Police have arrested one of the directors of a cryptocurrency startup in Uganda that closed suddenly and made off with investors money.

A Mr Samson Lwanga, director of Dunamiscoins Resources Limited, was arrested last week and should appear in court later this week, local news reports.

Its reported that the scam managed to con 10 billion Ugandan shillings ($2.7 million) out of victims.

The authorities are still on the look out for the other four directors of the company.

Like numerous other cryptocurrency-based scams, Dunamiscoins promised investors and employees large returns in a short space of time. However, after a month, the company shut down its offices, leaving investors in the lurch and employees out of work many of whom were yet to even start their job.

We have already opened a general inquiry file and investigations are going on. We recorded statements from the complainants and arrested one of the directors called Samson Lwanga who is currently detained at Old Kampala Police Station, a police spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the police spokesperson, Mr Lwanga is willing to refund money to investors, but he cant because their accounts have been frozen. The police are investigating if this is true.

At the time of Hard Forks first report on the scam, it was unclear how many people had been affected by Dunamiscoins.

However, in Daily Monitors latest update, it seems the scam is bigger than first reported. And the story sounds all too familiar.

Investors were encouraged to get their friends and family to participate, only to find out later that they had all been duped

According to the report, at least 1,000 people had registered with the cryptocurrency startup, however, some victims have said the number of people involved is closer to 10,000.

Dunamiscoins reportedly began operating in March, and was paying out to early investors. It came crashing down last week when its offices shut and phone lines were disconnected.

Published December 10, 2019 10:19 UTC

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Police arrest head of $2.7M Ugandan cryptocurrency scam - The Next Web

Based out of Johannesburg, South Africa, CREDIT is a cryptocurrency that is swiftly being adopted in the emerging markets of the African continent. Recently, it marked its first year of existence as more and more users adopt it.

New Year, New Developments

A hybrid blockchain that utilized both Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS), CREDITs first anniversary is being celebrated by the crypto exchange TERRA offering CREDIT users a vast portfolio of products and services. It is also now fully PoS. Currently TERRA is offering 8 unique products, with each one catering to a specific need that the emerging market of Africa needs:

For the Unbanked and Poor

CREDIT is a cryptocurrency that is specifically designed towards people who cannot enter the mainstream banking system due to different barriers. Cut off from the financial systems and markets, these people have no other option. CREDIT changes all of this. A hybrid crypto with easy to use, hold and stake tokens through smartphones, it allows everyone to take part in the crypto economy.

Terra founder and creator of CREDIT, Dan Ronchese talks about his belief,

The only way a cryptocurrency can become a global payment system is if everyone who makes payments has access to it

With the unbanked populations with access to smartphones reaching 2,000,000,000 in number- yet still not having access to a bank account, an immense financial potential of humanity is locked away. CREDIT aims to change that and also bring prosperity to them.

CREDIT, with its PoS, has extremely low power requirements and a vast array of supporting systems, can be used on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux and even Raspberry based devices. A real-world solution to an important problem, the CREDIT is being adopted at an unprecedented rate in the emerging markets of Africa.

For more information on the unbanked-friendly African cryptocurrency, visit their website here.

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CREDIT, the African Cryptocurrency of Choice, Celebrates First Anniversary - NullTX

The director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) says the cryptocurrency industry has begun to fall in line with the agencys regulations on money transmission services.

In a speech delivered at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference on Dec. 10, Kenneth A. Blanco claimed that FinCENs May 2019 guidance was having a marked and positive impact on its oversight of the crypto space.

In May, FinCEN published guidance for crypto businesses that clarified how its regulations relating to money services businesses (MSBs) apply to certain business models in the crypto industry and carry specific obligations under the United States Bank Secrecy Act.

In his remarks, Blanco noted that since its publication, the agency has seen a significant increase in Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR): a total of 11,000, of which roughly two thirds (7,100) are from crypto businesses, including kiosks, exchanges, and peer-to-peer exchangers.

Ahead of May, he noted, filings from entities in the crypto space had accounted for markedly less around half of the SARs the agency received.

Moreover, he observed that crypto businesses are increasingly internalizing the agencys key advisory terms and using them in their filings directly. He said he considers this to be an encouraging trend and a sign that the industry is making use of FinCENs red flags and duly reporting suspicious activity.

As regards the content of the reports, Blanco said that the agency has observed an increase in filings from exchanges that identify possibly unregistered, overseas MSBs specifically, Venezuela-based peer-to-peer exchangers.

There has also been an increase in reporting of customers conducting crypto transactions with wallets linked to darknet marketplaces, as well as on activity that appears characteristic of scam victims particularly novice crypto users, including the elderly.

Blanco closed his remarks with an appeal to businesses that are yet to abide by the agencys guidance:

I think it is important for all financial institutions to ask themselves whether they are reporting such suspicious activity. If the answer is no, they need to reevaluate whether their institutions are exposed to cryptocurrency.

Blancos speech confirms a persistent trend he had noted during a speech this August, when he revealed FinCEN was seeing a surge in SARs, with filings at the time exceeding 1,500 per month.

That same month, he directly appealed to casinos dealing crypto payments to consider how they will conduct due diligence and comply with their reporting obligations.

This fall, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the Director of FinCEN to conduct a study on the use of emerging technologies, including blockchain, within the agency.

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FinCEN Director Notes Improved Oversight of Cryptocurrency Industry - Cointelegraph

Things have been pretty quiet on the cryptocurrency front in 2019.

After dominating financial news in 2017 and 2018, mostly with numerous warnings and stories of scams being perpetrated, the buzz has tapered off with barely a scandal to report.

That all changed this week when U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito filed a 27-page indictment with the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey.

