Tether, the company behind the most widely-used stablecoin, has minted over $60 million worth of USDT. Its interesting to see if this will have any positive impact on Bitcoins price, given the fact that the infusion comes right after BTC surged upwards of $700 in 24 hours.

60,000,000 New USDT Minted

Earlier today, the popular monitoring resource Whale Alert published the transaction. It states that 60 million new USDT were minted on the Ethereum blockchain. All of the new coins have been sent to the Tether Treasury.

Bitfinex CTO, Paolo Ardoino, commented on the matter. He said that this is an authorized but not issued transaction. He added that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance.

Interestingly enough, a similar scenario occurred in the middle of 2019. At that point, Tether printed over $150 million worth of USDT. Ardoino weighed in on the topic, saying once again that all of the coins are for future issuance requests.

As it happens regularly when new USDT is minted, the community starts anticipating a price move. Members speculate that the new stablecoins will have a positive impact on the whole market. Some previous events might support the excitement.

For instance, when the $150 worth of USDT were minted on June 11th, 2019, Bitcoin was at approximately $8,000. In the following days, it recorded some of its best yearly trading days. Ultimately, it reached its yearly high on June 26th at nearly $14,000.

Tether has been previously accused of possibly manipulating cryptocurrency prices. Two university academics said that one single whale caused the 2017 surge. They claimed that the whale used USDT to inflate the price of Bitcoin artificially.

Shortly after, Tether completely denied all accusations. The company behind USDT outlined that no single entity can cause such a massive price increase and that Tether tokens have never been used for market manipulations.

In any case, its still early to assume that the newly minted USDT could have a positive impact on the cryptocurrency market. Additionally, history is not a legitimate price indicator. However, with the recent price surges in the cryptocurrency market, its undoubtedly worth sparing a thought.

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Is This The Fuel For The Next Bitcoin Price Pump? $60 Million Tether (USDT) Just Minted - CryptoPotato

Trading bitcoin can be an efficient way to make a profit. In the past, traders used to think that they could make a profit by trading the major currency pairs only. Things started to change when brokers started to embrace the cross pairs. Smart traders started trading cross pairs due to the high level of market volatility.

Now lets come to bitcoin. If you carefully observe the instruments offered by well-regulated brokers, you will find bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies in their tradable asset list. Many companies like bigx.com are also offering bitcoin exchange offers. Due to the ever more widespread embracing of bitcoin and the high volatility, it has become a very popular asset for traders. Lets explore some of the key reasons why you should trade bitcoin or other major cryptocurrencies.

Naive traders dont understand the importance of market volatility. If you want to make a consistent profit, you must learn to find the volatile pairs. When it comes to trading in Forex, you might have trouble selecting the pairs. But if you start trading bitcoin, you will never have to worry about the market volatility. Before you start trading bitcoin, you must learn about the technical and fundamental analysis. Unless you learn these two major techniques, you cant make a profit by trading bitcoin with bigX.

When you start trading the major Forex pairs, you will often get frustrated when analyzing the obvious trend. But if you trade cryptocurrency, you dont have to worry about the major trend. Buying bitcoin is one of the easiest ways to make a profit. Though you might have some trouble in understanding the high volatility, you can easily learn to trade the market with demo accounts. A demo account gives you the perfect learning ground, and you can easily develop your skills as a currency trader. Some of you might have experience in the currency trading business and trading the bitcoin will be an extremely easy task.

Those who are trading the Forex market knows the importance of fundamental analysis. Without assessing the fundamental factors, its very hard to predict the price movement. You must keep yourself tuned with the global economic news or else you might have to lose a big portion of your trading capital. On the other hand, if you trade bitcoin, you dont have to deal with tons of news factors. Just having fair knowledge of the technical parameters, you can expect to make a big profit by trading the cryptocurrency. You can also exchange bitcoin with the help of reputed companies like bigX.com and start making some serious cash.

Those who trade currency pairs always get access to a high leverage trading account. But trading the market with high leverage increases the risk factors to a great extent. When it comes to bitcoin trading, retail traders dont get access to a high leverage trading account. Most of the time, the reputed brokers offer 1:2 leverage. Even after having the urge to take a high risk in trading, you will not be able to open big trades. Due to this low leverage trading account, you will always trade with low-risk exposure. Making big trades out of frustration or based on other emotions is almost totally absent when you trade with such a low leverage account.

