In 2017, the ICO bubble officially popped. Now, a similar situation is playing out with many cryptocurrency exchanges going bankrupt. Could exchange bankruptcies be the ICO bubble of 2019?

If 2017 was the year of the failed ICO, then 2019 may be the year of exchange bankruptcies and mismanagement.

By any standards, this year has solidified the exchange leaders of the cryptocurrency market. Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, and others like them dominate trading. As a result, smaller competitors are being stamped out. The consequence has been a consolidation of market share by major exchangesand the bankruptcies of countless smaller ones.

The most immediate exchange bankruptcy that comes to mind when discussing 2019 is QuadrigaCX. Canadas largest exchange found itself insolvent due to gross negligence due to its now-deceased CEO being the sole owner of the cold wallet keys. QuadrigaCX, of course, is not an example of a clear-cut bankruptcy case,but it set the tone for the year.

Other cases this year, however, were far clearer. CoinExchange.io, for example, found itself unable to survive the crypto winter and it had to shut its doors. As BeInCrypto reported, the exchange effectively had no funds to continue its operations. A similar story happened with CobinHood, which filed for bankruptcy 6 months ago under dubious circumstances.Then, we also had one of the leading Polish cryptocurrency exchanges, BitMarket, also shut its doors due to having no revenue.

Even larger, institutionally-backed exchanges have been struggling to pick up significant trading volume. A week ago, BeInCrypto reported that the Nasdaq-backed DX.Exchange would also be shutting down. The claimed reason was due to financial hardships.

Despite the cryptocurrency market slowly exiting the bearish winter which started in 2018, most exchanges are still struggling to remain profitable. Those with a high degree of economies of scale have been able to weather the storm, and in some cases even amass more market sharesmaller exchanges, on the other hand, have been forced to capitulate.

Take for example this shocking statistic: Business Korea found this year that97% of all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country are in serious threat of going bust.This speaks to the grave situation many exchanges are facing right now. It has become so serious that there are even rumors about older, established exchanges like HitBTC potentially being insolvent.

We are currently amidst a major shake-up among exchanges and market players in the cryptocurrency industryand its consequences will be felt as strongly as when the ICO bubble burst in 2017. Big names, like Binance, will further consolidate their power. However, we can expect to see more exchange bankruptcies across the board until bullish hype reenters the market cycle.

Images are courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Cryptocurrency Exchange Bankruptcies Are the Failed ICOs of 2019 - BeInCrypto

Cryptocurrencies undergo constant change, but sometimes, there is opposition. Can these three forks preserve each coin's classic features?

It takes time to change a cryptocurrency. Usually, the community behind a coin must settle on new features. Then, miners and node operators must enact those changes by upgrading their software. However, not everyone needs to agree: individual factions can fork the blockchain and introduce their own set of changes.

Many forks aim to introduce new features to a cryptocurrency, but some aim to preserve existing features. The latter strategy has had mixed results: some classic forks have gained more support than others, and not all have been a success in terms of market performance. Here's how three "classic" crypto forks have played out.

Ethereum Classic was created in 2016 following an attack on Ethereum's DAO. This exploit could have cost the Ethereum ecosystem $70 million, so the community eventually agreed to fork Ethereum, creating a separate chain without the attack transaction. However, about 20% of miners dissented and continued the original chain.

This chain is now known as Ethereum Classic, and it has its own cryptocurrency, ETC (rather than ETH). Ethereum Classic mainly aims to ensure that transactions are final and free from interference. Additionally, it delayed its mining difficulty bomb, meaning that ETC mining will remain profitable even as Ethereum moves toward staking.

Ethereum Classic is still going strong: it weathered a double-spend attack in January, and it has just executed its Atlantis upgrade to improve interoperability with Ethereum. ETC has achieved a $550 million market cap, making it the 21st largest coin on the market. This gives ETC 1/36th of Ethereum's $20 billion market cap.

ZClassic was created to contest the financial model of Zcash (ZEC), a popular privacy coin. Zcash used slow start mining when it went live in 2016, which arguably devalued the coin for its early investors. In 2018, Zclassic forked away from Zcash and eliminated slow start mining in order to make its own coin (ZCL) more accessible to investors.

Zclassic also removes Zcash's Founder's Reward, which gives 20% of mining profits to the Zcash teaminstead, Zclassic miners get to keep all their earnings. However, Zcash will retire its Founder's Reward in 2020, so this distinction will lose relevance. Incidentally, another fork, Ycash, has reduced and extended its own Founder's Reward.

Finally, Zclassic is using the same trusted setup that Zcash used prior to its Sapling update. But despite its ambitions and a recently attempted re-launch, Zclassic has not performed well on the market. Zclassic is the 775th largest coin, with a market cap of $1.5 million. This is roughly equal to 1/180th of Zcash's own $280 million market cap.

Monero is another privacy coin that has produced a few classic forks. Monero constantly changes its mining algorithm in order to ensure that specialized ASIC devices don't have an advantage over basic computers in terms of mining profits. However, some Monero miners own ASICs or believe that their presence is beneficial.