In the indictment, five men were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to offer and sell unregistered securities in connection with a cryptocurrency scam that bilked investors out of an eye-popping $722 million.

From April 2014 to December 2019, these five men allegedly ran a business called BitClub Network, that according to court documents was described as built on the backs of idiots by one of the defendants.

The indictment describes the defendants use of the complex world of cryptocurrency to take advantage of unsuspecting investors, U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. What they allegedly did amounts to little more than a modern, high-tech Ponzi scheme that defrauded victims of hundreds of millions of dollars. Working with our law enforcement partners here and across the country, we will ensure that these scammers are held to account for their crimes.

Those arrested today are accused of deploying elaborate tactics to lure thousands of victims with promises of large returns on their investments in a bitcoin mining pool, an advanced method of profiting on cryptocurrency, Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office said. The defendants allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars by continuing to recruit new investors over several years while spending victims money lavishly.

Todays indictment alleges the defendants were involved in a sophisticated Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars that preyed upon investors all over the world, John R. Tafur, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office, said. This was a classic con game with a virtual twist; false promises of large returns for investing in the mining of Bitcoin. IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, including the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, to investigate and bring to justice cyber criminals.

According to documents and statements made in court, one of the defendants, Matthew Brent Goettsche, 37, of Lafayette, Colorado, discussed he and his conspirators target audience were going to be dumb investors, referring to them as sheep, and said he was building this whole model on the backs of idiots.

Another defendant, Joseph Frank Abel, 49, of Camarillo, California, assured investors that BitClub Network was too big to fail.

Thatll be a cool story for them to tell their new roomates as the wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and the conspiracy to sell unregistered securities charge carries a maximum sentence of another five years in the slammer. Each charge also carries a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty.

[NBC News]

Original post:
Five Men Charged With Running A $722 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme Built On The Backs Of Idiots - BroBible

Here is a guide to cryptocurrency for beginners. We offer simple answers to questions like what is cryptocurrency, how does it work, what is Bitcoin, what is blockchain, how do I buy cryptocurrency, etc.

Metaphor: Cryptocurrency is a bit like online banking without a central bank. It is software-based, like an online banking platform. There is a ledger (called a blockchain), balances, and account numbers. You access your balances by using a password and can make transactions this way. Just like with online banking, you dont need to know how it works under the hood to use it.

What is Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a type of digital asset that functions as a currency. The system that makes a cryptocurrency possible is based on cryptography (crypto) and a cryptocurrency is meant to be used like a currency (currency). With that in mind, not every digital crypto asset is meant to be used as a currency like the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin is.

What is Bitcoin? Bitcoinis a software file stored on computers across the world that acts as a ledger of financial transactions called a blockchain. The ledger contains account numbers called public addresses associated with balances of Bitcoin. People can move around balances of Bitcoin if they have the passwords (or private keys) to those accounts using software called a cryptocurrency wallet (see description below). Bitcoin is the name of both this system and its unit of the currency. You can phrase it like this, balances of Bitcoin tokens are moved around on the Bitcoin blockchain by creating transactions in Bitcoin wallets.

What is Blockchain?Technically Blockchain is first and foremost a database protocol (a set of rules) for sorting data into blocks, but its easier to think of a Blockchain as a type of database. Essentially, it is a spreadsheet where data is stored in cells (or blocks) that are linked together in order by cryptographic codes called hashes. This database is generally decentralized and distributed on many computers instead of being stored in one central location or managed by one central entity. In Bitcoin, blockchain is generally used to describe both the public ledger where all transaction data is stored and technology (the protocol) behind the ledger. Many who arent believers in Bitcoin as a currency / digital asset are supporters of blockchain technology and its many applications both within finance and beyond.

On Being Decentralized and Distributed. Instead of Bitcoin being hosted on one computer or one companys computers, Bitcoin is hosted on many computers by many different entities (it is distributed). Meanwhile, everything is either done democratically or is controlled by algorithms, so there isnt a need for a centralized middle-man like a bank or government (it is decentralized). Bitcoins blockchain is in this sense both decentralized and distributed.

How is Cryptocurrency Different From Fiat Currency? Fiat currency, like the U.S. dollar, is controlled by central banks and controlled by states. It is legal tender and you can pay your taxes with it. Cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, isnt controlled by a central entity but it isnt legal tender and you cant pay your taxes with it. Otherwise both fiat currencies and crypto currencies act as mediums of exchange and stores of value. With that in mind, some argue that cryptocurrency is a digital asset with exchange value, but not a true currency.

Can I buy things with Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency can be used as a payment method for any good or service that accepts cryptocurrency. The most common cryptocurrency used as payment is Bitcoin. As time goes on, accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment is becoming more common. Check out a list of things you can buy with Bitcoin.

What are the Benefits of Using Cryptocurrency as a payment method? There are a number of benefits of cryptocurrency as a payment method. The main benefits of cryptocurrency in this sense are the often low transaction costs and quick transaction fees compared to other payment systems. On a good day cryptocurrency is the quickest and cheapest way to send money around the globe (XRP is a great example of this). Cryptocurrency is also an easy way to make payments online, especially for peer-to-peer transactions. Another big benefit is that cryptocurrency doesnt require trust, which removes potential worry for both the sending and receiving party. Meanwhile, for some people in some states, cryptocurrency can act as an alternative to a states currency (which can be good if that currency is suffering from rapid inflation for example).

How do I Buy / Sell Cryptocurrency? One can buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin via online brokers or exchanges like Coinbase or GDAX. Exchanges are like digital stock exchanges, but for cryptocurrencies. Learn how to trade cryptocurrencyor check out ourcryptocurrency investing starter kit.

