While Bitcoin remains the dominant force in cryptocurrency, a new offering called Chainlink is gaining steamentering the top five tokens in terms of market cap and enjoying a surge of attention in the online community.

According to CoinMarketCap, a platform that tracks the ups and downs of crypto-coins and global exchanges, Chainlink is now valued at roughly $6 billion, with a single token, known as a Link, currently worth the equivalent of around $17.

For comparison, a bitcoin is currently priced at around $11,500, and the cryptocurrency as a whole now has a market capitalization of more than $210 billion.

In 2017, the value of Bitcoin surged as hype and speculation about its potential shot into overdrive, forcing up the value of a coin to almost $20,000 before it eventually crashed. In 2020, its closest competitors include Ethereum, Ripple (XRP) and Tether.

Get your unlimited Newsweek trial >

Chainlink has now entered the fray, with Google Trends indicating people are searching for news about the coin. A Reddit community has attracted over 20,000 members and for better or worseit has been often mentioned on 4Chan's /biz/ finance board.

On its website, Chainlink is described as a "framework for building decentralized oracle networks that give your smart contract access to secure and reliable data inputs and outputs." That's a lot to take in. So we asked a crypto expert to explain.

"Chainlink is at its core a means of bridging the gap between the world of blockchains and the outside world," Charles Hayter, the CEO and co-founder of tracking platform CryptoCompare, told Newsweek over email, explaining its purpose.

"Chainlink is a framework for creating decentralized oracle networks. Oracle networks act as a source of information bridging the real world and the world of blockchains.

Get your unlimited Newsweek trial >

"Its architecture and design are quite complex, but in simple terms it aims to solve the problem of trust and centralization of sources by harnessing a secure and decentralized network of information providers where data is crowd-sourced, reliability and accuracy are incentivized, and bad providers of information are disregarded and punished," he added. "Powering this ecosystem and system of incentives is the Link token."

Broadly, Chainlink is used to enhance smart contracts, which are agreements including a buyer and seller online using crypto, in which the transaction stored on a blockchain. Link is based on the Ethereum blockchain, which is dedicated to those transactions.

It acts as a "bridge between cryptocurrency smart contracts and off-chain resources like data feeds, various web APIs, and traditional bank account payments," CryptoCompare says, showing Chainlink had a strong upward trajectory in the past month.

"Blockchains are by design intended to be trustless and decentralized, and many have applications running on their networks, like smart contracts," Hayter told Newsweek.

"Smart contracts, programs running on blockchains like Ethereum, are tamper-proof agreements that automatically execute when real-world conditions are met.

"But in order to get information, like the price of an asset or whether an event has taken placewhich is needed for smart contracts to functionthere needs to be a trustless, decentralized source of information to tell the blockchain that the conditions have been met," the cryptocurrency expert continued. "Without this, there may be all kinds of manipulation or falsification, particularly when financial stakes are high. Achieving this is a tricky problem, and one which Chainlink has been designed to solve."

Santiment, a platform that provides daily crypto market insights, tweeted on August 10 that Link had become a "mainstay" on its Emerging Trends platform in recent days. It suggested it could be surging due to FOMOfear of missing out.

"It doesn't necessarily mean the long-term fundamentals of a project have changed from being solid hold options, but their presence on this list has been indicative of some artificial hype caused by crowd elation," Santiment noted on Twitter.

Yesterday, Santiment noted the Link token was now up by 68.7% over the last week, but warned the recent price rally may not be here for the long-term.

"Speculative interest has exploded, and we've looked into some concerning signs for the #1 trending coin," the platform's official Twitter account elaborated.

Chainlink has existed since 2017, but officially launched in 2019 as a way to "provide external data to smart contracts on any blockchain," one of its explainers says.

As with other cryptocurrencies, most famously Bitcoin, Link's values will remain volatile, likely to fluctuate based on trading influenced by news, rumor and online chatter.

Addressing the recent swell of activity, CryptoCompare's Hayter explained: "Link has seen its price surge enormously in recent months with the ascent of DeFi [Decentralised Finance]where oracles are particularly usefuland in line with a slew of impressive partnership announcements including Google Cloud and Oracle."