Before you start to trade bitcoin, you must have a decent knowledge of trading. Start by trading bitcoin in a demo account, and then, once you feel confident, start dealing with the real markets. Keep yourself tuned with the crypto industry by accessing a popular site like bigX.com. Once you keep yourself tuned in and take rational steps based on proper logic, you can change your life without having any trouble.

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Why You Should Consider Trading Bitcoin - NuWire Investor

CoinDesk reporter Leigh Cuen is joined by the Human Rights Foundations Alex Gladstein and Syrian entrepreneur Moe Ghashim to discuss how cultural context shapes the way people view bitcoin, including stories from the Middle East.

Many bitcoiners see cryptocurrency as a cypherpunk tool that enhances personal freedoms, with cypherpunk meaning using privacy tech to promote social change. There are diverse users around the world gaining this type of value from bitcoin, but they rarely give interviews or are seen on stage at conferences.

Later well explore the risks of governments impacting the bitcoin ecosystem, through regulatory enforcement, censorship and market manipulation. Then well dive into what everyone can do to enhance bitcoins usability through education.

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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How Bitcoin Is Used by Activists and Refugees to Promote Human Rights - CoinDesk

Bitcoin took a substantial hit in trading on Monday, moving from $10,000 to $9,452, in just fourteen hours. The drop, which largely came on profit-taking sentiment, also saw Binance Futures registering one of its biggest long liquidations: worth $2 million.

The overleveraged exit order did not switch Bitcoins long-term bias which remains bullish, but it still ended up leaving the market sentiment in distaste. The position showed how bulls feel threatened by the cryptocurrencys sharp retracement from $10,500-resistance. The downside moves prompted them to close their highly-leveraged Long positions.

Even minor downside swings in bitcoins spot market could push leveraged positions into deep losses. That makes traders close their trades and sell the underlying asset. Such sales add more pressure on bitcoin, leading up to a selling frenzy. Traders call this phenomenon a Long Squeeze.

In this case, the market saw Binance liquidating a comparatively smaller Long order of just $2 million, which might not crash the market. For instance, the derivatives platform last month liquidated $108 million worth of bitcoin long positions within a few minutes, leading to a $900 price crash in the spot market.

Though smaller, the $2 million order left the bitcoin market under the risks of facing similar downside pressures. Overleveraged traders could take cues from the whale and mirror his/her strategy at a time when bitcoins uptrend is showing signs of bullish exhaustion above $10,000.

Possibilities of a Long squeeze are growing also because of funding rates.

In retrospect, derivative platforms like BitMEX and Binance Futures allow traders to earn profits via holding open and leveraged Long/Short position. A positive funding rate indicates that Short pays Longs. Similarly, a negative funding rate means that Longs pay Shorts.

The last recorded funding rate of XBT/USD perpetual contracts on BitMEX was 0.0261 percent. So even against a dwindling spot price, traders with opened long positions have to pay Short 0.0261 times their Long order every eight hours. That has further increased the potential of a Long Squeeze given the bitcoin price keeps falling.

Source: BitMEX

On Binance, the funding rate is higher at 0.0942. That said, a $100,000 long order, for instance, would have to pay Short $94.2 every eight hours.

Things are worse in Ethereum. The predicted funding rate for the cryptocurrencys swaps contracts is almost 2 percent now one of its highest. That said, a Long $100,000 order would need to pay Short $200 every 8 hours.

Bitcoin spot rate is now targeting $9,300 as its support.

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A $2M Bitcoin Long Just Got Liquidated on Binance; Start of a Steep Correction? - newsBTC

Bitcoin makes a poor investment choice, well thats according to the famed investor, Warren Buffet. Who sees more benefit in buying land over buying the number one cryptocurrency.

Each year, business magnate, Warren Buffett auctions a charity lunch in honor of the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco based charity that aims to eradicate poverty and marginalization.