Is Cryptocurrency Legal? In general, cryptocurrency is legal in every respect in the U.S. and much of the world. The only rules of thumb are 1. you have to pay taxes on it and 2. anything that would be illegal otherwise is also illegal with cryptocurrency.

Is Cryptocurrency Taxable in the U.S.? Cryptocurrency is taxed as an investment property, that means you have to tally profits and losses at the current market value of a cryptocurrency when you sell it, use it, or trade it and then pay the capital gains tax on profits in a calendar year. Please take time to learn about the tax implications of cryptocurrency.

What is an ICO? An ICO is an initial coin offering, a way for a new coin to raise money by offering a pre-sale of an up-and-coming token. ICOs are controversial. On one hand, some ICOs have been scams, on the other hand some states have worried that ICOs are mimicking securities without following the securities rules. One should do extra research before participating in an ICO.

What is a token? Token is a word that has a few different meanings in cryptocurrency. In simple terms, it just describes a cryptocurrency and its unit of value (a cryptocurrency = a token). For example one could say I have 10 Bitcoin tokens. The term is also sometimes used to describe cryptocurrencies existing on other coins networks. For example, the KIN ICO is a token on the Ethereum network. Lastly, encrypted bits of data that dont contain identifying information are also called tokens, this type of token is also used in cryptocurrencies. In other words, what the term means depends on context.

How Do Transactions Work? Software called a cryptocurrency wallet (see below) is used in conjunction with an account number and password (technically public address and private key). The private key (known only to its owner, like a password) is used to create a signature that allows the owner to move around funds on the blockchain. Transactions are then secured on the blockchain in sequential blocks by miners (see the next section). Almost all cryptocurrencies work like this.

How Do I Store Cryptocurrency? In overly simple terms, you essentially store cryptocurrency in cryptocurrency wallets(see the next point for the technical details). For long term, youll likely want a cold wallet(where you store your private keys offline). For short term use, you might use a range of options or even temporarily keep funds on an exchange (but be careful, if it is connected to the internet, it is a hot target).

What is a Cryptocurrency Wallet? A wallet can be thought of as software that allows one to store cryptocurrency and create cryptocurrency transactions. This is a simple way to think of a wallet even though cryptocurrency isnt technically stored in a wallet (instead public addresses are associated with transactions recorded on the blockchain, and thus are associated with balances, which the wallet software can read and display for you). More technically then, a wallet is software that allows you to store your private keys, view balances associated with public addresses, and create and sign outgoing transactions. With that noted, one must differentiate between wallets where you control your private keys (like the Bitcoin Core wallet), and custodial wallets where third parties host the wallet for you and are in control of the private keys (like the wallets on Coinbase or GDAX).

What is a Node? Since cryptocurrency is distributed many computers around the world have to run the software. Any computer running a copy of the software is a node. A full node runs a full copy of the blockchain.

How are New coins Created? When a transaction is created in a wallet it is broadcast to everyone in the Bitcoin network. For that transaction to be added to the ledger, users running mining software must solve cryptographic puzzles that let them add a block of transactions to the blockchain. The reward for adding a block is newly minted cryptocurrency. Thus mining is cracking puzzles to play digital accountant, and new coins are minted as rewards for mining transaction blocks.

How is Bitcoin Secure? Bitcoin is secure for two main reasons. 1. It uses a lot of one-way encryption that makes everything that is encrypted next to impossible to hack (it requires a ton of work). 2. It is distributed and so there is no central software to hack.

How does the cryptography aspect of Bitcoin work? At the core of Bitcoin, in terms of cryptography, iscryptographic hash functions. Key concepts includepublic-key cryptographyand proof-of-work functions. If you want a crash course in the cryptography behind those terms, clicks those links and try reading the Bitcoin white paper:Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

What Happens If I Lose My Keys or if Someone Steals My Cryptocurrency? If you lose your private key, you lose access to the balances associated with it. If someone gets access to your crypto and they steal it, there is generally no way to resolve this issue. However, if you use a third party platform, like an exchange, and the exchange and not your account is hacked, then you might have recourse. The major exchanges tend to be good about reimbursing users in the case of a hack.

How Can I better Secure My Cryptocurrency? Since losing your keys and theft are real issues, it makes sense to follow some best practices of basic internet security. Keep your keys backed up offline (learn more about secure cold wallets), dont store all your crypto in one location, be careful about URLs (make sure the URL is the real one), use a browser dedicated to crypto, use two factor authentication on any account you can, choose strong unique passwords, and dont use your public email to log into your accounts. Taking just a few of these steps will go a long way to protecting you, taking none of these steps is asking for trouble. As a rule of thumb two-factor authentication is a must, so make sure it is enabled on all platforms that allow it! TIP: Although there are exceptions to this rule, the main security risk with the major cryptos isnt the software (the software takes a ton of work to hack) or the major exchanges (the major ones are ensured, keep most of their funds in cold storage, and have security teams), it is people not taking care to secure their accounts.

Is Bitcoin Anonymous? Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous. Every transaction is recorded on the public ledger (the blockchain), but no identifying data is used. Everyone can see the transaction and the public wallet address associated with it, but no one knows who made the transaction (unless that person or entity makes that information public). Other cryptocurrencies have more or less focus on privacy than Bitcoin. Some cryptocurrencies, likeMonero are truly anonymous (in theory). With Monero, not even transaction data is public.

