been gaining evermore popularity in the cryptosphere, including MakerDAOs decentralized protocol, which according to a report by DappRadar saw peak activity during March, and other centralized options such as BlockFis banking app or Binances lending services. Although crypto has always been prone to illicit activity and shady ventures, the relatively high interest rates practiced in these services may have helped normalize PlusTokens profit claims, easing unwary investors.

Similar models have been seen elsewhere. In August 2019, a cryptocurrency wallet project from Nigeria called Satowallet allegedly made off with $1 million in a smaller-scale exit scam. Last year, another Ponzi scheme promising returns from cloud mining also made headlines after pulling off a $200 million exit scam that later resulted in 14 individuals being arrested.

An ever-increasing number of topical crypto-schemes have surfaced since the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic, from fake donation campaigns for the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fraudsters impersonating officials from these agencies who can sell information on active infections for a price, paid with Bitcoin of course.

Now more than ever, cryptocurrency holders need to be wary of crypto scams. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations recently issued a press release in which it warned of the potential increase of cryptocurrency-related fraud schemes during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding:

There are not only numerous virtual asset service providers online but also thousands of cryptocurrency kiosks located throughout the world which are exploited by criminals to facilitate their schemes. Many traditional financial crimes and money laundering schemes are now orchestrated via cryptocurrencies.

Although tough times create a perfect chaotic setting for scammers to operate in, its relieving to know that despite the increased activity and novel coronavirus-related scams, revenue for crypto scammers fell by around 30% in March.

Despite taking on new forms, cryptocurrency scams are almost as old as crypto itself. For example, OneCoin one of the most prominent names when it comes to cryptocurrency-related scams was founded in 2014 and it is still making headlines in crypto media. Although OneCoin has been sued, the lead plaintiff for the ongoing $4 billion class-action suit against the project, Donald Berdeaux, has repeatedly failed to meet the courts monthly status reports, which may lead to the case being dropped.

According to Chainalysis, most of the funds moved by the PlusToken scam were liquidated in two Asian exchanges: Huobi and OKEx. This has raised some concerns about exchanges Know Your Customer practices, which do not seem to have been useful when it came to spotting or censoring the transactions from PlusToken.

Although other sources were used, they were small in comparison to the inflows to the aforementioned exchanges. Grauer stated that Chainalysis had found traces of funds at mining pools, mixers, other scams, and p2p exchanges, but the paths were too small to be interrogated.

If cryptocurrency schemes are to be stopped, exchanges should ideally act as a final barrier for illicit transactions. Responding to past criticism, Huobi is aiming to improve its security measures by launching Star Atlas, an on-chain monitoring tool that can identify crimes like fraud, money, laundry and other problematic activities.

Moreover, Huobi is also looking to partner with data providers like Chainalysis and CryptoCompare to build a more transparent and compliant ecosystem, a measure that will surely be essential for institutionalization and regulatory compliance going forward. Ciara Sun, the vice president of global business at Huobi, told Cointelegraph:

While we may be able to identify illicit activities once they reach our exchanges and prevent their outflow, we can't yet prevent illicit transactions that start outside of our platform. However, we believe that collaborative efforts among industry players, including but not limited to information sharing, are the key to success to create a safer friendly ecosystem for the crypto industry to grow.

While efforts to reduce illicit transactions are being undertaken by exchanges such as Huobi and Paxful, users should always be aware of possible fraud attempts and conduct meaningful diligence into any project they are willing to trust with their coins, as it is unlikely theyll get them back once lost.

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Crypto Scams on the Rise and Can Still Affect Bitcoins Price - Cointelegraph

With Bitcoin halving set to take place on May 12 and 22 days left, institutional investors are catching the fever and cant help taking advantage of the crypto assets huge opportunities.

Bitcoin halving has become the internet new order, with its searches scaling by the day. With a lot of anticipation leaning on a possible bull rally, institutional investors are rushing to claim a share of the pie. The block halving event is scheduled to take place on May 12, 2020, whereby the Bitcoin mining reward to miners will be slashed by half from the current 12.5 BTC/ 10 mins.

Bitcoin halving is a major event that signifies the decline in BTC supply from miners to the market. It has happened two other times, 2012 and 2016, after completing 210,000 blocks before the next event. Bitcoin is mined with the knowledge of finite end in its supply, whereby it is meant to reach 21,000,000 coins at the end of the last block, approximately 2140.

