There are roughly 15 known entities sponsoring Bitcoin Core developers in 2020, and the Wyoming-based startup CardCoins just became one of the smallest industry players to join the pack.

CardCoins has helped over 10,000 unique users convert gift cards into bitcoin, according to a spokesperson, with "millions of dollars of volume last year. That healthy-yet-modest traction, which increased slightly since the recession hit, is dwarfed by incumbent crypto exchanges and custody providers.

Out of the most well-capitalized crypto companies, BitMEX, Bitfinex, OKCoin and Xapo are the few that help support developers working full time on bitcoins fundamental software. This is the trunk and roots of the crypto industry.

The nonprofit hub sponsoring the most Bitcoin Core contributors to date, Chaincode Labs, was forced to postpone its annual summer residency due to the coronavirus crisis. Adam Jonas, head of special projects at Chaincode Labs, said the nonprofit currently sponsors seven developers and intends to continue educational residency programs later this year.

Bitcoin advocates have historically criticized exchanges such as Coinbase for not contributing more to these independent, open source developers.

Sometimes it can be easy to lose sight of the fact this multibillion-dollar industry, with companies like Binance that employ hundreds of people, relies on software maintained by just a few dozen people and occasional volunteers. The CardCoins spokesperson said there arent many people to pick from, with regards to prolific contributors who arent already on the above-mentioned payrolls.

So in March, as the Great Lockdown derailed summer plans to train more developers, CardCoins partnered with the fintech company Payvant to split a one-year grant for the Ukrainian contributor Hennadii Stepanov, who goes by Hebasto.

As business owners and bitcoiners ourselves, were grateful to the folks that work on the low-level, nitty-gritty stuff, CardCoins said in a statement. We don't see a world in which we work with a successful bitcoin company and that company doesn't also give back to the community."

Thanks to this grant, Stepanov said, he quit his job at a local university and can now focus on bitcoin full time. He quickly went from discovering bitcoin in 2017 to making a small contribution in 2018, an issue he found when setting up his own node. Now hes among the worlds most prolific contributors.

Decentralizing should be on all levels, including contributions, Hebasto said. I saw how the bitcoin developer community embraced me as a first-time contributor. They share knowledge. I like those people. I like to learn from them.

Although CardCoins has seen a modest incline in the past few months, this move wasnt inspired by extra cash to spend. Instead, the startup co-sponsored the grant because keeping bitcoin decentralized is fundamental to the firms business model.

Peer review is the cornerstone of Bitcoin Core and keeping bitcoin safe, generally, the spokesperson said. He [Stepanov] is making sure that Bitcoin Core will run on many different platforms in a safe way.

Most CardCoins users convert gift cards into bitcoin in under an hour using a phone number and a few pictures of the receipt and card details. This allows the startup to serve underbanked clients attracted to bitcoins censorship-resistant properties.

Weve made enormous investments in compliance and our programs and procedures have been overseen by a former federal prosecutor, CardCoins said of the mission to serve this user group without regulatory arbitrage. Those customers are vital to the lifeblood of bitcoin.

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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Why a Startup You've Never Heard of Is Now Sponsoring a Bitcoin Core Developer - CoinDesk

Alex Dovbnya

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tanks his companys stock by claiming that its too high while invigorating another debate around the price of Bitcoin (BTC)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stepped up his Twitter game by tweeting that the companys stock was too high.

Investors were quick to react to the unorthodox statement by pushing Teslas shares down 12 percent in the span of one hour.

In response to Musk, whoever behind Bitcoins Twitter handle tweeted that BTC price was, in fact, too low.

As reported by U.Today, the market cap of the leading electric car manufacturer once again surpassed that of Bitcoin back in April.

Bitcoin analyst Tuur Demeester claimed that Teslas valuation was over the top when compared to BTC. Now, he gladly tweets that everyone appears to be on the same page.

The confession of the famed entrepreneur also inspired Binance CEO Changpend Zhao to post a poll about the Bitcoin price.

The bearish tweet, which played into the hands of Tesla short-sellers, was only part of his most latest Twitter storm.

The charismatic billionaire announced that he would sell all of his physical possessions while reciting the U.S. national anthem to make a case for giving people their freedom back.