What is a smart contract? A smart contract is exactly what it sounds like, a smart (software-based and programable) contract (a set of conditions that when met execute the terms of the contract). Smart contracts can be written to a cryptocurrencys blockchain to create a trustless contract (a peer-to-peer contract that doesnt require a middle-man or trust). Unlike paper contracts a software contract can execute any function that can be executed by the software once conditions are met. This means in theory smart contracts can replace real contracts, but also do anything software can do. Ethereums system relies heavily on smart contracts, anyone can create a smart contract on Ethereum if they have the native Ether token to pay the fee for using the system. TIP: Bitcoin transactions are smart financial contracts, but Ethereum allows for smart contracts for much more than just financial transactions. Ethereums contracts can distribute new tokens, double as insurance contracts, or anything you can think of.

On Being Peer-to-Peer and Trustless. An important feature of cryptocurrency is that it is trustless. The encryption, code, blockchain, etc all comes together to allow for a trustless peer-to-peer distributed and decentralized system. That sentence might sound jargon-y, but it contains some important points. At the core, the idea is that all the aspects of cryptocurrency come together to create a system that doesnt rely on trusting your peers or trusting a middle-man. Contracts written to the blockchain are written in stone, there is no need for trust or middle-men to ensure the execution of a contract once its conditions are met!

Crypto Terms: FOMO is fear of missing out (an emotional response to seeing the price move a lot and wanting in). FUD is fear, uncertainty, and doubt that can affect prices of assets. HODL is a misspelling of hold from an old forum post (it today means hold on for dear life during big price movements). A hard fork is like a fork in the road, a copy and paste of software that allows each copy to branch off in a different direction (when this happens with Bitcoin the ledger is duplicated along with balances, meaning people get the newly forked coins for free). An Airdrop is a method of distributing newly minted coins to the wallet addresses of current coin holders. See a list of crypto jargon.

Did I miss something or do you need something clarified? Just ask me a question in the comments below and Ill answer it.

"Cryptocurrency For Beginners" contains information about the following Cryptocurrencies:

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Cryptocurrency For Beginners - CryptoCurrency Facts

Do you want to know what the best cryptocurrency to invest in for 2019 is? Knowing which blockchain technology to invest in might prove to be a hard task. With hundreds of cryptocurrencies to invest in, where do you begin?

It can be overwhelming and confusing when you first start to look for the best cryptocurrency to buy right now, but were here to make it easier for you. Luckily for you, we have used several factors before picking the best cryptocurrency to invest in. First, before you start investing in crypto, it's important to develop a successful trading strategy

So, are you looking for the next big thing and for a new cryptocurrency investment? Maybe you find yourself thinking Should I invest in Bitcoin? or Should I invest in Ripple?

Here is a list of the most promising,best cryptocurrencies to invest in for 2019.

Just like there were the best cryptocurrencies to invest in for 2018, this year is also full of good opportunities. That means theres still a chance to get rich, but you just need to know where to put your money in.

At the time of writing this article, based on Coinmarketcap stats there are 2120 different cryptocurrencies. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies is more than $112 billion after reaching a peak of $813 billion in January 2018.

The cryptocurrency market has many altcoins and there are other best cryptocurrencies to invest beside Bitcoin. Many people believe the blockchain technology is the next big thing.

While its hard to predict the future, the fact that we have a secure and decentralized technology gives us strong reasons to be positive.

Moving forward were going to share what the best cryptocurrencies to buy right now are.

The digital coins we picked have a good chance of significantly outperforming the markets in 2019.

Lets get started!

We have a very good chance of reaching a bull market in 2019 for a variety of reasons that were going to mention throughout this guide. In the case of a bull market, were going to see pretty much every single major cryptocurrency jump in price significantly.

However, there are several cryptocurrencies that we think we can make a strong case. They are among the safest investments in case prices should fall further. So, if were not going to see a bull market, we wont be losing any money.

Trading or day trading cryptocurrency will require you to take risks. In order to reduce the risk of crypto trading, you should diversify your holdings and invest in multiple different types of currency. This way, if one currency begins to underperform, your investment will still be protected.

Most cryptocurrencies have a strong connection to Bitcoin, meaning that Bitcoin should likely make up a significant portion of your portfolio. The coin does account for 40 percent of the total market share, after all. In some ways, Bitcoin is similar to bonds in the sense that it is often the foundation of a portfolio with riskier investments (such as stock).

Studying historical price charts will make it easy to see whether or not a currency is strongly correlated with Bitcoin. We also recommend paying close attention to developing crypto news stories. By carefully balancing risk and reward, you can take advantage of the crypto industrys natural growth.

Bitcoin is a very obvious choice for the best cryptocurrency to invest, we have already seen Bitcoin have an incredible 2019 so far. Between January 1st and May 1st of this year, the coin increased in value from $3,862 per coin to $5,412 per coin. If you had invested in Bitcoin on January 1st, your monthly rate of return would be nearly 10 percent. BTC is by far the biggest cryptocurrency and the oldest coin owning more than 40% share of the total cryptocurrency market cap.

Bitcoin is simply currently the market leader!

You can find Bitcoin listed on every single cryptocurrency exchange!

Bitcoin makes mainstream news on a daily basis and its recognized by almost everyone.

Following Bitcoins steady rise, prices have remained remarkably stable. This suggests to traders that the value increase was genuine and will likely be sustained. Over the past few years, Bitcoin has significantly increased its utility. Currently, many eCommerce stores, retail outlets, and even restaurants around the world accept Bitcoin as a form of currency. Bitcoin remains in an absolutely unique position that we cant say about other cryptocurrencies and continues to be seen as the image of cryptocurrency as a whole and as representative of the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin is also regarded as a store of value for a lot of people in the crypto world. Wherever you agree- with it or not, its how BTC is seen by some people.

Its very unlikely that Bitcoin will lose its status too quickly which is the reason why BTC remains one of the safest and the best cryptocurrency to buy right now. As an industry leader, Bitcoin is often the gateway coin that helps crypto companies extend their reach. In other words, if Bitcoin is doing well, the entire cryptocurrency industry is also doing well (and vice versa). Find more bitcoin resources here.