The 2020 halving event has several additional factors than previous events in the past. First, the advanced technology in the mining devices has affected the miners profit margin, and secondly, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has made the factors more complex for the crypto asset industry.

However, the Tradeblock platform has critically analyzed the previous halving events and given their prediction on the oncoming may event. Their analysis has been favored by the increased institutional investors eyeing to take advantage of the pre and post halving volatility.

According to Tradeblocks analysis, the Bitcoin price rose prior to each event, hence allowing miners to maintain healthy profits. The analysis also noted that the miners profits were slashed by half after the event. The Bitcoin hash rate in the previous events did not experience a dramatic uptick, as the miners were bagging home considerable profit margins.

The report went ahead to use the previous years analysis to predict the possible scenarios as we approach the halving event and the aftermath. The report estimated that miners are currently breaking even at approximately $7,300 per coin, despite the market price playing around $7,000.

Following the 2020 halving, the report suggests that the mining breakeven will rise to between $12,000 and $15,100 per coin. These figures used the assumption that the hash rate will stay unchanged or rise following a modest growth rate.

With all factors pointing towards price breakout to a possible new all-time high, institutional investors are moving fast to invest in both the crypto asset and also its future contracts.

One of the notable institutional investors is the Renaissance, through its Medallion Fund, whereby it has selected the CME cash-settled Bitcoin futures. Another notable firm is Grayscale Investments, which experienced a record inflow into its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust of more than $338. Million

A financial analyst who sees positive income in both directions of the market (bulls & bears). Bitcoin is my crypto safe haven, free from government conspiracies. Mythology is my mystery!

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Bitcoin Halving Is Just 22 Days Away and Catches Institutional Investors... - Coinspeaker

A startup has launched a leveraged token and a decentralized stablecoin on Rootstock (RIF), a smart contract solution based on Bitcoin (BTC)s blockchain.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on April 21, Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol MoneyOnChain launched the new products on RSKs sidechain.

The new DeFi platform, dubbed RIF on Chain will feature RIF Dollar (RDOC), RIFX and RIFpro (RPRO). RPRO is a token that mirrors the price of RIF but also grants passive income by collecting a share of the fees generated by platform transactions.

RDOC is pegged to the United States dollar and backed by RIF tokens. Unlike competing Ether (ETH)-backed decentralized stablecoin DAI, RID Dollars can be acquired directly by spending RIF without creating a collateralized debt position.

The RDOC stablecoin is minted every time there is a certain amount of RIFpro staked on the platform. Lastly, RIFX is a token that gives exposure to RIFs price fluctuations with leverage. Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO of IOV Labs the firm behind Rootstock explained:

RIFX is a RIF leveraged decentralized long position. Based on an automated smart contract that renews every 30 days, the product has a leverage factor of 2X at the very beginning of its lifespan and a variable leverage afterwards based upon certain variables such as the price of RIF token and the amount of RDOC stablecoins in the ROC platform. Users must be aware of the risks. [...] The ROC platform, in this current version, does not have a Margin Call notification.

Zaldivar pointed out that RIF is merge-mined with BTC and leverages Bitcoins blockchain for security. He also explained that Bitcoin as an asset is integrated into the system and its role will be expanded in the future:

Bitcoins are locked on-chain and RBTC tokens are minted on the RSK network accordingly. RBTC (and thereby BTC) will serve as collateral for loans, as a pegging mechanism for RIF Dollar and more.

As Cointelegraph reported in March, lead developer at blockchain firm Kava Labs Ruaridh ODonnell pointed out that there is great anticipation for the development of Bitcoins DeFi ecosystem. When it comes to the broader DeFi space, it is seeing great developments at an astonishingly fast rate.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier today, Ethereum-based DeFi protocol Synthetix recently enabled tokenized real-world assets like Brent oil and the Nikkei stock index. The CEO of blockchain firm Trustology recently said that he believes DeFi protocols could soon emerge as the worlds dominant liquidity pool if scaled effectively.

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Bitcoin Smart Contract Solution RSK Sees New Stablecoin and Leveraged Token - Cointelegraph

While WTI crude oil futures went into negative territory in an unprecedented market crash, Bitcoin remained relatively stable. The first digital coin lost about 4.5% of its value in the recent 24 hours and retreated below $7,000 amid worsened sentiments on the global markets, but the general trend remains bullish.