Tron CEO, Justin Sun became the talk of the town last year by bidding a staggering $4.6 million, to win lunch with Buffett. Naturally, the crypto world was buzzing with what this could mean for Bitcoin as well as the macro picture. Especially so considering Buffetts influence with the mainstream.

The lunch was originally scheduled to take place on July 25th, 2019, and was billed by Sun as the chance to sell the benefits of cryptocurrency to traditional investors.

bridge the gap between institutional and traditional investors and the realm of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

However, the plans fell into disarray following Suns cancellation, with a bout of kidney stones given as the reason. Things took a further twist as reports from Chinese media claimed Sun was barred from leaving China as investigations into his business dealings took place. A claim he strenuously denied.

Following months of hearsay, Sun and Buffett finally managed to sync their schedules to enjoy a steak lunch at the Happy Hollow Club, Nebraska on January 23rd.

Sun tweeted about the event almost two weeks later, stating that he had gifted Buffett the latest Samsung fold phone with Bitcoin and Tron balances included. He even published the addresses in hopes that the community will rally behind the cause and donate more coins.

Even so, Sun did not update the community on his efforts to convince the billionaire investor of the merits of Bitcoin.

However, a tweet today, release by the Tron Foundation lays out how the lunch went. And its fair to say that Buffett remains skeptical on Bitcoin as an investment.

Its no secret that billionaire business magnate cares little for Bitcoin. He once famously called the number one cryptocurrency rat poison. And todays update shows that little has changed.

Having said that, Buffett did acknowledge the value of blockchain technology as a disruptor to the payments market. But he didnt extend the same sentiment towards Bitcoin.

the reason why he doesnt think Bitcoin is a good investment is that as much as he recognizes the value of blockchain, its not all going into Bitcoin.

Instead, Buffett remains steadfast in his view that stocks and equities are safer. And that the current monetary system is good enough.

On that note, Buffett summarized his opinion by saying even though Bitcoin has value, that alone doesnt make it a good investment. Moreover, he also pointed out that other competing blockchains are much more technologically advanced.

Bitcoin cannot capture the value of blockchain.

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Tron CEO Failed to Convince Warren Buffet on the Merits of Bitcoin - newsBTC

Bitcoin has been tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain again. This time its interoperability solutions provider Summa and the Keep Network, a privacy layer for Ethereum (ETH), building the token, called tBTC.

On Thursday, it debuted on Ethereums testnet, and amainnet launch is planned in March. The project hopes to bring Bitcoin (BTC) into the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) industry. Could this be the most important project to launch on Ethereum in 2020?

The launch is big news especially for DeFi; tBTC means that Bitcoin holders can now earn interest on lending dapp Compound; get a loan from MakerDAO or a non-collateralized one from Aave; trade or lend on Fulcrum or dYdX; save with Dharma Network or Pool Together, and much more.

Up to now its been a pipe dream, despite several attempts to recreate a trustless way to bring Bitcoin to Ethereum. But tBTC creates a workaround: essentially, a decentralized issuance mechanism between two parties.

This isnt the first version of Bitcoin on Ethereum. But it offers several benefits.

Synthetixs sBTC, a synthetic asset which gives investors exposure to Bitcoins price movements, doesnt allow it to be used in DeFi applications. So, this new token has more potential there.

And a solution such as Wrapped Bitcoin, or wBTC, mandates a user to undergo know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, mint the token from a third party, and doesnt let them hold their own tokens. Instead, tBTC allows users to mint and hold the token themselves, suiting the Ethereum ethos.

tBTC is not the only project working on a solution, others such as Ren Protocol, are also striving to bring Bitcoin to Ethereum in a decentralized way.

But theyll need to be quick. tBTC contracts are currently being audited, leading up to the mainet launch, and there are plans to integrate it into lending platforms like Compound, immediately after. The race is on.

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How Bitcoin is coming to Ethereum, again - Decrypt

The founding president of the Bitcoin Association Jimmy Nguyen has been discussing the future of sports, and the role Bitcoin SV (BSV) can play in transforming the sports industry, both now and in future.

In an interview with CoinGeek at the Future of Sports event in Moscow, Nguyen said that Bitcoin was the only blockchain ready to handle the needs of the sports industry right now, with the capacity to scale as necessary to respond to demand.