Taking everything into consideration for our 2019 cryptocurrency forecast we can pretty safely assume that Bitcoin price will remain elevated.

Ripple remains a low-risk investment. This makes it a safer play, but with room to make small profits if a bull market is on the corner for 2019. However, if you want something to maximize your profits, we think Ripple cryptocurrency is the best cryptocurrency to invest in.

Ripple has established itself as one of the most stable cryptocurrencies in the industry. Other than Bitcoin, Ripple has enjoyed among the most predictable price movements. Additionally, because Ripple experiences more than $800 million in daily trading volume, it is among the most liquid cryptocurrencies available. The company behind Ripple is building a massive international network, with hundreds of members. Those are banks, payment processors and liquidity providers.

Ripple has developed a technology that can revolutionize the way payments are done. The Ripple blockchain remains the closest and the most likely to achieve that to any real degree.

Ripple can become an alternative for the SWIFT system currently used for international money transfers that have been used for 45 years and every major bank in the world uses.

Ripple is working hard to get more companies using their technology which ultimately should result in the XRP price going up significantly.

With a growth of around 36,000%, Ripple was the best cryptocurrency to invest in for 2017. It grew from just a couple of cents at the beginning of 2017 and reach $2.4 by the end of 2017.

See the chart below:

Since were in a bear market, like all the other cryptocurrencies, Ripple price has decreased in the previous year and at the moment of writing this article is trading around $0.30.

Ripple is currently the second-best cryptocurrency after Bitcoin with a total market cap of around $12.6 billion.

It might be a good time to buy Ripple, which is down almost 70% from its all-time high of $3.4 reached in January 2018. As of 2019, the market cap for Ripple has exceeded $12 billion. Purchasing one individual coin is surprisingly affordable. During the course of 2019, Ripple has mostly floated between $0.28 and $0.38 per coin. As the company behind Ripple continues to build valuable connections in the business world, Ripple may be on the verge of breaking out of its current price channel.

Lets see whats the third pick for the best cryptocurrency to buy right now.

Basic Attention Token is a cryptocurrency token designed to bring a new way of sponsorship on the internet. The internet is mostly based on paid advertisements. When you open a website there are always a bunch of ads. Contrary to Bitcoin and Ripple, BAT is a coin that is still on the outside looking in. The coin has experienced above-average levels of volatility, but it has also produced some impressive returns.

That reliance on add revenue and monetizing the content through ads is what makes BAT a good candidate for the best crypto of 2019. So far the coin has already more than tripled in value. Between January 1st and April 20th, the coin increased in value from $0.13 to $0.44 per coin. Though the coin has experienced a slight dip since thendropping to around $0.37 per coinits rise has still been very impressive.

The team behind BAT envisions a world of sponsorship where we decide to support our favorite creators. For this purpose, they created the BAT coin and integrated it into the BRAVE browser.

Currently, there are about 1.3 billion BAT coins in circulations. The 24-hour trading volume is $108.6 million and the current market cap is $466 million. While these numbers are much smaller than Bitcoin and Ripples, BAT is a coin on the rise. This may be one of the best coins for risk-tolerant investors in 2019.

Lets now get to our last pick for 2019...

During the strongest cryptocurrency bull market, Ethereum price skyrocketed slightly closer to $1600 reached on 13 January 2018. At that time, the Ethereum market cap was around $138 billion. ETH grew by almost 3000% making one of the best cryptocurrencies to invest in for 2017. So far in 2019, Ethereum has begun to gradually reverse its losses from the end of last year. The coin is getting increased attention from crypto developers and has been able to maintain most of its positive gains.

Whether its a good idea to buy Ethereum or not, its up to you to decide that.

ETH is not just a cryptocurrency, its a more advanced blockchain technology than bitcoin. This technology allows other blockchain projects to be launched on the Ethereum platform. While Ethereum was trading for around $140 per coin at the beginning of the year, its current price is nearly $200 ($196.48 as of May 11). The Ethereum chart typically moves in lockstep with Bitcoin, dropping off around the end of 2018 and experiencing positive gains thus far this year.

With a price point around $200, Ethereum is an excellent intermediate coin that is much more affordable than Bitcoin, but much more expensive than BAT and Ripple. Purchasing coins at multiple different price points can help make your portfolio more diverse and dynamic. Ethereum is also an excellent alternative for hedging the risks of purchasing newer coins.

We encourage you to give Ethereum a chance, as it has the potential to be the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2019.

If we didn't mention your favorite coin in our best cryptocurrency to invest 2019 guide, it doesnt mean that your coin will not rise in value. It simply means it hasnt made the cut to be listed as thebest cryptocurrency to buy right now.

As we were saying earlier,diversificationcan enhance your crypto trading strategy. By investing in a larger number of coins, you can protect yourself from unexpected events.

While the four coins featured in this article are our top choices, we also recommend giving these coins a look.

Many of these coins have high market caps. This helps assure long-term stability and will also make trading coins a bit more predictable. In order to access the benefits of diversification even further, you may want to consider investing in a crypto index fund.

Remember, your forecasts wont have 100% accuracy so always be prepared for fluctuations.

Which of the cryptocurrency listed above is your favorite? Let us know if you have another good candidate for thebest cryptocurrency to invest in 2019.

There will always be some degree of risk present when trading cryptocurrency. However, these currencies are becoming more secure and are also becoming accepted at more places... the crypto industry is clearly moving in a positive direction. Don't forget to check out our article on theBest Crypto Trading Signals.

Thank you for reading!

Feel free to leave any comments below, we do read them all and will respond.