The May WTI dropped 300% to -$40 per barrel, which is a historical event. It means that at a certain point the sellers of oil futures were ready to pay the buyers. However, the May contract expires today. Thus, the June WTI will become the next active contract, which is also down 19.5% from Friday's (April 17) close.

Maybe it's time for some self-reflection for those that say #Bitcoin is too volatile compared to other assets. Crude #oil, the world's most traded commodity, fell ~40% this morning and lost 85% YTD in 2020. Oil in Canada is trading at negative prices. The data speaks for itself! -@gaborgurbacs

The collapse reflects the fragile state of the global economy and a damaging outcome of the oil price war between Russian and OPEC launched in March.

Despite the retreat below, BTC/USD is still in good shape at least as long as it stays above $6,600-$6,500 area, created by 23.6% Fibo retracement for the downside move from February 2020 high. This area stopped the decline at the beginning of April and may serve as a turning point if the sell-off from the current levels gains traction. However, if this support area gives way, the sell-off may be extended towards psychological $6,000 and weekly SMA200 at $5,700.

On the upside, a sustainable move above $7,000 is needed for the upside to gain traction. The psychological barrier is reinforced by weekly SMA100; however, once it is cleared, the upside may be extended towards the next resistance created by 38.2% Fibo retracement for the downside move from February 2020 high at $7,150.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTC/USD resilient in the face of dramatic oil collapse into the negative territory - FXStreet

Welcome to Hard Fork Basics, a collection of informative guides to keep you up to date with the personal finance and investment world. This one is Bitcoin-themed.

Theres a sextortionemail scam going around that demands Bitcoin BTC to keep steamy videos of you masturbating to pornography off the internet. Its fake. Relax.

Its also very old. While there aremany variants, recent reports show anemail that suggests a crafty hacker has placed malware on the porn website that you enjoy, which allowed them to record your screen and webcam feed.

The email then requests $1,900 worth of Bitcoin or else your Messenger, Facebook, and email contacts will receive a video of you jerking (or jilling) it, placed artfully alongside your kinky content of choice a shoddy attempt at blackmail.

Its a preposterous premise, but the real hook is a recipients actual password, which is starred out in the screenshot below.Hard Fork reported on some of the first instances of the Bitcoin sextortion email in 2018.

Back then, fraudsters were warning their marks that a magic pixel had recorded their every move. More recently, emails have come with an embedded JPG image of the blackmail message in a bid to avoid spam detection.

Indeed, if you receive this email, its likely to reference a password that you might regularly use, or may have regularly used in the past. Dont freak out: They probably found it in a PasteBin doc not by hacking your machine.

Its almost entirely likely that the phishers obtained your email and password from one of the thousands of data breaches that have occurred, and not by hacking your computer (or your porn website, for that matter).

Have I Been Pwned?is a handy tool to figure out where they mightve found your password. Simply plug in your email address to see if this relates to you.

Bitcoin Abuse,a websitethat tracks these kinds of Bitcoin scams, has fielded almost 50,000 reports this year. April has seen amassive influx of submissions over 41,000 and while not all of them are specific to the sextortion scam, many are, and theyre coming in multiple languages.

As for the success of these horny phishers: It seems they randomly generate fresh Bitcoin addresses for each recipient, which makes tracking them significantly harder.

So, security researchers at Sophos advise you to do two things. First: Delete the email and move on.

The second is change the password referenced in the email, as its likely that other phishers also have access to it. Even if theyre old accounts, you should change them to protect your current ones.

Apart from that, its important to never send any money in response to any emails like these, Bitcoin or otherwise, and not to play into to the fraudsters hands by engaging any further.

They also emphasised that instructions in an email should not be followed just because the message is insistent or because youre frightened.

In other words,do what this 84-year-old lady did when she was targeted by Bitcoin sextortionists: Ignore them, and eat a bagel.

Published April 20, 2020 16:12 UTC

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So you received the Bitcoin masturbation vid email heres what to do - The Next Web

Bitcoin commenced the weeks trading in the positive territory after defending support above $7,200. Last weeks surge above $7,000 was the second after Bitcoin crashed more than 50% in March amid a widespread COVID-19 triggered selloff. At the moment, Bitcoin is trading over 85% higher from the lows trade in March. The gains last week were reminiscent of the upward correction in the United States stock market. Bitcoin has lately become more and more correlated with the stock market and other traditional asset. A situation that has had people questioning Bitcoins safe haven status.