"Link has seen major speculative interest. It has been one of the best-performing crypto assets of 2019 and 2020, with a year-to-date ROI of 668.65 percent," he said.

View original post here:
Chainlink Is Rising in the Cryptocurrency WorldHere's How It Works, and What It's Worth - Newsweek

There was a small news report in 2018, followed by another about an alleged criminal Amit Bhardwaj, said to be the mastermind of $300 million Bitcoin sale and got bail from Supreme Court in April 2019 on grounds of health.

Financial crimes, banking and currency related frauds, misappropriation to the tune of millions of rupees are so common now and huge in size; and hardly anyone has been convicted till the present government came in.

Therefore, this news on some remotely heard currency like Bitcoin and fraud perpetrated through crypto exchanges did not really stir or shock anyone.

However, if you consider that Indian economy has lost about $15 billion through Bitcoin and other digital currency routes, then the neglect of such a serious matter is at our own peril.

This indifference arises from the fact that people dont know enough about this mysterious repository of international funds. It is also shrouded in technical mumbo-jumbo like Blockchain technology that it is does not cross anybodys mind that the dark web is the route of international trade in this currency and various kinds of criminal transactions.

It is not that the current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unaware of the problem.

In fact, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has banned trading in Bitcoin. But, it is as simple and difficult as banning porn on the Internet. You cant really ban it.

What is needed is intelligent tracking mechanism to take timely action. Bitcoin and similar digital currencies have wide ramifications for the slush fund universe and terror industry. It seems it has not been taken cognisance of it the way it should be.

There was a closed door United Nations (UN) conference with an Indian think-tank Begin India Research, specialising in cryptocurrency forensic in December 2019. A report on cryptocurrency and terror funding was released during this conference.

Interestingly, it was chaired by Dr Subramanian Swamy, who has more exposure to international finance and slush money than most of the Indian politicians due to his international connections and strong academic background. I am sure, Indian government agencies too would have been present.

The fact that UN itself has got involved in this exercise shows the international ramifications of Bitcoin and tech-backed cryptocurrencies. Sensing the invevitable march of technology, Dr Swamy said that India should have its own digital currency. According to Bitcoin.com, the RBI governor had an internal meeting to examine this possibility, but it didnt find favour. There is also a case in Supreme Court against RBI for banning Bitcoin.

Apparently, Bitcoin and similar digital currencies are very serious issues and deserve better exposure and more serious discussions than what has been done so far.

There is something amiss. It is the lack of attention from media, including media specialising in finance, to highlight the criticality of this issue and woolly understanding of Indian finance managing institutions like RBI in controlling the demon.

Why do I call digital cryptocurrencies, and their facilitating crypto exchanges as demons? Look at some startling facts

The figure of $ 15 billion drained out of Indian economy is an educated calculation by Deepak Kapoor of Begin India, a think-tank working in this domain. This money has been siphoned off online via various cryptocurrency scams away from any countrys central bank or legal jurisdiction.

A positive sign is that out of this, $7 billion has been traced online by an India-based research company, not recovered as that is in government domain. This drain is much more dangerous for the nation and safer for the players than the famous tax-havens, as of now.

It is claimed that more than 70 per cent of all the cryptocurrency held in crypto exchanges is used for illegal activities like terror funding, arms, narcotics, child trafficking and ransom calling, apart from innocuous activities like gambling.

These slush funds of the dark web can cripple and undermine central bank of any country and also that countrys currency.

For India, the big risk, apart from dangerous terror funding, is rapid growth of cryptocurrency transactions.

Reason, obviously, is its anonymity and difficult traceability in a country with lax laws and an attitude of locking the barn after the horses have bolted. This could result in large chunk of commerce shifting to online black money.

Crypto exchanges are run on the most secure networks based on latest technologies. Our Finance Ministry and all related financial institutions are generally run by generalists, mostly IAS and IRS. Their inclination towards status quo implies that they may not be fully capable nor they may have the in-depth skills to fight this menace.

It is possible that intelligence agencies too may not be fully conversant with the depth of these operations, or may not have enough muscle to take the institutions along.