Also, please give this strategy a 5 star if you enjoyed it!

Please Share this Trading Strategy Below and keep it for your own personal use! Thanks, Traders!

With over 50+ years of combined trading experience, Trading Strategy Guides offers trading guides and resources to educate traders in all walks of life and motivations. We specialize in teaching traders of all skill levels how to trade stocks, options, forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and more. We provide content for over100,000+ active followersand over2,500+ members.Our mission is to address the lack of good information for market traders and to simplify trading education by giving readers a detailed plan with step-by-step rules to follow.

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Best Cryptocurrency to Invest 2019 Our Top 4 Picks

Cryptocurrency books are a wonderful way to learn about the exciting Bitcoin, Altcoin, and Blockchain world.

Due to the relatively young age of the cryptocurrency space, there arent that many cryptocurrency books available yet.

However, as with most things in life, quality is more important than quantity.

The cryptocurrency space is an industry that has attracted a lot of intellect, and this is clearly reflected in the quality of books that have been written on the topic.

In this article, we compare the best cryptocurrency books to help you find a cryptocurrency or blockchain book you will find interesting.

With over 130 reviews on Amazon.com, out of which 88% give the book 5 stars, The Bitcoin Standard is by far one of the best cryptocurrency books out there. The book is authored by Saifedean Ammous, a very vocal Bitcoin maximalist, and economist.

In The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean covers the evolution of money, dives deep into what makes Hard money and why its so important and outlines a potential future with Bitcoin as the global reserve currency.

Written by Andreas Antonopoulos, a Bitcoin educator and well-known figure in the space, Mastering Bitcoin is a must-read for people that already grasp the basics of Bitcoin and want to dive deeper.

This cryptocurrency book teaches its readers how exactly Bitcoins infrastructure functions, the role of cryptography in Bitcoin, and also gets into some technical details of how programmers can develop a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency.

Andreas has a very unique and comprehensive writing style that elegantly reflects his years of experience as an educator and public speaker.

The Internet of Money is Andreas Antonopoulos second cryptocurrency book and aims to lay out a future with Bitcoin as money in a much more non-technical way. This cryptocurrency book takes a top-level approach on explaining what Bitcoin is, and how it will change our lives. Again, as we already pointed out in the previous book, Andreas years of experience as a Bitcoin educator make his writing style very enjoyable to read.

The internet of money has over 281 reviews on Amazon.com, which puts it right at the top next to The Bitcoin Standard as one of the best cryptocurrency books.

If your goal is to get a general overview of the cryptocurrency space then the blockchain book Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies might be for you. Authored by Arvind Narayana, an assistant professor at Princeton, the book dives into the origin of cryptocurrencies, key terms like decentralization and privacy, and also the value proposition and risk of altcoins.

In essence, the book aims to give a solid overview of what is often described today with the slightly overused word Blockchain technology. That being said, its important to note that the book does not address Ethereum or programmable blockchains in any real way.

In conclusion, the book is written in a very comprehensive style and is especially a good fit for newcomers to the cryptocurrency space that want to fall down the crypto rabbit hole.

On spot 5 of our list of best cryptocurrency books, we have The Business Blockchain, an in-depth analysis of how Blockchain technology is poised to disrupt enterprise and how firms operate. The author William Mougayar predicts a future with thousands of blockchains that will redefine power and governance by enabling frictionless value exchange and also a new flow of value.

The foreword by Vitalik Buterin adds a very interesting touch to the book and is the sealing stamp for this written masterpiece. Although the book does briefly touch on the tech side of things, that does not stop it from being an excellent read for people that are not very familiar with Blockchain just yet.

The Age of Cryptocurrency was written by Wall Street Journal reporters Paul Vigna and Michael Casey back in 2015, however, it is still highly relevant today. This cryptocurrency book thoroughly answers the question of why anyone should care about Bitcoin. It achieves this by presenting the idea of a financial system that is running on Bitcoin, and how such financial system could have prevented the economic meltdown of 2008.

That being said, the book also balances the potential downsides of a Bitcoin-based financial system, mentioning the facilitation of illicit money transfer as the main factor.

Although many cryptocurrency books do a great job at how a future with cryptocurrencies could look like, they often neglect the investment and entrepreneurial opportunity of this historic wealth transfer.

Authored by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar, the book Cryptoassets approaches the topic of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from an investment perspective, showing investors what to be on the lookout when investing in this wild asset class.

Furthermore, Cryptoassets also teaches investors how to navigate in a market which very nature is based on a series of repeating bubbles, plagued of scams, and that is highly volatile.

Cryptocurrency Investing Bible aims to debunk some of the most common misconceptions about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. The book answers questions like why cryptocurrencies are not a bubble, why all digital assets are not a scam, why cryptocurrencies are not only used by criminals, and why its not just money for nerds.

This book is an excellent starting point for newcomers to the cryptocurrency space, and the author Alan T. Norman does an excellent job at breaking down even the most complex concepts into easy to grasp terms.

Selected as Financial Times book of the month, Life After Google is a written masterpiece that dives into the societal changes that come with the rise of Blockchain technology, and what this means for large corporations that have been abusing our data for the past decade. In his book, George Gilder claims that the age of Google is coming to an end and that the Blockchain economy will bring the power back to the individual in a variety of ways.

In the words of Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal, Googles algorithms assume the worlds future is nothing more than the next moment in a random process. George Gilder shows how deep this assumption goes.

In Blockchain for Dummies, Tiana Laurence Founder of Factom, explains Blockchain technology and its potential impact in a very simple way. This Blockchain book is an excellent starting point for people that know absolutely nothing about Blockchain technology, and that want to get their feet wet with a good read.