As reported by U.Today, Musk is one of the most vocal proponents of ending lockdowns that he likened to fascism during his recent earnings call.

Subscribe to U.Today on Twitter and get involved in all top daily crypto news, stories and price predictions!

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Is 'Too Low': Twitter Reacts to Elon Musk's Jaw-Dropping Tweet - U.Today

Bitcoin is marching to the beat of its own drum as the week comes to a close.

With the Dow down 594 points, a 2.44% loss, and the S&P 500 down 83 points, a 2.87% loss, Bitcoin is up 2.92% at $8,708, according to COIN360 at time of publishing.

With equities suffering big losses in 2020 and gold up 7.83% on the year, BTC is now the most profitable investment by far, rising 21% from $7,203 at the start of 2020.

Although Bitcoin reacts to massive crashes in traditional markets, such as the widespread economic tumble on March 12th, veteran trader and crypto analyst Scott Melker says the numbers show BTC is clearly an uncorrelated asset overall.

Correlation has a specific definition based on a mathematical formula with regards to finance. By this definition, Bitcoin and the market are not correlated

The idea of ranking correlated assets was developed by Markowitz when he presented Modern Portfolio Theory. Using a math formula, you can compare any 2 assets on a scale of -1 to 1. 1 means correlated if one asset moves 5%, so will the other. -1 means inversely correlated.

If one asset moves 5%, the other goes -5%. A score of 0 or close means the assets are not correlated. In its 11-year history, Bitcoin has been a .15 not correlated. This is the closest to 0 of any asset. It recently hit .57, moderately correlated, for a brief time.

The problem with Modern Portfolio Theory is that everything moves nearly to a 1 in a global crisis including other safe haven assets like gold and silver. And Bitcoin still only reached a .57 moderate correlation. This is math and defines correlation.

There are 4 assets in legacy markets stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies. All are correlated to various degrees. They are all valued based on similar factors, like corporate earnings, GDP and interest rates. Bitcoin does not find its valuation in any of these things.

As Mark Yusko pointed out in our podcast conversation (most of what I have said here was shared!), Bitcoin finds value from Millennial adoption, government regulation, network value and other completely separate factors. By definition it is uncorrelated

This is the very reason that all investors should hold some Bitcoin it offers idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk like other assets. Even if it is a riskier asset, having it in a portfolio reduces overall portfolio risk due to this lack of correlation.

And that is why Bitcoin and stocks are not technically correlated.

Despite the lack of a technical correlation, Melker warns that BTC is not a hedge against a global crisis.

Instead, he believes its a hedge against hyperinflation and the mismanagement of fiat currency.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Dim Dimich

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Bitcoin Up, Stocks Down With BTC Surpassing Gold As Top Investment This Year - The Daily Hodl

A necessary correction that is the best definition of what happened on April 30, which saw a setback after cryptocurrencies went too far, too fast. Nevertheless, holding onto most gains shows that the trend remains positive. Stock traders are all too familiar with wild movements at the end of the month, as money managers adjust their portfolios.

And now, May has begun and potentially promises a resumption of the upside. The vast amounts of money sloshing around financial markets courtesy of central banks and especially the US Federal Reserve may push traders toward digital assets.

How are the top three cryptos positioned? Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple all need to surpass technical hurdles to unleash the upside.

This is what theCrypto Confluence Detector shows in its latest update:

Bitcoinis facing resistance around $8,840, which is the convergence of the Simple Moving Average 100-15m, the Fibonacci 38.2% one-day, the SMA 10-4h, and the Bollinger Band 15min-Upper.

The upside target is $9,480, which is the meeting point of the previous day's high and the Bollinger Band 4h-Upper.

BTC/USDenjoys strong support at $8,703, which is the confluence of the Fibonacci 23.6% one-day, the BB 15min-Lower, the SMA 50-1h, the SMA 200-15m, and the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month.

Further down, another cushion awaits at $8,248, which is where the SMA 100-1h and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-month converge.

Ethereumis struggling around the $211 area, a dense cluster of lines including the SMA 100-15m, the BB 15min-Middle, the Fibonacci 161.8% one-week, the SMA 5-1h, and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-day.

The upside target for Vitalik Buterin's brainchild is $227, which is where the Pivot Point one-week Resistance 3 and the previous daily high hit the price.