The most worrying fact is that nearly 68 per cent of cryptocurrency today is in the hands of China as they are the largest cryptocurrency miners and originators of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether etc.

To control this menace, the government may have to bring in policy legislations for which the lawmakers will have to be educated on this topic.

Generalists will not do, specialists will have to be invited by the government to help formulate such policies.

Bureaucracy will have to be realigned to the new rising threats to the nation. All the agencies involved in national security will need to be taken into confidence.

RBI and its technical arm ReBIT will need serious retraining to bring themselves up to the mark. According to specialists, we may be two years behind the world in this matter. A small country like Ukraine, seems to be much bigger knowledge hub in cryptocurrencies than a country like ours. I hope the policymakers and relevant leaders get this message and we can take the right steps to strengthen our economy.

The rest is here:
Rising Cryptocurrency Menace: Why The Government Must Urgently Formulate A Policy - Swarajya

The much-debated blockchain firm Ripple is now planning to expand its use case far beyond just streamlining cross-border payments in partnership with national and international banks.

Ripple had focused its efforts solely on cross-border payments for the past five years when Brad Garlinhouse joined the company as the chief executive officer.

Despite their unprecedented success as a software solution provider to financial entities, Ripple has seemingly come to a realization that the companys core value still lies in the associated cryptocurrency XRP and the Ripple blockchain.

While the company had mostly worked with banks and directly funded millions to blockchain and cryptocurrency startups, it is now taking a step back and revising its growth strategy.

According to a Financial Times report, Ethan Bear, the head of Ripples developer efforts said that they were moving from writing cheques to writing code, implying that the company was planning to go big on promoting the creation of new applications on the Ripple network.

Showing optimism about the move to make their blockchain platform equally worthy as the highly-rated cryptocurrency, Garlinghouse said they wanted to make Ripple the Amazon of the cryptocurrency world:

Amazon started as a bookseller and just sold books. We happen to have started with payments. Two years from now, youre going to find that Ripple is to payments as Amazon was to books.

The report also mentioned that Ripple was working on developer tools to help with the creation of blockchain-based applications that explore new use cases on the Ripple network. The company had announced its open-source developer platform back in October 2019, but it was earlier only meant for finance-related applications.

Original post:
Ripple Aims to Become the Amazon of the Cryptocurrency World - Cointelegraph

Research estimates that up to 3.8 million Bitcoin, worth 22.8bn has been lost as a result of the deceased not informing their beneficiaries of how to retrieve the currency.

Unsure what cryptocurrency is? See our previous article.

David Janczewski, CEO of Coin Cover, a cryptocurrency Will maker, said:

Cryptocurrency is one of those odd things which is very private for a lot of people. If you acquired yours early, you might actually have a substantial amount of money. You might be worried about your personal security.

And nobody thinks they are going to die. Nobody plans for that eventuality. And therefore, when that happens, maybe you havent told your family members exactly how they should recover it.

David King, a wills, trusts and estates lawyer at Harrison Clark Rickerbys solicitors, said an increasing number of clients currently about two in 10 count cryptocurrency among their assets.

He said:

I think we, as private client lawyers, need to step into the 21st Century now and start recording that data when we are meeting with clients.

One of the things that clients dont like is to give away the access codes for this information.

Whilst its secure and we as a firm of solicitors have a duty to the client to keep that confidential, naturally there is a hesitancy from the client to give us that information. [But] I think we need to be smarter.

In our next article we look at how testators can leave cryptocurrency in their Will and what you need to advise so their executors and beneficiaries know how to access it.

Read the rest here:
Should Owners Of Cryptocurrency Include Them In Their Wills? - Today's Wills & Probate

The most valuable and widely used crypto-asset, Bitcoin, is now the most preferred asset to own among institutional investors.

Gemini crypto exchange co-founder, Cameron Winklevoss, on his Twitter feed, wrote about the sudden rush by institutions trying to have a piece of BTC.

Publicly traded company based in America, MicroStrategy, recently adopted Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset to hedge against fiat inflation. This is a big deal and its good to see BTCs being used as intended a hard money/savings instrument.