The book also covers how businesses can become more efficient by adopting Blockchain technology, so if you are a business owner, then that might be another reason why you could find this book intriguing.

Digital Gold covers Bitcoins value proposition as the best store of value and form of exchange that humanity has ever created. Some other topics that are discussed in-depth in this bitcoin book are the origin of Bitcoin and its mysterious founder, the Silk Road dark web marketplace and why it was such a crucial step for bitcoin, and also in Bitcoins first black swan event unchained by the Mt Gox hack. This book is an excellent choice for readers that want to learn about the past, present, and future of Bitcoin, without diving too deep into technical details.

If you want to learn more about this topic, then you should definitely also check out our article on why Bitcoin is the new Gold.

American Kingpin is a cryptocurrency book that describes the fascinating story of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, and how it connects to the development of Bitcoin. The book describes that it was the first large-scale application of Bitcoin as a form of exchange and that it was the factor that truly let the genie out of the bottle.

In this book, Nick Bilton describes the story of Ross Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian, from when he started the Silk Road, until his arrest by the FBI in 2014. The book perfectly describes the true challenge that it was for law enforcement to shut down the Silk Road due to it leveraging an unseizable store of value, Bitcoin.

With over 400 positive reviews on Amazon.com, this book absolutely deserves its spot as one of the best cryptocurrency books available at the moment.

Mastering Ethereum is another masterpiece by Andreas Antonopoulos in which he dives into the technicals of how to build your first smart contract, what decentralized autonomous organizations are, and how Ethereum might redefine the future of Governance.

The book also dives into why multi-billion organizations like IBM and NASDAQ are starting to get interested in this groundbreaking technology, and what the future holds for Ethereum and its native currency ETH.

This blockchain book can get quite technical at times, hence why we would only recommend it to people that are very familiar with the space or that have a technical background.

In The Scandal of Money, George Gilder describes how broken our current financial system is and calls out the blatant corruption that is going on. Especially, the cryptocurrency book describes how our monetary system was actively designed to make the elite richer, at the cost of the middle and low class. If your goal is to better understand the problem that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, in general, are trying to solve, then this cryptocurrency book is for you.

Through a compilation of emails, forum posts, and comments, The Book of Satoshi gives us a profound insight into the twisted yet genius mentality of Bitcoins anonymous founder. Although the book was published back in 2014, the bitcoin book is still as up to date as it can get since there are absolutely no traces or updates from Satoshi since he disappeared back in April 2011.

The book also profoundly dives into the economics of Bitcoin, and its potential future outlook.

This book by Phil Champagne is an excellent resource for anyone that wants to learn more about the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto or about the implications of Bitcoin in our society.

Is there a great blockchain or cryptocurrency book that we have missed in this article? Let us know in the comment section below!

CoinDiligent Staff Writer

Link:
8 Best Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Books To Read in 2019 ...

India have been refusing to make cryptocurrencies legal and the court case against the Reserve Bank of India has been delayed once again.

The Reserve Bank of India have banned the public from using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and maybe we have just found out why.

According to reports on Friday afternoon the central bank are planning to release their own. Shaktikanta Das thegovernor of RBI, noted that the issuance of the cryptocurrency is coming as a sovereign mandate.

Meanwhile, the ban on cryptocurrencies remains in place until the court release another date. Two months ago,the Pune City police in India reportedlyseized 85 million Rupees (USD 1.2 million) realized from the sale of244 confiscated bitcoinsdue to RBIs regulation on cryptocurrencies.

Also, there have been many other cases of fraud and improper business activity related to digital currencies in the nation.

It was also said that any launch of an Indian cryptocurrency will not be handed over to a private company, as there is a huge challenge around money laundering.

View post:
India are planning to release their own cryptocurrency - FXStreet

It will not be wrong to say that ICOs or the Initial Coin Offerings form the backbone of the cryptocurrency arena. Despite facing the slump in 2018, the digital currency space failed to lose its charm and dominance in the market space. More than a dozen new cryptocurrency projects are introduced for the investors every month. These strategic launches of virtual tokens and coins bring along with them a lucrative suite of Initial Coin Offerings. With a view to double their profits and reimburse the losses faced during the market crash, the investors bank upon these newly launched ICOs, which purposefully satiate their greed for returns in the best possible manner. Apart from experienced investors, ICOs also attract first-time investors in large numbers.

Interestingly, these large-scale ICO offerings put the investors in trouble as they open doors for the entry of fraudulent projects and scammers. These malicious offerings induce the customers and compel them to play their bets on their illicit tokens and coins. It remains quite a tiring task to identify between the genuine and fake ICOs present in the marketspace in disguise. The fast-emerging crypto industry has made it a fierce shot for even the most experienced players to keep pace with the new innovations. And this has made it cumbersome for the investors to examine the new crypto projects and threat-prone ICOs critically.

To give a better understanding of the subject, this informative article is here at your rescue, and it will help the readers to get a thorough knowledge of How to Identify Cryptocurrency and ICO Scams. Have a look:

The administrative team and the developers working behind the cryptocurrency project have an essential role in ensuring the success of the ICOs. Scammers take advantage of this situation to backstab investors in a well-planned manner. They falsely invent non-existent founders of the concerned project and create a legitimate-looking biography of them on the internet. Some fraudsters enlist the names of renowned crypto-developers on their plans to gain the trust of the investors.

It becomes of utmost importance for any investor to first conduct thorough research on the team members of the project before any investment. A scroll check on their social media accounts and LinkedIn profiles can clear the picture in a better way. The investors should also cross-check the followers of the listed developers and make sure that there is active participation from their side with the right number of followers. One can check the official profiles of the well-known crypto developers associated with the project to check if they have accepted such claims.