ETH/USD has some support at $204, which is the confluence of the SMA 100-1h and the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month.

Strong support awaits at $187, which is a juncture of lines including the PP one-day S2, the 100-day SMA, and the BB 4h-Lower.

Rippleis battling $0.22, a dense cluster including the SMA 5-15m, the SMA 10-15m, the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month, and many more.

Looking up, the $0.2296 serves as the first target it is the convergence of the 200-day SMA and the PP one-day R1.

The high target for XRP is $0.2432, which is where the Pivot Point monthly Resistance 1 meets the price.

Strong support awaits at $0.21, which is where the previous day's trough converges with the SMA 5-one-day and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-month.

The are many support lines on the way down, and the strongest one is at $0.1940, where the Bollinger Band one-day Middle and the Fibonacci 61.8% one-meet up.

See all the cryptocurrency technical levels.

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Top 3 Price Prediction Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum: New month, new gains? Levels that bulls need to break - FXStreet

Researchers have warned that a large-scale sextortion campaign is making use of a network of more than 450,000 hijacked computers to send aggressive emails.

A network of private computers, infected with malicious software and controlled as a group, has been used to send spam messages. The emails threaten to release compromising photographs of the recipient unless a specific amount is paid in Bitcoin. The emails contain personal information, such as the recipients password, to specifically target more than 27 million potential victims at a rate of 30,000 per hour.

While analysis suggests a small fraction of those targeted have actually fallen for this ploy, one expert said such botnets still offered a great return on investment for cyber-criminals. A botnet can be used for many things, said Charles Henderson, from IBMs X-Force Red Security Team. This was just one task. A botnet is a network of computers taken over by hackers using malicious software typically spread via infected web pages or email attachments. Botnets can carry out attacks spread across a wide number of machines, making it harder to disrupt and the attackers origin harder to trace.

Security Company Check Point said that this latest sextortion attack used the Phorpiex botnet, which has been active for more than a decade. Research head Yaniv Balmas said that those individuals would probably not know that their computers were hacked. Attackers are simply using the victims' computers as vessels.

Spreading an email campaign across a botnet in this way would reduce the risk of the emails being flagged as spam - though it is not clear how many were able to reach intended inboxes.

The criminals are getting smart enough to use a larger botnet and sending fewer emails per machine, said Henderson, who was not involved in Check Points research but had

observed the same botnet in operation. Experts advise using the latest versions of software, particularly web browsers. to avoid being susceptible to this kind of attack.

A typical email sent by the botnet has a subject line of Save Yourself. The message may read, My malware gave me full access to all your accounts (see password above), full control over your computer, and it was possible to spy on you over your webcam. The claim is not true but the emails include a genuine password associated with the targets email address.

The attacker is saying, Hey, we hacked your computer, we saw you doing this and that, and this proves it. This is your password, Balmas said. Check Point monitored one Bitcoin wallet used to collect funds from this scam and found about 11 bitcoin almost $100,000 was collected in a five-month period.

Most people do not fall for sextortion scams, Mr. Balmas said, but it is the rule of big numbers. If Im sending 100,000 sextortion emails, its enough that 100 people fall for the trap. I get my money. He continued, It was likely the same botnet was used to carry out other, more lucrative attacks, such as the theft of credit card details. It is not somebody doing this from his garage; it is a group of individuals doing this for their day jobs. This is their business.

Call the Pima County Sheriffs Auxiliary Volunteers with information about scams and frauds. To contact the Scam Squad directly, 9 am to noon Monday through Friday, call (520) 351-6715, or email: scamsquad@gvsav.org. To report suspicious activity or a particular incident of fraud (which is a scam involving a loss of money) call (520) 351-4900. You may also check our Web site at GVSAV.org.

If you are interested in becoming a Sheriff's Auxiliary Volunteer, please email gvsavrecruiting@gmail.com for an application or call (520) 351-6746.

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Scam Squad: Don't fall for the sex bitcoin threat - Green Valley News

Traders are ecstatic as the cryptocurrency markets finally recover from the recent crash of March 12 amid the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At that time, Bitcoin (BTC) and the altcoins shredded all the profits they have amassed since the start of the year, leaving many in bearish sentiment.