This has resulted in a few classic forks: Monero Classic, Monero Zero, and Monero Original all preserve ASIC-friendly algorithms. However, Monero itself will introduce the RandomX algorithm in November 2019, which will eliminate constant anti-ASIC upgrades. According to devs, this will not produce another new coin.

Most of Monero's classic coins have not fared well, though some have done better than others. Monero Classic (XMC) is the only classic fork with any significant market value, and it is the 390th largest coin on the market. This gives it a market cap of $6.2 millionroughly 1/150th of Monero (XMR)'s $963 million market cap.

Classic coins don't have much in their favor, even if they manage to receive support from their parent project. Ethereum Classic came into existence during a dispute that truly had two sides, but it is still overshadowed by Ethereum. Most other classic coins originated from minor disputes, and some have faded away almost entirely.

On top of this, classic coins often appeal to miners with the promise of continued mining profits. Yet in practice, mining is only profitable if the classic coin in question achieves high prices. This rarely happens: for example, it is not profitable to mine Monero Original or Zcash Classicat least, not under WhatToMine's default specs.

Finally, not all classic coins are trustworthy. The idea of "classic features" provides an easy way to create false ties to a legitimate projectthis occurred with XRP Classic, a seemingly fraudulent coin with no connection to Ripple. In short, the market for classic coins is not thriving, despite ongoing efforts to push the trend forward.

Disclaimer: information contained herein is provided without considering your personal circumstances, therefore should not be construed as financial advice, investment recommendation or an offer of, or solicitation for, any transactions in cryptocurrencies.

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Three Classic Coins That Attempt To Preserve Existing Cryptocurrency Features - Bitrates

On a gray morning in May 2016, I left my office in downtown San Francisco and walked down Montgomery Street, to Wells Fargo.

I swiveled open the two gigantic doors, walked up to the counter, and explained to the teller that I needed to send a money wire to Gemini Trust Company, LLC., a cryptocurrency exchange based in New York City.

Certainly, she said. How much will you be sending today, Mr. Conway?

One hundred thousand dollars.

My voice sped up as I said it: $100k. This represented my familys entire life savings. It was money my wife and I planned to use to pay for our 3 kids college tuition, our eventual retirement, and emergency expenses. I was a middle-aged guy with a family who had never been on the cutting edge of anything. But I was about to bet everything I had on an unproven virtual currency called Ethereum.

This could only end two ways: Id lose everything I owned, or make a fortune.

Up to that point, my professional life was one of quiet desperation.

I was a 45-year-old middle manager at a major multi-media company in San Francisco. Though I earned a respectable $150k per year, I hated the fake company culture, the bureaucracy, and the endless chains of command.

Like so many others, I was looking for some kind of escape. And soon, I found one.

Dan wallowing in the misery of corporate America (courtesy of Dan Conway)

One early morning in mid-2015, before anyone else was in the office, I was browsing online and stumbled upon an article about Bitcoin.

Id heard about Bitcoin years earlier when I was preoccupied with climbing the corporate ladder. Back then, it seemed ludicrous to spend money real currency that I could hold in my hands on some digital token that existed on a public ledger in the cloud. To be frank, I thought it was complete bullshit.

But that morning, I had a sudden change of heart.

Bitcoin, the article read, was going through an especially rough patch. Its price, which was in a constant state of volatility, had fallen from a high of $1.2k in 2013 to $300. My mind raced: What if it goes up again? What if I put everything I had into this? I could get rich and never work another day in corporate America

A part of me recognized these thoughts as destructive mania. My addictive personality had landed me in trouble before first with alcohol, then with harder drugs. My 12-step sponsor wasnt going to pat me on the back and say, Go buy that Bitcoin, Dan! Sounds like a fantastic plan!

At the same time, my wife Eileen and I were raising 3 children and had a big mortgage on our home in the Bay Area. The Great Recession had snatched away most of Eileens PR consulting clients. We were privileged, of course, but money was tighter than usual.

Sitting in my empty office, I began to go down the crypto rabbit hole. And the more I learned, the more I was pulled in.

Through early research, I gravitated from Bitcoin to Ethereum (ETH), a then-newly launched coin that debuted in July 2015.

Blockchain, the technology underlying Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, promised to one day decentralize corporations. As TechCrunch wrote, it would offer the stability of an organization but without the hierarchy. It seemed almost too good to be true, but a lot of smart, future-forward people were getting behind it.

As a disenfranchised suit-and-tie, I was enraptured by the possibility of a decentralized future. As a greedy speculative investor, it gave me a rush.

Juggling crypto research and family time (courtesy of Dan Conway)

In short order, I developed an Ethereum obsession.

I listened to Ethereum podcasts while walking the dog. I read about Ethereum during every spare minute I had at work. I rejiggered my Twitter feed to follow mostly Ethereum-related accounts. I absorbed hours of Ethereum commentary on YouTube.