READ ALSO: Bitcoin thieves move 3,897 BTC worth $42 million in 1 hour

Our investment in Bitcoin is part of our new capital allocation strategy, which seeks to maximize long-term value for our shareholders, said Michael J. Saylor, CEO,MicroStrategy Incorporated.

This investment reflects our belief that Bitcoin, as the worlds most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash, he added.

Theres never been a better time to buy Bitcoins than now that the government is involved in stimulus packages that are intended to pump money into the system.

READ: Nigeria to begin gold production in 2021 with the Segilola Gold Project

In an explanatory note to Nairametrics, Ekene Ojieh, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Strategy at Buffalo Chase, a crypto-asset custodian management firm, gave vital insights on why BTC seems to be the next safe-haven asset. She said:

In the past few weeks, gold saw a new all-time high of $2034 which is about 42.6% in the last decade.

Bitcoin has gained about 8.9 million percentages over the last decade. Security and scarcity are the topmost reasons why traders have trust in safe-haven assets like gold and bitcoin.

Bitcoin would outperform gold in a foreseeable future because its easily accessible for anyone with internet and of course a more profitable asset than gold.

READ MORE: Nigeria attracts more Bitcoin interest than any country globally

She spoke about the initial skepticism that traditional banks, and global financial regulators had on bitcoin, which looks to be changing now, saying:

The last decade has been quite challenging for bitcoin and the crypto space despite the enormous price increase. Regulators, investors, and mainstream traders were skeptical about bitcoin because of its volatility and how bitcoin works.

In recent times, we have seen growth in the adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in general; regulators, banks, are finding an entry point into the crypto space.

In addition, the market cap of both gold and bitcoin, 9 trillion dollars, and 117.81 billion dollars respectively, shows that bitcoin still has a lot of potentials. Going by this trajectory, bitcoin is expected to gain more grounds, increase in value, and also be widely used/accepted.

Quick fact: In recent times, some emerged markets have beefed up their monetary activities, attempting to prop up a fragile economy disrupted by the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

BTC holds a maximum supply of about 21 million digital coins of which there are about 18.5 million in circulation, while over 4 million BTCs have already been lost forever. These show that its definite supply protects the asset against value dilution.

The many global economic problems around the world including inflation and the recent plunge in value for most fiat currencies have made cash an unreliable store of value, pushing some to store their value in a deflationary currency like Bitcoin which can protect.

Go here to see the original:
Ethereum on rampage, surges to a 2-year high of $430 - Nairametrics

The Internet offers us a lot of possibilities to work online, and with the emergence of blockchain, the list of possible sources of income has increased. The biggest part of remote earning comes from cryptocurrency trading.

Virtual money or cryptocurrency is in high demand for traders who are ready to invest money to get profit.

Cryptocurrency trading is one of the main sources of getting profit from cryptocurrency. This type of online trading is almost the same as stocks, currencies, or commodities trading. The main task is to buy when the price is low and to sell when it is higher (or vice versa, when you open the short position).

The biggest difference between this type of trading and other ones is the high volatility. A lot of traders, especially newcomers, want to get thousands of percent as a profit, and with Forex trading, for example, you need to wait for years to get such sums, and crypto can offer you a higher speed of getting profits.

And where do you need to start?

First, you need to know that it is impossible to start successful crypto trading with zero experience. If you want to invest in virtual coins, you will need to get the basic knowledge. You need to learn the following moments:

I think that the most important moment is the first one.

So what do you need to know to analyze the coin?

You need to know the idea of this coin and how popular it is. In the beginning, I wont recommend you to work with unknown coins.

If we speak about coins, its time to talk about wallets where you will store your assets. There are a lot of different storages. I advise you to choose the wallet with high quality and popularity, that is developed by an experienced custom software development company.

If you are looking for the safest Bitcoin wallet, I will recommend you to buy the hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger. And if you want to have a convenient wallet, you can choose the mobile wallet but it should be non-custodial only.

Cryptocurrency trading offers high opportunities for getting income. The good news is that you can start trading with minimal investments but to get a profit you need to learn a lot and test every strategy.

Wish you successful trading!