However, with the current surge, the price levels in the market have returned to the same ones in February, when Bitcoin traded above $9,200. BTC is leading the bull run, posting massive gains of up to 10.34% against the USD in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading in the $9,000 area.

As Bitcoins increasing in its USD value, so is its dominance, which currently stands at 65.7%, suggesting that altcoins are losing grounds. Indeed, alternative cryptocurrencies are all bleeding against Bitcoin as the entire market is painted red.

While almost all altcoins are posting massive gains against the USD, they are being crushed against BTC as Bitcoin dominance continues to surge higher. In the top 100 altcoin markets, only two cryptocurrencies are trading at profits against Bitcoin in todays trading session.

Siacoin (SC) and Streamr DATAcoin (DATA) are the only two major altcoins in the market that surpassed Bitcoins RIO today. In the USD market, the bull run saw both coins trading higher at 28.96% and 48.89%, respectively. In the BTC market, SC is posting gains of 11.33% while DATA is 29.14% green.

Being the only altcoins trading at profits against Bitcoin in the market is a great feat for both Siacoin and Streamr projects.

While Siacoin offers an open-source, low-cost solution for cloud storage for users across a decentralized network of peers, Streamr is an open-source infrastructure for real-time data based on the Ethereum blockchain.

The Sia project recently announced the launch of a blockchain infrastructure designed for the Italian Banking Association (ABI). Founded in 1919, the ABI will use Sias blockchain infrastructure to enable its Spunta Banca DLT application.

Collaborating with one of Italys oldest banking associations is, no doubt, a milestone for Sia as it gives the project more exposure. By May 2020, around 55 Italian banks are expected to adopt the new SIAchain-based management process for reconciling reciprocal accounts among banks in the country.

Streamr, on the other hand, had its native currency DATAcoin (DATA) added to the worlds largest crypto exchange, Binance, for two new trading pairs. Binance announced that it had added support for DATA/USDT and DATA/BUSD trading pairs on its platform. The exchange launched an airdrop worth 3 million DATAcoin tokens ($150,000) to celebrate the addition of the new pairs.

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These Are The Only 2 Cryptocurrencies That Beat Bitcoins ROI Today - CryptoPotato

ZURICH, May 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitcoin Association, the global industry organization that advances Bitcoin SV, announces it has become a non-profit association (Verein) in Switzerland. The Association supports Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) because it is the only project adhering to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's original protocol, design and vision for Bitcoin to become a peer-to-peer electronic cash system and global data ledger for enterprise.

The initial Voting Members of the new Association are: CoinGeek (entrepreneur Calvin Ayre's multi-faceted Bitcoin mining, media and investment business); nChain (the leading global blockchain technology company where Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig S. Wright is Chief Scientist); TAAL Distributed Information Technologies, Inc., a publicly-traded Canadian company involved in blockchain transaction processing (mining) and infrastructure; and Jimmy Nguyen, global advocate for Bitcoin SV and the Association's Founding President.

The Association's Executive Committee consists of: President Jimmy Nguyen; Vice President Steve Shadders, CTO of nChain; Calvin Ayre, Founder of CoinGeek; Stefan Matthews, Chairman of TAAL; and Jodok Wicki, a partner at the CMS von Erlach Poncet Ltd. law firm in Zurich, Switzerland and counsel to the Association.

Under its previous structure, the Bitcoin Association grew to approximately 1500 members from over 65 countries including enterprises, start-up ventures, developers, merchants, exchanges, service providers, blockchain transaction processors (miners) and others in the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. The new Association will transition to a new membership structure, with Voting Members, Non-Voting members and Affiliates, in order to better serve the differing interests across its broad range of constituents. Information about participation options for 2020, which will serve as a transitional year, as well as details about future years will be communicated to all members of the previous organization structure.

Bitcoin Association's Founding President Jimmy Nguyen commented on the move, saying: "As I have said before, it is time for Bitcoin to grow up. That means that the industry, especially its technology development, business infrastructure, and regulatory oversight, need to mature. This also means that our own organization needs to take steps forward in its maturity. Switzerland is a renowned global capital for finance, technology and digital currency. It is an ideal base for our global association, as we lead the maturation of the entire Bitcoin industry and significantly increase our international activities to advance Bitcoin SV. We also expect more exciting BSV developments to happen in Switzerland as a result of this move."