My biggest source of conviction was Ethereums developers. In the 90s, Id worked in PR at Macromedia. The companys product, Flash, had dominated the web graphics market after catching the attention of the most forward-thinking web designers. In the same sense, the smartest developers were now flocking to Ethereum.

Occasionally, my Ethereum fever broke and I wondered if Id gone off the deep end.

Was my growing desire to invest in Ethereum a desperate attempt by a desperate man to find some kind of midlife salvation? Was this whole thing some kind of elaborate ruse to scam people like me out of their nest eggs?

Most of my friends in tech folks working at places like Google, Apple, and Uber were dismissive of blockchain. Few of them had heard of Ethereum. When I told a buddy of mine that I was considering investing in cryptocurrency, he broke out in laughter, as if Id admitted I was hedging my future on Smurfberries or Scooby Snacks.

But my mind was made: I was going to put everything I had into this.

Less than a year later, I found myself standing at a Wells Fargo desk, transferring our life savings to Gemini in exchange for 6,993 ETH, at an average price of $14.

Eileen had been rightfully resistant to the idea. Eventually, though, she agreed to a deal: I could make the transfer, but I had to promise my children that Id take them on a number of expensive trips.

Texts exchanged between Dan and his wife, Eileen (courtesy of Dan Conway; illustration by The Hustle)

After watching me go through years of addiction issues, depression, and corporate misery, Eileen was happy to see me excited about something even if it was some virtual coin. Never for a moment did she think wed get rich off of it. But she didnt want to break the spell I was under.

Unfortunately, it wasnt long before I experienced the Earth-shaking volatility of the crypto market.

In June 2016, a high-visibility project was hacked and Ethereum tanked: By December, our original $100k investment was worth less than $40k.

Though I was $60k in the hole, my confidence in Ethereum was stronger than ever and it was now at a bargain-basement-level price. So, I decided to double down.

We didnt have the cash. The only pool of funds available was the line of credit on our home. Racking up a big debt on our home equity line would very likely set us up for an unhappy ending.

But I felt in my bones that this was my shot and I might not get another one.

In December of 2016, I visited Wells Fargo 3 times, transferring an increasing amount of money from our home equity line to Gemini. After each transfer, I went home and bought ETH slowly so I didnt cause a run-up. (The order books were thin with limited liquidity in those days; a rush of sales could cause the other traders and their bots to snatch up all the available coins.)

That winter, I borrowed $200k on my home and used it to buy more ETH. I now owned 26,750 ETH total, at an average buy-in of $11.21/coin.

And I was $300k in the hole.

In February 2017, during our first negotiated trip of a lifetime in Mexico, Ethereum came back to life.

It was the middle of the night, and I was in the back of a cab battling a nasty bout of food poisoning. I was puking my guts out, foaming at the mouth, and delirious but I didnt care because our ETH was up $50K. We were in the black for the first time.

Then, something miraculous happened: It kept going up and up and up. Between February and March of 2017, ETH shot from $15 to $50 per coin. By April, it was at $70; by May, $230.

In a span of 4 months, my $300k investment ballooned to $6m.

Every investors dream (The Hustle; historical ETH data via Coinmarketcap.com)

Id seen a story at some point about someone who had spontaneous orgasms at random times throughout the day. Thats the best way I can describe the feeling. When I checked my phone, Id be up another 6 figures since the last time I looked. I couldnt resist stopping whatever I was doing to pump my fist and shout, YEESSSS!

But other times, ETH would dip, and the value of my stack would plummet by more than $1m in less than an hour. The orgasms were replaced by brutal withdrawals. The volatility was a narcotic, shooting up my brain with boosts of dopamine and serotonin.

The coins consumed me and changed my entire persona.

When ETH stopped going up or had a mild dip, Id get snappy with the kids. I donned a hoodie and stared into the void for hours, my mind enslaved to the promise of Ethereum and its price variations. I was fired from my job of 6 years.

In the midst of a particularly volatile week, I found myself in the emergency room, struggling to breathe. The doctor diagnosed me with a panic event. Is anything making you anxious? he asked.

There was also the constant, looming fear that my crypto account could be hacked at any moment. In 2017 alone, hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto were stolen from accounts and there wasnt any regulatory body to protect victims.

From June to October of 2017, ETH floated between $200 to $400 per coin an increase of 2,000% since the beginning of the year. That summer, many of the early HODLers (the folks who were holding for the long-term) began to cash out.

My coins were now worth millions, but I continued to hold the majority of them. This decision would soon pay off in a bigger way than I ever couldve imagined.

In the course of 2 weeks in December 2017, ETH nearly doubled in price from $430 to $830. On January 3, 2018, it hit $900; 3 days later, it passed $1k.

It was an unprecedented burst so monumental in scope that it temporarily froze the exchanges. It was like a 9.0 earthquake with an infinite number of aftershocks.

In the midst of this madness, I received an email from my financial advisor, who Id hired months earlier to oversee my growing funds.