Bitcoin SV is the only blockchain capable of supporting microtransactions at the scale required of the sports industry, which tends to have significant peaks in interest around key global sporting events.

Fixtures like the soccer World Cup, the Olympics and the Super Bowl tend to lead to huge spikes in traffic in concentrated periods of time. According to Nguyen, the scalability of BSV means its the only blockchain ready to respond to these demands today.

Nguyen also spelled out the benefits of an honest public ledger in the sports sector, particularly applicable in sports betting as one obvious use case.

With provably fair records on the blockchain, BSV can deliver honest wins, honest transactions, and provably fair, honest sports betting, improving trust in the betting sector as well as delivering better value for players.

Beyond sports betting, the event also saw topics such as the use of BSV as a platform for anti-doping technology targeting amateur sports, with records recorded and written to the blockchain for independently verifiable, immutable record keeping.

The event also saw discussions on tokenization on BSV, with a number of commercial applications for sports fans.

Nguyen hailed the event as a success, with developers and stakeholders from across Russia and the wider region heading to Moscow in support of BSV.

The event comes at a time of growing interest in BSV globally, with more developers choosing bitcoin for developing blockchain apps.

The Future of Sports conference took place on February 14, with speakers including Toli Makris from Ex Sports, Joachim Thumfahrt on behalf of the UAE government, and representatives from global soccer team Tottenham Hotspur FC.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeks Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

To receive the latest CoinGeek.com news, special discounts on CoinGeek Conferences and other inside information direct to your inbox, pleasesign upfor our mailing list.

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Jimmy Nguyen discusses future of sports with Bitcoin SV - CoinGeek

In this week's crypto market update, Spencer Bogart from Blockchain Capital and Jacob Canfield from Signal Profits debate whether Bitcoin will top it's all time high this year and if the halving is already priced in.

Will all this talk of the halving finally convince host Giovanni Pigni to buy his first Bitcoin?

Bogart explains the thinking behind Blockchain Capital's predictions that major exchanges will be forced to deslist privacy coins, and that most development will end up concentrated on just one to four major blockchains. "Most of the innovation will happen on the stack of those winning protocols," he says. I think we're already starting to see it.

Canfield reveals which altcoins he's investing in and why. He's bullish on the Bitcoin price but doesn't believe retail investors are behind the surging price. "I think we will have to break $20,000 before we see that psychological retail FOMO back in the markets," he says.

Other topics in this episode include which attributes crypto projects need to survive and where the market will go from here.

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Watch Spencer Bogart and Jacob Canfield Debate if Bitcoin Will Top $20,000 in 2020 - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin may see a move higher in coming weeks, courtesy of two major daily moving averages heading for a collision dubbed a golden cross.

The cross occurs when a short-term moving average (MA) crosses above a longer-term one, typically the 50-day and 200-day MAs, hinting at strong upward momentum in an assets price.

The last time such an instance occurred was back in April 2019, when the price of BTC rose 175 percent to create a yearly high of around $13,880 after a temporary pullback to $4,995, Bitstamp data shows.

Therefore, if history repeats, BTC could be in for a short-term drop before making its way to a new high for 2020.

The convergence of the two key MAs are an indication of strong buying pressure as BTC continues to post positive gains year to date. Bitcoin is up 43.5 percent since Jan. 1 and up 175 percent year on year from the Feb 14, 2019, close of $3,560.

However, the golden cross will need a sustained positive follow-through or the odds of a deeper pullback may rise.

Supporting the potential for short-term losses, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) an indicator used to judge the momentum of a given trend is currently indicating near overbought conditions with a reading of 67.2. A value of 70 and above represents overbought, while 30 and below hints at an asset being oversold.

Additionally, yesterdays bearish engulfing candle opened the doors for another test of $10,000,. The temporary pullback could be extended if prices fall beneath the $10,000 psychological resistance, exposing $9,867, a region of former hourly resistances.

Overall, price action has been trending bullish, as demonstrated by a weekly price breakout on Jan. 20 from the almost 7-month descending channel, beginning late last July.