The investors should also keep track of the qualifications and experience of the developers involved with the project to avoid getting trapped in fraudulent ICOs.

The whitepaper of a crypto project gives crucial information like background, project roadmap, strategies, and implementation, etc. A deceptive project might lack the intricacies that are needed to be mentioned in the whitepaper of a project. The project which fails to present its whitepaper to the investors should be neglected at the first thought itself.

Some scammers make well-informed whitepaper to add the element of authenticity in their project. PlexCoin, a scam project dwindled more than $15 million before getting suspended by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission in December.

An excellent whitepaper strives to attract the investors attention by convincing them about the success of the project. If a whitepaper fails to guarantee you with a substantial amount of trust on the project, then you should back out instantly.

While choosing an ICO project, one should consider the concepts, goals, and implementation strategies to be adopted by the project in the future. New projects often have useful and innovative ideas but fail to prepare the blueprint to bring their goals to reality. They face downfall in a few months making the investors lose their money. A good ICO not only has a profitable idea but also has goal-oriented plans to achieve them.

Transparency of ICO is also a significant point to look upon before making an investment. A good ICO project keeps its customers informed about the developments made in the project by publishing a progress report on their website or social media handles. On the other hand, fake ICOs will never give the complete details about the plan to their investors.

It remains an excellent choice to track down the opinions shared by other investors and non-investors about the crypto project. These views turn out to be right more than oftentimes. The projects which have negative comments should be strictly avoided. Follow the community supporting the project, and if it has a negative perspective towards the project, then one should avoid making an investment for sure. The right ICO project has an active community backing the project firmly.

The projects that have unrealistic goals often end up failing or getting declared as fraudulent. False claiming projects should never be entertained by the investors.

An increase in the ICO projects has led to the rise in the number of ICO advisors, which has eventually made room for the entry of fake people into the field. For example, the ratings given by the ICOBench site are false as they do not involve any scrutiny or research before making the information live on the platform. The site has been engaged in payment-for-rating scams as they endorsed a few fraudulent projects like Veio.

Hence, it is imperative for an investor to beware about the projects they are putting their funds into. By keeping patience and a sense of diligent approach, one can easily make suitable investments and earn good profits.

Read the original:
A Guide on How to Identify Cryptocurrency and ICO Scams - CryptoNewsZ

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to Crypto Lark, a popular YouTuber who first started broadcasting about two years ago.

Lark Davies is New Zealands most popular crypto and Bitcoin personality. He grew up on a small organic farm reading Mad magazine and dreaming of space travel.

Now known for his articulate, entertaining style, Crypto Lark combines his political science background, critical thinking skills, and bright sense of humour to produce content that explains blockchain solutions to the world.

During the interview, we discussed the future of cryptocurrencies, the current economic panorama, how the Bitcoin protocol is developing, interesting projects in the space, and the impact smart contracts will have on the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the near future.

You can watch the full interview below, available on YouTube.

We started our conversation by jumping into the projects Lark currently supports.

In his view, although Bitcoin is the most secure and robust, other contenders (like Ethereum) are aiming to seriously disrupt the space.

Given the trade-off between scalability and security, Crypto Lark mentioned something Ethereum is keen on doing.

Ethereum is bringing something new to the space () with the new PoS system that will make the protocol even more scalable.

Im also quite interested to see how Proof-of-Stake will evolve in the Ethereum ecosystem. I tend to agree with him that this new consensus algorithm will help with adoption.

However, ETH is hardly the only coin hes taken a keen interest in.

In terms of further cryptocurrency adoption, Lark immediately mentioned Binance.

Binance has been a monumental force in the space. Binance has been a major trend setter, with the Binance Chain and a massive ecosystem.

Binance is indeed one of the major players in the space. For instance, it has enabled an array of new functionalities such as IEOs and margin trading something users quite adore. Lark added why:

IEOs have been quite profitable for people in the space.

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. We discussed the DeFi space since most exchanges are still quite centralised (remember guys: not your keys, not your coins).

Non-custodial exchanges, such as Binances DEX, are a great first step towards a more decentralised future. Especially if were looking to promote the right sort of adoption.

This greatly depends on how the world evolves. For example, will an economic recession play out and impact the crypto space?

Even though nobody wants to see an economic recession, thats whats most likely to happen in the near future, Lark stated.

He added, however, that Bitcoin should benefit from such an outcome.

Another issue with the world economy currently is the ongoing trade wars between the United States, China, and many other countries.

The power of US dollars comes from violence. What has China been doing? China entered Africa and started developing other countries rather than going to war like the US.

Could the USD lose its place as the standard global currency in the future? Who knows, but surely that can only be achieved if crypto takes over instead.

However, I did not want to end the interview on such a negative topic. We instead finished by discussing some other up-and-coming projects in the space.

We touched on the Basic Attention Token, Chainlink, and some other projects like Enjin and the impact of non-fungible tokens.

In Larks opinion, blockchain gaming will be key to future adoption.

With the adoption of NFTs, gaming will be huge.

I couldnt agree more. Protocols like Enjin and Loom are definitely building the future. In fact, you can read more about pioneering blockchain games such as Gods Unchained, CryptoKitties, and NBA TopShot in my interview with Dapper Labs founder Roham Gharegozlou.

Roger Ver, Bitcoin Cash founder and Bitcoin enthusiast

Jimmy Song, Bitcoin developer and lecturer

Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro

Stefan Schmidt, Unibright CTO

Arthur Vayolian, Bitcoin Suisse CEO

The post Crypto Lark discusses the future of cryptocurrency appeared first on Coin Rivet.

Originally posted here:
Crypto Lark discusses the future of cryptocurrency - Yahoo Finance