An email Dan received from his financial advisor in December 2017 (Courtesy of Dan Conway)

The alarm bells were sounding.

Sitting on my couch in sweaty workout clothes, I turned to my favorite subreddit, r/EthTrader. The message board was full-on mayhem, with 1.4k comments that morning alone. Grandparents, and taxi drivers, and anyone else whod gotten a hot tip was buying in without even knowing what crypto was. Even for hardcore HODLers like me, it was too much, too fast.

I frantically logged into my Gemini account and weighed my options.

If I didnt sell and ETH tanked, Id lose it all. Id have to tell Eileen and the kids that dad had dropped the golden goose egg, that Id squandered my lottery ticket.

Watching the greedy masses pile into ETH reminded me of the famous battle scene from Braveheart: While the hordes rush forward in full sprint, lances atilt, the defenders sit still, unflinching and calm, waiting for the signal to attack.

I watched the price climb to $915. Then, over the course of two hours, I sold 11k ETH, the majority of my remaining stack, for $10m.

I sent Eileen a text: We are done.

Shortly after we cashed out, the cryptocurrency market took a nosedive.

Ethereum dropped from a high of $1,396 in January to $385 in April. By December of 2018, it was back below $100.

Eileen and I paid off our $950k mortgage. We booked a trip to Africa wed always dreamed of. Hell, we even bought a second home in Ireland.

Nearly 2 years later, its still surreal looking at our bank account and seeing high 7-figures, post-tax. It all happened so quickly that it feels like a dream.

Top: Dans bank statement from December 2017 to January 2018, showing a Gemini transfer of $10.7m; Bottom: The family in Italy one of the agreed-upon destinations (Courtesy of Dan Conway)

I still believe crypto will open up new possibilities for organizing the world in the decades ahead, and Im confident it will pop again as a result. But I dont recommend that anyone try to replicate what I did.

Luck played a significant role in my success.

I banked everything I had on a relatively unproven technology and got out at the right time. For every story like mine, there are hundreds of others about people who lost it all. I know that couldve easily been me.

At the same time, Im no blackjack player. My investment wasnt purely a blind gamble that came up aces. I was, and am, a true believer in crypto and I had the right mix of courageousness and craziness to take a big risk.

Ive since turned my efforts toward making the concept of crypto-based decentralization more accessible to the general public. My recent book, which chronicles my wild journey, encourages people to think about their own risk parameters.

Today, Ive settled back into a normal life. I make dinner, do odd-jobs around the house, and live a very pleasant life by almost any measure. I still drive a minivan every day. Crypto no longer consumes me.

But every now and then, after the kids are asleep, I lie awake thinking back on the rush of the market. And I miss it like hell.

Interested in learning more about Dans story? He recently chronicled his entire journey in a full-length book, Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire.

You should check out our new premium publication called Trends.

Weve hired a team of journalists, entrepreneurs, and data scientists to crawl millions of data points and interview industry leaders to find gaps in the market. And each week we reveal our findings in a newsletter update.

Weve also created a private community for subscribers and the people we interview, where entrepreneurs and experts pick apart ideas and discuss the merits of others strategies. Click here to learn more.

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How I got sucked into cryptocurrency and made $13 million - The Hustle

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is reportedly developing a cryptocurrency platform,The Logic reports.

If launched, the banks customers will be able to trade in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin BTC and Ethereum.

The bank, one of the countrys largest,is also looking to let customers open cryptocurrency accounts.

According to The Block, one of the banks patent applications says the following:

To individual users, managing cryptographic keys and transacting with different cryptographic assets can be a challenge. In some situations, cryptographic asset transactions may take time to be confirmed, and/or may not be compatible or supported by merchant systems or point-of-sale devices.

But, Jean Francois Thibault, an RBC spokesperson told the Logic that the bank like many other organizations, files patent applications to ensure proprietary ideas and concepts are protected. Thibault declined to comment further.

Although little is known at this stage, this is not the first time that abank has dipped its toes into the blockchain space.

In September 2017, Reuters reported that the bank was experimenting with blockchain in a bid to facilitate payments between its US and Canadian banks.

More recently, RBC and several other Canadian banks started using blockchain technology to allow customers to digitally prove their identity.

Blockchains potential to maximize efficiency and significantly reduce costs has been lauded for some time, so its hardly surprising that banks are trying to jump on the blockchain bandwagon.

Its just ironic that Satoshi Nakamoto originally invented the technology to circumvent the mainstream financial system but here we are, the suits always take over.

Published November 12, 2019 11:03 UTC

Continued here:
Big Canadian bank rumored to offer cryptocurrency accounts, Bitcoin trading - The Next Web

Law Enforcement

The IRS and other tax enforcement agencies are touting big improvements in tracing the use of cryptocurrencies in tax evasion and other criminal schemes. They just don't want to talk about how.

On Friday, officials from the J5, a cooperative consortium of tax investigation and enforcement agencies around the world that includes Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the U.S., wrapped up a week-long event in Los Angeles that brought together criminal investigators, cryptocurrency experts and data scientists.