The 50-period MA on the weekly chart (yellow line) has been signaling bullish momentum when prices have remained above it as seen in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. Prices remained bearish below throughout the latter half of 2018 and all of 2019, indicating weaker buyer demand.

Prices remain firmly above the 50 MA, hinting at greater buying power ahead of the expected bullish "halving" event in May 2020, a supply cut programmed into bitcoin's code that sees miners' rewards reduced by 50 percent.

The mid-term bullish view would be compromised should prices drop below $9,706, the level of a major bullish engulfing candle on Feb. 11. That could upset the prospects for the incoming daily golden cross and a continued rally to new 2020 highs.

Disclosure:The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing

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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Bitcoin Closing on Daily Golden Cross That Could Bring Boost to 2020 Price Rally - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

LONDON (Reuters) - Crypto analysts are split on whether bitcoins rise this year is driven by unique factors or is just its latest bout of volatility. But many agree on one factor: an upcoming cut to the supply of bitcoin.

Bitcoin has soared by almost half this year, to more than $10,000, for the first time since October. On Tuesday it hit its highest in five months.

The cryptocurrencys 11-year history is replete with fast ascents and equally rapid plunges. In late 2017, it rose three and a half times in just 35 days to reach almost $20,000. It then slumped 70% in seven weeks.

Such wild and often inexplicable swings are why bitcoin faces a struggle to become a functioning currency.

This time around, some market players point to a confluence of drivers not seen before. Arcane tech factors, expectations for mainstream acceptance and macroeconomic trends are leading markets to look again at bitcoins worth, they say.

You can argue that there is a fresh valuation going on, said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, a stockbroker that oversees assets worth $71 billion.

Most fundamentally, many cite growing demand for bitcoin before its latest halving a 50% cut in the production of the cryptocurrency due in May that is one of the few observable events known to materially impact price.

A rule written into bitcoins underlying code slashes the number of new coins awarded to the miners behind the global supply of bitcoin.

In the year after the two previous halvings, in November 2012 and July 2016, bitcoin rose around by 80 times and four times respectively. The exact proportion of the gains caused by the halving is unclear.

Its a rare observable factor - if you look at previous events, in each case there has been a quite clear and discernable spike in the value of bitcoin, said Windsor Holden, a payments consultant who tracks crypto and blockchain.

GRAPHIC - Bitcoin's Halving: here

But others doubt bitcoins latest rally is underpinned by anything more substantial than the previous booms.

The recent rally has been driven by the usual hype cycle that we have very reliably seen every two to three years, said Michel Rauchs, author of several Cambridge university studies on cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech.

We have these mini-bubbles, and the momentum that it creates - bitcoin first, then these other coins. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Major cryptocurrencies that tend to move in correlation with bitcoin have also gained this year. Ethereum has more than doubled; Ripples XRP token is up over 75%.

Other factors cited for the rally, such as greater demand for assets uncorrelated to mainstream markets following the U.S. killing of an Iranian military commander last month, are also questionable.

Bitcoins safety characteristic is unclear. It has regularly fallen in times of geopolitical stress in recent years.

Looser central bank policy is also given as a reason bets on riskier assets. But that link is hard to prove, too. Bitcoin has fallen during previous spells of easy money.

Also widely cited are expectations that cryptocurrencies will go mainstream, as central banks step up their research into digital currencies after Facebooks push to offer its Libra coin. Some, such as Chinas, are getting closer to issuing their own coins.

And in comments that traders said stoked buying in bitcoin, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the Fed was working hard on the issue, while it remained undecided on any digital dollar.

Central bank interest is also problematic as a reason for bitcoins rise, Rauchs said.

People tend to mix up and conflate these different concepts that are actually fundamentally different from one another, he said. This creates a bubble where you conflate everything together and everything appreciates.

Still, in the short term, crypto traders interviewed by Reuters said, the cut to the supply of bitcoin was likely to loom largest for investors.

Things are aligning, said Jamie Farquhar, portfolio manager at crypto firm NKB Group. But the real thing that people are looking at is the halving.

($1 = 0.7713 pounds)

Reporting by Tom Wilson, editing by Larry King

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Is bitcoin's 2020 rally another flash in the pan? - Reuters