Read the rest here:
What Is Cryptocurrency Trading and How to Earn With It? - FinSMEs

Kathryn Nguyen being arrested in 2018. Source: NSW Police

A 25-year-old Sydney female has been sentenced to a maximum two years and three months in jail for stealing over 100,000 'Ripple' cryptocurrency in January 2018.

Kathryn Nguyen and an associate hacked into a 56-year-old mans cryptocurrency account and swapped the two-factor authentication to her mobile phone, according to News Corp.

She then transferred the large sum of cryptocurrency to an overseas exchange where it was traded for bitcoin and shuffled into different wallets.

The heist took place at the height of the cryptocurrency boom when Ripple coins peaked at just over $4 each netting Nguyen some $400,000 in Ripple at the time.

Ripple is now worth a tenth of what it was.

Police raided Nguyens home in Epping last year, seizing computers, phones, and money.

She was the first Australian charged over cryptocurrency theft.

Presiding judge Chris Craigie said it was a difficult and troubling decision to send Nguyen to prison and that her references reflected a generous and hardworking personality, according to News Corp.

A common thread was the offenders willingness to help others, Craigie said.

This takes on a different meaning in her willingly participating and assisting in a criminal enterprise.

He said the offending appeared out of character and that her moral judgement was distorted at the time of cryptocurrency theft.

After losing money trading bitcoin she began a business repairing designer handbags and shoes.

Nguyen will be eligible for parole in October 2021.

Reporting cybercrime

Police began their nearly year-long investigation into Nguyen after the victim reported being locked out of his trading account.

Commander of NSW Cybercrime Squad, Detective Superintendent Matthew Craft, told Information Age it was imperative for potential cybercrime victims to make a report.

The problem we have nationally not just in New South Wales is that the reporting rate for cyber related crimes is very low, Craft said.

The NSW Cybercrime Squad has assisted with numerous arrests over the past 12 months, helping bust local scam syndicates and identity thieves.

But cybercrime transcends borders which makes the job of police more difficult.

Sometimes you do have offenders that are overseas, which means theres not much law enforcement can do, Craft said.

But unless you report it and we know about it, were not in a position to make that determination.

Report Cyber is the official channel for reporting cyber crimes and covers a range of cyber issues including abuse, identity theft, compromised accounts, and malware.

Read the original post:
Australian woman jailed over crypto theft - ACS

BTC/USD is currently trading at $11,407 losing around 4% in the last 24 hours from a peak of $11,935. Bulls are fighting to stay above the daily 12-EMA at $11,415, a crucial short-term support level.

ETH/USD dropped below $380 for the first time since August 7 but the bulls are still defending the daily 12-EMA. The daily uptrend is intact while the RSI is cooling off.

XRP/USD tried to crack $0.30 again before getting rejected and dropping to $0.284.

Swipe is up 16% again as Binance acquisition continues helping the digital asset to reach new highs. Verge and Ocean Protocol are both up, OCEAN is by far one of the best-performing coins during 2020 and its now aiming to become a top 50 coin by market capitalization.

MicroStrategy Inc, a business intelligence software listed on NASDAQ, just bought $250 million worth of Bitcoins, around 21,454. According to the official report, the move came after Michael Saylor, the CEO, stated that he wanted to explore Bitcoin, gold or other alternative assets.

Those macro factors include, among other things, the economic and public health crisis precipitated by Covid-19, unprecedented government financial stimulus measures including quantitative easing adopted around the world, and global political and economic uncertainty,

The firm also stated that Bitcoin seems to have global acceptance and network dominance as well as technical utility.

According to a recent report by BitPay, the platform is expanding its services with Coinbase and enable instant blockchain payments without any fees.

Customers who have a Coinbase account are looking for a fast, secure and easy way to pay for goods and services with crypto globally now have additional options through BitPay enabled merchants, said Sean Rolland, Director of Product at BitPay. Integration between Coinbase and BitPay lets users pay directly from their Coinbase account, opening up new global businesses opportunities to accept and pay with crypto.

Well, I think it is working. There may be other currencies like it that may be even better. But in the meantime, theres a big industry around BitcoinPeople have made fortunes off Bitcoin, some have lost money. It is volatile, but people make money off of volatility too.