The J5 was formed last year to help pool international tax enforcement resources and strategies. As the internet and the emergence of decentralized, pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have made it easier for tax evaders to move and hide their money, investigation and enforcement agencies around the globe have slowly realized they are dealing with a common set of challenges.

"The goal of the week was to remove some barriers and work together collaboratively to identify the most egregious tax offenders in the world," said Ryan Korner, executive special agent for the IRS field office in Los Angeles. "I want to emphasize that this week was not just a hypothetical training exercise; all of the participants ... worked together using real data to identify real criminals."

However, the agencies were more tight-lipped when it came to discussing what those leads are, how agencies are making new use of data and what tools they're leveraging. IRS officials said they developed new analysis platforms, generated "dozens" of new leads and were getting close to announcing operational results from the partnership, but offered few specifics on their work or what new capabilities they have developed to track cryptocurrency.

"I don't want to necessarily name any of them specifically, but we do have the tools in place today that we didn't have in place even six months to a year ago to take what was an anonymous form of payment and moving funds and really make it so it's not anonymous anymore," Korner told FCW.

IRS Special Agent Chris Hueston, the J5 project lead for the U.S., did cite enhanced data-sharing practices among partner countries as one of the reasons behind the improvement.

"We're able to use some of the data that we've seized through investigations, and we're able to rely on some of our J5 countries for data that they're able to share with us, so once we put those datasets together, as well as open sources and other information that we're able to share legally, those datasets become richer as far as putting a finer point on our targeting efforts for those criminals," he said.

The emergence of decentralized, pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrencies have created new challenges for financial regulators and tax enforcement agencies, who initially struggled to track and trace payments. A 2017 survey of 564 Bitcoin investors conducted by The Motley Fool found that more than one-third reported they did not plan to report their earnings for capital gains taxation. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that new currencies like Facebook's Libra raise "serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection [and] financial stability."

While IRS officials were reluctant to discuss what tools they're using, there is evidence that law enforcement agencies are getting better at tracking cryptocurrencies. For example, the Department of Justice has cited the tracking of virtual currencies as a key component for takedowns of a massive child exploitation ring in October.

The use of new commercial software and algorithms may be fueling that improvement. At least two agencies, the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, have engaged in sole-source procurements in recent years with contractor Chainalysis for proprietary software and training on how to track the use of virtual currency. In both cases, the agencies argue the contractor is the only company capable of providing the services.

"The vast majority of FBI personnel investigating conduct involving virtual currency only have access to Chainalysis to perform bitcoin tracing," the FBI wrote in an August 2018 sole-source justification.

About the Author

Derek B. Johnson is a senior staff writer at FCW, covering governmentwide IT policy, cybersecurity and a range of other federal technology issues.

Prior to joining FCW, Johnson was a freelance technology journalist. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, GoodCall News, Foreign Policy Journal, Washington Technology, Elevation DC, Connection Newspapers and The Maryland Gazette.

Johnson has a Bachelor's degree in journalism from Hofstra University and a Master's degree in public policy from George Mason University. He can be contacted at djohnson@fcw.com, or follow him on Twitter @derekdoestech.

Click here for previous articles by Johnson.

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Cryptocurrency tracking improves -- but how? - FCW.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (Project Syndicate) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was at least half right when he recently told the United States Congress that there is no U.S. monopoly on regulation of next-generation payments technology.

You may not like Facebooks FB, +2.56% proposed Libra (pseudo) cryptocurrency, Zuckerberg implied, but a state-run Chinese digital currency with global ambitions is perhaps just a few months away, and you would probably like that even less.

Perhaps Zuckerberg went too far when he suggested that the imminent rise of a Chinese digital currency could undermine overall dollar BUXX, -0.02% dominance of global trade and finance at least the large part that is legal, taxed, and regulated.

In fact, U.S. regulators have vast power not only over domestic entities but also over any financial firms that need access to dollar markets, as Europe recently learned to its dismay when the U.S. forced European banks to comply with severe restrictions on doing business with Iran.

Also read: ICO offerings way down, but some still using SEC back door to raise funds

Americas deep and liquid markets, its strong institutions, and the rule of law will trump Chinese efforts to achieve currency dominance for a long time to come. Chinas burdensome capital controls, its limits on foreign holdings of bonds and equities, and the general opaqueness of its financial system leave the yuan USDCNH, +0.0057% (also known as the renminbi) many decades away from supplanting the dollar in the legal global economy.

Control over the underground economy, however, is another matter entirely.

The global underground economy, consisting mainly of tax evasion and criminal activities, but also terrorism, is much smaller than the legal economy (perhaps one-fifth the size), but it is still highly consequential. The issue here is not so much whose currency is dominant, but how to minimize adverse effects.

And a widely used, state-backed Chinese digital currency could certainly have an impact, especially in areas where Chinas interests do not coincide with those of the West.