Interest in Bitcoin Association has rapidly grown as Bitcoin SV has captured the digital currency spotlight. The BSV blockchain has seen application development explode globally as developers and businesses make use of BSV's superior scaling, data and micropayments capacities. Growing usage has led BSV's daily network transactions and average block size counts to regularly surpass BTC and even surpass the Ethereum network on some days.

To further accelerate BSV's growth, the Bitcoin Association has an ambitious agenda for 2020 and beyond. This includes work to support the underlying BSV technical infrastructure; standards setting with a new Technical Standards Committee; host and sponsor Bitcoin SV business conferences, programs and events around the world; launch a developer training curriculum, Developer Conferences ("BSV DevCons") and workshops; conduct global media work in multiple languages; and policy work with government bodies to encourage responsible usage of Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Bitcoin Association's efforts are truly global. To carry out its work, the organization has built an international team, including staff in Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, United States, and United Kingdom. They are supported by Bitcoin Association Global Ambassadors in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Panama, Russia and CIS region, the Scandinavia region, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, and the United States.

If you are a business or developer interested in Bitcoin SV, join the new Bitcoin Association for BSV and participate in building the future of Bitcoin and blockchain. We welcome participation by anyone interested in Bitcoin SV, even if you also support or work on other blockchain or digital currency projects. Visit our website at new.bitcoinassociation.net/swiss-membership/ to learn more about the new Bitcoin Association's membership structure.

SOURCE Bitcoin Association

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Bitcoin Association Becomes Switzerland Non-profit Association, Expands Global Work to Advance Bitcoin SV [bSV] - PRNewswire

Two-thirds of people in Europe believe that cryptocurrencies will still exist in ten years time, according to a survey of 10,000 citizens by Bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Europe.

Its annual Crypto-Confidence Index for 2020, published today, also found that Italians are the biggest believers, at 72%while the UK is the least confident at 56%.

The survey was conducted in March, as panic about the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height. Countries introduced quantitative easing, and volatility hit the value of assetsboth traditional and digital. Around this time, stocks were falling and the price of Bitcoin dropped 50% from $9,000 to $4,500.

Despite this, confidence in cryptocurrencies across Europe has increased 3% versus the 2019 results. Respondents in nine out of the ten countries polled were more confident.

At the start of the outbreak, Italy was badly hit by the coronavirus. It was one of the first countries to see widespread lockdowns in place as the country struggled to deal with it. It also saw a fall in confidence in the European Unions willingness to help its struggling economy.

This may help to explain why Italy has the biggest proportion of citizens (12%) which believes that cryptocurrencies will one day be used as mainstream currency, a two percent increase from last year.

Conversely, only five percent of UK respondents believe in the potential of cryptocurrencies as mainstream currencies.

Notably, the UK is the only country, other than Norway, in which population confidence in the future of cryptocurrencies decreased, and neither country relies on the Euro.

Countries like Italy which have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis are expressing more faith than ever in cryptocurrencies, said Andy Bryant, chief operating officer at bitFlyer Europe. As people face economic hardship, we can expect populations to seek alternatives to traditional financial systems. This is an important time for the crypto industry to demonstrate how cryptocurrencies and associated concepts such as decentralized finance can provide attractive alternatives or even substitutes for incumbent economic models.

The March 2020 poll also found that almost one in 10 (nine percent) of Europeans believe Bitcoin will be fully ingrained into society as a form of currency in 10 years time, whilst nine percent believe it will be used as a security or investment. A quarter of those polled were unsure how cryptocurrencies might be used in the future.

The Bitflyer survey appears to contradict a recent survey from Austrias ING Bank, conducted in August, which found weakening confidence in Bitcoin (with the exception of Turkey).

But its Italy where citizens seem most receptive to cryptocurrencies. And the search for non-traditional currencies has already started.

Earlier this week, a small Italian town even began minting banknotes called Ducatis in a bid to help struggling locals.

Castellino del Biferno, in the mountainous north of the country, has just 550 residents. Its handing the Ducati notes out to residents based upon their economic needs, and is targeting the elderlyidentified as the group needing the most help understanding the new currency.

Maybe that will help them understand Bitcoin, if the need arises.

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Bitcoin has a future, say two-thirds of Europeans - Decrypt