Richard Branson

Read more:
Cryptocurrency Market News: Ethereum slides below $380 as the market starts to lose its positive sentiment - FXStreet

Bitcoin encountered an imbalance at $12,000 following the rejection witnessed on Monday from $12,084. The tug of war between the bears and the bulls continued with buyers aiming to reclaim the ground above $12,000. However, the re-energized sellers were not prepared to see Bitcoin claiming any inch of the ground above $12,000. Most analysts believe that a Bitcoin break above $13,000 would actualize the push for the run to $20,000 as the year comes to an end in less than five months.

Bitcoin retreated further on Tuesday losing 1.37% on the day to trade at $11,735 from an opening value of $11,899. Support at $11,700 is still intact but the potential for losses targeting $10,500 continues to grow as explored in the price prediction article earlier in the day.

Read more:Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD 'life-threatening' plunge to $10,500 lingers Confluence Detector

Tezos is raising eyebrows across the cryptocurrency market following its consistent surge in the last few days. Besides breaking above the critical hurdle at $4.0, the token also roared to new all-time highs at $4.4. Buying interest has remained high as reflected by the surge in the volume from $342 million on Sunday to $525 million on Monday and $564 million at the time of writing (data by CoinMarketCap).

A minor retreat from $4.4 has forced Tezos to trade closer to the confirmed support at $4.0. XTZ/USD is trading at $4.14 amid a building bullish momentum. The RSI holds at 53 following the slide from overbought levels. The MACD is moving to the south while the increasing bearish divergence highlights a stronger bearish grip.

IOTA also broke out massively following the launch of the first phase of its Chrysalis project. The network has planned a series of upgrades that will eventually lead to the IOTA 1.5 protocol. Various features have been brought into the network including atomic transactions, autopeering, Binary Transaction Layout, UTXO and Whiteflag among others. The launch saw a reflective movement in the price of IOT token with gains of over 5% on the day.

IOTA is trading at $0.3975 at the time of writing. It is up 5.36% on the day from an opening of $0.3773. An intraday high has been traded at $0.40. The fight for support above $0.40 is set to continue as the bulls focus on the action above $0.50.

See more here:
Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin losing the fight to $12,000, IOTA and Tezos rocket - FXStreet

Bitcoin is leading the market with considerable gains on Monday following a weekend characterized by stability at $11,500. The impressive price action pushed BTC above $12,000 but stalled short of $12,100. An intraday high was traded at $12,083 cut shot the momentum resulting in a reversal below $12,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is pivotal at $12,000, although buyers lack the energy to keep the price above this same level.

The daily chart shows that consolidation is likely to take precedence in the short term. The RSI is currently horizontal at 70 (significantly lower than the levels seen during the last week of July and the first week of August). The MACD also highlights a sideways price action. If this consolidation would be a stepping stone for gains above $13,000, it is something that we will have to wait to see. For now, establishing higher support seems to be the wisest action to make.

Read more:Cryptocurrency Market News: Bitcoin attacks $12,000 as selected altcoins roar

Cosmos is among the best performing cryptocurrencies in the market. In the last 24 hours, this token has surged over 20% to trade highs of $5.88 from the lowest level traded in August at $3.50. As reported during the Asian hours, ATOM is holding well in the hands of the bulls despite the minor correction to $5.64 (prevailing market value).

The price also extended the action above the moving averages with the 50 SMA and 200 SMA holding positions at $4.78 and $4.22. Other key support areas include $5.50, $5.00 and $4.00. ATOM/USD 1-hour chart.

Read more:Cosmos Price Forecast: ATOM/USD goes ballistic eyeing $6.00 critical level

Band Protocol price update

BAND/USD is flying the bullish flag pattern high in the skies following gains of over 34% in the last 24 hours. After starting the month of August trading around $4.21, Band Protocol has more than quadrupled its value trading highs of $18.00. At the time of writing, the digital currency is trading at $15.51 following a minor retreat. The token is still in the bulls hands with gains towards $20.00 still possible in the near term.

Follow this link:
Cryptocurrency Market Update: Bitcoin flirts with $12,000, Cosmos and Band Protocol lead the altcoin rally - FXStreet