A U.S.-regulated digital currency could in principle be required to be traceable by U.S. authorities, so that if North Korea were to use it to hire Russian nuclear scientists, or Iran were to use it to finance terrorist activity, they would run a high risk of being caught, and potentially even blocked.

If, however, the digital currency were run out of China, the U.S. would have far fewer levers to pull. Western regulators could ultimately ban the use of Chinas digital currency, but that wouldnt stop it from being used in large parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, which in turn could engender some underground demand even in the U.S. and Europe.

One might well ask why existing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.22% cannot already perform this function. To an extremely limited extent, they do. But regulators worldwide have huge incentives to rein in cryptocurrencies by sharply proscribing their use in banks and retail establishments.

Such restrictions make existing cryptocurrencies highly illiquid and ultimately greatly limit their fundamental underlying value. Not so for a Chinese-backed digital currency that could readily be spent in one of the worlds two largest economies.

True, when China announces its new digital currency, it would almost surely be permissioned: a central clearing house would in principle allow the Chinese government to see anything and everything. But the U.S. would not.

Facebooks Libra is also designed as a permissioned currency, in its case under the auspices of Swiss regulators. Cooperation with Switzerland, where the currency is officially registered, would surely be much better than with China, despite Switzerlands long tradition of extending privacy to financial transactions, especially with regard to tax evasion.

The fact that Libra will be pegged to the U.S. dollar would give U.S. authorities additional insight, because (at present) all dollar clearing must go through U.S.-regulated entities. Still, given that Libras functionality can largely be duplicated with existing financial instruments, it is hard to see much fundamental demand for Libra except among those aiming to evade detection.

Unless tech-sponsored currencies offer genuinely superior technology and this is not at all obvious they should be regulated in the same way as everyone else.

If nothing else, Libra has inspired many advanced-economy central banks to accelerate their programs to provide broader-based retail digital currencies, and, one hopes, to strengthen their efforts to boost financial inclusion.

But this battle is not simply over the profits from printing currency; ultimately, it is over the states ability to regulate and tax the economy in general, and over the U.S. governments ability to use the dollars global role to advance its international policy aims.

The U.S. currently has financial sanctions in place against 12 countries. Turkey was briefly sanctioned last month after its invasion of Kurdish territory in Syria, though the measures were quickly lifted. For Russia, sanctions have been in place for five years.

Just as technology has disrupted media, politics, and business, it is on the verge of disrupting Americas ability to leverage faith in its currency to pursue its broader national interests. Libra is probably not the answer to the coming disruption posed by government-sanctioned digital currencies from China and elsewhere.

But if not, Western governments need to start thinking about their response now, before it is too late.

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U.S. cant let criminals get the upper hand by using Chinas coming cryptocurrency - MarketWatch

New York, NY, 12 November 2019 At New York Consensus Invest Summit, Evercoin Inc. today announced Evercoin 2, the safest hardware wallet. Evercoin 2 provides a wallet and exchange for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies featuring a hardware wallet the size of a house key powered by YubiKey 5ci, the first implementation of its kind. Prior to this, users wanting hardware security relied on large, difficult to use and not mobile-first first-generation hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor. Now every compatible YubiKey owner can download a free hardware wallet.

Evercoin provides all of the financial services users expect from a service like Coinbase, but for the first time ever in a mobile wallet, secured by hardware and fully controlled by the user. Evercoin currently supports 20 assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Crypto users arent safe. Here are some of the threats we can address with the new combined offering from Evercoin and Yubico:

Hack attacks : hackers can gain access to private keys, the result can be total loss of all assets.

Exchange hacks : crypto exchanges can be hacked or go out of business causing loss of funds.

Key loss : users can lose all of their assets by forgetting private keys, losing paper wallets, exposing keys to bad actors, losing hardware devices. Chainalysis estimates that 2-3 million bitcoins have been lost permanently in this way.

Other user errors : users can input the wrong address when sending transactions

Volatility : volatility of crypto prices can dramatically crash the value of user assets.

ID Theft : hackers can steal a users account and identities thus enabling a host of attacks on the users accounts and assets.

Wrench attacks : attacks involving a physical threat to your person. Phishing Attacks : user email and social networking accounts can be compromised and information and assets can then be stolen from their friends and social network.

Evercoin 2 helps keep users safe from all of these issues with these safety features:

Stopping Hack Attacks: (Hardware Security) : Users are protected from hackers by YubiKey (a small key-like device) which cryptographically secures user funds.

A Hardware Wallet such as Ledger or Trezor will provide hardware security, but the following features are unique to Evercoin, especially in combination:

User Funds Protected From Exchange Hacks : the Evercoin exchange is non-custodial so users keeping funds in Evercoin can never lose their funds to an exchange hack. Your keys, your crypto.

Protects Users From Key Loss ( Wallet Back-up & Recovery ): Users are protected by patent-pending, non-custodial, user-friendly back up of walletsenabling recovery from lost phones, lost YubiKeys and even lost passwords.