According to Qiao Wang from Messari, a cryptocurrency analysis firm, said that cryptocurrency markets and the traditional stock markets are in anticipation as the Federal Reserve prepares to stimulate the economy from the shocks of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Short-term, as usual, I dont have a strong view, wrote Mr. Wang about the cryptocurrency. I think it could easily swing between $5,000 and $9,000 due to a variety of forces like the demand for the USD and the hype around halving.

As reported, Bitcoins step above the 50-day SMA has renewed the bullish interest and a lift-off towards $9,000 seems imminent. Looking at the price performance in the last 12 months, Bitcoin soared 280% after breaking above the moving average in April 2020 and 43% after a similar move in February 2020. However, a resistance at $7,200 must be overcome in order to open the way for the lift-off. This zone was a key support in May 2019 and could act the same in the current situation following a breakout.

Resistance one: $7,220 Highlights the pivot one-day resistance one.

Resistance two: $7,369 Highlights the pivot one-week resistance one, and the pivot point one-day resistance two.

Resistance three: 8,116 Home to the SMA 100 one-day and the pivot point one-week resistance three.

Support one: $7,145 Converges the Fibo 23.6% one-day, the Bollinger band 4-hour middle curve and the SMA five 4-hour.

Support two: $7,070 Hosts the SMA 50 4-hour and the SMA 200 1-hour.

Support three: $6,996 Highlights the Fibo 38.2% one-week, pivot point one-day support two and the BB 1-day middle curve.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD lift-off to $9,000 in the Q2 of 2020 imminent Confluence Detector - FXStreet

Despite being over a decade old, Bitcoin (BTC) is still not particularly easy to understand. Even major BTC bulls like Tim Draper have admitted that Bitcoin still lacks ease of use for mainstream adoption.

In the same vein, two key figures in the community held an informal Twitter debate over Bitcoins complexity today.

Mark Cuban, one of the most well-known Bitcoin sceptics, prefers to own bananas than invest in bitcoins. Cuban previously criticized Bitcoins complexity in an interview with Anthony Pomp Pompliano on April 15. In the interview, the owner of the NBAs Dallas Mavericks reiterated a common Bitcoin complexity narrative, arguing that Bitcoin needs to be easy enough that grandma can use it before mass adoption will occur.

When asked about what would have to happen for him to change his mind about Bitcoin, Cuban answered that it should become easy, elaborating on Bitcoins complexities:

Itd have to be so easy to use, its a no-brainer. Itd have to be completely friction-free and understandable by everybody first. [...] Theres so many peculiarities to Bitcoin: the halving, the mining.

While some in the crypto community agreed that BTC is quite difficult to use, Tyler Winklevoss, a co-founder of major crypto exchange Gemini, decided to weigh in. Winklevoss argued that, for someone without preexisting knowledge of the game, basketball is at least as peculiar as Bitcoin. He tweeted:

Theres so many peculiarities to Bitcoin: the halving, the mining." - @mcuban The rules of basketball are far more peculiar, but that doesn't seem to be holding it back.

It was not long before Cuban reacted to the Winklevoss remark, tweeting the following counter-argument in less than 10 minutes:

One was started by a guy named James in a gym with a peach basket and a ball to entertain kids. The other was started by a guy no one can find, that hundreds claim to be, with a computer and an algorithm to give millions something to argue about. Which is simple?

Winklevoss subsequently argued that both of these origin stories are interesting from a historical perspective,. He then firing out another argument, hinting that nobody really cares about basketball:

My bet is that if you took a poll of all the basketball fans that buy tickets to watch @dallasm games, less than 1% would know that the game they are watching was started by a guy named James trying to entertain kids and 0% would actually care.

After years of scepticism, Cuban delivered a mixed message about Bitcoin in late 2019. As Cointelegraph reported in December, Cuban admitted that Bitcoin could become a reliable financial instrument.

In September 2019, billionaire investor and major Bitcoin bull, Tim Draper, declared that people still prefer fiat money over Bitcoin. He reasoned that fiat money seems to be an easier option to pay for services. According to Draper, Bitcoins inherent difficulty is the main impediment to mass adoption. He further claimed that engineers have not made it that easy enough for everyone to use Bitcoin.

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Mark Cuban and Tyler Winklevoss Squabble Over Bitcoin Complexity - Cointelegraph