Prevents User Error : Evercoin provides the easiest to use hardware wallet which is literally like using a card key to a hotel room. Insert to unlock and remove to lock. Integrated exchange and QR codes reduce error-prone typing or pasting complicated addresses.

Allows Users to Respond to Volatility (Mobile Exchange) Sudden changes in the market can destroy the value of your assets. Instantly and securely exchange assets on-the-go with a YubiKey that fits on your key ring and your mobile phone.

Stops ID Theft: (iPhone and Android Biometrics): because Evercoin is smartphone based, it can take advantage of biometric fingerprint and face ID in ways that purpose-built hardware wallets cannot. By combining passwords with biometrics and hardware security, we can provide the worlds safest ownershipexperience.

Avoid Wrench Attacks : yubikey is small and inconspicuous unlike most hardware wallets. Nobody will know you are storing crypto.

Block Phishing Attacks ( YubiKey ): by using an unmodified YubiKey, users can also benefit from securing all of their email and password protected accounts with YubiKey.

Evercoin users deserve peace of mind. We protect users from hackers with YubiKey hardwarebut we also protect them from accidents when they have lost their phone, their YubiKey, or their password said Talip Ozturk , Founder, CEO of Evercoin. Accidents do happen, and we want to ensure that funds are always safe and recoverable.

Evercoin is working with Yubico, developer of the YubiKey, a trusted hardware security provider with millions of users. Evercoin 2 provides the first-ever hardware wallet using the new YubiKey 5ci (for iPhone and USB-C for Android). All existing owners of YubiKey 5ci can get hardware wallet capabilities just by downloading Evercoin from http://evercoin.com. Another advantage is that YubiKey is a general-purpose security deviceso Evercoin users can also use YubiKey to secure their password managers,messengers and email,social media and any number of other compatible authenticationsystems, thus providing 360 degree protection from indirect hack attacks like phishingor ID theft.

# # #Media ContactMiko Matsumuramiko@evercoin.com

About EvercoinEvercoin is a Silicon Valley based startup founded and led by Talip Ozturk, the creatorof Hazelcast, a popular open source in-memory distributed database in use at thebiggest financial services companies in the world. Having seen the power of opensource at some of the largest banks in the world, Talip was inspired to join thecryptocurrency movement which combines his love of open systems and distributedgovernance with his experience in large-scale high-performance financial infrastructureand distributed computing. Evercoin provides the worlds safest cryptocurrencyownership experience including a mobile hardware wallet, account recovery andbiometric identification.

Bitcoin.com is your premier source for everything Bitcoin-related. We can help you buy bitcoins and choose a bitcoin wallet. You can also read the latest news, or engage with the community on our Bitcoin Forum. Please keep in mind that this is a commercial website that lists wallets, exchanges and other Bitcoin-related companies.

Original post:
Evercoin Launches Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallet - Bitcoin News

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chainalysis, the blockchain analysis company, today announced the launch of Chainalysis Kryptos, new software designed to help financial institutions better understand the risks associated with existing cryptocurrency activity and opportunities for investment. Built on the reference data standard already trusted by government agencies across the world and more than 115 leading cryptocurrency businesses, Kryptos enables financial professionals to connect the dots between traditional financial transactions and cryptocurrency markets.

In September, Chainalysis polled 350 finance professionals and found that nearly half believe Bitcoin will be the investment class with the highest growth rate over the next 12 months, ahead of equities, fixed income, and the house pricing index. Despite their belief in Bitcoin's growth potential, many also expressed concerns about the ability to control illicit activity facilitated by cryptocurrency and to comply with regulations, and many aren't sure how many of their customers transact with cryptocurrency today.

Kryptos provides transparency into cryptocurrency markets and players so financial institutions can allay these compliance concerns, better understand their current risk exposure, provide banking services to cryptocurrency businesses, and build foundations for expansion into the asset class.

"We've heard grass roots excitement for cryptocurrency from financial institutions for years, and now we're focused on breaking down the barriers to entry," said Michael Gronager, Co-Founder and CEO, Chainalysis. "Finally, financial institutions can access the transparency they need to fulfill their compliance responsibilities, meet customer demand, and seize the market opportunity they already believe in."

"Chainalysis Kryptos is a powerful tool for institutions to use to evaluate the risk profile of global industry participants and to measure their counterparty risk," said Michelle Sabins, SVP Managing Principal, Silvergate. "Access to this information in a standardized way will help institutions in this space make informed business decisions regarding who they do business with, while leveraging the power of blockchain analysis."

Kryptos provides a view into Know Your Customer (KYC) practices and blockchain transaction data for the world's top cryptocurrency businesses. Users can access information about exchanges' business operations, country of operation, cryptocurrency assets supported, blockchain transaction activity, and counterparties. They can also quantify their risk exposure across wire transfers or credit card transactions with detailed company information that they can run through existing transaction monitoring systems and risk models.

"Our data puts us in a position to help financial institutions enter the cryptocurrency market safely and responsibly," said Jonathan Levin, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Chainalysis. "Not only does Kryptos help them mitigate risk and access new high-growth markets, but it will also help cryptocurrency businesses build trust with their banks. All players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem stand to benefit from increased transparency."

Kryptos is now available in Beta and will become generally available in early 2020.

About ChainalysisChainalysis is the blockchain analysis company. We provide compliance and investigation software to the world's leading banks, businesses, and governments. Our experts in financial crime and economic analysis empower our customers to derive insights they can act on. Backed by Accel, Benchmark, and other leading names in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains. For more information, visit http://www.chainalysis.com.

SOURCE Chainalysis Inc.

http://www.chainalysis.com

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Chainalysis Launches Kryptos to Help Financial Institutions Uncover Cryptocurrency Opportunities and Risks - PRNewswire

ParJar has confirmed that it has processed over half a million tips on Telegram. Over 21,000 people have used the cryptocurrency tipping service in over 500 communities since last year.

Telegram seems like the ideal place to incorporate cryptocurrency tips. After all, the chatroom platform boasts a strong user base and a plethora of APIs for easy use. Its no surprise then that ParJar has been such a massive success on Telegram.

In a tweet sent out recently by ParJar, over 21,000 users have sent cryptocurrency tips on Telegram in about a year. In total, 512,000 tips were sent, over 20,000 deposits were made, and around 33,000 withdrawals were processed. In all, its steady growth which will likely only get better in the coming year.

Although 21,000 users might not seem like much, the fact that 512,000 tips were sent means that those who use ParJarreally like it.Thats, on average, around 24 tips sent per user. Ultimately, cryptocurrency adoption relies on a strong group of dedicated users. These recently-released stats prove that cryptocurrency tipping on Telegram is building a strong following.

Other projects have tried to capitalize on the demand for micro-transactions and tipping on social media, as well. Nano is, of course, commonly used due to its negligible fees and fast transaction speeds. However, other competitors like Basic Attention Token (BAT) also work much like a tipping token which is integrated into the Brave web browser.

As BeInCrypto reported earlier this year, Brave recently added individual tipping as a feature. Twitter has also been toying with adding tipping to its platform via the Lightning Network, but it has yet to be rolled out fully.

Although ParJar remains one of the leading means of tipping with cryptocurrencies, it seems that there is much in the pipeline to look forward to. Hopefully tipping with cryptocurrencies will soon be as easy as sending a message.

Images courtesy of Twitter.

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Cryptocurrency Tips on Telegram Reach 500,000 Milestone in Just a Year - BeInCrypto

While many representatives of the worlds financial system have been consistently deprecating Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, Jean-Claude Trichet, the former European Central Bank (ECB) president, dismissed the idea of cryptocurrencies as pure speculation.

While Trichet is the latest in a crowd of regulators and lawmakers to have expressed his opposition to cryptocurrencies, the anti-crypto sentiment has grown louder since Facebook revealed its plans for their own currency.

As for its price, Bitcoin seems to be in the beginning of a new long-term upward cycle with the potential of reaching a new all-time high within the next two years.

Even in the world of cryptocurrency, there are several prominent bears. Cryptocurrency trader Crypto Dude recently tweeted an extremely bearish Bitcoin price prediction going against the current bullish enthusiasm on Crypto Twitter.

This is a long-term prediction suggesting that the Bitcoin price will fall between $900-$1400, the heights of the 2013 upward move. Lets take a closer look and see how likely this is.

The ascending support line in the tweet is drawn beginning on July 2016. The line was validated three times throughout 2017 before the price broke down the next year. The current upward move ending on $13,864 validated this line as resistance and the price has been decreasing since.

There are several drawbacks to relying on this trend-line.

If we instead use a curved support line, we can outline the support line the BTC price has been following since 2011. If the price indeed drops to $1000, it would break this trend-line.

While this does not mean the price will not break down, very strong support would have to be broken for it to occur.

Also, the technical indicators suggest that we are in the beginning of a new upward trend, rather than at the beginning of a correction.

The weekly RSI has been oversold only twice in BTCs price history:

At both these times, the price has just reached the 200-week moving average, adding further credence to the possibility that the price will act in a similar manner.

Also, the price has never traded below the 200-week MA. For the price to reach $900-$1400 as indicated in the tweet, it would have to do so.

Another indication about the future prospects of Bitcoins price comes from halving.

Prior to the first and second halvings, the Bitcoin price consolidated in the months leading to the event before the rate of increase accelerated.

If the Bitcoin price does the same this time, it will trade around $8000 until May before initiating a rapid move.

We would expect a price of around $100,000 between 2021-2023.

Disclaimer: This article is not trading advice and should not be construed as such. Always consult a trained financial professional before investing in cryptocurrencies, as the market is particularly volatile.

Images courtesy of TradingView.

Did you know you can trade sign-up to trade Bitcoin and many leading altcoins with a multiplier of up to 100x on a safe and secure exchange with the lowest fees with only an email address? Well, now you do! Click here to get started on StormGain!

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Bitcoin Could Fall to $900, Claims Analyst - BeInCrypto